2017-18 Miscellaneous News Thread
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ThinIce
Well-known member
Copy that. Bringing in someone who wanted out of his U.S. contract and is at the end of his career would be a foolish waste of time and money. Smells a lot like Semin, too.
Aside from the fact that Kovalchuk is roughly twice the player that Semin ever was ... yup
Oh ... and there's no way he ever signs with a team that has Don Waddell working for it, either. He HATES that guy from their time in Atlanta
Paulie Walnuts
Well-known member
Semin's 1st year here was a short season (48 games) due to a lockout. He had 44 points in 44 games. Only Staal had more points with 53. But he was only 28 when Canes signed him so he was more in the prime age group than Kovalchuk is now.
Paulie Walnuts
Well-known member
Calgary fired all their coaches today .
cmaleski2
Well-known member
Following up on the Bobs discussion from the playoff thread here:
Bobs isn't going anywhere, especially to another team in the division. He does have one year left on his current contract with a cap hit of $7.425 but a salary at $6.2 million. He has the obligatory full NMC. If anything the Blue Jackets will be extending him in the offseason after July 1st, not trading him. I doubt they pin their playoff failures on him even though he deserves some of the blame.
Holtby would be more likely to be dealt with Grubauer seemingly poised to take over at some point here, although Grubauer didn't do himself any favors with his playoff performance. Holtby has 2 more years left on his deal, with a cap hit of $6.1 million but friendly salaries of only $5 million per (yes, he is going to make only $250k less than Scott Darling next season if Darling is not bought out). Holtby has a NTC where he lists 7 teams to which he cannot be traded.
Again though, the Caps are not going to go a deal Holtby (or Grubauer) in the division. They are going to likely have to do something though with the goaltending because Grubauer is going to be able to get something in around $3-4 million per either through arbitration or a contract. They are already going to have a hard enough time trying to retain John Carlson who is going to be looking for at least $8 million per in the open market (which is a $4 million more than he earned this year).
The Canes won't be in on whatever the Caps end up doing with their goaltending unfortunately. I have no clue how we get out of the goalie mess we have at the moment that doesn't involve bringing in another question mark UFA or trading for a backup and hoping he can be the starter. We have failed miserably with Lack, Darling, and apparently blew it with Khudobin. It would be a huge risk to expect Neds to be a 40 start 1B goalie this year splitting time with Cam (who almost certainly is going to be re-signed) with just Darling backing both of them up as the #3 starting the season in Charlotte. But at this point the Canes have no good solution and running out and grabbing another backup to pair with Cam hardly seems like a recipe for success.
It would be one thing if Darling was just a bit below average this season...then maybe you could go forward with some level of hope that he shakes off the nerves and becomes at least a reliable 55-60 start average NHL goalie. But he was so epically horrible that it would be a beyond stupid to think that he can be looked upon as anything more than a #3 to start next season. I don't see a trade for a top tier NHL goalie happening for the Canes. Taking another stab at "get a backup who hopefully is as starter in waiting"? We've seen that fail. Neds? This team would be nuts to put their playoffs hopes for 18-19 on a rookie and Cam Ward. However, I think that is exactly what is going to happen....Darling will be retained, he will start the season basically flipping spots with Neds with Cam getting 50 starts with the hope that Neds is ready to start taking more work as the season progresses. If that doesn't work out and Darling has shown some level of competence in Charlotte, down Neds will go and up will come Darling.
The Canes are not going to end up with Bobs, Holtby, Grubauer, or anyone good. 2018-19 will be another season of rolling the dice on the goaltending. The Canes need to finally hit on another goalie here, be it Neds, Booth, or Helvig (or Lafontaine if you really want to believe in fairy tales....).
Bobs isn't going anywhere, especially to another team in the division. He does have one year left on his current contract with a cap hit of $7.425 but a salary at $6.2 million. He has the obligatory full NMC. If anything the Blue Jackets will be extending him in the offseason after July 1st, not trading him. I doubt they pin their playoff failures on him even though he deserves some of the blame.
Holtby would be more likely to be dealt with Grubauer seemingly poised to take over at some point here, although Grubauer didn't do himself any favors with his playoff performance. Holtby has 2 more years left on his deal, with a cap hit of $6.1 million but friendly salaries of only $5 million per (yes, he is going to make only $250k less than Scott Darling next season if Darling is not bought out). Holtby has a NTC where he lists 7 teams to which he cannot be traded.
Again though, the Caps are not going to go a deal Holtby (or Grubauer) in the division. They are going to likely have to do something though with the goaltending because Grubauer is going to be able to get something in around $3-4 million per either through arbitration or a contract. They are already going to have a hard enough time trying to retain John Carlson who is going to be looking for at least $8 million per in the open market (which is a $4 million more than he earned this year).
