Around the League Thread | The one where Florida blows it…?

[Nuck Bonino]

I will never forgive Florida if they choke this series lead

 

[I am toxic]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1803467901120258545

Yes, but how many Canucks 5th round picks have they acquired?

 

[PG Canuck]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1803467901120258545

They already can’t wait to leave

 

[mriswith]

What a lopsided trade. Washington didn't get nearly enough compensation for the risk they took on. The +- for number of years PLD is worth his contract is set at 1.

That trade had LA sunk as a contender for years and they got out of it for way too cheap.

Maybe their prospect pool was overrated.

Vilardi at his age like not really a prospect anymore at the time of the trade. Faber, Kupari, helge would say yes.
They waived Bjornfort and also Fagemo.

Impact kid is Faber. Rest so far just meh and no impact….

Their prospect pool was very good, they just bungled it majorly. Refused to give them ice time and opportunity and let them all drown in the ahl or next to no real opportunity in the nhl.

If you want the kids to be good at some point you have to give them ice time and the opportunity to grow into a role. The expansion drafts have highlighted how vital this function is. LA refused to do that. Still refuse to do it when you look at how Clarke has been (mis)handled.

 

[ManVanFan]

Just don't call it a rebuild or Murray Edwards will be pissed.

Jim Benning special... re-tool while remaining competitive.

 

[archangel2]

Flames took a bath and the caps joined them. LAK made out like bandits

 

[mossey3535]

I ... am I the only one who doesn't mind this for Washington, given where they're at?

They essentially spent $3 million in cap space to upgrade from their bad old backup goalie to a C who scored at a 70-point pace in 22-23. They care about the last couple years of Ovechkin and trying to squeak him into the playoffs and get him his record, and they're a better team with a better balance sheet than yesterday. The last few years of the contract are a 'who cares' to them because they'll be in the middle of a rebuild.

I'm much more on the LOL Kings boat here. What a clusterf*** of a series of transactions.

And I think that the reaction to Dubois has swung too far into the 'so overrated/criticized he's now underrated' zone.

Well you know I'm biased but I look at this in terms of Lindgren's improvement and outlook. From that perspective Kuemper doesn't make sense at that number. I didn't think he was at all instrumental in Colorado's cup run so I wouldn't have given him that contract in the first place. Which was why it was even more baffling that Washington picked him up and for 5 years no less.

So basically it makes sense to get rid of Kuemper now. Lindgren is a UFA soon. Hunter Shepard is in the Calder Cup Finals and also a UFA soon. They're basically doing a super slow retool while they wait for Ovie to beat the record so they should be going with young guys all over the roster. From that perspective his term is pretty low risk to them and he might actually evolve into a leader at a fairly young age because he's been in the league for so long even at 25.

I do believe PLD's recent comments that he expected to bounce back in his second season in LA, pointing at his first poor season in Winnipeg. He put up numbers under both Maurice and Bowness who are very different system coaches. To me that says that he was a bad locker room fit more than anything.

Also I'm sure with his immaturity LA is probably the worst place he could have gone, probably easy to just party all the time and get fat and lazy. Maybe he took making the playoffs for granted and by the time they got there it was already a huge clusterf*** for him and too late to "try" by that time.

Now his pride is probably wounded and the Caps have a lot of veteran presence on his team. At the very least he can just leech points off the PP, and if things really go well for the Caps maybe he figures out his attitude problem and reaches an even higher ceiling than he already has.

I think both teams got what they wanted but in the end Washington wins in terms of hockey trades. If LA's dressing room leadership was strong enough they should have been able to assimilate this guy eventually. It's not like WPG has or had a clean dressing room in the past few years, the Schiefele clique alone is a hell of a thing and that's after they stripped Wheeler of the C because he was supposedly dividing the dressing room.

 

[CanucksSayEh]

I don't see Washington caring much either way. He plays well, they still suck, he sucks, well, then... they suck more?

 

[mossey3535]

LA must intend on using Kuemper, given that buyout for an under 26 player isn't even bad... Unless Washington is intending to do the same with CapFriendly View attachment 884560

Barring some sort of miracle, this will be the latest in a series of Rob Blake goalie misadventures.

I don't know why they didn't just go with Korprisalo, yeah he is still developing at a relatively old age (30 now, 29 then) but he looked mostly good on their team except at the end against Edmonton which is no shame (also they are the Kings kryptonite).

