travel_dude

I was thinking that there is no way to have a conference final with two Pacific teams. Both team being eliminated in round 1 would be best, followed by one in round 1 and one in round 2. BTW, check on Conumdrumed if you are able. He's been strangely absent. Ever since the girls weekend.

I get that there was probably little need to do mid-season. But it looks like he was arbitration eligible this summer as it was. Locking him up for a known value near the bottom end of league contract value isn't a bad thing.

So, help me understand. He has a M-NTC. He's away from the team under the Player Assistance program. How would they be allowed to trade him while on the program?

Isn't he on player assistance right now, so not even available for trade?

What you are saying makes sense. But who fits the bill? Zary is an obvious choice but so is Sharky. I think given how we have our top 9 set up, moving Zary to C doesn't make a lot of sense. Not that I am against breaking up the Kadri line for what if scenarios, just that how do you fill the gaps? And you can't just throw Zary out in 17 minutes playing C. For instance, this might be the impact: Huberdeau-Kadri-Kuz Pospisil-Zary-Sharky 3rd line 4th line That's not a huge amount of change, but is it any better exploring than Sharky at C? I think we should be looking for the same type player as Lindholm was at the time. An underused winger that is really a C.

I don't really care about whether we got worse as a result of the trade. It's not a one for one trade, so that part doesn't matter. We lost our 1, which is important for the future. But the future could not stand to have EL being paid as a 1C for 2C quality or performance. Last year he may have been closer to that level, but not close this year. In a contract year, you have to be able to show your true value. We will need to address the missing man in trades, prospects and the draft. When I say trades, I don't mean trading for a Duchene (no matter how good he is). Think paying a premium for a young or younger C like Mittlestadt, Jarvis, MacTavish, Cirelli. What do we have to offer? Young-ish D, young-ish top 6 LW (Mange), etc. Maybe I value our players too much, but teams seem to love our players.

I keep telling myself that. Huberdeau was commenting about give and go. How you make a pass then get open. For two players that had but maybe one practice, they sure looked like they knew each other's habits. Maybe what we are seeing is two high IQ players thinking the game at the same speed. Too early to tell. We can play pack mentality against some teams and have success. But we have to shoot to score. Kadri commented about Huberdeau's goal but also said that he need to do that a lot more. One sequence last night where Hubey had the puck, which reminded me of a Pospisil goal (maybe his first one). Pospisil delayed until the goalie was down and out then wristed it more than 2 feet off the ice. Huberdeau saw that same situation but decided he would pass it into the slot. Kuzmenko maybe had 3 good chances and scored on one. Huberdeau had a couple and scored on one. Sharky maybe was fighting it being in the middle. He did okay, just not the usual Sharky. Kuzmenko seemed to take his spot on the PP. I like what Kadri's line looks with Pospisil. Maybe not always a real 2nd line but they bring it every game. Would Sharky be better there than Pospisil? Perhaps. Then maybe you move him to Backlund and Coleman line. Wrong place for it, but just some general impressions: - need a top C to play with Huberdeau and Kuzmenko - Sharky to 2nd line WR - Pospisil to 3LW. - Mangiapane becomes a trade option - use Tanev, Hanifin and Mangiapane to improve the top 6 C and add a decent younger LD - stock up draft picks and prospects with any remaining trade pieces coming in

I have a problem dealing with Toronto. I would want a minimum of a 2nd in any deal, but they don't have any this year. Next year is worse and that's pushing us out too far. As well, I can't see anyone from their prospect pool I really want. Maybe to Nick Robertson, just because of the name, but I doubt they consider moving him. Topi Niemela another maybe. RD in the AHL, might be something to look at. More for the future than now.

Banana and Pepsi though?

Puljujavi signed with the PENS for a $800k. That has as much sense as Bonino, but for different reasons. Do we really need a 35 year old C added to the lineup because we are short at C?

Sure they are bad away from the puck in the D-zone. But we are talking about a line that doesn't have a natural center. Start in the O-zone or N-zone and lose the draw. Then you are defending against the rush. Lindholm was a defensive C and the line still got caved in. I think what Cross was suggesting is at least an analytical approach to building lines. Or not be so married to a duo that you can't see anything else. What does Kadri's line do well? Just about everything. Where does the top line struggle? Is it competition or zone starts. Who best compensates for Huberdeau defensive weaknesses? To be honest, I am just reading into what he said and adding my perspective. What I do know is Oesterle was bad. Gilbert and him combined were not good. Pospisil replaced by Coronato didn't work yet. Pairing Kylington with a scrub hasn't shown merit. Top line has been getting caved in a lot. 4 line is barely keeping even (so far). Rooney hasn't played well since he was sent down last year and his injury hasn't helped.

Yeah, that should be a big concern. At the very least they should try to get them favorable starts. But, that's going to be difficult to do on the road.

Lindholm was traveling when he heard, so I think it was after he had left (obviously).

