Agreed. Warranted or not, I have a ton of faith in Gorton to make good smart moves. I think he did a great job last summer, a smart job at the trade DL and thus far has done a great job again this summer. A lot of faith in that guy to get us where we need to be. We'll add a good solid forward for sure I think.
Brooks has been terrible and mailing it in for years. Torts had it right with this moron several years ago. It's one thing during the season if you want to go against the grain because you're trying to sell your columns. I get that. What's ridiculous is to not have a clue into what's happening with the team your covering.
Great deal, Gorton is already GM of the year candidate. Not too many guys like Shattenkirk out there who would take less money to sign with the team he loves. Reminds me of when Bernie rejected the Sox to stay in pinstripes. Now he just needs to get rid of Staal, wonder what Tonya Harding's boyfriend is up to?
I think moving Miller to C makes sense, it was his position when he was drafted, he couldn't possibly be worse than Step on faceoffs.
Nieves may have the talent to be as good as Lindberg so that will be something to watch. So they really need one more 3/4 type that allows for Miller to stay at W. Grigorenko if he gets it together could be a steal for someone.
This team is better. 1. The D was terrible the past couple of seasons. We have made a huge jump from Girardi to Shatt. We also have Smith for a full season. And we added DeAngelo as a kicker. 2. Losing Stepan we obviously aren't as good upfront right this second, but Stepan has not been as good the past two seasons. AND most importantly we are not done. Gorton said so yesterday. Whether we add a wing and play Miller at C, or add a C, we will add a forward. I have zero doubt about that. I think this team is better because Shatt as a dman is better than Stepan as a C. Plus D was a much bigger area of need for us. Even without Stepan we still have good forward depth.
We do still have depth upfront as mentioned: Miller, Ziban, Hayes, Buch, Kreider, Nash, Vesey, Grabner, Zucc Those are 9 legit top 9 forwards. Now yes we can use a C. And in a perfect world I'd love Grabner on the 4th line with Fast and Nieves or Puempel or Jensen, but it isn't like we don't have depth right now. And you have to hope/think a couple of those guys can improve into next season as well. So we'll add a forward still as Gorton said, but we do also have a solid base to work from right now.
Not worried at all. Its july 2 and we have another 3 months till season is here. The "stealth" Gorton will get it done.
10.5 mill and a huge signing bonus...what is Montreal doing. Makes Hank's 8.5 look better. Alzner's deal followed by Price's deal. What a disaster that team is going to be very soon. Bergevin is lost up there after a decent start.
Price wasn't even good in the playoffs and the second half of last year. What scares me about Gorton is he probably believes if he gets a top, third line center he can win a cup with a top 4 on defense of McDonagh, Shatt, Skjei and Smith. So, he might not care about trading a lot of top prospects. Though, Pitt is much weaker now. Losing Kunitz and Bonino are big parts of their team.
He is not going to trade a lot of top prospects, it is clear that is not his style. And of course he feels we can win the cup with that D, because we can. He will do what he needs to do REASONABLY to get us another C/forward. He is smart and I trust him fully.
Rangers still have plenty of lazy forwards on the team that don't bring it every game and in the playoffs. I'm hoping Andersson makes the team.
Looks like Marleau to the Leafs 3-years 6.25 per. Big longer deal for a guy his age, but he still has game left. I think you can add them to the list of teams near the top in the East. The Caps will take a clear step back. Still a playoff team with talent, but not a top Pres trophy team any longer. Their big window was the past two seasons. The class of the East right now are the Pens, BJ's, TB and the Leafs are up there now as well. I think we can slot into the 4 or 5 range also, and if we add a good forward prior to the season there is no reason we cannot be in the mix also to go a long way in the East. We have a good real solid team if we add another C/forward.
Looks like Kuznetsov has resigned with the Caps for 8-years and a 7.8 mill cap hit. That seems way excessive to me. The guy scored 20 goals with 77 points last season. This season scored 19 goals, but fell back to 59 points. Is that worth 7.8 mill per? Yes he is 25 and you have to expect he'll get better, but these deals are nutty. Did I miss some announcement that the cap is taking a huge jump next season? Price 11.5 and Kuz 7.8 seem crazy to me. How will the Caps have balance and depth with OV at 9.5, Kuz at 7.8, Backstrom at 6.7 (maybe a bargain), Oshie at 5.75, Orpik at 5.5, Orlov at 5.1 (insane deal), Niskanen at 5.75 and Holtby at 6.1. Over 52 mill of the 75 mill cap in 8 players. Simply no depth can be had. And Carlson is a UFA after next season. There is talent in those 8 players, and Carlson is solid at 4 mill for one more season, but the Caps will take a clear step back next season I think.
