RonJeremy

There have been countless posts about improving the defense, and some of you here argue that Webber will not make enough of an impact to be worth a big long term contract and to give up some good players to get him. Do any of you recall how much of a better team we are when Pronger is in the lineup? The only dman out there , that may be available who is close to Prongers style, is Webber. One franchise dman makes a world of difference in many areas. The PP, penalty kill, physical play, he makes his defensive partner a better player, and overall team confidence. We are a completely different team with Pronger and we can be that good team again with Webber. We gave Pronger a huge long term deal at the age of 35, Webber is 26, there is a big difference there. Right now we lack a PP QB, a big accurate point shot for the PP, a skilled offenisive dman, a dominant physical dman and an overall leader for the blueline, Webber provides all of that in one package. I think the best move for us, is to try and work a deal with Nashville, and if that fails, then put out a big offer sheet for Webber and hope Nashville cant match it. then we also sign another big bruiser like Bryan Allen in the offseason. If that scenario fails, then we should try and copy the Rangers defense and just have a real defensively sound bluline from 1-6 without any real superstar back there, but just a group of hard working guys who actually know how to play defense or who have the potential to be real good in a year or two.. We may have to go out and trade for some young guys who might have fallen into disfavor with their current teams, maybe Schenn, Bogosian, PK Subban, guys like that. There is another dman that I think has great potential and thas Cody Franson, I believe he is an UFA and to me he is worth looking at. He is a monster and is also a right hander ,toronto stole him in a trade with Nashville.Either way, we need to add two dmen to this team, and if it means sealing JVR, then so be it. Its much harder to find good dmen than it is to find, a forward. Look at how cotts stepped right in, its nearly impossible to draft a dman that is gonna step in at 18 and make an impact, unless its the next Dennis Potvin or Ray Bourque and your picking first in the draft.

Lets face it, we have not realy had any goalie to be considered exceptional since Lindbergh and we only had him for 3 years or so. Hextall had one great year, his rookie season, after that his mechanics went to hell and he was flopping around like a fish out of water, and getting beat with horrible 5 hole shots. Hexy was an average goalie. Maybe all the groin and hamstring injuries were to blame, who knows. Since then we have had a parade of mediocrity. Boucher had a great rookie year, then was mediocre, same thing with Cecmanek, Nitty showed flashes of brilliance, but again it was the same old story. We have not had a consistent goalie in 25 years, oh wait, they have been consistent,,,,,, consistantly bad.

If you look at the Rangers defense, they dont really have any flashy "superstar" guys back there and they only have one guy who is an offensive threat, thats Del Zotto. What they do have is a collection of physical, defensively sound, tight checking defensemen, who smother our forwards and in the four games ,we rarely got the wide open shots that they did, and we barely got any second shots on Lundquist, its usually one and done. Girardi and Stall, have all but shutdown our big scorers, and Lundquist is not going to give up any cheap goals,while our goalies do it constantly. In this last game their defenseman enabled the Rangers to score two goals due to an accurate point shot, timmo missed the net at least 4 times on wide open point shots. We have some smooth skating dmen, like Carle, Coburn, and Timmo, none of them have a real good point shot and only timmo is defensively sound, None are physical . Gustafsson is a midget and is getting manhndled, Bourdon is a rookie and is playing too many minutes. Lilja is a minor league stiff who should be released. We need to improve the defense ASAP, and good defensemen dont grow on trees. We are going to have to give up someone like JVR to get a good dmam, and then also get a free agent. Bourdon is the best dman in our system , the other guys in Adirondack are not NHL ready and not rated all that high

