Official 2018-2019 NHL Thread - v. Free agents - frenzy and feast

[King Postwhore]

I told Gary to buy 2 hats for himself.  One to wear and one to keep at home.  Expensive but worth it.

[gmillerdrake]

Joe....you should probably just keep that Avatar well past Wednesday      It looks so good on you   

[KevShmev]

Blues avatars for everyone!! 

[Snow Dog]

Blues avatars for everyone!! 

Sure. I’ll play. 

[King Postwhore]

Thursday it is gone!  I'm a Patriots blue kind of guy. Lol

[KevShmev]

I thought that said, "Patriots blue kind of gay."



Not that there's anything wrong that...

[gmillerdrake]

My wife just walked in on me watching some more footage of the championship parade.....she says'..."Aren't you a bit sick of watching all of this yet?"

Ummm....What?      Absolutely freaking not. I will not rest until I've seen every bit of footage/pics/GIFS/memes etc etc multiple times....This will NEVER get old 

[KevShmev]

My wife just walked in on me watching some more footage of the championship parade.....she says'..."Aren't you a bit sick of watching all of this yet?"

Ummm....What?      Absolutely freaking not. I will not rest until I've seen every bit of footage/pics/GIFS/memes etc etc multiple times....This will NEVER get old 

You and me both.  I have already lost count at how many times I have watched each Blues goal from Game 7 and then the final seconds ticking away.  Like you said, it will never get old.  Ever.

[King Postwhore]

I thought that said, "Patriots blue kind of gay."



Not that there's anything wrong that...

I'll kiss you like Tom Brady and his son.

[jingle.boy]

Blues avatars for everyone!! 

Sure. I’ll play. 

[Snow Dog]

Blues avatars for everyone!! 

Sure. I’ll play. 

If only I could have gotten the gif to play through... 

“Gretzky had it, lost it... Yzerman, blue line chance...”

[KevShmev]

I'll kiss you like Tom Brady and his son.

Full tongue and all, eh?

“Gretzky had it, lost it... Yzerman, blue line chance...”

That play stings a lot less now.

[Snow Dog]

“Gretzky had it, lost it... Yzerman, blue line chance...”

That play stings a lot less now.

As it should. Just bustin’ balls. Sincerely happy for the Blues’ first Cup. 

[KevShmev]

“Gretzky had it, lost it... Yzerman, blue line chance...”

That play stings a lot less now.

As it should. Just bustin’ balls. Sincerely happy for the Blues’ first Cup. 

 

[TAC]

Um..not to change the subject...   



Erik Karlsson 8 @ 92???

Are you fucking kidding me??

[KevShmev]

Seems like an awful lot of years for a guy who is 29.

[TAC]

Seems like an awful lot of years for a guy who is 29.

..AND $$'S

[KevShmev]

That, too.

[TAC]

How do you build a team like that? That's literally 14% of their cap.

[jingle.boy]

Seems like an awful lot of years for a guy who is 29.

..AND $$'S

And recurring injuries.

[King Postwhore]

These kind of salaries put us real fans out of seeing multiple games. You'll have to hope a friend gets tickets from his corporate account.

[KevShmev]

These kind of salaries put us real fans out of seeing multiple games. You'll have to hope a friend gets tickets from his corporate account.

Sad but true. The only guy I know who managed to go to a game in the last two rounds only went because he knew someone who got them free tickets.  Lucky for him, it was Game 4, the one home game the Blues managed to win in the Finals.

As much as I would have loved to have gone to a Stanley Cup Finals game, shelling out 2-3 grand for a single game just ain't happening.

[TAC]

I went to a Finals game!












In 1988!

[Nick]

Seeing Karlsson's awful contract makes me feel a little less bad about the one Hayes signed in Philly last night, 7 years at 7.14m a year.

[jingle.boy]

The money is getting stupid, considering the rumours are the cap is gonna sit around $82M.  Balance has tipped too far to the players.  There aren't going to be many middle-of-the-road contract values anymore (ie, $3M-6M).  With the number of RFA's that want $9M+ (Marner is now talking $11M+ claiming Matthews is his comparable), the GMs need to get the expectations of these kids in check.  How can any team have 2 of the top 3 paid people in the entire league, for players that have never made it out of the 1st round (which would be the case if Dubas caves and signs Marner for over $11M)?  How can a guy like Laine - who had 1 good month last year - expect 50% more than Wheeler or Shieffle?  Point wants Kucherov money?  How about you have a Hart-calibre year first, pal?

Ugh... I really think these 21-year-olds are the epitome of what we think about entitled Millennials. To be so selfish to leave their team in the position where upwards of 1/2 have to be on entry level deals is going to cost the ENTIRE team's ability to win.  95+ points is pretty fuckin useless if you don't have an NHL calibre blue-line, or depth.  I think Boston and St. Louis pretty much proved that this year.

Someone said it earlier in the year, it's like Chicago for the past 5 years.  Sign Toews/Kane/Keith/Seabrook for all that money, and have peanuts left over to build a team around.

[pg1067]

These kind of salaries put us real fans out of seeing multiple games. You'll have to hope a friend gets tickets from his corporate account.

Sad but true. The only guy I know who managed to go to a game in the last two rounds only went because he knew someone who got them free tickets.  Lucky for him, it was Game 4, the one home game the Blues managed to win in the Finals.

As much as I would have loved to have gone to a Stanley Cup Finals game, shelling out 2-3 grand for a single game just ain't happening.

