conundrumed

The Wings have signed the elder Buium (2021 36th oa), Shai, to an ELC. He'll report to GR on a PTO. He was Zeev's D partner this season. His 3 seasons in Denver included 2 National Championships. This year and his NCHC All-Rookie Team award season in 2021-22, which included fellow Wings prospects Carter Mazur (2021 70th oa) and Antti Tuomisto (2019 35th oa). Zeev's a great player. Just be wary that so is his now ex D-partner (7-29/36pts, +33). Shai's now 21 and topped out at 6'3 to 6'4 depending on who you believe, and around 220lbs. So Zeev (6'/180ish) could have size growth pdq. Unless it was the mailman... Both products of Shattuck, because...you know...who isn't? lol

Queue the Leaf nation sheer panic and blame machine. TSN already threw out the, "I barely heard Marner's name". Here it comes again. I feel sorry for that guy, and any goalie that signs there. It's not that absurd defence, it can't be that.

It's all about depth for me. Bottom 6 is where the real chess match lives. Are they dominating or being dominated? Driving momentum and drawing penalties, the opposite, or a saw-off? As much as people will say, "just a 4th liner", the playoffs remove that. They WILL get caught out there with unfavourable matchups. Can they handle it, or are they getting owned? Playoffs are always the same to me. Look at our own Stephane Yelle. I thought he was our MVP in 04 (and Kipper, of course). He was massively driving the bus. Every team has great offensive players. It's the bottom 6 that is either creating good opportunities for them, or not. Which end is the faceoff in? Are you going on the PP or PK. Chipping in the odd goal or giving it up? The bottom 6 really drives the dynamic of the overall game. They'll put your stars in favourable positions, or unfavourable positions. If your bottom 6 isn't rock solid, you're not going far in the playoff season. They're the wind in your sails, or sucking the life out of you. Even the best technicians aren't allowed onsite without their workboots. I love analogies. lol

What about Nashville? Tennessee/Georgia/Kentucky/Mrs Sippy aren't exactly hockey talent hotbeds I tell you what. Or is this purely for selfish reasons? lol

Only if you consider cool to be massively unfair. lol https://www.hockey-reference.com/friv/birthplaces.cgi

And their bottom 6 depth is definitely nothing to snivel at.

The mishandling is mind-boggling. Apparently, the team medical staff is helpless to doing full assessments on players. The player has to point out that he can barely walk or tie his skates, because no one can see it. So you give up a 1st rder to lose a guy that somehow (ineptitude) isn't on LTIR. So your 30g, 40a center is now someone else's problem. Until he gets back to normal and puts up 26g/33a in his first healthy season in years. Then he's not a problem anymore. Us: We can't do anything if he doesn't tell us. Him: I could barely tie my skates. I had a hard time getting upright again after taking a faceoff. Us: If only he had told us. Words just can't describe that level of incompetence. Add the expectation that we're supposed to believe the incompetent pulling out the, "we didn't know" card. A typical card that incompetence likes to play. "My eyes were broken during that timeline". lol What's the ol' saying, "we don't see things as they are, we see things as we are".

55% at the dot. When we needed a PP F/O win, it was him. The Jets hottest line rn is Ehlers-Mony-Toffoli. Just sayin'. It's funny him and Scheifele are on the same team. In the O, I thought Mony was quite comparable to Scheifele.

What does this even look like? So you get rid of useful things for picks. Great. Now there's a cap floor. So are you paying the Stecher's $5mil per? So now you need roster players. Are you going to throw your prospects in way over their heads and pound the confidence right out of them? I don't understand bare bones, with regard to meeting the cap floor and maintaining any form of positive work environment. It all sounds good in theory, but it requires a lot of foresight into the hurdles that you're also creating. So now. I'm the owner. This is hardly the only business in my portfolio. You're going to come to me with a proposition. "I want to drive the value of this business right into the ground. But within about 5 years, we can double the value that it's at now". Okay. I have a risk assessment team that I pay to deal with this for all of my businesses. You go talk to them. They will advise me on what they think of this proposal. God help you if you're not prepared to deal with a boardroom filled with accountants and lawyers. Because there is a 99% chance that you are about to get yourself fired. And it will just be in a cold email filled with cold legalese mixed with accounting principles. This is a business that operates on business principles, not flights of fancy. The bottom line is all that matters.

