You know, when we drafted McDavid, and Draisaitl suddenly boomed, I thought "we've got the hard parts in place, we should be winning a Cup in the near future".

Then Peter Chiarelli set us back at least 3 years with his boneheaded trades and a few more than questionable contracts.

We finally got rid of him, and brought in someone supposedly respected. He was handcuffed at the start, and made some promising moves, but this summer was the one where he was supposed to put his stamp on the team.

Stamp it he did. Overpaid Kassian. Overpaid Ceci. Overpaid Smith. Traded Bear for no reason. Lost Larsson for nothing. Over-termed Nugent Hopkins. Did nothing to solve the goaltending problem. About to overpay AND overterm Nurse.

Can't believe we've wasted a gift like 97+29 and aren't going to get a Cup out of it.

I was born in Edmonton in the early 70s. Was a teenager for the great years. Adult for the scrappy small market years of the 90s. Suffered through the decade of darkness.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but it might be time to switch allegiances. This organization is just so stupid and disrespectful to their fans that they don't deserve my support anymore.

lol

I gotta admit Edmonton really amazes. Every time I get frustrated with Boston I look at teams like Edmonton and think thank god.

Wonder how long Drai and McJesus last there. What are the odds both see the ends of those contracts?

Edm got lucky to get McD and Drai, but kinda unlucky with Yakupov and Nuge. Paajarvi and Puljujarvi don't help for top 5 picks.
They did sell on Hall a year early rather than a year late. Hindsight, it's not their worst move. Signing Lucic. Not that was a move.

But yeah, Edm squandered their window. 5 years for Mcd and 4 for Drai. I give them 2, maybe 3 seasons, then kaboom.

Was back home in MN this past week and went to Da Beauty League games. It's where a high school team plays, great venue to watch games. Teams are made up of current college and NHL players from the area. They played 4 on 4 with no hitting and no slap shots. Goalies were a little questionable but Hunter Miska played and he was by far the best one.

Some of the players were Nick Jensen, Nic Dowd, Brock Nelson, Nate Schmidt, Brock Boeser, Nick Bjugstad, and Casey Middlestadt.

Good fun.

Edit: They played two 24 minute halves (running time). They also had a light on each bench were the coach can turn it on once during the game and all goals they score in 1 minute count as 2.

Pionk signed for 4x5.875. I hope that works out.

Salaries are at $83 million and accumulating.

And Copp signed for 1x3.64.

Now how to fit $87.3 million under $81.5 million?

$5.3 million is on LTIR.

There are several ways to do it, with one of them being particularly easy and effective.

But before we consider that route I need to ask- how do you feel about your chances to make the playoffs without your highest paid player featuring in the regular season?

Well, you can move one of the smaller roster contracts down to the minors and free up cap space like that (up to about $1.1 million, I think), but for certain players they have to clear waivers before that move can be valid, I believe.

would prob bet that it doesn't, given i barely know who he is, and that's a lot of money

even though his chartz look solid
but then again a couple years ago he was a total zero, so idk


do we think he's legit or nah?

in other news, everything continues to come up kangzz:

https://twitter.com/ByronMBader/stat...81351234646016

could be a solid middle-6 producer

I'm sure our coach will love to play undrafted young Russian ahead of GOA/CB who plays the right way

Idk what to think of the jets defenders. Everyone was in a slightly bigger role than they should be once buff retired and trouba bolted. Now it's a bit better? Shrug.

Would be all kinds of hilarious if the Canes offer sheet KK.

They'd risk the Habs not matching tho

Rorz

That makes complete sense though. Most people - in any profession - would struggle when they're promoted too early.

"Too much, too soon."

Especially on the back end, there's nowhere to hide when you're playing above your head. But the motivated pros don't much like being bad at their job, use the struggles as learning opportunities and commit to figuring it out.

Andersson's in this boat for Calgary. He really struggled in year one of playing a top pairing role, but again, it was year one. I want to see what Ras comes back to the Dome this year.

Re: Winnipeg...I'm really pulling for Morrissey to take a step forward again. That blueline is just better insulated once more, which it hasn't been since that Buff/Trouba 1-2 punch. I think Chevy's done really well to not overreact and stay the course w/ his long-term roster building.

I wonder if Chevy & Tre end up working something out to get Niku his fresh start in Calgary. Could play him on a third pairing w/ Zadorov or his fellow Finn Valimaki, and the Flames only have two RHD on the NHL roster right now. Just throwing it out there.

I thought they needed to be under the cap at the start of the season, but they can be over by the amount of the LTIR.

[You can get the most out of LTIR by either being at the cap or over the cap by the amount of the LTIR.]

Pionk is a legit top 4, and he and DeMelo were mostly credited with shutting down McDavid.

What is your opinion on Nate Schmidt? Brenden Dillon?

Last year they had Perreault to clear waivers, and I was happy they didn’t lose him. I don’t know if there is anyone who will make it through twice this year.

There was a lot of angst about leaving DeMelo unprotected for the expansion draft. Was he really in danger?

The salarires with Buff, Trouba, Myers, Enstrom etc… was $30-$35 million? The salaries now are $27 million.

The real tragedy was losing Chiarot and maybe Myers, who saw no future here, just before we needed them.

I guess a true #1 is now $9 million and we have 3 x 6-million-dollar men.

Who do you think plays this year? Does Heinola get a chance?

Morrissey
Schmidt
Pionk
Dillon
DeMelo
Stanley

If I had to guess I'd say Samberg is the closest to a spot from not among those 6, who should be the main guys to start.

There are a couple of defensive player reviews on Arctic Ice Hockey.

Morrissey - not positive
https://www.arcticicehockey.com/2021...ien-neal-pionk

DeMelo - glowing
https://www.arcticicehockey.com/2021...l-paul-maurice

both possible solid 2nd pairing guys? but mileage might vary
schmidt most offensive and dillon more defensive, obv
could make a decent pairing together maybe

yeah, that's in line with what i've heard

so?:

1 pionk/demelo
2 dillon/schmidt
3 morrissey/stanley


stanley mostly just seems to be tall, and nhl teams will wait decades for tall dmen to turn into chara or not, and 99% obv don't ever come close

and logic seems to dictate that at least 1 of these other guys (niku, beaulieu, samberg, heinola, etc) will be useful if that 3rd pairing struggles


not a bad looking group overall, but why is morrissey being paid $6.25m until 2028? lol

We all knew this day would come. Handsome Henrik is calling it a career.

His father was terminally ill over the last year, his off-season was spent skating in a barn. Hopefully he sees a return to form.

The old “If everybody improves, we’ll be better.” bargaining phase.

I think Stanley’s got potential, he’s 23 and an NHLer now.

Dom or the Degens here...only anatta called it from the drop!