I think I spent about $2,500 going to the three Kings home games in 2012 ($600-something for game 3, $1,000-something for game 4, and $800-something for game 6).

But those prices have virtually nothing to do with how much the players are making.  The three tickets I bought had a combined face value under $500 (under $150 for the same seats during the regular season).  Everything else was secondary market mark-up.

That said, the escalating salaries -- combined with teams that can't even fill their buildings to 50% capacity (four of whom couldn't even SELL 80% of their home tickets last season) -- make me fear that we'll be seeing yet another lockout in the NHL's relatively near future.  But yeah...let's keep adding new teams.

[KevShmev]

Meanwhile, today is the 1-week anniversary of the Blues curb stomping the Bruins on their home ice and winning the Cup. 

[SchecterShredder]

The GMs are going to keep giving the young stars boat loads of money so long as the cap keeps increasing. Marner is going to get 10 or 11M. If Kevin Hayes is getting $7M for his 55pts, then Marner is going to make bank. If the Leafs won't pay that much, any number of other teams will. It sure sucks, but that's the reality. The Oilers are staring down a situation where they'll likely need to cough up $8M for Nugent-Hopkins. Is he worth it? Nope. Will they pay it? Yep.

[jingle.boy]

Yeah, well... there's a possibility this behaviour is also gonna create resentment amongst the Players / Association.  For example, if / when the Leafs can't afford to pay Kapanen and/or Johnson because Marner wants to be the 3rd $11M-man on the team, how do you think they're gonna feel about taking a deal below their value?  If/when one of those guys gets traded to a shit team that has tons of cap space, how do you think they're gonna feel.  Top talent is over-valuing themselves; middle talent is gonna pay that price.  It's already started in principal - Dubas can't have ANY conversations with anyone (potential UFAs or his own RFAs) until Marner's contract is concluded.

One would think players are willing to balance their own self interests (ie, salary) against the interests of the team (ie, Cup potential).  Marner demanding he be paid as a top-5 player in the league is not that balance.  It's completely selfish.  If these rumours are indeed his contract demands, and they end up putting the team back in the standings and/or ability to progress to at least the 2nd round, he's gonna go from fan-favorite, to (non-acronym) goat.

[TAC]

The Oilers are staring down a situation where they'll likely need to cough up $8M for Nugent-Hopkins. Is he worth it? Nope. Will they pay it? Yep.

Fuck him. Let him sit. He's not an $8 mil a year player.

The Leafs caved on Nylander.

Yeah, well... there's a possibility this behaviour is also gonna create resentment amongst the Players / Association.  For example, if / when the Leafs can't afford to pay Kapanen and/or Johnson because Marner wants to be the 3rd $11M-man on the team, how do you think they're gonna feel about taking a deal below their value?  If/when one of those guys gets traded to a shit team that has tons of cap space, how do you think they're gonna feel.  Top talent is over-valuing themselves; middle talent is gonna pay that price.  It's already started in principal - Dubas can't have ANY conversations with anyone (potential UFAs or his own RFAs) until Marner's contract is concluded.

One would think players are willing to balance their own self interests (ie, salary) against the interests of the team (ie, Cup potential).  Marner demanding he be paid as a top-5 player in the league is not that balance.  It's completely selfish.  If these rumours are indeed his contract demands, and they end up putting the team back in the standings and/or ability to progress to at least the 2nd round, he's gonna go from fan-favorite, to (non-acronym) goat.

In general theory, I like the idea of paying a guy as he is actually producing.

But the Hayes and Karlsson contracts are just fucking stupid.

[jingle.boy]

The Leafs caved on Nylander.

Where did I hear that before ... 

I think it's a great deal for Willie, bad deal for the team (Dubas caved... if this was the contract he was willing to offer, he should've just done it a month ago), and absolutely catastrophic for about 10 other GMs.  There are easily ten other 2-year players that are ahead of Nylander in ability and value - Laine, Tkachuk, Rantanen, Aho, Boesser, Point, McAvoy, Werenski off the top of my head.

I'm thrilled to get him back, but it has all the possibilities of being a Lucic-ugly deal in the long term.  I don't see him being a Leaf thru the entire 6 years to tell you the truth.  I could go on and on over this, but not sure everyone wants to hear my ramblings over a 20-goal guy that isn't likely even to be on PP1 this year.

$11M for Marner will be just as bad a deal, IMO.  In the long term, the only thing that could justify it would be a cup or two.  But I don't see how that can happen with almost 1/2 of the team salary tied up in 4 guys.

[KevShmev]

NHL awards tonight.

I think O'Reilly has a good shot to win one or both of the awards he is up for, but I will be surprised if Armstrong, Binnington or Berube win.

[TAC]

The Leafs caved on Nylander.

Where did I hear that before ... 

You said that right? Or did I? I know I did. It wasn't a shot at you/the Leafs. I'm just conversing about these contracts.




Question Chad..Is Marner better than Matthews? How do you see it?

[King Postwhore]

Oh Chad did. He was not happy about it.

[TAC]

NHL awards tonight.

I think O'Reilly has a good shot to win one or both of the awards he is up for, but I will be surprised if Armstrong, Binnington or Berube win.

I said as soon as the nominees came out that O'Reilly was taking the Selke. What else is he up for?

Armstrong won't win, but Berube definitely could. I'd give it to Trotz though. The islanders improved so much while the Caps took a huge step back.