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mll

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Everything posted by mll

  1. Teams were asked to provide their goal songs. The idea is to recreate the ambiance of the arena of the home team. The road team might get their goal songs though. This was from the NHL website: The Flyers were the home team Tuesday, so the NHL used their playlist before each period. But it used goal horns, goal songs and power-play prompts for each team, and that is the plan once the Qualifiers start.
  2. The Canucks had 236 PP opportunities this season - 2nd most in the league only to Colorado who get a handful more.
  3. Per game stats looks like he has been missing since his 1st shift. He took that heavy hit from Skjei in the first minute of the game.
  4. Baertschi already has a contract and he says it's up to Vancouver to find a solution. Doesn't sound like someone that is considering giving up his contract. Neither is Eriksson. He was asked point blank and said he intends to play it out in full. His agent said something similar.
  5. In a year they have key players to sign and Eriksson's 6M is a limitation. Teams don't just look at next season but typically plan for years beyond too. Ottawa has so many draft picks and prospects - there's a 50 contract limit. They can't just add players and have to find spots for them to play too. A few teams have already started loaning a few of their players abroad. The AHL is a gate driven league so teams will have to fund the AHL if they want them to play there. The AHL president believes that some teams could opt out from playing next season. Some NHL teams might prefer to loan their prospects to other affiliates rather than fund their own AHL team. Utica might run but to help fund the costs could take prospects from other teams. Promoting prospects earlier to the NHL will limit the number of players they have to fund to play in the AHL.
  6. If Eriksson or Baertschi wanted to terminate their contracts they would have already done it. The salary for 2019/20 has already been paid out. Eriksson has already received his 3M bonus for next season on 1 July. He's in the bubble, away from his family, when he knows he might not even play. He could have opted out without any financial consequence to his regular contract.
  7. The 13F + 7D was a one off for the exhibition game only. It's now back to 18 skaters max.
  8. Gaborik's contract is insured. Eriksson's is not. Ottawa also has a lot of youth to renew next season. Eriksson has that extra year and it could limit their ability to retain key players - just like it is now the Canucks. Friedman has been repeating that Melnyk is on record that they are not going to spend more than necessary until 2021/22. The Gaborik contracts helps him limit his losses. Next season the owners are going to lose money. Everything they spend beyond the salary floor just increases their losses. The Canucks just fired 49 people and there is expected to be more to come in a few months. Owners are losing money and won't necessarily just spend like in past years. No team including Ottawa will have trouble reaching the floor. This season the lowest spending team was above the floor by 12M. Also doubtful teams want to spend 9M in cap space on players who don't really move the needle. Quite a few teams are going to have to let go better players for cap reasons. Teams are probably more on the lookout for a JT Miller type player than taking cap dump contracts. Virtanen doesn't have that kind of trade value anymore. He might not even make game 1 and MacIntyre just had that article wondering if he's not F15 on the Canucks' depth chart. Other teams read those article and see the quote by Green where he says he iced the team that gave him the best chance to win - he's not even ahead of MacEwen. Friedman says a lot of teams have been upset with him breaking protocol. Teams pick up on that. Ottawa is a rebuilding team with a lot of youth - they want to set the right culture. Work hard, play the right way, be a pro. That's not the image Virtanen has given. Every media outlet and even Tryamkin's agent says it's apparent that the Canucks are in cap mess. Teams are likely going to exploit the situation. Canucks are the ones looking to clear cap space. It's going to cost them more to move unwanted contracts and it might not even be possible with the cap flat and teams wanting to retain flexibility to keep their own key players. It's going to be a fair bit more complicated to move contracts that are not ELCs or top end players. Middle/bottom of the lineup players could be more cap in for cap out - Pearson for Gudbranson, Neal for Lucic type trades rather than cap clearing trades. Goalies don't have that kind of trade value unless they show that they can do it - Demko hasn't. He likely wouldn't even bring back a 2nd on his own. Teams also know that there is expansion and that he will be exposed if Markstrom is re-signed. They can make a deal with Seattle too. Sutter did not look good vs Winnipeg and has slowed down this season and was again injured. Teams would probably ask for his medical records before making a trade. A buyout seems more likely than a trade - if he is injured he can't be bought out though. Also not every team will necessarily have an AHL team to play at next season. Teams, especially rebuilding ones who aren't quite contenders yet, might promote prospects earlier. They need those spots to play them rather than give them to players who don't fit their timeline and have their prospects sit at home.
