Around the League Thread | Stop f***ing crying, bro, this isn’t Junior.

[credulous]

Don't have the next wave of Colton Ross type guys right now. gutted virtually an entire draft for Jeannot (5 picks, 1st to 5th rounders over 3 drafts). Opportunity cost there of what else they could have done.
But, that happens to even the best GMs. They thought they saw something in him that would work with their roster, ala Coleman, Goodrow, Hagel and went for it. Not a fit this time.
But, they need to add better depth.

you'd think canucks fans of all people would realize that it's incredibly easy to overhaul depth of a roster if you have cap space and decent pro scouting. vancouver added hronek, soucy, zadorov, joshua, suter, blueger, lafferty, cole and friedman for a 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 2 5ths and some cap space

tampa doesn't need to find top end talent -- they have plenty -- they just need to supplement their 2nd line and eventually find a replacement for hedman. with 30m in cap space they can do that easily

 

[ghostingtaro]

the enemy of my enemy is my friend

I hope the leafs win tonight

 

[valkynax]

the enemy of my enemy is my friend

I hope the leafs win tonight

Doesn't that also apply to Bruins?


I don't care which of the two winsthe series, but it's unlikely to be Leafs. Bruins got them firmly by the balls. Unless Leafs pull Gretzky out of a hat, I just can't see this going well for them.

 

[Nucker101]

the enemy of my enemy is my friend

I hope the leafs win tonight

Nah, guess who was all in on the Bruins in 2011? The national hockey media, most of them being Leaf fans. I wanna see them lose, ideally while complaining about the refs, hook that shit up to my veins.


Go Bruins

 

[MS]

the enemy of my enemy is my friend

I hope the leafs win tonight

I would rather have the Bruins win 10 straight Cups than the Leafs reach one Finals.

 

[Nuckles]

I don't want the Leafs to advance, but I hope that series goes to game 7 just so the Bruins are a bit more worn down for round 2 and potentially beyond.

 

[WetcoastOrca]

Cheering for the Bruins tonight.(gross!)
Then on to cheering for Florida to demolish the Bruins.

 

[SeawaterOnIce]

Lay's potato chips

Vector has traced your IP and is currently enroute to your place.

 

[Lindgren]

I know it's an unpopular take, but I'm cheering for every Canadian team to advance.

Part of that is the extremity of my partisanship: I cheer for anything that I think would bring even the slightest of benefits to the Canucks, and I think Canadian teams succeeding in general would be a slight benefit.

The other part is just petty nationalism. I'd rather Canadian fans somewhere be happy than American fans anywhere.

The Leafs are about to lose, but would there have been any final more exciting than Canucks/Leafs?

 

[StreetHawk]

you'd think canucks fans of all people would realize that it's incredibly easy to overhaul depth of a roster if you have cap space and decent pro scouting. vancouver added hronek, soucy, zadorov, joshua, suter, blueger, lafferty, cole and friedman for a 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 2 5ths and some cap space

tampa doesn't need to find top end talent -- they have plenty -- they just need to supplement their 2nd line and eventually find a replacement for hedman. with 30m in cap space they can do that easily

Never said it was difficult, just that they were not promoting from within. They have $12.5 mill in cap room with a 16 man roster signed. Have to find the right guys. Losing 40 goals from Stamkos, but his +/- took a massive dip this season, so don't know what's up with that.

 

[valkynax]

I know it's an unpopular take, but I'm cheering for every Canadian team to advance.

Part of that is the extremity of my partisanship: I cheer for anything that I think would bring even the slightest of benefits to the Canucks, and I think Canadian teams succeeding in general would be a slight benefit.

The other part is just petty nationalism. I'd rather Canadian fans somewhere be happy than American fans anywhere.

The Leafs are about to lose, but would there have been any final more exciting than Canucks/Leafs?

I'm ok with that. My burning hatred for Oilers have pretty much faded, due no small part to the epic scumbags of Chicago Coverups.

My concern is, seems like only us and Oilers are positioned to make any real progress, maybe the Jets, excluding this year's playoff disaster for them. I would want to see all Canadian teams in the playoff and, and perhaps we can bring Lord Stanley back north, making Buttman's head explode at the same time.

 

[JAK]

I wouldn't mind the Leafs - Bruins series go to 7 with like 5 OTs every game.

 

[Flik]

I know it's an unpopular take, but I'm cheering for every Canadian team to advance.

Part of that is the extremity of my partisanship: I cheer for anything that I think would bring even the slightest of benefits to the Canucks, and I think Canadian teams succeeding in general would be a slight benefit.

The other part is just petty nationalism. I'd rather Canadian fans somewhere be happy than American fans anywhere.

The Leafs are about to lose, but would there have been any final more exciting than Canucks/Leafs?

I'm with you on this. I want any and all Canadian teams to succeed over any US team, and of course the Canucks >>>> all.

 

[MS]

I know it's an unpopular take, but I'm cheering for every Canadian team to advance.

Part of that is the extremity of my partisanship: I cheer for anything that I think would bring even the slightest of benefits to the Canucks, and I think Canadian teams succeeding in general would be a slight benefit.

The other part is just petty nationalism. I'd rather Canadian fans somewhere be happy than American fans anywhere.

The Leafs are about to lose, but would there have been any final more exciting than Canucks/Leafs?

