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

[Ridley Simon]

I find Carlson's rating fair for him at this point in his career?

I do not. Guy played more minutes than like everyone, and carried the team to the playoffs.

There aren’t 25-30 (or whatever it was) D-men better than him.

I feel like goalies have become like RBs in the NFL in some aspects. Nobody wants to pay a massive number.

Not long term. I don’t think the AAV is the issue. It’s the term. G’s are so hit and miss. 8yrs is far too long. Even 5 is hard.

2-3yrs? Yeah, the Rags G should get 11m a year. But not for 5+ yrs?

Agreed, and I think it's for a similar reason -- they very often lack shelf life. In the NHL where contracts are guaranteed, it's even more crucial. If a great goalie wants top money for 4 years, let's talk. But just like every other position, when the time comes for them to get paid, they want the term, too. So it's not the dollar figure teams are balking at, in my opinion. It's that they want the huge money AND max term, which I'm not sure has ever really worked out super great for the teams in question.

Yeah. What he said!

 

[trick9]

I feel like goalies have become like RBs in the NFL in some aspects. Nobody wants to pay a massive number.

Starting goalies play less and less now. Decade ago Caps had Holtby playing 73 games and finishing with .923 SV% and 2.22 GAA. That's over 89% of the regular season. Jonathan Quick played 72 games that season.

Alexander Georgiev and Juuse Saros were the workhorses last season, playing 63 and 64 games but they were both ass last season. Georgiev didn't even have .900 SV%, he finished with .897. Connor Hellebuyck was the elite workhorse and he played 60 games. That's 'only' 73% of the regular season. But at this stage you really can't compare Hellebuyck to Swayman. Hellebuyck is the rare elite goalie that can plays a lot of games these days and not have his numbers nosedive, whereas Swayman has mostly played soft-minutes split with Ullmark and his career-high is 44 games. How much his numbers are going to drop when he takes the jump from 44 games to ~60 games? It's likely that his numbers will dive some, because now that he's the starting goalie, he mostly plays the toughest match-up's too, and his backup gets the Sharks, Blackhawks and teams like that who Swayman has feasted against. 2 of his 3 shutouts last season were against Sharks and Blackhawks.

 

[hb13xchamps]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1841862028505342117

The NHL loves to get the fans riled up with Vegas and LTIR

 

[895]

It's more of a favour to Lehner than it is to Vegas.

Vegas had the right to terminate the cap hit and the salary when he didn't show up for his physical.

Likely the NHLPA stepped in and lobbied for Lehner and Vegas is a rich club so decided to make it go away by paying him anyway. as long as they as they got their LTIR cap relief.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

It's more of a favour to Lehner than it is to Vegas.

Vegas had the right to terminate the cap hit and the salary when he didn't show up for his physical.

Likely the NHLPA stepped in and lobbied for Lehner and Vegas is a rich club so decided to make it go away by paying him anyway. as long as they as they got their LTIR cap relief.

I’m not so sure it was as easy as you’re making it sound…..


Lehner did not report to training camp for a mandatory physical -- which is required by the collective bargaining agreement for players on long-term injured reserve (LTIR) -- but sources told ESPN there was a specific reason the goalie could not be in Vegas, which the team, league and players' association were all aware of. Given the sensitive nature of Lehner's situation, league sources called it an "unprecedented and highly unique" case.

Sources: Vegas to pay Lehner without cap hit

A resolution between the Golden Knights and Robin Lehner will pay the goaltender $4.4 million for this season, but he will not count against Vegas' salary cap, sources told ESPN.

www.espn.com

 

[Langway]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1841637737545261196

Beauty hit. The pre-season is definitely too long. Established players half-assing it and plugs getting a chance to make a name for themselves results in situations like that one.

As for buy and sell, I'm buying NJD, UTA and maybe NSH...prob softly selling CAR and maybe even our dear Cappies if goaltending doesn't solidify. Maybe BOS if the Swayman noise has an ill effect. LAK without Doughty seems like a rough situation unless Clarke takes a massive step forward. Those are the ones that stick out the most at the moment, although I can't say I've followed pre-season action closely at all.

 

[DWGie26]

We are so fortunate on our Goalie Cap hit this year at less than $2M total. That won’t be the case next year because one of those goalies is going to sign a “long term” agreement with Caps. I suspect they will only look to sign one of them because both would be too much Cap hit. And Clay is on a one-way deal next year although he can be buried in Hershey.

 

[McVechkin]

What am I missing here.. is there a regular season game in Europe tomorrow bebteen NJ and Buff? And NJ is also playing a preseason game in Philly tonight?

 

[twabby]

What am I missing here.. is there a regular season game in Europe tomorrow bebteen NJ and Buff? And NJ is also playing a preseason game in Philly tonight?

That's the NHL for ya. The same league releasing NFTs in the year of our lord 2024, the same league that still thinks fighting is good, and the same league that puts games on the NHL Network so a grand total of 15 people can watch!

 

[stephenball]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1841637737545261196

As for buy and sell, I'm buying NJD, UTA and maybe NSH...prob softly selling CAR and maybe even our dear Cappies if goaltending doesn't solidify. Maybe BOS if the Swayman noise has an ill effect. LAK without Doughty seems like a rough situation unless Clarke takes a massive step forward. Those are the ones that stick out the most at the moment, although I can't say I've followed pre-season action closely at all.

The Doughty injury is such a huge deal for the Kings. That’s not a guy you can just replace in a lineup, he plays so much.

Honestly there’s a lot of talk about the Caps post Ovechkin era coming up, but I don’t think we’re prepared for the eventual post Carlson era

 

[qc14]

It's more of a favour to Lehner than it is to Vegas.

