emery was great at times last year. in a road game against the devils in january, i saw live, they blew a 1 goal lead in the final minute with marty pulled (even though the flyers were on a (frank)ing pp), but they won in ot. they don't win that game without emery that night. he was fantastic. in general, he got almost zero goal support. tough to win that way.

mason was great, overall, last season. i think he can be even better. i'd love to see his numbers be more like 2.25 and .925...not that numbers mean everything because they don't.
- hammarby31

Size means everything hammar. Especially on the 'Buzz.

Not bad on the Gibson mask. Much better than Mason's Zombie theme. Not a fan of that one.

If he struggles next season, first step is to get a new one.
- flyer_nutter

He's going to need to get a new one





Zombie Hartnell is in Columbus

emery was great at times last year. in a road game against the devils in january, i saw live, they blew a 1 goal lead in the final minute with marty pulled (even though the flyers were on a (frank)ing pp), but they won in ot. they don't win that game without emery that night. he was fantastic. in general, he got almost zero goal support. tough to win that way.

mason was great, overall, last season. i think he can be even better. i'd love to see his numbers be more like 2.25 and .925...not that numbers mean everything because they don't.
- hammarby31

Now this is fair. Mason absolutely can and has to continue his play, as well as improving.

emery was great at times last year. in a road game against the devils in january, i saw live, they blew a 1 goal lead in the final minute with marty pulled (even though the flyers were on a (frank)ing pp), but they won in ot. they don't win that game without emery that night. he was fantastic. in general, he got almost zero goal support. tough to win that way.

mason was great, overall, last season. i think he can be even better. i'd love to see his numbers be more like 2.25 and .925...not that numbers mean everything because they don't.
- hammarby31

Emery was great at times, but he also had a number of clunkers (so did Mason, but the ratio was much smaller). Without Mason, they probably don't make the playoffs, and they get blown out about 9-1 in Game 7.

Was Steve Mason a top 10 goaltender in the league last year? He's young, it's not out of the question that he could get better but this doesn't erase his time with Columbus. He now has to reprove himself, where as Giroux doesn't.
- SuperSchennBros

I didn't think I could make it any more clear, honestly.

In a perfect world...

Well since the world isn't perfect, would you say Steve Mason was a top 10 goalie in league last year?
- SuperSchennBros

I certainly would
- Giroux_Is_God

So, yes, I believe he was.

I'm gonna go home and bang my wife.

Which means, I'm gonna go home, ask my wife is she wants to bang, get rejected, and find 2 minutes of alone time.

Aw, who am I kidding...1 1/2 minutes should do.

We have a core. I don't need Bill to do my thinking for more, thanks.

Take example the rumours of Simmonds plus for the first pick overall. The First pick probably could have been ours. We could have DRAFTED Aaron Ekblad but we refused to give up Simmonds which we did not draft....who is apart of our core.

Make sense?
- SuperSchennBros

We need an impact player from the blue line to be a contender. And based on what we have been seeing recently. I am pretty sure the only way to do that is through the draft and with a little bit of patience.

The more this guy talks, the more I want to go into a full rebuild mode. It would be worth if we got a guarantee guy like Eichel or McDavid out of it.

Was Steve Mason a top 10 goaltender in the league last year? He's young, it's not out of the question that he could get better but this doesn't erase his time with Columbus. He now has to reprove himself, where as Giroux doesn't.
- SuperSchennBros

I'll bite on what you are selling.

I think its a turd idea. If what you are suggesting is not trading Simmonds for Ekblad was a bad move. I am a strong re-building, and organic growth guy in relation to this team.

However I am not that crazy to realise players like Giroux don't come around every day. You sell off all the higher tier talent you have now, and you essentially kiss his prime good-bye. Not something I want to do with injury questions in my head as is. Has be a balance of trying to bring up young D, but keeping some talent around to not be 5 years away from competing. I see them 3-4 away as is. All goes good. We can be realistically talking about cup hopes in those years.

He's going to need to get a new one




Zombie Hartnell is in Columbus
- Jsaquella

Im going to kiss you one day Saquella. That's it for today hooligans. Take it easy.

Not bad on the Gibson mask. Much better than Mason's Zombie theme. Not a fan of that one.

If he struggles next season, first step is to get a new one.
- flyer_nutter

i don't like the gibson mask, but it's original. i'd take it over the zombie design. he will have a new one...just don't know what's going on it yet.

i don't like the gibson mask, but it's original. i'd take it over the zombie design. he will have a new one...just don't know what's going on it yet.
- hammarby31

I bet his mask doesn't like you either, ya big meanie

That's awesome.

I hate how their called hats btw

John Gibson man- tough to not like him so far
- Giroux_Is_God

not a fan, really. and i call it a hat on purpose...it's yet another joke between my brother and me.

I'll bite on what you are selling.

I think its a turd idea. If what you are suggesting is not trading Simmonds for Ekblad was a bad move. I am a strong re-building, and organic growth guy in relation to this team.