Wasn't Lindholm also in Cancun and on his way back to go to the ASG? I would have assumed that he was spending time with Markstrom as well, just needed to leave early.

Interesting turn of event. Can't say I am surprised. The logical outcome is that none of these players return to their former teams, regardless of outcome. That is 99% likely because none have contracts past this year. The unsaid thing among the GM's is that they are untouchable. If a RFA, they will be UFA.

Nobody wants to admit liability these days, where the possible outcome is a civil suit.

Well, let's consider for the moment that the top line over that stretch was minus most games. When they didn't score, they bled goals. To be fair, the Backlund line also has bled some goals in the losses. I can't be certain how much Lindholm's struggles this year are the cause of the top line issues. They have moved around players there all season. I'm interested to see if there is anything good from the new top line. Just because it means no changes to the Kadri line. Ultimately, we are down a 1C. Sharky is not that guy, and at best he can score as much as he did. So, we add via a Hanifin and/or Tanev trade. I'm wondering if it's time to move on from Mangiapane too. He's not scoring now, even though Coleman is. I'm a little worried too that Huska looks like Sutter in being rigid. Love affair for Oesterle. The rigid use of players on the PP is annoying. The lack of execution is mind numbing. May be more on Savard, but who is the head coach. Is he taking a long view with the team to this point or just moving players around? Can't find the right fit for Huberdeau, and his play with Backlund wasn't inspiring. The kids have fit like a glove with Kadri, and only the injury to Pospisil has messed it up. They had a bad stretch in December, but Vladar and Wolf were the starters. He's at least willing to play kids this year. Not a lot of choice I guess. Yanking up and down Coronato is annoying. He has to be a better player, but no idea what the plan is with him. Not learning by being sent down.

Well, back to the pre-trade lines, except for the Sharky line. Interesting to see that Rooney being used more as a LW. Allows for measured use of Pelletier to start. I think they like to have Rooney there as a backup only for now. Give the kids as much chance to see what they are. Also good to see them drawing in Pachal right away. He's a minus 2 this year, with a -1 against CGY that last game. It's a team stat, but less Oesterle and Gilbert, more Kylington and Pachal. Pachal described as a physical player to Kylington's puck moving style. If the eventual move is to bring Pelletier to top 6 RW, I hope they try him out on the 4th line there. Would like him to get reps on RW.

Maybe it's a simple as needing to put a shooter with Kadri. Pospisil is a good finisher for greasy goals, but his shot is not top marks. This sets up Kadri as more of a playmaker for Kuz or a finisher for Zary. Whatever. In this version, Pospisil adds a level of grit to Huberdeau's line and allows for some greasy goals. I don't know the logic of it all. Pelletier IIRC played LW to Huberdeau's LW last year. But this lineup is in flux, because I think we see some more trades involving D. The return could include F.

Rooney - meh I am a little concerned that we called up both Smindt and Rooney. I suppose you could play Schwindt on RW. I just hope it doesn't mean we bump up the 2 and 3C to 1 and 2, then run Rooney with Mange/Coleman. That would be a nightmare scenario. Not sure what they do wiht the lines now. Just spitballing: Huberdeau-Sharky-Pelletier Zary-Kadri-Kuzmenko Mange-Backs-Coleman Pospisil-Rooney-Schwindt I don't know it really makes sense, since Pelts is not a top minutes player. Swap Pelletier with Kuzmenko might be a better idea. Or swap Pelletier with Pospisil and keep the original Kadri line. Pelts would play less EV minutes, and may get only some PP time extra.

I understood that the victim chose not to speak to the NHL investigator. I don't think the NHL did any better than Hockey Canada did, even most recently. NHL is first interested in proecting the btand, then the players and then the victims. Protecting the players is to protect the brand. The victims are given a nod, but I think it's well down the list. There are problems in the league but I don't think it's as toxic as some outsiders would have you believe.

As a throw away asset yes, but a RHS RW is not our greatest need for the 4th line. He's better than Duehr, Klapka and Schwindt, but I'm not sure that says much. I would like to see Pettersen over Duehr if we are keeping Schwindt and Klapka up. Does a claim now drop us in waiver order to 32? If so, I would hold off for better.

Let'd face it, 32 goal in 44 games is a good start. Teams will look at his year and his play and evaluate. No different than what we should be doing. He is also a C, as opposed to a winger. I don't care about the name at all, I want the best pick available at the time we use it. I would prefer to have 3 picks in the top 32, so one of the later might be a good use for that guy. Where we struggle to make the best choice is anywhere between 12 and 32 besides the use of the 2nd rounder in most cases. There is nothing wrong with Honzek or Pelletier or Zary or Coronato. Were the best choice at the time is the question that needs to be asked. Wyatt Johnston seems like a miss now, but it was difficult to scout him given his missed time. Too early to tell anyway.

Yup, they better get at it.