conundrumed

I agree on Toffoli, just don't see Conroy doing it. Conny's already spoken to knowing Markstrom will bounce back, wants more icetime for the best players, so that wipes all of the big contracts off of the trade table. That's why I leave it as Backs/Tanev and Lindholm remains kind of an outlier. I''ll add Z and Vladar to the trade table.

I would say top 6 wing on either side. If Lindy re-signs, Kadri is going nowhere and likely Backlund isn't either. Ronni is the likely prospect to replace Backs and Zary has that potential also. Don't forget Kerins. A year in the E doesn't write him off by any stretch. We really need some size with skill on the wings to get to the net and create offense. We realistically have Huberdeau and Toffoli as top 6 wingers. We also need a bump-back puck carrier and I think that should be Pelts for now. We'd really have to blow it to not get a top 6 fwd though. A lot of Cs can move to wing and do so I wouldn't put a ton of weight into F position. Although a winger won't be a center. Danielson is a solid pick, my only concern is ceiling. Him and Ritchie are quite similar. Available at 16, I think Musty has the highest floor and ceiling IF I want size and skill up front that is close to NHL-ready skill-wise, which I do. Everyone has warts, but his aren't really the basic things you hate to see like skating, IQ, passing and shooting. Room for improvement in skating edges, physicality and staying engaged. Everything else is pretty high end. I'll leave it as, he's A LOT better than Ruzicka, and I do mean A LOT. Maybe a Tom Wilson-type with better hands? He's hard to move off the puck with the ability to totally undress you and still find a good pass. Or he'll be beside the net for the tap in and is not exactly easy to move. We just don't have that and I think that's really hurting us. It keeps us outside.

I hope that you're not married to that list because virtually all of those guys are going nowhere. Why on earth would you move Weegar? He is currently a top candidate for Canada's MVP at the World's and they'll be playing for Gold tomorrow. He is hands-down our best overall dman. Conroy definitely isn't trading more than 1 from this list, with a 0% chance that it's anyone but Backlund or Tanev, and that's maybe a 25% chance.

Moore isn't. He's really good all over the ice. Ritchie should be a really solid NHLer, 1B/2C. It is exactly that he is above average at everything but not elite at any one thing. He was banged up at the u18, as was Barlow. His brother Ethan was with the Sting and a solid puck-moving D, he'll get a tryout and end up as a B/C prospect in the A or similar. No way is Reinbacher falling like that. Yager is most likely going to be a winger and needs to add weight in muscle. Him and Cristall would be my fall candidates. Button has reeaallly promoted the Swedes and NDTDP here, like, waay overrated. Though I do like Willander and Lindstein as Dmen, a lot. He pounded Simashev WAY down for no reason. Emotion gets the best of him.lol He should have stopped at his last list. Still kinda hoping that we land at Musty without a Reinbacher, Barlow, Dvorsky falling to us. I just don't think Danielson will be available realistically. Teams love large centers. With Musty, I think he'll be close to leading the O in goals and points next year, jump to the A and likely not be there for an entire season. One thing him and Barlow can do likely better than anyone after the top 3 is create separation. The NHL is no time or space, you have to make/create your own to have any success in the top 6. Then they're both solid finishers. Many are thinking Barlow should just go to the NHL next year. I'm in that camp. He can start quietly in the bottom 6 and work up from there. Dude looks like he's 27 already.lol

A fun little interview with Conroy on Overdrive yesterday: https://post.futurimedia.com/chumam/playlist/listen-43897.html

My vote is Cristall. They've already begun to hone in on his skating. Button has dropped him down to 35. He's also dropped Reinbacher to 24. He's moved Willander way up to 8th. Button's a shining example of why I pay little mind to tournaments. Now his list looks like he's throwing darts. He now has the Juolevi protege at 5.lol https://www.tsn.ca/nhl/draftcentre/craig-s-list-after-impressive-u18-showing-axel-sandin-pellikka-moves-into-top-5-1.1960662

I would think the chance of 3rd oa for Lindholm are absolute zero. Maybe a later 1st, player and prospect, but no way a 3 oa in this draft. As @cross16 said, a Horvat-similar return. That pick is now at 17oa as it maxed out as high as it was going to go.

