2023-24 NHL Season Thread.

[Zeoni]

Well except PK proved in this playoffs that he can move the puck and be a shut down guy, so you can pretty much take him off that list. That said, having a guy with offensive ability is great, but if they kill you on the other side of it who cares? So what if you get 40 points, if your poor defensive play is giving up 45.

He would be a 3rd pairing guy on the Preds who might get some PP time, so no I don't think he is all that great, I don't care what his possession numbers are.

Exactly my point, all those guys get a bad rap for being bad defensively when they are really not as bad as people think. All I'm saying is you can build around that type of d man to form a strong core. Let's also not start pretending like PK is some sort of defensive stalwart of all of a sudden lol. His partner compliments his skills and the defensive responsible forward group you have there also plays a major role. Poile is an amazing gm and constructed a hell of a group there. Had RyJo not gotten injured, the finale would have been a lot different.

Also don't compare anyone's top 4 to yours lol, Preds by far have the best core in the league of course he would play on your 3rd pairing lol. But most teams he would be a welcome addition, especially if they had the right partner for him.

[Armourboy]

And we apparently protected Jarnkrok over Neal, I just, yeah I have zero idea.

[Greeney]

And we apparently protected Jarnkrok over Neal, I just, yeah I have zero idea.

If it makes you feel any better we protected Matt Martin over one of our best prospects.

[draynay]

I hope they take one of our overpriced forwards, but its probably gonna be McNabb on D. Trevor Lewis is the only available player I'd hate to see go.

[Armourboy]

If it makes you feel any better we protected Matt Martin over one of our best prospects.

I think the cap and short term needs are making some GM's do some crazy things. Yeah we have a center depth issue, but Neal is basically worth a first. Jarnkrok is basically a 3C with some utility. Even if you don't plan on signing him, you flip him at the deadline or the draft, and use those assets to get you a 2C and then hope Fisher comes back, or you plug Sissons in at 3C.

Basically if we lose Neal for nothing, not only are we looking for a 2C, but a top 6 winger as well now.

[Rennadrel]

If it makes you feel any better we protected Matt Martin over one of our best prospects.

Who are you referring to? As to why they protected Matt Martin over Kerby Rychel is beyond me, but two of our goalie prospects are exposed, but neither have yet to set a foothold in the NHL despite both being very good in the AHL.

[Armourboy]

Just to show you the difference in this draft and previous ones, if Nashville had been under these rules our starting 1st line could have been Bure-Federov-Doan. Teams got it easy back in the day.

[draynay]

Just to show you the difference in this draft and previous ones, if Nashville had been under these rules our starting 1st line could have been Bure-Federov-Doan. Teams got it easy back in the day.

Look further back and it gets more grim, the talent for the '92 expansion draft is... well "talent" isn't the word I'd use. Those teams were lucky not to lose 60+ games in the early 90s. Getting to protect 80% of your team makes it tough for the new guys.

Only downside for Vegas is they get the #6 pick which is pretty poor for an expansion team.

[Greeney]

Just to show you the difference in this draft and previous ones, if Nashville had been under these rules our starting 1st line could have been Bure-Federov-Doan. Teams got it easy back in the day.

How do you figure? Would they have been UFAs or are you saying they wouldn't be protected?

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Who are you referring to? As to why they protected Matt Martin over Kerby Rychel is beyond me, but two of our goalie prospects are exposed, but neither have yet to set a foothold in the NHL despite both being very good in the AHL.

Bibeau I don't see as an NHLer and Sparks IMO is a backup goalie but there are too many good goalies to go after any of ours. I was specifically referring to Leipsec but Rychel would be right behind him. Other than protecting a fourth line grinder with one year left on his contract I can't really complain though, we were in a pretty good shape.

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I think the cap and short term needs are making some GM's do some crazy things. Yeah we have a center depth issue, but Neal is basically worth a first. Jarnkrok is basically a 3C with some utility. Even if you don't plan on signing him, you flip him at the deadline or the draft, and use those assets to get you a 2C and then hope Fisher comes back, or you plug Sissons in at 3C.

Basically if we lose Neal for nothing, not only are we looking for a 2C, but a top 6 winger as well now.

We also don't know what teams like NYI offered VGK. Word out there that they protected 5D because VGK agreed not to take a forward for NYI's first (surprised they still left De Haan available though.

I hope Anaheim set something up for Vatanen too because if they left him open and protected I'm going to be annoyed we couldn't get a deal done for him.

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I'm also kind of amazed Coyotes protected Schenn O_o

[Nazrark]

Coyotes are in the same situation as the Leafs. Most of the players they would protect don't have to be. So you still have to fill out a protected list.

[draynay]

There are always guys who get selected and traded since compiling picks is a good strategy for a fledgling team. Sometimes they even get traded back to their original team. Gonna be interesting to see how it turns out.

[Armourboy]

How do you figure? Would they have been UFAs or are you saying they wouldn't be protected?

