cross16

I like Evan Bouchard a lot and he's blossoming quite a bit for them. He's got some defensive issues but he's a modern day dman whose gonna have a breakout year. The Nurse contract is the killer as are the goalies but it's really down to the fact that they just cannot draft at all. Cap system requires that waive of talent but if your going to be top heavy you really need those ELC contracts and Oilers have literally had almost no one come in and provide them any value. So they have to go and sign those vet minimums deals to guys past their prime. Incredible level of incompetency from their hockey ops.

I actually would not argue the Oilers overspent on depth. They only have 5 forward on the roster making over 3 million. McDavid, Draisaitl, Hyman, Kane and RNH. I don't think 1 of those guys is overpaid (in terms of AAV). Foregele and McLeod are decent value at 2.7 and 2.1 accordingly. The Oilers make 3 massive errors that are sinking their cap. Milan Lucic (turned into James Neal and a 2 mil dead cap hit), Darnell Nurse and Jack Campbell. I don't view that as overspending on depth, it's just miscalculation of player value and talent.

How the Flames will line up without Mang. Would appear Ruzicka is getting closer

The short answer is because that is the rule and policy outlined by the league. But to clarify, because of what Ottawa shared Vegas was under the belief that Dadonov had no trade protection in his deal. part of the limited No trade clause is that the player has a deadline to submit the list and if they miss the deadline, the clause is invalidated. What drove this situation is Vegas was told by Ottawa that Dadonov had no trade protection in his contract because the list wasn't submitted but in reality the agent did submit it but Ottawa didn't record it. It is a perfect or good system, probably not but Ottawa definitely went outside of what is very establish protocol here. Can for sure debate whether this system is good or not, and IMO a no trade list should get filled with central registry, but as it stand today Ottawa clearly didn't follow procedure

A no trade clause is written in to a contract yes but if it's a limited one (ie player submits a list like it was in this case) the list is not written into the contract because that info changes over time. These lists are not given to NHL Central Registry, in an effort to prevent them from leaking out, so it is up to the teams to manage it. As part of the trade call, which you can actually YouTube, it is process for the NHL to ask if there is No trade protection moving in the deal but Ottawa said no. They claimed they did not get a list and therefore the NTC was invalidated but Dadonov's agent was able to show them that they had indeed filled a No trade list with Ottawa and therefore the clause stood. Awfully hard to blame Vegas here. Intentional or not is irrelevant as Ottawa had a procedure to follow and they didn't. I think a 1st is a pretty steep penalty but something should have been done and I also agree Dorion has to be accountable. I think Dorion was a decent head of scouting but he was a major flop as a GM so I personally wouldn't be in a rush to hire him.

I don't think it's his fault but I would sense he's basically game by game now. Missing the playoffs is just not an option for the Oilers and I think Woodcroft will take the fall for it. This is a roster construction issue, highlighted by bad goaltending because when you have terrible goaltending like the Oilers have it's almost impossible to be a good team. But there is only so much deeper of a hole you can dig before he has to do something and fire the coach is normally the first card in that deck. I could see Bruce Boudreau as an option there.

1 game is just ridiculous but I can't say i'm surprised given how much of a joke NHL "Player safety" is anyway. Mang got off way too light IMO.

I don’t agree with that. Punish the action not the result. The action was awful an inch here or there and McCann likely has a serious concussion.

Nice to see them play competent hockey. but so happy for Pospisil. That kid has overcome a lot, so to see him play well and score was just awesome to see.

I’d put Mang closer to 5 games myself. Just a totally reckless and stupid play that could have led to something far more serious. should be 5 minimum but I’d settle for 4 given he essentially served 1 already.

Good for Pospisil. Injuries have been tough on him. Think they brought him up to try and find a spark so expect to see him running around and trying to mix it up. He’s a drag your teammates into the fight kind of guy

I don't' see any vindication. I think that Sutter was wrong about certain individuals on the team, but I don't think he was wrong about the type of game they were trying to play, nor do I think that is why he got fired. He got fired because he turned into someone who no org would employ. If you are looking for Sutter to be vindicated I think you missed the original issues. Not to mention the success of firing a coach in order to improve as a team rests far more on who you hire, more so than who you fire.

That

Well that is really frustrating.

Looks like he'll get an opportunity. curious to see what the fall out here is though. I don't think the Flames have the cap space currently for both Solovyov and Zary.

Perfect. Probably deserved a spot out of camp and has been excellent, by all accounts, so far in the A.

The only condition on the 2024 first is that if it's between 20-32, Montreal can elect to take it.

I'm not sure I could even tell you what the strategy is for the Flames right now. They seems to have pivoted after the first few games. Not going to suggest for a second that this (as in Flames level of play) is Huska's fault so want to be super clear there, but I think a young/inexperience coaching staff is panicking. There is just no connection at all with the team right now, no purpose, and no consistency in how they want to play the game.

This is very misleading. Conroy said opportunity for young players but also clarified no one is going to get promised a job. Did Oesterle take away an opportunity for someone? someone couldn't beat him out for the job in pre season? I think the carrot was dangled but that's all they can do is dangle it. Cant force someone to eat it. Not to mention it took them less than 10 games to call him up. Opportunity is not just about pre season, unless your Darryl Sutter.

Keep in mind too with goalie stats, in particular save %, they are down league wide. From 09-10 until 19-20 the avg Save % was never below .910. Since then it's fallen to .904 and .906 the last 2 seasons. Have to adjust your criteria if you want to use stats like that. Even though he is playing solid I'm still skeptical you can move him because the 2 years left and the NMC but if the cap goes up like they think the chances might not be zero. NMC is a big challenge though.

Despite all the talk about wanting creativity (from all level of hockey ops) and fun, the Flames have actually managed to be more boring offensively so far then they were all of last year. That's my biggest surprise so far. I was expecting loose D, was not expecting a more boring offence than last year.

Would sure be a heck of a lot better than what we are watching. I mean it’s not rocket science. You don’t need a high level of skill to execute with some creativity.

In the preseason the flames were so creative on offense and on the PP. they’ve completely ditched that. Back to just plane old cycling and shooting. It’s so so frustrating to see

Flames just do nothing well right now. Poor execution, preparation, effort, strategy. It’s just all bad. that was a pathetic effort on the PP and they deserved the goal against.

Maximizing LTIR is more of a start of season activity that is not as relevant right now. I think with Zary it's more about what's best for him. I think when you bring a player like that up it's to keep him here and they likely are not in a position to do that right now.