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Around the League 2018-2019 Edition

zeke said:
what really bugs me about it is that we have 5 guys who can fill all the roles on the PP. they can all be great passers or great snipers, from anywhere on the ice. none of them has a skillset that requires them to be fixed in only one role. Doesn't matter if its Matthews, Marner, Nylander, Tavares, or Rielly, they can all pretty much roam around at will and be effective anywhere on the PP. If anyone has the personnel to have a fluid interchangeable PP, it's us.
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Exactly! All those guys you mentioned are all fluid skaters that you can rotate around, with all this skill, it boggles my mind how meh our powerplay is, which to me indicates a coaching issue. Having said that, the loss of JVR last year stung, because he provided that net presence, and really there's nobody on the team that can screen goalies/deflect pucks like he did, I think that loss also contrbutes to why the powerplay floundered last year.
 
Josh Yohe of the Athletic is reporting that the Wild & Penguins have agreed to a trade centered around Phil Kessel & Jason Zucker.

The only holdup is Kessel, who has to decide whether or not to use his NTC to veto the trade.

I have a feeling this might be a very silly summer for the Penguins.
 
LeafGm said:
I'd be surprised, for a few reasons.

The guy's literally never been an assistant coach at any level of hockey. He's always been a head coach.

I think it'd also cause unnecessary drama putting Babcock on the same bench as the front-runner to replace him if things go south this year.

We also no longer need to protect against him being hired somewhere else. All the NHL coaching vacancies have been filled.

So I'd think Keefe's preference would be to keep working as a head coach of his own team in his home town, while most likely being paid like an NHL coach. With the knowledge that if things go sideways again, or if/when Babcock's Leafs get bounced in the first round again while he makes a slew of questionable roster decisions, he'll be at the front of the line to step in and take his job.
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Disagree GM.
Time for Keefe to be around the big club all the time, and start making relationships with the players.
Everyone and their lawyer knows babcock is a sitting duck, and that keefe is the heir apparent.
I personally think it would be wise for keefe to be an assistant coach for the leafs this coming season.
It will make for much easier transition this midseason or next season lol
 
LeafGm said:
Josh Yohe of the Athletic is reporting that the Wild & Penguins have agreed to a trade centered around Phil Kessel & Jason Zucker.

The only holdup is Kessel, who has to decide whether or not to use his NTC to veto the trade.

I have a feeling this might be a very silly summer for the Penguins.
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Wow. I do like Zucker a lot though. Very underrated.

He seems like the prototypical guy the Pens bring in who steps it up a couple levels after he arrives. He could go nuts playing with Crosby.
 
More hockey news: Lou Lamoriello hands out another head-scratcher of a contract.

6 year, $6M AAV deal for Brock Nelson, who's a 28 year-old 40-50 point forward.
 
Kessel is a Minnesota boy, and Zucker was almost traded at the deadline this year. Could have legs.
 
BG said:
Kessel is a Minnesota boy, and Zucker was almost traded at the deadline this year. Could have legs.
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He's a Wisconsin boy, actually.

His Minnesota connection is that he played his draft year in the NCAA at the University of Minnesota.
 
hairnova said:
Sounding like he doesn't intend to waive his NTC, for now anyway.
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I don't blame him. Minnesota's been stuck in the purgatory that is the NHL's mushy middle for years now, and they're not leaving anytime soon.

So if he either wants to win or go to a place with nice weather, the Wild don't have much to offer him.
 
MindzEye said:
NYLANDER IS OVERPAID!!!!
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I mean at the end of the day 6 mil for a 45 point Ufa is market value nowadays. Nylander at 7, even if he's just a 60 point player (he isn't) is also market value. But they more than likely have a steal there. It's pretty obvious to me.
 
MindzEye said:
NYLANDER IS OVERPAID!!!!
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Makes me laugh that I've started hearing hot-takes about how the Leafs promoted Dubas a year early, and Lou would've handled the Big-3's contracts better.

I'll give him credit for the Kadri & Rielly RFA contracts, but both of those were signed before either of those guys broke out offensively. Bit of a different story when you're dealing with three guys who established themselves as legit 1st line offensive players in their rookie seasons.

The rest of Lou's recent contract history is a desolate smoking ruin, whether you're looking at RFA or UFA contracts. And of course, Lamoriello may very well have responded to Nylander's hard line by trading him for some defensive defenseman, like most of the hockey world was screaming at Dubas to do.
 
LeafGm said:
Makes me laugh that I've started hearing hot-takes about how the Leafs promoted Dubas a year early, and Lou would've handled the Big-3's contracts better.

I'll give him credit for the Kadri & Rielly RFA contracts, but both of those were signed before either of those guys broke out offensively. Bit of a different story when you're dealing with three guys who established themselves as legit 1st line offensive players in their rookie seasons.

The rest of Lou's recent contract history is a desolate smoking ruin, whether you're looking at RFA or UFA contracts. And of course, Lamoriello may very well have responded to Nylander's hard line by trading him for some defensive defenseman, like most of the hockey world was screaming at Dubas to do.
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Nah. Dubs bungled the big 3.

He should’ve given them each their fmv the year prior. We’d have Nylander at $6m, Mitch at $8m, and Marty at $10m.
 
LeafOfFaith said:
Nah. Dubs bungled the big 3.

He should’ve given them each their fmv the year prior. We’d have Nylander at $6m, Mitch at $8m, and Marty at $10m.
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I'm not saying that Dubas couldn't have handled it better than he did.

I just don't think that recent history is in favour of any argument that we'd have been better off with Lou negotiating these deals.
 
There's no reason to believe Lou could have gotten our superstars for any less. He can't even do that with guys like Brock Nelson Leo Komarov and Nikita Zaitsev.

And comparing Nelson to 22 year old Nylander when you have a 6 year term is obviously stupid.
 
Lou has big, big issues in Long Island. Both his goalies are UFA. they were 1st in goaltending.
I have enjoyed reading people defending the Nelson deal that crapped on the Nylander deal today.
 
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