NHL Around the NHL - Regular Season 2017-18

[Alberta_OReilly_Fan]

66 points in 71 games, not a minus player in any year of the playoffs. Can be the driving force on a line. He was the reason Hagelin-Bonino-Kessel was so good. Hagelin went from 16 points to 2 without Kessel. Bonino dropped from 18 to 7.

Not valuable. They may still move him for cap reasons, but to say he isn't valuable is just pure ********.

I'd trade Backes straight up for Kessel today. No GM says yes to that though.

Kessel 2 time loser
Backes 0 time winner.

for what its worth i doubt backes has any trade value either. big contracts started to lose trade value right around the time we traded thornton. detroit got very little for federov. looking at the past decade now contracts kill value. people say edmonton got ripped off for hall... but i didnt think theyd get alot for hall unless the contracts balanced.

kessel for backes? i think boston adds...

im a backes fan but thats irrelevent. i admire kessels skill and acknoeledge he produces offense

its fair to criticise kessels effort and team play based on the evidence. its fair to qualify his success in pittsburgh by saying hes playing in the shadow of 2 of the only 4 or 5 players in the nhl more talented than he is.

if kessel came to boston he would be our most talented player... in the nhl, the most talented player is usually the captain. the most talented player becomes your teams role model.

if guys like this join great teams... its possible to bury them. but if they are being expected to elevate a bad team, the results are not pretty.

its about right fit for a guy like kessel... or for that matter backes at his age. but imho neither has much trade value

 

[Pia8988]

for what its worth i doubt backes has any trade value either. big contracts started to lose trade value right around the time we traded thornton. detroit got very little for federov. looking at the past decade now contracts kill value. people say edmonton got ripped off for hall... but i didnt think theyd get alot for hall unless the contracts balanced.

kessel for backes? i think boston adds...

im a backes fan but thats irrelevent. i admire kessels skill and acknoeledge he produces offense

its fair to criticise kessels effort and team play based on the evidence. its fair to qualify his success in pittsburgh by saying hes playing in the shadow of 2 of the only 4 or 5 players in the nhl more talented than he is.

if kessel came to boston he would be our most talented player... in the nhl, the most talented player is usually the captain. the most talented player becomes your teams role model.

if guys like this join great teams... its possible to bury them. but if they are being expected to elevate a bad team, the results are not pretty.

its about right fit for a guy like kessel... or for that matter backes at his age. but imho neither has much trade value

Kessel would not be the most talented player, nor the captain, nor the role model here.

 

[Alberta_OReilly_Fan]

It's the results on the ice that matters. Everyone seems to want to focus on what he isn't. He isn't a leader, he isn't a selke threat but he does nothing but show up and produce and even more so in the playoffs consistently throughout his career. He isn't afraid of the big stage that is for sure.

I think with hockey sometimes grit gets overrated and talent gets underrated. I have a hard time believing he is some dressing room cancer, he sure as hell hasn't hurt the Penguins room.

Two straight rings, so much for the adage 'you can't win with guys like that'.

I'd take Kessel back on the Bruins for sure.

and here id argue talent gets overrated. i still remember people saying gretzky was the greatest player in the league his last 3 years when he wasnt even the best playmaker by that time.

as for cup wins... the great chicago blackhawk dman doug wilson finished his career with zero. doug had a brother who played in the nhl that won 4. does anyone think murry wilson was better than doug?

cam neely had no cups but mario tremblay had a fistfull of cups...

im not saying it is completely irrelevent if a guy wins cups... but is it everything?

our guy krejci is a 2 time playoff scoring champ but several fans here want to run him out of town... why? they feel he puts out inconsistent effort and isnt worth 7 mill

im sorry... but thats reality... even guys that win cups can get a bad rep if they are inconsistent and highly paid.

