The future is bright.

Hmmm the Finnish team I support has won 2 cups in the last 30 years. The league has had 12-15 teams, and my team has had top-4 wage budget always, and a lot of the time 1st or 2nd biggest. But just awful management, think Benning could have binked at least 4 cups.

seems unlikely


can't remember if i asked this before or not, but what exactly happened with the Finnish hockey program the last few years to turn it into a powerhouse?

2016 - 7.1% of players drafted from Finland (including #2, #4, #5, #23 in the 1st round)
2015 - 6.2% (#10)
2014 - 4.3% (#14, #22)
2013 - 5.2% (#2, #8)
2012 - 4.3% (#18, #22)
2011 - 4.8% (#16)
2010 - 3.3% (#9)
2009 - 4.8%
2008 - 3.3%
2007 - 1.9%
2006 - 6.6% (#15)
2005 - 3.9% (#21)
2004 - 5.2% (#11, #16, #19)
2003 - 4.5%
2002 - 8.6% (#2, #4, #15, #22, #29)
2001 - 8.3% (#6, #9)
2000 - 6.5%
1999 - 6.6% (#13, #27)
1998 - 4.7%
1997 - 4.9% (#3, #21)

and then this year Heiskanen will probably go top5. Tolvanen, Jokiharju, Heponiemi, Valimaki, and Vesalainen will also likely go in the 1st round, and Vaakanainen has a chance to join them. probably their best two draft classes ever in the last two years. like seriously wtf happened 10 years ago when the program cratered?

Probably when they realized they can play somewhere other than in goal.

oh yeah that reminds me, they also have the probable #2 goalie in this draft who'll probably go in the 2nd round

and Ottawa, and...

Mrazek is by far the most appealing goaltending option. He's shown that he's been able to play at a high caliber and he's only 25 and still an RFA after this year. Still baffling that Holland left him exposed.

joke on the side ?....
5m 40sec
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItFvKngSeWI

ps: this is a poker site after all ?

Supposedly, Hossa allergic to his own equipment and will have to go on LTIR to bail out the Blackhawks from recapture nightmare. Shocking.

Penguins apparently made deal with Vegas long ago to trade them a draft pick to ensure they select Fleury. Hope it's not higher than a 3rd

I'm so puzzled by this

https://sports.yahoo.com/serious-all...041523780.html

Like what part of it?

edit: lol ok I see what Hoss is allergic to

https://capfriendly.com/teams/blackhawks/salary

hossa's story is obviously bull****

hawks scammed everyone, congrats

You would think they have enough money to make everything from materials he is not alergic to.

Most alergies are to latex or ?.

lololololol wp Hawks

No, you can also be allergic to "couldn't get Vegas to take enough salary off your roster to get under the cap," which is a form of composite mesh I believe

Maybe Imaginary F(r)iend or someone would have insight on this. Think the coaching systems in juniors have changed, more concentrating on individual skills instead of team stuff. Maybe even allow the best players to play a couple of seconds more than the worst ones hah.

Can someone explain to me how the Hawks sell this to Hossa, if this is some kind of scam? (which it does look like) This is some sort of retirement bullet as is right? He's 39 but still a pretty useful player, probably has a good 2 seasons left if he's into it.

"Hey, can you retire next year like we planned when you signed the contract?"
"Sure."
"Ok, cool. Thanks."

GMGM maybe kinda losing his mind here? was worried about that


- will apparently get 2013 1st round skill D Shea Theodore from the Ducks in exchange for taking Clayton Stoner
- will apparently get 2014 1st round power forward Alex Tuch from the Wild in exchange for taking Erik Haula
- what kind of pick is he getting to take Fleury from the Penguins?
- is not getting anything from the Stars for taking Cody Eakin!?
- might do this thing where they take Kruger off the Hawks hands, hopefully they get something in return though
- is trying to sign Karl Alzner? *sigh*


some of these moves seem like FPS, unnecssarily passing on just picking some excellent players that can help his team for the next 5+ years, and some, like pursuing Eakin, Alzner, and probably Flower, are just stupid

https://twitter.com/NHLnumbers/statu...95946523033600


oh man, they're taking Emelin for nothing too?

at least Yzerman is giving something up to dump Garrison

what a ride this thing is, some of these teams just standing pat and getting super lucky #yolo

sounds like Ottawa didn't want to pony up in order to save Methot/Ryan, so they'll take the former and probably flip him

Probably wasn't worth it given if we pay to keep Meth then they just grab Freddy instead. Which is probably just as bad. Management seems fine with losing Methot with Freddy, Harpur and Englund knocking on the door.

A top 6 with Boro, Wideman and Cecer for another year is surely a recipe for success

theres a reason he was an unemployed GM

Leafs protect Martin (LOL) and will likely lose Leipsic. Too bad I like the kids edge but we are probably in the best spot in the league for this expansion so there's that.

Sure seems like this would've been a fun week as vegas GM, taking on extra picks/players for contract dumps to get to the salary floor and fleecing the LOL teams who want to protect some mediocre dude you were never picking anyway.

lol @ thinking that red wings goalie was anything other than crap.

From John Shannon

Sounds like Deryk Engelland is the Calgary Flames player going to Vegas. He's a UFA ON July 1.

#ExpansionDraft

GMGM got free drinks down at the casino?