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Leaf Rumours

Eklund keeps banning me from making comments. Now to post my "insights" I'd have to buy a membership. If you really want to irritate him, tell him the Flyers suck dog balls.
 
yeah, we don't need a link to hockeybuzz posted.

we all know where it is if we think it's useful.
 
The eklund rumour of Pitts being highly in on Volchenkov is interesting. If they let Gonchar go and sign Volchenkov to 4.75 million, then trade Staal and say their second or something for Kabs and Mitchell they get the tough defenseman, the puck moving one, and Salary wise they would be pretty good, as volch takes most of the gonchar money and the kabby Staal salaries wipe eachother out.
 
It doesn't really make much sense. They already have Orpik.

If they add a big money D it will be to replace Gonchar.
 
Shero has proven to be too smart for that too happen.

With Letang, Goligoski and Orpik, they aren't going to add two top 4 dmen. And they aren't going to replace Gonchar with Volchenkov.
 
yeah, playing against montreal exposed 2 things for pittsburgh... 1. They have no wingers, and 2. Their defense isn't that good at playing defense.

both finals teams showed the importance of having some strong defenseman, especially big ones.

Volchenkov won't add offense to the pitts line, but they need a shot blocker and a hard hitter back there. Kaberle could provide the offense that Gonchar provided. Maybe not the shots, but definetly the ability to get the puck up to the forwards. Giving them Kabs and Mitchell for Staal and a second, would be a smart move. It keeps Mitchell as a third line centre, and it gives them two major defensive pieces.

We get Staal... and a second... nuff said.
 
ugh, the loss to montreal showed absolutely nothing.

pittsburgh has played a lot of hockey over the past three seasons. they hit a hot goalie and a team that was playing extremely well, and everything sort of caught up to them.

pittsburgh has had basically the same roster for three years now and been to two finals and then game seven of the second round. if we know anything it's that it would be utterly stupid for pittsburgh to start making significant changes.

that is a perennial cup contender. no team is perfect any more -- it's impossible under the cap -- but the D is fine and they really don't need to go and blow their loot and take up a ton of cap space on wingers.

it's so irritatingly stupid that people think pittsburgh's roster has significant flaws. they won the ****ing cup, for god's sake.
 
Metalleaf said:
I think Pitt goes after Hamhuis. And if he's cheap enough, might look at Paul Martin.
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if they lose gonchar they'll go after a higher impact defenseman. i've heard shero and bylsma speak of the importance of having an elite puck mover, and neither hamhuis nor martin are that (though martin is a nice fallback option).

the truth is they very well could go after kaberle if gonchar leaves.

though, yeah, they might still go after hamhuis if he's undervalued enough. he's a nice #2/#3 defenseman and the sort of two-way performer that pittsburgh could use. he might also have some untapped offensive potential that would emerge playing on pittsburgh's powerpaly. he is a decent puck mover and has a solid point shot.

but he could get over priced on the open market and if he does then pittsburgh will be out of the running.

edit: and to add, i think martin will be their fallback option if they can't work out a trade to replace gonchar (or bring him back).

martin's a good hockey player. and another guy whose offense could flourish upon leaving the devils.
 
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Yeah, Pitt wasn't exposed. They got horrific goaltending and still went 7 games against the hottest goalie in the league.
 
Hoss said:
The eklund rumour of Pitts being highly in on Volchenkov is interesting. If they let Gonchar go and sign Volchenkov to 4.75 million, then trade Staal and say their second or something for Kabs and Mitchell they get the tough defenseman, the puck moving one, and Salary wise they would be pretty good, as volch takes most of the gonchar money and the kabby Staal salaries wipe eachother out.
Click to expand...

they have orpik. they aren't going to sign an orpik clone and have almost $9mn locked up between the two of them. shero values puck movers over stay-at-home defensemen. that's straight from his mouth.

and in your scenario all they do is deplete their forwards without sufficient cap space to address those shortcomings.

it's pretty friggin unlikely that pittsburgh re-orients their team like that. if gonchar walks they'll replace him with a top puck mover -- and may move staal to get that player (if that's what it costs) -- but they aren't going to blow a ton of cash on volchenkov.

above all else, that would be incredibly foolhardy. first, because he isn't worth what he's going to get. and second, because he just isn't a necessary piece for the penguins.
 
Pittsburgh learned the hard way how much they missed Gill and Scuderi, so they'll probably look to improve the D with similar players if they can.
 
Even if thats true. They don't need to spend $5 million to replace Gill and Scuderi.

You replace them with guys like Gill and Scuderi.
 
zeke said:
hamhuis has become crazy overrated, IMO.
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It's been tough to get a read on his offense because Nashville has always had a lot of mobility and good puck movers from the back end, so he has never gotten a ton of time on the powerplay.

He's a solid defenseman. A good anchor for the second unit. But, yeah, I could see teams going a little crazy over him and giving him a deal in the $4mn range and he just isn't worth that.

Not until he proves that he can score in the 40 point range, at least.
 
Metalleaf said:
Pittsburgh learned the hard way how much they missed Gill and Scuderi, so they'll probably look to improve the D with similar players if they can.
Click to expand...

Pittsburgh's loss to Montreal had a lot more to do with goaltending (at both ends of the rink) than it did with their D.
 
And to add to the Hamhuis thing: the one season in which he received more than 2 and change of PP ice time (05-06 when he averaged 3+ per game), he put up 38 points.

If he goes to a team where he can see regular time on the powerplay -- even if it's on the second unit -- he should see a nice spike in his production. It isn't a guarantee, but probable.
 
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