J-P

Still hoping for camp to start with both signed, and in my book that's still the most logical and rational outcome. Dhaliwal reporting talks are "quiet" is not something I'd put a lot of weight to. If however it does drag on beyond that I have no issues at all with JB playing hardball as everything points to reasonable offers being on the table and missing camp time will hurt the franchise and lower the value of those contracts. IMO this is a pivotal year for taking a big step forward and this not getting done in time is not what we need to start it off. That said - still believe it gets done and as long as it's before camp all is good.

Brady is up now though, right? Agree though that Horvat makes no sense for Ottawa, and we should just keep him regardless. If Ottawa for some reason wanted Boeser+ for Brady that would be interesting, but not seeing it.

Very true. Brady brings a great package and I'd definitely trade all our wingers for him one for one, but if the deal includes EP, QH or Demko then I'm not interested. If the proposal were for Horvat instead of EP I would think longer about it but probably still pass since Horvat's a big part of the team although you could argue objectively that it's a deal you should make...

Not sure how you add that up to "many", but ok... I wouldn't trade Brady for EP in a million years and I'm not convinced about Stutzles upside in this company. I agree Hoglander is the lesser part in the discussion but that's also reflected in his projected cap hit and having a top 9 forward with the compete and skill that Hogz has without breaking the bank is vital for any contender.

I get that but still feel the bad situation OEL was in with ARI is not reflected in stats. I do agree though that there are question marks around his performance defensively, really hope that the twins and JB are correct in their assumption that he'll bounce back.

Probably dumb but so happy if Podz is #92 and not #82. 82 seems like a slow average player to me whereas 92 seems like a player that's everything I hope Podz could be...

Joy Division for me although they only made two albums so David Bowie or Smiths would be a smarter choice.

Would not trade EP straight up for these two and that's without considering that Hoglander with his projected cap hit on a second contract will be a very valuable player.

As a 4th line grinder this is a good pickup, my suspicion though is that he'll spend at least around half the season on the 3rd line and that IMO bodes well for our team.

Yes, definitely see the rational for both player and team to move on but still hurts. At his current deal wouldn't mind him back for a playoff run at all.

That's true. Also, statistics is one thing, you also have to consider how bad ARI was vs WPG and that OEL was in a very bad situation. Let's see how OEL actually plays before making judgements, but it's not far fetched to believe OEL is in another tier vs Morrissey and that Poolman will thrive both from his own contributions since he's a good match in Vancouver and from being partnered with a superior partner in OEL or QH.

Agree, but it also depends on what OEL we'll see. If OEL performs like a true top pairing D, QH will be on the second pairing with much easier deployment. Hamonic is more than capable of slotting in during those circumstances which is ways from what he was expected to do last season. So that's my dream scenario, OEL performs like a #1D and then Poolman can play along and do the stay at home thing when it's needed although he's probably not a top pairing guy. If OEL performs more like a #2-4D, then I agree, we'd probably have more like two 1B pairings on D and then OEL/Hamonic and QH/Poolman might make more sense.

Totally agree, and also the value of this transaction lies in the contract extension. If MTL could have extended KK for 2-3 mil I think they would have found a way to match as that's a win in the long term. Feels like KK is a much better match with CAR though and that there's an agreement in place for how the extension will look that KK was not willing to consider with MTL. Interesting though if KK gets +50 points playing with Aho, I suppose there's not a set amount for the extension but rather thresholds based on performance.

Fully expect both to be signed before camp and if they are it's likely a win win regarding money. If they are not it is something that might hurt a lot short term as missing camp time affects most players for a large part of the season including playoffs. That said, if the cap the players are asking for is not reasonable it might make sense in the long term to make them sit. All in all, i think JB's been doing a good job with RFAs and I'm not worried. Again - I think both will be signed before camp.

Actually think for a player like him being a top 6 guy in SHL plus a nice living and the confidence boost is a better track to the NHL vs AHL. Might not be true for a younger player but in his case I think it's a good choice.

The quote above - which is correctly translated although he probably means he wanted to get of the situation of being a healthy scratch - is the only reference to his time in Vancouver in the interview. The stuff about bullying, freezer etc is all stuff written by the reporter but presented as facts. Also not sure how reliable the site is as a source, it's not well known afaik.

How do you know? ;-)

Torn about this. On one hand i think it's a bit of a bush league move, on the other hand it's a really epic revenge move designed strategically so MTL can't match without getting themselves into big trouble and if they don't match they'll have a hard time replacing him short term. Aho's deal doesn't even look that bad anymore although the term is not what CAR would have liked. Nice work Bergevin... Btw - what's the significance of the $20 signing bonus? Some sort of inside joke?

Yes, good point. He was signed to enable one or two more playoff runs for the twins. That didn't work out and no matter who you blame for that (unrealistic to begin with? Maybe WD wasn't the perfect coach least of all in the playoffs?) what he did the years after that are irrelevant in the big picture.

I like the current discussion in this thread. LE definitely did not deliver up to his contract but the fact that he didn't produce I think is partly up to the organization although most of the blame falls on him. To say he didn't compete or didn't care is just false though. He was always in great shape and his contributions in the bubble defensively had a major impact IMO on our success. Don't believe me? Watch the games again and compare the number of board battles etc LE won compared to Horvat and the other top 9 forwards. Again - his contract is really bad in hindsight along with most of the 2016 FA class. But don't blame the player.

Yeah? So Boeser and Horvat signing just before or during training camp means the deals were bad? If you thought your best shot at getting the deal you want was to wait what would you do?

You and Dhaliwal conveniently left out the part where he before he speculates about his next deal says he believes the team has the chance to go deep in the playoffs next year. If we do that but somehow are out of the playoffs again (after missing the show 5 of 7 times in recent years iirc) in 3-4 years it's hard to blame him imo. I would have preferred a different wording like "I expect us to be in contention from now on" but at the same time you can't blame the guy when you look back at the three years he's been here. My interpretation is that he loves Vancouver and wants to stay but that he's not willing to enter another rebuild in 3-4 years which would mean no chance for him to contend likely. Fair enough if you ask me.

Honourable mention to Salming who pretty much changed the reputation of European players on his own It should really be Lidström since Forsberg had his career cut short, but Forsberg in his prime was sheer force with a neverending will to win and a mean streak to go with it.

True enough was talking left side only... Our right side still needs some work although current makeup of the left side require some less flashy players on the right so Poolman and Hamonic are ok for now.

Rathbone is an exciting prospect and could make the team right away but I personally always take prospect performances late in the season when games don't matter (as we were already out of it) with a big grain of salt. So - let's see where he's at when training camp starts. Not sold on the OJ vs JR comparisons, they are different players and there's room for both. A left side with OEL/QH/OJ/JR looks like it could be as good as any in the league in a year or two.