travel_dude

They are pretty well positioned for the future: McD for 5 more years. Draisaitl and Ceci for 4 more. Nurse for 9 more years. Nuge for 8 more years. Hyman for 7 more. That's almost a starting lineup secured for 4 years or longer.

I'm not sure where you came up with the bolded. Tkachuk's qualifying offer next year is $9m on one year. He could choose to reject it, negotiate and possibly go to arbitration or accept it. That walks him up to being a UFA. That makes sense if he plays at a high level this season and makes himself worth more than $7m He has leverage. A poor or middling season, he can still get to UFA, but would take him a year to get there. He's better off signing a reasonable deal with a raise from $7m, with enough career left to play where he wants. So, we control 2 high level assets. Gaudreau could be moved easily, should we want to go there. The only way that seems likely is his agent will not budge from $9m and we can do without him. Tkachuk is CGY property, so he is here for minimum of 2 years unless we trade him. Subtract Monahan or Gaudreau or Tkachuk and fitting in Eichel is less of a big deal.

Too late. Next season $73m committed to 8F, 6D and Mike Smith. $7.8m projected cap space that doesn't take into account current deal due for Yamamoto. And next deal for Puljujarvi. And a new starter. And 5F and 1D. Capmaster Kenny strikes again.

I also look at the likelyhood of being able to trade a player if possible. We signed crap players last year, that nobody wanted at TDL. Vatanen got moved even being at $2m. I think he comes in less than that this season.

Bwahahaha, Eklund having a source. Eric Francis perhaps. I saw a video posted from a guy from Nova Scotia. He suggested NYI wanted him and would offer Josh Bailey. That was his idea of what they could possibly move.

AT this point, don't you think it's a bit early to start worrying about what a player may do in 3-4 years? Every teams drafts from the NCAA. Name the 1st rounders that have ever decided to play 4 years to get to free agency. Perhaps a lesser pick (2nd or 3rd round) could be a concern, but they almost always play 4 years because they are not good enough early. Or maybe we should worry about Russian players drafted that never come to Canada. What has Coronato said about playing in the NHL? He wants to get there as soon as possible. Chance at $900k+ per year sooner. Or he stays in college and loses out on that, plus he has to wait that much longer to be a UFA. Of all the NCAA players drafted, can you even name one that was a 1st round pick? I know of one. Kevin Hayes.

Like Ryan Miller was. Hiller. Paid in NHL money. Plays in a NHL game. NHL goalie.

The competing chants are awesome. "Let's go Oilers" "Oilers suck". The only thing I didn't like about PL was the vertigo-inducing walk. 3 of the last 4 games I saw there, I was given lower bowl upgraded seats by staff to fill it up a bit more.

Give it a rest man. Hasn't even played a single game at Harvard.

$64m next year committed to 8 forwards, excluding Yamamoto's current deal and Puljujarvi's next deal. 5D signed, not including Nurse. Smith as the only NHL goalie signed. That sounds like a trainwreck.

Shhhhh, you need to be quiet in the library. Times do change. I would imagine it used to be a place to conduct oil business or entertain clients. I think those days have mostly passed. Could be wrong. I did enjoy any games I watched there. Especially a BOA game. The press level seats seemed to be a bit noisier, but we aren't Smashville level. Not even close. Then again, we have played a lot of bland hockey. If it seems dull on TV, then in person effect isn't much better.

I don't love the look. Reminds me of a library. Is that a Covid shield on the outside on one side? Seems odd. Saying that, I don't think arenas should look like a drop of mercury. Functional is fine, if it has a little bit of curb appeal.

How can you justify paying less in Canada? If anything, we need to offer more than tax haven states. 7.5m is nothing. I know that sounds weird, but he could have gotten that by going for a longer deal 5 years ago. He settled for less term to help keep the number down. I don't agree wth the money, but pay him $9m for 8 if that's what he wants and you want him that long. He sells tickets. Get him some help and watch him catch fire. Maybe Eichel is not quite the right fit, but Monahan and Tkachuk are less talented.

I know what you are saying, but the GM does care about two seasons from now. That's the only reason why a deal isn't done. You give Gaudreau $8.5m now, he signs. But his NTC is more limited for the extra cash. And it's loaded so that actual cash is cheap down the road. But you have more than one person who thinks they are a star. You either fork out the same money to Tkachuk or he holds out. That's $17m tied up in two wingers. It's risky either way with Gaudreau. He signs now and bounces back or he waits and has a down season. He's either overpaid or underpaid perhaps. But BT is not excited about paying him that much. So, it's more likely $7mx7 or $7.5m x 6. Not smart deals for Gaudreau. Agent should negotiate with the idea that it gets done now or not at all. It's risky, but better than going to UFA after a bad season.