It'll be interesting to see if we have a later pick goalie on tap. I could go either way, we need everything. Interested to see what Sergeev does this year, back to Connecticut...or?... We're about 20 days away from the annual, "target a prospect and run him into the ground" game. Who will be this year's winner?

As much as I want lots of shiny new toys, I think we have to give what we have a chance. Lots of UFAs this year, oh well. Let it run until TDL and cast it in stone that if you're a borderline team, trade everyone and start a new palette. The players now have their way with big changes, so let them either run with it or choke on it. They've gotten their way to this point, why stop now? If it was a toxic environment, let them create the environment. It's only 1 year. If they start blaming everything else again, you know what to do. If they're successful and having fun, you know that too. Throw caution to the wind for a season and see if the lunatics can run the asylum better. Call it a year of assessing what changing the environment does towards success. If they fail, well, there's your valuable lesson. If you tie into big changes now, you'll never know.

Thank you. I'd followed FLA in the Trochek-Dadonov years up until this year. I really like those 2 players. What does make the team kinda fun is the complete caution to the wind on trading whoever, whenever. They don't exactly win all of their trades but I love their bravado.lol They really are 100% business. "If we think we can get by with someone else instead of you, we will". Nobody's seat is safe on this adventure. Barkov may be the only one that could retire a Panthers, even that's maybe 50-50. I'd call Florida a team in perpetual re-tool. And they are a breath of fresh air frankly. They don't have to worry about fan mindsets, like fans in Canada that treat everything like a marriage. They have far less messy divorces.lol But back on track, I'll take a flier on Conroy. It was never not going to be him. I'm taking a "show me" stance. The top players expected "change" but we're not sure what that means, but I assume using the term generally means, "change many things". It's gotta suck playing at the depressing old dome. Let's be honest. Coming off of a road trip in stellar facilities to see what you have is a big problem imo. I have little doubt that the Flames are under duress from the league to make it happen and players around the league are friends and talk. "Nice place to live, Satoshi Nakamototy place to play" isn't enticing. So changing that is important in, "make it fun". I have little doubt the court of public opinion will see Mitch Love will be named Coach. Because let's face it again, we're sensitive to negative press so can't have him go elsewhere. So philosophically imho, we're still the same. Always reacting to the negativity. This really holds back every CDN franchise that isn't french and full of attitude. Just some thoughts. On the topic of "lose Markstrom" for a new GM, peeps are kidding right? I've yet to hear a good backup plan if Vladar and Wolf fail. You have one leg at G and that's Markstrom, he's proven he can be 2 legs. If we sweep both legs out, now what? More draft picks or hope Thomas Greiss is available on the wire? Or Daniil Chechelev is Vasilevsky. I hope Conroy puts a sterner eye on our D. They are not good at playing D. Constantly letting fwds weave in front of the goalie, rarely tieing up sticks, reading rebounds, backing off on skaters/shooters way too much (Oilers series blamed on Markstrom). I'd like to see a huge change in what they define as defensemen. "Hold" the other team to 20 shots, like it wasn't the fwds that tilted the ice, 12 insane high danger attempts against because you suck as a defenceman. Most don't get to the spot in time to preempt a simple weave. Way above the required risks from the O point. Here comes the 2-on-1. I hope Conroy makes some D changes, because that issue is hiding in the weeds imho. We don't defend well and you can't tilt the ice in your favour aaallll game. No finishers, no O net presence, weak D is what I'll be watching for change. Pretty basic things. I remain hopeful.

No love for Vegas or Dallas, I like FLA because my fave Barkov is the best all-around player in the NHL, big respect for everything about the Canes right down to god-level of fun PR staff. But go Adin Hill. I LOVE it. Always liked him as a goalie. He was always great against us and other games that I've seen him against Detroit. He's always been a victim of circumstance and I've never really understood it from a distance. Oettinger Satoshi Nakamoto the bed, but that doesn't take away from a 34 save shutout. I'll champion his cause for sure. I've just never understood why he's been treated like, "whatever". When I'd seen him in the past I always liked him. Stops what he should, stays calm, moves well, covers the net well... Yet he was backing up Brossoit? wtf? Can someone explain this to me? He only gets >20 games when a "real" goalie is injured and constantly bounced to the A when they get a "real" backup like Brossoit? I was kinda shocked SJ let him go. They acquired him for a 2nd prior to the expansion draft. This is like a bad joke: https://www.nhl.com/sharks/news/sharks-acquire-a-2024-fourth-round-selection-from-vegas-in-exchange-for-goaltender-adin-hill/c-335415752 There is literally nothing here that defines that he should be an afterthought goalie: https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/62230/adin-hill So you go Adin Hill, I have no idea why this has been your career. Throw a Blockchain into the NHL machine that still isn't embracing the story. You're waaay better than a journeyman goalie. Be the story.

