Have to say I'm pleasantly surprised with the Oilers work. Kane at 4x5.1 is close to great, Kulak at 4x2.75 is definitely solid value. Campbell is probably the only one I'm a little leery of, but not sure there was much alternative given that we literally had no one other than SKinner.

If you're gonna keep Kane, that's certainly a reasonable deal. Lol at his agent talking about potentially a 50m dollar contract.

Did I miss anything or is the lol Jarmo about Gudbranson? That guy just keeps making good money

How the Leafs acquire Murray at 4.8 and then see Campbell sign for 200k more is beyond me. I know term and all, but pretty needless immediate downside imo

Rags overperforming and signing Trotchek for seven years while losing Strome is classic making the team marginally better, but still worse than last season's point totals. Gallant a hot seat candidate?

Nuff said about the Flyers, worst run team in the league

Seems like Yzerman was all throttle today. Copp deal might be a little too much but I have a soft spot for local kids playing for Detroit

tf is a ilya mikheyev?

Patches to Carolina for nothing as a cap dump. Vegas, couldn't you dump him on a team that wasn't already good?

Johnny Hockey to Lumbus, 7×10

"Hard decision, nothing to do with money" LOOOOL

Wow, Jarmo got his number-two target as well! Pretty sick, fun stuff and cbj fans can feel good for once haha

kane is an absurd bargain at 4x5 i have a feeling his team was legit worried if they tested free agency nobody would bite because of his locker room reputation and if one of the few teams like edmonton already used up their cap

although in theory kulak's contract is a good bargain, i believe anyone who was part of that d corps clearly has some warts given overall defensive production so unless the front office nerds are able to isolate the reasons they sucked defensively i'd be overly cautious about bringing any of em back


fa roundup:

perron - 2x4.75 DET great deal but wtf is DET doing signing aging veterans, head scratching move for sure

copley - 1x0.825 LAK has upside and cheap, love it even though he's plan C at this point

kubalik - 2x2.5 DET this is a huge steal and wtf is chicago doing letting him go, especially when this cheap, this is an ideal signing for DET

rittich - 1x0.9 WPG veteran backup for cheaps

clague - 1x0.75 BUF 1 year prove it deal or nope you're a bust and going to be signing a bunch of these short and low paid contracts as roster filler? i can't decide but seemed decent in limited action last year

burakovsky - 5x5.5 SEA lolololololololololol he's good but mid 6 at best and lets be honest, if he's even on your second line then you're probably not a very good team - to commit this much salary for this many years on someone who wasn't even a top 10 player on his last team is just absurd - he's getting paid like a borderline all star

worst signing of the season ainec

staals - marc 1x0.75, eric tryout deal FLA cheap veterans that could play meaningful minutes without hurting the cap - i like it

lindblom - 2x2.5 SJ lol was just waived and they couldn't wait to go in and give 5 million to their 3rd liner of the future, terrible deal but at least short term and they're going to suck anyway so doesn't hurt the team but for sure a dumb move when they could have waited to get him cheaper or let some other team make that mistake and bring up someone from the minors instead

chiarot - 4x4.25 DET i guess this makes sense if DET thinks they'll be a winning team, not a ton of money nor an overly long deal but he's a filler piece imo but it sure seems like DET is going for it this year so could work out

gustafsson - 1x0.8 WAS probably not going to play much or make a big impact but this is the kind of cheap back of rotation veteran signing i love

gudbranson - 4x4 CLB - young and talented, i like it, he's someone i really like though, if i were a gm i would have tried to get 6x3.25 or something instead - he's someone i would have rolled the dice on a longer and cheaper deal with

rutta - 3x2.75 - PIT love it, he's a very good defenseman, these guys are typically not this cheap (see Vlasic's contract lolololol)

lehkonen - 5x4.5 COL feels like an overpay, yes he's a two way player and all but unless he's a defensive wizard that has eluded my attention it feels like they're paying for his very small COL sample rather than his career