He put up 0.890 (the -16 GSAE is super bad though) in Ottawa this year despite them being an absolute tire fire; for reference, Demko put up 0.901 and -5.7 GSAE in that last ridiculous Boudreau year, and that's with a boost from Tocchet at the end when he came back from injury. I bet with a whole season in their system and some good goalie coaching Koprisalo would be even better than his 0.921 and +12.7 GSAE that he posted in his first Kings season.

Now they're going to pay an extra $1.25M for three seasons more to a 35 year old goalie who was probably past his prime in the Colorado run. Korprisalo has like four years left at $4M!

It was already ludicrous to go into the season depending on Cam Talbot who is still serviceable but in the twilight of his career. As it was equally ludicrous and lucky to have Phoenix Copley literally resurrect his career for one season in the previous year.

Let's not talk about Calvin Peterson...

 

[VanJack]

Amazing how many fans and even pundits have 'selective memory loss' when it comes to deals.

Rob Blake is getting kudos for dumping Dubois' contract on the Caps and getting even a mediocre asset back again.

But just one year after the Kings gutted their roster and gave up a second round pick to Winnipeg for Dubois and then inked him to that ridiculous eight year, $68m contract.

So the trade basically comes down to all the assets they transferred to the Jets for a 34-year journeyman goaltender in Kuemper. Sometimes you marvel how some GM's still have jobs.

 

[Nopefully]

I just watched Stanley Pup, had it recorded, and I’m being dead serious: I enjoyed it more than every game of the playoffs I watched this year, outside of game one versus Edmonton. Those dogs were f***ing hilarious…this is also a commentary on what seems like a lowering in the quality of the playoffs.

 

[Mr. Canucklehead]

Amazing how many fans and even pundits have 'selective memory loss' when it comes to deals.

Rob Blake is getting kudos for dumping Dubois' contract on the Caps and getting even a mediocre asset back again.

But just one year after the Kings gutted their roster and gave up a second round pick to Winnipeg for Dubois and then inked him to that ridiculous eight year, $68m contract.

So the trade basically comes down to all the assets they transferred to the Jets for a 34-year journeyman goaltender in Kuemper. Sometimes you marvel how some GM's still have jobs.

Oh, make no mistake - I think Blake has done an amazing job of turning chicken salad into chicken shit as GM. The Dubois/Vilardi trade was a stunning loss, as was giving away Durzi for scraps. Kevin Fiala is a solid player, but giving up Faber and a 1st to get him is a tough one to watch.

 

[Bojack Horvatman]

Amazing how many fans and even pundits have 'selective memory loss' when it comes to deals.

Rob Blake is getting kudos for dumping Dubois' contract on the Caps and getting even a mediocre asset back again.

But just one year after the Kings gutted their roster and gave up a second round pick to Winnipeg for Dubois and then inked him to that ridiculous eight year, $68m contract.

So the trade basically comes down to all the assets they transferred to the Jets for a 34-year journeyman goaltender in Kuemper. Sometimes you marvel how some GM's still have jobs.

Is anyone doing that? In the vacuum of this trade he did well in getting out this contract. He was not a fit in in the ice and probably in the dressing room. As a whole, absolutely horrific. Losing Durzi + other assets to make cap, losing Vilardi, Iafello, and a 2nd in the trade, and to have to take a negative value in a trade 1 year after pretty much going all in for him. This was Rob Blake’s OEL trade, and probably had a much better chance of being fired if he wasn’t a Kings HHOFer.

Also I love the irony that LA traded pick to Philly to take on Calvin Peterson to be able to trade for Dubois, and now have to trade for a more expensive goalie that has 2 extra years to get out of the Dubois contract 1 year later.

 

[F A N]

How did the Kings manage to get rid of PLD? I am shocked. Good job. But that trade tree.. lol

 

[Canucks LB]

I just watched Stanley Pup, had it recorded, and I’m being dead serious: I enjoyed it more than every game of the playoffs I watched this year, outside of game one versus Edmonton. Those dogs were f***ing hilarious…this is also a commentary on what seems like a lowering in the quality of the playoffs.

I have it recorded. Also, I have not watched it yet.

 

[F A N]

This was Rob Blake’s OEL trade, and probably had a much better chance of being fired if he wasn’t a Kings HHOFer.

I think it's more the other way around than what you're thinking of (although there's a chance I misread your post). In this case, Washington dumped a contract that would have taken more than a 1st to move for a player who, while overpaid, is still a useful player and might bounce back. Kuemper at this point is closer to replacement level and unusable as a starter. Of course, on the flip side, Washington is taking on more years of what is/could be a very bad contract.

I'm not entirely clear on what happened to him in LA. I think he'll bounce back.

