Khrox

He's not the only one. I believe Rinne also made some comments about the bruises from the new (lack of) padding.

Smith I believe in his post-game interview mentioned that with the new protectors, you felt every shot a lot more, and some of the harder slap shots really sting now (so now you got those 100+ slappers that even goalies are probably going to try and duck now).

Also has little to no experience on NHL sized ice. Most European players seem to have this problem. I also imagine he is going to be starting in the AHL, and may be a late season 4th line call up. On the other hand, Dube seems to be having a huge impact on his linemates, no matter who they are. That is a pretty positive sign.

And then proceeded to score as many goals as Ryan Strome in 30 less games. I don't think it's fair to judge if Edmonton can determine NHL talent when even with clear cut number one picks they still manage to screw it up (Yakupov, who isn't in the NHL anymore, and barely has more points than Rieder anyways).

What's your definition of NHLer, because you don't have Tobias Rieder as an NHL'er, despite the fact that he has 3 full seasons and over 300 games played (by definition, I'd call that an NHLer). Martin Marincin could be debated (hasn't had a full season, but is still approaching 200 games played). Same could be argued with Brandon Davidson (152 games played, no full seasons). For the most part, I agree with your list though.

Here's the thing. If we waited for someone like Trotz, we couldn't have gotten BP (BP exercised his out-clause in a contract, which in itself was just a 1-week window). If we waited, BP would still be in Carolina in some capacity.

From what I understand, the Islanders rumoured offer was the Flames first round pick (12) and Ho-Sang for Grubauer. Overall, that's not a bad haul that I doubt we can really match, especially if Carlson stays (as our best trade chips would only be valuable to them if Carlson leaves)

Yeah. Kulak reminds me of Chris Butler in one way. I feel like Butler was a good 3rd pairing guy because while he didn't stand out, he didn't make a lot of big mistakes either. Kulak reminds me of that, he plays his game, he doesn't make a lot of mistakes. Except I see him being more skilled. Would I say top 3? Maybe not yet, but I could see him as our #4 D by the end of this upcoming season, or by the beginning of the season after. I do feel he is definitely on the rise and better as a number 5. For a rookie, as a defenseman, I never really felt worried when he was on the ice, which is usually a good sign for both someone that young, and someone who plays D.

Smith going in place of Quick. Unless Quick is injured, him passing on ASG means he is suspended 1 regular season game. Which means it'll either be tonight he misses (hopefully) or Tuesday (vs. Dallas, their next game).

Rittich is looking like the real deal for us right now. I am glad we have him backing up right now, since I don't feel nervous when he's in net like I have with most backups (and some starters) in recent years.

And something people seem to forget is that bottom pairing guys, while not necessarily a minute muncher, are still important. It's rare when you have a team like Nashville for their top 4 (or potentially us this year) where your top 4 guys can eat 50+ minutes a game. If you aren't there, your bottom pairing needs to be able to reliably handle 15 minutes or so, and Kulak is a guy who could definitely be that (15 or so minutes a night, potentially can step into top 4 if injuries occur). For NHL readiness of our D, Kulak is top of my list (with Anderson being second). But I also agree that our D pipeline is definitely loaded with shots. Vali, Fox, Kylington, Anderson, Kulak and even Wotherspoon (who I'd say we could probably have replace Bart as the 7th. I don't see Spoon getting much better even with more playing time. A 6th/7th is where I see him at now, and doubt he ever really exceeds that)

That was great. Can't blame him either. How many amazing games has he played, only to lose because the Coyotes were just an awful team except for a couple players (like OEL). Or he plays lights out, to lose a game because they could only score one goal (and yes, it happens to every team, but it seemed to happen a lot to the Coyotes).

I'm really hoping we extend Tre sooner rather than later. I assume they are waiting until playoffs for now, but I really doubt that we are getting a GM better than him coming along. He has made some mistakes (Raymond was definitely a year too long), but at the same time, any first time GM is going to make mistakes. Any GM, regardless of experience, makes mistakes (anyone remember the Martin Erat and Michael Latta for Filip Forsberg trade?). But overall, Tre has been pretty good. The Engelland signing was little expensive, but he has worked out pretty darn well for us (and the expense was probably necessary to get a few more free agents to come to Calgary at the time. We weren't exactly expecting to make the playoffs that year, or projected to be anywhere close to it). Bollig was a sideways move. The Bouma signing wasn't great, but the Monahan and Gaudreau signings were far better than expected. The Dougie trade and signing was grade A. Frolik was a solid pickup. Elliot and Johnson, were good moves. Even bringing in Hiller was good at the time (sure his second year was crap, but I don't think anyone saw him being anywhere near as bad as he was that year). The Gio signing is yet to be really seen. It looked good at the time, still looks alright, but the last half we will see. GG has been a pretty good pickup as coach. The first 15-20 are rough, but anytime there is a coaching change (and especially with a completely different style) is going to take a bit of getting used to. But, overall, he has been far more beneficial to our rebuild than not. Including the draft. Sure Tkachuk and Bennett were sort of "no-brainers" at that point, but look at the depth moves. Kylington, Andersson, Mangiapane and Parsons? Those were good second+ round picks that could have gone a different way. I'd say he has earned it.