On top of two cheap goals by Bryz, Timmo cant hit the broad side of a barn, how many wide open point shots is he gonna get and hit the glass. The Rangers scored 2 goals by accurate point shots, our dmen cant even put it on net, Bourdons fanning on a shot led to a goal, Coburn is a bonehead, and a dissapointment, stupid penalties and the same mistakes over and over, Gustafsson is too small and gets manhandled. The Rangers defense blocks so many shots and is very physical. We need to revamp our defense. The Rangers have only one dman with puck skills, Del Zotto, all the rest are big and physical and very defenively sound. We have guys who can skate, but are average defensively. Im so fed up with losing to the Rangers

the blame goes to the defense for allowing that euro puss mary anne gaborik to come around the net, and Bryz also is to blame, all he had to do was put the paddle down and sit there, there is no reason to poke. the puck is coming to you, sit there and let it happen, gaborik had no where to go except on the ice with the puck. what is it with these short side, stick side cheap goals.

Considering what Nashville is asking for to get Suter, I would not even bother. He is a good player, but he is not worth giving up a top roster player, top prospect, secondary prospect and first rounder, which is what Nashville is looking for.On top of all the players you would lose, then you would have to pay him 7 million. Suter is not overly physical and is not that great offensivley. Id rather pay 10 million to Webber, we should make a huge RFA contract offer to Webber. If they opt not to match, and we get Webber, then I offer a couple of players, in place of some fo the first rounders, so we arent without a pick for four yeas. Suter is a good defensemen, but he is not that much of a difference maker like Webber. If that does not seem possible, then our best option is to get two physical stay at home dmen like Schenn and Allen for the same cap $ it would cost for Suter. Or try and trade a guy like JVR for a guy like Bogosian or JacK Johnson, and sign Allen as well.Maybe we just look to have a solid 1-6 instead of having one big stud /bif contract guy, if we cant land Webber. The bottom line is we need to add some crease clearing defensively sound guys to our blueline, our guys are just not strong enough in those areas. So maybe two defenively sound dmen for 7million is better than one guySuter for 7 million. Lets face it Carle is gone, he will be looking for at leat 5 million, after what Gleason got.

Id rather see boston win

Eklund is a tool, this fat jerk0ff , always writes about these bullcrap trades, and talks about his "sources" .I have yet to see one trade he has talked about become a reality. He is a typical armchair athlete with no life, when was the last time he made out with a girl? His the kind of middle aged loser you see at sporting events with his face painted acting like a buffoon, and His sources are the same as ours, TSN, ESPN, The hockey News etc.

Why is Simmonds picked for a shootout? he has zero stickhandling skills and his shot is OK, but all his goals are off scrambles in front, he is not gonna fool a guy like Thomas.I would have used Courturier or Schenn or even Hartnell, who doesnt have lots of moves, but has a great shot and is on a tear

Aside fro some poor calls and non calls from refs, our defense does not do a good job of yting up the Bruins in front and they keep banging in these rebounds or goals of a scramble in front. the other problem is, Bryz should be ready for anything and he is always caught by surprise on these scramble types of goals. His concentration level and reaction are sub -par

Whats better , a 2 minute instigator penalty , or having one of your top guys out with a concussion? Im not saying , to deliberately injure a guy, but , a few hard hits to their players or a good beating with 1 minute left and a 3-1 lead would have been good.

Briere was obviously targeted by the Devils, he took a bunch of shots today some clean, some dirty. The bottom line is , you dont allow another team to run your smaller guys. Even if the hits are clean, you have to make someone pay the price. Where was our enforcer Shelley, we need to toughen up this team. We really need an enforcer who can actually play some minutes and let the other team know they cant get away with running our players. A guy like shelley who plays 3 minutes a game is not out there enough to get any payback. All i know is the old time flyers would never have allowed Clarke to take the beating that Briere took today. Volchenkov should have been hammered and Elias should have been layed out

Thanks for that detailed answer, all of your points makes sense...

We have been scouting Toronto alot lately ,obviously for a defensemen, so it could be Luke Schenn or Cody Franson. Schenn will cost us much more, Brian Burke is not gonna ask for anything less than JVR ,if we go after Franson , it will cost much less. Although Franson is not a star, he is 6ft 5 ,220, takes the body, is a right hander and also has some decent stats. He came from Nashville ,who always draft good dmen, he can be a good ,cheap pickup for us. I believe he is an UFA next year. Maybe we get a guy like him, and then save a guy like JVR to go after a Webber or Suter type in the offseason, and by then we will know more about Prongers situatioin.

