Speculation: How many Isles have played their last game in this sweater?

[CREW99AW]

I am really hoping we resign Nielsen and Martin and if we don't resign KO, then we hopefully sign Stamkos, Eriksson, Lucic or Backes, but I definitely want Martin back, as he has the heart and soul that we don't have enough of and I would absolutely hate the Rangers signing him. We have too many guys like Grabo, Kuli, Bailey,Strome and Nelson who play a soft style, so we need to get more team speed and grittiness, but I'm sure every team will be looking for the same. It should be an interesting off season, but its started off well will Hamonic rescinding his trade request

Maybe the new owners want to make a splash, so they sign Stamkos?

Signing Eriksson or Backes would be ok, a quality top 6 replacement for Okposo.

 

[BMOK33]

Stamkos would be a huge mistake. It makes it insanely hard to maintain any D core with so much tied up in him and inevitably JT. We need 2-3 modest scorers to balance out the scoring, not 1 more huge guy who can probably get shut down.

 

[Sparksrus3]

Stamkos would be a huge mistake. It makes it insanely hard to maintain any D core with so much tied up in him and inevitably JT. We need 2-3 modest scorers to balance out the scoring, not 1 more huge guy who can probably get shut down.

So you are not in favor of a 2nd superstar to play with JT?
There is always talk here about JT needing a wingman OR
The team needing a second star player. We offered Vanish 7 mill x 7 years . Now that would be a burden.
Stamkos at 10 mill x 7 years would be a bargain compared to having "The Gambler" floating around for 5 more years.

 

[BMOK33]

So you are not in favor of a 2nd superstar to play with JT?
There is always talk here about JT needing a wingman OR
The team needing a second star player. We offered Vanish 7 mill x 7 years . Now that would be a burden.
Stamkos at 10 mill x 7 years would be a bargain compared to having "The Gambler" floating around for 5 more years.

I don't think they'd play on the same line. You'd want them on separate lines so that Tampa could not do what they did with Hedman this playoffs. With 2 separate lines like that the opposition unless they two great D pairings cannot really defend against it.

 

[WangMustGo]

I don't think they'd play on the same line. You'd want them on separate lines so that Tampa could not do what they did with Hedman this playoffs. With 2 separate lines like that the opposition unless they two great D pairings cannot really defend against it.

Exactly, 2 first lines is what this offense needs. Stamkos is perfect for this team.

 

[dlawong]

Pens had a hard time to field a competitive playoff team with both Crosby & Malkin and Crosby took a discount to stay with the Pens & there is no guarantee that JT will do that because Crosby already won the SC when he resign and he has a very close personal relationship with the Pens owner at that time.

I loves Stamkos but Isles are better off to develop their own 2nd line center (like SJ did with Couture) and they do have one with potential. Unless Isles is not bang on to keep JT (for money or other reason) and may trade him for a true experienced elite #1 D or gamble after a high profile youngster like Nolan Patrick next year. Of course the latter move may be tougher to pull off because JT will be an UFA soon and just like Stamkos it is hard to trade them even elite because there is no guarantee that the UFA will resign with the team he is traded to especially if they finish in the bottom five.

Isles need to get a bonafide RW as they are super weak at that position and even signing an UFA RW may not be enough because they need the depth to deal with injuries. This is where they need to concentrate on in the draft, trade and UFA. Talk to Detroit as they do have a lot of depth in RW, but not so much in LW.

 

[dlawong]

Watching this year many playoff games I think it is very important to have a strong balance of 1) natural hand skill 2) speed 3) size and 4) experience with probably 3) and 4) equally important.

The physical plays can only go so far in a playoff and will win you a couple of games but not the series but skill/speed will wear out the D on the other side. It is also important to recognize that you can't hit what you can't catch and sooner or later a speedy team who can out skate and out cycle the opposition will be too hard to handle for their opposition and will also frustrate the goalies at the end.

Special team can be a factor but with the refs not willing to call too many penalties in close games, teams cannot rely too much on the success of special teams. Face-offs are key factors though in the playoff because without success at the dot it is tough to maintain possessions in any situation. By the way, Face-off is not just dependent on the center's ability to win draws but also how the players are line-up and if they can win the puck battles after the draw.

 

[MikeyMike01]

I don't think they'd play on the same line. You'd want them on separate lines so that Tampa could not do what they did with Hedman this playoffs. With 2 separate lines like that the opposition unless they two great D pairings cannot really defend against it.

Presumably they'd be on separate lines, but play together on the PP or in key situations.

See: Malkin, Crosby