Salary Cap: The Salary Cap Thread | Trust me... nothing has changed.

[Speaking Moistly]

What happens with Rinne and Bobrovsky this year will be interesting. I think that run was Rinne's last hurrah and Columbus seems to need Bob healthy and performing at an elite level. Goalies in general this season. Murray needs to be healthy, Edmonton played the **** out of Talbot last season, Anderson is old and was a beast for their run, Calgary and Smith is meh at best imo, Andersen can't falter in Toronto, Carolina needs someone to be a reliably average starter, Winnipeg might have solved their problem, Vasilevsky is the starter now, Florida has an aging Luongo and Riemer, Bishop in Dallas, Lundqvist is getting older, Allen struggled last season and whatever the islanders are doing.

 

[Shady Machine]

Can we stop under rating our team?

we're on the verge of a damn dynasty, and maybe Dallas wouldn't trade rosters with us, are you freaking serious right now?

I also can't wait for the Nashville regression this year so people stop overhyping them.

Haha. Did you even read my post? Would you rather me say "we are the best and no other GM would even think twice about swapping rosters for just this season"?

 

[Empoleon8771]

Uh. They were picked by like half the pundits to make the finals after the Subban trade.

No they weren't.

https://www.nhl.com/news/2016-2017-predictions-from-nhl-experts/c-282554762

They were picked by 1 expert to win the cup and picked by 6 to make the finals. There were 20 pundits. The Penguins were also only picked by 2 experts to win the cup and 4 to make the finals, so let's not act like these experts suddenly have some sort of credibility. Same below, there were only 3 of 10 who picked the Predators to make the finals, none of which picked them to win.

http://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/17766174/nhl-2016-17-season-preview-experts-predictions

Looking at this stuff makes it further emphasized why you shouldn't take experts opinions as laws. More "experts" had the Bolts winning the cup than them missing the playoffs. 10 of 20 experts picked the Bolts to win the cup, and another guy picked them to make the finals. 19 of 20 experts had them 1st in their division. Same with the ESPN one, all 10 pundits had the Lightning winning the Atlantic, 6 had them winning the cup and 7 had them make the finals.

They have the best roster in the league after us. Rinne is their weak point.

No they don't.

Also, they pretty much outplayed us in the series outside Game 4 and 5.

They outplayed the Penguins in a series where the Penguins didn't have Letang and still lost.

 

[Gurglesons]

Nashville's center depth last year was nothing to write home about. After Johansen went down they had a now retired Mike Fisher and a fluky playoff run Scissons as their next best two centers.

IMO, that could cause them problems going forward, especially if Rinne doesn't play out of his mind like he did the first 3 rounds.

Not even going to bring up Bones.

They have two top ten defensemen and I'd argue if they keep Ekholm and Ellis, four in the top twenty. They have a solid top nine and if they bring in a Duchene, I'd argue they are cup favorites.

 

[Shady Machine]

Nashville's center depth last year was nothing to write home about. After Johansen went down they had a now retired Mike Fisher and a fluky playoff run Scissons as their next best two centers.

IMO, that could cause them problems going forward, especially if Rinne doesn't play out of his mind like he did the first 3 rounds.

Yup it could which is why they signed Bones. Quality top 6 centers is their issue but they have a lot of the other pieces. I'd prefer our roster for sure, but they weren't a fluke.

 

[Jenkins]

Uh. They were picked by like half the pundits to make the finals after the Subban trade.

They have the best roster in the league after us. Rinne is their weak point.

Also, they pretty much outplayed us in the series outside Game 4 and 5.

Nashville has the second best roster in the league?

We averaged over 4 goals a game in our wins (game 1,2,5,6). That's huge. We were the better team.

 

[Shady Machine]

Nashville has the second best roster in the league?

We averaged over 4 goals a game in our wins (game 1,2,5,6). That's huge. We were the better team.

Yet it was still a close series where those goals came in flurrys within a few minutes.

Pixies said we were better so not sure your point

 

[Gurglesons]

No they weren't.

https://www.nhl.com/news/2016-2017-predictions-from-nhl-experts/c-282554762

They were picked by 1 expert to win the cup and picked by 6 to make the finals. There were 20 pundits. The Penguins were also only picked by 2 experts to win the cup and 4 to make the finals, so let's not act like these experts suddenly have some sort of credibility. Same below, there were only 3 of 10 who picked the Predators to make the finals, none of which picked them to win.

http://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/17766174/nhl-2016-17-season-preview-experts-predictions



No they don't.



They outplayed the Penguins in a series where the Penguins didn't have Letang and still lost.

A bunch of people like Marek and MacLean had them making the finals too.