 

[Alberta_OReilly_Fan]

Kessel would not be the most talented player, nor the captain, nor the role model here.

i guess if hes perfect, you will either expect pittsburgh to keep him... or land a kings ransom if they do trade him.

me... im not expecting to be surprised when they get almost nothing for him

 

[Pia8988]

i guess if hes perfect, you will either expect pittsburgh to keep him... or land a kings ransom if they do trade him.

me... im not expecting to be surprised when they get almost nothing for him

Hyperbole all the time.

I think if they can make the cap work they'll keep him. If not he'll probably net decent value. His value now is higher than it was when Toronto was looking to shove him out the door.

 

[Alberta_OReilly_Fan]

Hyperbole all the time.

I think if they can make the cap work they'll keep him. If not he'll probably net decent value. His value now is higher than it was when Toronto was looking to shove him out the door.

i like to agree when i can... im with you that his success in pittsburgh and the fact toronto is eating some of his contract and theres 2 years less to pay... probably does increase his value.

heck if i was edmonton or buffalo i might consider bringing in kessel and paying a decent price. as a support player he can generate secondary scoring singlehanded

 

[EverettMike]

we know what he got traded for last time... lets see if pittsburgh gets more

im never the one surprised when trades happen and the return for these offensive guys is so low

i wasnt surprised by hamilton
i wasnt surprised by seguin
i wasnt surprised by kessel or wheeler
i wasnt surprised by thornton

i called erikson being let go
and yes
i defended the backes deal

you might say im out of the loop but im the one getting it right

id catorgarize you as someone unhappy with the state of things so i dont blame you for also being unhappy with me... but the reason you are unhappy is things keep happening that you dont want to happen.

dont tell me im not in the loop because you wish things were differnt

and as far as calling kessel crap.. i said he scores at will... playoff checking doesnt effect him... if he feels like scoring he will score. how is this calling him crap?

:not worth the infraction:

 

[Lost Horizons]

Let's all hope and pray for Kessel to be traded to MTL.
Kessel+Claude+Montreal Media=Awesomeness

 

[Era of Sanity]

Let's all hope and pray for Kessel to be traded to MTL.
Kessel+Claude+Montreal Media=Awesomeness

in hindsight, they must have bumped into each other at KFC a lot in Boston.

 

[BBB24]

Kessel would not be the most talented player, nor the captain, nor the role model here.

We have a winner!

 

[RussellmaniaKW]

Kessel will have a six pack before he waived his no move to come back to Boston. Imagine the hate he'd get?

Still absurd to me that Kessel does/would get any hate in Boston. Why? He was good during his time here and didn't ask out or even ask for an unreasonable amount of money. He also never trashed the city, the franchise, or the fans. His only "crimes" were expecting to get paid market value and butting heads with the head coach that the fans hated half the time anyway. I've never understood why any Bruins fan would have beef with Phil Kessel. At worst B's fans should be indifferent to him.

 

[Mr. Make-Believe]

Still absurd to me that Kessel does/would get any hate in Boston. Why? He was good during his time here and didn't ask out or even ask for an unreasonable amount of money. He also never trashed the city, the franchise, or the fans. His only "crimes" were expecting to get paid market value and butting heads with the head coach that the fans hated half the time anyway. I've never understood why any Bruins fan would have beef with Phil Kessel. At worst B's fans should be indifferent to him.

I never understood it either. It was Chiarelli's decision to let him go... Not Kessel asking out.

And he was one hell of a player for us during his brief time here.

I'm a fan.

 

[Mainehockey33]

Still absurd to me that Kessel does/would get any hate in Boston. Why? He was good during his time here and didn't ask out or even ask for an unreasonable amount of money. He also never trashed the city, the franchise, or the fans. His only "crimes" were expecting to get paid market value and butting heads with the head coach that the fans hated half the time anyway. I've never understood why any Bruins fan would have beef with Phil Kessel. At worst B's fans should be indifferent to him.

I never understood it either. Dumb fans thinking he wanted out I think, which seems to be why my uncle hates him. He's also not an ogre which gives these same fans more reason to hate him.

I'm with you both, he'd be exactly what the Krejci line needs right now.

