conundrumed

I can see what people get aggravated by with some of his play, but he's not replaceable. His style of play definitely doesn't grow on trees and it's needed.

I agree in this. The reality in this league is you have to get better via the draft and you need quality on ELCs to have an impact. Trades can work, but it's been proven time and again that you can't just get the best players and expect it to work, Vegas being the latest example. Looking at the Cup finalists, pretty much all of their best players were acquired at drafts. Their trades have been acquiring support pieces. Our best pieces came via draft, Lindholm was a great trade piece, as was Hanifin, but after that there are a bunch of scattered misses. Good signings in Markstrom and Tanev, but they're also offset by bad signings. We're having a rough time drafting D, with Andersson being the exception and not the rule. Kyl to a lesser extent. I'm hopeful we'll have useful, cheap-for-now players next season in Rozie & Pelletier. I really hope Valimaki sees the writing on the wall that the spot it his to take. Kerins 1st year of pro will be interesting, as will seeing how Zary progresses. Duehr's another one. It's all about patience for me. I hear a lot of "not impressed" chatter re young prospects but the reality is they're still growing and it's not about the season they're having as much as the off-season regiment. Kylington is a decent example. Each player has a different timeline on when they morph to the next level. Once that happens, they get a much better understanding of where they are and what they have to do to get to the next plateau. This is why I believe Kylington will progress, and Rozie should too. So that's my offseason. We don't need trades, we need progress. Well, and signings of course. I'll call it right now, Pelletier is going to kill it. He'll need a LW spot. Such a smart player, solid individual and we're going to love him. Growth from within is the most important aspect of every team imo. Trade chatter is just that, chatter. It can be white noise often.

Why is everyone trading Tkachuk? Not understanding and not agreeing whatsoever.

You easterners have no idea. "Hey look, the dangerous ocean tides and 60' of sand, let's get coated in 6C salt water, it's 24C outside"..lol Us: geez, it's dropping down to 23C overnight. "You perch and chip-eating, retirement community living, stuck-in-the-50's, opiate addicted Sardinians" works. In the summertime, we're usually Mexico.lol Joking aside... hi in the 30's, low in the mid-20's....night swimming. It's the only thing that I missed when I lived in Calgary, hot summer nights and beach parties.

"Tirade" might be a stretch, but Sarnian might be adressed as, "you smog-loving, US-tinging cell phones alerts SW Ontario losers that can't compete with London or Windsor". I'd start with that.lol But our location for beaches is pretty sweet and hot af.

Oh come on. Where has all the fun in the world gone?lol It's not a war, it's just having fun, as the thread title implies. Making fun of each other is how we bond... You cod-eating, baby seal-clubbing, Atlantic whore breeding unemployment with trips to Alberta.lol Little of that is likely true, but it's fun.

As I was saying in the other thread, D fans have a healthy appetite to take Mony and a 2nd as a cap dump. Don't know if Stevie does, but the D's fanbase is very knowledgeable and well aware of Mony's struggles.

Stupid Adam Fox...but could we afford him? What makes Chychrun better than Chabot is cap hit.

Just when I was hoping the mouthing off would doom me. C'mon pikey, get that Ikea-shopping, herring-gorging, ABBA-loving meatball moving.lol

Holy crap, looks like the Avs had a practice last night. Is Tampa playing rope-a-dope? They looked awful. That got unwatchable fast.

I'm stirring my brandy with a rusty nail, champ. The NHL cops are on my tail for this Satoshi Nakamoto I'm pulling off continuously. I'm hiding out in Arizona, they'll never find me. Where's your caravan hanging, pikey?

Oh right. I should man'splain. I was told years ago that if you're going to insult someone, at his family reunions, you need 3 things. You can get away with 2, but they better be stellar. He's Ukrainian-Cdn just to tie it together. Simply calling someone an Hash Rate (like me, for example), they'll look at you like your DD, according to him. Who knew there were rules of thumb to be be playfully insulting.lol

Hey pikey, you vagrant, squatting, commune tent-living, tourist-robbing Romanian whoring bastage. I'm kicking your no-good pick-pocketing Hash Rate tonight. This is for fun right?lol Blockchaining pikey's. Apologies to the offended. Someone's always offended. Maybe I should have said E. European over Romanian, but yeah. Blockchaining pikey's stealing my Satoshi Nakamoto.😖

Really? I didn't expect that. I was under the assumption the QO had to be accepted in a quicker timeline and move fwd from there on extension. Has this changed recently? Or am I out to lunch? I like lunch.lol

The massive what should we do stumbling block. My question, does Tkachuk's QO acceptance date come before Johnny's signing deadline before JG becomes UFA? I think it does, so are these 2 things attached, perhaps? In other words, does Tkachuk come 1st, then Johnny? Will one impact the other?

