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Post by HMARK Center on Jun 28, 2022 16:13:34 GMT -5
The best team won the Cup this year.
But never mind that shit, here comes draft time!
Certainly feels like Montreal will start things off with Wright, the Devils likely go Slafkovsky, then some combo of Cooley/Nimec/Jiricek/Gauthier follow...I can't lie, I'd like for the Devils to take one of the right-side defensemen since that's a big organizational need, but Slaf just has such upside...
Honestly, this isn't a draft with a major Matthews or McDavid like headliner (or Bedard for 2023), but it's shaped up to be a bit deeper than I think a lot of folks were expecting. Maybe not a ton of superstars to be had, but there's some legit talent, many of whom just went through a couple really weird COVID years, so who knows? Could end up being stronger than expected.
All I know for sure is the Devils are having their draft party at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, and I really want to go.
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Post by HMARK Center on Jun 30, 2022 8:52:23 GMT -5
Aaaaaaaaand the offseason gets underway: Minnesota trades Fiala to LA for their first round pick and RHD prospect Brock Faber, LA then inks Fiala to a 7 year deal worth just south of $56 million.
Overall I really like what Minny did here: they're up against it with regards to the cap, could've easily been put over the barrel, but instead they walk away with another pick in what's a deeper first round than some had expected plus one of the better RHD prospects in the league right now.
LA gets a hell of a talent, which I can't fault them for trying: the Pacific is wide open, the Kings are young and ascending, so even just a move for a guy like Fiala potentially locks them in as a top 3-4 team in the division for the next couple of years.
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HeyYo
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Post by HeyYo on Jun 30, 2022 11:54:46 GMT -5
I like how Bill Guerin doesn't care about shipping guys out if he thinks needs to although he was pretty much forced to do it here.
Wallstedt, Faber, Lambos, getting O'Rourke gifted to him in the 2nd round, Peart, Hunt, that's off the top of my head. Maybe add another this year with one of their two 1st rounders. They have to have one of the deepest defensive pools in the league.
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sfvega
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Post by sfvega on Jun 30, 2022 14:35:22 GMT -5
I like how Bill Guerin doesn't care about shipping guys out if he thinks needs to although he was pretty much forced to do it here. Wallstedt, Faber, Lambos, getting O'Rourke gifted to him in the 2nd round, Peart, Hunt, that's off the top of my head. Maybe add another this year with one of their two 1st rounders. They have to have one of the deepest defensive pools in the league. I really wanted other ROR for the Blues that year (my top choice was Mavrik Borque, who is gonna be fantastic) and last year I was praying they'd end up with Lambos. It sucks to miss out on these guys, but it stings more to know what Minny is building up there. Wallstedt was rumored to go top 6 and had no business falling that far, and he looks like a stud. They're doing incredibly well, and I do feel like Fiala is a bit overpaid for what I think his future production will be. But like with JT Miller, you have to pay based on what they've done. They're another team that should look at Hutson (trade down?). They have plenty of throwback stay at home defensemen who can shelter him. Outside of Kaprizov, they have so few dynamic skaters. Rossi and Boldy have potential. But they could really develop a Petterson/Hughes type dynamic. Although I trust Doug Armstrong, I think Minny blows the doors off us in 3-4 years.
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HeyYo
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Post by HeyYo on Jun 30, 2022 16:21:03 GMT -5
I like how Bill Guerin doesn't care about shipping guys out if he thinks needs to although he was pretty much forced to do it here. Wallstedt, Faber, Lambos, getting O'Rourke gifted to him in the 2nd round, Peart, Hunt, that's off the top of my head. Maybe add another this year with one of their two 1st rounders. They have to have one of the deepest defensive pools in the league. I really wanted other ROR for the Blues that year (my top choice was Mavrik Borque, who is gonna be fantastic) and last year I was praying they'd end up with Lambos. It sucks to miss out on these guys, but it stings more to know what Minny is building up there. Wallstedt was rumored to go top 6 and had no business falling that far, and he looks like a stud. They're doing incredibly well, and I do feel like Fiala is a bit overpaid for what I think his future production will be. But like with JT Miller, you have to pay based on what they've done. They're another team that should look at Hutson (trade down?). They have plenty of throwback stay at home defensemen who can shelter him. Outside of Kaprizov, they have so few dynamic skaters. Rossi and Boldy have potential. But they could really develop a Petterson/Hughes type dynamic. Although I trust Doug Armstrong, I think Minny blows the doors off us in 3-4 years. 100%. I wouldn't be shocked if they're cup winners in 5 years or so with the core they're building (but I fully acknowledge they're still prospects) and pieces they'll be able to add once their buyout cap crunch is up. Crazy to think Lambos went at 26 when Sam Costentino from Sportsnet had him ranked #2 overall (!!!) at his mid-season rankings that year. I was really big on ORO too and surprised he made it to the second day. And to think Guerin traded up with Edmonton to take Wallstedt. I wonder how much Ken Holland regrets that now. I'll also add Marat Khusnutdinov to your list, who I'm predicting will be a league wide top 5 Russian player within the next 5 years. I remembering reading and hearing teams were scared off because of the Russian factor with him especially, and I guess I can understand that as he just signed another two year extension to stay there with zero intension of going to Minny yet. He could potentially be another Kaprizov when he eventually makes his way over. I wouldn't be shocked if Guerin takes a swing at Ivan Miroshnichenko this year too.
