travel_dude

I don't think you can only look at stats and declare a player a boom or bust. He made lines he played on better. Concussions are a serious matter but he has been guarding against that. Every player gets those or something equally serious, but it's not a trend. His concussions have come from playing hard in the AHL. Fought Cody Cave, so I think he should stay away from punches. You don't have to fight like Rempe or Lucic to be important to the team. That's for the $800k guys to do, if that's what we want. As an individual asset, I don't know he holds a lot of value. As a throw in, maybe we have others we could substitute.

Whatever it takes in your opinion if offering up a ton for a 10th overall and a player they soured on. Markstrom alone isn't going to get 10th overall, but a 2025 pick plus Holtz sounds reasonable. They would expect to be a playoff team, so it's later than 16. You would be more likely to get a 10th overall for just Ras and Pospisil. Young players. Lots of upside. TDL deals often have little competition. NJ was the only one talking. If NJ had met the asking conditions, we wouldn't be talking about it now. Now there may be others. If there is more than one team bidding, the onus is on the bidder to secure the deal. Have your internal best offer, but keeping in mind it may not be enough. I think Connie has his value in mind and won't go below that unless things change. Anyway, all I was pointing out was your offer was a big overpay, for what might be a might not miss prospect.

I found Bennett never got away from his junior tendencies here, and that was to bowl everyone over at C. Enter the zone by overpowering the D. Works in junior but not NHL. He, like Dube tried that on the wing as well. Dube learned from it, but was still getting plastered. Bennett learned from that in FLA, but also wasn't always the one carrying the puck. Anyway, it doesn't really matter. I cheered for his team. He plays an important role. He won't ever get to Tkachuk numbers, but he is a good guy to have.

That is so bad it would be a firing offense. If Markstrom was being offered for (rumour) an unknown level 1st (possibly 16-20) plus Holtz, why would they settle for a slightly better draft pick by including two players with value. If a 1st is offered by NJ it would be next year. They may have some conversations with Connie that say if we can't get player X by 10, then we will make the Markstrom trade. The 10th might drive up the retention amount or require us to pony up Pospisil, but I don't think it includes a valuable asset like Ras. I tend to think NJ just picks 10th and uses next year's 1st if they go that way. Or they do Mercer straight up.

I think they could stand to start the season October 1st, instead of having a cup final the latter part of June. It's dumb. South Florida in June, 100f out, 36f inside.

4 is a bit of a stretch. All 4 of those would need to be NHL ready. They can't show up at the new arena and expect to become the new core. And you can't have a new core without the old core. Think of when JG, MT, SM and EL became key on the team. That was joining a core consisting of Gio, Brodie, Hanifin, minus the goalie. Every single one of those players is gone. We have yet to define the existing core. You need for that to shake out before you just start replacing guys. Is Sharky a core guy? If you aren't sure then you better not just trade him for a pick.

Considering the timing of the arena build, a decade of tear down/retool is not really going to work. EDM's arena opened in McD's 2nd season and they are finally coming out of the rebuild. I think. 7 consecutive top 10 draft picks ending with Poolparty and they still had 2 top 10's and a 14th. And it's not like every pick before McD was poor. Just to be a little clearer, you don't come out of a rebuild as a contender, you come out ready to build to be a contender. Building through trades and UFA signings.

Singh is the non-partisan guy when the BOA is in town or they play the Nucks. Considering some of the guys that have been here in the past, I shudder to think who they might pick. Leah Hexstall Loubo The radio guy?

Markstrom would likely have a banner year this year, so I think you would be beeter off with the 2026 1st from NJ. Assuming you expect to get a 1st.

I don't see how it makes any difference which team you cheer for if you are watching the SCF. If you are watching it, you are a hockey fan or a fan of either team. A broadcaster isn't going to make more money because we decide to cheer for a Canadian team. As an aside, the color palette of the Oilers jersey makes me want to hurl. It ain't copper and blue. It's the same gross orange that the Ducks used to use. Sea of Orange at the Duck Pond. Of the 20,000 odd Oiler jerseys in the arena, what % are not #97? 25%? Okay, more obvious question, how many are not 97 or 29? 5%? And how can you walk around with an orange jersey on? Red is one thing, but orange is just pissed on red (red and yellow = orange).

His most frequent linemates were Dube, Lucic and Janko. I think, given a better combined effort in coaching and player himself, he would be what he is in FLA. It's not like he is a consistent 30 goal scorer. Sutter wiped the slate clean but really he just said, show me what you got wherever I play you. Probably too late at that point. Really I am just guessing that sometimes a player ends up exactly where he would have been if he stayed. The point is true about exposing him in the draft, but in hindsight we should have traded or exposed Dube.

I am trying to think of what EDM D do well. Score on the PP. On the PK, it seems to be a lot more of the F pressuring the other team. Notably, I have been wrong in most of my predictions, except for FLA. Hard to cheer for a team that has Kane and Perry. Assuming I would ever cheer for the Oilers.

