Around the League '18-'19

[KingsHockey24]

San Jose - Erik Karlsson, Evander Kane
Vegas - Max Pacioretty, Paul Stastny
Flames - James Neal, Elias Lindholm, Noah Hanifin
Coyotes - Alex Galchenyuk, Michael Grabner


Sigh.

 

[YP44]

Leagues have said no to trades because they felt it wasn't fair or in the best interests of a team The league should have wielded that hammer today
But them not doing it this should be exhibit 1 in running Melnyk out of the league

NHL wants Ottawa to move to Quebec

 

[YP44]

San Jose - Erik Karlsson, Evander Kane
Vegas - Max Pacioretty, Paul Stastny
Flames - James Neal, Elias Lindholm, Noah Hanifin
Coyotes - Alex Galchenyuk, Michael Grabner


Sigh.

eeks. At least Anaheim has done f*** all. Should be noted the loses but still lots of change in the division. Kovalchuk better earn more than his pay cheque.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Can you imagine if people who wanted Doughty traded got their wish and this was the return? Holy hell I can't get over how bad the package is. Sounds like that got another 2nd which becomes a 1st if they re-sign him AND make it to the SCF but it's still not good considering San Jose will likely finish out of the lottery the next few years.

I think the armchair GMs who would love to trade Kopitar or Doughty may have been able to get more than what the Sens got for Karlsson. It seems like Ottawa and Montreal are trying to compete for the top seed in determining which Canadian team is more incompetent.

 

[kovacro]

"The Sens also get a 1rst in 2021 or 2022 if Karlsson plays for an eastern team in 2018/19."

I'm assuming if SJ has no luck signing him, they move him by the deadline somewhere east and then in turn, the Sens pick up another 1st.

 

[The Night King]

There's a part of me that's excited that we now get Doughty Karlsson head-to-head at least 5 times per season and possibly in a playoff series.

There's another part of me that's not excited that now the Karlsson trolls and the Shark trolls will merge together to form mega ultra Sharklsson trolls.

Shark fans and Karlsson fanboys.

 

[SettlementRichie10]

eeks. At least Anaheim has done **** all. Should be noted the loses but still lots of change in the division. Kovalchuk better earn more than his pay cheque.

Unless the Central falls off the map, the Kings will really struggle to make the playoffs this year. The Pacific is no joke.

You also have Edmonton lurking. McDavid and Drai could always explode and carry them to a wildcard birth.

Going to be a long year. We’re banking our arms race on a 35 year old Kovalchuk and a prospect who can’t stay healthy.

 

[Sol]

Damn, not mad at the Kings at all, but they gotta make some moves in the near future to catch up. Sharks comfortably had a great offseason and improved their team significantly. Hoping Vilardi heals up and dominates.


Scary times.

 

[WHOneedsSOX]

San Jose - Erik Karlsson, Evander Kane
Vegas - Max Pacioretty, Paul Stastny
Flames - James Neal, Elias Lindholm, Noah Hanifin
Coyotes - Alex Galchenyuk, Michael Grabner


Sigh.

Better pray Kopitar and Brown replicate last season and Carter and Kovalchuk score 60 combined. Looks like another battle for a WC spot.

I think the armchair GMs who would love to trade Kopitar or Doughty may have been able to get more than what the Sens got for Karlsson. It seems like Ottawa and Montreal are trying to compete for the top seed in determining which Canadian team is more incompetent.

I would hope Blake could have gotten at least one blue chip prospect.

 

[WHOneedsSOX]

"The Sens also get a 1rst in 2021 or 2022 if Karlsson plays for an eastern team in 2018/19."

I'm assuming if SJ has no luck signing him, they move him by the deadline somewhere east and then in turn, the Sens pick up another 1st.

I doubt it. San Jose will very likely be one of the top 3-4 teams points wise in the West this season. They'll go for it all and keep Karlsson.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Laughing at all the gloom and doom. As if this was the move that suddenly made it hard for the Kings to make the playoffs.

There's a part of me that's excited that we now get Doughty Karlsson head-to-head at least 5 times per season and possibly in a playoff series.

There's another part of me that's not excited that now the Karlsson trolls and the Shark trolls will merge together to form mega ultra Sharklsson trolls.

That was my first thought. Now we're gonna have to deal with the Sens fans who will suddenly miraculously stay up late, Sharks fans, Swedes.

 

[KingsHockey24]

I was confident we might win this division before the Patches/Karlsson trades.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

I was confident we might win this division before the Patches/Karlsson trades.

Patches trade doesn't scare me one bit. Vegas got better on paper, but I don't think they have the same juice as last year.

Karlsson trade makes SJ the division favorite imo, but they're also a year older and slower. Take what people say about the Kings and magnify it. Pavs is 34. Burns will be 34. Thornton 39. They ahve question marks too--what in the world do they have behind those 3 dmen? And will their youngsters take a step forward?

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

The Sharks landing Erik Karlsson reminds me of when the Ducks picked up Scott Niedermayer. You can kind of sense a power shift happening with a combo of Burns and Karlsson, two defensemen capable of playing close to 30 minutes, similarly to what you saw with the Ducks when they had Pronger and Niedermayer.

They'll have the puck quite often, and the Sharks already gave the Kings fits without Erik Karlsson. Brent Burns seems to score at will against the Kings, and you know guys like Couture and Pavelski continuously haunt the Kings as well.

The Sharks should be a strong puck possession team, and games against them just got even more exciting. Hopefully Kovalchuk and his shot will play a big role in giving the Sharks fits.