I'd take the risk. Unless Gillies has some kind of record-breaking AHL season this upcoming year, I'd say he's pretty safe. Considering the amount of other goalies on the market who are established at the NHL level already for the expansion team(s) to take. Gillies has the potential to be our Murray/Vasilevsky, but he hasn't had the seasoning in the AHL yet. He's likely 2 years (again, I'll give him 1 if he has the aforementioned record breaking season) before he's ready for the NHL. Murray, Vasilevsky and their ilk were NHL ready this season, and ready for bigger roles as of next season. Gillies isn't there yet, it's unlikely he get's picked up (more likely if it's 2 teams, but still not as likely. There are bound to be 4 better goaltenders exposed and through free agency).

DD, he hasn't played 60+ games in the NHL regular season yet. He is still young, and still needs to prove himself. But Murray has played a lot. 31 games in AHL, 13 games NHL (44 games) and 21 in the playoffs (65 games) this year. Not to mention, winning record in AHL regular season, (20-9-1 (2.1 GAA, .931 Sv%)) NHL Regular season (9-2-1 2.00 GAA .930 Sv%)) and Playoffs (15-6 2.08 GAA .923 Sv%). Those aren't bad numbers. I doubt they annoint him straight away as their #1, but if I were them, I'd trade MAF and try to get a someone else who may be available for a Cam Ward type contract in case Murray falters.

They said black-and-blue style. But I'm pretty sure they meant for the bottom 6. Burke likes his big boys, but time and again he has taken straight skill over straight size. With his late picks he might take a guy on size (such as we did with Riley Bruce in the 7th round). The ideal would be a skill guy with size and a physical edge (your Getzlaf's, Perry's, Ovechkin's, and the slightly smaller side of this with your Iginla's and PK Subban's). If you have a chance to add a guy with size and skill who plays a black and blue game, you pull the trigger. But you build your top 6 with skill and bottom 6 with your more heart and soul/black and blue guys. So ya, Stajan and Raymond might not fit there, but your Bouma, Hathaway kind of guys are perfect. And ya, Colborne, Backs and Frolik might not be your black-and-blue guys, but they do their job well enough to not have to be that. Bennet actually does play that style, and if you get him a guy with a mean streak and some skill (possibly Hunter Smith in a few years?) you got a solid second line that plays black and blue still. As for the Raymond and Engelland contracts, they were stop-gaps at weaker positions that we weren't expecting a logjam at. We weren't expecting Gaudreau to make it straight to the NHL, let alone a 60+ point season his first pro year. We weren't sure how many guys we had that were going to be top 6 wingers. As for Engelland, I wont rag on that contract. The dude has definitely played well above what he should be at (admittedly he is paid above what you would expect a 3rd pairing D to be. All said and done though, he has played second pairing/first pairing more than third pairing since being here due to injuries to Gio and Brodie and the Wideman suspension). Not only that, but Engelland has actually played reasonable well. Treliving also stated he paid more than he would have liked for these stop-gaps in order to not go more than 3 years length (From what I understand, Raymond was pushing for a 5 year deal). If we signed someone like Raymond to a 5 year deal the price may have been 2.5 mil/per, but then we'd also have an extra 2 years on him and people would be complaining about that (and rightfully so).

Ignoring tonight's amazing play by him, what do people think of trying to get Neuvirth out of Philly? I've been following him for a while (Washington is my second team after Calgary). and outside of his time with the Sabres he's got pretty respectable stats (Hell, even with them, his GAA was higher, but he had above-average Sv% still). Only a couple seasons where he has had 1a/1b starts in games played (2 with Washington and then this year in Philly), but he definitely has potential, and has 180 Games started (200) games played, so a decent sample size.

Cap space. Don't think the Wild could have fit Jones in otherwise, even with Backstrom being on LTIR, he still gets paid a percentage (and from what it sounds like, he is about to come off LTIR, and back on full payroll. Minnesota I doubt would be able to afford both on the roster without violating salary cap).

I prefer Ramo over Hiller myself. At the same time, if one of Hiller/Ramo had to go, I would go with Ramo. For no other reason than a differing style in net (Ortio and Ramo play a very similar style, which does rely heavily on their athleticism). As for mentoring, I think that isn't as big an issue. Hiller has more experience as a starter (is also a bit older), but Ramo has 4 years experience as a starter in the KHL as well (and while it isn't the same level as the NHL, is still a pretty tough league).

Ya, he has the points to play a top 6 role in the AHL, but I see his ceiling as Bottom 6 (likely third line) in the NHL. Still, not against the trade for how little it cost us.

Conditional 7th (I'm a little curious as to what the condition was). Definitely not against this trade. Freddie is still young, still has potential. Is versatile as a C and RW, which is nice for as as a RHS RW (especially one who can play C and take faceoffs) in the system is something we don't have a lot of.

I guess since we couldn't collect all the Reinharts we're going for all the Hamiltons.

All our goalies are having good camps.

I still like the Engelland signing. Overpaid a bit, but he comes in, does what we wanted him too (provide a hard hitting crease clearing d-man who will step in if someone starts taking too many liberties), and stepped up and played some solid hockey down the stretch (as much as Brodie was there to cover his mistakes, his play did get better as well). Raymond I wasn't a huge fan of the signing, but again, who saw this many LW's being this good this early (we traded Glencross and we were still logjammed at that position).