dlbalr

Hopefully the transfer will help get him some playing time after barely seeing the ice this season.

I'm not necessarily opposed to the idea of an extension (especially if Barron winds up being traded) but three years gives me pause. I get the lower AAV is thanks to the longer term but that third year is a big red flag. If they were to pursue an extension, I think they'd be capping the offer at two seasons.

I think if Slovakia indicated they'd add Mesar to the roster, they'd lean toward going that way. Houle is not one who typically likes playing prospects at this time of the year unless his hand is forced so I'm not sure Mesar would get regular minutes in what could be a very limited postseason.

Offensively, not a bad comparison. He's good on board work/cycling with a decent enough shot (not quite as strong as Armia's though). He might be a 10-goal guy in the NHL. Defensively, I'd be pleasantly surprised if he got to Armia's level.

Here's the official Laval roster and he's on that one: https://theahl.com/stats/roster/415/81?league=4

While Pittsburgh is owned by FSG, they're not exactly known as being high-spending teams when it comes to the front office. Dubas is all in on analytics which aligns with ownership. He could go on a three-year vacation in the Bahamas and still have his job. At the time of the Karlsson trade, the thought was this would make them a playoff contender. By the deadline, they were a few points out and Guentzel is a pending UFA. The fact they prioritized prospects over picks suggests they're not moving off the win-now (or soon) approach but knew there was a good chance Guentzel was leaving for nothing in free agency so they opted to sell. Yep. 12 wins the first lottery. That locks SJ at 1 and 12 moves up to 2. Whoever wins the second lottery gets 3, hence the miniscule odds.

He has six years left on his contract. I think he has all the job security he could dream of.

That's good since Molson made it clear the other day he will not grant Gorton permission to talk to other teams.

Pretty clean contract overall - $912,500 AAV, $925,000 cap hit. $25,000 in GP bonuses next season, no bonuses in 25-26.

Xhekaj acknowledged today that he played through the shoulder injury for most of the season and hit it from the team since he wanted to play. Guhle confirmed he has a head injury but is hoping to play at the Worlds and has been invited to play. Considering he's been skating for a few days now, I think he was probably pretty close to returning had the season gone on.

For me, I have a copy of the CBA and the MOU extension on my computer. I rarely go more than a couple of weeks without needing to consult it for something whether it's for something here or on PHR so some of the obscure stuff sticks after a while. And as most here know, I'm a bit of a cap guy so I have some odd facts on that front in my head.

Just remember, that comes off the cap next year if he gets it.

There is no AHL salary this year since the contract doesn't start until 2024-25 so it doesn't have anything to do with his AHL salary on the entry-level deal. There is no cap on what a one-way AHL contract can be and often runs into the six figures. I wouldn't be surprised if Tuch's 'salary' in the minors is actually in the six figures. He's eligible for a full weeks' pay since the deal was registered there Monday and there are games I think until Sunday. That wouldn't completely compensate for what a few NHL days would have been but it would help bridge the gap compared to an ATO which is basically just per diem money.

It goes by number of days in the season. I think it's 190 or 192 this year, something like that. So 3/192 since there's games until Thursday and then the signing bonus as you noted.

I'm not sure they can be much worse when it comes to that.

What's particularly interesting is that Tuch got a one-way AHL deal. Usually it's ATO/PTO deals at this time of year. I assume that lets them pay him more, offsetting some of the foregone money by not signing an ELC that starts this season.

This was a logical guess but it's playing out the other way. Savard is already just under 17 minutes, leading both teams by a fair bit.

Correct.

If it's a deal starting this season, it's possible they wait until after 5 PM, thus not counting on the books until Tuesday. That's the only logic I can see with waiting. That's from yesterday, citing the Friedman report that said it was trending toward him signing.

He hasn't signed yet. It sounds like things are heading in that direction so I'm surprised it's not done yet.

How many of those are big and play with physicality? That's something the Habs don't have a lot of in their prospect pool.

Yes, Laval can finish ahead of Belleville with two regulation wins next week. However, that alone doesn't clinch them as I think Utica can still catch Laval.

Andersson and Heineman score in the 3rd as Laval takes it 5-1. https://theahl.com/stats/game-summary/1026269 Laval is now two points behind Belleville. The Sens have a game in hand still but Laval has the tiebreaker.

That's better than when they attempted to copy ESPN with the bubbles above whoever has the puck. It's goofy but at least it's subtle.

Now 3-1 early in the 3rd. Maillet (PP) and Andersson have the goals.