Around the League Thread | November Rain

[AwesomeInTheory]

I would think that's an ecosystem that a goalie would be wise to avoid. Jack Campbell and Skinner are cautionary tales. And not like Oilers will have spare change to throw around next season.

I suspect the Canucks might invest in him tbh, seeing where this is heading with Demko uncertainty and Silovs struggles.

I could see the Oilers going full panic mode if they flame out and underperform (again) and Lanny is looking to get paid, so I could see some stupid deals being done to clear capspace in the short term.

Lankinen has juuuuuuust the right level of unprovenness for the Oilers to go all in for him for it to explode spectacularly in their faces. Not saying Lanny is going to not work out, just that the potential for high comedy is there.

 

[VanillaCoke]

I dont think the Canucks are going to let Lankinen go

 

[credulous]

I dont think the Canucks are going to let Lankinen go

i usually preach caution with extensions -- for goalies especially -- but i think if they can get him under 5m per they need to seriously consider it. silovs is iffy to be a starter imo and even if demko makes it all the way back they're going to need a 1b guy

 

[Just A Bit Outside]

Just give Helly the Vezina already.

 

[Billy Kvcmu]

Just learn that Colin Campbell is going to the Hall as a builder


lol

 

[AwesomeInTheory]

Just learn that Colin Campbell is going to the Hall as a builder


lol

It takes solid carpentry skills to build the NHL's Department of Player Safety's Wheel of Justice.

 

[bossram]

Yzerman haters in shambles

LOL. No. He sucks as a GM.

What the hell is going on with the Preds? Forget about scoring, they can't even defend anymore. And it isn't like their defense went through a shuffle either. Seems like Saros masked a lot more than people realized. Or rather, Trotz realized.

They're not good. Their offseason was massively overrated by casuals. I figured they would underperform their projected point total by the sportsbooks, but I didn't think they would be this bad.

 

[VanJack]

LOL. No. He sucks as a GM.


They're not good. Their offseason was massively overrated by casuals. I figured they would underperform their projected point total by the sportsbooks, but I didn't think they would be this bad.

Look at this Preds roster on Puckpedia. They're aging out fast. Up front, O'Reilly and Marchessault are 33 and Stamkos is 34. And Nyqist is 35. Even Forsberg has hit the big 30.

On the back end, Josi is 34 and the ageless Luke Schenn is 35. Even their goaltenders are no spring chickens. Saros is 29, but with a ton of miles on his odometer and Wedgewood is 32.

This was a team built to win 'yesterday'. They're now 4-9-1 and in a month, the 'big selloff' could be in full swing. But it won't be easy, because some of these contracts are terrible.

And they're also paying the price for some awful contracts signed when Poile was the GM. I was stunned to see how much 'retained' contract money they're carrying on the books. Big bucks retained for the likes of Duchesne, Johannson, Turris and Ekholm. It amounts to millions.

The 'Smashville' franchise is in a world of trouble right now.

 

[iRageWin]

Just learn that Colin Campbell is going to the Hall as a builder


lol

Yea he singlehandedly built his boy a Stanley cup win in 2011, I'd say that's probably the GOAT contribution to a championship by non-management non-player

 

[Jerry the great]

Look at this Preds roster on Puckpedia. They're aging out fast. Up front, O'Reilly and Marchessault are 33 and Stamkos is 34. And Nyqist is 35. Even Forsberg has hit the big 30.

On the back end, Josi is 34 and the ageless Luke Schenn is 35. Even their goaltenders are no spring chickens. Saros is 29, but with a ton of miles on his odometer and Wedgewood is 32.

This was a team built to win 'yesterday'. They're now 4-9-1 and in a month, the 'big selloff' could be in full swing. But it won't be easy, because some of these contracts are terrible.

And they're also paying the price for some awful contracts signed when Poile was the GM. I was stunned to see how much 'retained' contract money they're carrying on the books. Big bucks retained for the likes of Duchesne, Johannson, Turris and Ekholm. It amounts to millions.

The 'Smashville' franchise is in a world of trouble right now.

I tried listening to the episode of "Frankly Speaking" when Trotz was the guest. Honestly didn't get through much of it because I can't stand listening to Seravalli, but i heard enough. Their whole strategy was to bring in "proven winners" to insulate their young guys (sound familiar?) and to keep spaces available for said young guys. The problem, IMO, was obvious: what young guys? Is he talking about Tomasino, Evangelista, Parssinen, L'Heureux? Those guys are as mid as mid gets.

They literally have no young guys in the system that move the needle enough to be considered a lock to be future core pieces. Actually, their AHL goalies look pretty good, but both are in their mid 20's and stuck behind recently minted Saros.

They had oodles of cap space and future draft capital, but instead of using their position to take advantage of desperate/impatient GMs , they signed some absolutely head scratching contracts of their own.

They should have delt Saros, ran with Askarov/Lankinen and monetized the bejesus out of their cap space until the duchene dead cap peak was in the rearview. It's too bad they outperformed expectations last season, because the hope it gave was false and now they've painted themselves into a corner.

 

[Billy Kvcmu]

I tried listening to the episode of "Frankly Speaking" when Trotz was the guest. Honestly didn't get through much of it because I can't stand listening to Seravalli, but i heard enough. Their whole strategy was to bring in "proven winners" to insulate their young guys (sound familiar?) and to keep spaces available for said young guys. The problem, IMO, was obvious: what young guys? Is he talking about Tomasino, Evangelista, Parssinen, L'Heureux? Those guys are as mid as mid gets.

They literally have no young guys in the system that move the needle enough to be considered a lock to be future core pieces. Actually, their AHL goalies look pretty good, but both are in their mid 20's and stuck behind recently minted Saros.

