mephnick

I don't think we're going to come to terms with Edler. So LHD is still a need.

I think he settles in at a 45-50 point player from now on. 5.5 isn't too shabby. It's a fair deal for the current league.

Sutter + Hutton + 1st for Ghost Ghost is young and locked in to a good contract. If we drafted a guy as good as Ghost with our 1st we'd be thrilled. You can't overvalue a draft pick that may turn into nothing. Sutter and Hutton give Philly the depth for a run. Then we just hope Gaudette or Madden is for real.

I don't get this from Philly. Gudas is better, younger and less expensive than Niskanen (who had a terrible year) AND they retained salary?

We should be done with him. He blocked a good trade for us using his NTC and is now going to leave if we don't let him handcuff us again. You block a trade because you want to stay, not to hurt the team. Sorry Alex, you don't get to have your cake and eat it too.

The Leafs made a huge f---up with Matthews contract. They paid him max and only locked him up for 5 years to the start of his UFA So, you paid max? Without buying any UFA years? So the next contract (safely assuming Matthews is still awesome in his prime) is either going to cost you a billion dollars or he's going to walk? When you have a guy like that, you buy the 8 years, because year 5-8 are going to be a steal when the average salary keeps rising. Dubas really baffled me with that one.

Just goes to show you the "loyalty" franchises have for their players. Guy wins you a Cup and is your flagship player for 15 years, the moment he isn't useful to you, you dump him. That's why I 100% support players using any labour power they have to get max money, max term and strong clauses in their contracts. In the end, the teams don't give a &^@# about their players, it's up to the players to look out for themselves.

I was exaggerating a bit (this forum is so anal), but he scored half those goals in a few lucky games and then disappeared for the next 60 games. After the first couple months his pace settled in to nearly what my joke was which is really sad.

Valuable players do all that while scoring goals. If we just want a guy who is going to be physical while playing 3rd line minutes and potting in 1 goal every 15 games, there are literally dozens of other players we can sign to fill that roll.

I'm not sure they will take Markstrom. It's very likely that Holtby will be available as well. I could easily see Seattle signing Holtby and taking Stecher/Gaudette anyway. It's really hard to tell this early I guess.

No Cup winning team has been purely built through the draft. You have to make trades and sign FA's to win. Look at any contender in the last decade. At least one or two core pieces of their team came from trades or a FA signings. Not drafted for Boston: Chara, Thomas, Wheeler, Rask Not drafted to Chicago: Sharp, Hossa Not drafted to LA: Carter, Richards, Williams Not drafted to Pitt: Kessel, Hornqvist I'd say the only exception to the rule would be Washington who were mainly built through the draft with the exception of Oshie. But they were also in the basement for a decade. Some of these guys were picked up before a run, some of them were picked up years before, but to say "Just build through the draft" and ignore trades and Free Agents is foolish. If you can sign a guy like Panarin now, sign him. If you can trade for a young top pairing RHD like Trouba now, then trade for him. You'll need to do something like that at some point if you want to be a contender.

You think the player we get at 10 will be better than a top pairing defenseman on a Cup contender by age 25? Man, I hope so.

The risk is he pops off and scores 40 one year. Then you're looking an 11 million dollar contract when you could have had him for 7.5.

Yep, Virt is what he is. If he can get a bit more consistent he can be a valuable depth winger. That's it, though.

Much rather watch St Louis play than watch the Sharks whine and fluke their way to a Cup. It's a shame Boston is there again, but St. Louis was probably my favourite West team heading into the playoffs.

You want to trade a 30 goal scorer (on pace for ~40 a season with a brutal injury) for a kid who could be the next Cam Barker? Maybe Byram is a stud...but Boeser is already a stud.

Seabrook would also have to agree to the deal and we'd waste a protection slot on him in the expansion draft. Not to mention possibly the worst contract in hockey for 5 more years. That's a tough ask even to land Byram.

I think the top 3 will be Petey, Makar, Heiskanen. It may change, but it looks like Hirscier and Patrick were both picked 3 picks too early. Which is kind of funny after the "Who will go first?!" drama. Can't remember the last time the top 2 were both outdone by the next few players.

I mean..that's what all teams do. Ride a core and put pieces together around it. Lots of teams get a good core and never do anything with it. Only CDC could use "drafting a good core and then putting the right pieces together with it to win a Cup" as a shot against a GM somehow. It's not the same as Burke walking in to Anaheim and winning a Cup with Murray's team. Holland was there the whole way.

The Rome hit would have energized Boston regardless of suspension, but Rome was a nobody. The injury to Hamhuis showcased our lack of defensive depth. Our forwards were playing on fumes. That's what lost us the series. We ran out of gas. It happens to someone every year. We win that series with a healthy Hamhuis and Kesler regardless of Aaron Rome. The reffing of that playoffs was bull$&!# and we got screwed by the league, but it's not what cost us the series.

That's just what people who retire without a Cup say.

Jumbo Joe is one of the bigger pieces of crap in the league but everyone loves him because he grew a beard or something. I hope he retires without a Cup.

Blues in 5. Finally expose those gutless, lucky Sharks.

I'm not sure how anyone could bandwagon for the Sharks. I see it a lot on other forums and reddit. The team is full of whiners, Joe Thornton is a cheap, dirty a**hole (and always has been) and they're perennial chokers. The Sharks should be hated. Can someone tell me why people adore Joe Thornton? He's always been a complete garbage person who tries to injure people when he's losing. Much worse than Perry.

I get downvoted into oblivion on reddit when I say we need to hang on to Sutter for at least another year because 12pts in 61 NHL games doesn't make Gaudette a "sure thing". Not to mention injuries.