Acciari - 1x1.25 STL amazing deal, if he continues to be 4th line acciari then it's slightly more than usual paid to a 4th liner but if he shows his occasional multi goal outbursts of his from when he was - i wish there was an easy way to look at his splits and see his production when over 15 mpg vs his standard <10mpg but alas there isn't

for an idea of my optimism, just look at frank vatrano getting unleashed from FLA's depth to a top6 line and just exploding with production

would have liked a few more years but i'm sure his management team is banking on a vatranoesque breakout as well

cousins - 2x1.1 FLA - meh, obviously rather keep acciari instead but my guess is acciari wanted out for more playing time, cousins is a fine depth piece at depth piece pricing

marchment - 4x4.5 DAL lololololol, marchment was the definition of "see what happens when you put an empty body next to barkov or huberdeau" just insane DAL paid that for a roster filler, and even more insane FLA didn't pull the trigger and deal him at the deadline given other teams obviously value him highly and he was rumored to be on the block

bjugstad - 1x0.9 PHO - well they needed to roster someone and a one year deal for <1mm seems like a good place to start to keep cap space to absorb more bad contracts in exchange for picks

kuemper - 5x5.25 WAS - advanced analytics loved kuemper dating back to his PHO days, i don't like long deals on goalies but he's a good one and reasonably priced at 13th highest paid goalie in the NHL now

greiss - 1x1.25 STL - love it, think he still has some thread on the tires and it's an easy price to pay

lemieux - 1x1.35 LAK - don't get it, feels like he hurts teams with reckless majors more than helps, would not want a biter in my locker room but hey at least he didn't get a kassian type deal and just 1 year

comrie - 2x1.8 BUF - a little pricy for a backup, especially as no upside veteran backup for a rebuilding team but perhaps there's some locker room or "help the starter be a better goalie" meta at play here, otherwise do not understand this deal at all, would much rather sign someone like copley for half the cost

tokarski - 1x0.775 PIT - good signing, makes comrie deal even more absurd

sergachev - 8x8.5 TB - i love sergachev, think he's deeply underatted, but this makes no sense to me, there were times last season when he was on the 3rd line and playing <15mpg, i get that he's still super young but coach and gm clearly not on the same page here and most importantly, he's not worth 8 million now, this is all paying for expected improvements which are far from a lock to happen - love sergachev but hate this deal

cirelli - 8x6.25 TB - defense first third line center gets 6.25 a year for 8 years, wtf???? this is way worse than sergachev, he at least has upside to one day be worth his contract, no chance we look back in 9 years and say this was a good signing

cernak - 8x5.2 TB - don't know much about him, they clearly value him quite a bit, but wow TB just locked up an absurd amount of money on two unproven defenders and 3rd line center - extremely head scratching, if i'm wrong they just guaranteed a decade long dynasty but if they are wrong they just detroit redwinged themselves to death giving huge deals to minor pieces desperate to keep the gang together only to see that nope it was all because of guys like kuch/point/stamkos/hedman who once retired can't hold up those other guys who are now paid so much it's nigh impossible to get a new kuch/point/stamkos/hedman back on the team via trade nor free agency

kulak - 4x2.25 - as mentioned earlier - great deal but skeptical of retaining anyone who was part of this defensive corps

namestnikov - 1x2.5 TB - love it, he has the offensive chops to be really good in the right setting, in which case it's a great bargain, but if he falters then it's just one year and while it's a lot of money for a non producer, it's not enough to restrict the cap too much and at 1 year it's fine

vatrano - 3x3.65 ANA - feels like an overpay, doesn't make much sense for a rebuilding ANA to sign him either, doubt he repeats anything close to his low sample NYR production - this is the deal acciari's team is looking at when they signed their 1 year deal

gaudette - 1.0.75 TOR - normally fine with this, but given how TOR repeatedly get great veterans happily signing for the minimum to chase a cup with the team they grew up cheering for, it seems odd to use up one of those spots on gaudette - has TOR lost their free agent appeal?

