-AJ-

Great to see the team was competitive with an almost entirely NHL squad in Seattle.

Pretty damning coming from Green himself. Not a good look for Juolevi. Hope he gets working hard very fast because he's already losing the race so far it looks like.

Unfortunately, performance bonuses aren't allowed on contracts that aren't either ELCs or 1-year contracts for 35+ year old players.

Hughes is a special talent, but Chychrun is too. He finished 10th in Norris voting last year at the age of 22 (turned 23 in March). I think even with the money out of the picture, he's a better player right now. The question could be who ends up being the better one in the long run and that turns more into speculation and projections. I wouldn't be surprised if I were to be told from a time traveler that either of them had a better career.

I can see it a bit.

Chychrun's value is more than Quinn's right now, especially given that he's on a huge steal of a contract. We'd have to probably add a 2nd and depending on Hughes' contract, maybe even more than that, to get Chychrun.

Yes, I suppose it could be taken as a little ironic, though still no less true.

Gaunce was particularly smart defensively, which I also see in Juolevi. Neither have showed much offensive skill.

Maybe, but Edler did shore up his defense in later more recent years. Current Edler has very little offense though, so OEL probably has a huge leg up on him there.

Great to see Miller and Horvat looking good and showing the boys how it's done.

Yeah, I think his offense will be pretty decent, but I think it's his defense that will drop his play down to a #3 level. Perhaps I could say that I expect that offensively, he's a #2, but defensively, he's a #4, and thus averages out to be a #3.

I was reading on Reddit and it looked like some fans actually expect OEL to be a solid top pairing guy. I personally think that any fans expecting a 1/2 guy are going to be disappointed. My expectation is a #3 guy who can put up 30-40 points. He's overpaid, but that's irrelevant to me. All I care about is how he plays going forward and I'm okay with him being a #3-level guy. Fans expecting him to be a #2 or especially a #1 d-man are going to be very disappointed IMO.

Chychrun is insanely valuable. If Arizona doesn't hear any of the names Hughes, Pettersson, or Demko, they hang up instantly.

Malkin, injured? Crazy.

I'm noticing that unlike with the Senators and Brady Tkachuk, the Canucks included Petey and Hughes on their 54-man training camp roster:

I would agree. I don't think it's crazy for Merzlikins to get the contract he did given his experience, though I do think the Demko deal was smarter and better.

We signed Demko to a very similar contract (slightly less, same term) with about the same number of career games.

Agreed. We cannot afford that kind of money.

I may have voted Rypien as the greatest fighter, but the best single fight (or was it a single fight?) goes to Odjick vs the Blues. So memorable, even as a fan who didn't watch in the 90s.

Disappointing, but I hope he gets at least one pre-season game or doesn't miss much regular season time.

Maybe the former, but the latter is just fact, at least based on last year.

1) Best defenseman- It doesn't have to be points related or maybe it does, but who you think will be the best defenseman and why? - Hughes. I know it's the "easy answer" and it's in vogue to vote against high scoring defensemen these days, but if Hughes can get to even close to his rookie form, he's by far our best defenseman IMO. 2) Break out candidate- Who do you think is going to breakout this season and exceed expectations? Either Motte or Garland. I could see Garland scoring at 0.9 points-per-game (74 points in 82 games) if things go well, but I think a lot of fans are expecting quite a bit. I also think Motte has some untapped offensive upside and if he stays healthy, I could believe him getting around 35 points this year, with some significant 3rd line time and maybe spot duty on the top six when injuries inevitably hit. 3) Bounce Back Candidate- Who is coming back this year from a down year or possibly couple years ? Two great options in our off-seasons acquisitions--OEL has had a rough 2 or 3 last years. Halak also struggled last year more than usual so he could bounce back as a strong backup this year. 4) Decline- Who is on the downward trajectory, maybe even just a year, but who is going to have a poor season or not perform up to par? This is really just if I had to pick (I'm generally an optimist) and largely just based on gut feelings. For forward, I'd pick Miller. Say something like 0.7 points-per-game (57 points in 82 games) would be a down year for him. I could also see either Hamonic or Poolman struggling as the defensive defensemen on our team. I generally expect more positive things from these guys, but if I had to pick some, those are some options.

I'd expect that whenever Toyota does enter the EV truck market, they will do so with aplomb. It will be interesting to see what they do and how they try to differentiate themselves.

My guess is at some point during pre-season, but before the regular season starts. I can see this one going quite late.

My gut and watching of some reviews says the F150 is probably the best and most practical for most people. That said, I expect the only market will be consumers, not the sort of people that buy trucks for hard towing work.