JediDefender.com Forums
Community => JD Sports Forum! => Topic started by: Jeff on June 23, 2014, 04:13 PM
-
Draft coming up this week. Free agency looming. Should be a fun couple of weeks before we hit the dark summer months. Random off-season thoughts...
- wondering how long it will take before Jesse's Pens get down to interviewing him or me for head coach since they seem to be interviewing just about anyone these days. Must suck knowing the best guy for the job out there is the guy they just fired. Also must suck seeing "your guy" opt for Carolina or Vancouver instead... though those jobs probably come with a lot less media attention.
- wondering where the Wild will ultimately end up. So many things were rumored all year long (Vanek, Vanek, Vanek!) and now... not so much. Re-signing Moulson was a lock until the playoffs and now people have cooled on wanting him too. Might be one of those summers where there's a lot of talk, but ultimately they go with the youth movement and hope for improvement from last year.
- Hall of Fame. Nice to see them finally let Pat Burns in there. No surprise on Modano, Hasek, and Forsberg. Bit surprised they made Recchi wait though but I suppose you can't have everyone at once.
-
Will be interesting to see what the Rangers do. They bought out Richards' contract to free up money... I guess that was coming since rumors were going last season (which he had a poor year), but he turned it around this year. Sad to see him go, but will see if they get anyone(s) interesting out of it. I think there are some re-signs possible, but we'll see. Sather has dismantled most of the team that was there when I was living in NYC in 3 years time.
-
Changes needed made so I'm not against the Bylsma firing... Pens are soft and it showed. I'm an Ulf man and I think he will be it. I am glad all the names that came and went did so. They were dismal choices. Ulf was an idol of mine growing up and when I first played I was a D-man and strived to play a shadow game like his... It didn't hurt that I couldn't score to save my life so F'ing up others from scoring helped. :)
So Ulfie is my guy. Gritty and he understands the game so much more than people realize I think. He wouldn't be Sid or Genos buddy, nor would he be a pushover for them. Plus I could easily see Tocchet brought in as an assistant and man, that'd be another injection of the tough love they maybe need.
I've not liked much of anyone brought up for coach though. People who've done nothing or have no real experience... Babcock comes up but doesn't seem likely... I'm not real happy with the GM choice tho and feel like he has to prove himself. Shero has the team in a weird place though that's you can't pin on the new guy obciously.
Jeff If they ask me I want you for assistant. 3 year deal!
-
Oh btw you should expect Niskanen in a Wild jersey soon. :'(
-
Jeff If they ask me I want you for assistant. 3 year deal!
Sweet! I will start drawing up PPs right now... all Geno shooting, all the time!
Pointed out to me today - Penguins wanted a Willie or Peters as head coach, now interviewing a Johnson. I think someone named Dick might get interviewed next... better tell Ulf to change his last name to Samuelshlong if he wants the job.
Oh btw you should expect Niskanen in a Wild jersey soon. :'(
Suter-Spurgeon
Scandella-Niskanen
Brodin-Folin
Yes please. :)
-
The "Dick" is me. That's just a name they all call me for some reason but yeah that's my interview slot. Don't know why they're always saying "we need that dick in here".
-
I've not liked much of anyone brought up for coach though. People who've done nothing or have no real experience...
Mike Johnston?
Loving it?
-
So Callahan is staying with the Lightning. I figured they'd given up St. Louis for a late season rental and the picks, so that was nice to hear. I know this doesn't matter to anyone other than me and people in Florida - but I'm happy about it.
-
More loving he picked Tocchet up as an assistant... Bummed to see Grannato go though. Johnston seems to work well with offensively gifted clubs but that concerns me because D responsibility hasn't been the Pens strong point. Probably scares Fleury a bit too. He tends to take D lapse blame from the yinzers.
I still would've preferred Ulf but I'm willing to see what Johnston can do. Sounds like he won't be everyone's buddy anyway. That was seemingly Bylsma's second biggest downfall.
-
Is it too soon to fire on general manager? At least the Pens lost theirs.
I'm predicting bottom five finish for next year. Division is too tough and unlike Vancouver/Calgary/Edmonton, we have no fellow patsies to play against. I'm really not sure we're better than Calgary and Edmonton. Florida, Isles, Canes could all finish ahead of us. Only Buffalo seems a clearly worse team as they'll have trouble making the cap floor.
Jeez, Chris Thorburn for three years? Ugh. No buyout of the 46th ranked goalie?
We better get McDavid or Eichel.
-
Plenty wanted Rutherford gone during the press conference for his hiring... :-\
-
Watching the arms race of the Central is going to be crazy today... Nashville has added Neal, sounds like Dallas is hot after Spezza, Stasny is either staying in Colorado or heading to Chi/STL. We're hot after Vanek/Iginla. Everyone's getting better... except for the Jets (as already alluded to by my esteemed canuckle friend above).
-
Stasny is either staying in Colorado or heading to Chi/STL.
Stasny's in the Gateway City now.
-
The East is wildly overpaying... It is comical.
-
Yeah, Chicago has been signing short deals with some of their 3rd and 4th liners (e.g., Regin), or moving others to clear $ (e.g., Bolig). I seriously think that they are more focused on trying to work out the Toews and Kane deals than courting anyone else. But I'm by no means following this close enough to know if that's the strategy or not...