mikheyev - 4x4.25 VAN - got paid for upside not floor, huge gamboool by the front office as he's either scoring 30 a year from here on out or this is the newest louie eriksson (but louie at least had a track record, ilya is also not young at 27 - terrible deal imo but as far as VAN goes this is actually an improvement, three years ago they'd have given him 6.2 a year for 5 years

white - 1x1.2 FLA - love it, still has some upside too

halak - 1x1.55 NYR - love it, he's going to be one of the best backups in the league at a very reasonable cost

domi - 1x3 CHI - jfc this is easily the worst run franchise in the league now

athanasiou - 1x3 CHI - makes you wonder how many agents recevied a standard 1x3 boiler plate contract from these guys - athanasiou showed promise a few years back and there were thoughts of what would happen if his speed were put on good offensive teams - well that happened and he still sucked - like domi, he's not even worth more than 1.25 and yet CHI gives him 3 wtf

leddy - 4x4 STL - amazing deal for STL, really surprised leddy went for so little

stetcher - 1x1.25 PHO - great deal, stetcher was really, really good with LAK after getting dealt last year, wish PHO rolled the dice and went multi year but i imagine his team also thought he is 1 year of good production away from a much bigger deal

trocheck - 7x5.625 a rich mans cirelli but also much older, showed flashes of being a great offensive player in the past but that seems more likely short sample flukes than anything to be counted upon at this point - could be the missing piece the rangers need, genuinely hard to evaluate two way players but unlike most rangers fans, i'm ok with this deal, you know he's not falling off a cliff, possibly one of the most overpaid players in the league his last 2-3 years but that's not a given and i'm sure if he signed a 2 year deal he'd be looking at 7+ per year and possibly much more - it's going to be ridiculed heavily at the end of the deal but i'm loving this for NYR and want to bet them to win the cup even more now - he is a defensive wizard, every team he's been on has been great defensively, and he is a lock for 40 points with reasonable expecations for 50 and once got 75 - those guys don't come around often and i suspect had he not been behind barkov then aho (who are both world class nhl players) on the depth charts then he'd be much more of a household name, he resumes being 2nd best center with ziba on his new team but i'm very excited to see what this guy does next year centering L2 for NYR

copp - 5x5.625 DET lololololololol, huge overpay for limited sample vs lengthy sample of him being a bottom six guy - i never understand these deals, if he is as good as he was with NYR then it's a fair deal but if he's as good as he was in the past then this is a roster breaking move that could prevent them from making better moves later - this is a bad contract they'll be stuck with and blaming for why they suck 100%

aube-kubel 1x1 TOR - see my thoughts on gaudette - pretty underwhelming to see meh guys going to TOR

thomas 8x8.125 STL - hate it, they are paying as if he's a sure thing - yes he's just 23, which is surprising considering he headlined one of the best bands in the 90s, but i don't think anyone watches him play and thinks "this guy is going to be a superstar" the way they did with Marner (I didn't like his deal either and whoopsies on that). the nhl is littered with the corpses of guys who came into the league with huge breakout years and then regressed from there on out and i don't see any compelling evidence why thomas is a lock to avoid that fate

see this, it's like the biggest kept secret in the world from gms, the majority of NHL players have their peak seasons while still on their rookie deals


awful deal, nothing about thomas screams that he's a superstar, yes he's good, but i would comfortably max bet the under for whatever points prop is up for him



rooney 2x2.6 CGY - love this deal, if rooney is even a shell of his former self this is a fantastic bargain, if he's washed from missing a year due to injury then the aav isn't too restrictive and only for 2 years - amazing deal for CGY and really surprised this is all he got given his pre-injury two way production

lazar - 3x1 VAN - sees like a decent deal for all involved, lazar is one of those guys who everyone has thought would break out for a while and never has, not that i expect him to, but you could do worse than pay 1 million for a legit bottom 6 guy for 3 years and pray he makes the leap and if not who cares at 1 million per year

smith - 2x2.2 NJ - meh, seems a little much but just 2 years

cole - 1x3 TB - seems like a lot, especially when they are now 6.5 million over the cap...

