Hedman or Tavares?

mattshock wrote:I've seen him change his game quite a bit this year. The Spezza of this year is not the Spezza of even last season. He went into the CORNERS apparently in the Rangers game, and I don't even remember the last dumbass backpass he tried.

The limo bit sounds like he was being a bit of a diva, but you take the good with the bad I guess.

Hell, I even saw him shoot the puck in on a powerplay. I was bewildered.

Hedman is also now listed at 6'7, jesus. The kid can still grow too.

Hedman is going to be a dominant NHL defenseman for years to come.

Neely4Life wrote:Hedman is also now listed at 6'7, jesus. The kid can still grow too.

Not good. The more he grows, the more likely the chances that his mobility is hampered. He was big enough as is. Stop growing please.

DashRiprock wrote:The thing is it isn't a rebuild... Kelly and Vermette are being paid $2-mil + to do what they do, and other people, Zubov, Regin, Bass, etc. can do that too, at a fraction of the price.

Kuba is unlikely to remain a Senator, as even Bryan Murray said "he might prices himself out of Ottawa they way he's playing". Depending where we are by the deadline, you can either trade him then, or if you're lucky, trade his rights.

Schubert is a piece that will be moved in some way, very likely. He doesn't fit into the Senators blue line plans, and he doesn't appear to be happy as a forward. And he's obviously not fitting into either since he is a scratch.

And many have said Neil is expendable, and his UFA status leaves a lot of concerns.

I agree and suspect that Murray is going to be able to get another 1st and a young player if he decided to move Kuba at the deadline

Phoenix30 wrote:

DashRiprock wrote:The thing is it isn't a rebuild... Kelly and Vermette are being paid $2-mil + to do what they do, and other people, Zubov, Regin, Bass, etc. can do that too, at a fraction of the price.

Kuba is unlikely to remain a Senator, as even Bryan Murray said "he might prices himself out of Ottawa they way he's playing". Depending where we are by the deadline, you can either trade him then, or if you're lucky, trade his rights.

Schubert is a piece that will be moved in some way, very likely. He doesn't fit into the Senators blue line plans, and he doesn't appear to be happy as a forward. And he's obviously not fitting into either since he is a scratch.

And many have said Neil is expendable, and his UFA status leaves a lot of concerns.

I agree and suspect that Murray is going to be able to get another 1st and a young player if he decided to move Kuba at the deadline

Ummm for Kuba I would suspect a 2nd, not a 1st, that is asking a lot. But a draft pick and maybe a prospect coming back.

Phoenix30 wrote:

DashRiprock wrote:The thing is it isn't a rebuild... Kelly and Vermette are being paid $2-mil + to do what they do, and other people, Zubov, Regin, Bass, etc. can do that too, at a fraction of the price.

Kuba is unlikely to remain a Senator, as even Bryan Murray said "he might prices himself out of Ottawa they way he's playing". Depending where we are by the deadline, you can either trade him then, or if you're lucky, trade his rights.

Schubert is a piece that will be moved in some way, very likely. He doesn't fit into the Senators blue line plans, and he doesn't appear to be happy as a forward. And he's obviously not fitting into either since he is a scratch.

And many have said Neil is expendable, and his UFA status leaves a lot of concerns.

I agree and suspect that Murray is going to be able to get another 1st and a young player if he decided to move Kuba at the deadline

I don't think he's going to have a choice but to move Kuba. Let's hope he keeps up his strong play. A first and a young player is what Buffalo got for Campbell last year at the deadline, so I don't know what Kuba will fetch, but it's going to be interesting to see what sort of deals Murray can swing when he has the upper hand. Most of his deals so far have been the kind where Murray is at a disadvantage. Corvo wanted out, so did Nikulin. He could put Kuba on the block and let teams outbid each other. As much as I've been a fan of Kuba's play this season, if we plan on going after J-Bow or similar, Kuba doesn't fit. I'd also like to see Murray make a serious pitch ($5-5.5) for Nik Backstrom next year.

I would never sign a goaltender from Minny, ever, exspecially since we have seemed to have solidifed our goaltending for now.

