looks like Bruins are trying to get a meeting with Tavares

Bob McKenzie reporting Carlson re-signing w Caps 8 years at 8 million per.

lukewarm take: the Tavares "winner" will have buyer's remorse sooner than later


he's not quick and is getting older in a league that is getting faster every day
(he turns 28 before next season)

no way would i want to be into that for 80/7 or whatever it'll end up being

If you sign a guy for a bunch of years and money, and he begins to suck at some point during that long term, and the contract hinders the team’s ability to better itself, is it all worth it if you get one Cup during the deal?

how often does some big free agent deliver Cupz?

Well TJ Oshie signed w Caps for big money for a long term, and that contract is going to look super awful super soon...but he got a Cup...

the Caps acquired Timothy Jimothy 3 years ago

also, he's not why they shipped

Right, they don’t have to win it right away. I believe they traded for him, then he ended up signing a big contract with them when he became a FA (correct me if I’m wrong). And no he’s not the only reason they won the Cup, but he certainly played a role in it...and one player is never the reason a team wins the cup.

The question is, if you have one of these contracts that looks terrible after a few years, do you give it a pass because this guy helped them win a Cup?

in some cases, yes

but only 1 team wins every year, everyone is left asking what went wrong

I bet Sharks to win the Cup at 22 to 1 if anyone cares

100%

tbf, UFA's of JT's calibre almost never make it to FA.

But, I don't disagree with you in that whoever signs him will end up regretting it sooner rather than later. He'll probably deliver for a few years and suddenly drop to a middle of the pack, Toews-like guy. He's always been slow.

if you get 4-5 elite years and 2-3 good years it's worth it

Thiks it´s pretty hot of a take, seems like everybody are treating JT contract as a jackpot.

So you bink a cup and then say "it was worth it"? But in reality it gave you worse chance of winning. You could have won without him and could have lost with him, and had less chance of doing so with the bad contract during the period. Sure some teams sometimes look to be in a win-now window (but those things can change quick too) and it might be right to load up even with a bad contract. Not sure Oshie was a good signing, well pretty sure he wasn´t. But yea nobody cares cuz they won. And now a bunch of GM´s gonna point to that decision and result and screw themselves.

It´s a good idea to sign a Bergevin to be your GM if he delivers a cup.

Development camp starts today.

Glad that offseason is over.

wow @ the Carlson contract

Doughty gonna go for ∞ years, $∞^∞ million per

But based on their current roster, and what Bergevin has done to get to said roster, the likelihood that he brings them to a Cup, is so small. How much more rope are they going to give him in Montreal? Anyone who wants a GM job should just start learning French now. Not like they could do a whole lot worse.

nobody wants to play for Clode either

Few thoughts on discussion items:

Islanders ran white hot at draft and got two excellent players. Cue the braying of MSM talking about what a genius Lou is for .. I dunno .. not doing anything stupid (though to be fair among NHL GMs, that alone probably puts you top half).

Senators are moronic. Using the pick is IMO wrong decision but defensible. Using it on a "scoring winger" who scored 8 goals in 40 games in college is not. Fun fact: Shane Bowers scored 17 goals on that team last year and was barely a first rounder last year. He is 46 days older than Tkachuk.

Very surprised to see AZ reach for Hayton. I suspected some team would do it based on position, but didn't think it would be the supposedly analytics thinking Chayka.

Carlson contract is going to emit a foul odor within a few years, but hey, they will need to rebuild by then anyways. I don't disagree with maximizing your window when it's open.

Not many players Tavares age I'd be ok with long term contract for, but he's one. Maybe it doesn't translate, and it's just a bunch of BS, but I keep thinking about his uncle (in the discussion for greatest lacrosse player ever and was still making all star teams in his 40s. Tavares game was never built on elite speed or physicality, so he seems like the kind of player who will have a slower drop off.

I can't imagine what Doughty must be thinking right now. That is one old and overpriced core that LA is assembling. 6 guys in their 30s with cap hits over $4M each is not the way to construct a roster in today's NHL. Kovalchuk's camp held out for that third year and finally found a sucker wiling to pay it.

Homer note: I wanted Dobson or Wahlstrom with the Oilers pick, but Bouchard is ok too. There's definitely something to be said for taking the "GM as potato" route and ignoring eye test and just taking the guy with the proven record of production. I'd even have been highly tempted to try to pick up one of the Islanders picks to get Wahlstrom as well.

Second homer note: LOL flames. Everything they say about this trade sounds like the Oilers talking about trading Taylor Hall. You have half the league looking for scoring right shot first pair defense, and the Flames are worried about the guy going to a museum. Ludicrous.

weird group of teams on that Tavares list

stay home
2 small market
2 big market

what's the deal there? we'll learn a lot about JT as a person after this FA period. if I see Boston/Toronto I don't think including Dallas/SJ... strange.

ya NYI have been just sitting tight and taking the clear BPA for years (see: Barzal, Matthew), but ya it's obv LOU ftw

serious q: without looking, can anyone name a prospect for the 2019 draft other than Jack Hughes?

1. supposedly they reached for Hayton there bc Chicago would have taken him at 8
maybe they just fell for a smokescreen, who knows
2. Chayka's analytics qualifications are still completely unknown afaik, and a lot of his moves have been questionable, so idk
(also it's very possible that ownership are too involved in the decision making process there, no one seems to know much about what's going on with that team)

potato stats analysis >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> eyetest scouting

NHL still has a long way to go

lololol
(see: previous comment)

you have successfully determined that market size is not the deciding factor for him, congrats
(and i mean, why would it be?)

because if he prances off to SJ or Dallas he's just another soft guy looking for dollars and doesn't want to win? Original 6 teams with real Cup Windows want him.

In light of Vinnie Paul's (Pantera, Hellyeah) passing, rock music news site, Loudwire, put up this pretty sweet tidbit of the Stars partying hard at Vinnie Paul's house after the Stars won the cup in 1999. Here's the text.

http://loudwire.com/did-vinnie-paul-dent-stanley-cup/

the Stars were western conference regular season champs in 2016
the Sharks were western conference playoff champs in 2016

the Bumz haven't accomplished either of those things in the east since 2014

lololol he said O6 like it's a real thing that matters lololol