RonJeremy

and I guess Manning will be stepping in,,, Carle, Timmo, Coburn ,Manning, Kubina, Lilja. this could be the big break the Pens are looking for. Mez is not due back til lthe next round, and Bourdon has had two concussions already this year and one when he got knocked out in a fight in the AHL last year, so he is probably out for a while, and now Grossman... Once again injuries on the defense could be our undoing, as well as poor goaltending

Malkenstein is a 230 lb pu$$y, he is a cheap shot punk and as big as he is, he wont fight. That was a deliberate head shot. Now we are without Bourdon, Grossman and Mez. Kubina and Lilja are slow and absouluely horrible, the Pens are gonna exploit them big time. Its unreal how every year we end up with all these injuries to our defense. It think the team has to sacrifice JVR for a big time young dman and also draft a good dman in the draft this year. We have to realize Timmo has one year left ,and Pronger is not coming back, so we gotta stock up on defense. Take a look at this kid Dalton Thrower, I havent seen a skilled dman with fighting ability like this in a long time, he is a righty too. This draft is loaded with defensemen, and its high time we got a good dman in the first round.

Shea Webber elbows Zetterberg in the head and then grabs his head and smashes his face into the glass, and GUESS WHAT? HE GOT 2 MINUTES. Yet Rinaldo got 5 and a game misconduct for clean hit in the last game against Pittsburgh.

I have been watching hockey since the early 70's and never once have I seen referees call pre-emptive penalties in a game . There have been thousands of tough hard hitting and dirty games, that were a powderkeg that could explode into some serious brawls, but the refs never gave out misconducts and kicked people out for running their mouth and for borderline hits. Rinaldo got a 5 minute major and a game misconduct for a routine hit, that at best ,could have been 2 mins. I have seen far worse hits that were not even called. Shelley got kicked out for opening his mouth, was it a coincidence that the Flyer two toughest players were targeted by the refs. Penalties are supposed to be called on what you do, not what you might do. This has Garry Buttman written all over it. This nebish little punk, is ruining the game. You would think that a former tough guy NHL player like Shannahan would be a good influence on refs calling a fair game and discipline being handed out in a fair manner, but it looks like he is a mere puppet for the Buttman regime. I have seen Rinaldo throw textbook hard body checks to the chest and just because his target went flying they were called charging penalties, this happens constantly. Hartnell gets crosschecked into the goalie and 99% of the time he is the one penalized. Penalties are called on reputation , Cindy can break a stick over someones leg and no one sees it, Im tired of this . How are we gonna win a playoff series when we cant even throw a clean hit or complain without being penalized. I dont see how the owners are tolerating Gary Buttman, he needs to be overthrown, everything is a gimmick to attract new fans... The shootout should be abolished and replaced with a 10 minute OT and after 10 mins if its a tie ,then its a tie. Of course 20 mins would be better, but the networls would not go for it. The draft lottery, is another farce, its purely to create a buzz before the draft. It should go by record,not by a dopey lottery. Columbus got stiffed just like the Flyers did a few years ago. If a team is resting regualrs and tanking late in the season to get a high pick, then there should be heavy fine, but the lottery is total BS. The playoff format also needs to be changed, it should be based on total points 1-8 in each conference. FLA has no business being in the 3rd seed with home ice. The best matchup is now in the first round with Flyers vs Pens, and whover makes it to the second round is gonna be beaten down and bruised, aqnd not in good shape for the next round. You want to build excitement and anticipation, you cant do that when one of the top teams will automatically be out in the first round. Referees should not have such an influence in the outcome of games and should be shown videos of their foul ups so they know not to make the same lame calls over and over. Like when someone isnt holding their stick tight and it gets chopped out of their hands and a penalty is called. BUTTMAN MUST GO