I remember all of that, but I was referring to what happened leading up to the trade. What was he, a LW to Janko? Played with Lucic? Never really used him in a top 6 role. Anyway, I didn't want to arbitrate the Bennett situation all over again, just saying that we never got to see the 28 year old Bennett.

2 of the 3 conditionals were quite achievable. VAN making the WCF. VGK winning a round. The brackets made it tougher. Dallas vs VGK in round 1. VAN facing EDM after an easy first round (LA). Dallas having to go through VGK, COL and EDM. I guess the point is we made 3 trades of expiring players that doubtful would sign here. We got a couple of 1sts and 2nd. The VAN picks doesn't move to a late 3rd from an early 4th. We get this year's VGK pick. We actually only lost one pick (Dallas).

He was a late bloomer, so we gave up on him too soon.

Dallas looks done. Otter is not able to save their bacon. Can't score on the PP at all. Let in 2 PP goals last game, which was what was holding EDM back. Blech

You can build a decent team over the years through making good choices with picks. But you can be in a perpetual holding pattern by only being concerned with a couple of drafts and ignoring trades and UFA signings. Don't be afraid to swap players with other teams, in the right circumstances. You build nothing and win nothing by only being focused on the draft or the UFA's or the trades. Maybe Andersson has a high value now, but maybe it gets a little better next season. Most of the year he was married to Hanifin. I never felt that was the best use. And I never really saw him being used right on the PP. Savard out, so maybe they can get him to use his shot more or perhaps his zone entries improve. Perhaps he can get to the level of points as some of the Norris leaders. Or improve his play away from the puck to the point where we aren't missing Tanev.

JBou was initially an offensive D-man, even when he entered the league. He was used more as a defensive one once he got to CGY and later in STL, where they live on that. With that in mind, JBou is what you should target if you want a stay-at-home D-man. Has the offense if you needed it, but his puck moving and defensive skills win games. Perhaps I remember him too fondly, but I felt we made one of the smartest decisions in trading for his rights. Later, we started ruining the defense with dumb arse trades with EDM, TOR, etc.

I would prefer to look at Pulkkinen in the 2nd round. If he is still there.

The stars lined up for them to pick unprotected players or poach from teams needing to protect other players. When Seattle tried it, their luck wasn't as good and they also made some questionable choices. Picking Gio was a decent asset move, but they didn't get the homerun selections that Vegas did.

He blocked a shot and hadn't been evaluated yet. Safer to isolate the foot now and let them look at it in Dallas. But anyway, he is a big piece of the Dallas defense, but at the same time he was on for all 3 EDM goals in game 1, and the first EDM goal in game 4. In the Dallas 5-3 win, he was on for 2 for and 2 against. Obviously he is not the problem with Dallas' defense, but they were winning games while he was still a member of the Flames.

I knew it was bad, but boy howdy that is really bad. Time for Kenny to take his mess elsewhere. They could buy out Soup but then they have 13m to sign 7F, 2D and 1G. Can't afford the guys that they gave up a first for.

Stars love him and he has been 100% solid for them, so I think they re-sign him. Skinner has been prone top letting in soft goals all playoffs, but I don't see him as the problem as much as the team overall. Dallas is a tough opponent. They outmuscle EDM in most of the battles. McD has to hack and slash to try to get the puck back. Drai looks old and slow. He always was the type of player that would be better on a high possession team like LA. EDM can suck it. I'm sick of the stupid car flags (how many is too many). Done with the media talking about them as the best team in the playoffs. They have one player and two others that get fed a healthy diet of passes. I do think Hyman was their best signing in 20 years. Dumbass was a fool to let him walk.

The winning goal looked like a player going in on a shootout; 10 feet from the nearest Oiler. I was shocked that a playoff goalie let it in from that angle. Have seen the shot from the side go in a bit, but those were not in close. Too much space on that side. It looked like there was no way for it to go in. But it did. I have more time for Ceci than Desharais, but neither should be playing on a team hoping to make the SCF. The coach cited the gap between the forwards and the D in the D zone. You know he is mad about the details being missed. The "expert analysts" talked about Dallas stretching out the ice, but I saw a lot more of Dallas winning every puck battle (2nd and 3rd) and forechecking the Oiler hard. There was a lot of panick in the Oilers zone. Guys flailing away, falling all over the place. For a team that skates so well, they seem to have trouble tracking the other players. Hintz was a difference maker this game. Maybe he helps Dallas play 60 minutes instead of 40. Nice to get your #1 C back in a critical game 3.

I doubt TBL trades him for nothing. They will get something good from a team thinking they need to be tough. For him to be worthwhile for us, he would need to be a Tkachuk 2.0. Score goals from 2 feet. Draw penalties. Reverse hits on cycle play.