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2025-26 NHL Miscellaneous Thread

Yeah. I get this. Kulak is a sturdy enough stay at home defender on an expiring deal and Girard just never got back on track after that run of bad injury luck he had. Colorado has Toews and Burns to be backup PP options now, so Girard is just a surplus puck mover who doesn’t really defend well and offers no physicality. Also, Colorado is thinking Cup, and Kulak is a very good penalty killer who has a ton of playoff experience with the Oilers. Having to throw in the 2nd rounder makes this a bit expensive, but they’ll live.

Good bit of business for the Pens, by the way. They got Kulak in December as a make weight in that goalie swap with the Oilers and turned him into a 2nd rounder and a 27 year old D who can run a power play and may have some room left to develop if given a bigger role in Pittsburgh.
 
jeffbear said:
Yeah. I get this. Kulak is a sturdy enough stay at home defender on an expiring deal and Girard just never got back on track after that run of bad injury luck he had. Colorado has Toews and Burns to be backup PP options now, so Girard is just a surplus puck mover who doesn’t really defend well and offers no physicality. Also, Colorado is thinking Cup, and Kulak is a very good penalty killer who has a ton of playoff experience with the Oilers. Having to throw in the 2nd rounder makes this a bit expensive, but they’ll live.

Good bit of business for the Pens, by the way. They got Kulak in December as a make weight in that goalie swap with the Oilers and turned him into a 2nd rounder and a 27 year old D who can run a power play and may have some room left to develop if given a bigger role in Pittsburgh.
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Additionally, Colorado frees up significant cap space.
 
perfectstormhits said:
Additionally, Colorado frees up significant cap space.
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$2 million and change. It’s something, I guess. They had enough to make a minor move before and this marginally changes their tax bracket on a rental. Still a lot of rumors that the Avs are after depth scoring up front.
 
Dallas has issued a statement on Rantanen’s health following his groin injury in the Olympics … he’ll be out at least a couple of weeks but is expected to return before the end of the regular season. That won’t help the Stars’ push for 2nd place in the Central where they’ve slid into 3rd behind Colorado and Minnesota, but they’re in no danger of losing any more position since they’re 13 points ahead of 4th place Utah … who is also WC1. No matter what happens they’re probably playing the Wild in the first round … which is pure tee bonkers.
 
Aleislander Barkov made a 7 figure donation to the Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital to advance pediatric sports medicine at the hospital. It will be named Barkov Sports Medicine at Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital. He’s been supporting the hospital since 2019-20 season and has donated more than $500k but this is a significant step up.

 
andyt said:
He also picked Jake Bean 1 pick before the Bruins grabbed Charlie McAvoy.

It was another stunning Ron Francis draft. The Canes got 44 games from Bean, 5 from Gauthier, 11 from Janne Kuokkanen and 2 from Jack LaFontaine. We got the pick that turned into Aleksi Heimosalmi for Bean, Joey Keane for Gauthier and Sami Vatanen for Kuokkanen.
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Yep. His fingerprints are all over this franchise. Right, Edzo?
 
HNIM said:
Yep. His fingerprints are all over this franchise. Right, Edzo?
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You have to consider the whole picture, which runs from when he started running the draft selections in 2012 through the 2017 draft. That last one was a cracker for Francis, with Necas, Geekie and Luostarinen all turning into high end forwards of differing types. He also nabbed Slavin, Pesce, Nic Roy and Lorentz in the 3rd round or later and got Aho and Lindholm in the top 2 rounds. Francis built a pretty good depth chart, all things considered. He also had a couple of BAD years at the draft table … 2016 was pretty much a bust, 2014 delivered some NHLers but nobody any good ... and he had a habit of kind of whiffing in the 1st round only to make it up later on.

But like I’ve said a LOT, Francis’ failings here mirror his failings in Seattle. He’s decent at building a development structure, but so stinking cautious that he never takes any big swings. You just can’t compete like that.
 
andyt said:
The Pens put Crosby on IR, he’s expected to be out for at least 4 weeks. The Canes play the Pens 3 times in March, home on 3/10 and 3/18, away on 3/22. Crosby could Miss all of them.


View: https://x.com/penguinspr/status/2026674583294673214?s=61
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That should open the door for the Caps and Blue Jackets if they’re in the mood to make a push. Might change some deadline math for some teams as well. Without Sid, that Pens team is a limp rag.
 
The Jackets were 100% in the mood to make the playoffs, but that was before the super extended break. Who knows how the break will affect them.
 
NoMich said:
The Jackets were 100% in the mood to make the playoffs, but that was before the super extended break. Who knows how the break will affect them.
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They’re 4 points behind the Islanders in 3rd with 2 games in hand, 5 behind the Pens with equal games left. The Caps are tied with the Jackets on points but have played 3 more games than them and 2 more than the Isles.
 
Brayden Point used the time off productively, he rehabbed whatever was ailing him and he’ll be back in the Bolts lineup tonight. We’ll see if he plays the 2nd half of the back to back tomorrow in Raleigh.
 
andyt said:
They’re 4 points behind the Islanders in 3rd with 2 games in hand, 5 behind the Pens with equal games left. The Caps are tied with the Jackets on points but have played 3 more games than them and 2 more than the Isles.
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The Jackets were on a very strong run leading up to the break. 10-0 or 9-1 in their last 10? Something like that.
 
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