As far as the defense next year, you figure , Mez, Timo,Bourdon, Coburn are all signed. Grossman gets re-signed, and now the last spot is all depending on how the market goes. I think Holmgren sees what the contract cost is for Suter and what it might take to trade for Webber , of course if Suter is signed by anyone, then Nashville will do whatever it takes to keep Webber . If Suter is re-signed then maybe we throw a huge RFA offer to Webber and see how that goes. If all else fails they will probably try to re-sign Carle, and overpay. Carle ,like most players in a contract yea,r is having his best year ever. The question is ...does he, like most players drop off a few notches after signing a big new deal. Pronger is done Kubina wont be re-signed Lilja had a one yr deal he is gone Walker I think is also done I think the 7th spot will be Manning and Gus fighting it out, unless we sign a cheap vet who has no other options to a 1 yr deal, which might be a good idea consdidering how our dmen are injured all the time. Bourdon has really looked good in his latest callup, and he did put a number of accurate point shots on net in the Ranger game, they were not rockets, but unlike Carle and Coburn his shots actually made it to the net and were nice and low, and they did get some scoring chances off those shots. I think with more time and confidence Bourdon might start becoming more of an offensive force for us. There is still a chance that JVR gets traded for a top young dman, since we are stacked at forward and Wellwood looks real good. If JVR is dealt, we have to get something good, because he probably will be a real good player, so we need an equally talented young dman or a top 5 pick for him. We were looking at Schenn in Toronto...Will Luke Schenn become a Scott Stevens type , a big hitting, physical shutdown dman , or wont he . We check all or options and get the best possible deal if we do give up on JVR.

Let me rephrase that, why dont we draft any GOOD Amercan dmen and I dont mean guys in 6th and 7th round, I mean higher up in the draft. Gilroy didnt pan out, but you gotta like Mcdonough on the Rangers. I keep forgetting, we dont draft good dmen of any nationality. Although I do like Bourdon

You can read it on Philly online...Flyers are going after De Keyser, but the competition is fierce most of the other teams want him too, but they are saying Detroit has the inside track on this kid. It seems to me that there are lots of good American college defensemen being drafted or signed over the years. Im wondering why the Flyers never , draft any American dmen. We could use a good all around right handed dman, with some size and PP skills.

http://www.hockeysfuture.com/prospects/erik_gudbranson Here is a dman we could target, i never watch FLA play so Im not sure what theier needs are, but this guys surely sounds like what we need.

@mojo1917, when they did talk of getting Schenn from Toronto, they did say that TO would sent more than just Schenn for JVR. One kid i like on Toronto is Cody Franson, they stole him from Nashville for nothing. Id try and get him, but not for JVR. I guess or management has to look at the potential dmen out there, and decide who to go after. Who has the most potential to improve, and who provides what we need on the blueline. A guy with a good accurate shot would be nice, a guy with top defensive ability too.

I know Suter can be had for only $$ , I meant the price of his contract will be high. Suter is good, but Im not sure if he is worth 7 million. I dont see LA trading Doughty, after they dumped Jack johnson. I also dont see Chicago dumping Keith or Seabrook, and if they did, they would want more than JVR. I think we may have to go after a young dman, who may have fallen into disfavor on his current team. Guys like Subban, Schenn or Bogosian, it also depends on the other teams needs, teams that have a surplus of dmen and are looking for some size/scoring up front, those are the teams that might want to make a trade. Im sure there are other good young dmen out there in the Western Conference, I dont get to see those teams, so I cant really say. Im sure there are also some cant miss defensive prsopects who have been drafted in the past few years and are NHL ready, those are also the tpyes of guys we can target , if all else fails. Lets face it we have ZERO top 4 defensemen anywhere in our junior or AHL sytems. If you sign a dmen via free agency, you always overpay with the contract. Maybe a trade is the way to go

Standing Pat is great for now, but no one seems to be addressing the fact that in spite of adding 2 dmen, the guys we added are 3rd pairing guys. No one is thinking about how do we replace Pronger, and Timmo is wearing down and has one year left. So that leaves us without a number one and two dman in the very near future, and those kind of guys dont grow on trees. So viaFA or a trade will have to make a move. Pronger is virtually irreplaceable, the closest to his skill set is Webber, and getting him is a long shot. The price for Suter will be very high, so we may have no alternative but to trade a guy like JVR for an equally talented young dman. The thing the Bruins and Rangers have on us is defense and goaltending, there is not much we can do with the goaltending, but we can surely make some deals to improve the D. o matter what Holmgren or anyone else says, there is no way he is satisfied with our group of defensemen. He will do something in the offseason

@aziz stop acing like all the top teams will go into the tank come playoffs. I never said the Rangers will win the cup. I merely made observations of how consitent the Rangers have been ALL YEAR, not the last 2 months. My posts have been about how the Rangers have owned us and how well their defense is playing. You keep bring ing up how they cant score, well we cant stop anyone from scoring. In the end it comes down to wins and losses. The Rangers dont need to score alot, because they dont give up many goals. Sure they are in trouble if Gaborik or Callahan get hurt. Just like we are toast if anything happens to Timmonen. Anyone can win the Cup as you said, but I dont see Bryzgalov suddenly turning into Ken Dryden, the man is psychologically defeated. He may need an off season to get his head on straight.

