2023-24 NHL Season Thread.

[Tradewind]

womans soccer bro

I actually am enjoying the women's world cup. It's not full of all the same diving bullshit and soft plays that the men's always seems to be.

don't hate, team canada's chicks are crushing

Plus this. Though "crushing" is a bit much...they're doing well lol. But only, 3 goals? One of them a Penalty in extra time? Not really crushing lol.

France and Germany are crushing it

I think we have a good shot at getting to the semi's though. Where Japan will likely blow us up lol.

[draynay]

I have not gotten to see as much of it as I would have liked so far.

Who would've thought playing in the same hemisphere I live in would make the schedule more awkward.

[Toxigen]

edit: nvm read it wrong

[Nazrark]

Alright, we have expansion coming into talks.

Las Vegas seems to be the one that will be a lock. Seattle will probably be the second.

[Tradewind]

fuckin grats on the Jack Adams, Hartsy!

[Zeoni]

Alright, we have expansion coming into talks.

Las Vegas seems to be the one that will be a lock. Seattle will probably be the second.

I think Quebec will get a team before Seattle.

[draynay]

So the cap is a little higher than expected at $71.4 million, and the Kings have suspended Voynov to keep him from counting against the cap so they have slightly more room to work with. Got to sign Sekera, trade Martin Jones, get Toffoli extended, consider signing Justin Williams, and figure out what to do about Richards. Oh and Kopitar is now on the last year of his deal. This could get worse before it gets better.

[Tradewind]

I don't know how to feel about the Calder trophy. Gaudreau should have been a lock in my mind, with how integral he was to the team and all. But at the same time Ekblad, quietly scraped together a season that apparently was in Bobby Orr territory.

I don't know that I agree with Stone being #2, he did well in the second half of the season, taking advantage of the Hamburglar's performance behind him. not to mention that Stone had 23 nhl games already and 2 years in the AHL. Ekblad too though was better in the first half, but wasn't really showing up in the second. Johnny was there through the entire season and bested the original top contender Forsberg. But w/e, what's done is done.

Hudler, what a card lol. No shoes and cracking jokes.

"Make sure johnny goes asleep by midnight"

[Nazrark]

You can tell that everyone in Calgary wants to be there. They are having fun.

[Zeoni]

So the cap is a little higher than expected at $71.4 million, and the Kings have suspended Voynov to keep him from counting against the cap so they have slightly more room to work with. Got to sign Sekera, trade Martin Jones, get Toffoli extended, consider signing Justin Williams, and figure out what to do about Richards. Oh and Kopitar is now on the last year of his deal. This could get worse before it gets better.

Those Richards and Brown deal will be the death of rhe current Kings dominance unless they can get rid of one or both.

[Nazrark]

The thing with the Kings is that they've never been a regular season machine. It's only when they get to the grind of the playoffs does the style of play really come to them. If they made the playoffs and had a good run again with Richards in the line up doing things. Then it would be easier to unload him even if you are absorbing a bit of his salary.

There are some teams that have royally fucked up when it comes to signing players (Toronto, LA and Boston) and they are looking to unload players because well in one case they are just awful and the others rode the success of winning a Cup and then having down years following them. Carolina has one in the form of Semin. Montreal had an awful one in the form of Gomez.

http://www.tsn.ca/tsn-trade-bait-board-1.316736

That being said, there are some teams (Arizona) that need to hit the cap floor. Who don't plan on being contenders for a few years so they can take some of the bad contracts to get up to the floor.

[draynay]

Richards' terrible contract was Philly's doing, but the Kings were desperate to add some depth at center when they got quickly eliminated following Kopitar's ankle injury the previous season so they took it on. The stupid thing was clinging to loyalty in a salary cap era instead of cutting Richards loose when it was appropriate to do so following last season.

The Brown contract is their own disaster. All of this scares me as free agency nears for Kopitar, will the stupid Richards decision prevent LA from having enough space to extend him??

Stoll is gonna avoid a felony charge but he is gonna hit free agency with a ton of questions. The need for a #3 center is still there if LA somehow is still stuck with Richards this year, but I have lost faith that he is up to it.

[Nazrark]

If Sutter is still there, I don't think Richards will be up to the task. New coach, I'm pretty sure he'll come back and play hard. But he and Sutter have not been on the same page for a few years.