Was happy to see Keith end up as the Norris winner again this year. Had a great regular season. Thankfully they don't take the play-offs into account because I thought he faltered at times against the Wild and had a terrible series against the Kings.
-
Hawks don't have any room to pursue anyone. At all. That's before renegotiating Toews and Kane at $12 million per. Lots of rumors about Sharp on the block.
Chicago, Boston and a couple of others are really up against it given the cap came in somewhere between 1 and 4 million less than most had planned for. The FA frenzy is largely done, but I think we'll see some surprising trades with what could be perceived to be poor returns for some established and more expensive players just so some of the teams can make it under the cap.
Lord knows I hope the Jets can score on a couple of deals like that because the only team we have a shot at finishing ahead of in our division is Nashville. Given the Preds are signing our castoffs (Olli Jokinen) that doesn't bode well for them. I'm not convinced Neal isn't the beneficiary of his linemates but this will be the team we find that out on. I don't think our forwards are worse than theirs, Neal included. It's really just our goaltending that is completely horrendous.
The East is wildly overpaying... It is comical.
Boy are they ever. I get Winnipeg isn't a destination but I'm also not unhappy we're not throwing around stupid dollars either. That always comes back to hurt a team.
I'm especially laughing at the NYI who are so desperate to have not given a lottery ticket to the Sabres. That may be a little hollow given we may be in position to win the lottery as well.
-
Snow is a buffoon... He's single handedly kept that team from a cup IMO.
And I love Orpik and all but the Craps way overpaid him. Good for him though but he's lost a step. Niskanen earned his payday tho and Orpik took a cut here at one time so I can't say he hasn't earned something as well. He also is a big accountability guy and they certainly have issues with tha on their bench.
Jussi Jokinen went from cut and half his salary paid by the Canes, to the Pens for peanuts, to Floriday who'd better hope he can do what he does without Malkin and Neal.
Neal is raw talent... If someone can feed him, his shot is devastating. It was a blast to watch that for 3 years.
I suspect Martin, OCB's first job, lands in MN for an established winger.
Calgary paying England what they did? Wow.
Same with NYR and Glass who I loved but who was **** on by Bylsma. :(
I expect the Flyers to make a big trade to make up for Giroux's planned vacation to Uranus.
-
Don't know what to think about the Rangers' gains and losses... I don't know any of the new people, but losing Boyle, Strahlman and Pouliot is rough. Beniot was awesome on his line with Zucc, (and it was the most productive line this season) but I guess that's over now. Boyle was great on face-offs (though pretty tough to do against the Kings) and even though he wasn't a huge scorer, his presence on the ice was noticeable.
In the business of hockey (not the sport), I think the Rangers are a fraction of the players that are on the team now than when I fell in love with them. I mean, I was a casual Wild fan while living in Mn, but after seeing the Rangers play, it was like a whole different world of playing... no offense, Jeff. I still consider them a home team, so I'll root for them no matter what.
-
I expect the Flyers to make a big trade to make up for Giroux's planned vacation to Uranus.
Did you see Evander Kane's tweet about it? Priceless trolling.
-
No but gonna go seek it out now. Pens fans had a field day on twitter. I got so many rt's it was insane. Good meming.
-
Kane and Towes - 8 years, $10.5 million AAV.
-
Is it too soon to fire on general manager?
For Brent:
What does Kevin Cheveldayoff do, exactly? (http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-puck-daddy/what-does-kevin-cheveldayoff-do--exactly-214022536.html)
An analysis of Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff’s trading tendencies (http://illegalcurve.com/2014/07/14/an-analysis-of-kevin-cheveldayoffs-trading-tendencies-since-the-winnipeg-jets-returned/)
Glowing analysis of your guy - "the most disconcerting part of Cheveldayoff’s tenure as GM of the Winnipeg Jets is that he has not made one NHL player for NHL player trade" in almost three years.
-
It's baffling, to say the least.
Not so much bothered by the lack of trades, but when everyone in the league recognizes your starting goaltender is the worst in the league and nothing is done, it makes question the sanity?
-
Selfies are dumb, I concur, but I got to tour Consol the other day and this was a real treat for me. :)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BuaCjAnIgAE9g4t.jpg)
Nobody's allowed in the locker room unless a player, coach, or someone high up in the arena takes you in and escorts you through it (to avoid Bieber-like moments such as happened in Chicago). I was tickled pink to get to be outside the locker room, and I actually snuck into the hallway the players walk down to enter the ice past Suite 66. It was tarped off, but I snuck under it anyway. :P Didn't attempt the locker room door... though I was definitely tempted to do so.
So the group I was with, they were all outside the locker room at one point, and then the door flung open and everyone went ape**** hoping for a player to come out... And there comes like a custodian or electrician with a tool box... The guy's look on his face was priceless because he was downright scared when all the girls (A solid gaggle of teenage girls) in the tour group started to scream, only to have this poor dude walk out.
The guy bolted too, right down the hall.
-
I'm late posting this, but that was a great story Jesse. I'd be totally marking out if I ever made it that close to the Bruins locker room (well, actually making it to Boston would be pretty cool to start with).
-
I still had the deer in headlights look while taking the selfie. :-\
It was freakishly cool standing there. I just really felt almost a little emotional, haha. :'( Sad but true. :-[