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Zedlee wrote: Gomez...uh, no. He's a pip squeak who has spent his entire career in the East. He'd be eaten alive playing in the Western Conference.

I love this idea that the West is so much tougher to play in. Yes, for some of the teams the travel is pretty rough, but really the teams aren't much tougher or bigger or meaner. Let's look back to the start of this millenium here......

2000-New Jersey (East): Outside of Stevens and maybe a couple others, this team wasn't really a bruising squad.
2001-Colorado (West): Blake and Foote, maybe Claude Lemieux, but nobody huge.....or was Chris Simon on that teams?
2002-Detroit (West): Definitely not a "big and tough" team that will beat you up and hurt you.
2003-New Jersey (East): See first entry.
2004-Tampa Bay (East): Some players that were willing to battle, but not a big strong and physical team.
2005-Bettman and Owners (East)
2006-Carolina (East): Same as Tampa, with a hotter goaltender.
2007-Anaheim (West): Arguably one of the dirtiest teams to ever win the Cup. This was a bruising bunch of guys.
2008-Detroit (West): See previous on Red Wings.....though think smaller.
2009-Pittsburgh (East): The Crosby and Malkin lead Pens? Yeah, tough guys.
2010-Chicago (West): Strong team, like to play hard, bought their Cup, have been mediocre since. Definitely a tough team.
2011-Boston (East): Meanest and dirtiest team I've watched in a while.....but the 2007 Ducks were close.
2012-Los Angeles (West): Tough team. No question.

Gomez has two of the 12 rings listed up there. He can hack it. He just got lazy and didn't put the effort in for the Habs. It's an even split for Cups between east and west since 2000. LA and Boston balance the scales on either coast for tough, physical play. There are a few teams in the West that are a bit bigger, but they often don't perform as well as they should. Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver, Dallas, Detroit, Colorado, Phoenix, Columbus, even Chicago now. Those are teams that aren't scaring anybody right now when it comes to being "big and tough". St. Louis, San Jose, Nashville, and Minnesota, are teams that can boast some size or some guys that like to hit. But I don't see them being any more physical than any NYR, Philly or Winnipeg. Anaheim ranks up there just behind LA and Boston. So what? Two teams in the West can say they are tougher than 14 of the teams in the East? Big deal. Few players are "too small" to play in the West. You are either too small for the NHL or you're not.

Gomez? Boy we are really grasping at straws here.

We are so deep at centre, maybe we should trade Cody Hodgson for a 4th line, AHL winger like Zack Kassian so we have someone who can fight Milan Lucic. Ooops, that already happened.

RoyalDude wrote:Gomez? Boy we are really grasping at straws here.

We are so deep at centre, maybe we should trade Cody Hodgson for a 4th line, AHL winger like Zack Kassian so we have someone who can fight Milan Lucic. Ooops, that already happened.

lol, you need a good pegging from your wif BD

Redden has signed with the Blues for one year, $800k.

herb wrote:Redden has signed with the Blues for one year, $800k.

Who would you rather have Barker @ $700k or Redden @ $800k? Both defensemen are gambles but at least Barker is a lot younger than Redden.

I'd probably rather have Redden, consensus around the league seems to be that he is an NHL player who has been kept out by his albatross contract. Barker has had no such disadvantage to explain his slide.

I would rather take the gamble on Wade Redden, who not that long ago, was a very good defenseman for many years before whatever happened in NY happened. He hasn't played an NHL game in three years though, so we'll see what happens.

When Barker was signed this new agreement between the NHL and NHLPA regarding buyouts this year wasn't made yet so Redden may not have been an option.

herb wrote:I would rather take the gamble on Wade Redden, who not that long ago, was a very good defenseman for many years before whatever happened in NY happened. He hasn't played an NHL game in three years though, so we'll see what happens.

When Barker was signed this new agreement between the NHL and NHLPA regarding buyouts this year wasn't made yet so Redden may not have been an option.

Hitchcock wanted Redden in CBJ before he signed in NYR and he fought for him this time too, I doubt we would have landed him if we hadn't signed Barker.

Yeah I don't think we would have had a shot.

There's not much opportunity for playing time here, a guy like Wade Redden (or Scott Gomez) knows that this season he is playing for his career pretty much and signing with a team where you're going to be stuck behind five veterans on big contracts, an up and coming youngster in Chris Tanev and maybe even a journeyman in Andrew Alberts who you simply can't compete with (I doubt the Canucks are going to put Redden in over Alberts when they are looking to add some size to the lineup).. no way.

Blues fans seemed convinced their team needed a left shooting defenseman to take over a pretty plum assignment and if Redden gets something close to that then this opportunity was tailor-made for him.

‏@GMMikeGillis
I'd like to congratulate Alex Edler on agreeing to terms on a new multi-year deal. Details to follow.

Hopefully it's 5 mill or under

6 year deal according to Hosea Cheung

Lebrun: 6yr/$30 mil

Elliot Friedman "@FriedgeHNIC: Edler probably left money on table, but he's clearly happy in Vancouver. Once again, Canucks get a core player to take a little less to stay"

Awesome signing! wootwoot!

Time for a Edler jersey.

6 years, $5 milion per year. Whoot!!

JonT21 wrote:‏@GMMikeGillis
I'd like to congratulate Alex Edler on agreeing to terms on a new multi-year deal. Details to follow.

Hopefully it's 5 mill or under

Great signing. Great terms. Say what you want about Gillis as a wheeler-dealer. The guys a genius at free agent signings and contract negotiations.