One of Neil or Smith needs to go!

[SaltyPete]

Chicago cleans up in the regular season, and is easily the most skilled team, yet LA and Boston are right there with them in the playoffs. Do I really need to bring up the euro Sens getting their ***** handed to them by Toronto year after year? Those memories will haunt me until we beat them in the playoffs.

The point is, you need warriors to win in the playoffs, and guys like Gaborik and Hemsky are the guys you bring in at the end to complement.

Your underselling the talent that Boston and L.A have, I think they're elite players are more the reason that they win cups as opposed to their depth guys.

Although both teams have a lot of skill throughout the lineup, I'll give you that.

 

[jbeck5]

Easier to build a tough team than copying the Chicago model, they are just the cream of the crop.

Funny that it doesn't seem to be working for Edmonton? I feel bad for those fans, such high hopes for those young stars, but no team around them. I have more faith in Buffalo doing it right now.

Yeah, its easy to build a tough team. Took Toronto no effort to ice 2-3 goons and bring in clarkson. Problem is where does that get us?

I'd rather ice a bunch of 2-way players who aren't neccarily rough but are tough.

We need players that can play at both ends of the ice who won't get intimidated. They don't have to go for huge hit a and fight everything that moves. They just need to be good hockey players who want to win.

Getting good players should be priority number one.

Dump greening,condra,Neil, Phillips and get 2-3 top line forwards and 2 top 4 d. That's easier said then done obviously, but that's what we should be striving for.

We have the cap space to replace our 5 crappiest players with 5 top 2 line players. Now its just about acquiring the pieces.

I'd be more focused on getting talent to Ottawa then making sure to resign guys like Phillips and Neil but we know where Murrays priorities were.

 

[We Want the Cup 2010]

Yeah, its easy to build a tough team. Took Toronto no effort to ice 2-3 goons and bring in clarkson. Problem is where does that get us?

I'd rather ice a bunch of 2-way players who aren't neccarily rough but are tough.

We need players that can play at both ends of the ice who won't get intimidated. They don't have to go for huge hit a and fight everything that moves. They just need to be good hockey players who want to win.

Getting good players should be priority number one.

Dump greening,condra,Neil, Phillips and get 2-3 top line forwards and 2 top 4 d. That's easier said then done obviously, but that's what we should be striving for.

We have the cap space to replace our 5 crappiest players with 5 top 2 line players. Now its just about acquiring the pieces.

I'd be more focused on getting talent to Ottawa then making sure to resign guys like Phillips and Neil but we know where Murrays priorities were.

Yup, I agree. Although, there something to be said for having a couple vets on the team to keep the young guys honest.

Just to add to your points, I like guys with a combination of speed, skill, and toughness. If you have a player that has one, but not enough of the other two then they usually don't do much to help the team win.

 

[aragorn]

Your underselling the talent that Boston and L.A have, I think they're elite players are more the reason that they win cups as opposed to their depth guys.

Although both teams have a lot of skill throughout the lineup, I'll give you that.

None of LAs elite players won the MVP Jason Williams did, one of the grunt players & nobody here wanted him when he was available. Ottawa doesn't need more small soft players or p***ye$, they need to get bigger, tougher & faster. They need to get rid of SDC, Pageau, Prince, Hoffman, Wideman & Condra & start adding more good quality players with size. Trading for Conacher was a huge mistake & then they get rid of him for nothing, terrible asset management but then nobody wants small soft players so why should we.

 

[We Want the Cup 2010]

Your underselling the talent that Boston and L.A have, I think they're elite players are more the reason that they win cups as opposed to their depth guys.

Although both teams have a lot of skill throughout the lineup, I'll give you that.

LA had 2 players with 50 points or more. Had zero 30 goal scorers and two 20 goal scorers.

Chicago had 5 guys with 60 points or more, two 30 goal scorers, and five 20 goal scorers.

 

[We Want the Cup 2010]

None of LAs elite players won the MVP Jason Williams did, one of the grunt players & nobody here wanted him when he was available. Ottawa doesn't need more small soft players or p***ye$, they need to get bigger, tougher & faster. They need to get rid of SDC, Pageau, Prince, Hoffman, Wideman & Condra & start adding more good quality players with size. Trading for Conacher was a huge mistake & then they get rid of him for nothing, terrible asset management but then nobody wants small soft players so why should we.