Dude??

Sounds like Brodie is in the press box for game 1. Samsonov will be their starter. My bet is they'll be sharpening their, "blame Marner" knives again. Watch out for Boston's 3rd line if they are pairing Frederic and Geekie together. They're fantastic. I recall the eyerolls when Seattle selected Geekie from the Canes in the expansion draft. A 67th oa prospect. Well, Seattle's biggest screw-up was letting him go. Geekie's a fantastic player. He's 25. $2mil per through next year, expires arb-rights RFA. I'd gladly take that kind of action!! One of many reasons I'm happy we have a healthy amount of picks between 25-90ish. There are always potential gems there. Like him.

Decent redraft descriptors here (though waay too early): https://www.capfriendly.com/mock-draft/279901

Imagine being a 60yr old hardcore Leafs fan. You raised your kids to be Leafs fans, you bought your grandchildren no end of baby Leafs gear. You've prepared generations of your flesh and blood for a lifetime of failure. lol

How did you reach this conclusion?

Without question. This morning checking the scores was a giant, "you've got to be kidding me". Waydago Vegas. I may have sworn a bit more than that. Crushed by the Ducks...just wow.

Speaking of being hard-pressed to find a Cdn fan outside of other teams' hometown fans not cheering for the Jets. This is opposite. SNET and TSN cheer the Oilers though. The disconnect between the sports networks and its nation's fans is fascinating.

This is what I mean. Ranked by which guessing site? They just do it for fan fervour. Or their staff would be a part of pro scouting teams. It's just the internet. Highlight packages produced by player agents, opinions given with unknown agendas.

Should have moved them to Hamilton.

I really doubt they'll be back in ARI. It's the NHL. This is their way of distracting us from them having to admit, "wow, we fubar'd the Satoshi Nakamoto right out of this whole Arizona project". Nope. "Look everyone, something shiny. Everybody wins. So much good came from this".

I think most agree that the Caps have zero chance, but the rest is a lot dicier. She's a new season.

I think you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone in Canada not cheering if the Jets....went....all....the....way!!! I know my crowd wants them to. Be them Bruins, Leafs, Wings, TBay or MTL fans. *note: TBay fans here are a fair few. Not bandwagoners. Because of Stamkos. As much about character as it is the player. He's a legend in this town. If he were drafted by ARI, they'd all be hardcore ARI fans. He's had quite an impact on a lot of people. I'd say, "left", but he didn't just go to the NHL and leave it all behind. Dude is magnanimous in spades. Or else he'd have, pulled a Tavares. lol Nobody, but nobody, here, is cheering against the Jets to win the west.

Merulo holds the rights to the Coyotes name, so it can't be that. Forgot about the Nawlins Jazz!! Nevermind. lol

I think of every team, the Isles have really gotten good when push came to shove. They could be a real handful for the Canes. A lot always comes down to which players are playing through what injury? Things we never know. Florida needs to put Barkov on Kucherov like glue. That alone might make a difference. Can't give Kucherov any time or space, like, at all. Like Zetterberg on Toews. Don't let him do anything, and worry about nothing else.

OMG, YES!!! While pretending not to be tongue-in-cheek!

*My same asterisk note goes for this thread.* I'm rolling with all the home teams here. Maybe Nashville can give Van a good run. That said, only Dallas, Van and Edmonton haven't been wildly inconsistent in the back half of this season, though Nashville is almost with that group. But they sputtered a bit after the wild ride of points in, what, 18 in a row?