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League News: NHL Talk - (News n' Scores n' Stuff) - 2022-23 season, Vol. 4, Off-season Edition

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AlexBrovechkin8 said:
AJF drew in last night for Winnipeg after a late scratch to Ehlers (my fantasy team weeps). He played 6:26 which was the lowest TOI by anyone on the team and only two other players saw less than 10 minutes. Hoping he gets more ice time as he adjusts to a new team.
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6:26?! was Lavi calling their lines?! 😂

When does he hit waivers so we can pull him back again lol?

I wonder what it’s like for a guy like that go to a Buffalo, then get waived-reclaimed like he did…..then stroll back into the arena in Hershey, then FFWD to the next year and he could yo-yo again.

I wonder if he embraces this change/upheaval as his “shot” at breaking out somewhere else…..
 
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Cynical of me but Mantha for Vrana just got a lot better

I wonder if Caps management knew something was up?
 
895 said:
Cynical of me but Mantha for Vrana just got a lot better

I wonder if Caps management knew something was up?
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We have no idea. Perhaps the result was his uneven performance? We can speculate all different scenarios:

- Maybe recently diagnosed as Bipolar, depression, schizophrenia, etc?
- Perhaps he was sniffing with Kuzy? Maybe management caught wind of it?
- Drinking problem?

Of course there's overlap between mental health issues and substance abuse so who knows? I don't care as long as he's getting help.

People still weighing the trade between Vrana and Mantha at this point = gross.
 
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I mean when they've been on the ice Vrana has out produced Matha by a solid margin.... both have missed plenty of time. Neither team hit a home run with the trade, so calling a winner/loser is way premature.

And for as much as we/I dogged Jake for his floaty defense and occasional disappearing act, he was a fun kid and when he scored it was always good fun on this board with the snake and piranha memes. I wish him well and hope get gets healthy. And he broke the ice in Game 5 of the SCF which means he should never buy another drink in this town ever again.... That goal was sick!

 
AlexBrovechkin8 said:
End of the line for Kempny? Injuries suck. Still, pretty sweet that he parlayed 3+ months of great play into $10M+ in earnings.

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He was playing great before getting hurt... that contract was a steal until the injury. He was their best D on many nights back then. Losing him right before the playoffs really hurt, we still haven't really replaced him and found a pair for JC.
 
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AlexBrovechkin8 said:
End of the line for Kempny? Injuries suck. Still, pretty sweet that he parlayed 3+ months of great play into $10M+ in earnings.

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Maybe end of the line for NHL. Maybe not. I’m sure he will help and AHL team, if he wants to do it.

He’s easily an top 4D for AHL. He isn’t “old”, so maybe he can work towards a return.

Or he can retire, to your point.
 
Ridley Simon said:
He’s coming back
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He may come back. But all this really validates is that he is a tweener. Never going to be an NHL superstar. Could be a solid 4th liner on a team that is rebuilding. I still prefer Beck over AJF. I prefer that physical skill set that he brings
 
kicksavedave said:
He was playing great before getting hurt... that contract was a steal until the injury. He was their best D on many nights back then. Losing him right before the playoffs really hurt, we still haven't really replaced him and found a pair for JC.
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Indeed. Stupid Tampa Bay.

AlexBrovechkin8 said:
If you guys ever feel bad about our D core you can look at Florida's right now with Ekblad hurt. Woof.

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I don't dislike Florida, but not going to feel bad for them, lol. It's going to be a tight race and still some bitterness against them after last Spring :).
 
kicksavedave said:
I mean when they've been on the ice Vrana has out produced Matha by a solid margin.... both have missed plenty of time. Neither team hit a home run with the trade, so calling a winner/loser is way premature.

And for as much as we/I dogged Jake for his floaty defense and occasional disappearing act, he was a fun kid and when he scored it was always good fun on this board with the snake and piranha memes. I wish him well and hope get gets healthy. And he broke the ice in Game 5 of the SCF which means he should never buy another drink in this town ever again.... That goal was sick!

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I've never been a fan of simply the points stat watching aspect of this trade. Vrana is more prolific for sure, but he simply doesn't play the same style of game, apples and oranges.


Jury is still out, but Vrana doesn't play a 200 foot game and frankly we need another offensive minded top 6 player with 0 physicality and 0 defensive presence like I need a whole in the head.


