Non-Minnesota NHL News XIV - Seattle Expansion(?)

[2Pair]

I would've moved Pominville a LOT earlier, or got him to waive his NMC, and either;

1- have traded Dumba and Scandella, if I could've gotten a decent return( ideally, this would have been done far in advance of the ED).

or

2- left Dumba and Scandella exposed.

I've been of the opinion for a long time that this team needs to make a bold move(s) to get a player that takes them over the top. Right now we are good enough to make the playoffs, but little else.

You're still exposing one of Zucker/Staal with this plan.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

I would've moved Pominville a LOT earlier, or got him to waive his NMC, and either;

1- have traded Dumba and Scandella, if I could've gotten a decent return( ideally, this would have been done far in advance of the ED).

or

2- left Dumba and Scandella exposed.

I've been of the opinion for a long time that this team needs to make a bold move(s) to get a player that takes them over the top. Right now we are good enough to make the playoffs, but little else.

By doing what, walking into the room and setting a baseball bat on the table?

 

[Wild11MN]

Dallas loses again. They gave up a game-tying goal with 16 seconds left and lost in a shootout.

 

[StealthClobber]

Thanks Toronto.

 

[57special]

By doing what, walking into the room and setting a baseball bat on the table?

You can go back and look at all the ED threads. Poms could've been bought out, or, Fletcher could've been more farsighted and made moves much, much earlier. It was pretty obvious to me and some others that Pominville was declining long before( I thought he showed signs of decline in the CO series), and that Scandella was a third wheel on the middle pairing. Trade them for a decent return back when they were tradable, rather than wait till you have no other choice but to make a desperate and poor deal. Even better, don't give aging players like Pominville NMC's in the first place. This was a mess of Fletcher's making. GM's knew the ED was coming, but Fletcher took no action to protect the team from the consequences.

I like some of what Fletcher has done, but he has been timid and indecisive at times, which has left this team in the position of being perennially mediocre.

 

[2Pair]

You can go back and look at all the ED threads. Poms could've been bought out, or, Fletcher could've been more farsighted and made moves much, much earlier. It was pretty obvious to me and some others that Pominville was declining long before( I thought he showed signs of decline in the CO series), and that Scandella was a third wheel on the middle pairing. Trade them for a decent return back when they were tradable, rather than wait till you have no other choice but to make a desperate and poor deal. Even better, don't give aging players like Pominville NMC's in the first place. This was a mess of Fletcher's making. GM's knew the ED was coming, but Fletcher took no action to protect the team from the consequences.

I like some of what Fletcher has done, but he has been timid and indecisive at times, which has left this team in the position of being perennially mediocre.

Even if you find a way to move Pominville and Scandella before the expansion draft, you're still going to lose one of Brodin, Staal, Zucker, or Haula. IMO- Fletcher did a poor job this offseason, but trading his way out of having to give up a quality player to Vegas, was never going to be possible.

 

[Kaako Kappo]

Haula could have replaced Koivu's duties. A valuable piece given away. Makes you wonder how many diamonds there are in the league, who are forced into a certain role and mold and never get to shine.

 

[Uberdachen]

Even if you find a way to move Pominville and Scandella before the expansion draft, you're still going to lose one of Brodin, Staal, Zucker, or Haula. IMO- Fletcher did a poor job this offseason, but trading his way out of having to give up a quality player to Vegas, was never going to be possible.

He'd have had to trade something like 5-6 players minimum to avoid it, trades that wouldn't help if the return would just get exposed in the draft, and each trade could potentially have gone as well as the one that brought us Foligno and Tyler "NHL equivalent of a Birdemic special effect" Ennis.

 

[57special]

Haula now with 27g. One less than Zucker, in 5 less gp.

Poms with 28 pts.
Scandella with 19, and leads BUFF regulars with -1 plus/minus. By all accounts has been a rock for them on the Blue line this year.