 

[Estlin]

Having Pastrnak, Kessel and (eventually) Senyshyn on the right side would be pretty awesome.

 

[DominicT]

:not worth the infraction:

And I had the ready

 

[Mainehockey33]

Any guesses as to what Pastrnak, Eichel, and Draisaitl will make on their next contracts? Will we see an offer sheet this summer?

I think Draisaitl gets the most out of the three due to his performance last season and his position. Eichel is a hard one to nail down because he's had two good seasons, but hasn't really broken out yet and scored over 60 points while the other two have.

I'm thinking Draisaitl will get around $7.5-8M per, not sure on the other two.

 

[Sharp Shooting Neely]

More recent eye popping star contract signings have featured significant amounts of signing bonus money. On its face it may appear as simply a negotiating tactic to increase the likelihood of an organization locking up a player to a long term deal. Players of course are only to happy to cash the one time lucrative pay outs to start each season. Travis Yost of TSN provides the deeper meaning of the trend as being the underpinning of an effort to position the union for a show down and the real potential for another work stoppage.

Will be interesting to find out if any deal with Pastrnak fits into this narrative. Particularly interesting given the likely mindset of Jacobs in staking out his position with the trend and potential consequences looming. If may also be a significant factor in explaining why a deal has not been reached as yet.

"The scary thing here if you're an owner is, barring some sort of intervention or incredible cap squeeze, there’s no obvious recourse. The number of signing bonus money owed in 2020-21 has nearly doubled from where it was just a season ago. If the next couple of off-seasons behave in a similar manner, just how much liability is the league looking at here? At the current rate of 25 per cent and assuming a three per cent growth rate on the NHL's hard cap, we could be comfortably looking at anywhere from $400 million to $500 million in signing bonuses liabilities – more than double what we are observing in 2017-18.
With that kind of check, we could see the players union dig in like never before."

http://www.tsn.ca/as-cba-watch-grows-so-do-signing-bonuses-1.803846

 

[Jean_Jacket41]

Let's all hope and pray for Kessel to be traded to MTL.
Kessel+Claude+Montreal Media=Awesomeness

I rather hope that he's traded to Boston instead.

Kessel+Pasta+Marchand+Bergy+Krejci= Awesomeness

 

[GloryDaze4877]

Still absurd to me that Kessel does/would get any hate in Boston. Why? He was good during his time here and didn't ask out or even ask for an unreasonable amount of money. He also never trashed the city, the franchise, or the fans. His only "crimes" were expecting to get paid market value and butting heads with the head coach that the fans hated half the time anyway. I've never understood why any Bruins fan would have beef with Phil Kessel. At worst B's fans should be indifferent to him.

I never understood it either. It was Chiarelli's decision to let him go... Not Kessel asking out.

And he was one hell of a player for us during his brief time here.

I'm a fan.

I would not hate Kessel coming back (unlikely).

That being said, the rumor was that he DID want out. To his credit, he never said anything publicly and never tried to force his way out of town. I think what it essentially came down to was that Thrill was going to cost the B's a lot of money and they chose Krejci over him.

 

[bruins repeat time]

I never understood it either. It was Chiarelli's decision to let him go... Not Kessel asking out.

And he was one hell of a player for us during his brief time here.

I'm a fan.

Kessel agent said he would not sign a long term contract here to Peter. Either Peter is a liar or it was Kessel decision . You don't keep a restricted free agent for a yr who wants to leave , at least I don't .

 

[bruins repeat time]

I never understood it either. Dumb fans thinking he wanted out I think, which seems to be why my uncle hates him. He's also not an ogre which gives these same fans more reason to hate him.

I'm with you both, he'd be exactly what the Krejci line needs right now.

I can hear Peter on the tv to this day . His agent told us he would not be signing a long term contract here so I did the best I could do . I personally believe in this case it was Claude not the team , Peter ,city etc . That is a guess but the rest of my post isn't . I am a so called Claude guy so it isn't out of hatred for him that I guess that . Just for the record Kessel never said boo about Claude and Claude said their relationship was fine.

