travel_dude

Funny how the AVS love some ex-Flames. Not that they get a good deal, just they get deals. I doubt he cracks the lineup this year in COL. Kylington will be luck to do so and he's more legit that MP.

The last line of that sentence was the key part. It matter not how elite you are or aren't, if you don't show it, you don't win it. Neither Dallas nor VAN showed any of their elite talent this year.

It's all about cost when doing risk/reward. The player himself plays into how it turns out, but the cost of the trade is huge to it's value.

So, Mantha? Like I said, I have trouble [predicting the lines when you have top talent like Mantha, Kuzmenko, Pospisil and Zary projecting top 9.

I saw other issues.

Well maybe it was overplay certain lines expecting them to carry the teams, not a problem with depth. The years we lost to COL, DAL and EDM were some of the best teams in the league for overall depth. One common theme was we didn't get great goaltending when we needed it. You have to be able to win 3-2 or 2-1 in the playoffs. We did well in the 1st round against Dallas, but crapped out against EDM. We crapped out against Dallas in the weird season. Elliott gave up a critical game and we didn't pull him before the bleeding was out of control. COL we got lit up in the final 4 games of the playoffs.

And sometimes "attitude" is based on team dynamics. I thought Dube had a great attitude, but.... Players like Kane have established attitudes that don't get changed by appearing at a sick kids ward. Maybe he grew up, but who really knows. I don't like the player on ice. Sometimes players like Laine and Puljujarvi get bad raps for being selfish or moody or whatever. Both of those guys played in the shadow of great players. I don't claim to know anything about Laine the person. With Tkachuk, it's all sunshine and rainbows...now that he got his way and plays where he wants to in the lifestyle he wanted. I don't think we have any attitude players, that I know of. The Russians seem to be cheerful, happy guys that like to play here. I love what Sharky and Kezmenko bring to the bench. Lombo is supposed to bring great vibes to the bench as well. The kids are happy to play and are getting the chance to show why the were drafted. No turn coast on the squad now. Turning back to Laine. Do you have a problem with him or were you just saying that it's great not to have any questionable ethics or attitude players?

IIRC, Pelletier had a bad game after he moved up. In reality, the line was bad not the player. I hope that Pelts has a good camp and forces the coach to keep him in the top 12. Not sure what that does to the lineup, but he looked good in his rookie year, just got blamed for more of what the team was doing than individually. The injury didn't help, as it took him out of contention for a camp to NHL job.

The die is not set with EDM. They have a cap issue and they are gonna lose players that mean more to the team than Bro and Hollowman. Their window has a year before they are in big trouble. Had they faced teams other than LA and VAN would we be talking about them having a legit chance this year or another sweep in a round? I'm not saying they were bad. I just see the path far easier than what Dallas and COL went through. The margin of error is thin on any team. We are not doing anything with G and D and F playing very good all year.

FF was one of the biggest critics of Tkachuk, and as it turns out, he was right. Team Tkachuk claimed to be wanting to sign with CGY but his deal left him in rare air for re-signing. Ya almost think Gaudreau wanted out because of Tkachuk's ego. Water under the bridge. I think FFIJL's biggest problem with Laine was his attitude, but alas I can't find his posts. Lazy I guess. With the right players, Laine could be something. Scheifele changed his game after PM called out the team and Laine was gone. But, it all depends on if he wanted to play here. Right now, only the opportunity is great. Top minutes. PP time. Playing perhaps with a true playmaker. A big shot RW. Hmmm haven't had one in some time. I think it might be good to keep Sharky at C and find the right right wing.

Well, if we are not a goal scoring machine, we have to be a goal stopping machine. +70 in GF/GA differential. Have a Jennings pair in nets. In other words they have to steal games. You don't have to be the best team in the league to win the cup, just have the right brackets. It helps if you were the best team though. I don't believe that all you have to do is get in. You have to have the right team for the teams you get to face. Beat up on fancy teams. Not get lit up with penalties against teams that can only score on the PP. Slow the game down against fast teams. I would see a point total the same as last year as being a total success. How much did we trade of our cap? $25M before they got new deals. Yeah I know we are paying the goalie to play elsewhere. I am interested to see what Sharky can do, whether Mantha can play consistent, whether Zary and Pospisil follow up rookie seasons, if Kuzmenko can hit 30 goals. None of those are that lofty goals, but it would stand to bump up goal scoring from the lower numbers we saw this year.

