travel_dude

And now Oils get a penalty 200 feet from their net. After the 4-3 goal, Smith threw his stick at the bench (or ref).

Tie game.

Oils certainly getting sympathy from the zebras tonight. PP's 5-1 in favor of the Oilstink.

The 3rd goal by th AVS is a result of the Happy Wanderer. AVS down 3-4 in the 3rd now.

Yes, an RFA is still under contract (control). If NJ traded Hughes they might be able to make it conditional, as he doesn;t have a contract. Buffalo and Minny made a deal like that IIRC.

I'm no trashing the kid at all. He's not NHL ready for a full season. 33 AHL games is not even close to NHL prep. I get they have little to be expecting anytime soon other than Bouchard copies. But, Holloway is just a kid really. Not even a full college career. Not close to Phillips production. They may need him to fill out the roster next season, because their cap is hooped. Capmaster Kenny put them behind a serious 8 ball. He didn't want to trade a 1st, no wonder. Need that to get some fool to take Barrie or Kassian. That's a stretch of course, but the point is there is little to be gained. May have to trade Puljujarvi + Kassian to get back a $2M player equivalent to Foegele.

Nothing against an unsigned NCAA player, but he "might" wait and go UFA if we traded for his rights. A chance to play with his brother. He's also a D, so it would take time to see the value. Mercer on the other hand seems to be already headed in the right direction. They would be stupid to trade him.

The comp relates to NHL and pro experience. Doesn't really matter if he plays 5 or 15 (to replace Yammer or Kane). Being on for a goal against would sink them.

They are playing both Malone and Holloway. Is depth really that bad? Shore or Perlini even Turris. All three are questionable, but at least have NHL experience. This would be like playing Wolf in game 5 vs the Oilers. Seems like less a way to win as try out a player in a losing cause for next season.

I guess not everything worked as simply as a reset. Shesty pulled after 20 minutes and 4 goals. Next game Shesty pulled after 40 minutes and 6 goals. Next game Shesty lets in 3 but Rags score 5. Then 3 let in and 3 let in. Really, if they were going to salvage Markstrom's confidence, it should have come at the 6-4 point. Or a timeout called after the 6-3 goal. 5 goals on a total of 18 shots by the end of the 2nd.

EDM to use Holloway in game 4. Only played 33 games in the AHL due to injury and played 5 AHL playoff games. Not exactly a great time to start a NHL rookie.

He had a few injuries over the course of the 2nd half. Strangely enough, his play dropped off. Possible concussion. Possible shoulder injury. With Tanev out for round 2, there was no way he would be comfortable. Think of what Hanifin would be without Ras. Overall, Kyl was +5 for the playoffs, and only a minus in one game (-1). Not the biggest problem we had.

Unless Gaudreau is over $11M, Tkachuk should not come in over $9.9M. That's an opinion of course. The reason he signs for less than 8 years is due to the increasing cap in future years. If he signs now for 8, he's 32 in his final season and unlikely to get $9M after that. If he does a 3 year deal now, his 8 years will be higher when averaging the 11 years. If Tkachuk signs a 3 year deal, in effect it would be like Gaudreau last contract. Allows him to sign a future deal for more money.

His outlier seasons were 48, 49, and 41 points. He's otherwise, as you suggest, mostly a p/gp player. Finally, he plays top line and his points were reflected in it. Even if signing a 1 year deal makes some sense to walk to FA, there is risk. As you suggest, he can get close to $9M over three. In that case, there is likely more money in the long run. Signing him to 8 years now would be a high ask from his camp. Less likely to be discounted in the final years. I'm just concerned that we can ice a good team with all the money needed. I liked the team we brought into the playoffs. Need to somehow replace Monahan's contract and position. Heard the suggestion of buying him out then signing him to a league minimum contract. Sort of like what we did with Stone. Allows us to have him as a 3C or 4C option depending on how he recovers. I doubt we can get Jarnkrok for less than $2.5M.

