2023-24 NHL Season Thread.

[Deleted]

He is now officially the worst GM in the league, by far.

Yeah, but only because Howson got the pink slip. Still, absolutely underwhelming return for a player who has been a franchise player his whole life and is still one of the best power forwards in the game, would have expected way more.

I know I'll hate myself cheering for the Pens in the east now. Damnit, Iggy!

[AceofHarts]

the Penguins are literally selling the farm and betting it all on winning the Cup this year. if they don't, due to resignings, they are going to have a horribly imbalanced team next year. i honestly hope it all blows up in their faces.

[VanillaO]

Hopefully playing with some higher octane players will spark him, otherwise I think he's going to take a lot of heat if the Pens don't perform in the playoffs.

[Armourboy]

All going to come down to how it turns out. If Iggy doesn't do a thing, the Pens get bounced its not that bad for Calgary imo. If one of those 3 turns out to be good, either one prospect or the pick, Then its not bad for Calgary. If Iggy goes on to put up all star numbers and none of the 3 players pan out then it will be considered one of the dumbest moves in hockey.

[Juno86]

I'm sorry, but Iggy is one of those players you just love. As much as the Penguins can be a fucking irritating as all hell team, I want them to at least win it for Iggy. He's done everything you can imagine except win a Stanley Cup. I would love for him to get to do that before his career is over. Funny thing too, I've actually met him a couple times now, he built a massive summer home in my little town in BC and he's a really really nice guy.

[BicycleMafioso]

I'm more excited to see Douglas Murray carry his team to the cup. ;P

But like other years, it's not as simple as just getting there and winning. Any team can get a good streak against a better team due to psychology et c.

[AceofHarts]

on one hand id be happy to see Iginla win a cup. on the other hand, part of me hopes Pittsburgh crashes and burns so that they gambled it all on this year and it didnt pan out. does anyone seriously think they plan on keeping these 3 guys?

[VanillaO]

Well, realistically, Iginla DID win a cup.. just no one on the ice knew it at the time.

[Juno86]

Well, realistically, Iginla DID win a cup.. just no one on the ice knew it at the time.

Quoted for the truth.

[Zeoni]

Feaster has made one of the worst trades in recent memory. He traded a franchise player who he should have traded a few years ago when his stock was much higher and for what? Two prospects that will more than likely never make it to the NHL and a late first round pick. Bravo Feaster, bravo. Pittsburgh stole Iggy away even though he's just a rental and literally gave up nothing in return. I'd been saying for years to trade Kippers and Iggy to get some awesome prospects and players to rebuild the team. Not a gut job like EDM did, but build for the future. They have next to nothing in terms of prospects, a massive cap, and are a bubble playoff team year after year. Ouch. He is now officially the worst GM in the league, by far.

I don't think you actually know what's going on in Calgary as far as the GM position goes. I'm not saying Feaster is an amazing GM or anything but he is certainly not as bad as people think. Ownership has his hands tied in the past because they don't want to rebuild and they only traded Jarome just now because it's the last chance. It doesn't matter what we get in return for him because this ship has already sunk. It's a win/win for both teams, we get 1st round pick in a deep draft plus 2 prospects. Sure, they're not Scott Harrington or Olli Maatta but if you think for some reason we got ripped off or anything, you're wrong. This years draft is pretty deep and we could score a great player there with our 2 1st round picks (so far) and I'm sure some moves will be made before the draft. They -should- have traded him after his 43 goal season but unfortunately that was when Jay was still interim GM. Then the next 2 seasons after that we were pretty close to the playoffs if not in a playoff spot and I'm 90% sure the management didn't want to trade away our best player while in a position like that. I don't believe Jay Feaster is holding us back from doing a rebuild but I also don't think he is the man for the job. We got what we were going to get for Iggy this close, tbh Boston's offer wasn't any better especially since it had the condition that he had to resign with them for us to get their 1st.

And if speculation is right, we're going to shed quite a bit of our cap by the end of next season. Bouwmeester is a hot asset and will likely be traded if not by next years deadline, then by this years. I know for a fact that the Wings are interested and the return for a possible deal is looking quite juicy if you ask me. Cammalarri's/Kiprusoff's contracts ends after next season so that's more money off the books. We just lost the 7.6 from Iginla, so I woulden't say we have a massive cap. I doubt Kipper will be traded but anyone can go if they just moved Jarome. We have players we can move for prospects/picks if they do decide to go for the fire sale route. Can you imagine the interest in Curtis Glencross? 2.5 mil cap hit for a 20~ goal scorer. I'm pretty sure any team would be interested in that especially since his contract lasts till the 2014/2015 season. Stempniak is in the same boat, has somehow managed to be one of the only positive players on the team and has a low cap hit.