Also, they were missing RyJo.

 

[Shady Machine]

A bunch of people like Marek and MacLean had them making the finals too.

Also, they were missing RyJo.

And Fiala who I think is going to be a good player soon

 

[Empoleon8771]

A bunch of people like Marek and MacLean had them making the finals too.

That doesn't disprove my retort. It also doesn't disprove that experts are usually wrong when talking in October.

Also, they were missing RyJo.

Johansen wasn't the reason they lost that series. Adding Letang and Johansen back to each team and the Penguins win in an even more convincing way.

 

[Shady Machine]

Emp, pixies point is obvious and I have no idea why you aren't getting it. People are trying to paint Nashville as a fluke yet many pundits in September picked them to make the finals, which means they weren't some Cinderella team out of nowhere. It's a very good roster and they were expected to contend. The got off to a terrible start and finally got things together down the stretch. That doesn't mean they won't regress this year in that crazy competitive division.

 

[Jenkins]

Yet it was still a close series where those goals came in flurrys within a few minutes.

Pixies said we were better so not sure your point

Pixie did not say that in that post. They said we were outplayed expect games 4 and 5 which would suggest Nashville was better.

 

[Gurglesons]

Pixie did not say that in that post. They said we were outplayed expect games 4 and 5 which would suggest Nashville was better.

Statistically they crushed us.

 

[Jenkins]

Statistically they crushed us.

We scored 46% more goals than them.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Emp, pixies point is obvious and I have no idea why you aren't getting it. People are trying to paint Nashville as a fluke yet many pundits in September picked them to make the finals, which means they weren't some Cinderella team out of nowhere. It's a very good roster and they were expected to contend. The got off to a terrible start and finally got things together down the stretch. That doesn't mean they won't regress this year in that crazy competitive division.

And many pundits had Tampa Bay winning a cup last year, which they followed up on by missing the playoffs. What pundits say is mostly irrelevant, because pundits get stuff wrong regularly.

What pundits said in October isn't a better indicator of how good a team actually is than what they did in an entire season. There was really no point in time last season where they were anything special, they had a terrible start to last year but they weren't much better after that start. Yeah, they started out the season with 38 points in 36 games, which isn't good. They also only finished the season with 56 points in the last 46 games, which would be the 9th highest winning percentage in hockey. This isn't a team that was a cellar dweller to start the season and then turned into a powerhouse, it was a mediocre team that got hot in January and February and then went back to mediocre, and then they got hot in the playoffs.

 

[Gurglesons]

We scored 46% more goals than them.

We won the series.

https://images.contentful.com/jbaou...e9459d865e6e8e7a4041dbc2b23/Game_6_Recap.jpeg

Here is a statistical break down of the series.

Let's also not pretend Nashville was subject to two extremely questionable calls in probably the two most important games in the series.

But, whatever. Statistics don't matter here. As is evident when I demonstrated that Bonino is a top point performer for the amount of defensive zone play he receives in terms of 3C, but Bonino is bad because we watched him and he was bad once!

Group think at its finest on this forum. I remember how half of you felt about Kris Letang until he put up a Conn Smythe run. It is almost like, the players that play defensive starts like Bonino, Maatta, and Fehr look bad on the ice because they are not meant to generate points. Woah!

 

[Gurglesons]

And many pundits had Tampa Bay winning a cup last year, which they followed up on by missing the playoffs. What pundits say is mostly irrelevant, because pundits get stuff wrong regularly.

What pundits said in October isn't a better indicator of how good a team actually is than what they did in an entire season. There was really no point in time last season where they were anything special, they had a terrible start to last year but they weren't much better after that start. Yeah, they started out the season with 38 points in 36 games, which isn't good. They also only finished the season with 56 points in the last 46 games, which would be the 9th highest winning percentage in hockey. This isn't a team that was a cellar dwellar to start the season and then turned into a powerhouse, it was a mediocre team that got hot in January and February and then went back to mediocre, and then they got hot in the playoffs.

Yeah, go look at who was injured and why that was.

Once again demonstrating you watch the Penguins and have little idea on what is going on in regards to the rest of the league.

 

[NeedleInTheHay]

Haha. Did you even read my post? Would you rather me say "we are the best and no other GM would even think twice about swapping rosters for just this season"?

Yes, you said 4 teams might not switch rosters with us this year which is absurd.

 

[Gurglesons]

Yes, you said 4 teams might not switch rosters with us this year which is absurd.

It is only absurd on this forum. Toronto and Edmonton with their forward groups and their age would definitely think about it.

I think you can argue that Toronto has the better top 9 this year. Obviously, the depends on who we bring in as our 3C.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

Not even going to bring up Bones.

