Giving up one Morrow for the other one is looking pretty bad right about now.
- rmiethaner

Within the scope of the trade I agree, but it is the very good depth that Pittsburgh has with D prospects which allowed for that kind of trade to be made.

I don't thnk Brenden Morrow was a good pickup in hindsight but losing Joe Morrow won't kill them even if he does become a good NHL player.

MAF was in 2003, Staal I believe was rated #1 though.

Florida (frank)ed their franchise up by trading out of the #1 spot 2 years in a row for nothing. Instead of Rick Nash and Eric Staal, they ended up with Jay Bouwmeester and Nathan Horton.
- theblueandgold

Go big or go home.

The way I see it:

Miller? Good as gone anyway.

Grigs? Well, would love to keep him, but MacKinnon is clearly in a class well above Grigs, at this point.

Defensive prospect? Is it McNabb or Pysyk? Well, that kinda hurts, because we are so thin in that area.

#8? Who cares?

Up the middle you still have Hodgson, Larsson, Girgensons, Ennis, Kea, Catenacci, Schaller. Add MacKinnon to that, and you can probably move/keep Girgs and/or Larsson on the wing.

I would try and keep the young d-man, see if we can weasle Sekera and possibly another prospect and/or pick in there to allow us to keep Pysyk/McNabb.

Tough choices. Darcy has never really made a blockbuster.

But, how often do you get the chance to draft the best prospect in hockey?

Do it.

Pittburgh will be a leaner younger team next season ,which will make them better

to help ryno with his point

would you rather have
tavares or scott glennie
stamkos or Mike Boedker
kane or hamil
johnson or mueller
- hubie

Oh, it makes absolute sense. Yes, generally, the #1 pick is the best player in the draft, at least the first round (2007 being a perfect example). There can be diamonds unearthed in later rounds, but generally speaking, there is a steep drop off between the highest pick(s) and the next group.

Oh, it makes absolute sense. Yes, generally, the #1 pick is the best player in the draft, at least the first round (2007 being a perfect example). There can be diamonds unearthed in later rounds, but generally speaking, there is a steep drop off between the highest pick(s) and the next group.
- jmatchett383

If we dont get #1 we better atleast get in the top 5

Would you rather have:

Eric Staal or Thomas Vanek?
Ladd or Stafford?
Crosby or Zagrapan?
Johnson or Pearsson?
Kane or Brennan?
Stamkos or Myers?
Tavares or Kassian?

Shall I go on?

You get the #1 because its a centerpiece to build around. stay put and you get mediocrity, which is exactly what we have now. Lets trade down and stock pile more mediocrity! Yeah!
- RynoBull

I don't ultimately disagree with you but its easier to say that when you don't have to trade for the #1. Like I said if Darcy pulls it off and gets the #1 I will support it without a doubt. I guess I'm a bit more optimistic with our "beefed up" scouting department for us to hit on players in the mid/late 1st, 2nd and 3rd rounds. Krejci, Bergeron, Marchand and Lucic are all 2nd/3rd round selections, and of course Seguin was a gift wrapped #2.

If we dont get #1 we better atleast get in the top 5
- hubie

Yeah. Again, I think Nashville's where you could go in you're okay with moving Vanek. Outside of Colorado, don't know how attractive Miller is to any team in the top 5 (assuming TB believes in Bishop/Lindback).

Something like:
Vanek
#8
d prospect

for

#4, 3rd rounder

Every #1 pick in past 13 years have became superstars and if not they are still close to top flight talent in nhl. patrick stefan and rick dipietro (however u spell it) broke that trend in 1999 and 2000. if you have a chance to take the best prospect in the draft you do it. high percentage he wil work out and be a great franchise centerpiece.

i want mackinnon/drouin and mcdavid in 2015 but expect to get none of them. if we do then hey good for us cause that would give us a hell of a better chance

Yeah. Again, I think Nashville's where you could go in you're okay with moving Vanek. Outside of Colorado, don't know how attractive Miller is to any team in the top 5 (assuming TB believes in Bishop/Lindback).

Something like:
Vanek
#8
d prospect

for

#4, 3rd rounder
- jmatchett383

I still think the tade is carolina i think nashville is locked on barkov

imo

I still think the tade is carolina i think nashville is locked on barkov

imo
- hubie

But your 2 biggest pieces, Miller and Vanek, aren't as valuable to them as Miller is to Colorado/TB and Vanek is to Nashville. Carolina has Ward as their starter, and a top line LW in Semin.

Every #1 pick in past 13 years have became superstars and if not they are still close to top flight talent in nhl. patrick stefan and rick dipietro (however u spell it) broke that trend in 1999 and 2000. if you have a chance to take the best prospect in the draft you do it. high percentage he wil work out and be a great franchise centerpiece.

i want mackinnon/drouin and mcdavid in 2015 but expect to get none of them. if we do then hey good for us cause that would give us a hell of a better chance
- Beezer33

I'd argue Erik Johnson on the list as well. But yes, generally speaking, the #1 pick is the top player.

But your 2 biggest pieces, Miller and Vanek, aren't as valuable to them as Miller is to Colorado/TB and Vanek is to Nashville. Carolina has Ward as their starter, and a top line LW in Semin.
- jmatchett383

never said its only going to be one trade

y is vanek so valueable to nash and not others

But your 2 biggest pieces, Miller and Vanek, aren't as valuable to them as Miller is to Colorado/TB and Vanek is to Nashville. Carolina has Ward as their starter, and a top line LW in Semin.
- jmatchett383

I still think teams from the playoffs are gonna be the ones who want Miller and Vanek.