Hanifin was one of the guys you noticed for a lot of different things. His gaffes leading to game losing goals or momentum shifting ones. His adept shots from the point that created goals. His inability to hold the O-zone and resulting odd-man rushes. His wasted PP minutes. Remove the blatant negatives and I am more of a Hani-fan. Unfortunately, his game is so entrenched that improvement is unlikely. He's never going to be an actual 1/2 guy. Replacing him makes sense if we get at least a #2. I would love to keep the D we had, and unless we upgrade the top LD, continue with all. Zaddy was a nice surprise given the minutes and usage. Guddy was solid and we need at least him to make up for a delayed start for Tanev. We would have surplus on LD but none on RD. Valimaki, Mackey, Kuz and Poirier all in various stages of development. If Manson was available for cheap, that would be another RD to explore. Some holes in his game, but solid most times. Not worth $4m but who knows.

I have no concern about Marky in general. He was superb in round 1. Yes, it was game 1 that ruined him for this series. I mean it was all still winnable, wasn't it. Offence had to compensate but didn't. Needed to get that 4th goal in game 2. Needed more than 1 in game 3. A comeback in game 4, then a weak goal followed by a double-minor to seal the fate. An overturned goal in 5. The third round is a lot less calls being made, yet it's the exact same refs. How is it that we managed to see some of the worst reffing in the playoffs in a round. Even the real slewfoots by Benn in round 1 were ignored, and that was better called. That's not saying a lot. I LOL at the Oiler fans belief that they are getting jobbed. Kane called for his BS. McD's picks and slashes ignored. Draisaitl taken down by a stronger player and somehow that must be a slew foot. 2 foot tall Yamamoto open ice hit and it's somehow a dirty hit. No different than Zaddy on Kase; smaller players playing low it happens. It's somehow strange that Kadri, noted hitman, misses another series for being on the other side of the hit. What's that, 5 in a row now? Avoids any discipline for the Bing hit, but ends up being hit.

Tampa is getting out-goalied. We got no-goalied. Great first round, but horroble 2nd. The Oiler goals weren't anything special. I wouldn't even say that McD was key. He didn't turn the series, it was never there.

I think we saw the same Kane in our series, but they decided to let it go. Nothing quite so dangerous, but many of the same type of hits. Obviously, we didn't apply the same pressure as AVS did against SMith, since he looks like garbage for half the plays he makes.

I would suspect that any suspension lasting longer than the series would go into next season. IIRC, there is precedence for that. In fact Kadri had that happen in 2021 playoffs. Mind you it was 8 games.

The Flames ask that kind of stuff all the time. They did it with Pelletier. But, they did it because yo don't close a door before you get there. No point in talking to Wright, though. He's not in any conversation of the pick being traded.

NHLPS is very reactionary, especially if there is a major injury. He would be lucky to just get a game. Any more than that and it starts off the season with it. EDIT - that last part was assuming EDM loses games 4.

Kane typical dirty plays. Wasn't called on his BS last series. Payback is a Kane.

By the looks of it, it's only a hole if/when they go onto the next round.

I doubt I can catch you, Oilers fanboi. LOL Yeah, it's a pool and you do unsavoury things to win it. I just didn't really expect us to lose to a loser team like EDM. I also went in too much on STL and not enough Kadri. At the very least, COL was going to get to the 2nd round. The $9 - $9.5M is tough to manage for a d-man in today's NHL. They are worth their weight in gold, but mean you can have 2 others making as much. Unless you have a plethora of ELC's coming in above value. COL will have those issues when Nate's deal is up. You manage through the prospects and smart trades. If we re-sign both JH and MT for close to 10, then we can't pay for a $9M d-man just yet. Backlund, Lucic, Monahan have to make way for the younger players to lower the cap. We have some time to compete without blowing the cap. But, we have to be smart with the makeup. Nobody in the bottom 6 making over $4M. No bottom 6 line costing more than $6M.

I am simply hanging back in the 4 spot. Waiting for EDM to be gone. Probably not enough games left for Zib to make up any difference. If the SCF is NYR-COL, I can probably get to 2nd.