2012/13 Lineup

Could we see this in the lineup?



That's 5-year-old Cody Ceci and his sister meeting Alfie. Of course if Alfie sees this picture that might push him into retirement.

I think Gonchar is here for this year unless we're out of it at the trade deadline. It all meshes with what I assume Murray has in mind for next season with Ceci coming in and Gonchar coming off the books.

The nervousness with Gonchar is that he's due for a tremendous injury - especially at his age and he's also really tailed off on the PP. He's actually pretty good 5 on 5 and on the PK, but he's no longer a PP QB even for the 2nd unit. I'm not sure if Mac will use him on PP1 with Karlsson, or put him on PP2 with someone like Lundin.

SpezDispenser wrote:I think Gonchar is here for this year unless we're out of it at the trade deadline. It all meshes with what I assume Murray has in mind for next season with Ceci coming in and Gonchar coming off the books.

The nervousness with Gonchar is that he's due for a tremendous injury - especially at his age and he's also really tailed off on the PP. He's actually pretty good 5 on 5 and on the PK, but he's no longer a PP QB even for the 2nd unit. I'm not sure if Mac will use him on PP1 with Karlsson, or put him on PP2 with someone like Lundin.

How is he good on the PK? We had a *terrible* PK with a very good goalie. And on this team he had the 4th highest SH-TOI (both total and per-game). Cowen (a rookie) had 3:08 while Gonchar had 1:49. That *is* saying something. Also we had *zero* right-hand shots in the top four PK defensemen. Carkner was 6th on the team in SH-TOI per game and 7th overall. No wonder our PK sucked.

wprager wrote:

Riprock wrote:I think Dan Boyle is out of the question now - he seems pretty excited that Larry Robinson is now in SJ.

Can you cite where you heard/saw that?

various Twitter'ers. They interviewed Boyle and he said Robinson was a favourite of his father's.

Brodie Brazil ‏@brodiebrazilCSN
Full circles are amazing. Dan Boyle tells me his father's favorite player: Larry Robinson #sjsharks

David Pollak ‏@PollakOnSharks
Dan Boyle on Larry Robinson as new #sjsharks associate coach: "Everybody thinks the game differently, as players, as coaches . . .

A little bit of speculation, who knows if he wouldn't come to Ottawa still. Don't even know if SJ wants to trade him.

Hoags wrote:

SeawaySensFan wrote:
Sugar Shane Doan to Ottawa? See below:

I don't think we need a polarizing, french-canadian hater like Doan here besides he'd be suspended for part of the year.

He's a dirty player, I have no idea why people love him so much and want to sign him to a 35+ contract, the dude's too old.

Well that old dude can still play pretty well. I would take a chance on him. Better him than Semin.

Hoags wrote:Barker is awful, what a bust, why would anyone want the Filatov of defencemen ??? He probably won't even get an NHL contract this year, when you're so bad even the Oilers don't want you on D you know you suck.

What about Kurtis Foster? Haven't watched him much this past season. He was okay at one point.. is he still a decent D?

wprager wrote:
How is he good on the PK? We had a *terrible* PK with a very good goalie. And on this team he had the 4th highest SH-TOI (both total and per-game). Cowen (a rookie) had 3:08 while Gonchar had 1:49. That *is* saying something. Also we had *zero* right-hand shots in the top four PK defensemen. Carkner was 6th on the team in SH-TOI per game and 7th overall. No wonder our PK sucked.

I thought he played really well on the PK, I might be wrong, but I remember that being a part of his game that I was surprisingly good with. Frustrating on the PP though, but relatively good on the PK.

sandysensfan wrote:

Hoags wrote:Barker is awful, what a bust, why would anyone want the Filatov of defencemen ??? He probably won't even get an NHL contract this year, when you're so bad even the Oilers don't want you on D you know you suck.

What about Kurtis Foster? Haven't watched him much this past season. He was okay at one point.. is he still a decent D?

Nah, Foster's no good anymore unfortunately. Better to just stick with Lundin/Boroweicki/Gryba/Wiercioch.

Ditto Barker, no need for yet another reclamation project, just stick with what we have. Now...Dan Boyle is a completely different story - as is Keith Yandle, but I doubt we get either.

InternetHockeyForumGuy wrote:I'm starting to feel a little embarassed to have such a cheap owner. You don't see this kind of thrift in other NHL cities. All this talk of acquiring Cam Barker is making me sick.

I don't know who you are, InternetHockeyForumGuy, but I have faith that Mr. Melnyk will do what it takes to ice a competitive team come October. You're probably a Leaf loving troll and possibly an anti-Semite.

As long as Charles Wang is an NHL owner, no one should complain about Melnyk being 'cheap'.

With no CBA for next year, it might be the smartest thing to stay near the floor and watch as other clubs scramble to get under the new cap.

I definitely wouldn't call Melnyk cheap personally. He has right to be frugal right now. We started the road back to competitiveness by shedding big tickets and placing young, hungry and sometimes cheap players into our lineup.

The key to the road back were the Bingo kids (+ the veterans health last year). O'Brien, Daugavins, Greening, Condra, Cowen - all of them played a major role - and all of them come cheap.

