NHL 2009-2010 Season

[Chris60119]

Originally Posted by PS3+HDDVD OWNER

To be frank, i'm going on record now saying i dont like the Hossa signing. We had a true sniper in Havlat and let him walk. He has half of the contract we just inked Hossa to. I have a strong feeling the Hossa deal could end up costing the Hawks one of their young guns, ie Toews/Kane/Keith. If thats the case, this was the worst signing ever!

I do like what Hossa brings to the table, but im not 100% sure he puts the teams goals in front of his own. He's shown that with his willingness to dump teams after 1 year of service and go for whoever he thinks has the best chance of winning the cup. Is he going to demand a trade if the Hawks dont meet expectations? I dont like it.

I do however like the signing of Madden.

Remember Havlat is still made of glass. This last year was awesome. Do you think he can keep that up? Hossa is tough, and can produce the same numbers. Thats good. Also we got him pretty cheap. 62 million over 12 years? Thats just over 5 million a year. Detroit payed 7million something. Bolland is getting just under that. Hossa makes sence....

[chevy0587]

It's definantly a good price, but a 12 year contract to a guy that's been in the league 11 years already? That's a little much.

Wings will hopefully get back Hudler, I like his style. I can't wait for helm, lieno, and erricson to be on the team fulltime.

It's hard to follow the games being in california and the hockey package is pricey for me, but god do I love hockey.

[Chris60119]

Originally Posted by chevy0587

It's definantly a good price, but a 12 year contract to a guy that's been in the league 11 years already? That's a little much.

Wings will hopefully get back Hudler, I like his style. I can't wait for helm, lieno, and erricson to be on the team fulltime.

It's hard to follow the games being in california and the hockey package is pricey for me, but god do I love hockey.

So he retires in 6-7 years. Contracts over We have him locked in.

[jadedeath]

Originally Posted by PS3+HDDVD OWNER

Not to talk trash or anything, but i think Montreal took on alot of bad contracts this offseason. Mainly Gomez. You are right though, they DEFINATELY have a new look to them. I wish them well, they're the only Canadian team that i don't hate with a passion!

Why do you hate the others?

Excluding Toronto, because noone really needs a reason to hate Toronto.

Logan

[jadedeath]

Originally Posted by DetroitSportsFan

Two of the guys you mentioned are a back-up (at best) goalie and a 47 year old defenseman. Not much of a loss.

Hossa is a loss, but his lack of playoff production takes the sting out of him leaving.

Yeah Chelios helped out *SO* much during the series against Pittsburgh.

Oh wait...

Logan

[DetroitSportsFan]

Originally Posted by jadedeath

Yeah Chelios helped out *SO* much during the series against Pittsburgh.

Oh wait...

Logan

Chelios helped out almost as much as Hossa.

[Grumpz]

Originally Posted by DetroitSportsFan

Chelios helped out almost as much as Hossa.

Remember when Chelios threatened Bettman during the lockout in the 90's!?

[Go Blue]

Originally Posted by PS3+HDDVD OWNER

To be frank, i'm going on record now saying i dont like the Hossa signing. We had a true sniper in Havlat and let him walk. He has half of the contract we just inked Hossa to. I have a strong feeling the Hossa deal could end up costing the Hawks one of their young guns, ie Toews/Kane/Keith. If thats the case, this was the worst signing ever!

I do like what Hossa brings to the table, but im not 100% sure he puts the teams goals in front of his own. He's shown that with his willingness to dump teams after 1 year of service and go for whoever he thinks has the best chance of winning the cup. Is he going to demand a trade if the Hawks dont meet expectations? I dont like it.

I do however like the signing of Madden.

Well said. They key to your post is what I bolded. I think that was his problem in the playoffs this year. He wanted to do it all himself.

Don't get me wrong, I wanted to keep Hossa in Detroit, but I am also 100% sure the Wings will be fine without him.

[Go Blue]

Originally Posted by Dark Elf

Kenny Holland might lose Samuelsson too as well!

That hurts more than Hossa, imo.

[jadedeath]

Originally Posted by DetroitSportsFan

Chelios helped out almost as much as Hossa.

It's true, but noone helped as much as their best Goalie Zetterberg.

No wonder they got rid of their 'backup' goalie, they wouldn't have needed him.

Logan

[Jellybeans]

Vancouver CANUCKS SIGN Mikael Samuelsson TO THREE-YEAR CONTRACT.

Source : http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=283610

[Go Blue]

Originally Posted by jadedeath

It's true, but noone helped as much as their best Goalie Zetterberg.

No wonder they got rid of their 'backup' goalie, they wouldn't have needed him.

