NHL 2021

[Jim at Gentex]

Well the Habs have dug themselves into a very deep hole, but they are still alive.

Tampa Bay looked like the team to beat all through the playoffs, and now that they are only one win away it looks like they will probably seal the deal.

Vasilevsky has apparently saved his best for the playoffs and is having a great run.
You don't win Stanley Cups without solid goaltending, and he has been a rock so far.

But Habs fans can still hope for the best tomorrow night!  

[byte]

It's hard to believe we are in the final!! At least we wont be 4/0 !!!!

[JParis]

I'm rooting for the ice to melt

[Jim at Gentex]

Well the Lightning prevailed as expected. :_thumbup:
Honestly, the Habs didn't put up much of a fight and were simply outplayed in every facet of the game.  :huh:

So now on to the off-season wheeling and dealing for next season!  

The Seattle expansion draft is the huge wildcard this time.
I think much like Vegas, the way the league conducted the draft allowed them to hit the ground running with a very competitive roster from day one.

Unlike the old expansion days where teams had to build from the ground up, the new expansion system gives the new organization a chance to start their franchise with very good players right from the start.

Vegas was a competitive team from day one, and I think Seattle will be too.  

Those of us who are Penguins fans are kind of anxious, especially with our new GM being known as a wheeler and dealer.
Even the Pittsburgh press insiders have not heard a peep, which is unusual.
Hextall is playing his cards very close to the vest, which could mean a blockbuster deal may be in the works, or it could mean that there just isn't much to report.  

Anyway, good luck to all of you hockey fans out there, especially the new Seattle franchise.  

[Here's Johnny!]

Tampa Bay took advantage of the injury reserve to keep under the salary cap. They were actually 18M over the cap.

Expect some changes from the NHL to stop teams from artificially keeping players on the injury list.

[marshal]

Wild bought out Parise and Suter contracts.  Helps them a ton for the expansion draft and the first year, the last couple of years on those contracts could really hamper them as they'll end up with $15million in dead cap space.  Of course, they would have been paying $15million to players who probably weren't playing anyway during those year.

[Jim at Gentex]

Wild bought out Parise and Suter contracts.  Helps them a ton for the expansion draft and the first year, the last couple of years on those contracts could really hamper them as they'll end up with $15million in dead cap space.  Of course, they would have been paying $15million to players who probably weren't playing anyway during those year.

Both very good players, so it is understandable.  
Buying out contracts like that is always a gamble, but if I were a Wild fan I would be happy they made the move.  

[marshal]

[quote="Jim at Gentex" post_id=13274 time=1626288468 user_id=83]

Wild bought out Parise and Suter contracts.  Helps them a ton for the expansion draft and the first year, the last couple of years on those contracts could really hamper them as they'll end up with $15million in dead cap space.  Of course, they would have been paying $15million to players who probably weren't playing anyway during those year.

Both very good players, so it is understandable.  
Buying out contracts like that is always a gamble, but if I were a Wild fan I would be happy they made the move.  
[/quote]

I'm definitely happy, it will hopefully move the team forward with a new core.  We'll see what kind of wheeling and dealing Guerin does with the Kraken.

[Jim at Gentex]

I'm definitely happy, it will hopefully move the team forward with a new core.  We'll see what kind of wheeling and dealing Guerin does with the Kraken.

Bill Guerin is a good GM.
Those of us who are Pittsburgh fans were looking forward to seeing him as our GM one day, but his career path took him in a different direction.
He was the GM of the Pens AHL team in Wilkes-Barre for a while, and he did a great job, then he was promoted to Assistant GM in Pittsburgh.
It seemed as though he was being groomed to be the next GM for the Pens NHL club at some point, but when the opportunity came up in Minnesota he took it.

As a player he knows what it is like to grind through the regular season and the playoffs to earn the honor and thrill of having your name engraved on the Stanley Cup, having done it twice in his career.  That makes him a good GM because he has been on both sides of the fence.  

