DownUndaCanuck

Got to be Mikheyev, RT seems to like the combination of a grinder (Mikh) who can forecheck well, a playmaker (Petey) and a sniper (Kuz).

Would have been a big balls move and who knows, it might have won us the Cup, or we might have gotten thrashed anyway.

I think Rick will go for skill in the top-6, all grit in the bottom-6, but one good forechecker on each of the top 2 lines. Mikheyev has the first line forechecking role, PDG had the 2nd line role but I think that's up for grabs.

Hopefully Hoglander or Podkolzin (or even Garland or Beauvillier) can nab that spot but PDG and Miller had some nice chemistry last year.

If Pearson is somehow healthy he'd be the perfect Tocchet-type player so you never know.

Boeser + Rathbone + 1st.

That's what it would take. Would certainly hurt losing a first but it's a gamble we make to say that we'll push that pick into the late round. I'd do it, go all-in.

Hughes - Pesce

Cole - Hronek

Soucy - Myers

Hirose

That is a top-5 NHL defence if not the best in the league. 2 good puck movers and a bunch of good shutdown guys. Playoff contending defence similar to the last 4 conference finalists if not better.

Don't think Bruce is to blame, I'd crucify the assistant coaches though

Risky but I'd do it. Not to mention, 6M in cap space. Throw that money at Monahan/Compher + Kampf and we're ready to roll. Carlsson surely slots in somewhere (maybe on the wing).

Monahan/Compher - 50pts

Kampf - 20pts

Carlsson - 30pts

Peeke - 20pts

Miller - 80pts if he's still got it

11OA (ASP at best) - 20pts

We're already there, proof that the expansion pack is massively over-powered. They have to start somewhere though, but right at the very top? Their punishment should be no first round pick for a year or two so they can ebb and flow the same way normal teams do.

He's really a bottom pairing guy, not quite the next Tanev we all hoped for, and I think Burroughs does the same job as him, he's not exactly the perfect partner for Hughes. Forsling on the other hand is a super star now.

Probably for the best, go home, take it easy and come back to training camp early. I know they were all talking about coming to training camp 1 month early so no need to burn himself out with a tiny break.

We have a few raises to pay (Miller and Kuzmenko) so I think according to Cap Friendly we need to shed around 3-4M in cap space to be compliant for next year - that's assuming we bring back all our free agents to similar deals, even if Bear comes back at the same cost. Sadly we need to score ourselves a 3rd line center which usually costs 2-4M. I'd really like a defenceman too but that's asking for a lot...

Simple answer is one of our expensive wingers has to go, if not a couple. Right now, I'd rather keep Boeser and flip Garland and Beauvillier. Their spots on the 3rd line can easily be replaced by Abby guys Hoglander and Podkolzin, and that 9M goes straight towards raises, a third line center and heck maybe a tiny bit left over for a depth guy.

I don't see any of these teams having an answer for Demko in his prime.

He's probably still good enough to play in our top-4 lol

Even with half of his points on the powerplay, he's on the ice for 78 even strength goals for, so that makes 61 goals against.

By comparison, Petey has 96 points, just 24 on the PP so contributes to 72 goals for at even strength, 58 goals against.

Kucherov is somehow just a +5 with over 100 points.

Pastrnak has 103 points, 68 at even strength, with just 36 goals against.

Forever remembered as the guy who got traded for Eddie Lack...

Looks like he's earned 24 mil in his career. Deserves every penny, good for him.

If we're going to try and stay competitive, then dead cap will kill us, but if we're fully rebuilding and acquire some picks and bad contracts to bomb, then why not?

Me lol

Simply watching Makar play, I don't think he's the strongest guy defensively - makes a lot of risky plays and gambles a lot offensively, but he's not bad (think Barrie). I think they're defensively actually quite similar - Hughes has a quicker, smarter stick on defence and on the PK but obviously Makar is supreme offensively.

10-4-0 can get us in as long as Dallas play around or just under .500 and we take care of Vegas. They've looked vulnerable lately and have some tough opponents on the road, you never know...

Makar is defensively nowhere near Josi's level, Josi should be clear Norris favourite with Makar a decent 2nd. As flashy as Makar is, he's got to round out his physical game and not gamble/make as many risky plays as he does. This season Josi is doing it all - scoring, playing physical and defending. He should gather a bunch of MVP votes as well.

I was happy with JB letting the older guys go and having Hamonic replace Tanev at the time but boy did that not pan out well (who could have predicted though)? Certainly had to go with Demko over Markstrom, but I think the Toffoli non-signing was a big mess as well. We had cap space to sign at least one of the guys and Toffoli is young and was thriving with us, but in hindsight I think we'd all have re-signed Tanev and plonked him next to Hughes until the 4 year deal runs out. 

That being said you have to commend Schenn for almost doing the job Tanev could have done for a quarter of the price...

The Pouliot trade and resurgence is huge for this team. We've lacked an elite defenceman for a while and while he may not get there, he's our best shot at a 40-50 point defenceman in a while. Juolevi looks good and might be a decent #2 guy but Pouliot still has that #1 potential.