Maniwaki Canuck

I liked the emphasis on simply getting better, not a bunch of abstract blather about windows opening and closing.

Bruce: there he goes? Are they arranging it so that Bruce himself pulls the plug?

It was tough to watch Brock in that much distress but great to see Pettersson and Hughes by his side. Whatever else you say about Brock, his team mates love him and he's a great person. Of course there are questions about his next contract and fit on this team but as a fan, I'm keeping them separate from the sympathy I feel for him as a person.

These kind of moves are what we need to be thinking about. Myers/OEL was pretty solid for large parts of the year, but was more about getting the best out of Myers than OEL. Either we get a stay at home LD to play with Myers or we move him and call up Rathbone so that all of our puck moving comes from the left side and the RD are all stay at home support. The latter might be easier to accomplish and would give us some cap flexibility. I like Myers but not at the cost of OEL's offensive game.

It won't come to that. He's not a free agent until 2023 and the club will almost certainly deal him if they can't re-sign him this summer.

For sure: that's as good as it could get for the club without being insulting to Miller. My own guess would be 7.8 to put him up with Hughes at 7 or more likely 8 years but it's quite possible that both sides could walk away from that.

Definitely a good sign that he came out and said that his friends and team-mates are here, that he wants to win here and that he feels loyal to the organization. Especially so after the disappointment of elimination. He didn't have to go public like that and it says a lot of good things about him that he did. That lays to rest one of the big questions, which was whether he even wants to be here: he does. But it doesn't mean that he's taking a home team discount. Maybe he will, but not necessarily. It doesn't undercut his bargaining position to say he wants to be here, and quite possibly strengthens it since management now becomes a bit more responsible for any failure to re-sign. Think of how Benning wore the consequences of "running out of time" with Tanev and Toffoli. So two very different things come together here: (1) J.T.'s genuineness and emotion that make him such a big leader on this team and (2) business. We're still a ways from reconciling them but this was a step in that direction, which is great for those of us who love this player.

Yeah, Dermott's been good. OEL and Myers weren't at their best but were taking the tough matchups. When we were carrying the play, the D looked fine and when we weren't, they didn't. Same as it ever was.

Not for lack of effort, but here we are. Not Demko's best game. Still proud of this team and don't want a tear-down.

It almost already is our goal song, at least as far as the crowd goes. I love it as something uniquely ours and the anthem of this team's resurrection and gutsy play under Bruce. Then there's that derivative Atlanta Braves "ohhhhh-oh-oh" stuff that needed to end before it ever got started here. Such an embarrassment, especially now that we've got something so much better.

Hi, Dr. Recchi here. Judging by where the puck hit Horvat, I'm gonna guess that if there's a broken bone, it's his fibula.

Umm, Tanev makes 4.5 M, not 6.

Seriously good playmaker and puck-hounder as well. Anticipates the play and sees the ice almost as well as Pettersson. With his shot, he's got quite the skill set: a power forward but not just that. And he's figuring it out in record time.

Our top forwards were just a little bit off offensively last night, all except for Podkolzin who is coming into his own right before our eyes. He's the play-making winger who Bo needs. The forwards did forecheck pretty well though and got in passing lanes a lot in the neutral zone, so a decent defensive performance from the group. Dermott and Burroughs were really solid.

Hey Vegas: how are those glossy piss helmets working out for ya?

Yes to just about all of this, especially the Ranger's blowing a chance to contend. This summer is going to be interesting: I expect trade talks and extension negotiations with Miller to interact in unpredictable ways. Value is always complicated but particularly with a late bloomer like Miller in a trade that would fall somewhere in between a hockey deal and a rental. The acquiring team has to think about the assets its willing to give up and what an extension would cost. The balance between those two things is going to matter a lot. I don't rule out a re-signing at all and would be happy to see it at reasonable price and term, but this could go either way and be a win or a loss.

I agree with all this, but whatever we were being offered a month before the TDL was low enough that he was publicly taken off the market. That was when his value was supposed to be the highest. Almost certainly more teams will be interested during the summer but as of now it doesn't look like his value is quite as high as we thought, whether that's in trade, his next contract, or a combination of the two.

Sure, whatever, it's just their opening ask. What teams are willing to pay in a contract and trade asset cost is a separate matter.

I can't see us getting anything close to value from a Miller trade without the other team having a clear idea of what the extension would be. The timing is a bit dicey though, since he can't re-sign until the summer but the teams might want to do such a deal before free agency. It makes a lot of sense that this latest round of speculation about Miller's next contract could be driven by his agent. Basically he's putting their initial ask out in public, like you say. Teams will take it from there and the price will likely go down. If it doesn't work out and we end up keeping him until the TDL next year and getting lesser value for him as a strict rental, so be it. If teams aren't offering more than that price I'm perfectly happy watching a great player at the top of his game on our team.

Absolutely. Rutherford for sure would have taken a deal like that. His line about wanting to give the current group a chance to make the playoffs plays well to the home crowd (myself included) but it's also a tactical response to lowball offers that he couldn't accept.

There's a lot of truth to this. You could quibble that the trade and FA markets for him are different so his value could diverge from one to the other a bit, but it's basically right. So what does it mean for his next contract that we apparently weren't offered a serious hockey deal for him at the trade deadline? Is this why various "insiders" are now talking 8 to 8.5M for him instead of the 9 to 9.5M we were hearing earlier (mostly on this board)? My sense is that the rest of the league isn't quite ready to value Miller at his current level of play, probably for the same reasons that some people on this board want to trade him. So how does that not negatively affect his next contract? We all know the stupid moves teams have made historically in free agency but with the cap being so tight and legitimately good players available at bargain prices, I have to think the top end of the FA market is in the process of correcting.

It wasn't our best game and I'm not saying we deserved to win, but the difference was two lucky goals and an empty-netter. A single point would have made a huge difference. Two, maybe three more losses are all we can afford.

Agree that management will want to get on this and resolve it one way or the other. If they can't make an acceptable deal with Miller's camp, they have up to free agency to deal him on favourable terms. After that, teams lose roster flexibility and there will be fewer potential partners. But I still think there's a decent chance of Miller re-signing here and that some of these "insider" leaks may reflect preliminary discussions.

Let's take it easy here. He can't re-sign until the summer. Some preliminary conversations have undoubtedly happened with his agent, but real negotiations? Both sides will want to have closure on his production, state of health and market conditions current at the end of the year before they get down to brass tacks.

There's a reason Anaheim moved on from Manson. He's slowing down and not worth what he's making now. Would rather have Hamonic at 3M. Yes, it's that bad. Let's look for a less established player with some upside instead.