NHL 2021

[Ruki]

WHL has canceled their playoffs.

[Ruki]

On 13/04/2021 at 22:21, Ruki Returns said:

I would love to have a tandem of Campbell/Rittich next year, assuming both perform well + health. 

I changed my mind.

[Plubby]

Calgary has not had a goaltender since Kiprusoff's last full year. Talbot's .919 last year is the best save % since then. To assume you were going to get anything out of No Saves Dave was abject fooling yourselves as a fanbase.

Edited April 21, 2021 by Plubby

[Ruki]

30 minutes ago, Plubby said:

Calgary has not had a goaltender since Kiprusoff's last full year. Talbot's .919 last year is the best save % since then. To assume you were going to get anything out of No Saves Dave was abject fooling yourselves as a fanbase.

He was always Big Saveid David against us.

[SeanDMan]

5 hours ago, Ruki Returns said:

I changed my mind.

Rittich had a rough night tonight, but he was hardly the only Leaf to do so.

There are essentially right now two outcomes to the season from what I can see. The Canucks could go hard right to the end but just fall short, giving them a worse draft pick which would be typical mediocre Vancouver hockey.

That or they actually push their way all the way to fourth, take on the Leafs, and squeak by them, which would be hilariously memetastic and very consistent with how this season has gone.

[caucasianheat]

On 05/03/2021 at 21:29, damshow said:

Tom Wilson with maybe his worst one yet...

 

$5k fine from player safety, no further discipline...

[SeanDMan]

17 minutes ago, caucasianheat said:

$5k fine from player safety, no further discipline...

Gross. That one was indefensible.

[gunnar hendershow]

Finally even the Capitals fans I know were going "man he's going to get a deserved suspension" and they do basically morning.

Amazing league.

[Gabriel]

Milan Lucic did the Flames a solid and waived his NMC for the Expansion Draft. He wants to retire as a Flame, and it's unlikely that Seattle would take him with his cap hit, but he wanted to make sure that the Flames could protect the players that they need to. What a class act.

I've seen some people say that Lucic is likely to be taken by Seattle now, but again, because of his cap hit, I highly doubt it. He's had a great year for the Flames with 9 goals and 20 points, but his cap hit is too much. Maybe in a world where the salary cap was still going up, but with a stagnant cap and a bunch of teams in need of financial juggling, Ron Francis and the Kraken have to be looking at some of the cheaper options during the draft. There are going to be too many good players available to them via trade due to cap hits. There's no way Francis wastes that space by selecting high-priced players.

There's a worry that Mark Giordano may be selected, but I feel confident that he won't be for the same reason. You can take Gio and his $6 million or so for the year and hope that he can provide the leadership needed for a lengthy playoff run in year one... or you can take a cheaper option in the draft and use that cap space to trade for a better defensive option. I love Gio, but he's slowing down and won't be with Seattle long-term if they take him. I feel like there are more valuable options that are going to be available via trade with teams who need to move money out. It might not be someone who steps in for year one and delivers what Gio does, but a good young NHL ready prospect might be had in the summer. Maybe year two or three that guy is delivering way above what Giordano can for the last year of his contract.

If Francis is smart, he's taking the best, cheap players who leak through the cracks into the Expansion Draft. Load up on legitimate NHL guys that make little money, and what you're really doing is building trade capital. Maybe the Leafs have to move out a top six forward to make their summer work. If you can provide them with two or three legitimate roster pieces below the value of what that player earns, maybe you get that deal done and you've added a better player than was available to you in the draft, and you add to that salary. I think Seattle needs to be looking at being a mid-level cap team. Don't spend to the cap, but somewhere in that $74 to $78 million zone is where they should be okay with ending up after all is said and done.

The Kraken have different advantages in this draft than Vegas did. Where Vegas got some of their better stuff done, other teams have had time to make sure those things don't force them to lose a better player than they want to... but this time, we've got a flat cap and teams who'll need to do some moving around of parts in order to get everyone re-signed. There's going to be a lot more movement, I think, because there's no addition to the salary cap. There is, however, the addition of Seattle, who basically have $82 million or whatever the cap is now, of room to absorb other teams' excess. Seattle can really take advantage of this.

[gunnar hendershow]

Yeah I'm pretty interested what players with big cap numbers don't get protected under the assumption Seattle will be looking for the younger, cheaper guys who slip through the cracks. I know a big question with Montreal is if they want to protect Shea Weber. I can't envision Seattle signing up for a 36 year old defenseman putting up the worst season of his career, but it's entirely possible Ron Francis wants to duplicate what Vegas did and will risk long-term pain to try and win right away.

[gunnar hendershow]

 

[Krabby]

3 hours ago, damshow said:

 

Thats pretty strongly worded for an official statement. And much nicer than what my response would have been

 

[The Buscher]

Since the Rangers are out of it and play Washington one more time they should honestly sign an entire line of goons to beat the shit out of Wilson.

[Krabby]

35 minutes ago, Buschie Kay said:

Since the Rangers are out of it and play Washington one more time they should honestly sign an entire line of goons to beat the shit out of Wilson.

That's one way of doing it! I'd honestly be scared if I was Washington in that game. If be benching any valuable player...

[DanishmadePunk]

One of three things that could happen tonight when Rangers and Caps go at it again:
1: Rangers dont do shit, because the closest thing they had to an enforcer, they traded away
2: Somebody will try to have a go at Wilson, and probably fail. At this point i think even Ryan Reaves would get beaten badly by Wilson.
3: Backstrom could be targeted. He is likely that caps player that is most valuable and isnt a tank

[gunnar hendershow]

I'm betting on number 1. Wilson would truck any of the Rangers players who go after him and there seems to be a relative reluctance to take out one player's indirections out on a teammate.

[gunnar hendershow]

The Rangers fired their President and GM in the aftermath of that statement. James Dolan sure runs disaster franchises.

The Rangers are now the Knicks, the Knicks are now the Rangers.

[gunnar hendershow]

 

[Ruki]

A gross crosscheck to the face of Mantha. BUT THAT WOULDN'T HAVE HAPPENED IF THE DOPS DID THEIR JOB. Wilson should have gotten 15+. 

[The Buscher]

Anything can happen in the NHL playoffs but Islanders are very much looking like a team that will be bounced out in the first round.