I like the kings as champs only caused they destroyed the shit out of my team (blues) it makes us look better.

I don't know hockey well, but when the blues do good, I'm more tuned in.

m0 already knows my feelings on the Kings. As for the draft, it seems the Coyotes are getting some good stuff.

I was pretty shocked when I learned the Penguins traded Staal. Thought for sure they'd get rid of Crosby.

Unfortunately I'm not up-to-date with the latest NHL happenings but I hope that at least Ducks, NY Islanders and Minnesota Wild have performed well. Could you shed a light on these things? Kings: fine I guess.

Ducks and Islanders made a trade, actually. Anaheim sent Visnovsky to the Islanders for a second round pick in next year's draft.

I'm still laughing hard over the Devils drafting Stephane Matteau's son in the first round. For those unaware, Stephane Matteau scored the game winning goal in overtime in Game 7 of the 1994 Eastern Conference Finals for the Rangers against the Devils. The Rangers famously went on to win the Cup over Vancouver, also in 7 games.

Interesting fact: someone I went to grade school with, his cousin was actually just drafted by the Boston Bruins: Matthew Grzelcyk.

We should have had this during the playoffs =\

Well, now it's here so we can rant and rave about free agency.

So, did your team do well during the draft and free agency? Let's discuss this.

I can't believe that I missed this thread before!

As for my Blackhawks, I'll cover both the draft and free agency:

Draft: Getting Teravainen at #18 was an absolute steal. He was the star of the offseason for the Hawks, and he's rocketed up their prospect list in a short amount of time. Though he's not much bigger than Patrick Kane, he's got some time to grow and he could possibly make the team as early as next year.

As for the rest of the draft, the Hawks were pretty meh. There were a few goalies on the board at various times that they passed on, but at least they left the draft with a goalie.

Offseason: Oh God, what fail. Though it's nice that the Central has lost Ryan Suter, Niklas Lidstrom and Rick Nash (not that Columbus has ever been much of a threat), adding Sheldon Brookbank wasn't nearly enough.

Perhaps having Dale Tallon, a GM who wasn't afraid to make big moves, big signings, big trades or even small moves that turn out to be big has spoiled me, but Stan Bowman has done nothing to surround the Hawks solid young core with the pieces to win.

Sure, the Hawks had to dismantle a bit after they won (though I'd still rather have Byfuglien, Ladd and Niemi than Bolland and Hjalmarsson), but last summer, the Hawks had money and what did fans get? Montador (bad contract), Brunette (bad signing), O'Donnell (bad signing), Lepisto (bad signing), Frolik got extended (bad resigning), and he traded Brian Campbell for Rostislav Olesz, which did nothing but drop a great offensive D-man for cap space that he never used.

Adding Oduya at the deadline was a decent move, but as with last year, the Hawks failed to get a 2nd line center or a shut down top 4 D man. Fast forward to this offseason? We still need a 2nd line center and a shut down top 4 D man. That's okay though, because we got another 5/6/7 D man, since we don't have enough of those.

So draft = B and Offseason = D+.

As for the Kings? I'm glad that they won the cup. Any time a team that's never won the cup wins, I think it's great for their fanbase and the NHL.

Sorry, I'll stop talking now, but hockey is my favorite sport by far and anyone that ever wants to talk hockey, whether it's the Hawks or any other team? I'm more than game!

I'd say you pretty much hit the nail on the head for the Hawks offseason. As for my Rangers, I give them a B for the draft and an A for the offseason. I haven't liked the signings all that much, but getting Nash and not losing Stepan, Del Zotto, Kreider, or McDonagh is huge.

I thought that the Rangers had a decent draft. When you're picking that low, there aren't a whole lot of great options, so getting Skjei at #28 seemed about par for the course. He could've gone ten slots higher or ten slots lower and neither would've surprised me.

For the Rangers, they don't seem to have any long term needs, so adding to a solid young defense was probably a good move as far as I'm concerned.

As for getting Nash, it was a long time coming, but wow. Nash/Richards/Gaborik. What a top line! I know that Richards wasn't really playing on Gaborik's line (I think Stepan was, if I'm not mistaken), but having a top six that conists of those three plus Callahan should make for a very solid offense next year.

