Official '19-'20 NHL Thread - v. Hedman is a cupman.

[jingle.boy]

My understanding of the Leafs cap situation is that once Hyman returns they have to either bury salary in the minors or trade out dollars somewhere.

The problem is - as best as I can tell - they literally don't have enough dollars to send down to the minors.  None of the 7-figure players (forward or defence) are going to the minors.  To bring Hyman back, even if they drop the most expensive 'expendable' player, there's still an additional $1.3M they need to shed.  That's two more players from the bottom of the roster, which leaves them only 20 players on the roster - ergo no room for a scratch for any reason.

The consensus is that Ceci will be toast.  There's no other big salary that is an obvious disposable player.  Reilly, Muzzin and Barrie are all locked in on the D.  The top 7 forwards are all locked in.  Everyone else is <$1M AAV.  Ceci is the only 7 figure AAV that looks disposable (and it's a one-year contract).  But you're right, they'll be trading from a position of weakness.  The only saving grace is that there are lots of teams that might very well need a Ceci style defensemen that have cap space.  If Buff retires, Winnipeg is an obvious choice.

Unless of course there's some other angle with salary cap rules that I don't know about.

[gmillerdrake]

Blues extend Brayden Schenn......(8) years....$52 million. AAV of $6.5 million. I haven't seen the breakdown of the yearly salary but this is a pretty 'team' friendly deal as far as money goes. I think Schenn could have gotten a bit more on the open market. Maybe not the (8) year term though. That's the risky part of this one.

Doesn't necessarily mean they won't sign Petrangelo BUT I think this does indicate that Petro may not be getting both term and value from the Blues. One will have to give. I've heard rumors that the Blues were looking at a (4) year term at $8.5 a year for Petro. Who knows.

Year by Year:
    - Year 1: $8 M
    - Year 2: $8 M
    - Year 3: $5.2 M
    - Year 4: $8 M
    - Year 5: $8 M
    - Year 6: $6.5 M
    - Year 7: $4.3 M
    - Year 8: $4 M

The way this was structured looks to benefit both team and player and gives the team some flexibility signing others

[jingle.boy]

It should be team friendly.  He's 28 now, so a couple of years at that price for a 35 year old guy.  $6.5M AAV sounds decent enough to me.  Come 2026, I wouldn't be surprised to see the cap approaching $100M, so this price tag should be easily affordable for a 35 year old guy, provided he's putting up 40+ points

[axeman90210]

Well, the Devils home opener was fun until it... wasn't Blowing a 4-0 lead is certainly a shitty way to start the season, but there were definitely some positives in there. Most of the hyped new additions looked good (Subban, Gusev, and Simmonds), and Cory Schneider looked really solid in net until he got hurt in the process of allowing the second goal. Hughes didn't look great, guessing maybe a combination of nerves and having to adjust to the size differential between himself and a lot of NHL players. PK Subban is already way over with Devils fans, the place went nuts when he laid a big open ice hit on the first penalty kill.

At least seeing this insanity in person was pretty cool

https://www.nhl.com/video/colemans-incredible-goal/t-277350912/c-69360103

[jingle.boy]

That goal was insane.  He had a backhander like that against the Pens a couple years ago.  TSN went ape-shit gaga over it... must've shown the replay at every angle, 2 or 3 times.

[Anguyen92]

Kings' season opener is tonight against Oilers.  I'm going to reiterate what I said last season to what they need to do well.  Play good hockey (obviously, this can apply to all teams, but we cannot emphasize this enough), avoid legal troubles, and avoid injuries.  I'm also going to add don't let Rob Blake make a bad decision (whether it is a player acquirement, a trade, etc.) that doesn't pay off for us in the end.

Other than that, from what I have been reading and hearing, especially on the NHL Network on Sirus XM when they discussed all the teams one by one in one hour segments, people don't have the brightest hopes for the Kings to make it to the playoffs and even in the offshoot that they do, it's probably going to end up in a first-round exit.  That hurts me to hear that can be the case and it's probably going to end up to be true, but I can't write off this season as a wash before it begins.  I NEED THE HOPE!