However I am not that crazy to realise players like Giroux don't come around every day. You sell off all the higher tier talent you have now, and you essentially kiss his prime good-bye. Not something I want to do with injury questions in my head as is. Has be a balance of trying to bring up young D, but keeping some talent around to not be 5 years away from competing. I see them 3-4 away as is. All goes good. We can be realistically talking about cup hopes in those years.
- flyer_nutter

Absolutely. It's a blend, and we're leaning more towards drafting while staying competitive. We've got a number of young players on the defense than can hopefully contribute in 2-3 years to supplement what we have. That, along with our relatively young forward group and a goalie who can hopefully continue to play at his level should make us a legitimate contender. Don't have to go grabbing the big fish through trade or tank if you do things smartly...which I believe we are.

Okay, off to banging.

I bet his mask doesn't like you either, ya big meanie
- Giroux_Is_God

you may be right. you may be crazy. you just might be the lunatic i'm looking for.

Completely agree on all your points. I remember the game you're talking about
- Giroux_Is_God

Come down and visit me at the hospital.

I'll do it for free
- flyer_nutter

I knew it.

Size means everything hammar. Especially on the 'Buzz.
- flyer_nutter

i'm screwed then.

not a fan, really. and i call it a hat on purpose...it's yet another joke between my brother and me.
- hammarby31

Ah, I got you. I thought it was a goalie thing.

Goalies are weird.

you may be right. you may be crazy. you just might be the lunatic i'm looking for.
- hammarby31

I'm taken sry

Nice work. I can play that on the piano

i'm screwed then.
- hammarby31

Its okay.

Foreskin doesn't matter.

That's awesome.

I hate how their called hats btw

John Gibson man- tough to not like him so far
- Giroux_Is_God

Oh god guys I'll own up to this I'm sorry. I feel so shame

Totally disagree.

Jeff Carter and Marian Gaborik were arguably their best players through the Kings most recent playoff run. No disrespect to Williams who was clutch. Both were brought in to be impact players long after their development around deadline time in a splash. Justin Williams is a very nice player but he was brought in long after already having a Cup ring. Richards was another splash. Kopitar, Brown, Doughty and Quick is solid drafting but they do not win their Cups without trading for Richards, Carter, Williams, Gabrik and Dustin Penner to make immediate impact. Keep in mind, LA didn't exactly wait for Jack Johnson, Wayne Simmonds and Brayden Schenn to pan out.

I wouldn't call the Hawks and Kings mirror images of one another. The Hawks have proven they do not need a true number one goal to win, or even a great goalie to win. They've also proved they could give away half their roster after winning in 2010 and still contend each year. Toews, Kane, Keith, Seabrook are all from within their system and all came from high drafting when they stunk.

I'm not so sure the King could simply give away Dustin Byfuglien, Brian Campbell, Andrew Ladd, Kris Verteeg, Troy Brouwer, Brent Sopel, John Madden and Antti Niemi in a day and not skip a beat. I didn't even name Adam Burish and Ben Eager.

I believe the Kings would miss two of their top six a lot if they were traded away.
- SuperSchennBros

Here is what we see if we look at the playoff rosters of the LA Kings cup team thins past season. And the Blackhawks team who won the year before.

Kings had 12 drafted players, 7 players acquired by trade, and 4 players signed as Free Agents

Chicago had 13 drafted players, 5 players acquired by trade, and 5 players signed as free agents.

Pretty damn similar in makeup.

Hopefully in a couple years we will have a core group of Giroux/Couts leading our forwards and hopefully 2 of Ghost/Morin/Hagg/Sanheim/Alt will be impact defensemen. There is a reason we are trying to change the direction of our team right now. The way we have been doing business is really not working.

I think if the Flyers do pretty bad next year you might see a trade to move up to the #1 or 2 pick in the draft and a rebuild start to happen.
- FlyersSteve118

See, I'm not so much disagreeing with you as much as I am thinking that you're ignoring the fact that the Kings make splashes to contend. They traded for Richards and Carter who are both were signed to deals that go past 7 years (I'm not sure when they expire in this point in time) but they also just re-signed Marian Gaborik to a lengthy deal.

Now as far as signing long term deals, I just mentioned Gaborik, Carter and Richards have one. Brown was signed to a long one last summer. Doughty and Quick are locked up. Williams is up in a year, Kopitar will get a new deal and he's up in 2 years.

Regardless of what you may think I'm debating. LA still signs players to long term deals. I'm also sure they consider Richards, Carter etc apart of their core no matter who drafted them. They're under contract with the LA Kings as it stands.

Emery was great at times, but he also had a number of clunkers (so did Mason, but the ratio was much smaller). Without Mason, they probably don't make the playoffs, and they get blown out about 9-1 in Game 7.
- jmatchett383

agreed. every goalie's going to have some poor outings. emery's are magnified because he has fewer starts...just the nature of the beast.

mason was great in game 7. the rest of the team sucked bocce balls until it was too late.

Absolutely. It's a blend, and we're leaning more towards drafting while staying competitive. We've got a number of young players on the defense than can hopefully contribute in 2-3 years to supplement what we have. That, along with our relatively young forward group and a goalie who can hopefully continue to play at his level should make us a legitimate contender. Don't have to go grabbing the big fish through trade or tank if you do things smartly...which I believe we are.

Okay, off to banging.
- jmatchett383

Or a lack thereof.

May the odds be forever in your favor.