Still, I feel bad for Columbus fans. They just watched a season in which the biggest player they've ever acquired (Carter) basically played his way out of town until he asked to be traded out of town and now they lose their franchise player.

To me, if that team ever hopes of building toward something, they HAVE to get rid of Scott Howsen. He might be the worst GM in the league. He overpays for mediocre talent, he can't draft to save his life and he always seems to make the wrong decision at every turn. The Jackets could be a solid franchise in a solid market if they could ever put together a team worth watching.

I went and saw a Hawks game down in Columbus last year and the area is gorgeous and the arena is fantastic. Top notch. But man, what an awful, awful team they had. The Hawks won 6-1 and it could just as easily have been 12-1.

Howson is easily the worst GM in hockey and he needs to go. Columbus has a solid defense corps but absolutely nothing up front now. Their top scorer is probably R.J. Umberger. Stanley Cup winner, right there.

I really don't understand how a team can exist this long, with these issues:

1. Their core currently consists of RJ Umberger, Jack Johnson, James Wisniewski, Brandon Dubinsky, Derick Brassard and Nick Foligno. Wow is that bad.

I mean, I wouldn't mind having a few of those guys on the Hawks, but as the CORE of a team? Yikes.

2. In their history, they have a grand total of 1 non-top 10 pick in the first round. The players they got with those picks? Oh let's see... Rostislav Klesla (average player, traded), Pascal Leclaire (mediocre netminder, not in NHL), Rick Nash (traded), Nikolai Zherdev (in Russia), Alexandre Picard (non-factor, traded, I think?), Gilbert Brule (below average, traded), Derick Brassard (slightly above average, 2nd line center at best), Jakub Voracek (potential top six wing, traded), Nikita Filatov (bust, traded), and the three most recent are too early to call.

For that many top ten draft picks, that's a HORRIBLE track record.

3. Their goaltending situation is awful and it has been basically since the year after Steve Mason's rookie season. So who does Howsen bring in? Sergei Bobrovsky? Sure, let's replace a one hit wonder with another one hit wonder. Bobs had what, one good playoffs? I could be wrong, but man, way to patch a gaping hole with a tiny bandaid.

Oh well, I lived in Ohio for a few years, so I have a soft spot for the Jackets. They're my 2nd team more or less, so I guess it frustrates me that they have such incompetent management.

Anyways, who do you think's going to win the cup this year?

Funny you should ask

I really believe that this is the Rangers year, but (and I'm serious when I say this) watch out for Carolina.

Oh, and don't forget Anisimov with the Jackets, he's better than Dubinsky imo.

I think that the Rangers will go very far this year. Any team that has both Nash and Gaborik up front and King Henrik minding the crease will be a huge threat.

I also like the overall mix of the team. You've got some grit in Boyle and Asham, a solid young D (I still have no idea how Howsen doesn't get Del Zotto in the Nash deal. I think he would've gotten him at the deadline). Sather's a mad scientist at times, but he's also great at putting a team together, even if he pays guys like Gomez, Drury and Holik a metric ton (okay, I know, different times).

As for Dubinsky, I really like him. Sure, he had a mediocre season (at best) last year, but man, he's the kind of 2-way 2nd line center I'd LOVE to see the Hawks get. But no, we're apparently either going to use Kane as a 2nd line center (because it worked so well last year) or Marcus Kruger, one of Stan Bowman's chosen...

I think that I kind of abused parenthesis. Yeah, I should try and cut down on that. Either way, I'm curious to see if the Hawks and Rangers both have any moves left in them before the offeason ends. I'd throw a freakin parade for Bowman if he could land Shane Doan, but something tells me he's staying in the desert.

Dubinsky could be a 20 goal guy if he improves his positioning and stops thinking that he's an enforcer. Sather kept all the major pieces together and I have to say that for the first time in his tenure I can't question a move he made.

Even better than Sather giving 9 mil per year to Bobby Holik? Ha ha, I kid. It was a different era, I know. Still, it's actually pretty amazing to see how Sather has been able to build a team without being able to buy it completely thanks to the salary cap.