I betting the one thing the owners wish they could do is renegotiate their contracts. But I wish they remain how they are. You gave them the stupid contract to begin with. Imagine how things will be in 6 years and Chicago has two mammoth contracts they can't get rid of because they are 10.5 mill a piece. The Pens are in a bad situation with Crosby-Malkin-Letang, hampers what they can do to fill out their roster. Kunitz knows he plays with Crosby and will take less money as long as Crosby is still there.

[Zeoni]

Richards' terrible contract was Philly's doing, but the Kings were desperate to add some depth at center when they got quickly eliminated following Kopitar's ankle injury the previous season so they took it on. The stupid thing was clinging to loyalty in a salary cap era instead of cutting Richards loose when it was appropriate to do so following last season.

The Brown contract is their own disaster. All of this scares me as free agency nears for Kopitar, will the stupid Richards decision prevent LA from having enough space to extend him??

Stoll is gonna avoid a felony charge but he is gonna hit free agency with a ton of questions. The need for a #3 center is still there if LA somehow is still stuck with Richards this year, but I have lost faith that he is up to it.

There will be some centers available via the draft tomorrow. The Richards deal was fine to begin with and he wasn't terrible in the 2 cup runs. He was also a pretty darn good player at that point. I've heard reports that no one wants to take on that contract too especially since the reason he got shipped out of Philly was off ice attitude problems. If I'm an NHL GM, I doubt I want either Brown or Richards. Too many miles on the tank for the way they play. Brown could always bounce back but Richards is a mess currently.

Kings pick 13th at the draft, they could end up with Barzal, Connor, maybe even Pavel Zacha.

[Reg]

I think Sather is overreaching with Talbot. He is worth something decent, but it seems Sather wants a first round pick. He said he has been offered second round, but has turned them down. I have a feeling we are going to get fucked in the end because his value decreases after the draft and even further once the season gets going.

[Nazrark]

I think Sather is overreaching with Talbot. He is worth something decent, but it seems Sather wants a first round pick. He said he has been offered second round, but has turned them down. I have a feeling we are going to get fucked in the end because his value decreases after the draft and even further once the season gets going.

The thing is, there is a few good goalies in the draft the will most likely be taken in the second round. If a team is desperate they will take him in the first. Most teams that would need Talbot can take a goalie and wait 3-4 years for him to come out of the pipeline. There are also a lot of goalies out on the market right now. Ottawa is floating two and will pull the trigger before the draft. Because once one of the goalie vacancies is gone, there aren't that many more to fill.

[Zeoni]

I think Sather is overreaching with Talbot. He is worth something decent, but it seems Sather wants a first round pick. He said he has been offered second round, but has turned them down. I have a feeling we are going to get fucked in the end because his value decreases after the draft and even further once the season gets going.

Negotiation tactic, start with a high price. Same thing the Blackhawks are doing (asking for a 1st, prospect, and a roster player lol). He'll end up going for like 33rd overall to Edmonton or maybe they can fleece the Oilers with their 16th. Who knows

Buffalo traded their 21st overall for Lehner and Legwand. Pretty good value considering Lehner was out with a concussion most of the year and isn't really proven yet.

Soderberg gets 4.75 for 5 years from Colorado, massive overpayment. Who do these guys think they are?

annd Mike Fischer signs a 2 year deal with Nashville, Predfanx here will be happy with that.

[Tradewind]

I have a feeling that this draft day is going to be booooring as fuck.

Unless Edmonton somehow picks Eichel instead, or trades the #1 pick for some sort of mutant hybrid of Gretzky/Kurri/Messier that was grown in a lab somewhere. There's not really any "surprises" other than maybe some trades but I doubt there'll be many...

[VanillaO]

I had a dream last night...

Kessel + 2017 2nd to ARI for 3, 32, 2016 2nd
Gardiner + Percy + 24 + 32 to BUF for 2, 2016 2nd, 2017 6th
2 + 3/4 + Bernier to EDM for McJesus.

McJesus and also one of Hanifin/Strome/Provorov... lose Kessel (don't need to explain the loss), Gardiner (I think he's got room for improvement, but don't think he'll get higher than 3/4 pairing), Percy (looking like a bottom 3 D).

Then I woke up with the hardest erection of my existence and it wasn't even about sex.

EDIT: Also loser Bernier, which I'm not super torn up about.

[Stommped]

Fucking love what Buffalo is doing. Need to add a few more players but they could be right back in the mix next year. Eichel is fucking Lebron James on skates (not literally that big, but he plays like a freight train), I would bet on him for Calder next year over McDavid because I don't trust Edmonton not to fuck him up some how.