Baggins

Here's an example of what I'm saying. Edler was drafted in the 3rd round in 2004. Scored a great hit in that draft. We would have been thrilled had he been a 2nd round pick. He played his first NHL games (22 of them) in 2006. He had his first 40 pt season in 2009. If we drafted a right shot Alex Edler (and that's getting pretty specific) in this draft Petey will be 30 when that d-man has his first 40 point season. We cannot depend entirely on draft picks to build around our young stars. If it takes too long it will be a small window assuming that window opens at all. You're right that most players in the league are drafted. How many get traded? There's quite a few that take a while to establish themselves and become waiver elligible before they do. Those guys rarely end up playing for the team that drafted them. There's also late bloomers that don't even get qualified and establish themselves with other teams from free agency on a second chance. Some may even *gasp* ask to be traded. Has any team in the past 50 years won a cup without players acquired through trade or free agency?

Key players are always a mix. Just as there is always high end players drafted. One commonality among teams winning the cup is building a team around their stars. The younger your top players are when built around means a bigger window to actually win. If your good at building you can even get multiple windows from drafted stars. But another factor in extending a window is scoring draft hits to insert youngblood on cheap deals. That's where Gillis failed. It took too long to build around the WCE and it took too long to build around the Sedins. Draft picks have value. But sometimes the value is in trading them, and eliminating the wait, to build around your stars. Stars don't win cups on their own and it takes too long to draft 24 NHL players yourself that would actually make a cup contender.

I prefer to improve by any and all means rather simply sitting back and crossing my fingers hoping on magic beans.

I'm thrilled with the Hronek trade. We'll never be competitve if we don't actively use every option available to improve the team. Stars like Petey, Hughes and Demko will eventually ask to be moved if the team does little to nothing to improve. We've been crying for a legit top 4 RHD for years. We finally get one that's only 25 and now there's crying about getting him. But he's going to cost us money... well duh! Do you think Petey and Hughes won't cost us money?

Or you can use a pick for a relative sure thing to improve now. Statistically most second rounders don't make. And the majority of those that do take several years to get to where they need to be. That doesn't mean never take the swing, but it does mean don't depend entirely on it when other options present themselves.

Nonesense. Were Miller three years younger his contract would have been 11m. Taveres got 11m 5 years ago with three 80+ point seasons. And that was with the team he dreamed about playing for since childhood. Many said he took a million less than he could have gotten from other teams at the time. Miller's age was factored in because he's currently worth far more than 8m.

The team won the Presidents Cup for a second staright year in 11/12. Even in 12/13 they won their division and were 3rd in the conference. It was the year under Torts that the wheels really fell off. They went 3rd from the top to 3rd from the bottom in the western conference under Torts.

They have already changed. They dropped the SiR (which was long overdue) and now use the black skate as the alt jersey. There's your black.

Perhaps. But a pretty good runt that gives the opposition fits.

So Hronek must be like 5'8' or 5'9"?

I think they should go back to the top 3 picks in the lottery and keep the 10 spot maximum upward move. I'd even be ok with the top 4 or even 5 picks being in the lottery. Then level the odds more for the bottom 10 making it pointless to try to be the worst team in the league. I would propose these lottery odds for the bottom 16 teams... 32 - 10% 31 - 10% 30 - 10% 29 - 10% 28 - 10% 27 - 9% 26 - 9% 25 - 8% 24 - 8% 23 - 7% 22 - 3% 21 - 2% 20 - 1% 19 - 1% 18 - 1% 17 - 1% With only a 3% difference between the worst team and the tenth worst team tanking becomes somewhat pointless. Being the worst team would only guarantee the 4th overall pick while the ninth worst team is only a 2% lower chance at the top 3. Is it worth it moving out talent, or coaching to lose, to shoot for the bottom then?

There were only two teams in the lottery I definitely didn't want to see Bedard go to - Chicago and Montreal. But that Chicago win causing TO's current playoff woes almost makes it acceptable.