 

[finchster]

peter klima scored 313 goals in just 786 career games... super gifted player. top 20 ive ever seen play

terry oreilly scored a measly 204 in 891 games

sometimes i felt oreilly had very average talent

but i can promise you klima wouldnt be close to my team... and oreilly is a god to me

Out of all the players you picked, why did you have to pick Petr Klima? I would take him on the Bruins for his entire career over O'Reilly if it means he doesn't score that %$#$#@ goal in triple overtime . /childhoodtrauma

Anyway, Phil Kessel scores goals and when did a PPG player in the playoffs become not important?. The meat and potatoes of a hockey team is scoring goals and preventing goals. If you have that, things like hitting and grit are the salt and pepper to make the meal taste good. However, you can't have a meal of just salt and pepper.

Kessel cannot be the best player on your team. if he is the second or third best player (like in Pittsburgh), you have a damn good hockey team.

 

[BruinsFanMike82]

Some interesting notes from Friedman's latest "30 Thoughts"


1. One thing a few different NHL executives agree on: Offer sheets are coming. Cam Fowler, Martin Jones, Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Price are gone from next year's unrestricted class. "There simply are not enough impact players available in free agency," one said. "If you need to improve your team -- and fast -- it's going to be your best option."

6. Everyone decided to take a deep breath and go back to their corners when Matt Duchene wasn't traded July 1. It sounds like everyone is realizing the possibility he could start next season in Colorado. But remember this: Avalanche assistant GM Chris MacFarland was with Scott Howson in Columbus when Howson waited until July 20, 2012, to trade Rick Nash. Sometimes the best predictor of future behaviour is past behaviour, and MacFarland could be following that blueprint. I wouldn't be surprised if interested parties (Boston, Columbus, Nashville, Pittsburgh, maybe Calgary) try again to see if anything shakes loose.

7. There's been criticism of the way Colorado's handled this. I do think everyone -- including Duchene -- would benefit from a fresh start, but the Avalanche need this deal. The Ryan O'Reilly trade didn't work, and you can't move two of those talents without getting some kind of win. They are looking for young players with term, and I think the guys they've targeted include Mathew Barzal and Ilya Sorokin from the Islanders; Brandon Carlo or Charlie McEvoy from the Bruins; Mattias Ekholm from the Predators. (Before someone from Barstool comes at me, I don't think the McEvoy conversation was a long one.)

What makes it tough for these other clubs is Duchene only has two years remaining. That certainly was a problem for Carolina. One exec pointed out three examples of similar trades: Ryan Johansen for Seth Jones; Taylor Hall for Adam Larsson; and Jonathan Drouin for Mikhail Sergachev. They were all one-for-one, and both players involved could be under team control for a longer time. But the Avalanche are determined to do it right, and they have to.

9. I do think there is something to the column by Ron Cook of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that the Penguins will look to trade Phil Kessel. Other potential manoeuvring: Dallas GM Jim Nill laying the groundwork to ease a roster/cap jam. And I can see Calgary waiting to see what happens with Micheal Ferland before looking at another forward. Ferland is eligible for arbitration. A third year on any long-term deal for him is the tricky one, as that's when he is unrestricted.

11. I've said a million times that I believe John Tavares's first choice is to stay with the Islanders. But, if he does decide to leave, why do I have visions of him taking less money to play in Tampa Bay?

27. I've spent a bit of time thinking about what's going on in the NHLPA, after writing a few things about it during the year. Both the players and owners have the option in 2019 to re-open the CBA before the 2020-21 season. Right now, it's 100 per cent that the players do it. Escrow and the Olympics are major issues for them.

As I get older, I'm not interested in the rhetoric and politics. We've heard it before -- it never changes. My only concern is a solution. The Canadian dollar had a slight uptick this week, which is very nice for the cap, but no one is expecting a significant climb. If my math is correct, our loonie is down 25 per cent since before the 2012-13 lockout, while Hockey Related Revenue is up 15 per cent (in U.S. dollars) since the stoppage ended. (One source indicated overall league revenues were up nine per cent from last season to this one, as measured in local currency.)