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Gus Richlen Was Wrong
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Post by Gus Richlen Was Wrong on Jun 30, 2022 23:24:33 GMT -5
Derek Lalonde is going to Detroit to be their next head coach, which makes two former Green Bay Gamblers coaches running teams in the NHL.
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Ben Wyatt
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I don't get it. At all. It's kind of a small horse, I mean what am I missing? Am I crazy?
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Post by Ben Wyatt on Jul 1, 2022 6:01:08 GMT -5
Jim Montgomery is reportedly going to be the next head coach of the Boston Bruins
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Post by HMARK Center on Jul 1, 2022 15:39:27 GMT -5
Jim Montgomery is reportedly going to be the next head coach of the Boston Bruins That whole situation is still baffling to me.
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sfvega
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Post by sfvega on Jul 1, 2022 16:48:56 GMT -5
Jim Montgomery is reportedly going to be the next head coach of the Boston Bruins I know he is taking the year off but Boston and Barry Trotz seem like a match made in heaven. It would be like Tortorella in Philly only....you know....successful.
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Jul 1, 2022 17:55:17 GMT -5
Sharks fired their head coach Bob Boughner after 3 seasons. I want San Jose to hire Barry Trotz.
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HeyYo
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Post by HeyYo on Jul 3, 2022 13:35:48 GMT -5
Ryan McDonagh to Nashville in a salary move.
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Post by Vice honcho room temperature on Jul 5, 2022 11:17:50 GMT -5
The best team won the Cup this year. But never mind that shit, here comes draft time! Certainly feels like Montreal will start things off with Wright, the Devils likely go Slafkovsky, then some combo of Cooley/Nimec/Jiricek/Gauthier follow...I can't lie, I'd like for the Devils to take one of the right-side defensemen since that's a big organizational need, but Slaf just has such upside... Honestly, this isn't a draft with a major Matthews or McDavid like headliner (or Bedard for 2023), but it's shaped up to be a bit deeper than I think a lot of folks were expecting. Maybe not a ton of superstars to be had, but there's some legit talent, many of whom just went through a couple really weird COVID years, so who knows? Could end up being stronger than expected. All I know for sure is the Devils are having their draft party at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, and I really want to go. I could make that... watch them trade the pick and we all have to awkwardly stand there.
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Cranjis McBasketball
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Post by Cranjis McBasketball on Jul 5, 2022 23:43:22 GMT -5
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HeyYo
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Post by HeyYo on Jul 6, 2022 11:18:59 GMT -5
My one wish for tomorrow's draft.
Montreal's GM Kent Hughes sprints to the stage and drafts his son Jack first overall. The Bell Centre reacts in a way that would make Giants fans look happy they took Daniel Jones.
