tomh009

I don't think their chances would be any better than Quebec's, though.

And the video does make it pretty clear that the call was correct.

.... and Bowman has other issues.

Schmid + Allen could be a decent tandem for them.

For making this decision, "the NHL" is effectively the board of governors anyway, so any franchise-specific issues will surely be discussed as part of the decision-making process. As much as Quebec might "deserve" a franchise over someone like Kansas City, I think that's a long shot. Time zone and realignment issues aside, the big concern will be the size of the local market. I think Houston will be the likely destination ...

Yes. Every player has a different set of risks (ceiling, floor, availability, injuries, size etc). None of them are 100% sure thing. So, a big part of the selection process is evaluating each prospect's risks and comparing those to the organization's risk tolerance profile. The difference with Michkov is that he has an additional category of risk, not that the other prospects are risk-free. He's ranked high, but I'll be much more surprised to see him go at #2 than at #6 or later.

There are risks. And each team will evaluate those risks differently.

Hintz is a late bloomer but has turned into an awesome player, especially for a late second-round pick.

A coaching issue. And when Vegas shut down the McDavid and Draisatl lines, they should have adapted, another coaching issue. They have the talent (like the Leafs) but if you don't have a coach that can make best use of that talent, especially in a playoff series, you won't go anywhere.

After the latest comments by Adam Nicholas (on nhl.com) I feel a bit less worried about Slafkovsky: Nicholas on working with Juraj Slafkovsky: What we're trying to teach him is how to play the 200 by 85-foot game, knowing when to and when not to. You saw moments where he was trying, at first, to possess the puck all the time and enter with possession and try to flash his skill. Well, that's not the NHL all the time. That's where watching highlights comes into effect. So, what we worked on him is just the game. Like, okay, this is when to chip it, this is when to put a puck into space and then go back and recover it. Those are the types of things that we really focused and want him to hone. So, the Big Rig [Slafkovsky], I feel, is heading in a very positive trajectory to where we need him to get to. This summer, for him, a big focus is going to be owning below the goal line, owning net front, and using those skills in those areas to produce.

This is at least a big part of it, I think: Keefe has his plan and he sticks to it, he cannot adapt and switch tactics when the team is being outplayed.

I think Quinn Hughes would have been an even better pick ...

I do think that Juulsen would have been an NHL regular without his injury troubles. Otherwise, yeah, it’s not easy finding good players that late in the first.

Understatement of the year.

I checked the CBA now. The procedure is laid out there, but unlike fines, which are limited to $10K (less than 0.1% of a top player's salary) there are no limits on the length of the suspensions. It only takes guts by "player safety" to do that.

Suspensions are not a CBA issue, are they?

Right -- his ceiling is very high, but that is not guaranteed, just like any draft prospect. Additionally, there is the availability risk (discussed above) and the assessment risk (none of the scouts have seen him play live in the past year). So, the various draft rankings have him all over the place as no one really knows how much risk appetite each of the draftingteams has.

Sure, that's fair, but the fines are still negligible, it's like you or me paying a parking ticket. Make it 1% of salary to account for playoff games, but it should be big enough to inflict some pain and discourage the behaviour.

Quite apart from these specific infractions, the NHL fines are ridiculously small. Players make $10K to $100K per game,if you don't want suspend them, why not fine them one game's (or even one period's) salary?

He took a long run to do it, outside the playoffs it'd surely be a penalty. And well after the whistle IMHO. Gudas not one of my favourite players, I'll admit.

Some insight into SKA, from an Athletic article (about Michkov) from Dec 2021. Food for thought.

If he were known to be coming over in three years, the risk would be low. But he's also got military service -- and what if he turns out so well that SKA offers him a $5M (or more) extension, instead of the $1M ELC? Or if Putin disallows hockey players going to the NHL altogether? I don't know ow to quantify these issues, so I'll be very happy if we can get Smith or Carlsson instead.

Not surprising. I think it'll be crowded at the Laval blueline.

Yes, indeed. Alas, I don't think that'll happen before the draft.

Or else he may want to keep them at home in order to try to have KHL rival NHL. (A lost cause, I think.) The challenge is that Putin is not predictable, and no one else in Russia has any power. We can all speculate, but there is no question that there is a significant risk. How big is that risk, and how much can they accept, that's a question each team will need to answer independently.