 

[DarrenX]

I think it's more the other way around than what you're thinking of (although there's a chance I misread your post). In this case, Washington dumped a contract that would have taken more than a 1st to move for a player who, while overpaid, is still a useful player and might bounce back. Kuemper at this point is closer to replacement level and unusable as a starter. Of course, on the flip side, Washington is taking on more years of what is/could be a very bad contract.

I'm not entirely clear on what happened to him in LA. I think he'll bounce back.

I think the PLD contract might have taken *more* than a first to move.

 

[Vector]

Kings are eternally going to rotate between their purple, black, silver, white, and yellow colour schemes until the sun explodes.

 

[SeawaterOnIce]

Kings are eternally going to rotate between their purple, black, silver, white, and yellow colour schemes until the sun explodes.

Common trend. Teams had a classic look, but the 90's and 2000's ushered in a new wave of crap. Glad to see teams reverting back.

Dallas....you're on the clock now.

 

[Vector]

Dallas....you're on the clock now.

YES

 

[Mr. Canucklehead]

Kings are eternally going to rotate between their purple, black, silver, white, and yellow colour schemes until the sun explodes.

I was always fond of their black and silver look from the 90s/Gretzky era - but I'll never enjoy the "it's the same logo but slightly different because we need to sell more merch" thing that NHL teams do.

Namely, the font in this one is more bubbly/less sharp than the 90s one. And why...? For no particular reason. Pet peeve.

 

[StreetHawk]

I was always fond of their black and silver look from the 90s/Gretzky era - but I'll never enjoy the "it's the same logo but slightly different because we need to sell more merch" thing that NHL teams do.

Namely, the font in this one is more bubbly/less sharp than the 90s one. And why...? For no particular reason. Pet peeve.

For me, a logo is something I should see and then kind of know what it represents. I mean, the best logos are ones that you don't have to read. Whether it's a car with Tesla, Honda, Toyota, Mercedes, etc, or even tech companies like Apple, Facebook, etc. you should NOT need to read the actual name of the team.

Kings had the Crown (both from their Yellow/Purple and Black/Purple/Silver) ones to choose from. I think picking one of those would have been better.

Little surprised the Ducks seem like they are going back to the Disney logo. Not to mention, based on early leaks, they will follow the SJ Sharks and go all out in a bright color and going all Orange including helmets and pants at home. So, going to take time to get used to that look.

 

[Mr. Canucklehead]

For me, a logo is something I should see and then kind of know what it represents. I mean, the best logos are ones that you don't have to read. Whether it's a car with Tesla, Honda, Toyota, Mercedes, etc, or even tech companies like Apple, Facebook, etc. you should NOT need to read the actual name of the team.

Kings had the Crown (both from their Yellow/Purple and Black/Purple/Silver) ones to choose from. I think picking one of those would have been better.

Little surprised the Ducks seem like they are going back to the Disney logo. Not to mention, based on early leaks, they will follow the SJ Sharks and go all out in a bright color and going all Orange including helmets and pants at home. So, going to take time to get used to that look.

I also would have found a return to the purple and gold crown jerseys to be a nice move for the Kings. Either was better than the current lazy ones - and I wasn't really a fan of the early 00s purple ones - purple is my favourite colour and I think it looks great on the ice, but much like the current dumb logo, the logo then was pretty lame.

 

[StreetHawk]

I also would have found a return to the purple and gold crown jerseys to be a nice move for the Kings. Either was better than the current lazy ones - and I wasn't really a fan of the early 00s purple ones - purple is my favourite colour and I think it looks great on the ice, but much like the current dumb logo, the logo then was pretty lame.

The shield logo, too much going on. Appreciated that they had the Sun for LA and small crown for Kings, but the full body lion, needed to be more simple as you lost the detail that the Lion was wearing sunglasses because it had to be smaller to fit. Plus, black, purple and silver is very dark. Black and a medium to dark shade of blue, green, purple is very difficult to see the non black color. When the Stars had black jerseys, the green stripes were hard to notice as were TB's blue stripes on their black jersey.

 

[SeawaterOnIce]

I was always fond of their black and silver look from the 90s/Gretzky era - but I'll never enjoy the "it's the same logo but slightly different because we need to sell more merch" thing that NHL teams do.

Namely, the font in this one is more bubbly/less sharp than the 90s one. And why...? For no particular reason. Pet peeve.

Try being a football (soccer) fan where the kits and designs (and even sponsor) are frequently changed for the sole purpose of selling more merchandise. Some teams change it *every* season.

We hockey fans are lucky to get the most bang for our buck when it comes to jerseys.