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Post by HMARK Center on Jul 6, 2022 12:46:25 GMT -5
My one wish for tomorrow's draft. Montreal's GM Kent Hughes sprints to the stage and drafts his son Jack first overall. The Bell Centre reacts in a way that would make Giants fans look happy they took Daniel Jones. I've seen some projections that have Montreal taking "The Other Jack Hughes" early in the 2nd round, maybe even bottom of the first, but hoo boy, Centre Bell would become a bonfire. What's interesting is that there's increasing buzz that the Habs are going to take Slafkovksy with the first pick. Feels surprising if they do: Wright is a good ol' Canadian boy, but more importantly he's a two-way center who would give them a really strong one-two punch down the middle along with Suzuki, which seems to be exactly what Montreal needs. For my team, if Montreal takes Slaf then to me it ups the odds that the Devils will look for a deal to trade down, likely either with Arizona or Columbus, though now there's reporters going haywire and attaching the Devils to basically every possible top ten pick under the sun of late. Wright would be awfully tempting, as it's hard not to think of the possibilities of an organizational center depth including Hischier, Hughes, Wright, Mercer, and Boqvist as the depth guy (Cooley is the one other top pick at center with similar upside, it seems), but if the Devils can maneuver things to get an extra pick and still end up with one of the main RH defensemen projected to go in the top five (Jiricek or Nemec), I'd be thrilled. This, of course, could all be nonsense; the Canadian media and attached twitterverse of hockey coverage is absolutely batshit this time of year coming up with any number of potential outlandish outcomes as a way to generate enthusiasm, and said twitter accounts tend to isolate and cherrypick items mentioned by some reporters that might just be speculation or hearsay and try to turn them into hot stove rumors, blah blah blah. Were I a better man I'd still put money on Wright going 1OA to the Habs, but again this is a mixed enough top 5-10 picks this year that it's not impossible they shift gears.
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HeyYo
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Post by HeyYo on Jul 6, 2022 15:01:15 GMT -5
My one wish for tomorrow's draft. Montreal's GM Kent Hughes sprints to the stage and drafts his son Jack first overall. The Bell Centre reacts in a way that would make Giants fans look happy they took Daniel Jones. I've seen some projections that have Montreal taking "The Other Jack Hughes" early in the 2nd round, maybe even bottom of the first, but hoo boy, Centre Bell would become a bonfire. What's interesting is that there's increasing buzz that the Habs are going to take Slafkovksy with the first pick. Feels surprising if they do: Wright is a good ol' Canadian boy, but more importantly he's a two-way center who would give them a really strong one-two punch down the middle along with Suzuki, which seems to be exactly what Montreal needs. For my team, if Montreal takes Slaf then to me it ups the odds that the Devils will look for a deal to trade down, likely either with Arizona or Columbus, though now there's reporters going haywire and attaching the Devils to basically every possible top ten pick under the sun of late. Wright would be awfully tempting, as it's hard not to think of the possibilities of an organizational center depth including Hischier, Hughes, Wright, Mercer, and Boqvist as the depth guy (Cooley is the one other top pick at center with similar upside, it seems), but if the Devils can maneuver things to get an extra pick and still end up with one of the main RH defensemen projected to go in the top five (Jiricek or Nemec), I'd be thrilled. This, of course, could all be nonsense; the Canadian media and attached twitterverse of hockey coverage is absolutely batshit this time of year coming up with any number of potential outlandish outcomes as a way to generate enthusiasm, and said twitter accounts tend to isolate and cherrypick items mentioned by some reporters that might just be speculation or hearsay and try to turn them into hot stove rumors, blah blah blah. Were I a better man I'd still put money on Wright going 1OA to the Habs, but again this is a mixed enough top 5-10 picks this year that it's not impossible they shift gears. I still think Wright will go 1. I think most of his "bad" press this year was mostly clickbait from the 2nd or 3rd tier reporters talking about his slow start. The top guys recently just acknowledged that Slafkovsky has almost caught up and has made it close. That said, Bob McKenzie had Slafkovsky ranked #1 and he's usually pretty spot on but he also said that if he talked with other scouts it could have been Wright slotted at 1. The other top guys (mostly Craig Button, Sam Constantino, Elliotte Friedman) still have Wright at 1. It's mostly the other guys who seem to BS a lot on reports that pretend to have connections (looking at you, Corey Pronman who has Wright at #4) that have Slafkovsky at #1. That said, I love Slaf and he's a beast, and roster wise like you pointed out with the logjam at C for New Jersey, I think he would be a better fit for ya if you don't trade down. I don't see Montreal passing on Wright, they're well aware that because the OHL was shut down to Covid it put him a little behind. He only played 6 games over 18 months (which is wild) during a huge part of his development years. That amount of time off would have put even McDavid behind in his development. Wright also apparently had a bad case of Covid so I wouldn't be suprised if that was a part of his slow start, and he still managed 94 points in 63 games when he had a down year and the dude is the complete package in his own end too. Kind of feels like the first round could be anyone's guesses with every team. I'm hoping for a ton of trades and chaos. Stupid question that I could easily look up - what station covers the draft in the US?