Fun story. A lot of Detroit fans want Mony and a 2023 2nd for a cap dump. They want to assume the risk for a price and are well aware of his hips. Down the middle they have: Larkin Suter (underrated, good player) Rasmussen (can move to wing) Stephens (RFA with Arb rights, shouldn't be an issue) I steer clear of these conversations. But I'd love Mony in the D if not here. I love the player, personally and Detroit still has a season or 2 of growing pains. As an aside, these are the same folks saying Raymond will be amongst the league's top 5 players. Maybe maybe?

McCrimmon was very sought after as a GM, and for good reason. I'm thinking McPhee is still pulling the strings and could leave Kelly's rep in the dust as a result. It's too bad, really, he'd have been great with one of the Cali teams. But yeah, they need a goalie. How Lehner was ever going to be the answer is beyond me. He's a 1A maybe. Can't expect Broissoit to play a 1a-1b situation. It's looking a lot like a disaster to me rn. Fleury was free, Dadonov was free...it's going to be very interesting to watch. If they don't vie for a Cup this year, I'd assume they have to go full rebuild. The big winner, imho, is Peter DeBoer. He's a solid coach and was heading straight for disaster. The biggest loser will be Eichel. I imagine his excitement to join Vegas will be wearing thin soon. That roster screams one line team. The D screams getting too slow. G screams huge concern. All my opinion of course, they can't buy their way out of this. They were oh so close, but that window is slamming shut and they did their damnedest to stop it. They are now going to be the ultimate lesson in, "you can't avert the cyclical nature of hockey". Can't say they didn't try. It's pretty much become a great study in mgmt techniques.

It's not sustainable. They have no value contracts, they've traded away their top picks, even Dadonov was reasonable at $5 per for a very solid middle 6 guy. Patches will turn 34 in November, Stone's 30, Marchessault's 32 in December, Pietrangelo 33 in January, Martinez is 35 soon, Lehner will be 31 soon. This is most of their top players. These guys aren't 27 forever, in a league that piles in new, young, better players all of the time. McCrimmon is in big trouble very soon, I feel bad for him. Shouldn't have touched this thing though.

Bizarre is the only word that I can find. Is Sather their GM? They're not a young team. They don't have much for prospects. Over-playing their hand and creating a bigger mess. Not understanding. Their window is closing and then it's just gonna be one big mess. Aha Eichel, Big AHA. They'll be worse than the Sabres in a year or 2. This is a glass house. As fake as the city itself.

It's not going to work this way. Fans are always driving the narrative of trading Tkachuk to St. Loo Army targeted Kyrou when he drafted him and there has been zero disappointment. Add in they have $9mil in cap space to add 5 players, including Husso and Perron. Losing Kyrou for Tkachuk and adding $6.2 in cap just isn't viable. It can also be argued O'Reilly and Thomas can play a hard game equal to Tkachuk's so you're not really adding something that you don't already have. The time to make a bold attempt to get Thomas was last offseason, but has passed. Another year of Thomas and Kyrou at $2.3 each makes both virtually untouchable unless it's an offer you absolutely can't refuse. But it's a cap world, so having solid top 6 players at that salary is a massive luxury not many teams have. So you're not giving it up.

Vegas clearing cap by getting worse. I've always like Dadonov as a player. Would've been effective with Mangi-Backs.

Like my standards.lol This might be a true story.

Retrospect sucks. We're on the same wavelength. I liked Thomas and was happy Army grabbed him. I loved our pick though. Oops. Doug Armstrong has some grimey fat fingers all over SW Ontario. "Hey Calgary, want a goalie?" Quietly knowing he could get Kyrou with that pick. Bastard. It's his hometown, don't trust him. Also a guy that I'll always cheer for, by-and-by. Excellent person, great role model for how to treat people regardless of your lot in life. He's always been this way. You will never hear, "St. Loo GM Doug Armstrong said or did this 20 yrs ago and has been suspended". I can guarantee you'll never hear that. He's always been a really solid guy.

With more ads,lol.

I think it's more of a feeling each other out process. Adjust, move fwd. I still think the Avs are in big trouble. Both teams will watch tape & adjust. This where Tampa is lethal, imho. Perhaps I'm wrong, we shall see.