Machine of Loving Grace

Price moves when he wants to be moved, to the team he wants to goto, regardless of return. That's what happens when a guy gets an NMC with most of the contract in bonuses.

Pagnotta isn't much more credible than Eklund. TFP just has a nicer coat of paint.

Expect the unexpected. I'm not against an assistant coach position in the AHL. I still believe players should work their way up from the bottom so they learn and make mistakes in the junior leagues before they touch the AHL, but I have more confidence in this with Bouchard as coach than Lefebvre. The reason why we never saw Doug Gilmour as a coach in Toronto is because he tried coaching the Frontenacs and realized he had absolutely zero coaching ability. You never want to be Gretzky in Phoenix or Richard in the WHA finding that out the hard way. EDIT: Good article about Burrows, flowery and a bit worshippy, but it has players discussing how Burrows had an IQ for the game which usually makes the most sense for players transitioning to coach https://theprovince.com/sports/hockey/nhl/vancouver-canucks/veteran-nhl-forward-burrows-retires-after-13-seasons

December 16th

I would not consider Philly or NJ locks. I would say the bubble teams are Philly, NJ, Columbus, and Florida. Buffalo, NYI, and Carolina are wildcard teams. New goalies, still some moves to be made (gotta see what the Canes get for Skinner), hard to say which way those teams go. Either they become bubble teams or bottom of the heap.I wonder how good Dahlin really is because Buffalo traded Kane and ROR and replaced them with guys that don't really score that much and they were bottom in GF, so Buffalo needs a lot to get better but they got youth who could take the next step. I could see the Isles somehow being motivated after losing Tavares but they still can't stop a puck worth a poop. Montreal, Detroit, NYR, and Ottawa I would say have little chance of making it. They all need miracles. Montreal was 29th in goals and traded Galchenyuk with Weber out for at least the first half of the year and might trade Pacioretty. NYR was 22nd, Ottawa 25th (and about to lose their best player by far, plus traded Hoffman), and Detroit 28th (doubt Vanek will make that big of a difference, who knows if Zadina plays.) Detroit was 24th worst for GA, Montreal 25th, Rangers 28th, and Ottawa 30th. None of these teams could prevent goals and 3/4 had good to great goalies in Price, Lundqvist, and Anderson. Rangers had good special teams and still sucked, Montreal had a good PP but one of the worst penalty kills. I see absolutely nothing that says Montreal, Ottawa, Detroit, and NYR will have better years this year. Sometimes there's something to be seen in the final 20 games of a bad team to suggest a turnaround. Florida had the best record in the league March on, while Arizona was Top 10. The four I mentioned having little chance? Ottawa 24th, Rangers 26th, Canadiens 28th, and Red Wings 31st. Isles were 25th and Sabres 29th. So what's supposed to happen? Was Galchenyuk an anchor and now the team is free without him? Will the young D suddenly break out? With Kotkaniemi make the club and win the Calder? Is Price gonna be 2002 Jose Theodore? What am I missing?

1% chance: Price pulls a Theodore

I liked Duclair in his rookie year and the photo of him with Beliveau. I think we should have drafted him. But between Domi, Lehkonen, Hudon, Deslauriers, Byron, Pacioretty since he's still there, there is no room for him on the left side. Playing him on the off wing you got Gallagher, Armia, Scherbak, Shaw, Byron again, no room there either. We got no room for trying him as a 3W. The proof is letting Carr walk to Vegas. The sleeper pick I guess was Peca, who could get a shot at centre or play wing, which again pushes Duclair out. If we had moved Pacioretty, Byron, Lehkonen, and Gallagher and were rolling with Domi, Armia, Hudon, Scherbak, Deslauriers, and Shaw? I would say sign him. But there is just no room for a wing. Bergevin did the right thing. If he impresses and comes back to market, and there is now a spot for him? Absolutely.

That and we drafted Connor Crisp instead of him.

Weber can't go anywhere until he stops getting hurt. I was excited on the prospect of trading him. Now he's got a bad left foot and a bad right knee.

