NHL 2021

[Ruki]

Leafs down 2-1 after 1, Leafs reddit is already doom and gloom. 

[Draevyn]

I turned off my game at 5-3. Last I checked it was 6-3. I'm also doom and gloom already!

[The Buscher]

Feels like just yesterday I was watching the Islanders in a deep playoff run.  Most fun I've had watching Islanders hockey.  Here's hoping it continues in 2021.

[Toe]

Leafs / Habs was a fun game to watch. It was a bit sloppy in the beginning, but that kind of made the game more entertaining with lots of scoring chances. Not sure I'm a fan of Joe Thornton playing on the wing with Matthews and Marner.

[Draevyn]

23 hours ago, Toe said:

Leafs / Habs was a fun game to watch. It was a bit sloppy in the beginning, but that kind of made the game more entertaining with lots of scoring chances. Not sure I'm a fan of Joe Thornton playing on the wing with Matthews and Marner.

He has to step in as their surrogate Dad since their other other Daddy went back home to his wife.  

[gunnar hendershow]

Dubois is headed to Winnipeg, Laine and Roslovic going to Columbus in return.

Roslovic is a native of Columbus so that's pretty cool for him.

[caucasianheat]

Can’t remember an instance like this where two back-to-back picks from the same draft (2 & 3 in 2016) get swapped later on down the line. 

You wait to play the games obviously, but this feels like a trade where maybe everybody wins? CBJ get a serious shot in the arm offensively and WPG is pretty frightening now down the middle.

[gunnar hendershow]

It was all players who weren't happy where they were and weren't going to stay long-term. No idea if any of them do stay long-term even after this trade but it's the best way to make something out of this situation.

I think WPG could afford to part with Laine as weird as it sounds more than CBJ could part with DuBois. WPG needs to make a move for some more help on the wing but they now have two legitimate top centers and Stastny immediately becomes one of the top 3rd line centers in the league.

[Gabriel]

I think Columbus gets the better end of the deal. Winnipeg is obviously banking on Dubois continuing to grow, and knowing that potential franchise center's are more difficult to come by than a high scoring winger.

I think a straight Dubois for Laine swap would have been more appropriate, but good for Columbus in getting Roslovic added in. Just looking at the stats, Laine out-performs Dubois in most categories. So, this definitely feels like Winnipeg prioritizing the position over the out-put.

Someone brought up that Laine is headed from Manitoba to Ohio (American Manitoba) and Dubois wanted out of Ohio, and is headed to Manitoba (Canadian Ohio), and that really made me laugh.

I'd also be concerned about Laine playing for Tortorella. It does not seem like a good match, and I honestly can't see both of them staying in Columbus long-term. Either Torts will go, or Laine will end up being traded somewhere else.

[gunnar hendershow]

It is funny they all wound up being stuck in smallish markets after the trade. The hard cap makes a lot of ambitions to move to a big market not work out like they do in the NBA. I believe that was part of why at least Laine and Dubois both wanted a change of scenery.

It's entirely possible that in 365 days neither of them are with these teams.

[million$$man]

Jim Rutherford has stepped down as GM of the Penguins 

[Draevyn]

1 hour ago, million$$man said:

Jim Rutherford has stepped down as GM of the Penguins 

I just read this and uhhhhh....fuck? He is 71 though so maybe it's best for him.

[gunnar hendershow]

Says it's not health or Covid related. His contract was up soon so that likely factored in.

 

[Draevyn]

Yeah I'm sure it did. Between that and his age but I also read that Mario and company really wanted him to come back. I was worried about their rocky start and what it might mean for Sully because I love Sully but I never expected Rutherford to call it quits.

[SeanDMan]

There is more to the Rutherford signing off than is public knowledge. When I saw the news break there were a lot of people who said they saw this coming and feel he should done it at the draft, and that there was some smoke behind the scenes and the team wants to distract anyone from looking for the fire.

...of course, I now can't find any of those posts, so take that all with a mountainful of salt.

I did find this though.

 

[Draevyn]

6 hours ago, SeanDMan said:

There is more to the Rutherford signing off than is public knowledge. When I saw the news break there were a lot of people who said they saw this coming and feel he should done it at the draft, and that there was some smoke behind the scenes and the team wants to distract anyone from looking for the fire.

...of course, I now can't find any of those posts, so take that all with a mountainful of salt.

Well I mean some of the reports of those who talked to Rutherford seemed to hint that there was more to it, but seemed to indicate that Rutherford believed talking about it wouldn't do anyone any good so he was basically sitting on the real reason.

[Ruki]

 

This brings me joy. 

[gunnar hendershow]

Wow that's so mean, what did Ottawa ever do to you for you to be so joyous at their suffering?

[Gabriel]

After losing to the Canadiens, Calgary had a players only meeting to address a bunch of stuff... tonight, they shut out Montreal and Johnny Hockey extended his point streak to seven games... and then Sam Bennett's agent dropped the bombshell that he's requested a trade.

Benny is great. He's a playoff type player, and I can see their being a good market for him... most years. Moving him right now for fair value could be quite difficult though. He may just have to suck it up and play out the year, and then hope for a trade or a move to Seattle.

[gunnar hendershow]

I suspect a lot of the players who have public demands for trades are probably stuck for the most part this season. Victor Mete just did the same for the Habs, allegedly. The logistics of making a trade between the US and Canada are rough as we're seeing in the Laine for Dubois trade.

All of these players will be of course unprotected so it's pretty likely some will wind up in Seattle.