I still think teams from the playoffs are gonna be the ones who want Miller and Vanek.
- devereau

Possibly, but after the 8th, they're your 2 best pieces to use to move up.

So when you have over 50% of the cap hit going to Crosby, Malkin, Neal, Fleury, and Letang, how do you field a competitive team in 2 years when you need to give new deals to Kunitz, Sutter, Orpik, Niskanen, and Engelland, keeping in mind that Dupuis, Cooke, Adams, and Eaton are all up for new deals this year?
- jmatchett383

Then you trade Neal and let Kunitz walk (or convince him to take a hometown discount).

Then you trade Neal and let Kunitz walk (or convince him to take a hometown discount).
- Charliebox

So you go with a lineup of 2 good centers, 1 good defenseman, and a bunch of rookies and hobos.

So when you have over 50% of the cap hit going to Crosby, Malkin, Neal, Fleury, and Letang, how do you field a competitive team in 2 years when you need to give new deals to Kunitz, Sutter, Orpik, Niskanen, and Engelland, keeping in mind that Dupuis, Cooke, Adams, and Eaton are all up for new deals this year?
- jmatchett383

In 2010-11, NHL generated 2.9B in HRR.
In 2011-12, NHL generated 3.3B in HRR.

This year, the NHL projected in March that they would generate 2.4B. Thats 72.7% of last years revenue in just 58.5% of the games played. If the NHL had a full season, it wouldve generted 4.1B under the same growth. Nearly 1B between years.

The NHL is growing. I'm willing to bet that next year, the NHL will grow past 4B in revenue. The percentages lowered with the way the new CBA came about so it may change things slightly, but I really believe the Salary cap will be back to like 70M in 14-15.

So you go with a lineup of 2 good centers, 1 good defenseman, and a bunch of rookies and hobos.
- jmatchett383

Center and D are the most important positions in hockey. So, if you have cap troubles.. yep.

Sid and Malkin will make anyone look amazing around them. I bet if Beau Bennett played a full season on the wing with Sid, his numbers wouldn't be far off of Kunitz's (excluding this season.. he tore it up this year).

Absolutely, it's a below market value deal.
So, who's replacing all of Letang's minutes in 2 years?
- jmatchett383

hopefully pouliot. unfortunately, with what Letang is going to ask, supposedly, he will have to be offensively brilliant and half-decent defensively somewhere else. sucks though, if pens trade him, barring the trade including a draft choice that really pans out, the pens will never win the trade. norris caliber d-men are just so rare

So you go with a lineup of 2 good centers, 1 good defenseman, and a bunch of rookies and hobos.
- jmatchett383

The cap will go up after next season ,and besides Letang makes 3.5 mil now iam sure they can ffind a extrea 2 or 3 million out of the rest of the supporting cast to pay him

Pouliot, Maata, Despres, Doumolin are the future
- Emperor Filonius

the only one of those four that possibly could replace letang is pouliot... the others might be good, but they arn't the offensive force that letang is

hopefully pouliot. unfortunately, with what Letang is going to ask, supposedly, he will have to be offensively brilliant and half-decent defensively somewhere else. sucks though, if pens trade him, barring the trade including a draft choice that really pans out, the pens will never win the trade. norris caliber d-men are just so rare
- ChrisMS

Letang will be resigned ,guys like cooke ,dupris ,jokinen will not

In 2010-11, NHL generated 2.9B in HRR.
In 2011-12, NHL generated 3.3B in HRR.

This year, the NHL projected in March that they would generate 2.4B. Thats 72.7% of last years revenue in just 58.5% of the games played. If the NHL had a full season, it wouldve generted 4.1B under the same growth. Nearly 1B between years.
.
- theblueandgold

I agree the NHL is growing, but your math is off here. It's nowhere near 1B in extra revenue. You can't just do cross multiplication and figure that out.

The NHL always does better in the states after the NFL is over (the entire season this year), and playoffs bring in the most revenue of any time.

The first 42% of the season is not a money maker outside Canada and the big US markets.

In 2010-11, NHL generated 2.9B in HRR.
In 2011-12, NHL generated 3.3B in HRR.

This year, the NHL projected in March that they would generate 2.4B. Thats 72.7% of last years revenue in just 58.5% of the games played. If the NHL had a full season, it wouldve generted 4.1B under the same growth. Nearly 1B between years.

The NHL is growing. I'm willing to bet that next year, the NHL will grow past 4B in revenue. The percentages lowered with the way the new CBA came about so it may change things slightly, but I really believe the Salary cap will be back to like 70M in 14-15.
- theblueandgold

It's still a huge portion of your cap going to a few select players. I just thought it would make more sense to give the $$ to a Norris caliber defenseman, not the guy who scored 9 goals last year.

I agree the NHL is growing, but your math is off here. It's nowhere near 1B in extra revenue. You can't just do cross multiplication and figure that out.

The NHL always does better in the states after the NFL is over (the entire season this year), and playoffs bring in the most revenue of any time.

The first 42% of the season is not a money maker outside Canada and the big US markets.
- Charliebox

I guess you missed the word "nearly"