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

[Calicaps]

I'm not watching NHL these days nearly as much as I've done in the past but, while occasionally stumbling upon ESPN broadcasts through these couple of years, I couldn't shake the feeling I thought I'd never have...man I miss NBC. I miss Doc and Pierre. I don't care who they rooted for and how biased they were - they were hockey guys through and through. Knew their shit and made it entertaining.

These dudes on ESPN make hockey feel like I'm drinking sand in Sahara. Unwatchable shit. I don't know how you spend that much money on hockey rights and deliver such an amateurish product. Their insiders are the slowest cats in the country, CNN breaking trade news on my feed before they do.
The NHL sold it's soul with that deal.

It's an embarrassment. Truly awful.

 

[Calicaps]

nah, they know what they did. It was slipped under NHL related press release after press release....

Trash handling of a trash decision and they deserve criticism for it. It could have been any old time since most coaching/GM spots are well locked up by draft time, this was a blatant attempt to skirt attention.

This. It's not a conspiracy theory. It's PR 101.

 

[Calicaps]

The Kraken are terribly managed, but this is cool:

https://x.com/i/web/status/1808562254272450823

 

[Ridley Simon]

I hope she does great.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Former NHL Executive: 'I Think Joel Quenneville Goes To The Front of The List Of Every Team That Is Looking For A Head Coach' — The Hockey News

Should the Columbus Blue Jackets take a chance on Quenneville after taking a similar risk last year on Mike Babcock?

apple.news

Former NHL Executive: 'I Think Joel Quenneville Goes To The Front of The List Of Every Team That Is Looking For A Head Coach'




Where’s my popcorn…

 

[Calicaps]

Former NHL Executive: 'I Think Joel Quenneville Goes To The Front of The List Of Every Team That Is Looking For A Head Coach' — The Hockey News

Should the Columbus Blue Jackets take a chance on Quenneville after taking a similar risk last year on Mike Babcock?

apple.news

Former NHL Executive: 'I Think Joel Quenneville Goes To The Front of The List Of Every Team That Is Looking For A Head Coach'




Where’s my popcorn…

Worked out great when CBJ hired Babcock. I'm sure this will be fine.

 

[Calicaps]

All the talking heads falling all over themselves to praise Trotz for his free agency. Call me crazy, but I'm not sure locking up $13.5M in cap space for two 33+ year olds with NMCs for the next 4 years is so terrific. If it doesn't deliver a cup in the next couple of seasons, they could be hamstrung until 2030. As an all-in move I guess it makes some sense, but just because he got the biggest names doesn't mean he got the right mix. I dunno.

 

[Kalopsia]

All the talking heads falling all over themselves to praise Trotz for his free agency. Call me crazy, but I'm not sure locking up $13.5M in cap space for two 33+ year olds with NMCs for the next 4 years is so terrific. If it doesn't deliver a cup in the next couple of seasons, they could be hamstrung until 2030. As an all-in move I guess it makes some sense, but just because he got the biggest names doesn't mean he got the right mix. I dunno.

Yeah, those moves seem odd to me. Their two stars are right-shot sniper Forsberg and left-shot offensive defenseman Josi. As their all-in move, they go out and get two more right-shot snipers in Stamkos and Marchessault and a left-shot offensive in Skjei. How do you fit those guys on the power play together? Meanwhile, their center depth is awful - 33 year old Ryan O'Reilly is still a solid 1C (for now), but the depth after that is Tomas Novak, Colton Sissons, and Juuso Parssinen. Which one of those guys is gonna center Stamkos to another 40-40 season on the second line? They don't have a high-end center prospect beating down the door to the NHL either. The right side of the defense also looks very shaky to me with Carrier, Fabbro, and Schenn. Skjei's used to having Pesce as his partner doing the dirty work to let him focus on offense, so how productive will he be when he's playing with Carrier or Fabbro and getting second unit PP time with Novak and Sissons? It's just a really strange team construction. If O'Reilly goes down or takes a step back, what do they do?

 

[Calicaps]

Yeah, those moves seem odd to me. Their two stars are right-shot sniper Forsberg and left-shot offensive defenseman Josi. As their all-in move, they go out and get two more right-shot snipers in Stamkos and Marchessault and a left-shot offensive in Skjei. How do you fit those guys on the power play together? Meanwhile, their center depth is awful - 33 year old Ryan O'Reilly is still a solid 1C (for now), but the depth after that is Tomas Novak, Colton Sissons, and Juuso Parssinen. Which one of those guys is gonna center Stamkos to another 40-40 season on the second line? They don't have a high-end center prospect beating down the door to the NHL either. The right side of the defense also looks very shaky to me with Carrier, Fabbro, and Schenn. Skjei's used to having Pesce as his partner doing the dirty work to let him focus on offense, so how productive will he be when he's playing with Carrier or Fabbro and getting second unit PP time with Novak and Sissons? It's just a really strange team construction. If O'Reilly goes down or takes a step back, what do they do?

LOL! I forgot about the 7x$7 for Skej, also with a NMC. It's just, yeah...

 

[Jags]

It's just a really strange team construction.

I respect the hell outta Barry Trotz, but he never seemed like a GM to me. I was critical of his devout preference for veteran players as a coach, and now you look at what he's doing as a GM and it's the same thing. Lots of top-end talent with no structure or foundation to support it.

I could easily be wrong, but I agree that it looks like shoddy construction. Maybe the part that seems invisible right now will fall into place for them...