Vegas had the right to terminate the cap hit and the salary when he didn't show up for his physical.

Likely the NHLPA stepped in and lobbied for Lehner and Vegas is a rich club so decided to make it go away by paying him anyway. as long as they as they got their LTIR cap relief.

This is where I'm at too. There's nothing the NHL and Bettman especially hates more than money outside the cap system. Will wait for the next 32 Thoughts though for more details.

I feel like teams (and by extension the league) have been getting a lot bolder with contract terminations in the past year -- Perry, Johansen, and now Lehner have been pretty unilateral decisions too. Flexing their muscles and sending a message to the PA before CBA negotiations start up again maybe?

 

[Ridley Simon]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1841862028505342117

The NHL loves to get the fans riled up with Vegas and LTIR

So effing typical. Vegas signs a terrible contract, and somehow escapes it.

So so so so bad

 

[Ridley Simon]

That's the NHL for ya. The same league releasing NFTs in the year of our lord 2024, the same league that still thinks fighting is good, and the same league that puts games on the NHL Network so a grand total of 15 people can watch!

Not that you’d watch any of it, so…..

 

[um]

So effing typical. Vegas signs a terrible contract, and somehow escapes it.

So so so so bad

Hard to complain when we got Backstrom and Oshie on LTIR.

We also got out of that retained salary on Kuznetsov.

 

[trick9]

Season starts today? With Lindy Ruff coaching both teams?

Might need to watch some hockey if i have time. I'd assume Beck Malenstyn is making his Sabres -debut.

 

[Langway]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1842195469344309503

Carolina projected that high and Boston/Vegas that low seems wild to me. Caps projected to pick 10th and miss by six points.

 

[Marshall]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1842195469344309503

Carolina projected that high and Boston/Vegas that low seems wild to me. Caps projected to pick 10th and miss by six points.

The thin Avs being that high surprises me as well.

 

[895]

We were very lucky to make it last year but I think we've improved so with average luck, we make it again.

 

[hb13xchamps]

Both Vegas and Lehner benefit from that ruling. Lehner gets paid while dealing with his mental health issues, which also helps with his bankruptcy filing. Vegas doesn’t look like an asshole for trying to terminate a players contract who has mental health issues and they get immediate relief from his cap hit. Colorado has to be pissed since they are dealing with Nichushkin

 

[qc14]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1842195469344309503

Carolina projected that high and Boston/Vegas that low seems wild to me. Caps projected to pick 10th and miss by six points.

I think a lot of the models really love CAR's depth adds and are very high (unreasonably so IMO) on their goaltending. Boston doesn't surprise me given how sneakily awful their underlying numbers were last year and going from the best goalie pairing in the league to (with Swayman unsigned) probably the worst. Vegas's goalies are very iffy as well and their group at wing might legit be the worst in the entire league even if their centers and defense are great.

With all of the models though I find it interesting to see who they project in the lineups and for how long. My guess is that EH might not have Swayman playing any games and only thinks Stone/Eichel are going to play 50 each.

Micah McCurdy's for example still has Oshie and Backstrom in the lineup for the Caps as his rule is he won't take anyone out without official word from the team (which I don't think is good or bad, just a choice you have to make when you build these things).

Most of the ones I've seen have the Caps between 85 and 90 points, which I think is probably about right. There are reasons to be optimistic and think they can be above that number, but models rely the most on past information about the process and man did the process stink last year.

Both Vegas and Lehner benefit from that ruling. Lehner gets paid while dealing with his mental health issues, which also helps with his bankruptcy filing. Vegas doesn’t look like an asshole for trying to terminate a players contract who has mental health issues and they get immediate relief from his cap hit. Colorado has to be pissed since they are dealing with Nichushkin

Sources: Vegas to pay Lehner without cap hit

A resolution between the Golden Knights and Robin Lehner will pay the goaltender $4.4 million for this season, but he will not count against Vegas' salary cap, sources told ESPN.

www.espn.com

This certainly doesn't clear anything up ... couldn't be in Vegas because of his gambling debts maybe??

 

[hb13xchamps]

I think a lot of the models really love CAR's depth adds and are very high (unreasonably so IMO) on their goaltending. Boston doesn't surprise me given how sneakily awful their underlying numbers were last year and going from the best goalie pairing in the league to (with Swayman unsigned) probably the worst. Vegas's goalies are very iffy as well and their group at wing might legit be the worst in the entire league even if their centers and defense are great.

With all of the models though I find it interesting to see who they project in the lineups and for how long. My guess is that EH might not have Swayman playing any games and only thinks Stone/Eichel are going to play 50 each.

Micah McCurdy's for example still has Oshie and Backstrom in the lineup for the Caps as his rule is he won't take anyone out without official word from the team (which I don't think is good or bad, just a choice you have to make when you build these things).

Most of the ones I've seen have the Caps between 85 and 90 points, which I think is probably about right. There are reasons to be optimistic and think they can be above that number, but models rely the most on past information about the process and man did the process stink last year.

Sources: Vegas to pay Lehner without cap hit

A resolution between the Golden Knights and Robin Lehner will pay the goaltender $4.4 million for this season, but he will not count against Vegas' salary cap, sources told ESPN.

www.espn.com

This certainly doesn't clear anything up ... couldn't be in Vegas because of his gambling debts maybe??

Friedman wasn’t very specific and didn’t share a ton of details in 32 thoughts today. He purposely held his tongue IMO so I wouldn’t doubt there’s more to the story. He specifically mentioned Colorado and said other teams are going to be mad about this ruling too. It sets a bad precedent for the res off the league and the NHL is calling this a “unique situation” which is vague.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

It’s a private league…./shrug…..they’re gonna do what they want to.