TurdBurglar

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.

Then Hughes instantaneously reminds Anaheim they turned down Askarov to get Reinbacher. Askarov has shown nothing to dissuade the idea he's an elite goaltender, which has more value than a flashy 60 point center that doesn't play defense.

As much as it pains me to see another year of rebuilding hockey, it's been way overdue in Montreal. It's been about 20 years of just ok teams, that may or may not make the playoffs, but had no real shot at a cup. The shots they did have, nobody really saw coming. For the sake of 10-15 years of high quality hockey as the prospect, I'm happy they're staying committed to the full rebuild.

Arizona relocation could be announced as early as Thursday or Friday.

Until Hutson is NHL ready, I don't see the left side changing much with Matheson, Guhle and Xhekaj as primary LD. As for RD, it'll come down to who grabs which spot. I don't see Savard, Barron or Harris here much longer. Savard is slowing down as you pointed out and Barron/Harris just seems to be a 3rd pairing guy. Would much rather give ice-time to the queue of higher skill-ceiling behind them than play them for the sake of keeping them, only if those players are ready. Ideally, I would love to see Reinbacher and Guhle paired together, as I see them spending many seasons paired together. I would love to see the addition of a younger Savard-like RD acquired to slot in beside Hutson in the long run, or that's possibly what the Xhekaj RD conditioning could be about as well. I want to stay cautious about saying Xhekaj being a staple top-4D, realistically he will probably top out a bottom pair Gudas-type guy, but still holding out hopes I really do see in the next 2-3 years a tough decision being made between which 2 of Matheson, Guhle and Hutson to keep. From a management standpoint, it's a great problem to have.

Multiple sources saying Arizona is in preliminary talks to move to Salt Lake City.

That seems overly strong. With “all that’s gone down,” it was between the teams, not KK and Montreal. I may of forgotten something but I don’t believe KK spoke bad about Montreal or his departure, so I don’t see why he would be blacklisted from playing for Montreal again. Not that I think he ever will for completely different reasons.

I heard or read somewhere, and I can't remember where, that Carolina may entertain the idea of buying out KK. It would be a crazy buyout though, 6 more years @ $4.8m on his current deal. It would save Carolina $4m per season for the contract duration and cost about $850k for 6 more years after that, according to capfriendly

Evans was very noticeable in a good way.