Isnt Jack Johnson supposed to be a big tough guy? We do need a big physical defensive stalwart, but we also need a buy to QB the PP. Several of our dmen can move the puck, but other than Mez, no one has a decent point shot at all. Our PP is not doing much and our dmen are not scoring many goals.

If I could get a great youn dman with potential of Drew Doughty and a first rounder for Timmo ,then sure Id make the trade

Suter is an elite defenseman and he is young ,so trading a guy like JVR for him is not a bad move ,considering we are stacked up front and weak on the blueline. Gus and Bourdon are solid young dmen ,but neither is in the caliber of Suter. Of course we can roll the dice and hope that Nashville cant re-sign Suter or Webber and then try and land one as a free agent. In order for us to compete with the Rangers and Bruins ,its imperative to improve our defense. Pronger could be done and even if he comes back, he has been hurt alot over the last few years and Timmo is getting old. We have no means at all to acquire a #1 or #2 dmen other than by a trade. Even if we lucked out in the draft and landed a great guy, it takes 3-4 years for a dman to dominate.

What have you seen of Cody Franson ?, he is a big guy like 6ft 5, 230, I know he was a good prospect for Nashville and Toronto got him gor nothing. I havent seen him play much , is he a good 5th or 6th guy for us, of course not at the price of JVR, I dont think were getting Schenn because Burke will try to fleece us like he did for Versteeg.So ithink we may be looking at Franson or a low priced guy like that

Offered recently to us and one other team specifically for JVR and I forgot the other team , but you can see it on the website, the only thing is the site is slow

Im never up late enough for West Coast hockey, anyone get to see Jack Johnson play, is he wat we are looking for. HOw is his defensive play, physical play, offensive skill ?

I think Toronto will want too much for Schenn, think about it...who will they ask for? no one from the Phantoms, not Harry Z or Rinaldo, they will want JVR. Is Schenn worth JVR? I would rather hold onto JVR for a potential deal for a guy like Webber. I think the guy we are scouting is Cody Franson, i know he was a top prospect for Nashville and he is a big guy, anyone seen him play?

Of course, we certainly dont need another Mr Softy like Carter. Voracek ,Courts and Schenn are all more physical than Carter...JVR on the other hand is too much of a nice guy and needs to play with more of an edge and use his size to his advantage.

Courts is 6ft 3 and prob 170 lbs, i love his defensive game but he needs to add about 40 lbs. Voracek is 6ft 2, 215lbs... So he has the size and skating ability to go up against anyone. Im not denying the skill of our centers at this point we have tremendous young skilled centers , we just dont have much size/strength there, although im not arguing that all our guys play bigger than their size. But keep in mind how the Bruins manhandled us last year. i still think we need Getzlaf at center and Webber on defense, then we can go up against the Bruins...I know , Im having delusions.....

Do you ever see when Frankenstein Malkin cycles with the puck our opposing centers cant even budge him. If you watched the 3 games against the Rangers, our small centers were rendered all but useless against the Rangers physical defense.Sure G scored in the WC game, but he was shutdown after that and in the other games.I think we would be a much better team if we had a big Primeau type of center to shutdown the oppositions center, win big faceoffs and battle in front of the net for rebounds.

Schenn has been highly regarded and was a stud in the WJC, he is strating to pick it up now after all those injuries. The thing we all have to be prepared for is, we all know that that we will be making a deal for a dman, and if its a quality dman, then we will be giving up quality in return, so you can count on it being either JVR or Schenn. I think both are going to be real good players. It seems that most flyer fans would rather deal JVR, of course if he was playing like he did in the playoffs,we would be saying to deal Schenn.