Around the NHL 2024 - Offseason Moves

[BigFatCat999]

What’s bad is he and his brother at thetheir’s sister’s wedding?

 

[jumb0]

Damn. That's awful.

 

[BigFatCat999]

Give a lot of love to Viqsi. She needs it

 

[Armourboy]

Holy Moly that is awful. I feel bad for both the family and the organization. Columbus can't seem to get a break.

 

[Roman Yoshi]

I hope the family can find peace... absolutely awful. Rest in peace.

 

[Bringer of Jollity]

f***. How awful for the family. Completely senseless. RIP Johnny Hockey.

 

[Predsanddead24]

Really nothing else to say except how terrible it is.

I’ll also add as a former avid cyclist please be aware of cyclists and be patient passing bikes. Getting to your destination 30 seconds faster isn’t worth killing someone over.

 

[Viqsi]

Give a lot of love to Viqsi. She needs it

Thanks y'all.

For anyone else who's wondering what's up - I got mentally roughed up badly by this this morning because, owing to HFCBJ mod status, I was aware of the rumors last night - so nightmares of "waking up", opening my laptop, and finding confirmation that it happened were featuring all through the night. And, well, I have past issues with very vivid nightmares making it difficult to tell what's real and what's not in the mornings (I habitually get to late starts as a result). So having one happen play out exactly as the nightmares presented has been... difficult to say the least.

I'm working on getting past that now (took the day off from work, among other things) so that I can hopefully deal with the rest. BFC's been a tremendous help with that. Best big brother I never had.

 

[PredsV82]

I know we have always reveled in dominating our expansion brethren but dear God, this is awful. I really think that franchise is cursed.

All the feels for @Viqsi

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

So scratch Draisatl off our next summer shopping list.

8x$14M seems fair. He could have gotten more on the open market, but playing with McDavid seems like a good way to boost his legacy, even while he'd be a superstar in his own right anywhere else too. Anybody that could afford to pay him more than that might not be any more likely to win a Cup than the odds of the Oilers finally figuring out how to put together a complete team with the two megastars. I think they have taken some steps in the right direction already, adding the scoring depth with Skinner and Arvidsson, plus Henrique. Maybe they still need another D and a final answer in goal, but it's not an impossible task.

 

[Scoresberg]

That deal in addition to the upcoming Bouchard one really only gives the Oilers one more year to win the Cup. Starting next season, they will have almost 40% tied to three players. While they're elite players in the league, we've seen how important depth is come playoff time.

 

[Armourboy]

Yep, I don't see that deal doing anything but gutting their depth.

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

That deal in addition to the upcoming Bouchard one really only gives the Oilers one more year to win the Cup. Starting next season, they will have almost 40% tied to three players. While they're elite players in the league, we've seen how important depth is come playoff time.

Hmm, I don't see that at all. They will sign McDavid for $16M or whatever, and I'm not sure Bouchard will command $10M. But still, even if you are talking about $40M for them - almost $50M / 50% if you add Nurse! - it is still not undoable. They'll still have Hyman and RNH and at least the opportunity to fill out the depth roles intelligently for the next 4 seasons - if they make the right choices. As long as you have 2 of the best players in the game, you have a chance. Their main issue has been poor management and NOT making the right choices, not any fundamental obstacle imposed by the contracts of the megastars. And then even once Hyman/RNH/Nurse expire, that's a lot of Cap space to shop with. It always takes smart management decisions, though, and I'm not sure if that franchise is ever going to hire the right people to make those.

 

[Scoresberg]

Hmm, I don't see that at all. They will sign McDavid for $16M or whatever, and I'm not sure Bouchard will command $10M. But still, even if you are talking about $40M for them - almost $50M / 50% if you add Nurse! - it is still not undoable. They'll still have Hyman and RNH and at least the opportunity to fill out the depth roles intelligently for the next 4 seasons - if they make the right choices. As long as you have 2 of the best players in the game, you have a chance. Their main issue has been poor management and NOT making the right choices, not any fundamental obstacle imposed by the contracts of the megastars. And then even once Hyman/RNH/Nurse expire, that's a lot of Cap space to shop with. It always takes smart management decisions, though, and I'm not sure if that franchise is ever going to hire the right people to make those.

Fair enough. For me it's too much tied into too few players. There's a reason only two teams in the NHL have ever won a Cup with a $10 mil player on their roster. Eichel and Barkov. Obviously it is becoming more common and more tolerable with the cap going up but still. Possibly having three players over 10 mil AND Nurse on 9.25?

 

[AtlantaWhaler]

They'll figure out a way to build around a couple of the league's best players. Their window is open for several seasons. These are the players you keep no matter what.

 

[Armourboy]

Didn't work for Chicago, hasn't worked for Toronto, but yeah suddenly dumping that much cap into 4 guys is suddenly going to work.

 

[herzausstein]

Oilers have alot of money tied up in a few contracts which will tie their hands for a couple seasons.

Draisaitl, McDavid, Nurse, and Bouchard are going to eat up near 44 million next season. Just means that theyll need to make the most out of their pipeline players like Savoie and get some cheap depth players. Good news for them is that E. Kane, Henrique, Ekholm and Kulak all come off the books in time for McDavid's raise and only Ekholm will likely hurt but he should be able to come back at a lower cost. Nurse's dumb contract is up the year after. Improvements will need to be from internal candidates which i dont see alot of or trades. Not the worst spot to be in given Draisaitl and McDavid still have years of prime left but they're depth and goaltending will always be questionable given the cap restraints some of their dumb decisions have put them into.

 

[Predsanddead24]

Penguins had close to 50% of their cap space taken up by Crosby, Malkin, Letang, and Kessel on their cup runs. As long as your two top guys are generational talents I think it’s definitely doable. The key thing is you can’t sign any large, bad contracts which Edmonton seems to love to do.

