TurdBurglar

I've been known to be wrong, but I think the preference would be to move a deep LD pool over a thin RD pool. I would pump the brakes on expecting Hutson in the NHL next year. It'll be his first season out of university, so no professional hockey experience. I also know some will point to Caufield did it with nearly no AHL tenure, but forward, especially wing, is the easiest to transition to. Guhle also did it with no real AHL tenure as well, but he came from the WHL, which is regarded as a higher level of competition than the NCAA. Defensemen take longer to season, especially if they've never played professionally. It's why I said earlier Hutson and Reinbacher will take at a year or 2 to be NHL regulars.

Matheson, Guhle, Harris, and Xhekaj on the left. Savard and Kovacevic on the right. All NHL ready. Hughes made a point of saying he doesn't want to block the transition to the NHL for the other defensemen. There's no guarantee Savard gets traded in the off-season or Hutson/Reinbacher will be on the NHL roster next season, fairly unlikely in reality. Neither Reinbacher or Hutson will be a 7th defenseman because AHL play time is better than sitting in a press box. There's definitely a move or 2 to be made to get Struble and Barron some more NHL ice-time. Realistically for Hutson or Reinbacher it's a year or 2 away, but Barron is definitely a player that's in that weird spot where AHL ice-time probably won't really benefit him much anymore so he would need more NHL ice-time and Struble showed flashes of that as well. Sure injuries help with NHL ice-time, but you can't depend on injuries to get young players ice-time.

Toronto is doing a great job of clogging the middle of the ice while pressuring the puck carrier. The league is really against Toronto. Two icing in a row against the Leafs and there's a lengthy time check after the second one, giving the same Leafs group on the ice a nice break. Defeating the whole purpose of no TV timeouts or line changes on icings...

I missed the second period and saw Pastrnak got called 8 minutes for high sticking? How does that even happen? Edit: Turns out it was just a double minor, but TSN has it wrong on their website.

PK's reputation is largely based on rumors. A player as good as he was raises questions to why he was traded twice, once in his prime. This is extremely rare, and cases where it did happen, it came out after there were bigger off-ice issues. It would lend credibility to the rumors of how PK was behind the scenes. To say it was all true or all wrong would be equally as wrong. I would imagine it was somewhere in between. PK's problem was his attitude and interactions with teammates. Kane's problems stemmed from his own behavior, most of which weren't hockey-related.

There would a cost attached to LA retaining $2m for more 7 years, even if Anderson only has 3 more years left. The shorter term wouldn't make up for the skill difference and retention alone. You'd also have to believe there's no way LA sells PLD low after paying so much for him just last off-season. Anderson's value is at it's lowest point now, after last season.

Thanks for bringing this up. It prompted me to look into it. While it's hard to find a lot of studies that actually did the math, and nearly 100% of top-5 picks played 100+ games, then dramatically drops off after that. Two different studies (from 1988-1997 and another from 2000-2009) Both had 100% of top 5 picks playing 100+ game. Hence why I said nearly 100%, as I haven't found any study doing something like the last 40 years combined. So both picks 3 and 5 should theoretically both provide long-term NHLers, the quality is the questionable part. https://myslu.stlawu.edu/~msch/sports/Schuckers_NHL_Draft.pdf https://dobberprospects.com/2020/05/16/nhl-draft-pick-probabilities/ Also found this that is from 1963-2023, showing the top 5 picks on average play over 600 games per pick position. https://morehockeystats.com/drafts/pickstats

The Tavares penalty should of been 2 each, but stick holding is almost never called. You see players tuck the stick under their arm and squeeze because it'll be called a hook 50 times before it's called holding the stick. Tavares did hold McAvoy. Leafs fans are livid on reddit. I don't understand how getting twice the amount of PP's as the other team are the refs against them.

One of the plights of Arizona was they had significant cap tied up in dead contracts. It was done out of necessity, but was also a huge factor in why Arizona was in the situation it was in. They snowballed their own problem by trying to solve it. As much as everyone harps on Vegas now for their LTIR usage, Arizona has been doing the same thing in the other direction for years, allowing them to ice a team under the minimum cap, using LTIR to get them to the cap floor. I would imaging Utah is going to break away from that stigma as fast as possible. I'd be shocked if they take any interest in bad or dead contract unless it's ultimately going to lead to something that makes the team better on the ice. I fully expect Utah to be very aggressive in free agency as they have $23m in LTIR on this roster with only about $47m in committed contracts, essentially nearly $60m in cap space for next season.

With 3 capable top-6 centers under 25, Dvorak and Evans on the NHL roster, Beck, Kidney and Mesar in the system. I'm not sure how many more a team needs to be considered stocked at center then. Just because a player can play wing as well doesn't make them not a center. Writing off Dach by saying "it wouldnt be wise to put all the eggs in that basket," is very premature. Crosby missed nearly 2 seasons with much worse concussions early in his career too, nobody wrote him off. Comparing injury time missed not skill ceiling here. With 3 capable top-6 centers there's obviously no eggs all put in one basket anyway.

Yeah, I very well doubt Hughes will part with a good prospect in a much needed position unless the offer knocks his socks off. Zegras for Reinbacher straight up, but Anaheim would be on a new GM hunt shortly thereafter. With how stocked Montreal are on LD, I could see Guhle/Hutson maybe on the table. Doubt Anaheim would be interested in Matheson, unless it's to flip him to another team. We have to remember Montreal is pretty stocked on top-6 centers, so the appetite to add another would have to be pretty low for Hughes. Both Dach (last season) and Newhook (this season) were on pace for 50+ point season, which isn't a far cry from Zegras' numbers. I would read more into trades that involve scoring wingers, RHD and goalies.

Not quite the same situation. The point of why Matthews and Nylander don't play together is both are shooters. Theoretically, every shot taken by one is potentially a shot less by the other. By separating them, they aren't interfering with each other's chances, and you're making another line more dangerous. Plus it's a chance for Matthews to prove the criticisms wrong, that he is the driving force on his line not that he needs to be part of a duo, unlike McDavid. We all know how much All-Leafs-nation loves to try to make Matthews appear just as good or better than McDavid. Plus Keefe is the type of coach to feed into that instead of whats best for his team (not resting Matthews in gas 82 AND pulling the goalie for no other reason than to get Matthews a goal).

Last one in OT so the Leaf's fans can cry about how the league and refs are against Toronto.

Pretty sure they tried to force that pairing for a couple of season and Matthews and Nylander don't mesh well on a line together. Nylander is too much of a shooter to be with Matthews. I think the idea was, in the absence of Marner, put Matthews with 2 players to grind it out for him and get him the puck.

Fells weird to be cheering for Boston.