JeremyCuddles

That team was at it's best when they had JVR, Bozak and Komarov and no Tavares. That signing cost them an entire line, one of which was a 30 goal scorer for them. This offseason, at best, they stayed the same as last year but you'd have to have some really rosey glasses. Barrie is better Gardiner, maybe significantly better. Kadri is better than Kerfoot, Ceci is better than Zaitsev. Brown and Marleau are much better than Spezza. All in all they got worse on paper. Unless Nylander re-finds his game which hopefully he does. I get a lot of people are not a fan of him but I don't wanna see him fail. Call me a homer but I'd argue we have a better team overall.

I would never advocate any bodily harm to any player, but would totally not stop him from running over Loui. Just plant a Luongo jersey on his body and we can play it off like Lu ran over another Canuck. Might get us outta his recapture. 2 birds with one stone.

I recognize the word Säger, something tells me Loui is gonna come to training camp wearing a really flashy suit.

Jake, shamed into hitting? What the hell does that make the rest of the team that use their bodies even less than he does? On top of him out scoring all the other bottom 6ers. He was 2nd on the team in hits, there was a 50 hit gap between him and the next highest forward. We ever gonna give Jake any sort of respect on here or just hate on him cause he's not Bertuzzi despite that NEVER being apart of his game?

Somebody better tell Dmitri that Schaller, Edler, Benn, Baetschi, Pearson, Tanev, Sutter, and Spooner's cap will all be gone or be expiring by then. Or in some case's potentially re-signed for less. With Lu's recap expiring the following season. We're fine.

Marner at 10 is a no for me, Marner at 11 is a heck no, Marner at 12 is a please never suggest anything ever again.

Kid definitely is a beauty when you watch him play. If all you do is look at goals and points yeah his draft season seems underwhelming but he also bounced around a fair bit. Hard to get any traction like that. This kid is a hound. I think this is what Hansen could have been with more talent and better hands.

So because Gadjovich struggled in his one year in a new league it's a problem with the AHL team? And his year 1 AHL season is comparable to Lockwood's 3rd college season? "well Lockwood is steadily improving staying in the same league playing under the same program. But Gadjovich is struggling in a brand new league, with a brand new team, playing a different role. Therefore, UTICA PROBLEM"

Fewer kids are going that route and fewer kids really need it. Not to mention Benning traded picks for NHL ready players. Those picks likely would have gone through there if they didn’t develop in their respective draft leagues. Either way we should be happy most players don’t really need the A.

MacEwen has officially become the most overrated player on this board. Somehow we have trouble deciding if we'd rather see a legit, proven complimentary top 6 forward or an AHLer. Y'all never cease to amaze me. Something tells me these two are not and never were in competition with each other for a spot. Guy had 4 hits, in 4 games, with 7 minutes of ice time and still managed to be a -4. If it is between the two, easily Ferland. But realistically MacEwen will be battling for a depth/bottom 6 spot anyway so we could potentially see both if he proves he even belongs in the NHL.

Hopefully guys like Tryamkin and Juolevi can make this D core a bit better next season. On top of Woo and Rathbone down the line. Forward core is definitely playoff caliber imo. Sutter's health is key. We can't have him playing 60 or fewer games anymore. On defense the health of Edler and Tanev will be key. At the very least Edler's. We have proven we can handle the loss of Tanev but losing both is way too debilitating. Edler is the anchor on defense and it's success lives and dies on his presence. I know we all love Hughes but the kid is just turning 20 in October. Lets not put all our hopes and dreams on his back just yet.

You also have to keep in mind the College kids are spending 2-4 years there. We don't even give our AHL kids 2 years before we cry about the sky falling. Lind and Gadjovich struggle in their first ever year in the AHL and now we apparently have a Utica problem and nobody can develop there. Lol.

If that’s what he wishes Virtanen was his assessment of Jake and what he could be was off. Poor Jake, never stood a chance here.

The players worth anything had full NTCs. Kesler, Lu and even Hammer if I recall all only gave us two teams each that we could move them too. These NTCs are much easier to move if need be.

Is it time to put to bed the misconception that Benning is bad with free agent signings? Knowing CDC no, people still think Virtanen has no hockey IQ.

Never had him on my wishlist cause I figured he’d ask for Wilson dollars. On paper sounds like a great fit with Petey/Boeser.

Every thread is the Eriksson thread if you just beliiiiiiiiiieve.

Good deal for both, could be a huge steal over the next couple years if he hits 40 points again. Heinen did struggle when Schaller left though, coincidence? Probably.

LOL Sure lets throw them Sutter for Bouchard too while we’re at it.

I'm not saying I would have given up on him. Just looks like Buffalo is. They got a great player for him though. So there's that at least. With the lack of talk about him I was beginning to think he'd get traded for what Pouliot/Baertschi was traded for. Middling picks.

Given Buffalo's middle 6 situation and their relative RD strength, definitely feels like they are giving up on Nylander.

Boucher is an interesting feller. Sadly may never be a full time NHLer but still rooting for the guy. The other two were largely unremarkable, and still a bit disappointed we didn't take at least one d-man last draft. Benning sounds optimistic about the guys he signed, he did mention them as one of the reasons they were confident not drafting any d-men.

Defense is also one of the last positions we should be moving players from.

Well my post suggests he wasn’t always great, which is why I brought up the fact Panarin was undrafted. Likely didn’t think he’d ever reach that level. Either way, we’ll likely never know what he was thinking before he was drafted.