I actually cheered for the Oilers when they had their Pronger run in 2006 but after the way that fanbase acted toward us in return in 2011 (and at every point since) that team can go f*** themselves. Never again, and I hope their franchise moves to Houston at the first opportunity.

Toronto is my most hated team in pro sports. I will never cheer for them to win anything.

I always cheer for Winnipeg/Ottawa/Montreal.

Calgary ... I'll cheer for them against some teams in certain situations.

 

[credulous]

if the oilers or leafs (or winnipeg, but that's less contentious) make the finals and vancouver and vegas don't i'll cheer for them. it's good for the health of the game in canada that canadian teams win

 

[Bubbles]

McKenna with 6PTs in the game against Kazahkstan. He's the next one, folks.

 

[Nucker101]

I know it's an unpopular take, but I'm cheering for every Canadian team to advance.

Part of that is the extremity of my partisanship: I cheer for anything that I think would bring even the slightest of benefits to the Canucks, and I think Canadian teams succeeding in general would be a slight benefit.

The other part is just petty nationalism. I'd rather Canadian fans somewhere be happy than American fans anywhere.

The Leafs are about to lose, but would there have been any final more exciting than Canucks/Leafs?

I would've been this way if not for the 2011 experience. I'm cool with MTL/WPG and maybe OTT winning, but CGY/EDM/TOR fanbases/media I enjoy seeing suffer.

 

[Bobby9]

Yeah Marchand has obv history with the Canucks but I would LOVE to have him on the team

 

[mossey3535]

PS, Hellebuyck is overrated (in the playoffs)

 

[Mr. Canucklehead]

I don't want the Leafs to advance, but I hope that series goes to game 7 just so the Bruins are a bit more worn down for round 2 and potentially beyond.

That's my thinking, too.

In fact, it's how I want every series not involving the Canucks to go.

 

[vanarchy]

I don't want the Leafs to advance, but I hope that series goes to game 7 just so the Bruins are a bit more worn down for round 2 and potentially beyond.

It's kind of a win / win.

If they push the series longer, great. If they go home then Sportsnet can shut the hell about them already.

 

[Just A Bit Outside]

Tonight cheering for:

1. Nucks
2. Jets
3. Isles
4. Bruins

 

[AwesomeInTheory]

Tonight cheering for:

1. Nucks
2. Jets
3. Isles
4. Bruins

I'm cheering for a Vancouver win and a Leafs loss.

 

[Vector]

---

They found a temporary one at Mullett Arena, a 5,000-seat college facility on the ASU campus in Tempe. The Coyotes spent more than $20 million to upgrade the building to NHL standards, including a two-story annex as well as professional-level dressing room and training room facilities.

"The first year was sick," one NHL player told ESPN. "We were all excited to check it out and honestly it was a cool place to play. Crowd was great, it got loud. But it was a novelty. When we went back this year, nobody was looking forward to the experience outside of a trip to Arizona. It's like, 'We have to do this s--- again?' I don't know how their players put up with it for so long."

---

The team's creative accounting was a constant source of concern around the league. There were incidents over the years of the Coyotes skimping on money. The Coyotes would try to stay at lesser hotels than the collective bargaining agreement stipulates. Ownership tried cutting corners when they could, like removing the printer and copying machine from the coaches' room.

Multiple sources told ESPN that the Coyotes were either late paying their hotel bills or sometimes just crossed out the total and paid a different amount. Other sources indicated local businesses would come to the team seeking payments, would be offered a fraction of what was owed and then would be negotiated down to take less than what was actually owed.

---

Doan worked for the Coyotes after his retirement as chief hockey development officer but had higher aspirations, eventually seeking to become their president of hockey operations in 2023. According to a source, he was told he "wasn't ready" for the position, a verdict handed down by the owner's son Alex Meruelo Jr., the team's chief brand officer who had taken a more active interest in the hockey operations department.

---

Meruelo said Bettman and Daly laid out the average career for an NHL player and compared that to the amount of years the Coyotes would have played in Mullett. They argued that it was possible, based on the new timeline, for a Coyotes player to never have a chance to call an actual NHL arena home.

---

Bettman said it became clear to him that "there was no way Alex Meruelo was going to agree to this if he wasn't going to have an opportunity to reactivate the franchise."

Satisfying Meruelo was the NHL's most challenging task in the transaction. Multiple sources told ESPN at the All-Star Game that there was concern Meruelo could get litigious if the league attempted to emancipate the franchise from him and force a relocation.

---

Meruelo will remain an "observer" at the board of governors, as the owner of a deactivated team.

One key aspect of the compromise: Meruelo would not need NHL board of governors' approval to restart the franchise, according to Daly. "He's already been approved as an NHL owner," he told ESPN.

---

According to sources, the Coyotes players who are signed through next season have "genuine excitement" about the move to Utah from a hockey perspective. They know that, as was the case with the Golden Knights and Kraken, the novelty of playing in a new market will immediately put them in the spotlight. Expect Utah's first home game to be on national television, for example. They anticipate Utah will be able to attract better free agents because they won't be concerned about the stability of the franchise.

 

[StreetHawk]

On brand for the type of owners the NHL has approved in the past. Shows badly on the NhL as well as AM. Should have just moved the team in 2019 instead of approving AM as new owner. But they wanted Sea in at $650 mill. And likely couldn’t show a lower price for AZ getting sold and moved.