Logan

You know Zett is a 1 man team!

[PS3+HDDVD OWNER]

Originally Posted by Schultzy

Well said. They key to your post is what I bolded. I think that was his problem in the playoffs this year. He wanted to do it all himself.

Don't get me wrong, I wanted to keep Hossa in Detroit, but I am also 100% sure the Wings will be fine without him.

Thats the main reason i'm not drinking Hossa koolaid right now. We had a sniper in Havlat, who finally got healthy and fufilled his potential. He started last season really slow and was demoted to the 3rd line. Once he was paired with Bolly and Ladd, something clicked. Marty played like a man possessed last season. He attempted to come back the next game after a bone crushing check, which definately caused a severe concussion. That sounds like i guy i want on my team, because HE PUTS THE TEAM AHEAD OF HIMSELF.

Hossa isn't that guy. He'll get his 40 goals, but what if he doesn't get the cup in his first few years into his new contract?

I still say that if Dale Tallon just offered Havlat a 3 year $15M deal, it would've gotten done. But Dale got googely eyed with Hossa, just like he did last year with Campbell and Huet.

I hope it works out for them, but i see alot of scenarios where it wouldn't

[silversnake]

Originally Posted by PS3+HDDVD OWNER

Marty played like a man possessed last season.

Not to burst your bubble, but it was a contract year for Havlat. Usually people tend to play to their best ability when their contract expires at the end of the season.

[Jellybeans]

Hey Silversnake, did you read my posts ? I'm happy with Bob Gainey's acquisitions! See i'm not bias ! I can give credit where credit is do!

[PS3+HDDVD OWNER]

Originally Posted by Schultzy

That hurts more than Hossa, imo.

Agreed 100%. This was a HUGE loss to the Wings.

Good thing they have a magician of a GM, who will have them in Cup contention YET AGAIN next year. Ken Holland, best GM in professional sports.

If i'm a Wings fan right now, i'd be happy that they have such deep depth in the minor leagues. I can see players like Darren Helm come in and really make and name for himself.

[PS3+HDDVD OWNER]

Originally Posted by silversnake

Not to burst your bubble, but it was a contract year for Havlat. Usually people tend to play to their best ability when their contract expires at the end of the season.

While that statement may apply to some players, it doesn't to Martin Havlat. Havlat played in a career high 81 games last year, topping his previous best of 73 in his rookie season with the Senators in 2000-2001. In Havlat's 3 seasons with the Blackhawks, he's played in 172 games and 81 of them came last year. That means in his first two seasons with the Hawks he appeared in only 91 games, an average of 45 games/year for the 1st 2 seasons. I dunno about you, but that tells me the Hawks didn't exactly get a healthy player right away like they were hoping. Havlat has had 3 serious shoulder surgeries in his career, 2 of them coming in the last 3 years.

So....after reading all of that.... Still think he only had a career year because it was a contact year?

[silversnake]

Originally Posted by Dark Elf

Hey Silversnake, did you read my posts ? I'm happy with Bob Gainey's acquisitions! See i'm not bias ! I can give credit where credit is do!

I did notice your comments. I had to double check to see it was actually you. Your avatar threw me off I'm happy with what Gainey did because he actually did something and his gamble could be a huge payoff. I would have still liked to have kept at least one of the big 3 (koivu, tanguay, kovalev). We need to be stronger though. Laraque can't police the whole team

Originally Posted by PS3+HDDVD OWNER

So....after reading all of that.... Still think he only had a career year because it was a contact year?

Yes. While coming back from all his injuries and producing like he was is very impressive I still think being in the final year motivates a player even more to do well.

[Jellybeans]

Originally Posted by silversnake

I did notice your comments. I had to double check to see it was actually you. Your avatar threw me off I'm happy with what Gainey did because he actually did something and his gamble could be a huge payoff. I would have still liked to have kept at least one of the big 3 (koivu, tanguay, kovalev). We need to be stronger though. Laraque can't police the whole team



Yes. While coming back from all his injuries and producing like he was is very impressive I still think being in the final year motivates a player even more to do well.

The guys they got can take care of themselves!

[Esox50]

Havlat (or more likely his agent) played hardball with the Blackhawks and lost.

I'm not worried about it in the least. Havlat played exactly one healthy year and Hossa is a better player. We got more in Hossa @ 1 million less per year than we paid Havlat last year.

My biggest concern for the Blackhawks is that we still need a physical, stay at home defensemen who can clear the front of the net (to pair with Campbell). We're going to need that with Huet as the full time Goalie.

If their plan is to not address the D, and simply add guys like Hossa to try to outscore everyone...well, that usually doesn't work too well in the playoffs...