He's not afraid to pull the trigger on big deals, so yeah, it will be interesting to see how the Wild will end up after the dust settles.  

edit:
Well today is the day every NHL team (except Vegas) has to submit their protected players list to the league in anticipation of Wednesday's Seattle Expansion Draft.

Should be interesting to see all kinds of strategies play out.
And when talking about Bill Guerin, I forgot to mention that since the Wild bought out the remainder of Parise and Suter's contracts, he may very well have his sights set on landing Jack Eichel as the new franchise player in Minnesota, and then building a younger, faster team around him.

We'll have to wait and see...

[Jim at Gentex]

Well meh Pens made some moves, but I'm not sure I understand the logic.
They traded Jared McCann to Toronto for a good prospect and a 2023 7th round draft pick.

A very good, proven 3rd or 4th line center for an unproven 2018 draft pick and a future 7th rounder makes no sense to me.
For Toronto fans, you are getting a very good guy in your lineup, and your club got the better end of that deal IMO.

As expected, Hextall protected his buddy Jeff Carter, and surprisingly re-signed Teddy Blueger and placed him on the protected list as well.
I like the Blueger move because he is a good young talent that I think Seattle may have grabbed if they had the chance.

We'll know more on Wednesday when Seattle announces their picks.
I'm also shocked that Montreal left Cary Price unprotected, and won't be surprised if Seattle takes him, but he has a big contract that goes with him, so he might be too big of a cap hit for Seattle.  Probably a calculated risk by Montreal, but if Seattle does take him even with the big salary I think it will have backfired on the Habs.  

[JParis]

anything that backfires on the "Les Habitants" is a good thing  

[marshal]

[quote="Jim at Gentex" post_id=13398 time=1626703525 user_id=83]
Well meh Pens made some moves, but I'm not sure I understand the logic.
They traded Jared McCann to Toronto for a good prospect and a 2023 7th round draft pick.

A very good, proven 3rd or 4th line center for an unproven 2018 draft pick and a future 7th rounder makes no sense to me.
For Toronto fans, you are getting a very good guy in your lineup, and your club got the better end of that deal IMO.

As expected, Hextall protected his buddy Jeff Carter, and surprisingly re-signed Teddy Blueger and placed him on the protected list as well.
I like the Blueger move because he is a good young talent that I think Seattle may have grabbed if they had the chance.

We'll know more on Wednesday when Seattle announces their picks.
I'm also shocked that Montreal left Cary Price unprotected, and won't be surprised if Seattle takes him, but he has a big contract that goes with him, so he might be too big of a cap hit for Seattle.  Probably a calculated risk by Montreal, but if Seattle does take him even with the big salary I think it will have backfired on the Habs.  
[/quote]

Seattle can afford that big contract, they need to get over a minimum to begin with.

[Jim at Gentex]

Seattle can afford that big contract, they need to get over a minimum to begin with.

True, they must reach the $60M minimum, but they also can't exceed the $81M max.
Taking on one contract for $10M is probably not something they are willing to do for an older player who didn't have a great season.
But hey, it's their money.
I have always thought Cary Price was one of the elite goaltenders in the league, so if Seattle wants to give him the big bucks I won't be surprised.
It's common for one player to receive 10% or more of a team's cap space, so we'll have to see what happens.

It turns out that Malkin is actually making more than Crosby this coming year because of a big signing bonus.
Both of those guys account for about 23.5% of the Pens total cap.  

[Jim at Gentex]

Well that question has been answered.
Seattle went young, and way cheaper than Carey Price on goaltenders.

They took Chris Driedger from Florida, Vitek Vanacek from Washington, and Joey Daccord from Ottawa.
No marquee names in net, unless they are planning on trading one or more of those guys.

Interesting...

[marshal]

there definitely has to be some side deals for them to pick some of these players over the ones available.  They'll have a TON of cap space to play with though, since it looks like they'll just barely get above the cap floor.