Fanuck

I don't think 13.5, if that is the number, is that far off value when you go by % of cap and not just AAV. He does produce goals, and the McDavid/Draisaitl contracts people like to bring up are 6yo now. He's got a NMC and hes approaching UFA in the middle of his prime - he's got leverage in the most scrutinized market in all of hockey, if he signs for way less % of cap I'd be quite surprised.

Based on this description I'd say no, don't buy expensive skates for what you're doing with them. That said you're understanding of 'expensive' skates is different than mine. To me an expensive skate is anywhere from about $900 +. I paid almost a grand for my last pair including custom blade profiling, but I'm on the ice 2x per week with my own team and sometimes 3x per week with the kids' team. Even then, my serious competitive days are long behind me and I paid that mostly for the better materials and durability of the boot, I want these present pair to last me at least the next 5-7 years. For the average 'recreational' skater who isn't playing hockey with them (which wears down the boot/holder/blade) considerably faster) I'd say an entry level skate, or one step above that, is just fine. To me it's like the kids on the team I coach, I tell parents NOT to buy the $300+ composite one-piece sticks (many do anyway) for their kids as there's virtually no way a kid that age/skill level can tell the difference let alone benefit from the higher priced sticks versus an average priced one.

Still shocks me that there isn't a true multinational company (eg. Nike/Adidas/ect...) that believes the NHL is a good investment for their brand. This speaks volumes as to how far behind the other pro-sports organizations we are globally speaking.

5 different organizations in 7 years tells you this individual is 'tainted' , and not in a positive way. Zero interest even if a club paid us to take him. This isn’t your typical risk/reward situation, he's simply a poor quality person - his history bares this out sadly.

Aquaman would never allow this to happen, he's just too important for the overall marketing/image of this team and FA cares as much about that as he does winning. For all intents and purposes Petey is the present and the future of the club no disrespect to the other players.

Juice is the best thing to happen to hnic in a long, long time. He's got recency as a long-time player, credibility as an analyst, knowledge of the game from many perspectives, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, an actual personality. Fried is useless imo, he offers nothing more than rumor mongering - he's essentially a basement blogger who's convinced people somehow he's connected to the hockey world? The rest of the crew, MEH.....

Nothing raises brand awareness like winning and championships - forget the peripheral stuff, let's concentrate on that first.

I'm quite certain one of the main reasons for the delay was NOT the actual investigation itself, rather the lengthy consultation Hockey Canada had with numerous lawyers/PR firms trying to figure out their 'exposure' on this depending on how they rigged the findings and who they decided to scapegoat. Covering ones A$$ from a PR/legal mess like this takes time, a lot of time.

If Hockey Canada wants to regain ANY credibility whatsoever they need to publish the full findings of their investigation (while obviously respecting the victims rights/privacy) and it should come with swift & just consequences for any guilty parties. Furthermore both the IIHF and the NHL need to enact their own punishments on any guilty parties.

McDavid signed that almost 6 years ago. Salaries across the board have gone up substantially as has the cap in 6 years. Not even a comparison here.

Just me wishing or could that conditional Bos 1st be very, very high when Bos implodes the season after next!!!!!

Pesce still has M-NTC. Does anyone actually believe he'd waive that (or have Van on his list of teams he'd accept) to go from a contender to a bottom feeder? Let's be real folks.

How do we make waiver claims with no cap space? We can't even account for Pearson if he's healthy, not to mention there's a slim possibility Poolman might play again some day? I'm not saying no, but how?

Letang, Crosby and Malkin all have NMC - if they were to leave (which I highly doubt), they'd likely only consider waiving for legitimate contenders. I don't know a legitimate contender with the assets/cap space to pull this off anyway so.... Karlsson deal only happens if a 3rd party brokers their cap space for this player, which I'm not saying is impossible, but it wouldn't be a simple deal. I'd like to see Karlsson ride out his contract in total anonymity in SJ, and be inconsequential, never playing a single PO game again, if for nothing else than as yet another cautionary tale to others seeking to take all the money they could get. Why exactly should he get his cake and eat it too? He got paid, now he doesn't like his circumstances, forget him.

Is he though....... https://thehockeywriters.com/maple-leafs-forwards-ranked-defensive-play-2021-22/

Said it before, if the Coilers management doesn't pursue this (or some other goalie of this caliber), I doubt guys like McD/Draisaitl will be motivated to re-up when the time comes.

On the offensive side of the puck what impresses is his constant changing of angles to confuse defending wingers/goalies and patience to wait for plays to develop and traffic to establish in front of the net - he rarely just chucks it on net hoping for something to happen, he's making attempts on net only with a plan in mind. On the d side of the puck he's excellent at angling forwards away from high danger areas and disrupting plays before lines can establish anything in the o-zone. If he develops at the next level he's going be a steal for us. We should have a really good sense of where he's at developmentally in the NCAA next season as opposed to guessing about his development from playing sporadic shifts in a Swedish men's league.

I wouldn't rule out Irwin, a vet like him didn't sign here simply to report to Abbotsford. He clearly sees an opportunity here.

Talking heads were mentioning a 3rd party retaining cap scenario. It's been done before so.....who knows?

Just me or is this an automatic future deadline trade to contender with retention scenario at some point?

So would it be correct to say that if either Poolman/Pearson are healthy in the fall, we're in trouble? There must be additional moves coming, no?

Look at the past 10 years and tell me that there's not been as many bad deals as good ones July 1st? I'm talking league-wide now....

Based on the tried and true reality that UFA is typically a 'suckers' game I'd say management exercised very astute restraint. Unlike others I'm not gonna say we have a great D all of a sudden, rather we finally have an actual NHL level D ad opposed to what we were icing for several seasons now. For me, the single most important thing management did today is NOT put future seasons at risk financially while still improving for the short-term, not an easy feat given our cap situation.

He'll be OK there folks, Bettman's got their back!