So there's growth -- many businesses would be happy increasing nine per cent per year -- but the Canadian dollar poses a problem other leagues don't have.

There are at least two major upcoming opportunities for the NHL and its players. The first is international hockey. South Korea is out, but the move into China is underway. Both sides talk about how important it is, so you can't stress enough how it must be done right. Second is the U.S. television deal. It is up in four years, but I wonder if it even gets that far before a new one is negotiated.

From the Rogers package, we know digital rights are critical, and, according to a couple of sources, the NHL has the ability to make them part of the conversation, even though it entered into a digital partnership with Major League Baseball Advanced Media last year. If a "revenue explosion" is to arrive, it will likely be in those areas.

Labour talks in the NHL and NBA have mirrored each other for years. Whenever the CBA was up in either league, there was a lockout. The NBA players weren't always a united group but this time did it right. With a huge new television deal, they started over a year in advance and got something done. A major key was the owners had to negotiate with Chris Paul, LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony staring at them -- all members of the players' executive and negotiating team.

That hasn't happened enough in the NHL. The top players have to take control of both the union and the negotiations.

A few years ago, I did a major house renovation. I figured I'd let the contractor do his job because he was the expert. But he was terrible -- one fiasco after another. Every time I see his office, I want to firebomb it. But I learned a valuable lesson: You have to take responsibility for something that important.

The best chance at the best CBA deal is having the best players in the room, looking at their individual owners, taking control of their own fates. A rising tide floats all boats.

28. The people in both the NHL and NHLPA know better than me, but I wonder if there is an opening to start talking in the fall. A lockout/strike as they are trying to get into China seems incredibly terrible. On escrow, from 2005-13, the salary cap was set by determining the "midpoint" and going up $8M (ceiling) and down $8M (floor). The gap was always $16M from top to bottom. That changed in 2013 to 15 per cent in each direction from the midpoint. (The chasm will be $19.6M in 2017-18.)

Most of the teams go to the cap. They are competitive, their fans scream for it and you can't maintain elite status without being there. That also makes the escrow situation worse for players. If you revert back to the previous method, does that save them money? Just an idea.


http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/30-thoughts-summer-market-matt-duchene-still-open/

 

[whatsbruin]

Still absurd to me that Kessel does/would get any hate in Boston. Why? He was good during his time here and didn't ask out or even ask for an unreasonable amount of money. He also never trashed the city, the franchise, or the fans. His only "crimes" were expecting to get paid market value and butting heads with the head coach that the fans hated half the time anyway. I've never understood why any Bruins fan would have beef with Phil Kessel. At worst B's fans should be indifferent to him.

It's because he doesn't look like he is in shape, and he doesn't like to work out.
Who cares if he could score, he doesn't work out, as well as bad with the media.

 

[LouJersey]

for what its worth i doubt backes has any trade value either. big contracts started to lose trade value right around the time we traded thornton. detroit got very little for federov. looking at the past decade now contracts kill value. people say edmonton got ripped off for hall... but i didnt think theyd get alot for hall unless the contracts balanced.

kessel for backes? i think boston adds...

im a backes fan but thats irrelevent. i admire kessels skill and acknoeledge he produces offense

its fair to criticise kessels effort and team play based on the evidence. its fair to qualify his success in pittsburgh by saying hes playing in the shadow of 2 of the only 4 or 5 players in the nhl more talented than he is.

if kessel came to boston he would be our most talented player... in the nhl, the most talented player is usually the captain. the most talented player becomes your teams role model.

if guys like this join great teams... its possible to bury them. but if they are being expected to elevate a bad team, the results are not pretty.

its about right fit for a guy like kessel... or for that matter backes at his age. but imho neither has much trade value

Kessel would be our best forward if he came here? Are you joking? Did we trade Bergeron, Marchand and Pastrnak?

Either you are out to lunch or you are the greatest troll ever.