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

Didn't work for Chicago, hasn't worked for Toronto, but yeah suddenly dumping that much cap into 4 guys is suddenly going to work.

The difference is this includes possibly the two best players in the entire league. Pittsburgh might be the only comparable, and it worked for them.

 

[wmupreds]

Penguins had close to 50% of their cap space taken up by Crosby, Malkin, Letang, and Kessel on their cup runs. As long as your two top guys are generational talents I think it’s definitely doable. The key thing is you can’t sign any large, bad contracts which Edmonton seems to love to do.

Detroit back in '08 had a crazy amount (over 40% I think) tied up in Lidstrom, Datsyuk and Rafalski alone. You gotta look at these as % of cap instead of the raw numbers to really be meaningful.

 

[Kat Predator]

Toronto is the obvious counterexample to the Penguins, though there are long arguments to be made about whether their quality is not quite at the same level, etc.

 

[AtlantaWhaler]

Didn't work for Chicago, hasn't worked for Toronto, but yeah suddenly dumping that much cap into 4 guys is suddenly going to work.

By Chicago, do you mean Kane and Toews? That seemed to work quite well. Did for Pittsburgh and our beloved 80's Oilers. Didn't for the Sabres back in the day, though.

So, if you were GM, and you had a pair of the best players in the league, you'd trade one because it didn't work with the Leafs??

 

[Armourboy]

By Chicago, do you mean Kane and Toews? That seemed to work quite well. Did for Pittsburgh and our beloved 80's Oilers. Didn't for the Sabres back in the day, though.

So, if you were GM, and you had a pair of the best players in the league, you'd trade one because it didn't work with the Leafs??

Chicago won their cups before those deals went out. Kane and Toews never won another cup after those deals kicked in. 80's Oilers don't count as they were not under the salary cap. Sabres have stunk for so long I don't even know what year you are referring too.

The reason it worked for Pittsburgh is that everyone of those guys were contributing and they didn't have other dumb contracts as well. Also gotta look and see there were several years in there where it wasn't working, they got bounced early inbetween their first cups and the last two. Frankly they also go lucky in 2017 that they ran into a team that was basically just the tattered remains of the actual team that got to the Cup Finals.

The problem isn't really the top two guys, although you would hope if they wanted to help keep a cup contender rolling they would have taken a little bit less money, the issue is contracts like Nurse, they are killers for cup contenders. Broberg is going to end up being a double edged sword. They need him to do well for their success, but you don't want him to reallly come in at 9+. They are going to have fun replacing Ekholm when he finally starts to decline and they still don't have a goalie I would exactly trust long term. Kane can't stay healthy, I feel like Henrique isn't much better from that perspective and RNH is gonna run out of gas sooner rather than later.

Edmonton also has zero pipeline to fill holes with good cheap contracts, and they have already burnt up a lot of draft picks. They haven't done well drafting outside the first round even if they do. Then you gotta factor in its Edmonton, there are lots of UFA's who want nothing to do with playing in Canada.

Oh and the last and biggest reason of all, Stan Bowman. He's the guy that ran Chicago in the ground with dumb contracts and trades.

 

[AtlantaWhaler]

Chicago won their cups before those deals went out. Kane and Toews never won another cup after those deals kicked in. 80's Oilers don't count as they were not under the salary cap. Sabres have stunk for so long I don't even know what year you are referring too.

The reason it worked for Pittsburgh is that everyone of those guys were contributing and they didn't have other dumb contracts as well. Also gotta look and see there were several years in there where it wasn't working, they got bounced early inbetween their first cups and the last two. Frankly they also go lucky in 2017 that they ran into a team that was basically just the tattered remains of the actual team that got to the Cup Finals.

The problem isn't really the top two guys, although you would hope if they wanted to help keep a cup contender rolling they would have taken a little bit less money, the issue is contracts like Nurse, they are killers for cup contenders. Broberg is going to end up being a double edged sword. They need him to do well for their success, but you don't want him to reallly come in at 9+. They are going to have fun replacing Ekholm when he finally starts to decline and they still don't have a goalie I would exactly trust long term. Kane can't stay healthy, I feel like Henrique isn't much better from that perspective and RNH is gonna run out of gas sooner rather than later.

Edmonton also has zero pipeline to fill holes with good cheap contracts, and they have already burnt up a lot of draft picks. They haven't done well drafting outside the first round even if they do. Then you gotta factor in its Edmonton, there are lots of UFA's who want nothing to do with playing in Canada.

Oh and the last and biggest reason of all, Stan Bowman. He's the guy that ran Chicago in the ground with dumb contracts and trades.

The way I see it, their window is open. Take advantage. It may not be open for the entire length of the contracts, but you don't let elite players walk because you're worried your 3rd-line scoring depth may not be as good. Edmonton is coming off the cup final with two of the top players in the league. You don't let them go.

Sorta-kinda like the reason behind Zero-Neck signing Saros. That window is now open. Probably not for 8 full years, but you don't get Stammer and others just to put a rookie in net (he would have been backup, but Saros needed a contract).

When the window is open, you don't worry about depth players years down the road. You go all-in on the present.

 

[weeze]

By Chicago, do you mean Kane and Toews? That seemed to work quite well. Did for Pittsburgh and our beloved 80's Oilers. Didn't for the Sabres back in the day, though.

So, if you were GM, and you had a pair of the best players in the league, you'd trade one because it didn't work with the Leafs??

I think the biggest difference in those teams and the Leafs is that those winning teams had a Goalie step up and win some games for them. Chicago also had two decent D-men in Keith and Seabrook while the Pens had Letang and Schultz.