Cross is not a top 4 NHL defenseman. He's barely a #7 in the NHL, take him out of there, and back to Providence. Slide Colin, Morrow, anyone else, in that spot. That D-core sucks. McQuaid isn't a top 4 defenseman....On a good team, that is. Seids is done. Guy is losing it by the game, and should be a key "let's get rid of this guy," player in the offseason. Getting his 4 million off the books will be addition by subtraction. This D, once again, will struggle to move the puck, while being hammered in their own end b/c they can't efficiently move the puck out of the zone.

Beleskey at 3.8 million, is too expensive for the 4th liner, and frankly, too good to be on the 4th line. This guy has some nice offensive skills to go along with his balls-to-the-walls play style. Putting him on the 4th line is an absolute waste. What has Griffith done to take a spot in the top 9 over him anyway? Griffith, if anything, is nothing more than a tweener who succeeds in the AHL because it's lesser talent. He isn't a good skater (slow for his size) and that will hurt his NHL impact, unfortunately.

Don't like that 3rd line at all. They will get chewed up defensively. Yeah, a lot of offensive potential, but it will be hard when they're stuck in the defensive end the whole game.

Eriksson isn't signing for under 6 million. Pipe dream right there.


I just don't understand where you came up with some of these moves from. The Tommy Cross one is a headscratcher. This team is a bottom dweller though.

I also don't see the Rangers incentive to get rid of Klein, a RD, a position of need for us, for a winger, which we don't need. The only thing we get out of it is 600K cap space and a 3rd. Not enough incentive to move Klein.

Thanks for the feedback! I'm one of those who tend to have (maybe a little too much) faith in our farm team. I'm a season ticket holder for the Baby Bs, so that's where my bias comes from...

I think Cross would compliment an aging Chara, providing the defensive assistance he hasn't had since playing with Seids.

I picked Klein because from what I've seen, he seems like an all-around guy who tends to lean more towards the defensive side. I think having someone who knows what he's doing, and has been around for some time could help compliment the also-aging Seidenberg. To DTN: I wasn't too sure of Klein's value, as I've only seen him play us. I was thinking that by taking that extra cap and offering the pick, maybe that'd entice the Rangers a bit.

I've always liked the Krug-McQuaid combo. I know they're not ideal, but if we have 3 solid D-pairs, it's easier to balance the minutes and make the matchups work...

While I like Miller and Morrow a lot, I tend to have a 'defense should be defensive and offense should be offensive' attitude sometimes. Perhaps with some more seasoning they'll change my mind, but for now I think they should be slotted in when needed, or if Cross shows he isn't ready (I think he is).

As for the forwards; I agree with you FutureGM, Beleskey probably shouldn't be a 4th liner. I'll cue that one up to lack of sleep last night... I don't think Griffith is a betweener, if he's with the right guys he can produce big (he's had decent numbers for 3rd line time with the bigs - 11pts in 32 NHL games). I think the 3rd line here wouldn't be too bad - especially with a more defensive-minded D-pair. They're fast, and aggressive.

Another miscommunication: I thought for some reason Zee was done after next year (I know, do your research!). Given this situation, I'd definitely be trying to move either Zee or Seids (or both) if this year's team doesn't cut it. My only concern is that their trade value is only getting lower as time goes by...

I agree that this is a bottom dwelling team, but I felt at the time like we may have to be that team for another year until Zee's contract was up (yea, my bad)... Then we could really start pursuing some bigger pieces.

Next time I'll be sure to do my research and not post after a long night of drinking...

Numbah_4_Bobby_Orr: Liked your comments. I can assure you that long night of drinking (or not) does not affect the quality of posts on this site. Your faith in Baby Bs.....try being a Leaf fan, the ONLY hope is the Baby Marlies. There doesn't seem to be that much of a spread between 2nd and 10th in the East. Bruins chances of being in the Conference Finals...better than most.

Thanks Hal! Your Marlies gave us a pretty solid run on Saturday - Frankie scored with less than a minute left to tie it up, and we won in the shootout... If I'm not mistaken, I believe the Marlies are in first place for the AHL Eastern Conf...