giroux - 3x6.5 OTT - seems like a massive bargain and he's out by age 37 so at worst only one terribad year in the works here, puzzling he'd sign for OTT, would be very surprised if he finishes this season there

campbell - 5x5 EDM - feels like a huge overpay, he could certainly live up to the deal, given what tor has panic done afterwards it looks like a great deal but why not just pay a little more for kuemper or pay much less for an equally unproven guy - don't like it but it could be a good deal

samsonov - 1x1.8 TOR - good deal, should be a good backup who is arguably better than the "starter"

olofsson - 2x4.25 BUF - love it, not paying too much for upside as he was a 50 point guy last year, not doing too many years in case he falls off a cliff - amazing deal for BUF, really surprised olofsson agreed to this given what some other guys who i don't think are as good have signed for

manson - 4x4.5 COL - good deal, manson is a good player and this won't break the bank

kane - 4x5.125 EDM - fantastic deal so long as his teammates are ok with him in the locker room - massive steal, he's worth 2x this amount if he weren't such a douche

malkin - 4x6.1 PIT - feels like he could have gotten a little more if he tested free agency, definitely agree with the other poster who says PIT feels like they have unfinished business

Subban - 1x0.85 BUF - meh

True - 1x.075 SEA - no idea who he is and who cares

Joseph - 2x.825 PIT - no idea who he is

Noesen - 2x0.751 CAR - love this deal, he showed a lot of promise in SJ but contract is on reality not promise - wtf didn't SJ keep him though?????

Edler - 1x0.75 LAK - huge deal, even with another 750k in games played bonuses this is a massive buy low spot for someone who was L1/PP1 just two years ago - just incredible he signed for so little

Hinostroza - 1x1.7 BUF - I like the deal, bit of an overpay but just one year and he has some upside

rakell - 6x5 PIT - massively underrated player, he was always a dfs darling of mine 5 million seems like a lot though

lagace - 1x? - didn't know he was still in the league

anderson - 1x0.75 LAK meh

grundstrom - 2x1.3 LAK seems like a little too much but mostly meh

bryson - 2x1.85 BUF who?

georgiev - 3x3.4 COL - very cheap for a starting goalie but is he good enough to be a starting goalie? pretty amazing how much trade value he had 2 years ago and NYR didn't sell high and let him go to sign for very little

macdonald - 2x0.76 not great but very cheap

forsberg - 8x8.5 NSH - huge victim of a flat cap, can't believe he signed this, amazing deal for NSH, steal of free agency for sure as he's only 27

johansen - 2x0.75 WAS who?

kempe - 4x5.5 LAK - i think it's a little too much for him but not too much and at 4 years they get his prime without the overpayment when they are aged out - good deal for both sides

deangelo - 2x5 PHI - this locker room cancer is easily worth more than that but fact CAR didn't make efforts to retain him given how little he went for is suspicious - quite possibly still a dick

carlsson - 1x0.8 FLA - who?

luostarinen - 2x1.5 FLA - seems like a lot but i have a lot of faith in this front office

husso - 3x4.75 STL/DET - if he's as good as last year this is fine but goalies are not to be trusted, at least only 3 years

fleury - 2x3.5 MIN - zomg what a steal, wtf is fleury thinking?

heatherington - 2x0.675 OTT who?

middleton - 3x2.45 MIN - seems like a lot of money for someone i never heard of

boqvist - 3x2.6 CLB - great deal for CLB, get a guy with great upside for very little and if he continues to not be very good outside of the pp then it's since only 3 years and they aren't good now anyway

cogliano - 1x1.25 COL - great deal retaining a defensive wizard for extremely little money

heponiemi - 1x0.75 FLA - no idea who he is

desmith - 2x1.8 PIT - seems like a lot for a bad backup, feels like a reactionary ptsd induced move where the memories of having zero goalies in the playoffs is still too fresh to bear

villalta - 1x0.78 LAK - who?

allard 1x0.75 LAK - who?

wedgewood 2x1 DAL - great deal

anderson 1x1.5 BUF great deal, he was unexpectedly good at times last year and comes in super cheap

dries - 2x0.75 VAN who?

ok, i'm going to stop mentioning the nobodies

liljegren 2x1.4 TOR - great deal

glass - 1x0.875 NSH - love it, dude showed great moments before and could be a legit top 6 guy (although that's unlikely)

gurianov 1x2.9 DAL - little bit of an overpay but just one year so its fine

roslovic 2x4 CLB - bit much but he isn't washed yet and only for 2 years

giordano 2x0.8 TOR - this is the zomg please let me win a cup with childhood team contract that makes the other moves they made look so bad by comparison - this is a disgustingly unfair deal to the point that i will bet my life savings that gio will join toronto's front office upon retirement and get a serious post playing salary

rust 6x5.1 PIT - a year or two ago i would have hated this but at this point rust is pretty established as a legit top liner and this is a great deal for PIT to only pay 5.1

korpisalo - 1x1.3 CLB - love it, he had great flashes at moments and this is pretty cheap for someone who could be a starter