Another thing some people probably don't know is we actually do have prospects. Michael Bachlund isn't a prospect anymore but this year has been amazing for him and he's finally playing the way we thought he would. We have Sven Baertschi who is the most skilled player we've seen in our system in a long time. Johnny Gaudreau, Hobey Baker finalist who is leading the votes right now and was the NCAA East Player of the Year. He also lit it up at World Junior's and might be the 2nd most skilled player we've had. There are a bunch of lesser known players who only time will tell such as Bill Arnold, Markus Grandlund, Mark Jankowski (our first rounder from last year, won't see him till 2014-2015 at least though), Max Reinhart, Patrick Sieloff, Tyler Wotherspoon, and John Ramage. Not saying any of these guys are going to light it up in the NHL the higher end of those are going to be decent players. We also have 3 great goalie prospects in Laurent Brossoit, John Gillies, and Kari Ramo. All those guys + the 2 we go from Pittsburgh make up a decent farm pool and those aren't the only ones. There is a bunch of other guys that could still make an appearance and a couple others who already have. Ontop of that, we have a pretty full draft this year that's being said is quite deep. 2 1st Round Picks, 3rd, 4th, 6th, and 2 7th's. We're going to be in the same position as this season for a good couple years but once we get these guys developed I think we'll come roaring back. At least until we trade the whole stable for Olli Jokinen again.

[Rennadrel]

Yeah, but only because Howson got the pink slip. Still, absolutely underwhelming return for a player who has been a franchise player his whole life and is still one of the best power forwards in the game, would have expected way more.

I know I'll hate myself cheering for the Pens in the east now. Damnit, Iggy!

Ahem, Garth Snow says hello when it comes to worst GM

[conscript]

the Penguins are literally selling the farm and betting it all on winning the Cup this year. if they don't, due to resignings, they are going to have a horribly imbalanced team next year. i honestly hope it all blows up in their faces.

I honestly don't. I fucking love Iginla. Dude deserves to win a Cup and I hope Pittsburgh delivers it to him. This is like Ray Bourque going to the Avs and getting a Cup. I hated the Avs way, way more than I will ever hate the Pens, but it was nice to see that guy win one.

So I'm late to this shindig, but Iggy to the Pens?! Holy fuckballs. What is he going to do with an actual NHL caliber center next to him? And not even just that, a future Hall of Fame, best of his generation, center? Yikes.

---------- Post added 2013-03-28 at 06:49 PM ----------

on one hand id be happy to see Iginla win a cup. on the other hand, part of me hopes Pittsburgh crashes and burns so that they gambled it all on this year and it didnt pan out. does anyone seriously think they plan on keeping these 3 guys?

Barring a massive salary reduction, which is a possibility if Iggy wants to stay I imagine, ya there is no way the Pens keep him. They already have two of the three highest paid players in the NHL eating cap space, they can't afford another big dollar contract. The contract I would absolutely be the most worried about if I am a Pens fan is Letang after next season. He is going to get a huge raise and if it isn't in Pittsburgh it will be elsewhere. Same thing for Kunitz. The lower line and pairing guys on the Pens don't make a ton of money and for the most part they are just dudes. Dudes who perform pretty well, but more or less just dudes. They are replaceable parts to a man. As long as the Pens have two of the top 5 centers in the NHL, they are going to be able to easily move pieces in and out of their roster and still have a competitive squad.

[Zeoni]

They do have a shitload of defensive prospects but they're still prospects. I can see them letting Letang walk and to be honest they woulden't be that much worse off. He always seems to be injured these last 2 years too. Obviously you can't just replace someone of that caliber with some kid but it's easier for them to soften to blow if he does sign elsewhere.

[conscript]

They do have a shitload of defensive prospects but they're still prospects. I can see them letting Letang walk and to be honest they woulden't be that much worse off. He always seems to be injured these last 2 years too. Obviously you can't just replace someone of that caliber with some kid but it's easier for them to soften to blow if he does sign elsewhere.

Frankly if they are going to consider it they should move him this offseason. Guy going into a UFA contract year making a super decent salary who is a top pair defenseman on pretty much any team has mad asset return potential, especially if they are going to do a slight rebuild this offseason with a number of guys coming off the books. It would be an intriguing thought to say the least.

[Juno86]

Fro god sakes Reimer... KEEP YOUR FREAKING GOALIE STICK ON THE ICE YOU SOB.

[AceofHarts]

Holy Crap Phoenix has put up 6 GOALS in the 1ST PERIOD alone on Nashville...

[draynay]

Holy Crap Phoenix has put up 6 GOALS in the 1ST PERIOD alone on Nashville...

I just saw the highlights and that was some incredibly sloppy defensive play by both teams, but then you expect nobody decided to play defense when there's 9 goals in the first period

[Rennadrel]

Nashville is getting waxed pretty hard right now, not gonna lie.

[AceofHarts]

did someone forget to tell Nashville that your allowed to play defense and have goaltenders on the ice during hockey games all of a sudden?

[Rennadrel]

So people who cried about the Lupul contract extension have been officially owned. In 5 games since returning from injury plus the suspension, he has 7 goals. The Leafs would probably be 1st in the East if he had never had his arm broken by Phaneuf. The surprising thing is just how clutch he has been too, has the go ahead goal tonight and 2 goals on Tuesday against the Panthers, one the eventual game winner.