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League News: NHL Talk - (News n' Scores n' Stuff) | 2024-25 Summer Edition

Only thing that would make the current Pens suckitude better is if Crosby decides he doesn't want to play for a loser and requests a trade.
 
Random schmoe said:
Only thing that would make the current Pens suckitude better is if Crosby decides he doesn't want to play for a loser and requests a trade.
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0.0000001% that ever happens come on lol….he’s not trading his legacy following Mario in Pittsburgh for a few chances at another Cup run.
 
qc14 said:
Honestly I think most people were the correct level of skeptical on the offseason adds. Where I think the real miss was (myself included!) is thinking that the base from last year was any good to build off of. It really was Forsberg, Josi, Saros, and a bunch of nobodies. Gus Nyquist had 75 points at 34 years old! Colton Sissons was their 4th most utilized forward!
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Sissons is pretty solid though. At least he was the last two years. This has just been a total team collapse across the board, even among their (relatively) younger guys:

FF (30) went 48 goals, 94 points but on pace for 20 goals, 67 points
Novak (27) went 18 goals, 45 points last year but on pace for 12 goals, 15 points
Evangelista (22) went 16 goals, 39 points last year but on pace for 6 goals, 31 points
Tomasino (23; prior to trade) went 7 goals, 20 points last year in 40 games but was on pace for 0 goals, 7 points [prior to the trade]
Sissons (31) went 15 goals, 35 points but on pace for 6 goals, 6 points (no assists so far).

And for completeness:
ROR (33) went 26 goals, 69 points but on pace for 16 goals, 44 points
Nyquist (35) went 23 goals, 75 points but on pace for 17 goals, 29 points
[all on pace figures assume 82 games played and all age figures use hockey-reference season age]

The age of guys like ROR, Nyquist along with Marchessault, Stamkos made me skeptical that they would improve beyond 24-25, but I honestly did think they would be better in 24-25 alone adding Marchessault, Stamkos, and Skjei while losing McDonagh.

Stamkos and Marchessault are on pace right now to combine for about 35 goals. Both players had over 40 goals individually last year.

Yikes.
 
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Langway said:
Maybe Lavi should be worried. Rongos just took an L to Chicago. Very careless, listless hockey they're playing. Not exactly shocking after all of the distractions lately I guess. Can't unring that bell.
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Yeah, I've been watching their last few games, and the listlessness and lack of compete is just bizarre. Last night, a shift or two after flipping a feckless shot on net while he was all alone on the doorstep, Zibanjead whiffs on a rim pass behind his net, and just kinda stares off into space while the guy he coulda tied up to make up for his mistake is wide open at the net and bangs in a pass from Hall. Miller stares skyward after coughing up the puck, and the Hawks go 2 on 1 the other way for the GWG while he finishes sighing.

It's like they're engaged in quiet quitting or something. Whatever it is, the league seems to have figured out that it doesn't take very much to out-work the Rangers, and they'll give you plenty of high-danger scoring chances when you do.
 
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Absolutely no chance Crosby is ever not a Penguin. This “wanting to win a cup” thing would hold more water if he didn’t already have three. He’ll retire a Penguin. Pretty nice for Pens fans to have two of the like, top 10 players in league history play only for them (although obviously for them it would have been preferable to have Mario play more games).
 
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CapitalsCupReality said:
That must rank as a top-10 all-time worst trade for us right?
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We didn't really give up that much. That's what saves it for me.

1st round pick plus Zach Sanford (IIRC, the condition for the additional second was not met). Sanford was an okay 3rd/4th liner for a couple years but not a major loss, and the Blues didn't even end up using the pick as they traded it to Philly for Schenn.

Flyers used the pick on Morgan Frost who is solid but not spectacular.
 
Kazer said:
We didn't really give up that much. That's what saves it for me.

1st round pick plus Zach Sanford (IIRC, the condition for the additional second was not met). Sanford was an okay 3rd/4th liner for a couple years but not a major loss, and the Blues didn't even end up using the pick as they traded it to Philly for Schenn.