The Canes won't be in on whatever the Caps end up doing with their goaltending unfortunately. I have no clue how we get out of the goalie mess we have at the moment that doesn't involve bringing in another question mark UFA or trading for a backup and hoping he can be the starter. We have failed miserably with Lack, Darling, and apparently blew it with Khudobin. It would be a huge risk to expect Neds to be a 40 start 1B goalie this year splitting time with Cam (who almost certainly is going to be re-signed) with just Darling backing both of them up as the #3 starting the season in Charlotte. But at this point the Canes have no good solution and running out and grabbing another backup to pair with Cam hardly seems like a recipe for success.
It would be one thing if Darling was just a bit below average this season...then maybe you could go forward with some level of hope that he shakes off the nerves and becomes at least a reliable 55-60 start average NHL goalie. But he was so epically horrible that it would be a beyond stupid to think that he can be looked upon as anything more than a #3 to start next season. I don't see a trade for a top tier NHL goalie happening for the Canes. Taking another stab at "get a backup who hopefully is as starter in waiting"? We've seen that fail. Neds? This team would be nuts to put their playoffs hopes for 18-19 on a rookie and Cam Ward. However, I think that is exactly what is going to happen....Darling will be retained, he will start the season basically flipping spots with Neds with Cam getting 50 starts with the hope that Neds is ready to start taking more work as the season progresses. If that doesn't work out and Darling has shown some level of competence in Charlotte, down Neds will go and up will come Darling.
The Canes are not going to end up with Bobs, Holtby, Grubauer, or anyone good. 2018-19 will be another season of rolling the dice on the goaltending. The Canes need to finally hit on another goalie here, be it Neds, Booth, or Helvig (or Lafontaine if you really want to believe in fairy tales....).
CanadaCanes
Well-known member
Lucky and the Canes are two words that never seem to go together. One interesting prospect hanging around that 12-13 area of the draft where the Canes are likely picking...Joe Veleno.
"Joseph Veleno is one of the most interesting prospects available in the 2018 NHL Draft.
Despite being awarded exceptional status by Hockey Canada prior to the 2015-16 QMJHL season, Veleno has yet to truly establish himself as an extraordinary prospect. While he has certainly shown flashes of brilliance, the native of Montreal, Quebec has — thus far — failed to overwhelm his opposition with his speed, skill, and offensive ability on a nightly basis.
Joe Veleno, Drummondville Voltigeurs
In fact, Veleno’s recent 2017-18 QMJHL campaign marked the first season in which the youngster was able to record more points than games played, a reality which has reinforced Veleno as a highly capable two-way player rather than an elite offensive performer at this point in time.
At the age of 18-years, however, there remains considerable room for improvement with regards to Veleno’s overall game. Strong on his skates, speedy, and of significant size, Veleno boasts all the tools of an elite NHL prospect, he simply needs greater time to combine his abilities.
After all, there is a reason why Veleno was able to accomplish a feat which the likes of Sidney Crosby and Nathan MacKinnon could not."
TheBigKahuna
Well-known member
I'd feel fairly comfortable putting the "Darling buyout" talk to rest. If the owner is going to be budget conscious, he's not going to hand Darling wads of money to disappear and not earn it. Just don't see it happening.
CarolinaPen
Active member
100% agree. As I result I don't see how Ward can come back then. The Canes are truly being run by morons is they return with the same tandem as last year in goal. Dundon on his the recent media tour has been asked about goaltending at every step of the way. He seems to cheap to buy out Darling so Ward is odd man out just due to circumstances, not merit.
Saw this blurb on Twitter today. Keith Aucoin has retired at 39. A Black Ace on the 2006 Stanley Cup team, he played 53 games over 3 seasons for the Canes. He played 49 for the Caps, 41 for the Isles and 2 for the Blues, scoring 17 goals, 32 assists. He was an AHL scoring monster, with 857 points in 769 games, including a 99 point season in 2006-07 in 65 games for Albany. He's spent the last 3 years playing for Munich in the German League, leading the league in assists (53 in 52 games, 21 more than 2nd) and total points.
See the Canes Misc New thread ... it's official
I can't remember who tweeted it, but someone suggested renaming the Executive of the Year award after Torrey and creating a bowtie trophy.
I love that idea. There were few people more important to the NHL that we are beloved as Torrey. I never heard a bad word about the guy. Rare indeed for someone who won so much
CanadaCanes
Well-known member
Interesting league news today that Captain Lou may be ditching the Leafs altogether to take over as either the GM or the President of Hockey Ops for the New York Islanders. Nothing officially confirmed yet, but Dreger and McKenzie at TSN both reporting that Lou could very well be headed to Long Island.
Lamoriello is already out in Toronto. The Leafs announced it last week. It was the end of his contract, which was supposed to be a quick corrective fix for their front office culture, which had gotten weird. He rebuilt the scouting staff, built a new management structure and took off at the end of his deal. I've seen a couple of comments suggesting that he's going to consult with the Isles rather than take a more formal role, but who knows? His son is already working for them, FWIW, and with Garth Snow having been left to run that franchise his own for FAR too long, it ain't like they could use the help or anything.
He was out as GM, but his contract provided for 4 years as "senior advisor". Which is sort of like being "promoted" to President of Hockey Operations.