travel_dude

So, it's speculation given that several quote insiders quote were saying a 1st plus Holtz plus. And that Markstrom was asked if he would waive to go to NJ. That would have been pretty risky for NJ at the time, if it was true. Possibly too late to save the season. End up having given away a lotto pick. Yes, it may have been the 2025 pick. Or it could have been 2024. Will never know for sure. LA could get in on any bidding war or be the only team interested in Marky. They are built to win now. It would have to be a 1st this year plus Kaliyev. If they want retention, then they need to add another pick. LA is built not to score, so the G is uber important to them. Marky/Rittich would not be a bad tandem, and Rittich may still be a cheap re-sign.

Markstrom since he was rumoured to be going to NJ near TDL: 1-7-0 record 3.55 GAA .870 SV% (zero games with a SV% above .900) -1.82 GSAA

The converted touchdown win by EDM didn't help you. Not much you can do to widen the gap when that team plays. Great season for you, almost wire-to-wire. And the other contender drains a 30 footer while you double bogie on the 17th hole.

A Markstrom/Husso tandem would do well, assuming DET wants him and he would go. I wouldn't suggest what a return would look like, since you know the team better. It would do both teams well if it was reasonable. Two exciting games to finish the season. Nice. Flyers gambled on a regulation win by pulling the goalie in a tie game. With over 3 minutes remaining. Well, because an OT win would not do it, though the timing of the EN was a little odd. Philly was outshooting them 2-1 in the third. But that sealed DET's fate too. An OT loss for WAS would have pushed DET in WC2. Tough break.

I watched the game, but not 100% focused on it. It was okay. I didn't think Markstrom was near as good as Demko. Can't really say it was all on him, since two or so goals were breakaway or 2 on 1 tap ins. Regardless, the shots he let in from pure shots were all the same, above the pads/blocker/glove. Too many of those this year. Demko stopped all but one of 40 shots. The goal was 100% screened. We got some good chances and I think I counted two posts hit. But, any decent chance was stopped or deflected by their goalie.

Well we rarely surprised any team after TDL. We beat teams that played like crap. We never should have been battling back against Zona and ANA, but they got hot early and could have won. I thiknk we lead the NHL in 3r period comebacks, so it had to be a low scoring game for us to lose. I don't even know what that game was against Zona.

Tres funny. I am amazed that we managed to lose as many as we did. Had we traded Markstrom, we might have been closer to 16th overall. The team on a whole gave up after TDL. Markstrom checked out a bit. The F didn't want to block shot for the most part. They got called out and they also rallied in front of Wolf to help him get a victory. I'm one of the few thinking we need to keep Kuzmenko. He's basically a rookie in the NHL. His skill level is off the chart. He doesn't do everything well, but sometimes you have to pick and choose your team. Not everyone has to be a two way player. Chip in, but don't ruin the player.

At best we can only win one, but that makes Seattle needing to win out. They got Mercer because they were just a little worse than us. Time for us to pick up the better player in this draft. If NJ ended up 8th last, they would win the otto. If it's us, nobody behind us wins, nor do we. Crazy to think that we started the game against ARI where they would have tied us and only needed a single point to pass us. But we won, so they remain where they are.

Kadri has a full NTC for the next two years, then the M-NTC (13 team). He may decide his future is on a contender or even near-contender. But that doesn't bring you a top 10 pick. The best you could get would be a Necas type, where a team wants a vet and is willing to give up a guy trending up but is a certain style. I mention CAR because Staal is nearing the end and they need that battle level. I don't think it's the vet cup leadership that makes Kadri valuable to you, it's how he plays the game. We lost that style with Tkachuk leaving. He's showing the young guys how it's done. Go to the net. Ask Zary. Kuzmenko is scoring at a 35 goal pace by being there. Trade him or don't trade him, but a late 1st (at best) isn't going to work. Mange's game is horrible. He's turned into bad Huberdeau that cuts back every zone entry. Trade him for a C that is just complementary. We have too many guys that can ride shotgun with Coleman and Backlund.

The things that jump off the page for me is around changes to the game. The NHL said that it wanted to increase scoring way back when. Scoring was down in their minds and it made the game "boring" for the new fans. Hard to sell a 0-0 regulation result as exciting. OT helped a bit, but that has morphed into a possession snooze fest at times. Make the pads smaller. Okay maybe that made it harder for poor goalies to make saves. Increase the number of shots by cracking down on certain infractions. More PP = more penalties. Instructing the refs to call more penalties. I can remember watching playoffs where you could attempt murder on the ice and the refs overlooked it. Now they call so many bad penalties that scoring can't help but increase. One thing they don't call as much is running the goalies in the process of scoring. At most the goal is turned back and some refs will waive it off. At worst it's a PP for getting the challenge wrong and the goal counts. Wolf looks small in nets because he is small in stature. He needs to beef up. The height is one thing, but almost every goalie plays low. No Ken Dryden's these days. Wolf plays angles and at times is too fluid and loses the net, but his reflexes will win him games.

I'm glad you are confident. Our 2 game B2B have been tough outs. SJS will likely have zero reason to need to lose in game 82, so they will pay us back for the last loss. ARI is 50/50, and this will be after the Oilers overlook them, like they tend to do. OTT plays MTL, so best situtation is OTT wins in OT. Anyway, it only really matters to dropping to 7-5th. Not really huge lotto differences there.

I was comparing him to Ras, who will pass up any chance to shoot; it's frustrating to watch. It's like he is afraid to break his stick after watching Gio do it for years. Other than the gaff where he tried to hike the puck, I think he is going to be very good. He's still a bit raw but you can see what our scouts saw in him.

I would like to see Wolf win the Calder, but that's asking a lot. Mostly because he has to battle top scorers to win it.

It's pointless to pull the goalie early for this team. We don't have possession nailed down, so one bad pass and we are done. We were pressing with 5v5, and could have drawn a PP.

Miromanov not afraid to shoot.

One assist in the last 10 games. 11 games ago he scored 2. Against MTL, so that should tell you something.

This century. Against a pinball wizard. Deaf dumb and blind boy that sure plays a mean pin ball.

Reffing has been really bad that I saw so far. Missed calls. Etc.

A PP goal after a weird closing your hand on the puck - hup hup hup. We passed around too much on our PP. Coronato really looks like a NHL player, just need a C that finishes. So much for the close game. High shoulder. Glove side. Tradesies times for Marky.

Kings need this to clinch. We don't need it at all. What could go wrong? \_(^^)_/

Thrown together for you posting pleasure.

I am hoping for that as well. Marshmallow is needing more money, but they cast away players like candy wrappers. Don't see how they move ahead without him. With the Lehner deal, they will get relief. But Mantha was just traded for and is scoring pretty well. Stephenson will need a new deal. For the money Pietrangelo is the worst cost per point. Easy trade to a good team with cash. Vegas always looks dead and somehow makes it work. For years we look good and ended up DOA.

OOT scoreboard played for us a bit. Ottawa won in SO NJ won in regulation. BUFF won in regulation Flyers win in regulation. MTL loses in OT (booo), but NYI wins. East is so tight with 5 teams still in play.

Injury year it seems. When they don't have Stone they falter. They were bad the year before the won the cup. This year just a bit better than that. Their GM won't stand for 2 poor years in a row. A high second is better than a low 3rd, but not by all that much. Just whether next years draft is deeper or not than this year.

I guess the plus side is the Wrangler will have Wolf for the playoffs. And Coronato I think. I'm not sure that tilts the ice at all.