$50k is a slap on the wrist. $2m is a hefty fine regardless of the owners net worth. Penalizing draft picks typically only happens with tampering charges and this came out a decade after the fact. Were they fined a draft pick it would have been their 2022 pick as the incident was investigated and Chicago fined in October 2021. Btw, the actual offender resigned after the first cup rather than being fired. Would it have affected that or other cup runs had it come out at the time? Who can say about 2010, but I doubt it would have affected further runs. I'm not sure where you got Beach received $2m because all I could find was the settlement was confidential. Agreeing to a confidentiality clause typically adds money to the settlement as well. I'd wager it was much higher than that given the circumstances. I see this as just bitter self righteous fans angry their team didn't win the Bedard sweepstake and even angrier a hated rival did. Where was this outrage before Chicago won the lottery and were sitting 3rd? Better yet, where was all this Chicago outrage last year when they picked 7th overall six months after this scandal was settled?

Don't want a reply, don't comment. Beach came to a settlement with the team for his suffering. If he wasn't happy with the settlement he would have taken it to court instead. The organization didn't sexually abuse Beach, one employee did. Obviously that management group didn't handle it properly, but they didn't do it nor did the organization. The management involved is no longer with the organization. Beach compensated, the organization fined, and the GM fired. Altogether that makes it over in my books. How long do you punish an organization for the actions of a few employees who are no longer there?

TYPE LOUDER!!!

Probably pretty much the same as any other kid that gets drafted. The odds against being drafted by your favorite team, but the dollar signs certainly make up for it.

I said all players. That would include Kane, Toews along with all the other stars on the team, and every free agent that signed there since. It seems petty to me. They didn't commit the crime, one employee did. They just didn't handle it properly. I'm no fan of the Blackhawks but this seems like petty "holier than thou" nonsense that they must be punished forever more due to the actions of a few. They paid a price. It's over.

Imagine if Chacgo hadn't pointlessly won their 2nd to last game of the season against playoff contending Pittburgh. They would have finished last, a point behind Anahiem, and Columbus would have been in that 3rd spot to get Bedard in the draw. Edit: Btw, had Chicago lost that pointless game, Pittsburgh would have made the playoffs and Florida would have missed instead of being a game away from the eastern final.

By your standard every player on Chicago should have refused to play for the team when it actually came to light. So why just Bedard now? The Blackhawks organization didn't commit the "horrific crime". One employee did that. The organization showed poor judgement and didn't handle it properly. They paid for with a hefty fine, a settlement for Beach, and the GM losing his job.

Yes they do. They they post it on youtube after the televised show. Teams in the lottery can have a rep present and even media reps can be present. The catch is they have to hand over their devices and can't leave the room until the televised show is finished.

Ignoring his playoff performance of 15 pts in 15 games? I'm saying he'll get what he earns next year whether playing here or there. Imo the SHL is better than the AHL and it doesn't burn a year off his ELC. There's two real advantages and I've already pointed that out. Which you seem to ignore asking yet again "what's the advantage". Again, there's no reason to rush him after a rough year. I suspect it's more about what you want rather than what's actually best for the kid. And he is still just a kid.

Not if the person believes it to be true. In that case he's simply mistaken rather than a liar. Which can be corrected with logic and facts if properly presented.

Because they're not petty, or you. The SHL is both a competitive league and a development league. Like every Euro league they know the best players have the NHL as their goal and they can't compete with the NHL salaries to keep them. Meaning they are all in fact developing players for the NHL. If they want to win, and the vast majority of teams do, they will work with and play their best players. Like any other league, they want both on ice success and bums in seats to make money (along with merch sales). It's in their own best interest to get the most out of their players whether drafted by the NHL or not. The flaw in your theory is why sign a drafted player at all if you're not going to use them? If they truly saw it the way you seem to, they would simply tell drafted players to go play in AHL because we're not wasting our time and resources on you. Oddly that doesn't seem to happen in the SHL though.