 

[KingTrouty]

Sometimes I really hate our division. The Doughty-Karlsson threads are gonna be even more insufferable.

No they wont. The East Coast/Canada made the Doughty/Karlsson threads insufferable.

Now hockey gets to watch EK at 10pm local and see his shit get pushed in by the best Dman in the world.

But they wont, cuz they'll be asleep. And EK will be another Burns. Not "generational" Coffey, Orr etc etc, just because he plays north of the border.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

The Sharks landing Erik Karlsson reminds me of when the Ducks picked up Scott Niedermayer. You can kind of sense a power shift happening with a combo of Burns and Karlsson, two defensemen capable of playing close to 30 minutes, similarly to what you saw with the Ducks when they had Pronger and Niedermayer.

They'll have the puck quite often, and the Sharks already gave the Kings fits without Erik Karlsson. Brent Burns seems to score at will against the Kings, and you know guys like Couture and Pavelski continuously haunt the Kings as well.

The Sharks should be a strong puck possession team, and games against them just got even more exciting. Hopefully Kovalchuk and his shot will play a big role in giving the Sharks fits.

Their transition game is gonna be phenomenal. Hate that it's in the division because it will be fun to watch--they can theoretically have one OR two of Burns, Karlsson, Vlasic on the ice all at once.

Giving Wilson props here, he's not scared to go for it despite history, and sees the writing on the wall WRT their system.

 

[KingPuckChoo]

San Jose - Erik Karlsson, Evander Kane
Vegas - Max Pacioretty, Paul Stastny
Flames - James Neal, Elias Lindholm, Noah Hanifin
Coyotes - Alex Galchenyuk, Michael Grabner


Sigh.

we got Etem on a PTO so stop being such a negative nancy!!!!

 

[YP44]

Unless the Central falls off the map, the Kings will really struggle to make the playoffs this year. The Pacific is no joke.

You also have Edmonton lurking. McDavid and Drai could always explode and carry them to a wildcard birth.

Going to be a long year. We’re banking our arms race on a 35 year old Kovalchuk and a prospect who can’t stay healthy.

Before this week I thought the Division would go San Jose, Calgary, LA, Anaheim/Edmonton, Arizona, Vegas, Vancouver.

Now I am leaning towards San Jose, Calgary, LA/Vegas, Anaheim/Edmonton, Arizona, Vancouver.

Edit: Also unless Chicago rebounds the Central is no longer the beast it was. Very top heavy with Nashville and Winnipeg. St Louis is still a question mark, Colorado will take a step back, Minnesota looks old, Dallas should have been better last year and maybe better but what additions have they made other than getting Nuke back? LA should at worst be a wild card

 

[redcard]

That was my first thought. Now we're gonna have to deal with the Sens fans who will suddenly miraculously stay up late, Sharks fans, Swedes.

Come to think of it, its almost as if my ignore list predicted this.

Call me Ignorstradamus.

 

[Sol]

Patches trade doesn't scare me one bit. Vegas got better on paper, but I don't think they have the same juice as last year.

Karlsson trade makes SJ the division favorite imo, but they're also a year older and slower. Take what people say about the Kings and magnify it. Pavs is 34. Burns will be 34. Thornton 39. They ahve question marks too--what in the world do they have behind those 3 dmen? And will their youngsters take a step forward?

Vegas got worse this year imo. No Perron either.

The pacific got much better this year IMO. But so did the Kings. I'm curious to see how it plays out, hopefully Blake has a couple of spades up his sleeves.

 

[KingPuckChoo]

Actually having Doughty Karlsson Burns in the same division will STOP all the East Coast boners on Karlsson

but here comes the Hedman > Karlsson > Doughty threads

 

[KopitarFAN]

Laughing at all the gloom and doom. As if this was the move that suddenly made it hard for the Kings to make the playoffs.

Same. I picked the Sharks to win the division anyway, and every other team has a major flaw, be it Goaltending (CGY, EDM), defense (EDM, ARZ, VGK to an extent without Schmidt) or health (LA, ANA), and that isn't to say SJ is perfect they are still probably 3rd in the west.

 

[KingTrouty]

There's a part of me that's excited that we now get Doughty Karlsson head-to-head at least 5 times per season and possibly in a playoff series.

There's another part of me that's not excited that now the Karlsson trolls and the Shark trolls will merge together to form mega ultra Sharklsson trolls.

f*** em all. Kill em all

 

[WHOneedsSOX]

Same. I picked the Sharks to win the division anyway, and every other team has a major flaw, be it Goaltending (CGY, EDM), defense (EDM, ARZ, VGK to an extent without Schmidt) or health (LA, ANA), and that isn't to say SJ is perfect they are still probably 3rd in the west.

My doom and gloom mostly stems from the fact that San Jose is a legitimate Stanley Cup contender now. If the Kings don't win the cup, which they won't this year, I don't want San Jose or Anaheim to be within a sniff of it.

 

[SettlementRichie10]

Laughing at all the gloom and doom. As if this was the move that suddenly made it hard for the Kings to make the playoffs.




That was my first thought. Now we're gonna have to deal with the Sens fans who will suddenly miraculously stay up late, Sharks fans, Swedes.

This plus the MaxPac deal solidify both the Sharks and Vegas. Both of those teams have gotten objectively better. Way better. And they were already better than the Kings last year.

It’s not doom and gloom. It’s realism. The Kings will be fighting for the #3 spot with a very much improved Flames.

Take off the purple glasses for a second and look at this division. It’s going to be a struggle. Anyone with eyeballs can look at the Kings roster and see a giant question mark. Even moreso now with Vilardi not participating in camp and likely spending another year in juniors.