Commandant

What he is doing in the mens league in Finland is special... and its at both ends of the ice. Now hes also doing it in the exhibition games for the Mens world Championships. Our full report is up at Lwos though. And i dont go by what other sites have. I try to look at it independently, its why we had Quinn Hughes much higher than other sites and Mike McCarron as a third round pick.

His birthday is May 31st. So he will be 31 next month and 32 when the contract expires next year.

Even at his best he's a third liner. I dont believe we should give a guy who is going to be 32 years old when the contract even starts... and is an inconsistent bottom line player... a contract extension. 1.) At his age hes not part of the rebuild. 2.) Hes already not the fastest guy... and hes hitting the age curve. If he loses a step that contract is a disaster Nope trade him as a rental now just to get him off the books.

And now its 2-2

2-0 early for Utah.

17 goals, good defensive play. 1 year rental. Rising cap and not many FAs. Someone might bite if they dont have to give much in assets, and struck out on the UFA market

If there is a summer trade available... and you dont have to retain salary. Do it. Same goes for Savard. The retention slot may be needed for Dvorak or Gallagher or Anderson at some point in future.

Last time there was this disparity was probably the Yakupov draft where he was the consensus #1 but guys like Forsberg, Galchenyuk, Sergachev, Murray were all over the place.

Helenius is number 2 in my rankings. Which have started to be posted by the way. We have 6 up.

And the Stats

Konstas Helenius is playing for the senior men's team at the Worlds.

why would you take Mailloux off the Rocket... note Hutson is not eligible to play in the AHL. If your complaint is them not putting their best lineup out there, why would you want to weaken the AHL lineup by calling up Mailloux? I know you've made the same complaints before and Brian has explained it previously so whats the purpose of this.... just continuing your agenda against management is my guess.

Hilarious that anyone would even believe that two NHL games by Lane Hutson would effect Cole Hutson's draft stock. Just cause they are brothers doesn't mean they are the same. Marcel Hossa isn't Marian. Jared Staal isn't his brothers. Alex Nylander isn't William. Valeri Bure wasn't Pavel. Sylvain Turgeon wasn't Pierre. Matt Strome wasn't his brothers. Jordan Subban wasn't PK. Ryan Suzuki is a bust. How many more examples do we need before we scout each individual player and not their relatives.

Utah wins. Good night for tankistas.

15 guys there... but...kostenko, sobolev, and norlinder are write offs so thats 12. Bogdan isnt coming to North America any time soon, and Mittelstadt needs time in college plus hes a long shot. So pretty quickly we are down to 10. Then you have a group that needs AHL time in Hutson, Mailloux, Engstrom, Trudeau.... and now younare down to 6 for next year. Keep Matheson and trade Savard... boom you have 7 on the NHL team. Add Kovacevic and thats 8 for next year.

I think Mailloux needs a bit more work on his defensive game. He's only spent one year in Laval and this is a guy who basically missed two full years of Junior Hockey due to Covid, his arrest and suspension, and then his shoulder injury. He hasn't made that up yet.

I don't think he plays Saturday, but I think he'll play both Detroit games.

Fowler and BC shutout out Michigan 4-0 to advance to final.

Sens beat Tampa im shoot out

I don't think they are that preliminary. I expect an announcement after their last game is done.

Vinny Lecavalier famously wanted to be traded because of Torts, and the GM/owner refused to make the trade. Otherwise he would have been a Leaf in 2002. Brandon Dubinsky, JT Miller, Ryan Johansen, PL Dubois, Kevin Hayes, Marion Gaborik, Carl Hagelin, are guys who got traded. In New York Henrik Lundqvist, Chris Kreider, and others led a mutiny where they would ask to be traded if he wasn't let go. So its a mix of both types.

There is no doubt that some players will like him. However there is also a long list of players who have asked to be traded after he has rubbed them the wrong way. Polarizing is the right word.

In fairness his shooting percentage this year is well below what should be expected too. This year we should expect him to have 3-4 goals and 9-10 assists for 12-15 points... considering he's played half the season that would be 6 goals and 24-30 points over 82 games, which isn't bad for a fourth liner. He got lucky with his finishing in 2023 He's been unlucky this year, both his own finishing and his linemates. So the truth is likely in the middle of the two years.

Thats all true, and I'm not surprised by them dropping out of the playoff race. However, this seems more than just reversion to the mean.... losing 8 in a row... losing blowout games to Columbus and Montreal, two bottom feeders where you don't even compete in the game, just get destroyed. This is more than a team who was getting the bounces and the bounces stopped. This is going off the rails and it happening just after Torts ripped the team in a press conference and scratched the captain is just too coincidental to not go to the quitting on the coach as part of the explanation too.

Healthy Scratched Sean Couturier without warning... the team captain.