Edit: And just like that, McDavid skated so well that when he shoot the puck, it deflected on one of our guys and it went in.  FOR f*** sakes.  There's goes the idea of play good hockey in the first 90 seconds of the game.

Edit x 2: Got one back.  Oilers' goalie sorta overplayed his position which left a wide net.  I'll take it.

Edit x 3:  Man, this is going to be a rough season if we got the lead four times over the Oilers and can't close the deal in regulation.

[jingle.boy]

That was a very sad 3rd period by the Leafs.  They mailed it in when it was 4-1, and Hutchinson is not a good enough goalie to save their bacon.  This is the start I fear this team is in for - very strong offensively, but struggling defensively.  It's gonna be December/January before they get their defensive shit together, and I don't see how the team can dial Anderson's starts down in to the 50s.

And they have no money to go out and get anyone.  Big blunder last year letting McElhinney go in favour of Sparks.

[TAC]

This is the start I fear this team is in for

2-0-1, 5 points out of 6 possible.

All teams should have such a tough start...

[jingle.boy]

This is the start I fear this team is in for

2-0-1, 5 points out of 6 possible.

All teams should have such a tough start...

Outcome may be good... they could just have easily lost the Ottawa and Columbus games if not for a stellar performance by Anderson.  Blowing a 4-1 lead 6 minutes into the 3rd (go ahead ... it's a softball) is unacceptable.  They have no answer for a strong forecheck - it was just lucky the 1st two games were Ottawa and Columbus.

[KevShmev]

Nice comeback win for the Blues last night at home.  Dallas scored a goal that appeared to put them ahead 3-1 in the 3rd, but the Blues challenged it and it was overturned since a Star was offsides by like an inch, so they game stayed at 2-1, and then the Blues scored two goals to take a 3-2 lead and then held on at the end to win.

[TAC]

This is the start I fear this team is in for

2-0-1, 5 points out of 6 possible.

All teams should have such a tough start...

Outcome may be good... they could just have easily lost the Ottawa and Columbus games if not for a stellar performance by Anderson.  Blowing a 4-1 lead 6 minutes into the 3rd (go ahead ... it's a softball) is unacceptable.  They have no answer for a strong forecheck - it was just lucky the 1st two games were Ottawa and Columbus.

You gotta win the games you're supposed to win.

[jingle.boy]

Agreed.  There will be invariably games throughout the season that are lost that should've been won, and vice versa.  It just stings to let this kind of game slip away.  Why Babcock didn't save Anderson for an intra-divisional game, as opposed to his rigid ways of resting the starter in game 2 of a back-to-back, I don't know.  A W vs Montreal is far more advantageous than one against Columbus.

[TAC]

That's only if you believe that Montreal will be challenging Toronto for a playoff spot. If you played Hutch against Columbus and lost, but won the Montreal game, you'd only have 2 points to show for the weekend instead of 3. Stop pulling a Gary!

[jingle.boy]

That's only if you believe that Montreal will be challenging Toronto for a playoff spot. If you played Hutch against Columbus and lost, but won the Montreal game, you'd only have 2 points to show for the weekend instead of 3. Stop pulling a Gary!

Dude... Montreal had 96 points last year (four points behind the Leafs), and if not for going 3-0-1 vs Mtl (two of which were OT victories), they could've been tied, or on the outside of the playoffs themselves.  Montreal will/should be contending for a spot.  I honestly believe that the Atlantic will have 5 in the playoffs this year.

So yeah, every point against a divisional rival matters.

[pg1067]

Kings' season opener is tonight against Oilers.  I'm going to reiterate what I said last season to what they need to do well.  Play good hockey (obviously, this can apply to all teams, but we cannot emphasize this enough), avoid legal troubles, and avoid injuries.  I'm also going to add don't let Rob Blake make a bad decision (whether it is a player acquirement, a trade, etc.) that doesn't pay off for us in the end.

Other than that, from what I have been reading and hearing, especially on the NHL Network on Sirus XM when they discussed all the teams one by one in one hour segments, people don't have the brightest hopes for the Kings to make it to the playoffs and even in the offshoot that they do, it's probably going to end up in a first-round exit.  That hurts me to hear that can be the case and it's probably going to end up to be true, but I can't write off this season as a wash before it begins.  I NEED THE HOPE!