Aziz is an astute hockey person, but he is just going to come back with some sort of stats. All I know is, we cant beat the Rangers lately, and as far as different styles go, forget that part, lets just look at when the puck is in our defensive zone, and it comes to clearing the crease, eliminating rebounds and playing sound positional hockey. In that context we suck, and the Rangers are great. We leave men wide open, make blundering boneheaded plays and had the puck over. Even though we may not give up lots of shots, some of the ones we give up are practically giftwrapped, either from our dmen, or goaltenders. We play great for a certain period and then its just a total collapse. I dont see the Rangers doing that, like we do. Im hoping our two new physical dmen can change that. I just dont see our dmen shutting down guys like the Rags have done to us, we cant even get near their net. Once they took the lead, they just clamped down, while we continually blow leads. Sure I know Bryz sucks, but what do we do, if there is a buyout option this offseason, do we buyout Bryz or give him another year and possibly be stuck with that contracct. Will there be anyone better that we can get?

Someone wrote we are seeing the best the Rangers have, well it seems good enough to win and its been consistent. No team is perfect ,every team has breakdowns, mistakes, etc. I just dont see the Rangers giving away games like we do. The Rangers have owned us for the last 6 games, the Rangers have been winning the majority of low scoring games, while we are winning 5-4. We have given up 60 more goals than they have. Their play is much more sound than ours. Sure they dont have much offense, but they dont need to score much to win, as you can see by their record. Just like in the old days when the Devils beat us constantly with tough solid ,physical defense, and great goaltending. On paper we were always the more talented team, but NJ beat us all the time. Im not handing them the Cup, but they have been consistent all year, and defensively sound.You dont see them getting destroyed like we did against Boston and Detroit, there are too many nights where we take off, and too many high scoring games. Defense and goaltending always win. We need a few key additions and we are as good as anyone. We are on the right path, but the defense and goaltending are in need of improvement to say the least, and we need a big shutdown center with faceoff skills. I hate the Rangers and it burns me up to see a team that we have pushed around for 35 years, is now , not only beating us, but also beating us up.

The Rangers defense do not make many mistakes,you dont get many quality shots on goal agaisnt them, they play physical and they block lots of shots, and rarely do you get a second shot on goal at Lunquist.On top of that , Lundquist doesnt give up many rebounds or bad goals, and is awesome in shootouts. Girardi Staal and McDonough are more defensively sound than any dmen we have. Our defense does not give up lots of shots, but once there is a breakdown , they are the type where guys are being left wide open for a slam dunk open net goal or blatant turnovers in front, and to a lesser degree , breakaways.On top of that, count at least one cheap goal a game from bob or Bryz.. Now they have added a behemoth enforcer to their blueline, to make it even harder for us to get near their net, and to also beat us up, since we cant even beat up Prust. We never have any sustained attack against the Rangers, and very little room to maneuver in tight.

It was so like the Obama election, so much promised, yet nothing happenned

@aziz, yes I am quite amazing, I wave my big wand and predict things. We have not been getting the goaltending all season, suddenly they are going to turn into Tretiak, we have a very young team, and our defense is still giving up way too many chances. Sure maybe we can win a round, but Im looking at the big picture. We are a few pieces away from being a top contender, giving up second rounders for bandaid solutions does not help us in the long run. There are no real prospects to speak of in Adirondack, and not much in the juniors either.We added 2 veteran bodies to our defense, so the smart thing would have been to trade Carle at the deadline while everyone was overpaying. He is not going to make that much of a difference for us. We could have gotten a first rounder and a prospect or a first and second rounder,especially when you see what lesser demen were being traded for. Yoiu wont get anything near that if you try and trade him at the draft, and as far as the hometown discount, thats a crock, just like Leino was gonna stay ...Once some idiots offer Carle 5 million a year, he will be gone, and we will have nothng to show for it. Sometimes you have to take a step back, to take one forward. Holmgren revamped the offense ,on the fly, which no one thought possible. We need to do the same with the defense, we blew an oppurtunity by holding on to Carle, and we dumped 2 secons rounders in a deep draft. Dumping the picks for Kubina and Grossman, wouldnt be so bad if we turned Carle into a first and second, and then went after a top dman in the offseason. Im just being realisitc, we do not have the experience, leadership, goaltending or defense to go that far this year