When the situation arises when Melnyk can either pay $$ or not acquire a certain player, I feel he'll step up - like he would have done with Nash, like I think he'll do with Ryan.

Reading more into the Z.Michalek situation, it appears he wanted to go back to Phoenix, so it turned into a soft trade favouring Phoenix in a big way. Latendresse is a great signing, Methot for Foligno (dollar for dollar) was a move Murray made to bolster our weak D. Lundin was another bargain Murray went after knowing Boroweicki and Wiercioch and Gryba were in the wings. I think it all sets up for either a huge deadline, a big summer next year or possibly saving the $$ for re-signing our core.

SpezDispenser wrote:I definitely wouldn't call Melnyk cheap personally. He has right to be frugal right now. We started the road back to competitiveness by shedding big tickets and placing young, hungry and sometimes cheap players into our lineup.

The key to the road back were the Bingo kids (+ the veterans health last year). O'Brien, Daugavins, Greening, Condra, Cowen - all of them played a major role - and all of them come cheap.

When the situation arises when Melnyk can either pay $$ or not acquire a certain player, I feel he'll step up - like he would have done with Nash, like I think he'll do with Ryan.

Reading more into the Z.Michalek situation, it appears he wanted to go back to Phoenix, so it turned into a soft trade favouring Phoenix in a big way. Latendresse is a great signing, Methot for Foligno (dollar for dollar) was a move Murray made to bolster our weak D. Lundin was another bargain Murray went after knowing Boroweicki and Wiercioch and Gryba were in the wings. I think it all sets up for either a huge deadline, a big summer next year or possibly saving the $$ for re-signing our core.

Someone's hopeful.

spader wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:I definitely wouldn't call Melnyk cheap personally. He has right to be frugal right now. We started the road back to competitiveness by shedding big tickets and placing young, hungry and sometimes cheap players into our lineup.

The key to the road back were the Bingo kids (+ the veterans health last year). O'Brien, Daugavins, Greening, Condra, Cowen - all of them played a major role - and all of them come cheap.

When the situation arises when Melnyk can either pay $$ or not acquire a certain player, I feel he'll step up - like he would have done with Nash, like I think he'll do with Ryan.

Reading more into the Z.Michalek situation, it appears he wanted to go back to Phoenix, so it turned into a soft trade favouring Phoenix in a big way. Latendresse is a great signing, Methot for Foligno (dollar for dollar) was a move Murray made to bolster our weak D. Lundin was another bargain Murray went after knowing Boroweicki and Wiercioch and Gryba were in the wings. I think it all sets up for either a huge deadline, a big summer next year or possibly saving the $$ for re-signing our core.

Someone's hopeful.

Not saying we'll get him, but I think he's okayed Murray to look into it. Bottom line, (IMO) I don't think he's putting the reigns on spending.

SpezDispenser wrote:
Not saying we'll get him, but I think he's okayed Murray to look into it. Bottom line, (IMO) I don't think he's putting the reigns on spending.

If we're going to spend, we'll spend on a TOP player, something we don't have many of.

Once the team is a contender, our salaries will rise naturally and Melnyk will raise ticket prices to match. No one will pay a lot of money for tickets right now.

Hoags wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:
Not saying we'll get him, but I think he's okayed Murray to look into it. Bottom line, (IMO) I don't think he's putting the reigns on spending.

If we're going to spend, we'll spend on a TOP player, something we don't have many of.

Once the team is a contender, our salaries will rise naturally and Melnyk will raise ticket prices to match. No one will pay a lot of money for tickets right now.

Like...Bobby Ryan?

The Wild had an influx of season ticket sales after their big moves this summer - I read it was a 1000 in 2 days.

Riprock wrote:

wprager wrote:

Riprock wrote:I think Dan Boyle is out of the question now - he seems pretty excited that Larry Robinson is now in SJ.

Can you cite where you heard/saw that?

various Twitter'ers. They interviewed Boyle and he said Robinson was a favourite of his father's.

Brodie Brazil ‏@brodiebrazilCSN
Full circles are amazing. Dan Boyle tells me his father's favorite player: Larry Robinson #sjsharks

David Pollak ‏@PollakOnSharks
Dan Boyle on Larry Robinson as new #sjsharks associate coach: "Everybody thinks the game differently, as players, as coaches . . .

A little bit of speculation, who knows if he wouldn't come to Ottawa still. Don't even know if SJ wants to trade him.

How does his dad feel about Denis Potvin?

SpezDispenser wrote:
Like...Bobby Ryan?

The Wild had an influx of season ticket sales after their big moves this summer - I read it was a 1000 in 2 days.

I suppose, Ryan strikes me as a huge douche though, maybe just me.

Minneapolis/St.Paul doesn't have a lot of Habs/Leafs making up most of the population

Hoags wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:
Like...Bobby Ryan?

The Wild had an influx of season ticket sales after their big moves this summer - I read it was a 1000 in 2 days.

I suppose, Ryan strikes me as a huge douche though, maybe just me.

Minneapolis/St.Paul doesn't have a lot of Habs/Leafs making up most of the population

That's a different story, I think you're right, I think he's a dink as well.