Edit: And just like that, McDavid skated so well that when he shoot the puck, it deflected on one of our guys and it went in.  FOR f*** sakes.  There's goes the idea of play good hockey in the first 90 seconds of the game.

Edit x 2: Got one back.  Oilers' goalie sorta overplayed his position which left a wide net.  I'll take it.

Edit x 3:  Man, this is going to be a rough season if we got the lead four times over the Oilers and can't close the deal in regulation.

I didn't get to watch the whole game, but I will say that I'd rather lose games 6-5 than 2-1 and 3-1.  Unfortunately, I won't have a good opportunity to go to a game until Thanksgiving week.

[gmillerdrake]

The hockey club my kids and I play under had a private viewing of the Cup last night. It was on site for about an hour and the board members and family had some pics with it. Then, they stopped the game I was playing in to take some pics of it at center ice....then had us two teams take a pic with it also! It was pretty cool!

Apparently the St. Louis Blues are trying to get the cup to every hockey club in the area. I just happened to be playing in the time slot that it arrived at ours. 

[jingle.boy]

I'm not jealous at all.

[SchecterShredder]

WTF?! Who's the one guy on the blue team holding up a finger for 'number 1'? Does he realize he didn't win the cup?

[gmillerdrake]

WTF?! Who's the one guy on the blue team holding up a finger for 'number 1'? Does he realize he didn't win the cup?

Don't know him by name.....this is his first session. Real douchy move though

[KevShmev]

Cool stuff, Gary.

Nice win for the champs last night in Toronto.

[jingle.boy]

Nice baiting comment Kev. We must've watched a different game.

Stay classy.

[KevShmev]

Nice baiting comment Kev. We must've watched a different game.

Stay classy.

Defensive much?  It's all in good fun.  Good grief.

[TAC]

Kev, busting on a guy's hockey team is like busting on his wife. I'm on Team J Boy here.

[SchecterShredder]

Well, 3 games in and it's already clear that Edmonton won the Neal/Lucic trade.

[jingle.boy]

Well, 3 games in and it's already clear that Edmonton won the Neal/Lucic trade.

I think most people would've guessed the outcome when the deal was made.  It's rather shocking how bad Calgary misused Neal.
 Although, playing with McDavid does give him a bit of an unfair advantage to compare against.

[King Postwhore]

Good to wake up to see the B's fought back to win after being down 2-0 on the road.

1st time 3-0 in 18 years.

[KevShmev]

Kev, busting on a guy's hockey team is like busting on his wife. I'm on Team J Boy here.

 



I was crabby last night, so pardon my bad attitude, sports fans.

[TAC]

What's your excuse every other day?

[KevShmev]

 

[King Postwhore]

Hi bitches.  Lol

[Nick]

Rage room not needed when you can blank a divisional opponent in your home opener.

[KevShmev]

Rage room not needed when you can blank a divisional opponent in your home opener.

Give it time.

[jingle.boy]

This is the start I fear this team is in for

2-0-1, 5 points out of 6 possible.

All teams should have such a tough start...

And now 3 straight losses. As I was saying .... 

It's gonna be at least December before the team gels. Hopefully not later. I'm telling ya, there's a real chance they are 7th or 8th in the East, and fighting for a WC spot.

Which may not be a bad thing.

[romdrums]

Pleasantly surprised with the Wings' 3-1 start to the year.  The top line of Bertuzzi-Larkin-Mantha is looking like one of the best in the league.  Mantha's got 6 goals already, including scoring all of the goals in their 4-3 win over the Stars.  I fully expect a regression at some point, as there is no way they can outscore their defensive issues, but it looks like they will be a tough match for teams all season long.  Maybe this is the year they just miss the playoffs but win the draft lottery!

[jingle.boy]

I know it's early, but a fewthings seem back-asswards at the moment.  Edmonton/Buffalo undefeated (along with Carolina, but I expected them to be pretty good).  SJ 1-4?  Jersey winless?

Things will even themselves out in due time.