Howie58

I will have eggs and tomatoes thrown at me, but the projected first line (Coots, Atkinson, and G) should be number 2. I wish they'd have Mr. Farabee unleashed with others, put Coots on second (preserve his career and G's to boot), get Hayes on third, and construct a fourth line for checking, PK, other. That would be a helluva team to defend against and very sound defensively. Yes, our D should be better. But you win by outscoring the opponent. That in part is keeping the puck in the other guy's zone. I'd almost give Frost or other a try and start developing our first line of

On paper, this team has a better leadership core than last year. Let's hope that impacts play. Now we turn to goal. CF hopes Carter Hart returns to form but has think about a solid backup if that isn't the case. He also has to see if the youngins can grow. Otherwise we are, as others say, a marginally better team. I'd almost say we would be repeating 2008. Homer brought in some statesmen and we had a surprise playoff run. But that team didn't really have a long shelf life.

Generally, a plus. We get more cap and a pesky player who has scoring touch. He seems enthused about Philly. He played with Kevin Hayes in college. And he has been part of the leadership in CBJ, just as Ellis was in Music City. All in, pretty good.

I watched the YouTube replay of CF's presser. They have had their eye on him Risto for three years. They believe operating under five coaches has been a problem. This is a contract year--telling me they will not extend without body of work. These don't make me feel any better about the deal. But the organization must like this dude for reasons unclear to me and others.

I wonder if our management team is deluded about the farm or prospects in hand. Do they think we don't need more? Are they scared after Patrick, Rubstov, and Morin? Yikes, this one is hard to understand.

About the only hope is that if the guy bleeps up, he is done in a year.

What I don't get is cap. We lose Cap on Ghost. Same for Haag. Then add this dude, who is very questionable. It looks like a virtual wash on salary. I hope Chuck has something up his sleeve for Voracek.

Well, Pitlick went to Calgary for a fourth. So, we won't have to deal with him for a second time.

He gave us some good moments. I hope he regains some of his mojo. Jake may be very costly to move. Perhaps too costly.

He may be flipped or a draft pick. I wish him well too.

Valdiation we are stuck with some overpriced pieces. Do we think about Buyout for some folks, including Ghost?

Yes. Agreed 100%. And if we had the revenue base of football or the other majors, our system might be OK. But we don't. What's more, we don't allow the kind of walkaway clauses seen in the other leagues, like football. If we have a few more flat cap years, the players might need to think about that. As it stands, I think the age distribution of the league is going to skew increasingly young. The big, long-term contracts will be a privilege of the few.

I am outvoted.....sorry!

Dear FC: I agree--my thinking is at the 30,000 foot level. We've been hearing/discussing for the last half decade that our defense would be a cornerstone. Yeah. One would have thought we'd have a first-class D at this juncture. Instead, we have to rebuild. As I've said here before, I agree with Ron Wilson's view that contracts over 5 years are a noose and should be avoided. All GMs need to think what they are doing in that sphere. Peace, H

Last week, Bill Guerin erased some of Fletcher's handiwork. Yesterday, Fletcher undid some of his predecessors' messes. We wouldn't have needed this trade if our picks panned out as we hoped. Now we have to undue some overly long contracts from the past. BTW, Ghost as buyout isn't bad. I have to think that possibility is in the future if he isn't picked up or traded. Just one man's thought.