He's essentially replacing Mike Fisher. Considering Fisher outscored Bonino last year, I'm not sure how much of an upgrade that is. More like a lateral move.

Their center depth is still one of the poorer ones among the teams expected to challenge for the Cup.

They have two top ten defensemen and I'd argue if they keep Ekholm and Ellis, four in the top twenty. They have a solid top nine and if they bring in a Duchene, I'd argue they are cup favorites.

Well yeah, I didn't say anything negative about their defense. In fact, their defense is the reason they're good. Because otherwise, they have mediocre center depth and a goalie who hasn't been consistently elite for about 4 seasons.

As for the Duchene part, you could say that about a few teams, including the Pens. But we can't exactly judge a roster based on a trade that hasn't even happened yet.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Yeah, go look at who was injured and why that was.

They're not actually that good of a team if injuries prevent them from making the playoffs. The Penguins once won their division and finished with 106 points in a season where Crosby and Malkin missed over 80 games. If they fall from "cup favorite" to not a playoff team because of injuries, they were never the cup favorite.

Once again demonstrating you watch the Penguins and have little idea on what is going on in regards to the rest of the league.

Again, says the guy who would trade Jake Guentzel and a 1st for Sam Bennett. Based on your past posts, you're in the frailest of glass houses to throw around crap like this.

What do you think this even proves, anyway? Because it doesn't disprove the fact that the Predators stumbled into the playoffs with a 9-7-3 record in their last 19 games. It doesn't change the fact that they went 25-21-9 outside of January and February last year, where they went 16-8-3 in 27 games. With the Lightning, it doesn't disprove the fact that teams don't go from cup favorites to outside of the playoffs just because they lose their 1C for 60 games.

 

[Riptide]

Why does anyone think JR won't bring in an adequate 3C? He is gunning for 3 cups in a row. That's a monumental achievement and pretty much impossible in this era. That's a huge motivation.

If I was going to worry about something I'd lean towards the other direction. What is he going to give up before the deadline to try and stack this team? He'll never be in this position again (I do think he'll be smart though).

He's been pretty vocal about not giving up the future for a short term solution. So while he's going to have to give up something, as long as he's not going big game hunting (aka Duchene/RNH), I'm not all that worried about him trading pieces I'd rather him not trade (Guentzel, Sheary, Sprong, Rust).

The one thing that scares me with Duchene is JR has made an offer (allegedly) that was two of Sheary, Sprong and Guentzel plus a 1st and it was turned down.
EDIT: This was at the deadline not this off-season.

Word was, that's what Colorado was looking for - in addition to Maatta I believe. But I don't think that Rutherford had actually offered 2 of those players (Guentzel, Sheary, Sprong).

you mean the same year that they brought in Schultz to replace him?

To be fair, most of us were complaining about that move at the time. Not based on the cost for Schultz - that was a good move, but the fact that he basically pretty much replaced Pouliot who was playing pretty well at the time.

Pouliot has proven he is at best a #6 which is more than Dea, Simon, and Blueger have proven.

You mean was, not is. At the time he was looking like a decent #6 with upside. He hasn't looked like that since - unfortunately. Or if he has, it's one that needs to be sheltered like crazy. And with what we saw last season, I don't think regular icetime or minutes changes much of that. It might, and this season might finally be the season he "gets it" and it might not.

 

[Gurglesons]

They're not actually that good of a team if injuries prevent them from making the playoffs. The Penguins once won their division and finished with 106 points in a season where Crosby and Malkin missed over 80 games. If they fall from "cup favorite" to not a playoff team because of injuries, they were never the cup favorite.



Again, says the guy who would trade Jake Guentzel and a 1st for Sam Bennett. Based on your past posts, you're in the frailest of glass houses to throw around crap like this.

The Preds haven't missed the playoffs since Lavy came in.

They are making the playoffs next year. Saying they were expected to make the dance doesn't mean they are cup favorites.

 

[ColePens]

I wouldn't trade Sid alone for the entire nashville roster. Just saying.

 

[Gurglesons]

I wouldn't trade Sid alone for the entire nashville roster. Just saying.

Is saying that Nashville wasn't a cinderella team implying that?

We are lucky we won this year in the finals and judging by half of you wanting to jump off a bridge after game 4, surprising to hear how we "crushed" the Preds. We coasted until game 5 and Murray and Crosby stepped up an won us a cup

No wonder I was able to get tickets to game 5 for less than 350.

Jesus, you guys sure got arrogant over the last two wins. This is the reason I hate talking to Pens fans at games sometimes, because they are arrogant as **** and deserve half the comments they get.