Speculation: Roster Building Thread: Part LXVIII

[Oscar Lindberg]

The NHL is going to be set back half a decade cause Bettman and his cronies are waiting for some magic vaccine to appear so they can pack the arenas in early 2021

Not kicking off the season with the winter classic is downright stupid

 

[NYSPORTS]

I see very little chance that this team misses the playoffs with Panarin, Zibanejad, Kreider, Buch, Strome, Kakko, and even Lafreniere and Chytil spilling out of their top 6. And that's not even to mention the possibility of contributions from players like Gauthier, Howden taking a step forward, or Kravtsov making the leap. And with Shesterkin in net and a defense that can push the puck with probably nearly any team in the league.

Actually defending will remain a big problem until some of the left side D prospects become NHLers, but I don't think anyone is visualizing a team without holes that is ready to compete right now. But a lot of mediocre teams make the playoffs and the Rangers are absolutely not going to be mediocre when it comes to putting pucks in the net.

But if we do miss the playoffs and have one more sell off at the deadline (Strome, Buch, possibly ADA, possibly Georgiev), I won't complain.

Find that future center. Seems like a lot of D in the top 10, but a lot of Centers in the 10-15 range (McTavish, Sillinger, Johnson, Dean, Beniers, Eklund). So no lottery win required.

i’m excited.

can’t wait to see how this develops.

 

[True Blue]

Don’t think you fully comprehend how good Laf is.... he will be the second best player of his generation. Right behind McDavid.

He is not generational. Sorry. Can be a complete rock star and franchise cornerstone. But he is not generational. Those players come a long, well once in a generation.

The term is used with way too much ease around here.

 

[True Blue]

The NHL is going to be set back half a decade cause Bettman and his cronies are waiting for some magic vaccine to appear so they can pack the arenas in early 2021

Not kicking off the season with the winter classic is downright stupid

While I agree, but was this stated anywhere?

The winter classic should absolutely be the season kick off.

 

[East Coast Bias]

While I agree, but was this stated anywhere?

The winter classic should absolutely be the season kick off.

Postponed officially. Footnote about how this puts the Jan 1st season start date in question

NHL.com Media Site

 

[NYSPORTS]

The NHL is going to be set back half a decade cause Bettman and his cronies are waiting for some magic vaccine to appear so they can pack the arenas in early 2021

Not kicking off the season with the winter classic is downright stupid

imo, it’s going to come down to marketing. The NFL is marketing a subpar sloppy product. It’s pretend. 1/3 of the league is unwatchable and another 1/3 isn’t that good. The wild card weekends are still iffy and until the Division Round it’s not that good. Meanwhile, the NFL players are like celebrities.

IMO, NHL needs to market this league as the most skilled and competitive league on earth. Besides a repetitive GEICO commercial featuring the same player time and time and . . . again, get more faces out there. Market the players and the game. I think Bettman has taken this league as far as he can.

 

[bobbop]

Sutter a likely buyout w Virtanen signing

Stills good faceoff /pk C for 700k?

Definitely interested.