I think he's actually doing a better job now than he was before. He seemed to go out and chase every big name and outbid teams and now, the Rangers have a ton of great homegrown talent to go with the stars that they plucked from Dallas, Minnesota and now Columbus.

I still think that Lundqvist is the key though. Last year, you look at the teams that went far in the playoffs, it was all about goaltending. Quick was a beast, Smith carried the Yotes on his back and Marty somehow found the fountain of youth in New Jersey.

Though, for the record, I REALLY wanted to see a New York / LA matchup in the finals. Two fantastic goalies, some big stars and some bruising two way players. It would've been great.

Of course, without Parise, I just don't see the Devils getting all that far in the playoffs. I could really see the Rangers getting over the hump this year. Assuming they actually play hockey this year...

I meant to comment on what you said about Carolina earlier. Surprising team next year? It's possible, but man, that Southest division actually looks pretty tough now. Dale Tallon is building the Panthers in to a winner, Washington might not be as good without Semin, but they're still a threat, and who knows, maybe Tampa finally has their goaltending situation figured out?

I could theoretically see any team in that division winning it, so yeah, Carolina, with another Staal and Semin to go along with Eric and Skinner? They could make some noise, though I still don't like their defense at all.

20 goals for Dubinsky? If he were in Chicago on a line with Sharp and Hossa he could have 30 and 60 points. I think that he's alot more of the player that he was two years ago than the guy he was last year, but you'd definitely know more than I.

Couldn't agree more with you about Sather, now that he isn't allowed to run wild in free agency he actually has to build from within and it's really paying off. I think that he gave Richards too much money though, even if it is a heavily frontloaded deal.

A Rangers-Kings final would have been nice, but I don't think the Rangers would have come out on top. There was simply no stopping the Kings in the playoffs last season, they were going to get the Cup no matter what.

Moving to the Southeast, I could picture any team except Winnipeg winning it. I think Carolina has the inside track now, but the Caps should be tougher now that they'll have a full season of Holtby in net. Florida will also be in the discussion, but I think the loss of Garrison might be a bit much to overcome. Tampa has a shot too if Lindback takes the starting job in net and has the season that people think he can have.

And again, the thing with Dubinsky is he's talented, but he's kind of a bonehead. He was out of position a lot last year, he tried to be the type of player that he isn't, and he spent far too much time in the penalty box. He needs to go back to being Dubinsky and not trying to be a guy like Prust. If he does that, he can score 20 on the Jackets.

By the way, it still cracks me up that Winnipeg's in the Southeast division. I can't believe that they couldn't come to some sort of realignment agreement that the players would like, or rather, that they didn't seem to even care whether the players were on board before they announced the new plan, which I thought was terrible.

Having four conferences, two with 8 teams and two with 7 teams? Yuck. Add two more teams (I'm thinking Seattle and KC) and either do 8 divisions with 4 teams like the NFL, which would actually work really well if you broke them down, especially in terms of travel. Or have four conferences with an equal number of teams in them.

Regardless, I think that Winnipeg is building toward an adequate future right now. I like Evander Kane, Bryan Little is alright, and Ondrej Pavalec seems like a solid, if unspectactular netminder. I like that they added Jokinen this offseason (another 2nd line center the Hawks could've gone for when they were tilting at the Suter/Parise windmills), but yeah, I'll concede that it would take a lot for them to overcome the other teams in their division.

As for Dubinsky, wow, if he's that much of a bonehead in terms of being in the box, I'd be very curious to see how a line would look with him and Foligno! Man, those two will probably be spending more time in the box together per game than out on the ice. Yikes.

I had come up with a very simple solution to the realignment issue. Well, two of them, that is.