They had oodles of cap space and future draft capital, but instead of using their position to take advantage of desperate/impatient GMs , they signed some absolutely head scratching contracts of their own.

They should have delt Saros, ran with Askarov/Lankinen and monetized the bejesus out of their cap space until the duchene dead cap peak was in the rearview. It's too bad they outperformed expectations last season, because the hope it gave was false and now they've painted themselves into a corner.

I could never get my head around the fact that Josi is 34

I still remember when they made the SCF with a ridiculously stacked top4 of
Josi-Ellas
Ekholm-Subban
And Josi was the young player

 

[Jerry the great]

I could never get my head around the fact that Josi is 34

I still remember when they made the SCF with a ridiculously stacked top4 of
Josi-Ellas
Ekholm-Subban
And Josi was the young player

time keeps on ticking ticking ticking...... into the future.

edit slipping not ticking.

 

[timw33]

I dont think the Canucks are going to let Lankinen go

We've found a completely viable alternative that derisks us against Demko 1) not coming back soon 2) coming back and not playing at 100% and 3) not playing again this season.

There's is not a chance in hell we're giving that up to try and scoop a pick.

Hell, we may need him signed for a few years to give us at worst a 1A/1B goalie platoon, as we are constantly reminded how unreliable Demko's health is.

 

[StreetHawk]

We've found a completely viable alternative that derisks us against Demko 1) not coming back soon 2) coming back and not playing at 100% and 3) not playing again this season.

There's is not a chance in hell we're giving that up to try and scoop a pick.

Hell, we may need him signed for a few years to give us at worst a 1A/1B goalie platoon, as we are constantly reminded how unreliable Demko's health is.

Will need cap room to do so. Already increasing Hogs by $2 mill for next season, plus the OEL dead cap increases another $2 mill. That is basically the salary cap bump that is expected from $88 mill to $92/93 mill. And Boeser needs a new deal.

So, something significant needs to come off the roster to accommodate him.

 

[Billy Kvcmu]

We've found a completely viable alternative that derisks us against Demko 1) not coming back soon 2) coming back and not playing at 100% and 3) not playing again this season.

There's is not a chance in hell we're giving that up to try and scoop a pick.

Hell, we may need him signed for a few years to give us at worst a 1A/1B goalie platoon, as we are constantly reminded how unreliable Demko's health is.

Lankinen is only 1 year older than Demko

There’s a chance that Demko might just be injury prone forever

 

[strattonius]

I mean we all came around to the idea that we needed to play Demko less moving forward and we found a goalie that looks like the perfect tandem with Demko. They're definitely not losing Lankinen and I'd imagine at this rate he'll get a 2y 3M type of extension. The dream was that Silovs was ready to split time like this but the harsh reality is he just isn't good enough right now.

 

[Vector]

We've found a completely viable alternative that derisks us against Demko 1) not coming back soon 2) coming back and not playing at 100% and 3) not playing again this season.

There's is not a chance in hell we're giving that up to try and scoop a pick.

Hell, we may need him signed for a few years to give us at worst a 1A/1B goalie platoon, as we are constantly reminded how unreliable Demko's health is.

I think @VanillaCoke is saying that they'll sign Lankinen to an extension.

 

[Jerry the great]

i usually preach caution with extensions -- for goalies especially -- but i think if they can get him under 5m per they need to seriously consider it. silovs is iffy to be a starter imo and even if demko makes it all the way back they're going to need a 1b guy

Maybe, though I guess it depends on how far under $5MM and for how long. Not sure i see any reason to do anything until there is at least some clarity with Demko though.

Lankinen has been great, but it's a very streaky position and the Canucks have given up the fewest HDC in the league. Signing a guy for starter $$ (when he's never played more than 37 games) after a 9 game heater has the potential to go sideways in a hurry.

Not sure $10MM on goalies is in the 25/26 budget. Especially if we're still spending $11.6MM on our 3rd line centre (only half joking here).

 

[bossram]

Lankinen is only 1 year older than Demko

There’s a chance that Demko might just be injury prone forever

I'd say it's likely, more than just a chance. Goaltending is very physically demanding, and he's already had multiple injuries resulting from the positions a goalie has to be in (I mean the injuries aren't from like a random accident or collision or something).

Allvin needs to think really carefully about making sure he has some kind of Demko insurance long-term.

 

[Vector]

Demko has always been injury prone. Had a procedure on his knee in college.

 

[MS]

Demko has always been injury prone. Had a procedure on his knee in college.

I thought it was his hip?

But he played a pretty consistently heavy workload with only a few minor niggles from 2014-2022.

The last 3 seasons have been a totally different ballgame.

His injury issues pretty much directly wrecked both the 2022-23 season and the 23-24 playoffs and the only reason they aren't sinking the 24-25 season is that we fluked into Lankinen at an absurd contract absurdly late in the offseason.

I absolutely love healthy Demko as a goaltender but ... man. I'm trying to separate my heart from my head here.

 

[Vector]

I thought it was his hip?

But he played a pretty consistently heavy workload with only a few minor niggles from 2014-2022.

The last 3 seasons have been a totally different ballgame.

His injury issues pretty much directly wrecked both the 2022-23 season and the 23-24 playoffs and the only reason they aren't sinking the 24-25 season is that we fluked into Lankinen at an absurd contract absurdly late in the offseason.

I absolutely love healthy Demko as a goaltender but ... man. I'm trying to separate my heart from my head here.

Could have been the hip. It's really hard to search for this now.

Missed 23 games in 2018 due to a concussion. Missed 9 games with a knee injury in 2019. Then various lower body injuries from 2021 onward.