 

[Hivemind]

Yeah, those moves seem odd to me. Their two stars are right-shot sniper Forsberg and left-shot offensive defenseman Josi. As their all-in move, they go out and get two more right-shot snipers in Stamkos and Marchessault and a left-shot offensive in Skjei. How do you fit those guys on the power play together? Meanwhile, their center depth is awful - 33 year old Ryan O'Reilly is still a solid 1C (for now), but the depth after that is Tomas Novak, Colton Sissons, and Juuso Parssinen. Which one of those guys is gonna center Stamkos to another 40-40 season on the second line? They don't have a high-end center prospect beating down the door to the NHL either. The right side of the defense also looks very shaky to me with Carrier, Fabbro, and Schenn. Skjei's used to having Pesce as his partner doing the dirty work to let him focus on offense, so how productive will he be when he's playing with Carrier or Fabbro and getting second unit PP time with Novak and Sissons? It's just a really strange team construction. If O'Reilly goes down or takes a step back, what do they do?

I wouldn't call Skjei a primarily offensive defenseman, and definitely not one that is reliant on the powerplay. 2023-24 was his first real year on the powerplay in his career, and while that did boost his overall point totals to 47, he had 38 and 39 points in the two years before that with very little powerplay time. So his production can be fine on PP2. Skjei's no slouch on D, either, and so long as Nashville gives him a better D-partner than Tony DeAngelo he should be fine. Yes, he had a good primary partner in Brett Pesce last year, but Skjei also did well in the period of time he was paired with Orlov (with Skjei playing his off-side at RD, no less).


I think the Skjei contract is likely to age poorly, that's for sure. But Trotz and Nashville seem to be going all-in on the next 2 seasons and trying to make as much noise as they can while Forsberg, Josi, and O'Reilly still have some tread left. Fabbro and Nyquist are their only UFAs after this year (and they gain back the $4M in retained cap from RyJo after this season to help them keep those players), so they should get 2 runs at it before having to make shake-ups. It's a bold move for sure, but if that's the play they're going with, it's hard to imagine doing better in one off-season than they did.

 

[HeyMattyB]

All the talking heads falling all over themselves to praise Trotz for his free agency. Call me crazy, but I'm not sure locking up $13.5M in cap space for two 33+ year olds with NMCs for the next 4 years is so terrific. If it doesn't deliver a cup in the next couple of seasons, they could be hamstrung until 2030. As an all-in move I guess it makes some sense, but just because he got the biggest names doesn't mean he got the right mix. I dunno.

 

[John Price]

 

[ClevelandCapsfan]

Victory for Stars fans: The Dallas Stars are breaking up with Bally Sports and plan to launch their own in-market streaming service, called Victory+. But instead of requiring yet another subscription, the service will be free with ads. While some major sports teams already make their games free with an antenna, this is the first time I've seen one opt for free streaming. More of this, please.

 

[bacchist]

All the talking heads falling all over themselves to praise Trotz for his free agency. Call me crazy, but I'm not sure locking up $13.5M in cap space for two 33+ year olds with NMCs for the next 4 years is so terrific. If it doesn't deliver a cup in the next couple of seasons, they could be hamstrung until 2030. As an all-in move I guess it makes some sense, but just because he got the biggest names doesn't mean he got the right mix. I dunno.

Yeah. Look at the Dubois situation. The Kings made a splashy move to bring him on board when they already had a pair of top 6 centers. It was a move, but it definitely wasn't the move, and we're going to reap the benefits. Sometimes bold moves are rewarded, but they're not without risk.

 

[trick9]

Signing Byfield to a 5-year contract that expires when he's 26 year old UFA is certainly something.

Good thing they spent whatever cap savings they got for it on Joel Edmundson.

Once again. I can't believe Rob Blake still has a job.

 

[ClevelandCapsfan]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1813238261487202471

 

[Calicaps]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1813238261487202471

the most shocking part of this for me is that baseball and basketball have the same revenue.

 

[g00n]

the most shocking part of this for me is that baseball and basketball have the same revenue.

For me it's the percentage of NHL revenue from on-site sources (tickets, concessions, parking combined). More than half of NHL revenue is from these sources.

No wonder the pandemic was so destructive to the league.

They need a better TV deal. Surprised they stick by Bettman for so long with such a dangerously lopsided distribution.

 

[ClevelandCapsfan]

For me it's the percentage of NHL revenue from on-site sources (tickets, concessions, parking combined). More than half of NHL revenue is from these sources.

No wonder the pandemic was so destructive to the league.

They need a better TV deal. Surprised they stick by Bettman for so long with such a dangerously lopsided distribution.

Agree the NHL national broadcast revenues are dwarfed by the other sports. Remember, it was even a much smaller share of the pie before the deal with ESPN.

 

[895]

I think the NHL is inherently at a disadvantage. I'm not sure it's Bettman's fault. He tried to grow the sport but some places just don't want hockey.

Too expensive to play, puck too hard to see on screen, not as much personal drama, etc, etc.

Personally I don't really care how much the NHL makes or how popular the sport it. Doesn't affect or impact my own enjoyment of it.

 

[Ridley Simon]

I think the NHL is inherently at a disadvantage. I'm not sure it's Bettman's fault. He tried to grow the sport but some places just don't want hockey.

Too expensive to play, puck too hard to see on screen, not as much personal drama, etc, etc.

Personally I don't really care how much the NHL makes or how popular the sport it. Doesn't affect or impact my own enjoyment of it.

Only reason that I DO care, is simply for longevity and league health. Which isn’t a small thing

 

[um]

As a person living in Toronto... You don't want the NHL to get too popular. Ticket prices are brutal.

 

[Langway]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1815456818505933072

 

[Calicaps]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1815456818505933072

what a deeply weird pic they chose.