Does anyone have interest in Vatanen, even if it's just a one year deal? RHS, but smaller in size. Could be cheap, but does he solve a need over a guy like Stone?

They knew they would lose Gio and were not willing to pay to prevent it. I'm sure they did as much as they could do. I think there is a break-the-glass plan B, should they not get a deal done within their timeline. There are a few other parts of the team that come into play on his next deal. One year left on Tkachuk and Mangiapane. Two left on Lucic. Those first two impact the cap far more than the Lucic savings. I don't know if the deal is holding up other moves or other moves holding up the deal. You trade Tkachuk, then you can't trade Gaudreau. You trade Monahan out East, does Gaudreau stick around unless Eichel is coming here? We haven't replaced Gio's contribution to offense, so does Gaudreau really want to hold off signing in case his numbers don't rebound? I think the two sides have numbers they want, and this gets signed when there a little more clarity in the summer final moves. Funny how we are hearing nothing at all about a Tkachuk extension in the works. But I get that. BT isn't going to sign him first, whether a trade is being considered or not. At worst, he's under Flames control for 2 years. He's only worth x dollars today, so he needs to be a top scorer to get a long term big dollars contract. He's not going to sign long term without seeing Gaudreau's deal.

That is fair. But it also begs the question, who is the QB? Is it Gaudreau? Was it last year or was that Gio? We were almost completely incapable of scoring with the net empty last year, maybe one goal in that situation the entire year. It might be higher than that, but I seem to recall that if we were down a goal, that was over. The lack of D is more of an issue for 5v5 time. Maybe we will be okay with Hanifin, Tanev, Ras, Zadorov, Valimaki, and Mackie/Kylington. But it feels like we downgraded dramatically. I've got no real problem with any of them, but 2 of the 7 are not quite ready for full time work. I would say we aren't done yet, because I don't think Stone is the solution. If he was, he would have been signed by now.

THe GM is not that dumb. He probably even has a offers in the wings, should it go south. You know he would have had that discussion with teams calling about him.

I think Ras suffered from watching Gio too much. You have to be smart and wait for the perfect opportunity, skate in close and wrist it on net. You could almost put the two in frame by frame and watch the similar approach. Valimaki has better vision. Has plays in mind, but not everyone knows what they are. Needs practice with the team to show them. I almost think they need to teach Kylington how to play wing. The guy can skate like the wind and isn't a violet. Defensive forward. Less critical position as a 3rd pair D.

Smart GM's keep re-signings quiet so other GM don't know their cap. If we can scrape a mill off Eichel (or some other player's cap hit) in trafe, we have more to use elsewhere.

The one thing about Potato is that scouts would have been watching him play and as much as possible talking to coaches. I could be wrong but I don't see them drafting based on TicTok or highlight packs. With any luck, this will be a normal college season and he will play at the WJC. Could be a big year for him. When was the last time we had someone that could top the NCAA in goals or points. Haha, just kidding. Or am I? Many top pospects will be eager to sign and forgo college. I would be very surprised if Powers and Beniers go back.

I would counter that with Hamonic was overrated. Hamonic was a all heart guy who would hit an fight. Expecting Tanev to be the heavy is just inviting trouble. We are rather lightweight on D otherwise. Sure, we have Lucic and Ritchie, but hopefully they have a bit reduced role. He was less effective on a bad team. One year deal is fine if we intend on trading him at TDL or just letting him walk. Seems to me you don't invest a 3rd for that, unless it's TDL and he's a missing piece. Maybe he doesn't work out, but front load a 2 year deal, and he's easier to trade to a cash strapped team.

Which 3 won a cup that actually played in the playoffs? Vas, MAF....who am I missing? I count 2 in 20 years. One might argue that MAF didn't win a cup as much as Murray did. Even if you dispute that, two guys that played on stacked teams. Crosby in his prime and Malkin to boot. Several elite players in Tampa, who made the difference. Kucherov, Point and oh yeah this D they had called Hedman? Goaltending gets you nothing without a complete team. Subtract the overcap players this year and TBL has a really good team, but maybe loses in the 3rd round?

I'm not in favor of Gus. I believe Zadorov played top minutes last year, so there is some expected missteps. I would prefer we add an offensive D-man to balance out th D.

As a PP QB he makes sense, but I worry about his ability to defend. He's not as bad as Kylington, but still an adventure. Is that what we want to complete the transition from Gio? Zadorov and Gustafsson both a little questionable on defense?