Bit surprised you seem to value analytics but think guys like Kubalik and Leddy are (still) good? Also, what gives you the idea that Gudbranson is either young or talented? Dude was drafted 12 years ago for size

remember when this didn't happen bc they lost 4 straight to the loilers? lol


anyway window now slammed shut, uh2ci

to be clear, much like soccer, my analytical knowledge is not in terms of "are they good" but rather "do they do what generates points"

this is why i repeatedly mention how much i struggle in evaluating two way players or defensive guys where i just kind of go to take for granted whatever i'm told by analysts in accurate

kubalik is one year removed from scoring 30 goals in 68 games and this past year scored 17 in 56 games - the 30 goal season came at an unsustainable 19% shooting but last year that corrected with shooting of 11%, had he played a full season he'd definitely be in the mid 20s, this is all for someone who is only going to be 26 this year and was on some terrible teams and stuck with horrible line mates, the very few occasions when they bumped lines and he was paired with either

chi had very little consistency, but kubalik is the common denominator on all of chicago's most effective lines last year



it didn't pan out too much as you can see, but on the days he was paired with either kane or cat i was sure to prioritize him in my dfs lineups

he's also super fun to watch as he creates a lot of chances, he was a big part of why i loved watching chicago games

gudbranson was half of the best 3rd line pairing in the nhl last year, perhaps the best i've ever seen (granted i usually don't pay much attention to 3rd line pairings)



maybe it was more a team effort, maybe it was more zadorov, idk, but both zadorov and gudbranson are top 4 linesmen and arguably first line worthy imo, he also contributes on the offense, doesn't show up much in the box score but dude took 129 shots last year which doesn't seem like a lot until you realize he's a 3rd liner

i admittedly had no idea he was already 30, would have assumed a few years younger, given his career this does look a bit like a fluke but then if you look at the bad teams he was on with the missing time etc then suddenly it seems like maybe he was just not in a good spot - he set career highs in basically everything last year, maybe he regresses without being on CGY but i'm a believer

Leddy - previously provided pretty good offense on what were some terrible islander teams, last year that bit was missing

he wasn't amazing for DET but they were terrible and he had nothing to do with it as you can see he's nowhere near the terrible lines and him and seider were actually above average



with stl he was good when paired with parayko but bad with faulk (everyone was bad with him, he's terrible, just look at how him and krug were <50% headlining a playoff team and also see how parayko also bad with faulk - faulk is bad)

i don't think leddy is a world beater by any means, but he belongs on top 4 and can hang on top 2 and can run a power play unit and kill penalties, that's a pretty useful player on any team and the amount he's being paid is pretty average for a top 4 defender, defense can also get paid silly amounts for example, alec martinez is the 50th highest paid defenseman at 5.25 million, leddy comes in as the 83rd highest paid defenseman, that's a huge bargain

Cirelli absolutely is not a 3rd line center.

Gudbranson absolutely will have different results from Sutters Cgy to Cbj, latters roster doesnt exactly say low-event hockey.

Lehkonen has always been a relentless fore-checker and very good defensively.

yeah i recall in the stanley cup playoffs how much praise the analysts had for cirelli for his defense, same with lehk as well but they tended to focus more on his scoring so wasn't sure whether to take it with a grain of salt

but... to be pedantic, cirelli was centering the 3rd line when stamkos/point were healthy, perhaps that's an unfair assessment as a whole lot of top 2 centers would have been 3rd line centers if those two were on the roster - and to be fair he does get far more ice time than a typical third liner would expect but agreed that's probably an unfair label

eagerly awaiting to watch gudbranson this year and see if away from cgy he gets exposed or if he was indeed a big part of the equation for what made them so good

Gudbranson is hardly young. He's 30 years old and Columbus will be his 8th NHL team.

