Around the NHL 2023-24 - offseason part II

[My3Sons]

I know I'm not the one first one to say this, but Sprong strikes me as the antithesis of the ''We want hockey players'' comment from Fitz.

Don't get me wrong, I would have definitely signed him for that. I was interested in him or Duclair (not on that contract Lou gave him though) for their speed, but I'm just saying that I think that's how management likely feels about him.

You do realize he isn’t a goalie?

 

[Hisch13r]

I know I'm not the one first one to say this, but Sprong strikes me as the antithesis of the ''We want hockey players'' comment from Fitz.

Don't get me wrong, I would have definitely signed him for that. I was interested in him or Duclair (not on that contract Lou gave him though) for their speed, but I'm just saying that I think that's how management likely feels about him.

Yeah I mean I'm not surprised we didn't go after him. He doesn't fit for the hOcKeY mEn. He can create and produce so much playing with so little. I think he's perfect bottom 6 scoring depth.

 

[Devils731]

I know I'm not the one first one to say this, but Sprong strikes me as the antithesis of the ''We want hockey players'' comment from Fitz.

Don't get me wrong, I would have definitely signed him for that. I was interested in him or Duclair (not on that contract Lou gave him though) for their speed, but I'm just saying that I think that's how management likely feels about him.

Sprong and Duclair both throw up red flags because teams they play on seem comfortable with moving on from them.

They are on their 6th and 9th teams respectively. I can’t tell you I follow them closely enough to guarantee why but multiple teams appear to have felt they were better off without than with.

 

[Bleedred]

Sprong and Duclair both throw up red flags because teams they play on seem comfortable with moving on from them.

They are on their 6th and 9th teams respectively. I can’t tell you I follow them closely enough to guarantee why but multiple teams appear to have felt they were better off without than with.

I think both are fine for one year deals. The deal Duclair just got is insane though. That's the longest deal he's ever gotten in his career.

I'm surprised neither of the last two teams Sprong has played on would bring him back for one more year. Seattle doesn't strike me as being highly competent (they didn't even buyout Grubauer yet) and the Yzerplan seems to be the most disorganized thing in hockey right now. I would have thought one of those two teams would have brought back Sprong on another one year deal for cheap.

 

[Saugus]

I had some friends over for dinner tonight. One of them works at ESPN. I told him I had some opinions about their hockey coverage.

I said Emily Kaplan is great, Sean McDonough is fine, Ray Ferraro is biased beyond belief, Leah Hextall is only good as a sideline reporter, and Bob Wichusen should do their biggest games.

I also told him that Buccigross comes off as a creep who learned Gen Z slang in order to hit on 14 year old girls.

I feel I soft pedaled it a bit.

 

[Darkauron]

Sprong sucks and we probably don't have enough for him, Bastian, Foote and mercer.

 

[My3Sons]

I had some friends over for dinner tonight. One of them works at ESPN. I told him I had some opinions about their hockey coverage.

I said Emily Kaplan is great, Sean McDonough is fine, Ray Ferraro is biased beyond belief, Leah Hextall is only good as a sideline reporter, and Bob Wichusen should do their biggest games.

I also told him that Buccigross comes off as a creep who learned Gen Z slang in order to hit on 14 year old girls.

I feel I soft pedaled it a bit.

He’s never coming over again.

 

[Clam Jensen]

I had some friends over for dinner tonight. One of them works at ESPN. I told him I had some opinions about their hockey coverage.

I said Emily Kaplan is great, Sean McDonough is fine, Ray Ferraro is biased beyond belief, Leah Hextall is only good as a sideline reporter, and Bob Wichusen should do their biggest games.

I also told him that Buccigross comes off as a creep who learned Gen Z slang in order to hit on 14 year old girls.

I feel I soft pedaled it a bit.

A heinous lie!

 

[MadDevil]

A heinous lie!

I don't know, I think his dead, uninteresting, seemingly bored delivery would be fine as a sleep aid.

 

[devilsblood]

I think both are fine for one year deals. The deal Duclair just got is insane though. That's the longest deal he's ever gotten in his career.

I'm surprised neither of the last two teams Sprong has played on would bring him back for one more year. Seattle doesn't strike me as being highly competent (they didn't even buyout Grubauer yet) and the Yzerplan seems to be the most disorganized thing in hockey right now. I would have thought one of those two teams would have brought back Sprong on another one year deal for cheap.

Sprong played the most protected minutes amongst any regular fwd for Det last year. O-zone starts, time vs top line/4th line, not a ton of minutes in general, and his on ice numbers were still not good.

I think he has very much lived up to his pre draft scouting report. Lots of offensive skills but a bad all around game.

I'd typically be skeptical of bringing him in, but at you say, with the direction Fitz has gone this off season, it just was not going to happen.

