Atomic

How is that any different from saying "what if in a year O'Reilly will be a UFA and decides he doesn't want to be here"? Its the same situation, but now you spent a year and a half paying more money to a less valuable player. This isn't about present vs. future. O'Reilly has the same contract term as Buff. We're talking about what serves the team better for the next year and a half and the obvious answer is that keeping Byfuglien serves the team better.

According to who? Kevin Cheveldayoff? Did he say that about Buff? How about Maurice? No? So then why? Because he is a little older? This team can't just keep getting younger every year, that's a recipe for disaster. You can't cast off every player that hits 30-years-old.

1. They hate BC. 2. The Rider defence has actually been pretty good for the last couple years.

Buff is a core member of the team and a top-pairing defenceman. He is arguably the strongest player in the NHL, has a fantastic shot, is a great skater, is great on the power play, popular in the dressing room, and on top of all that can also fill a role as a top-9 forward if necessary. Ryan O'Reilly is a decent 2nd/3rd line forward who makes almost a million more than Buff per year and has barely put up 0.5 points per game this season. He also has generally been a distraction to his team for the past year and a half... notice the constant trade rumours.

What an absolute disaster of a trade that would be. No chance this happens. Byfuglien is one of our top 2 D. ROR would be a 2nd/3rd line winger. Terrible trade-off.

Without the new stadium that money wouldn't even exist

Buff will not be going back to forward. That experiment is over.

The sad reality is that Bogosian is never going to live up to his contract. He is the 3rd best RHD on this team and will continue to be for the foreseeable future.

Enstrom - Buff Chiarot - Trouba Stuart - Bogo That's my top 6.

I think that would be a mistake. He's good at forward, but he's been great on D. I'd go with the same six guys Floyd named, though I might change the groupings. Stuart could finally be the bottom pairing dman he should be. Buff-Enstrom, Bogo-Trouba, Stuart-Chiarot. Those first two pairing have worked together before so it's not like they'd be strangers to each other. When Kane's in the lineup we have three effective lines. If we want to add another guy we could probably deal Postma for a decent 3/4 line player. He's big, young, and has some offensive upside. Your line pairings have two RHD on the second line and two LHD on the third line. Coaches are usually reluctant to do that unless they are forced to.

Why? What has Paajarvi ever done? He got a lot of hype in his first season then never lived up to it.

Maybe so but Hutch was not playing at the level we have been seeing him play at lately

They have solid Canadian talent on the offensive and defensive lines to build around, and some good young Americans on the defence. I still think they can win some games with Burris, if they can find some receivers and a solid running back. Those really are their biggest weaknesses. Wouldn't surprise me to see them make a jump to 6-12 or even 8-10 territory with some good work this offseason.

Brian Munz. He used to do play by play on the radio but now he does color. I think Dennis Beyak is busy with the world juniors.

Ask me again after we have hired a new DC and gone through free agency. Right now my answer would be that the upcoming season is not looking too good.

I think I'd rather stick with Galiardi and Cormier for now. Interesting thought, though. However Heatley has only played 6 games this season and has zero points. At 33... how is his fitness level? Can he keep up with the Jets? More importantly, where is his head at right now? Don't need to bring in a guy that is going to be toxic in the room. But it is interesting... he would almost certainly bring more scoring than Thorburn or Galiardi. But as a third line winger, his two-way play would be just as important. Kane is good defensively and also kills penalties... something Galiardi can also do well that Heatley probably can't.

No way. I like the way the NHL does it because it keeps all the teams so close.

We should hire a white coach so more white players will want to come here. Racist?

Wow what a goal in OT. Talk about a good bounce. Missing the top 4 D kinda showed tonight but they obviously played well enough to win. I think they go back to Pavelec at home on Monday. Great win tonight.

I can't help but be reminded of a couple years back when the Jets were playing well and went into a back to back with a division rival (Washington) and got stomped, which was the turning point of the season. Hoping this goes better...

Its too bad he is so small. It will not be an easy road for him. I hope it works out though.

I would say yes, but he is still behind Forsberg who is putting up a point per game and leading the league in plus minus (for whatever that's worth). Hutch will have to firmly usurp the starting job AND continue to put up fantastic numbers in order to have a real shot.

Gotta start Hutch on the road against Minnesota. You just gotta!

That's what I was wondering.

I think you're right. That's why we have been able to extend so many players this off-season. We definitely have some money to spend in free agency. But you still have to spend it wisely.