travel_dude

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 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.

I'm less concerned about the Vegas pick, but a win does put the pick in 2025 where everything is possible. If they lose in round 1 as the 2nd WC holder, then they are possibly picking 17th in this year's draft. That means a relatively early 3rd rounder, so there is some upside. In fact, STL could win out and bump Vegas to outside the playoffs. Vegas doesn't look like the same cup threat this year. VAN, assuming it wins in R1, faces the next up Pacific team. It's a crazy year. Dallas is one win one loss and one tie from clinching 1st in the West. Only Vegas and LA have not clinched in the West.

How many Pasta's are available every draft year at 25+? Who did he play with in his D+1 year? 25 year old Marchand and 30 year old Bergeron. On another team he may have been more of an afterthought. I never thought Holloway was a good pick. Name some others that I may be more interested in. Holtz for a 1st? Bad example.

Coleman out day to day. Not sure of who is coming in, but likely Hunt and Duehr in. Mangiapane was able to play last game, so one less. Kylington skating, but as an extra D. I don't think there is a need to bring him back unless he is 100%. Even then, these are meaningless games and you can evaluate others.

The flip side to that is that a team may decide they have too many prospects they have to deal with and a blockage at the AHL and NHL level. They might not be that impressed with a prospect's development and feel he needs a change. This kind of deal might just happen on the draft floor when player X is available to the Flames 2nd pick and a team desperately wants it. Think about it this way. We have a team with little prospects in the 18-20 range that seem to be definite game changers. Adding a nice 1st round pick gives us a potential middle 6 player eventually. Unless we are adding some top players in this and the next few drafts, we are not building that new generation.

Perhaps I misspoke. I was referring to French language rules enacted in Quebec that are different than the other provinces that have NHL teams. I won't pretend to understand how they would or may impact a NHL team. Are there rules about advertizing in Quebec that would preempt NHL plans with gambling sites and new promotions on player jerseys? Is Montreal grandfathered to older rules that existed that would not be available to a new team? By comparison, the USA is the wild west. Some states have things that may prevent a NHL team from thriving, but mostly they seems to be falling over themselves to welcome a new team. I don't see Bettman falling over himself to even talk about Quebec as a real player. When pressed, he talked about Kansas City, Utah and Houston in more concrete terms.

If they add more teams, there will be more likely a play in round. Maybe like the Covid Cup. Gotta make the 82 games even less important, right? Add an extra week into the schedule and you are close to July. Seattle made sense because of the under-represented Pacific NW. Houston is cool, but only happens if Utah gets a team. Quebec City gets nothing because it is all French and the league is scared of the rules. MTL is one thing, but that's original six. Utah may end up with Arizona's team, but expansion takes a long time. Teams need enough lead time to plan for it. NHLPA would love it because the mid players get more money and keep talent in NA. Owners love it because the revenue for a new franchise coming to them is nice. I prefer to keep to 32.

Phoenix really messed up the team. Perfectly fine stadium to play in and they whined about it being too far to drive. Then they want to go to Tempe, nope too close to the airport lands? Next they want to enter the land draw in Phoenix, but nope too close to Scottsdale and water concerns? Give me a break. Bettman forced the issue with the current stadium being too small, so they got backed into a corner. Should have just let the Blackbery guy put it in Hamilton and it never would have gotten to this stage. But anyway, the league is just the right size. 16 in, 16 out. Revenue only got messed up due to Covid. But Bett-man wants more money, or so he is being told. Utah needs a team like I need an extra hole in my head. Nice that they played the Olympics there one time. They also played in Sarajevo. Rant rant. By the time the next winter games comes around, the NHL will pull out because of terrorist threats. Paris will be the start of it. Olympics is not political. Tell that to Munich.

Well I think we should only concern ourselves with 1st overall and something between 5 and 9th. 2nd-4th impossible. Why I say that is whatever the best available after the other teams pick leaves us whatever is left. How they rate the picks is as important as how we do. Anyway, I am hopeful for #1, but ready to get 5-9th.

So, why not offer the VAN pick + something instead of one of the few D we have. And I don't necessarily mean to DET. Ras is going to be at least top 4 for the next 6 years, within the cycle of developing a new D. We have a couple of 2nds this year and possibly another 3rd if VGK loses round one. If NJ doesn't make the playoffs, they will be pretty close to 17th. 1st + Holtz for Markstrom with no money retained. Why is that better than the TDL (supposed) offer? Because NJ may have gone on to a higher placement in the draft. But if they don't make the playoffs now, then we know what the pick is.

There were lots of players that could have been picked. I had no specific choice at the time.

Two game starts, one a shutout, the other 7 goals against. Hard to make much of that.

I think they should keep him at C as well. I don't think it's the right time to pair him with the other rookie without a top player. With Pospisil he had Kadri, to both handle the C spot and to balance out the skills. Honestly, I can't tell you what the lines were through the entire game, but it appeared that it was Huberdeau-Zary-Sharky. That allowed them to play Backlund against McD (and Draibaby?), and at least get sawed off results with Zary at C. Kylington is day to day after the friendly fire hit at the blueline. Solo should draw in, but it's anyone's guess who gets rewarded with games. I doubt they play Kylington again if it's concussion related, but I think it was mostly upper body (shoulder/arm).

Wallstedt - 2 NHL games 3.52 GAA and .879 SA % Not exactly "howling" to be in the NHL.

We haven't been great after road trips. The SJS games looks like the most likely to win. And maybe game 82, because that's what we do. We probably have the same bad luck as the Tkachuk drat. Win one too many or one too few and miss two lotto draws. This time there is only one, but I doubt we win no matter where we place.

Give them a few years. Some players take longer, especially when they were injured most of the year.