Minny's goalies are always better on paper then they actually are. Harding will be the next big thing in the there next year and will do the same thign every goalie for the Wild has done to this point in time.

Not sold on Backstrom at all.

Neely4Life wrote:I would never sign a goaltender from Minny, ever, exspecially since we have seemed to have solidifed our goaltending for now.

Minny's goalies are always better on paper then they actually are. Harding will be the next big thing in the there next year and will do the same thign every goalie for the Wild has done to this point in time.

Not sold on Backstrom at all.

You bring up a good point, but I think he's better than you may be giving him credit for.

hemlock34 wrote:

Neely4Life wrote:I would never sign a goaltender from Minny, ever, exspecially since we have seemed to have solidifed our goaltending for now.

Minny's goalies are always better on paper then they actually are. Harding will be the next big thing in the there next year and will do the same thign every goalie for the Wild has done to this point in time.

Not sold on Backstrom at all.

You bring up a good point, but I think he's better than you may be giving him credit for.

I like Backstrom, I cant say I dont, I just dont trust Minny when it comes to goalies. Just really hard to convince myself that he is as good as his numbers are.

I suppose playing behind that stifling defence makes a guy look better. Using that logic though, did Brodeur look better behind Stevens, Nieds, Rafalski etc? Now the Devil's defence is a shell of it's former self, and Brodeur still looks like a world beater most nights.

Brodure is Brodure, lol.

Oh of course. My point is that until Backstrom escapes Minny's system, it's hard to tell if it's more him or the team. Brodeur is a bad example, as he's a generational talent. Think Chris Osgoode with the Wings.

Yeah, Osgoode is a better example I think... ya, I dont know, is it worth a 5 million dollar shot to find out with multiple years? Personally I dont think so

Neely4Life wrote:

Phoenix30 wrote:

DashRiprock wrote:The thing is it isn't a rebuild... Kelly and Vermette are being paid $2-mil + to do what they do, and other people, Zubov, Regin, Bass, etc. can do that too, at a fraction of the price.

Kuba is unlikely to remain a Senator, as even Bryan Murray said "he might prices himself out of Ottawa they way he's playing". Depending where we are by the deadline, you can either trade him then, or if you're lucky, trade his rights.

Schubert is a piece that will be moved in some way, very likely. He doesn't fit into the Senators blue line plans, and he doesn't appear to be happy as a forward. And he's obviously not fitting into either since he is a scratch.

And many have said Neil is expendable, and his UFA status leaves a lot of concerns.

I agree and suspect that Murray is going to be able to get another 1st and a young player if he decided to move Kuba at the deadline

Ummm for Kuba I would suspect a 2nd, not a 1st, that is asking a lot. But a draft pick and maybe a prospect coming back.

SJ was also willing to part with a 1st and Carle for a bad redden. Kuba has been on a bad team and even Torts thinks he will get even better. If Kuba keeps it up who knows what we could get if a team is looking for a good PMD

Oh, I agree that the potential is there. He'll need to keep this strong play up though. His point totals have levelled off though the past several games after that hot start. He's playing well in other areas though.

Nothing would surprise me, but I think an honest gauge of Kuba's worth might be a second rounder with a prospect coming back (mid level). I think thats fair for now.

Neely4Life wrote:Ummm for Kuba I would suspect a 2nd, not a 1st, that is asking a lot. But a draft pick and maybe a prospect coming back.

Craig Rivet got Josh Gorges and a 1st. I don't think it's insane to think that if Kuba continues his level of play and production, he could garner a similar return.

What would be awesome would be Alfredsson + Kuba + SJ 1st for Logan Couture so long as there was an expressed agreement that Alfredsson be dealt back in the off-season.

I'm just not sure if that's legal though, and it likely does not work with SJ's current cap situation.

Could you imagine, though?

Thornton, Alfredsson, Marleau, Setoguchi, Michalek, Cheechoo, Clowe, Pavelski etc. up front, Boyle, Blake, Ehrhoff, Kuba, Vlasic and Murray on the blue-line and Nabokov in goal?

That's pretty easily on par with the Wings, IMO.

That way, we'd get a second-line centre/border-line first line centre prospect and hopefully see Alfredsson win a Cup.