 

[chchelseII]

Has anyone else noticed how good Chicago is at tanking? I am expecting them to end up with a top 3 pick in the upcoming draft.

 

[StealthClobber]

Colorado after their win and Dallas's loss now have a 91.2% chance to make the playoffs. LA with 84.1%, and Dallas with a lowly 18%, losing a whopping 12.2% tonight.

 

[StealthClobber]

Chicago got mathematically eliminated from the playoffs in March. What a time to be alive.

 

[Wabit]

Has anyone else noticed how good Chicago is at tanking? I am expecting them to end up with a top 3 pick in the upcoming draft.

They'd have to get lucky with the lottery balls (they are tied for 7th worst right now) to get a top-3 pick. Their season ended when Crawford got injured. Playing backup/AHL goalies makes tanking look easy.

 

[Goose312]

Chicago got mathematically eliminated from the playoffs in March. What a time to be alive.

Truly the greatest of timelines. Now time to cheer for the Hawks so they gut their draft ranking.

 

[Wild11MN]

One of the weirdest goals I've ever seen!

 

[StealthClobber]

I love thinking back to all those Colorado fans who were calling us "worthless" and "good for nothing" just because we lost to the Kings in overtime, and it SLIGHTLY reduced their playoff chances as a result.

Then tonight they played LA and got UTTERLY DESTROYED 7-1, dropping their chances over 11%.

 

[Bazeek]

I love thinking back to all those Colorado fans who were calling us "worthless" and "good for nothing" just because we lost to the Kings in overtime, and it SLIGHTLY reduced their playoff chances as a result.

Then tonight they played LA and got UTTERLY DESTROYED 7-1, dropping their chances over 11%.

I enjoy rivalries and everything, but there are a handful of fans that have made the Minnesota/Colorado thing completely tedious at this point.

 

[57special]

Argh. Haula hits post in SO against CO. Ladeskog scores to win it.

 

[DANOZ28]

today flames vs sharks real good scrap between dillon & hathaway. worth the watch.

 

[Bruce Granville]

Kemps still doing Kemps things.
First two periods like a Vezina candidate. Than the meltdown.
Reminds me of how happy I'm with Stalock.

 

[Bender14]

today flames vs sharks real good scrap between dillon & hathaway. worth the watch.

What a bout!

 

[TaLoN]

Argh. Haula hits post in SO against CO. Ladeskog scores to win it.

Haula went 5 hole actually and Varlomov trapped it in front easily, the post was hit by the Colorado player that went after him the other way. Both were the 2nd shooters for their team... it went to the 3rd shooter for both, and obviously Colorado won on the last shooter.

(was watching it on NHL center ice before I left for work this afternoon)

 

[BigT2002]

Haula now with 27g. One less than Zucker, in 5 less gp.

He's playing great and he did for the Wild as well, when given the chances. The issue I had is many *cough* Russo *cough* thought he was a glorified 3rd liner who would never have a legit scoring touch. Feel like the fans gave Haula way more credit and wanted to see him get more time than pretty much anyone for the Wild or media lol

 

[2Pair]

He's playing great and he did for the Wild as well, when given the chances. The issue I had is many *cough* Russo *cough* thought he was a glorified 3rd liner who would never have a legit scoring touch. Feel like the fans gave Haula way more credit and wanted to see him get more time than pretty much anyone for the Wild or media lol

Now we're blaming Russo for Haula being a below average 3rd liner while he was here?

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

Based on his college production and the flashes he showed in the pros, I had little doubt that Haula could be a better offensive player than he was here. I'm not sure I though he'd be as good as he is Vegas, but somewhere in middle.

Staal having a great year last year + Koivu having a great year last year + the expansion draft made it so we weren't able to find out. Kudos to Vegas for recognizing the talent, but even with a year of hindsight, I'm still comfortable with the Staal, Zucker or Dumba for Haula/Tuch tradeoff.