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MolotovMocktail
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Post by MolotovMocktail on Jul 6, 2022 15:30:10 GMT -5
Sharks fired their head coach Bob Boughner after 3 seasons. I want San Jose to hire Barry Trotz. Trotz would be interesting. We always matched up well against his teams. Meanwhile legendary Sharks enforcer and team official Bryan Marchment has passed away. He was always one of my favorite players.
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Jul 6, 2022 15:46:41 GMT -5
Sharks fired their head coach Bob Boughner after 3 seasons. I want San Jose to hire Barry Trotz. Trotz would be interesting. We always matched up well against his teams. Meanwhile legendary Sharks enforcer and team official Bryan Marchment has passed away. He was always one of my favorite players. Yeah.....truly sucks to lose a good guy around the team
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Jul 6, 2022 15:48:26 GMT -5
I think its a good get as he is very qualified for the positions always nice to have former players representing the team. But as always, we'll see how he does.
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Cranjis McBasketball
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Knew what the hell that thing was supposed to be
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Post by Cranjis McBasketball on Jul 6, 2022 16:30:22 GMT -5
I've seen some projections that have Montreal taking "The Other Jack Hughes" early in the 2nd round, maybe even bottom of the first, but hoo boy, Centre Bell would become a bonfire. What's interesting is that there's increasing buzz that the Habs are going to take Slafkovksy with the first pick. Feels surprising if they do: Wright is a good ol' Canadian boy, but more importantly he's a two-way center who would give them a really strong one-two punch down the middle along with Suzuki, which seems to be exactly what Montreal needs. For my team, if Montreal takes Slaf then to me it ups the odds that the Devils will look for a deal to trade down, likely either with Arizona or Columbus, though now there's reporters going haywire and attaching the Devils to basically every possible top ten pick under the sun of late. Wright would be awfully tempting, as it's hard not to think of the possibilities of an organizational center depth including Hischier, Hughes, Wright, Mercer, and Boqvist as the depth guy (Cooley is the one other top pick at center with similar upside, it seems), but if the Devils can maneuver things to get an extra pick and still end up with one of the main RH defensemen projected to go in the top five (Jiricek or Nemec), I'd be thrilled. This, of course, could all be nonsense; the Canadian media and attached twitterverse of hockey coverage is absolutely batshit this time of year coming up with any number of potential outlandish outcomes as a way to generate enthusiasm, and said twitter accounts tend to isolate and cherrypick items mentioned by some reporters that might just be speculation or hearsay and try to turn them into hot stove rumors, blah blah blah. Were I a better man I'd still put money on Wright going 1OA to the Habs, but again this is a mixed enough top 5-10 picks this year that it's not impossible they shift gears. I still think Wright will go 1. I think most of his "bad" press this year was mostly clickbait from the 2nd or 3rd tier reporters talking about his slow start. The top guys recently just acknowledged that Slafkovsky has almost caught up and has made it close. That said, Bob McKenzie had Slafkovsky ranked #1 and he's usually pretty spot on but he also said that if he talked with other scouts it could have been Wright slotted at 1. The other top guys (mostly Craig Button, Sam Constantino, Elliotte Friedman) still have Wright at 1. It's mostly the other guys who seem to BS a lot on reports that pretend to have connections (looking at you, Corey Pronman who has Wright at #4) that have Slafkovsky at #1. That said, I love Slaf and he's a beast, and roster wise like you pointed out with the logjam at C for New Jersey, I think he would be a better fit for ya if you don't trade down. I don't see Montreal passing on Wright, they're well aware that because the OHL was shut down to Covid it put him a little behind. He only played 6 games over 18 months (which is wild) during a huge part of his development years. That amount of time off would have put even McDavid behind in his development. Wright also apparently had a bad case of Covid so I wouldn't be suprised if that was a part of his slow start, and he still managed 94 points in 63 games when he had a down year and the dude is the complete package in his own end too. Kind of feels like the first round could be anyone's guesses with every team. I'm hoping for a ton of trades and chaos. Stupid question that I could easily look up - what station covers the draft in the US? Should be covered by their TNT deal, but failing that, NHL Network will have it.
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