We have a tough fight for the bottom of the NHL. Vancouver just packed their roster with overpaid bottom sixers. Ottawa is about to unload Karlsson for what I'm sure to be is an awful deal, and will have to also deal with Stone and Duchene likely saying get me out now, Buffalo is still an unpredictable club, and Arizona who knows. Also Carolina is kind of a mess too. With exception to Vancouver it's a battle of who in the East is worse.

This could be a tough arbitration for a lot of teams. Calgary has Lindholm. Minnesota has Dumba and Zucker. All the Rangers but especially Spooner. Stone in Ottawa. Karlsson and Miller in Vegas. Hellebuyck and Trouba in Winnipeg. Gotta say, Marko Dano has some guts to ask for arbitration. "I'm a draft bust and I demand compensation!"

Rutherford traded Jack Johnson in a stupid trade when he was GM of Carolina because he wouldn't leave college while trashing his commitment to the NHL. 10 years later, he's signing him to a great contract in Pittsburgh. There's certainly something to be said about tone and atmosphere, and right now it's probably the most negative in Montreal and Ottawa. For Ottawa it's the owner. For Montreal it's the GM.

White, Subban, Eller, and Galchenyuk all have applied in the past for arbitration during Bergevin's tenure. Only Subban made it to arbitration. Can't think of anyone else who actually made it to arbitration.

Agreed. With the goons finally going extinct, coaches are realizing it's way better to have as much scoring opportunity up and down your lineup as possible, and that a guy who can't score isn't worth his salt. What's sad is they should have known this from the start. Carbonneau was a 45-55pt centre back when that meant you were a bottom six forward, but he still often put around 20 goals and often finished in the top five in scoring for the club. I think Rick Meagher is one of the only Selke winners to have less than a half point per game performance. Him and Craig Ramsay (who was almost a thank you trophy). Everyone else were half point per game or put up superstar numbers like Fedorov, Yzerman, Kopitar, Brindamour, Bergeron, Datsyuk, Murray, Francis, Gilmour, and Clarke. What do those guys have in common? Top line players.

Duclairmania ends with him signing in Columbus on a one way contract.

Some teams are also leaving the idea that the fourth line is an energy/grind line and now putting skilled guys on it who are unpredictable/inconsistent so if they get hot you can move them up but it's better to keep them on the fourth line for surprise goals.

I will forever complain about the concept of team doctors, who constantly allow players to play on injuries out of debt to the team instead of their own freaking oath. All doctors should be an independent body doing medical work for the 31 teams and all decisions they make on player health should be followed or else teams face major fines. Shea Weber played hockey on a fracture for 24 games. It's absolute insanity to me that the NHL and NHLPA deems this acceptable.

Reminder that Shea Weber got hurt in the first game of the season and continued to play on an injured foot until it was too much, and now it turns out his right knee needs surgery. A TEAM doctor cleared him to play. This is on the organization.

Play hockey on a fractured left foot, end up needing right knee surgery. How do you mishandle a man mountain? There you are.

He didn't need to be a top six forward. Third line wing with powerplay time. Him and Crisp should have never been drafted where they were, but that doesn't mean he didn't have NHL potential and wasn't handled properly. If you could get over your bias on it, you'd see that.

No I'll go ahead and call that impossible.

27 points in 31 games in Oshawa, 18 points in 21 games for the playoffs. Was looking decent enough in his first year in the AHL and then Lefebvre started messing with him. Should have been primarily used to build him as a Bickell/Clowe type. He clearly should have never been drafted in the first round, but there was something to develop with his work in the corners and work in front of the net and Lefebvre was not a smart enough coach to do it. He saw size and said, "Goon". Same thing happened to Tinordi by Therrien.

Lefebvre told him to be a goon essentially.

Price got it. https://www.capfriendly.com/players/carey-price

Best case scenario: strong Price, bad Habs offence, still bottom 5, Price demands a summer trade with his value high.