Actually hope Im wrong and gudbransson does well and cbj overall dont leak goals. But fear the opposite with their set-up.

Good job on the round-up, content always wellcomed

Calgary must be super upset

Oilers wow what a great 3-4 days

Toronto how you let Jack Campbell go?

You think Jack is good? I mean sure I woulda re-signed him rather than Murray (unless I really worried about years 3-5). But Campbell turned 30 and hasnt played big workloads. Surely a bit risky on durability. And was very on-off last season. Markstrom last year woulda been great and even Kuemper this year I woulda liked quite a bit more. I just dont see Campbell as a big loss.

But yea wasnt much out there. Maybe shoulda tried to save cap, cheap it out and go get someone in March.

Montreal and Philly are tight against the cap, pretty wild stuff. And Vegas just giving Patches away. Cap, how does it work??

Criminally awful. Kelly McCrimmonally awful. Absolute clown show.

I thought the Oilers should have given Skinner more games as Markinen and Smith were suspect all year but they didnt. Do I think Campbell is worth the risk ? Yes. Do i think Toronto upgraded in Net ? Nope

the irony is that anderson went on to be a top goalie last year and it keeps on feeling like if toronto just stayed put at goalie they'd be better off

same thing when they had arguably the best backup goalie in mcelhinney who was cheap, got along great with the starter, wanted to be in toronto, coming off a .930 season and was .920 the year before and they cut him last minute to make room for sparks - they don't shop him around and trade him, they don't let sparks start off in the minors and see if an injury or trade appears - they cut him and he gets signed by carolina immediately and goes on to play a meaningful role for them starting playoff games

sparks of course busted

i think edmonton panicked by offering campbell that contract, there's no evidence that he's anything more than an average goalie with downside to be worse and upside capped at slightly above average - i don't think toronto should have kept him if it would have taken that kind of money to keep him - but in true toronto fashion they do something correct and then immediately panic with zomg we don't have a goalie and they trade for an even more expensive goalie who is extremely volatile and could be anywhere from pretty good to atrociously bad - now there is an argument for murray where if you squint your eyes enough you can make an argument that he's better than his stats indicate etc etc but then ottawa immediately goes and gets talbot, a much better goalie who costs less for very little in return as minnesota clearly had a goalie controversy and decided it was best for the locker room to dump one and free up some cap

where was the talbot trade for toronto? it feels like they got duped here hard by ottawa and helped them make space to go after a better goalie who costs less

all this when fleury went for nothing last year, sure they didn't want him on a playoff rival, but vegas would have probably shipped him to toronto if it included some picks

toronto seems just a step above vancouver and edm in terms of terrible front offices and they only seem to skate by on the fact that so many people want to play for them, see giordano signing for 2x at basically the minimum

Toronto terrible front office is a take. I'm having a hard time thinking of any team that wouldn't have panic-traded Marner or Nylander by now

Where do we think Kadri ends up?

look at all the good veterans they get to sign for next to nothing each year

that certaintly gives you a lot more room for error in bad contracts

look at moves dating back to 2018



bad moves:

kadri trade - lolololol

mrazek trade - give up 1st rounder to dump him 1 year after signing

barabanov trade - nhl player for swedish league player, both 27

noeson/foligno trade - giving up 1st & 4th rounders for spare parts

kapanen trade - giving up 1st rounder and erod

mccann trade - gave up prospect in order to keep kerfoot who sucks

ceci trade - giving up connor brown and zaitsev

marleau trade - giving up 1st round pick to dump marleau



good trades -

muzzin - grundstrom & durzi are developing into competent nhl players and there was a 1st round pick involved as well but you can't argue that muzzin hasn't been good

hutton - nhl level player for 5th round pick


basically all the things that make them a good team is the ability to sign players, which is a whole lot easier when you're the hometown team for about 10% of the NHL, very few teams can afford to sign 3x guys at over 10 million a year but they can because they'll find guys who could get 2 million elsewhere happily sign for 1 million to be part of toronto - it's why edmonton has zero depth behind their stars but toronto does

Fair. Hopefully Skinner gets a chance if Soup struggles, agree that should have gotten last year.