The reason we picked up Mantha was he simply is better suited towards playoff hockey. Vrana in his career has 3 G, 5 A, 37 hits, and 11 shots blocked in 38 GP in the playoffs, comparably Mantha has 6 A, 39 hits and 7 shots blocked in 11 GP in the playoffs. The sample size is small for 39, but Mantha is already in reaching distance of a guy who has played almost 4 times as many playoff games. He simply plays the game on both ends of the ice and when you consider that the Caps already have their token "I only like to shoot or dance with the puck" guys then it's kind of clear why Vrana was considered a redundancy here.


Is he good? Absolutely, but the question is does he make sense on this roster? I'm having hard time seeing a top 6 line that doesn't become a defensive blackhole with him also on it now.

I also think some of those underlying stats also show why he struggled to gain consistent playoff ice time. If you're not going to back check or block shots in the playoffs then it's hard to justify giving more TOI in crucial minutes.
 
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The Devils are currently 4-3-0 despite having a .849 team save percentage, by far the worst in the NHL and unsustainably bad. They are going to be a problem this year.
 
Eh, I dunno. Check their schedule so far. The Caps are the only playoff team from last season they've played. 2x DET, ANA, SJS, NYI, PHI. A lot of bottomfeeders. They're good. Competitive. I don't know just how good goaltending will get and for all of their pace/skill I don't know that they possess the balance to check/defend against more fortified, mature vet playoff teams. Out of the NJD/BUF/OTT/DET group they're the most dangerous but I'm not sure any of that group is ready just yet unless an incumbent team gets seriously hit by injuries.

If they can manage to keep up that xG% pace in another month maybe but I wouldn't put too much stock in what they've accomplished against a pretty soft schedule. It maybe suggests they're right there as playoff material but we need way more data still and fundamentally I think it's more likely a bit of smoke & mirrors.
 
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twabby said:


The Devils are currently 4-3-0 despite having a .849 team save percentage, by far the worst in the NHL and unsustainably bad. They are going to be a problem this year.
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This is a good example where analytics don’t tell the whole story. The Devils top six is warm butter soft and lacks both size and finishing. They are quick but get bullied off the puck and don’t convert in high danger areas. And they didn’t get .900 goaltending last year so maybe there’s some regression to the mean but the mean is low. They also really struggle against teams that have the structure to make things difficult for them.

They’re good and they’ll be in the mix but I wouldn’t call them a problem yet. Could be wrong though! I do think they’ve passed the Islanders. And maybe Ruff’s seemingly inevitable firing gives them a bump as well.
 
The Rangers are a weird team. Can’t quite figure them out.

And Lafreniere is the most underwhelming first overall pick since…? Yakupov? And Kakko is the most underwhelming second overall pick since… Murray? Nolan Patrick is the obviously answer but Patrick has had a brutal run of luck with injuries.

Drafts are so weird. That 2012 draft was abysmal and has an argument for the worst top 10 of all time and then 2013 starts off with MacKinnon and Barkov.
 
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Langway said:
Eh, I dunno. Check their schedule so far. The Caps are the only playoff team from last season they've played. 2x DET, ANA, SJS, NYI, PHI. A lot of bottomfeeders. They're good. Competitive. I don't know just how good goaltending will get and for all of their pace/skill I don't know that they possess the balance to check/defend against more fortified, mature vet playoff teams. Out of the NJD/BUF/OTT/DET group they're the most dangerous but I'm not sure any of that group is ready just yet unless an incumbent team gets seriously hit by injuries.

If they can manage to keep up that xG% pace in another month maybe but I wouldn't put too much stock in what they've accomplished against a pretty soft schedule. It maybe suggests they're right there as playoff material but we need way more data still and fundamentally I think it's more likely a bit of smoke & mirrors.
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Yet very few other teams have done what they have done despite plenty of teams having butter soft 7 game stretches. It’s noteworthy. All of the other teams that accomplished what NJ has done over these 7 games have made the postseason and many went deep. I don’t think we can just handwave that away because they don’t fit a typical playoff team profile or because Jack Hughes is 160 pounds soaking wet.

I don’t know that they’ll be at the top of the division but it sure seems like NJ is going to be a team that will be in the mix at the very least. That’s not great for Washington when CAR, PIT, and NYR are all in the same division as well.
 
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