That was kind of a crazy half hour as it all seemed to steamroll out.

Edmonton got hosed.  That's just a bizarre deal.  I suppose Larsson could top out higher but he's been in the league for a while and I don't think of Edmonton as a place where young talent blossoms.  It goes there to fester is more like it.  Giving up Hall makes sense if they are signing Lucic but I think the return for what is arguably a top 5 if not top 3 LW in the league (and young) should have been a much better defender.  I also really wonder how Edmonton is going to manage the cap.  Yeah, moving Hall out frees up six million but you have to think Lucic gets at least that and Larsson is signed for four more years at $4+.  I know they suggest they're moving Eberle and RNH but I don't think there are many teams in a flat cap era that want Eberle at all.  He'd be the second highest paid Jet and likely slot on our third line with everyone healthy.  He's more like a $4 million kind of guy.  RNH is better value and I could see teams take him on even at $6 but I think any return the Oilers would get would be less.  Then they have Draisaitl, arguably their #2 center going forward, coming off his ELC next year and McDavid the year after.  McDavid is going to get Stamkos/Crosby/Toews money and suddenly Edmonton is stuck in cap hell.  They should have got something like Subban for Hall. 

Speaking of Subban, that was a weird ass trade.  Certainly if only due to age Nashville got the far better player.  There are a lot of rumblings out of Montreal though about Subban's behavior in the locker room.  Who knows what is or isn't true and we'll see in time in Nashville if those play out similarly.  He certainly puts on a fabulous outward display of behavior given his charitable donations, etc.  Nashville definitely got much better.  Stoopid Central division.

The Stamkos deal makes me smile.  Not sure if anyone else ever ventures over to the Hockey Futures board but the Toronto contingent is massive and utterly delusional.  Seeing Stamkos stay in Tampa is such a slap in the face to the Leafs who seemed so certain to sign him.  On the plus side for the Leafs I really believe that's the best possible thing to happen to them.  Otherwise they'd have tried to short-cut their rebuild which wouldn't be smart given how methodically they tore the team down.  A little more patience and then some smart moves building in character veterans who can play (not Jets-style character veterans who can't play - Stuart/Thorburn) and their future is bright.  They have some excellent prospects though probably not quite as excellent as they'll tell you (not talking Matthews I believe he's a legit future #1 C). 

On Tampa though I think they're headed towards Hawk-style cap hell.  They simply can't afford to retain all their players under the cap.  Way too many good players that will be getting better salaries coming out of their ELCs.  Palat, Johnson, Drouin, Bishop, Kucherov.  Not all are due this year but in the next year or two a lot of guys are going to be looking to be paid and I think you start to see Chicago-style dumping of excellent players going on.  Hedman is due up soon I believe, but a year or two down the road.  That's kind of crazy.  Some guys are going to have to go and I don't think anyone aside from Stamkos (and probably Hedman) is guaranteed to stay.  Bishop will likely end up out, but a couple of skaters too. 

We aren't nearly as good as Tampa but we may run into similar issues as well.  Scheifele and Trouba up this year and reasonably speaking Scheifele should get Barkov money ($6+) and Trouba's comparables are around $4.5-6.  Ehlers, Connor and Laine will all be due in the next three years and if they meet their expectations they won't be any cheaper than Scheifele.  Plus Wheeler and Little will be due new contracts around the same time. 

Chuckle.  Our young first rounder landed in Winnipeg.  Being a Twins fan I thought I'd post this pick:



He can share my baseball misery while lifting up my hockey team. 

************.  Hawks trade Teravainen and Bickell to NC for 2nd and 3rd round draft picks.

Love getting Bickell's money off the books, hate that they had to include Teravainen to do it.

Also, - congrats again to Jesse.

I love the Hawks, but as long as you have Kane and Toews on those contracts you're going to see that happen every year.  Up against the cap as defined by Chicago.  Horrible Canadian dollar is really messing with a lot of teams right now.   

PEKKA!

I heard you were dead. 

 

Quote from: P-Siddy on April 21, 2016, 09:39 PM

I'm just going to copy Jeff's list with Tampa over the Red Wings though.

Very brave of you to make that pick with Tampa up 3-1 in the series, Steve.   

My Detroit pick was totally selfish - I wanted to see Detroit advance only because I didn't want to admit that this might be the last Datsyuk-hockey we get.

That's why my first pick in our Jets season ticket draft was the Wings.  Got to see Datsyuk play live at least once.