travel_dude

Don't let facts get in the way. Murray won the cup twice in PITTS; MAF played zero games in th final 10 games in 2015/16 and play 2 games in 2016/17. Contributed? Sure. Binnington won once. Holtby won one. Valilevskiy won once. That's exactly one 1st rounder that actually won the cup as the starter.

Oh for sure. Rask and MAF and Price selected in almost 20 years ago. TBL though so much of a goalie they selected Koekkoek with their 1st pick and then Vasilevskiy. Not many 1st rounders have translated to full time NHL goalies. Certainly not in the last 10 years. A couple still very early in their careers. Guess it helps that you draft top 10 in 5 of 6 years in a row. 1st, 2nd and 3rd overall didn't hurt. Especially when you can turn a top 3 pick into a steal of a trade.

Regardless of Gio's status, we should be in on Montour. I doubt we can afford unless Gio is taken though. Both will be relatively expensive, especially Montour. I'm wondering who FLA protects and exposes now. Yandle has a NMC, and they have at least 2-3 more they should try to protect. They will probably wait on Seattle to see if they sign Montour, otherwise one of Weegar, Gudas or Nutivaara would need protection. It didn't make much sense for us to trade a 3rd to FLA for him at TDL, but definitely a player that could have helped us.

Tinfoil hat people would tell you that he lines up the lotto winners based on the arena status. McDavid for the Oil Drop. Crosby for the Igloo replacement (Americans sure loved the term Eskimo). NYR to pay for the MSG reno. We should be looking for unprotected lotto picks in 22 and 23. We may not be otherwise fortunate enough to get a lotto pick ourselves.

Honestly, the only team I see beating Tampa is Colorado, which has probably the 2nd best goalie in the league. He actually had a better GAA this year. Can't believe they got him for a 2nd rounder. All they needed to do was take on Orpik. And then buy out one year.

In the 4 games played in the Q Final, Pelletier has 1 goal and 6 assists. In the overall playoffs this year (13 games), he has 4 goals and 18 assists. Not bad for a "defensive" center.

You have to think Buffalo is going to get #1. #2 is less clear. As long as it isn't someone behind us like NY.

How about Backlund to FLA for Bennett.

And that is my problem with the way we bring in players from Russia. Yelesin had what 4 games? None this year. A long serving player in the KHL and we give Nesterov minimum. He was lucky compared to Yelesin who got $70k. Not that any of them were great, but we aren't exactly a prime destination for top players or guys drafted.

That's even more remote than Eichel. It would immensely help TOR, but would be a huge loss for them in the same breath. They need to re-tool the bottom 6. Stop pinning your hopes on retirement folks. Yes, I realize the top 3 didn't do a lot together, but the PP sucked worse than that.

Competitive for talent, but the money is not so good. $1.5m the top wage? Not so good. The Swedish league on the other hand does not as good in keeping players.

Every year it is something. Nylander. Kadri. Tavares injury and Marner disappearing act. They were like the Oilers for depth this year, except in reverse. The Oilers had nobody of note past the top 2 players and a bunch of younger guys that didn't do much. The Leafs were a collection of a really good top 5 players, then a bunch of re-treads. Simmonds, Jumbo, Spezza, Foligno. Foligno was in decline for years, but at least he's a leader. Spezza at least showed up. Their playoffs reminded me of the Flames regular season. Played well until something went wrong. Then unable to do anything. Simple mistake in the net. TJ Brodie had more goals than Marner and same as Matthews. How sad is that.

Is Russia even that motivated? Nesterov with two goals including the GWG. Hmm, where was he all year? Orlov and Tarasenko here after being eliminated in the playoffs. Yelesin signed in the KHL, Nestreov probably back there. Pavel Karnaukhov will probably never come to Canada. Rushan Rafikov another Flames prospect that will never come here.

Well, I am confused, but anyway. Part of that confusion may have been due to standings not being up to date. Hope for help from Germany or Latvia, I guess. Funny how these teams have looked better over time. Latvia? Population 1.9m people.

Getting ahead of yourself. Christmas is coming, soon. I merely said 1st round, not 1st overall. Frr a 1st overall, we should expect a Dougie + and Cozens. I'm greedy.

I think he's top 6, but not sure if he has the edges to be top 3. We should be looking to add regardless. We don't have much depth scoring. 4th line non-existant, even though Ryan managed a few. We lost Janko and Bennett, which normally would account for 20-30 goals. Instead, we had Ritchie, Nordstrom, Simon, Buddy, and Leivo. I don't mind Leivo, but he's not suited to play with Backlund and Lucic.

EPIC. We complained about the no-shows Monahan and Gaudreau, but Marner is 18 games without a goal. 0 goals in the last 7 series clinching games in the playoffs. What annoys me is that we could have beaten this Leafs team. Then again, who cares. We weren't going any further than WPG or Final 4 at best. Glad to have summer off. Would be nice to see NYI at Colorado in the Finals.

How do you figure we are apart? I specifically said I would not trade for Kadri or that ilk a player. Would you not trade this year's 1st for a 23 year old Dougie Hamilton? Not a Kadri or Hamonic. Forget the noise about what happened since then.

Ooops, my bad. I was talking about the Flames.

When he played with Tkachuk, he was on LW. When he played with Backlund and Lucic, he was RW. He seems to be able to play either side well, but I was just talking about playing in the top 6 as the best place. He was performing like a top 6 player and lead the team in 5v5 scoring (IIRC). This while splitting time between top line and 3rd line with much more defensive starts. What makes him so deadly is his quick release.

I think you got the tie breaker part right RD. As far as being tied, if we win in regulation we get 3. If Germany or Latvia win in regulation, they get 3, meaning we are done. If it goes to OT, and we win in regualtion, we get in. To sum it up, we can only get in with a regulation win and an OT game between Latvia and Germany. Did I get it right?

If I'm following it correctly, we have the same number of points as Germany and Latvia. We have to win in regulation to force one of them to also win in regulation, buy a sufficient number of goals to make up the GF/GA difference. Or did I get that mixed up. All I can say is that without Mangiapane, we wouldn't even be thinking about making the playoffs there.

Like I was saying, we aren't trading a 1st for an older player near the end of his prime. Only a team desperate for a another pick around 12 would be willing to give the Flames the kind of player that they would go for. Buffalo wants to trade Cozens for a 1st? Sure, why not. Or a top LD young enough? With that, I think they would be really careful to make that trade. Other than that, I don't see it.

#1 - possible. #2 - hasn't really been the MO in the last number of years. Bennett was likely the last one we did rush, and that's debatable whether it was all on the GM. #3 - anyone's guess who will be BPA by the time we draft. I guess I don't share the same concern as you regarding the draft. In the remote chance we trade the 1st, it's not going to be for a Kadri.

Unlikely that this year's draft impacts the team in the next two years. And he would have that fight with Sutter if he chose to keep them after camp. There's little to none players that are NHL ready. At best, in year 2 a few might, but those are tops in the draft. If we win the lotto, we get the best pick anyway.