Oilers obsession on a Flames board is always going to be a petty look...

Neither can our defensemen, to be fair. It's not surprising that if Tanev is out, we generally lose. He's the only solid defensive dman that we have. Way too much emphasis on D creating offense. Which is what forwards are supposed to do. I get that you need a fast dman that can handle the puck really well. One. We don't need 4 trying to be that.

Ah how much can change. 2 months ago every Panthers fan wanted Maurice and Bobrovsky shot into the sun. Maurice spent nearly the entire season calmly citing injuries as the sole reason. Guess he was right. Pretty impressive how relaxed he remained. Both are now clearly Florida's MVPeople. Colour me impressed with Maurice, big time.

But to be fair that it's not those 2 alone, the Backlund and Lindholm interviews tend to reflect the general mood surrounding the players thinking there would be change. It's "what change" that we can only hypothesize.

For me, Reinbacher and Sandin-Pellikka are gone by 16. Simashev, Willander, Gulyayev are the other potential 1st rders. Someone could potentially reach on Strbak late. The 2nd & 3rd rds will be D runs imho. There are enough that a good prospect will still be available at 48. Lindstein or McCarthy could be there, that would be a solid add. Maybe a giant like Dvorak, but he's more of a project. I'm not against a 2nd draft dman late, maybe a Luke Mittelstadt? That no 3rd is painful though. An extra bullet for another dman in the top 20 dmen would be really nice. But we've pissed away so many picks at this point that drafts become depressing. That's why it's nice to have a fave Eastern team I guess...🫣 How loaded is Detroit going to get now?🥲 Edvinnson, Johansson, Wallinder, Soderblom, Kasper and Mazur could potentially join this year or next and still more beneath them. Then another 5 picks in the top 43 this year. The depth is insane. Yzerman's taking his sweet-assed time. Definitely could trade from prospects alone with not much impact on the pool. I wish the Flames had half of that depth. We can't even afford to throw Zary in on a trade. *end rant*

I think my fave was regarding the schedule: "The stupidity is complete. Previously, a person made a schedule, but now an algorithm". That feels like it applies to most things these days in general. Make it an algorithm, hire an insurance company to wrap it into a perfectly worded audit to protect the inherent errors from lawsuits.

That is definitely the crux of it all. They generally handle everything like a hot potato, rather than honesty and transparency. Why would this be any different?

Conroy's first job will be stopping media leaks evidently.

Do you believe Quenneville should never be employed in the league again? This is meant as an honest question for everyone...not a leading question. Just a difficult one to phrase as having no motive. Peters' return would be much faster than Quenneville's if this is a scale. I'm all for 2nd chances, but I'm not always for 2nd chances. If that makes sense. It's a lyric in one of my songs.lol

Add Kadri and I agree. Z interviewed with Russian media. Said 90% he's not allowed to say. But last year they bought in, this year the new players didn't, to paraphrase. Google translate from Russian, so you still have to translate a bit, e.g. he/they/we/I etc. https://sport24-ru.translate.goog/news/hockey/2023-05-18-intervyu-nikity-zadorova-ne-popali-v-pley-off-s-kalgari-kheyt-v-rossii-lgbt-dzhersi?_x_tr_sl=ru&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp

Not getting the Nonis thing. Is Burke coming back?

And a pair from Kyiv!😃 Celebrini bros will be together at BU. Tight game, Brooks is all over them, but goalie battle. Oops, 1-0 Brooks.

Same. I think more like a Spezza-type role. "Special Asst to the GM" or something of the sort.

Millionaire?lol Surely you jest. He makes millionaires look like squatters. Unless you meant, like 3,000 million and counting.