NHL 2021

[Krabby]

I mean, you know its pretty bad when the Habs are the good guys and people are disappointed they lost

[Toe]

Screw the Canadiens. They played the shitty low-event hockey that is just a total bummer to watch. I'm happy that a team that plays entertaining hockey won. 

[Mick]

[Maxx]

Even less people care than last time you did this, presumably you included.

[Ruki]

The Oilers trade for Duncan Keith because.... reasons?

[gunnar hendershow]

1 minute ago, Ruki Returns said:

The Oilers trade for Duncan Keith because.... reasons?

They're committed to making sure we all have to say "Yeah I know he never won anything but trust me, Connor McDavid was the most amazing player I've ever seen" to our grandkids.

[Gabriel]

The Oilers needed to bring in a veteran leader for the defense corps, and if you don't factor in the money versus usage, Keith is a perfect add... and he wants to be there, in Edmonton... so it would seem to be a good fit.

Except, what they're likely to get out of him doesn't justify the cap hit, and in a flat cap world for a team that has traditionally had a difficult time keeping young star players, it just doesn't make any sense. Especially when you consider how many guys could have fit that mold for less money.

[Ruki]

Speaking of cap hits.... Suter and Parise getting bought out.

[Krabby]

1 hour ago, Ruki Returns said:

Speaking of cap hits.... Suter and Parise getting bought out.

End of an era for the Wild!

[gunnar hendershow]

Really interesting approach with the buyouts. Gives themselves some relief next year in anticipation of the cap likely beginning to increase the year after. I guess when you're Minnesota and know you're looking up at Colorado, Vegas, among others you want to work on building up a strong core for the latter half of the decade.

[SeanDMan]

Heard Suter and Parise was as much about the locker room as their cap hits. Supposedly they were a camp of divas and the team wanted to move on from that.

[gunnar hendershow]

13 minutes ago, SeanDMan said:

Heard Suter and Parise was as much about the locker room as their cap hits. Supposedly they were a camp of divas and the team wanted to move on from that.

Cue every TV hockey analyst talking about them as "hard-nosed, blue collar guys" for the next 3 years.

[caucasianheat]

Wild were set up to get burned by the expansion draft, they had to do something. The buyouts might be the least painful way to get out of that jam and hold on to their younger players. It's a long time to carry dead money but the cap probably will go up and soften the blow a bit. Erik Johnson and Jeff Skinner both waived no move clauses for the draft, sparing their teams the pain of having to make similar hard choices.

Pekka Rinne's retirement also snuck in under the radar with all the other stuff going on. Not a Hall of Famer but certainly in a class with other great goalies. A Vezina win, good career stats, and some very memorable performances.

[gunnar hendershow]

Also the Shea Weber news breaking is pretty big. It explains why the end of game 5 saw the entire team embrace him as it's coming out that was at least his last game for a long while. He's going unprotected in the expansion draft (no way Seattle takes him) and is a prime LTIR candidate for next season based on the reports. While doubtful he retires, if he does, Nashville is absolutely fucked.

I also saw Nashville will leave Duchene unprotected. In a flat cap world there's a lot of buyers remorse contracts teams are hoping Seattle will take on for them or won't be fussed about losing if it means protecting other players. Will be surprised if any of those names does get grabbed by Seattle.

[Ruki]

Yeah, the Weber news is crazy. And I admit I haven't paid attention to Nashville, but is Duchene just a bust now?

[Ruki]

Yandle bought out.

[gunnar hendershow]

15 hours ago, Ruki Returns said:

Yeah, the Weber news is crazy. And I admit I haven't paid attention to Nashville, but is Duchene just a bust now?

More or less. He averaged something like a point every 3 games last year.

[gunnar hendershow]

Dramatic day of transactions as teams moved players around as they had to finalize their lists for the expansion draft. The Isles got out from the Andrew Ladd contract by sending him to Arizona, where all bad contracts go to spend out their days. Preds traded Ryan Ellis to Philly who sent Nolan Patrick and Philippe Myers the other way (and then Patrick was sent to Vegas and swapped with Cody Glass).

But the bigger news is that Carey Price waived his NMC for the expansion draft. It's assumed the Kraken would be nuts to take on that contract as they try to build their team. For Montreal it was clear that this was the way they could keep Jake Allen (who absolutely would've been taken in the expansion draft). It's all a nice spicy little bit of drama in the lead-up to the expansion draft.

[Gabriel]

If I am Seattle, I am absolutely taking Carey Price. In terms of guys available with big contracts, he's easily the best bet to deliver quality for them for the duration.

The Kraken could come out of Wednesday night with a killer start for their franchise. More than that, they are in a great position to draft sought after players that they can then flip to fill out their depth. A draft and trade of someone like Mark Giordano wouldn't surprise me... though, a team being led by veterans Price and Giordano would be a great thing to have.

[gunnar hendershow]

It's a tough call. He looked very much like a player in the twilight of his career during the regular season. Seattle also appears to be very analytics-focused and while it's expected they're going to grab a few veterans in the expansion draft most indications are they're going to try to make side deals to have a deeper talent pool. Both of those reasons make it hard for me to see them taking a giant contract they can't move.

But we'll see. Plenty of dominoes can fall where they wind up deciding to take Price. They just need to know he's theirs for the duration of that contract.

Theories going both ways about it mind you. 1) Seattle has indicated either directly or indirectly they won't take on Price's contract, and 2) Seattle has given assurances it will take Price. Guess it depends on how you view Montreal's loyalty to him in the current cap environment.