Solution A
Atlantic - NJ, NYI, NYR, PHI, PIT
Northeast - BOS, BUF, MTL, OTT, TOR
Southeast - CAR, FLA, NSH, TB, WSH
Central - CHI, CBJ, DET, MIN, STL
Northwest - CAL, COL, EDM, VAN, WPG
Pacific - ANA, DAL, LA, PHX, SJ

Solution B
Atlantic - NJ, NYI, NYR, PHI, PIT
Northeast - BOS, BUF, MTL, OTT, TOR
Southeast - CAR, FLA, NSH, TB, WSH
Central - CHI, CBJ, DAL, DET, STL
Northwest - CAL, EDM, MIN, VAN, WPG
Pacific - ANA, COL, LA, PHX, SJ

The reason I pick Nashville to move to the East over teams like Detroit and Columbus (who are both in the Eastern time zone whereas Nashville isn't) is that it would be the least disruptive to current rivalries as well as reduce travel costs. It's the best choice, to me at least.

Don't get me wrong, the Jets will once again be no pushover, but when I look up and down their lineup and depth chart and think about where certain elements will come from, they don't scream "playoff team" to me. They need to play better on the road and tighten up defensively or else they're going to miss again. If the power play is where it was at last season, they've got a chance.

I'm going to try to put together a lineup for the Jackets:

Umberger-Brassard-Prospal
Dubinsky-Letestu-Anisimov
Atkinson-Gillies-Dorsett
Foligno-Mackenzie-Boll

Johnson-Wisniewski
Aucoin-Tyutin
Nikitin-Erixon

Bobrovsky
Mason

In actuality, their defense isn't too terrible, in fact they have a mix of guys who can put up nice numbers offensively. I'd imagine that Nikitin and Wisniewski will be the power play QBs, but it all comes back to the lack of depth up front. Atkinson is an up and comer and Letestu is a nice second line center, but apart from that I have no idea where the secondary scoring comes from on this team. I think these guys need a youth movement akin to what's going on up in Edmonton.

I think that a lot of teams would like a youth movement like the one in Edmonton, which I still kind of tend to raise an eyebrow at. I know, there's probably no screwy stuff going on, but where Bettman is involved, I'm at least slightly suspicious.

I mean they've had 3 first overall picks in the last three drafts and five of their last six drafts have given them top 10 picks (if I'm not mistaken). I guess that Hall wasn't an obvious choice over Seguin (I personally would've taken Seguin), but most of the picks that they've made have been pretty easy ones to make.

Columbus lineup? I'd probably flip Dubinsky and Brassard and I'd personally put Foligno in the top six, but that's just me. I don't really know enough about Letetsu to be honest.

I do like their top 4 though on defense, though that would mean Wiz making it through a whole season healthy and while I like the guy a lot (really wish he'd won a cup with the Hawks), he just can't seem to stay on the ice enough.

I like solution B, and I think that Dallas would as well. From what I recall, they really wanted to get in to the central for some reason. I also think that Colorado would appreciate having another non-Canadian team in their division.

If they added a team in Seattle (which I think the NHL is slowly gearing up to do, though I'm sure it won't happen for a few years) and a team in Kansas City, where there a new arena just waiting for an NHL team, I could see something like this:

Solution 1:
Division 1: Vancouver, Seattle, Edmonton, Calgary
Division 2: Los Angeles, Anaheim, San Jose, Phoenix
Division 3: Colorado, Dallas, Kansas City, St. Louis
DIvision 4: Winnipeg, Minnesota, Chicago, Detroit
Division 5: Nashville, Tampa Bay, Florida, Carolina
Division 6: Columbus, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Washington
Division 7: Montreal, Boston, New York, New York
Division 8: Toronto, Ottawa, Buffalo, New Jersey

Now, the Devils and Flyers would probably hate this, as they both lose the New York teams as rivals, but most other teams shorten their travel time dramatically and a lot of rivalries are kept intact. Plus, who's to say that with scheduling they can't keep some of those rivalries in place.

As far as the conference solution, if they wanted to do 8 teams per conference and make four conferences, I'd just combine Divisions 1&2, 3&4, 5&6 and 7&8, though I think it'd be a horrible idea given the distance between some of those teams (Colorado and Detroit? Philadelphia and Miami? Yuck).

I don't think the NHL's lottery is run the same as the NBA's "lottery". Bettman probably wouldn't know how to fix it if he tried lol. I think Hall will wind up being a better player than Seguin, but of course it's easy to say that Seguin is better when he plays with such great teammates in Boston.

