Yinz?

Don't change the subject.

The question remains: do yinz (all of you fine people) think that Mike grier calls it a "left handed Me"?

Well?

Naa, he just calls it "the stranger"

At a minimum, it streamlines the team as we have 1 player taking the place of 2 players ... Mair and Ellis.

I still think we are going to make 1 more move this offseason. We either sign a D like McKee or Corvo, or trade for D-man.

That's not his style really. Anyway, I think people have an overly critical view of the top six. They have produced at a fair rate to their contracts compared to the rest of the league. Let me be a stat geek for a minute...

The players listed above all have a cap hit of at least 4 mil, and all scored under 70 pts. Right now there are 81 forwards that will have a cap hit of 4 mil or above next season, and only 26 of them scored over 70 pts. 55 forwards that have a cap hit over 4 mil scored less than 70 pts, so Connolly, Roy, Pominville and Vanek are in good company.

Taking it a step further, since Connolly and Roy seem to take the brunt of criticism... Only seven teams had top two centers that scored more pts than Connolly and Roy. Connolly and Roy equaled Toews and Sharp, were just behind Datsyuk and Zetterberg, and actually beat Richards and Carter.

The top six can use a physical scorer and some leadership qualities, but they are solid in point production. Dumping any of those four for leadership or physicality without replacing the talent and point production won't go very far.

That's good stuff. I'm not saying they are without hope, just that they need to produce more. I'd like to see a healthy Connolly break 80 points. Roy 80. Vanek 80. and Poms 70. I think that's well within their talents , money aside.

They need to produce being the top guys, not being protected behind other players....they really haven't done that yet with the amount of consistency required.

and for Pete's sake Connolly and Roy need to learn how to skate the puck into the zone. You can have the centers from your two tops lines not be able to do this.

I also think we could use a scorer up front but what is to happen with Gerbe. I have no problem with buffalo getting rid of Stafford but I believe is his trade value is low right now. Plus I wouldn't mind seeing what Gerbe brings to the table this season. To me this is his make or break year. The guy is capable of playing in the NHL it just depends on what team he is on. If Buffalo keeps him or moves him.