is the legend Louis Le(bleu)blanc (et rouge) ghana make the team this year?

nah

Just took a look at it and the Blues have a very decent lineup, they should be able to make the playoffs... they have like 10 decent offensive players.
The west is just so rough tho so you never know....

McDonald, Andy » $4,700,000 $4,700,000
Backes, David » $4,500,000 $4,500,000 $4,500,000 $4,500,000 $4,500,000
Steen, Alexander » $3,362,500 $3,362,500 $3,362,500
Stewart, Chris » $2,875,000
Arnott, Jason » $2,875,000
Langenbrunner, J. » $2,800,000
Oshie, T.J. » $2,350,000
Berglund, Patrik » $2,250,000 $2,250,000
Perron, David » $2,150,000
D'Agostini, Matt » $1,650,000 $1,650,000

Most of them are 50 pointers ceiling but still.
Defense is reasonable, and Halak is a real competitor (biased ldo)

yeah they look pretty deep, and should make the playoffs, but i don't know if they'll go real far. that really deep with no particular top-end is pretty hit & miss, and i think you mostly win with stars. and their top end is...Backes? Stewart? Oshie? Berglund? Steen? McDonald? D'Agostini? Pietrangelo? Shattenkirk? Halak? Perron if he's healthy? Arnott/Langenbrunner if they have anything left?

the West is probably too tough at the top for them to hope for more than 1 series win in the playoffs this year, maximum. anything more than that would take some of those guys making the leap into stardom, or some serious run good.

Yes, because he would have signed for 1 year... Are you ****ing kidding me?

And the reports of Markov not skating are complete bull**** since he was skating in april.

Actually, he was skating in march.

ummm

weird

The reports come from my bro who works there 6 days a week and knows quite a bit about hockey...

was a reason ever given for the new account?

i hate it.

he must have re-injured

And fwiw, i said clearly still injured, and not quite as far in his recoveryas im sure it his generally believed which would seem rather alarming when going through a 3-year signing process.

Theres a difference between being able to lace up the skates and getting back to being nhl game ready.

On that pic it looks like hes only skating on one leg, which can be done with one knee im sure you agree.

I'm not going to engage in wild speculation, sorry.

No worries, im just saying his recovery might not yet be to the level people would expect it to be

Then they shouldn't have signed him. Let somebody else take the risk. Yes, he's an outstanding defenceman - if he can still skate, and if he can play 80 games. There's no guarantee he can do either of those things, and it's just stupid to act as if he can.

Re: The Blues

They might make the playoffs, but they'll go out in the first round. I don't see any way that team becomes a contender without completely blowing it up and starting over.

well only overpaid dead wood wants to sign in montreal.

We have a top 10 Dman in the league who loves the place and even got his canadian citizenship... It's not like we can come CLOSE to replacing him if we let him go and get more cap space.

I dunno, hes worth the risk.

<3 markov foreva

And then do what with the cap space?

The Leafs should have given only 1 year to Komisarek as there was no guarantee he would even be able to tie his own skates without Markov holding his hand, but they gave him 5 years. That's how unrestricted free agency works.

what? a player who's hurt doesn't count on the cap, so teams are incentivized to take this sort of chance. if markov can't play, throw him on LTIR and stay under the summer cap each year, it's far from the end of the world. if he can play, he was one of the best defensemen in the league when he was healthy. where else is montreal going to get this kind of player? nowhere, so take the chance on markov.

st. louis did really well last year, they're way under the salary cap, and pretty much everyone on their roster could move in a trade. i see no reason to think this - while i think their current iteration will struggle with top teams, as long as they don't go out and do anything stupid, they could definitely start challenging teams like detroit and san jose who are headed in the wrong direction age-wise.

Yes, the Komisarek signing was worse than Markov. Congratulations on not giving out the worst contract in NHL history.

What if he is medically able to play, but is unable to move like he needs to?

I just don't see where the top level talent on the team. I see a bunch of pretty good players, but nobody who wows me. They're the Leafs of the Western conference - to contend for the Cup, they'll need everyone on the team to have a career year all at once, and even then they'll need help.

Hawks sign Stalberg. 2 years, 875k per year. Im sort of confused by this. I guess they think he can play on the 4th line? I guess this also means they think Mayers can center the 4th line. That or they plan on playing Kruger and having Mayers as the 13th F.

yeah i think their biggest problem by far is that their centers don't seem all that great. Backes & Stewart are nice pieces, but who was the last team to win the SC led by a couple good RW's?

maybe Steen, Berglund, Oshie, or whoever will continue to improve, but i don't really see it. better chance is what Triumph said and maybe they make a trade down the line. or they just keep the group together and hope to make a fluke run one year, after the cores in Detroit, SJ, Vancouver, etc wind down. but as it stands, they seem poised to be a perennial one & done team (and wins 1 round every now and then). but i guess it beats totally sucking.

Mayers doesn't seem like he'd make a very good center these days, even if it's just the 4th line. 13th F seems more likely, but what do i know?

Everyone just chill out.

Mike Komisarek is a 1st team all-star.


quick, everyone guess how many goals ASSISTANT CAPTAIN Mike Komisarek has scored in a Leaf uniform...

A:

According to QuantHockey, they were the second youngest team in the league last year. They figure to get better.

James Wiznieski had 3 similar operations on his knees and he played fine. Obviously each player is different, but if he's medically able to play then he should have full range of motion and support on his knees to play. I think it will depend more on his psychological makeup, ie whether he'll hesitate going into the corners etc.

For sure the Blues are better than the Leafs. The Blues have better group of forwards in Backes, Perron and now Chris Stewart. Backes and Stewart are some of the better young power-forwards in the game. Plus they do have Pieterangelo on D. But they do lack a top-line center and I think they've over-rated Halak's abilities.