Columbus is tough to figure out because one has to wonder who will separate themselves in training camp and take the top six spots that are available.

Dallas definitely wants to move to the Central, but the problem is that not everybody is going to get their way and I think that might hold up realignment for the time being. The need to get a new CBA in place first, I think that's more important right now.

I don't think they'd divide the teams further than the 4 conferences if that's the path they decide to take. Might as well keep rivalries together as opposed to splitting them up and angering teams and fans alike. If teams wind up relocating or the NHL decides to expand again, I think that Seattle and Quebec are the best options, personally. Might as well give Canada another team so that they have a quarter of the franchises in the league, and Seattle is a better option than KC in my opinion.

I dunno, maybe it's my inner bitter Hawks fan coming out, but the Hawks got royally screwed by the lockout. They had the worst record, so at worst they should've picked 2nd overall (Bobby Ryan), with a great chance at #1 (Sidney Crosby).

Instead, the whole league gets in to the lottery and, surprise surprise, the team that's near death in Pittsburgh gets the new face of the NHL on their team. Again, though, that's more of my innter bitter Hawks fan, since we somehow wound up with the 7th pick (Jack freakin Skille).

I agree that they definitely need to iron out the CBA before they start talking about realignment, though it kind of amazes me that they can't just flip Nashville to the Southeast and put Winnipeg in the Central, if only as a stop gap measure for now, and then worry about making everyone else happy later. I can't imagine that the Predators would have a huge problem with it, but who knows.

As for expansion, I think that there are two reasons why Quebec City shouldn't get a team. For one, they already last one team. The other reason is that there is already a master cluster of teams in the northeast. If the NHL wants anything approaching balanced divisions as far as travel is concerned, then it'd be nice to see them add another team in the midwest and KC already has a stadium built and waiting for a tenant.

I do agree though that selling a team in Quebec would be a LOT easier than selling a team in KC. So there are some legit pros and cons to both places. As for Seattle though, I think that's just a no-brainer, and while I believe that they had a team as well (a LONG time ago), I'm actually kind of surprised that they don't have one right now.

Well, Pittsburgh finished the 03-04 season with 58 points, which was the worst in the league, so they were rightfully the #1 pick. Anything after that is debatable of course, with the Hawks and Caps tied at 59 points and numerous other bad teams that season.

Your guess is as good as mine as to why they haven't taken the easy road on realignment yet, but I think they're trying to cater to the big money teams like Detroit here. I'm hoping that they don't hinge the CBA on a realignment plan, because the main focus should be making sure that hockey is played next season.

True, Quebec has lost a team already. However, so did Atlanta (who failed again), Colorado (doing quite well now), the Bay Area (Sharks have been a top team for years now), Minnesota (will be back in the playoffs next season), and Winnipeg (if last season is any indication, they'll be just fine). There wouldn't need to be any rivalries established with a new Quebec franchise. Just name them the Nordiques again and watch them try to tear Montreal and the other Canadian teams up.

Seattle absolutely deserves a team after the debacle in the NBA, where the Sonics were flat out stolen from them. In trying to come up with a new realignment if there were to be an expansion, I put this together:

Pacific - Anaheim, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Seattle, San Jose, Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary
Midwest - Detroit, Dallas, Chicago, Columbus, Minnesota, Winnipeg, St. Louis, Colorado
Northeast - Quebec, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Buffalo, Boston, NY Islanders, NY Rangers
Southeast - Florida, Tampa Bay, Nashville, Carolina, Washington, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh

I did what I could to not break up key rivalries while also trying to forge new ones. The issue I kept running into was travel, though. Perhaps an eight division format then?

Southwest - Anaheim, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Jose
Northwest - Vancouver, Seattle, Calgary, Edmonton
Central - Detroit, Winnipeg, Chicago, Minnesota
Midwest - Dallas, St. Louis, Columbus, Colorado
North - Quebec, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto
Northeast - Boston, Buffalo, NY Rangers, NY Islanders
Southeast - Carolina, Florida, Tampa Bay, Nashville
Atlantic - New Jersey, Washington, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh

I could see the whole Midwest being pissed off with this format though. Certain franchises need to stop acting like babies so this thing can proceed.