 

[Triumph]

I think both are fine for one year deals. The deal Duclair just got is insane though. That's the longest deal he's ever gotten in his career.

I'm surprised neither of the last two teams Sprong has played on would bring him back for one more year. Seattle doesn't strike me as being highly competent (they didn't even buyout Grubauer yet) and the Yzerplan seems to be the most disorganized thing in hockey right now. I would have thought one of those two teams would have brought back Sprong on another one year deal for cheap.

Grubauer was not good last season but he had his best year as a member of the Kraken. In light of the fact that a buyout would mean 6 seasons on the cap, it's worth throwing him out there one last time to see what he can do. The cost of replacing him + the cost of his buyout means spending a lot to not have a below-average goalie out there.

 

[MasterofGrond]

Yeah sprong scores . Everything else is Not Good. I think based on our roster construction, wanting some better flexibility in the bottom 6 is fine.

 

[Bleedred]

How can you be a fan of all three of these teams? And is their favorites in order from left to right? Transplanted Rangers fan who adopted both Florida teams? I’m gonna get my Devils, Rangers and Islanders stickers ready. And they’re also fans of NC and Miami.

 

[Nubmer6]

View attachment 896247
How can you be a fan of all three of these teams? And is their favorites in order from left to right? Transplanted Rangers fan who adopted both Florida teams? I’m gonna get my Devils, Rangers and Islanders stickers ready.

Maybe it's a player who played for all 3 teams and lost all his money to bad investments so he's driving a Corolla now.

 

[Bleedred]

Maybe it's a player who played for all 3 teams and lost all his money to bad investments so he's driving a Corolla now.

And an older one at that. I think that’s older than my 2010 RAV4. I know they had that body style in the late 00s, but they could have made it through the early 10s.

Not that I’m at all surprised to see many of them still on the road.

#Toyotaapologist

 

[Guadana]

View attachment 896247
How can you be a fan of all three of these teams? And is their favorites in order from left to right? Transplanted Rangers fan who adopted both Florida teams? I’m gonna get my Devils, Rangers and Islanders stickers ready. And they’re also fans of NC and Miami.

Corolla RD2 S

If you use the language of one of the represented countries - Une grande âme est autorisée à aimer plus. Even rangers.

 

[Guttersniped]

View attachment 896247
How can you be a fan of all three of these teams? And is their favorites in order from left to right? Transplanted Rangers fan who adopted both Florida teams? I’m gonna get my Devils, Rangers and Islanders stickers ready. And they’re also fans of NC and Miami.

Maybe it's a player who played for all 3 teams and lost all his money to bad investments so he's driving a Corolla now.

 

[Nubmer6]

View attachment 896278

I should have known you would look it up.

 

[swiiscompos]

Corolla RD2 S

If you use the language of one of the represented countries - Une grande âme est autorisée à aimer plus. Even rangers.

Indeed, only Russians speak French like this (at least in Dostoievsky novels). By the way, is this sentence from somewhere? It sounds like it would be a classic, but couldn’t find a reference.

 

[Its Always Sundstrom]

View attachment 896278

Matt Gilroy breakout season upcoming.

 

[Bleedred]

Matt Gilroy breakout season upcoming.

He was my first thought when I went through the least.

You can eliminate Duclair immediately. He's the only active NHL player on that list, maybe even the only active pro player, but there are a couple of guys who aren't still aren't that old.

What's really funny is that several of these guys currently have a gig with NHLN or somewhere on TV. Dominic Moore, Brian Boyle and Weekes. Weekes has a few of those TV gigs going on. He's also with ESPN. I rarely watch NHLN anymore, but I've noticed Moore and Boyle on there fairly recently. I'm not sure if these are full time gigs or not. And they definitely don't pay what those guys made as players.

Greg McKegg is one of my favorite hockey names in recent years. It always sounded like they were calling him Greg The Keg.

If Gilroy blew through all his NHL money, he did go to college for 4 years before the NHL, so I'm sure he has a degree in something.

 

[Guadana]

Indeed, only Russians speak French like this (at least in Dostoievsky novels). By the way, is this sentence from somewhere? It sounds like it would be a classic, but couldn’t find a reference.

I use my bad English skill for board talk but I don't have any French skill so I used my Russian and translate it to French.
It was extemporization..

Looks like I was a character from Dostoevsky novel all that time. Character with bad English. And great soul.

 

[Capt Nico Poo]

I use my bad English skill for board talk but I don't have any French skill so I used my Russian and translate it to French.
It was extemporization..

Looks like I was a character from Dostoevsky novel all that time. Character with bad English. And great soul.

Maybe you have that Raskolnykovian guilt or the Karamazovian feistiness in you!

 

[dgibb10]

View attachment 896278

You'd presumably have to eliminate anyone who's played for any other team because otherwise they'd be on the bumper as well

 

[NjDevsRR]

Good hire by Lumbus