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Yeah there is a guy on another board that gets into oddball stuff like that. He compiled a list of everyone that most likely would have been available based on a 7-3-1 set up. He also showed what would have been alternate picks if for some reason they did decide to protect them. He did say though that some of the guys because of history we know how they turned out, but they were young then and probably wouldn't have been protected yet.

Also keep in mind this is pre-salary cap, so some of these teams were loaded.

[Greeney]

I don't think Bure wouldn't have been eligible to be picked based on these rules and even if he was based on how badly Vancouver wanted him and loved him as soon as he played he would be protected (probably the equivalent of Matthews right now); at the very least Bure would be protected in a 5F+ set up. I'm certain Federov would have been protected too, but I care more about the Bure argument if you can copy/paste it for me.

Another thing though, didn't Canucks pick Bure during the draft that Nashville came into existence when no other team could prove he played the specified amount of games needed?

[Armourboy]

Honestly I'm not entirely sure, you are talking about a time when I was doing good to learn the game let alone get into stuff like that. I'll link the post later as I'm headed to bed ( and it's a pita to do on a phone). The guy that did is usually pretty sound on stuff like this, he's been in and around Preds boards as long as I can remember ( and be seems to have an inside connection to the organization because he reported the Joey injury several hours before anyone even knew it was a thing)

[Greeney]

Sounds good. I'm curious but no rush.

No need for any phone pita's.

[Armourboy]

http://hfboards.hockeysfuture.com/sh....php?t=2358491


Yes I realize it's the HF boards, but the Preds boards themselves aren't that crazy, although a bit wilder with Neal being exposed. Since the team shut down our boards its basically become the unofficial team boards so they don't let it get too weird in there.

Keep in mind it's speculation, but generally pretty sound just from what I can put together.

[Stommped]

Yeah I'm by no means an expert capologist, but I'm pretty certain there would be no way that Fedorov would have been left unprotected by the Wings.

[Armourboy]

Yeah I'm by no means an expert capologist, but I'm pretty certain there would be no way that Fedorov would have been left unprotected by the Wings.

There was no cap then, but I do believe it was his RFA year in which he got offersheeted for 6 million a year. Keep in mind too, you can't just look at one guy in a bubble and say they would never do X. Some of those teams had some pretty stacked rosters, so deciding which 7 forwards to keep isn't nearly as easy as it is today. Even with that we still exposed Neal, which seems like a Huh? move as well.

I tend to agree that he would have probably been protected, but then again I'm not entirely sure what his or anyone's stats were going into that season. As the guy said it's kind of hard to completely simulate because you know how guys turned out, what they did when and what years, all information teams then wouldn't have had when making their decisions.

[Greeney]

http://hfboards.hockeysfuture.com/sh....php?t=2358491


Yes I realize it's the HF boards, but the Preds boards themselves aren't that crazy, although a bit wilder with Neal being exposed. Since the team shut down our boards its basically become the unofficial team boards so they don't let it get too weird in there.

Keep in mind it's speculation, but generally pretty sound just from what I can put together.

Okay, a few things.
#1 I made a mistake and looked at Bure and Federov about a decade earlier (in my defense I've been up for almost 30 hours)
#2 When you say "Bure" everyone will assume Pavel instead of Valeri; kind of like if I say Gretzky and it turns out I was referring to Brent Gretzky or Subban and it turns out I'm talking about Jordan Subban.
#3 That team the guy put together isn't that great IMO and what VGK has open right now can lead to a much better team using the same rules [assuming no deals to protect guys like Vatanen, Neal, Marchessault, Grabner (or Lindberg), De Haan (or like 4 other Islanders), Marleau, Dumba (or Staal), Sharp, Gagner, Methot (or MacArthur), Bellemare, Fleury (Rust would be nice too), Radulov (Hudon if they want a prospect) etc...] they'll likely end up with some decent young players or prospects too in Rust, Leipsec (or Rychel), Hudon (if they don't go for Radulov), Shinkaruk and without a doubt have some insanely amazing goalie options.

Also with all the rumours going around it's possible LV and Nashville have a deal where they avoid taking Neal.

---------

Absolutely crazy they can potentially have a team that looks like the below with a few other pieces:

Sharp - Marleau - Radulov
Soderberg - Marchessault - Neal
Bellemare - Karlsson - Oshie
McGinn - Cammalleri - Grabner

Methot - Vatanen
De Haan - Bogosian
Enstrom - Dumba

Fleury
Miller

They can actually be competitive right away.
https://www.capfriendly.com/expansion-draft if anyone wants to try their own.

[draynay]

There are some deep deep flaws here, the biggest being he figures the Red Wings would pay Fedorov a huge sum of money after his holdout, and then not protect him? Thats just nonsense.

Also, yes, if you say "Bure" everyone is going to assume Pavel, not Valeri. Calgary had just traded for him, doubt they throw in the towel that quickly.

I don't see 7 forwards on the Coyotes worth keeping over Doan.

A team with Tie Domi and Bob Probert is just mental!

Etc.