If Oduya is worth a second and 3rd and we gave up two second rounder plus for Grossman and Kubina, we easlily could have gotten a first and second for Carle. at the trade deadline people pay top dollar, if we try and deal Carle at the draft,we will be lucky to get a 3rd rounder. We blew it. We are out in the first round and have nothing to show when Carle walks

Unload Matt Carle for a first rounder plus, otherwise we lose him to UFA, and we are not getting out of the first round, so there is no point in keeping Carle or trading for any more role players , we already gave away two second rounders and it supposed to be a deep draft this year.

I understand your pain, I dont want to give up, but Im being realistic. We are pretty set on offense, and we never expected to score like we have, and our defense and goaltending,was supposed to be the strong point. It turned out to be the exact opposite. My biggest concern is finding replacements for Pronger and Timmo, only way I see it happening is by making some bold moves, . Maybe Homer can pull that off, like he did in rebuilding the offense.

p.s this is supposed to be a revamping year anyway, and we exceeded expectations after trading our top 2 centermen, and are scoring lots of goals. Now its time to revamp the defense. I know it will be harder, but we have 2 veteran dmen Carle and timmo that we can trade for young dmen, and then re-sign Kubina and the other guy for much less than Carle and timmo and they can assume the leadership and we can bring in young talent on the blueline.

@mojo1917...my reason to move Carle is simple, hes an UFA, he will be looking for a big raise and we cant pay him and hes not worth a big raise. We can hold on to him and with our atrocious goaltending,we can go out in one or two rounds, and then get nothing . Or we can deal Carle , and at deadline time, Cup bound teams always grossly overpay. We gave up two second rounders plus for an old Kubina and a bottom pairing guy who are both UFA. Imagine what we can get for Carle. I would also entertain offers for Timmo, he has one year left after this, if an unreal offer came in Id do it. Of course I d have to get a top young dman back in either deal. I think part of holmgrens reason for getting 2 dmen is to trade Carle. We have to get some young top pairing dmen from somewhere, Pronger is toast and Timmo has one more year, where are we gonna get these dmen from unless we make a trade ? We do not have one impact prospect left in our entire system ,we have a few role players like Wellwood whos a 3rd liner and Bourdon and Kessler on D, who are 5th or 6th guys. If we drafted a top dman this summer hes 2-3 yrs from helping us. By dumping Timmo and Carle we free up some $$ to sign a guy like Webber or Suter. Briere is another guy I would trade if the right deal came along. we can dump some of these big contracts. NOW IF WE COULD ONLY DUMP BRYZ. Or in making these deals we stockpile some first rounders and prospects to use for trades for young dmen or we move up in the draft and get a highly rated dman.

Hartnell is scoring as many goals as Nash for half the price. The only way i give up JVR or Schenn is for a young future impact dman. either a defensive stalwart, who hits like scott Stevens and blocks shots and can actually play defense, or a 2 way guy with a big point shot who can QB the PP

Trading Hartnell is absurd, he is a warrior and made for playoff hockey. He battles and scores all the dirty goals in front and has a real good shot. Id rather dump Carle and Timmo for first round draft picks and or top prospects. Then we can trade JVR for a good young dman, and then at the draft use our extra picks to trade up and land a good winger to replace JVR. Also with the $$ we save we can try and sign Suter or Webber. Of course if someone wants to take Briere Im all for that, hopefully to Montreal for OK Subban

Bob has the most natural talent of any goalie we have had since Lindbergh. If he can work on a few things like, not leaving the short side post uncovered, standing up and challenging at the right time, and to be alert and always expect shots from anywhere. Then we will finally have a franchise goalie. I fear that we will trade him since we are stuck with Bryz.