  9. MacIntyre on the Virtanen scratch. https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/canucks-notebook-virtanens-omission-lineup-not-surprising/
  10. Virtanen has arbitration rights. His agent will most likely file for leverage. His production allows him to hope for around 3.5M. He'll likely use use the Baertschi deal as comparable. The challenge with arbitration rights is that the filing and hearings are after free agency opens up. Teams have to keep cap room or they could be forced to clear cap space late in the off-season. I actually wonder if the Canucks will even qualify Virtanen if they don't manage to trade him before. I think Eriksson will play out the rest of his contract. He was already paid his bonus for next season on 1 July. He could have opted out from coming to the bubble but didn't - salaries for this season have already been paid too. He was also asked point-blank if he will play out the rest of his contract and said he would. With the pandemic, players have earned far less than expected as they have to return a portion of their salaries as part of the 50-50 revenue sharing. There's no escrow in the AHL - he could make more there than in the NHL. Doubt anyone is going to give Eriksson a flyer. There might not be all AHL teams operating next season. Teams are going to have to play prospects somewhere and it could prompt them to promote some earlier than expected - ie taking up roster spots and limiting the need to add support/bottom of the lineup players through free agency (or trade). Sutter has had so many injuries to his core and it has limited his effectiveness. I even wonder if he could end up on LTIR. It looks like Green's hard camp already took a toll on Sutter. I doubt any team would want to bring him in at his cost and with so many question marks on his effectiveness.
  11. His 3M bonus was already paid on 1 July. He didn't opt out and is in the bubble although he knew he would likely not be a regular for the post-season. His agent and himself don't make it sound as if it's a consideration to walk away. With the pandemic he has already made less than expected at this point, because of revenue sharing where players owe a larger share of their salaries back to owners.
  12. Not worried at all. I accept Green's explanation that he iced the best lineup to win and didn't think Virtanen was part of it. No reason to think Green was not truthful.
  13. I couldn't care less if he makes the lineup of game 1. I am questioning this theory that he was scratched to motivate him. This team is not about Virtanen but about icing the best lineup that can beat the Wild. Why mess with the other players too. If he was expected to play Sunday then play him vs Winnipeg. It's not like players will just find their timing after not playing together for so long.
  14. Then why say it was the team that gives him the best chance to win? Would have been easier to just say like Benning that they wanted to give Ferland a look and not make it sound like Virtanen was F14.
  15. "I just went with the lineup I thought gave us the best chance to win. Plain and simple." - Green on scratching Virtanen Benning earlier had said they wanted to give a look at Ferland. Why wouldn't Green just go with Benning's explanation? Players have access to social media in the bubble - why create the noise if it's just a bluff. Scratching Virtanen and suggesting he's not their best option to win to motivate him would be playing mind games. But It's playing mind games with the rest of the team as well. Players are looking to get ready and finding their timing/chemistry with their linemates. It doesn't help to sit him out if the plan is to play him all along. They were allowed to dress 13 Fs vs Winnipeg and Green went with MacEwen as the extra F and not Virtanen. Another player aside from MacEwen would need to come out.
  16. MacEwen looks to have been F13 - played the least of all the Fs with only 5:15 of ice time in 8 shifts.
  17. His team growing up was the Flyers though. He played hockey in Pennsylvania not New Jersey.
  18. Exhibition games have never counted. 7 teams are no longer playing - the play-in games and round robin will count towards post-season stats.
  19. His agent already excluded him going to Europe - he doesn't even go back in the off-season. He's unlikely to terminate his contract now that he has a young family to look after. And he's still a concussion risk. The highest salary in the KHL this season is about 1.75M with the 2nd highest at under 1.4M.
  20. He's back in the game. They are looking to replicate game conditions - if a player goes down during a game he can't be replaced. Their only question mark is in goal.
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