So, if you are one of th highest scoring D in the league because you get to play of a PP with the PP leaders of the league, that makes you think you are worth $9M. Once they dropped him from the PP that role was replaced by the soon to make $10M one trick pony Douche-bomb. You have two guys that can score when fed the puck. They don't stop goals that much. ANd they usually have to devote their best actual defense playing D to baby sit them. Result is two guys worth around $4M making 9+. Nurse is now the goat. Hathaway was offered more term and money than he would have gotten in CGY. It happens. BT was reasonable in giving shorter term contract to allow player to increase their value, so 4 years wasn't happening. Think about it though. We have two players from the 18/19 season where Gaudreau had 99 points. We signed the third from that original team.

Well he was in WPG and CBJ, so I'm not sure how we are worse. LOL. WPG drafted him, but he wanted to move on. Maybe blamed the coach. Anyway, the other alternatives may be better right away, but he hasn't been much of a factor in playoffs since his 2nd year in the league. Opportunity not there obviously. Would it be any worse for him to light it up in Calgary and get a better long term deal? I think it depends on cost to acquire. We can't give up a ton, but we could take on crap to offset the cost.

It's not so much that one McDavid is gonna kill your cap. It's McD + Drai that makes it tough. Like TO, they have three players north or close to $10M. Drai will cost them a ton next year. Nurse just makes it look so bad. Leafs have 4. Overall, 2 GM's have made their teams need to find creative ways to ice a team. Sign players nobody else would touch. Wait for bought out players. Pay for guys trying to get back to their former glory or just plain overpaying for lesser talent.

PLD's value had dropped, so maybe they checked on the price. Laine is what, the same age as Tkachuk? 26. My problem with him is that he seems to get all pouty when his minutes don't match his draft position. Tarasenko had that same rep back a long time ago. Laine would need to be a project, so that he would be scoring 30 by the time we come out of re-tool. Only value is if you buy low. WPG got PLD for him and Roslovic. I would offer close to that value.

I guess living too close to EDM fans has suggested that Magic Beans are better than Petrie or Eberle or Hall. Or. Or.

That escalated quickly.

Maybe a magic bean. I will join you.

I had a better opinion of him. Considering the neg stiff I have heard about Bean, is it an improvement? The name bothers me because sometimes it seems like it was to appease a certain group of people with tons of money. I don't know, he never seemed to hit with his drafting team or the BJ's. What is he really? Bahl should get the top 4 minutes. But who knows.

That's okay. They get Kylington, we will get Makar when he's a UFA. I think the offer from CGY may have reduced to a one year prove it deal, so he chose contender. He would have been fighting for minutes here against Bean and Pachal. And given the coach used to coach his defense, I'm not sure it would work out. Probably felt Tanev was propping him up.

I really appreciate when Pyro did his scouting pieces on this site. I think last going off, he was getting started on working in that world. We only get regurgiated scouting from the so-called experts and TSN hacks these days. Some here have done a good job of collecting some independent stuff, but it's hard to find. All the good ones are employed I guess. I am hopeful that Morin and Parekh make the squad. This would be Morin's last call. For some reason I thought he was due to lace them up for the AHL Wranglers, but I don't think he can. March birthday. But I defer to the CHL/AHL expersts on that rule. Thought you had to be 20 by the end of the calebndar year not the end of the season.

Yeah, work hard with a power skaing coach and put in the practice. He has the shot and IQ, just needs to pick it up.

Really? I always thought M/SP. I love the accent, if it's still prevalent. Fargo kinda felt like it was insulting to the state of Minny. Back on track, I think we may see Morton raise his stalk this year.

I don't know why they walked away from Beck; seemed like a bad idea, but maybe it just came down to contract numbers. Must be tough walking to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton arena if you live in Scranton. Triangle side note, the airport is also W-B/S. Square side note - what's up with Minny/St. Paul? Must be bad to be the ugly sister.

Good lord, a RHS C? Almost like we needed one.