Flyers used the pick on Morgan Frost who is solid but not spectacular.
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I’d take Frost lol….

Sanford, 1st, conditional 2nd-7th….

Not sure where the conditional ended up landing….

Still top-10 worst for us IMO.
 
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I think that was the one where the Caps were cruising to a high seed finish and management asked Ovie if he thought they should add and he said yes.

Seemed like a good idea at the time. 🤷‍♂️
 
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Kazer said:
Sissons is pretty solid though. At least he was the last two years. This has just been a total team collapse across the board, even among their (relatively) younger guys:

FF (30) went 48 goals, 94 points but on pace for 20 goals, 67 points
Novak (27) went 18 goals, 45 points last year but on pace for 12 goals, 15 points
Evangelista (22) went 16 goals, 39 points last year but on pace for 6 goals, 31 points
Tomasino (23; prior to trade) went 7 goals, 20 points last year in 40 games but was on pace for 0 goals, 7 points [prior to the trade]
Sissons (31) went 15 goals, 35 points but on pace for 6 goals, 6 points (no assists so far).

And for completeness:
ROR (33) went 26 goals, 69 points but on pace for 16 goals, 44 points
Nyquist (35) went 23 goals, 75 points but on pace for 17 goals, 29 points
[all on pace figures assume 82 games played and all age figures use hockey-reference season age]

The age of guys like ROR, Nyquist along with Marchessault, Stamkos made me skeptical that they would improve beyond 24-25, but I honestly did think they would be better in 24-25 alone adding Marchessault, Stamkos, and Skjei while losing McDonagh.

Stamkos and Marchessault are on pace right now to combine for about 35 goals. Both players had over 40 goals individually last year.

Yikes.
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The turnaround from last season is pretty mind boggling. I would think most of it is psychological (not dissimilar to the Rangers).

I've always liked the Preds and especially Roman Josi. Certainly he's a player who I would love to see win a Cup but it's reaching the point where that's only going to happen if he gets traded.
 
Kazer said:
We didn't really give up that much. That's what saves it for me.

1st round pick plus Zach Sanford (IIRC, the condition for the additional second was not met). Sanford was an okay 3rd/4th liner for a couple years but not a major loss, and the Blues didn't even end up using the pick as they traded it to Philly for Schenn.

Flyers used the pick on Morgan Frost who is solid but not spectacular.
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I think Sanford is still playing up in the league maybe Mn? But always thought he had more Protas like potential with his size so no big deal loss for the caps.

Never heard of Frost.
 
usiel said:
I think Sanford is still playing up in the league maybe Mn? But always thought he had more Protas like potential with his size so no big deal loss for the caps.

Never heard of Frost.
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Chicago, and he doesn't appear to be able to get into that very thin line up playing down in Rockford for them currently
 
The way we are playing, we can very easily take the division. Canes... Meh. Rangers are a mess. Devils might have something, we shall see. Rest of the division is average.
 
tycoonheart said:
The way we are playing, we can very easily take the division. Canes... Meh. Rangers are a mess. Devils might have something, we shall see. Rest of the division is average.
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Canes are good. Devils are good. Rangers are also good, but lost (and may not find themselves in time to do anything).

Canes are the team I worry about the most. In our division.

Florida obviously overall in the East.
 
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We’ve been getting a lot of scoreboard help lately.

Also Bruins getting ripped apart by wpg wow
 
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usiel said:
I think Sanford is still playing up in the league maybe Mn? But always thought he had more Protas like potential with his size so no big deal loss for the caps.

Never heard of Frost.
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Here’s Frost tonight on a pretty nice feed from Michkov, who now has 27 pts in 27 GP

I think Philly could overtake the Rags in the WC race. Like last year, Torts has them playing tough hockey - they make you work (something NY’s “stars” seem incapable of doing).
 
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