travel_dude

Offside on another goal overturned.

Poor officiating. Called a hight stick on Kuz, so they took away his hatty. Of course STL scores on next play.

Out of town scoreboard help: Sens (68) beat Hawks Canadians (68) beat Flyers Pens (74) beat CBJ Isles (77) beat Panthers

Gotta love the Kuz

I think Jake might just be a good positional player. It wasn't exactly a highlight reel goal. Unless you consider falling while shooting good. Kuzmenko's goal was sweet by comparison.

Whoops, not a great shot that beat Wolf.

Sad looking PP. By the Blues. 3 minutes and barely a shot.

Blues player bleeds a lot easier than Ras did. 4 minutes.

26 on the season is not bad.

STL is playing Bing, so it's not like they think it's an easy game. Bing is a lousy goalie at times. Last 2 losses 4 goals against

We have some competition from below us in the standings. MTL and ORR both on mini winning streaks and both leading today. ARI doing their best to screw up another top 5 pick. Meanwhile we lead the Blues after 1.

Flames refuse to keep a top 10 pick, LOL. Gotta win the meaningless games.

Trades of top 10 picks are so rare. The only way it logically happens is a future 1st that isn't protected.

Wolf faced a tap in, but I guess it was a stoppable shot. Kuzmenko with the absolute dirty dangle on the goalie after a cute little strip of the puck. Beauty.

We seem to be stressing a lot about what it takes to get a top 10 pick or an additional 1st rounder or move up. This seems be a lot of discussion well before the lotto, or for that matter even the end of the season. Sometimes that is not even decided by a team until days before the draft or on the floor.

They basically came out after the TDL and said they would be looking for the big fish. That sounds like it's pretty temporary. As does the price they paid for a placeholder. The trade for Allen seems to be one that they can trade in the summer. He has to play 40+ games for the Devils to be upgraded to a 2nd. Allen also has to be part of a team that makes the playoffs in 24/25. They can recoup that conditional 3rd to mitigate the short term cost.

Mangiapane is out day to day, Kylington is a gametime decision and Wolf gets the start.

In Conroy's trades to date, he has been doing that I think. Adding assets, signing them to ELC's etc. You always want to be able to use an asset if you need to for a specific trade. We held back on using Valimaki and Pelletie because we had little else to pick from. I'm not suggesting we use these assets to make trades, but if the opportunity is there to add a player that just makes too much sense to trade for, then you evaluate the impact to your team and prospects.

What I never get is why it's okay to use a 1st to draft a top goalie, but not worth a first when a player is now a pro and signed. The risk with Ask was that he wouldn't sign. Both of these guys are not that far off their draft years. I'm not saying we make the trade, but these guys are playing in the AHL and while not yet studs, they are not busts. Would you not want to have another potential starter?

I think it's safe to say that Markstrom will likely be traded this summer at the earliest. He won't ask for a trade but he will not block it. TDL is different, since it involves uprooting a family or distrubing normality. There are a couple ways of getting top goalie prospects. One is to bite the bullet and hope a 1st turns into one. Another is to go high risk on a later pick, like Wolf and a couple other guys we have. Another is to trade for them while their value is lower. You want a Wallstedt or Askarov? Make an offer. Neither is killing it in the AHL, not like Wolf was doing every year. Trade a first for either? Might not do it, but perhaps there is something you can do.

I don't know that Ullmark would be available, since he is already signed and they don't quite have another guy ready to replace him. They are at the top of the league for a reason and Ullmark was the superior goalie last season. Saros? No way. Gibson? Maybe, but he has enough runway in him to outlast any rebuild they have. Every year the Playoffs expose goalie weaknesses, so teams in the hunt will look at options. Does COL ever seem happy? They have a nice backup, but the starter is the usual headcase. Francouz is likely retiring, or so goes the rumour.

There is a better chance banking on a team willing to give up a 2025 1st than NJ. There 2025 1st will likely be free and clear once the dust settles this season. And that's assuming we bother asking for the 1st and not players and prospects.

Even when we had Gaudreau and Tkachuk we struggled with STL. 0-2 this year, 1-2 last year. I didn't go aback to the days of Gaudreau to get stats, but I know they struggled.

Have we won very often in Chi-town? Last time we played, they were without Bedard.

We have previously drafted a namebrand LW. If the D available is franchise level or there is a similar ceiling C, then I'm not looking at the name on the sweater. I still hold out hope for Celebration for Celebrini.