While I agree with the mentality, there are always exceptions to the rule and as long as you don't have too many small players I think it's fine. As long as they're fast and skilled (if they're gritty on top of that then you've got Martin St. Louis). Small and slow just don't survive eg. Locke, Da Costa

 

[SaltyPete]

None of LAs elite players won the MVP Jason Williams did, one of the grunt players & nobody here wanted him when he was available. Ottawa doesn't need more small soft players or p***ye$, they need to get bigger, tougher & faster. They need to get rid of SDC, Pageau, Prince, Hoffman, Wideman & Condra & start adding more good quality players with size. Trading for Conacher was a huge mistake & then they get rid of him for nothing, terrible asset management but then nobody wants small soft players so why should we.

Justin* Williams really shouldn't have won it (Doughty or Kopitar should have) and calling him a grunt player is ridiculous.

I agree with you about adding more quality players but I don't really care how large they are, so long as they aren't something silly like >5'10" (unless the player is obviously incredibly talented).

Trading for Conacher at the time really wasn't that bad asset management, Bishop was most likely gone in free agency at the end of the season anyways so getting a Calder favourite wasn't too bad in return, although obviously in hindsight it was.

 

[Micklebot]

None of LAs elite players won the MVP Jason Williams did, one of the grunt players & nobody here wanted him when he was available. Ottawa doesn't need more small soft players or p***ye$, they need to get bigger, tougher & faster. They need to get rid of SDC, Pageau, Prince, Hoffman, Wideman & Condra & start adding more good quality players with size. Trading for Conacher was a huge mistake & then they get rid of him for nothing, terrible asset management but then nobody wants small soft players so why should we.

I'm gonna go ahead and assume you mean Justin Williams, not Jason, the Swiss league'r who last played with Pittsburgh. That said, I do recall a lot of people really wanting Williams (Justin) but some were scared off by his injury problems (he had played 69 games over 2 seasons prior to the Kings getting him as a UFA. He only played 61 games in his next two seasons with the Kings, so the fears looked to be well founded. Since then, however, he's missed a total of 9 games (all in 10-11) so I guess you never know when injuries will hit.

edit: Btw, Williams is far from a big player... don't get me wrong, I like him, but he's not a big body.

 

[SaltyPete]

LA had 2 players with 50 points or more. Had zero 30 goal scorers and two 20 goal scorers.

Chicago had 5 guys with 60 points or more, two 30 goal scorers, and five 20 goal scorers.

So are you saying that L.A. doesn't win because of guys like Kopitar, Gaborik, Doughty, Carter or Voynov?

I'm not even sure what I'm arguing with you about anymore, I understand you need strong bottom six guys to be a true contender for the cup.

 

[aragorn]

I'm gonna go ahead and assume you mean Justin Williams, not Jason, the Swiss league'r who last played with Pittsburgh. That said, I do recall a lot of people really wanting Williams (Justin) but some were scared off by his injury problems (he had played 69 games over 2 seasons prior to the Kings getting him as a UFA. He only played 61 games in his next two seasons with the Kings, so the fears looked to be well founded. Since then, however, he's missed a total of 9 games (all in 10-11) so I guess you never know when injuries will hit.

edit: Btw, Williams is far from a big player... don't get me wrong, I like him, but he's not a big body.

Thanks, I meant Jason, he`s not big but he plays bigger than he is. All of the smaller players we have had on this team & drafted people have said they have Martin St Louis potential & after a while we get rid of them because they don`t end up playing like him. Conacher, Pageau, SDC, Petersson, Hoffman & Prince were & are all suppose to be very good players who people want to keep & yet none of them have yet to make any significant difference. I would prefer for Ottawa to take a shot at a guy like they did with Stone & get a big player with potential. Derek Grant is my new dark horse, I would love to see him take Condra`s roster spot.

 

[Back in Black]

Yeah, its easy to build a tough team. Took Toronto no effort to ice 2-3 goons and bring in clarkson. Problem is where does that get us?

I'd rather ice a bunch of 2-way players who aren't neccarily rough but are tough.

So do 29 other Teams. Good luck with that!

 

[MiscBrah]

really? No one is going to comment on Neiler opening a bar in Kanata? Does everyone else already know about this and I'm late to the party...?