Around the NHL XXXIII - looking forward to 2018 offseason edition

[Langdon Alger]

Funny how he gets the benefit of doubt ....But Ceci who is around the same age most here want to run out of town,even though he has never played with anyone better than Phaneuf

Cuz Ceci sucks.

 

[BondraTime]

Zib is what he is. A big, skilled PP threat who is incredibly inconsistent, and always leaves you wanting more.

He's been a "just wait for next year" player since he was 19.

 

[JD1]

Ronny Francis is a hell of a GM.

Traded Hainsey for a 2nd
Traded a 2nd for TVR
Traded a 2nd+3rd for Terevainen and Bickell
Traded Liles for a 3rd+5th
Traded E.Staal for Saarela and two 2nds
Traded a 5th for Versteeg, Nordstrom and a 3rd
Traded Sekera for McKeown+1st
Signed Stalberg for free, traded Stalberg to us for a 3rd, and then turned that 3rd into a young #1 in Darling.
Signed a young top pairing D in Slavin to an amazing 7YR deal
Signed Williams to a 4.5M, 2YR deal
Signed Stempniak to a 2.5M, 2YR deal
Signed Ryan out of the SHL for 0.6M

Not a bad trade on his resume, except a 3rd+7th for Lack, but I think that was pretty good value when it happened. Just didn't work out.

Built the Canes from the net out. Look at their future on D and in goal:

Slavin - Faulk
Hanifin - Pesce
Fleury - Bean
TVR, Martin, McKeown, Dahlbeck, Carrick

Darling
Nedeljkovic
Altshuller/Booth/Helvig/LaFontaine/Makiniemi

They have so much depth on D they could trade Hanifin for the next young #1 center that becomes available - just like Nashville when they moved Jones for Johansen - and still have one of the best young defense groups in the league.

Canes are going to be a great team soon thanks to his great work.

playing Carolina tonight reminded me of this post.

Francis out of a job

Carolina misses for the 9th year in a row.

 

[Knave]

I don’t know. He’s only 24. Let’s see if he can stay healthy next year.

The peak offensive year for forwards who enter the league early is 24... unless league wide scoring goes up, we've likely seen Zibanejad's best numbers.

 

[DJB]

Jets and Knights for me. Oh, and whoever plays the Leafs.

Ill add in the Preds as well. Fish and Subban sticking it to the Habs would be nice

 

[Canadian Time]

So where are the folks that were telling me that Dallas was a model franchise last summer? I argued that that was not the way to build a team and I picked them to miss the playoffs. I was pilloried, really, lots of abuse. Remember that next July, you can't build a team that way, never have been. Edmonton too, I called them a bad team. Teams are not constructed on July 01.

 

[Senscore]

f*** you Detroit.

 

[Langdon Alger]

The peak offensive year for forwards who enter the league early is 24... unless league wide scoring goes up, we've likely seen Zibanejad's best numbers.

Don’t think we have because he hasn’t been healthy the last two seasons. I’d like to see what he can do next year if he’s healthy the whole year.

 

[Nac Mac Feegle]

You'd think an LA/Edmonton tilt would be fun...but this game has been pretty dull so far.

 

[Icelevel]

Mika closing in on 30G this year.

Duchene
Zibanejad

Would have been great. But maybe brown can be just as good overall in a couple years.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

Oilers have been on a bit of a tear 7-2-1 .. 1 pt behind the Rangers .

McDavid takes the scoring lead

 

[Daffy]

Duchene
Zibanejad

Would have been great. But maybe brown can be just as good overall in a couple years.

Zibanejad is nothing special. No big loss there. Brown will more than replace him.

 

[DrakeAndJosh]

So where are the folks that were telling me that Dallas was a model franchise last summer? I argued that that was not the way to build a team and I picked them to miss the playoffs. I was pilloried, really, lots of abuse. Remember that next July, you can't build a team that way, never have been. Edmonton too, I called them a bad team. Teams are not constructed on July 01.

If they could figure out how to draft they'd be in a good spot. Love that Nill has made some aggressive trades but ya, his drafting has totally sunk them.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

Canucks beat the Stars... Dallas has really crapped the bed. Sens have 2 games in hand.
Blues are back in a wildcard spot after it looked like they were going to be out of it.

 

[Deku]

So where are the folks that were telling me that Dallas was a model franchise last summer? I argued that that was not the way to build a team and I picked them to miss the playoffs. I was pilloried, really, lots of abuse. Remember that next July, you can't build a team that way, never have been. Edmonton too, I called them a bad team. Teams are not constructed on July 01.

I still think that a lot of their moves were good. Radulov has been great. Bishop has been a good upgrade for them considering their goaltending was absolute shambles before.
Hanzal was struggling, then got injured. Wonder if he can bounce back next year. Methot was unable to make an impact due to injures, but I think he was still a good pickup. Have to wonder if he can stay healthy in the future though.
Then you have Spezza falling off a cliff which pretty much screwed over their depth scoring.

 

[Cosmix]

I still think that a lot of their moves were good. Radulov has been great. Bishop has been a good upgrade for them considering their goaltending was absolute shambles before.
Hanzal was struggling, then got injured. Wonder if he can bounce back next year. Methot was unable to make an impact due to injures, but I think he was still a good pickup. Have to wonder if he can stay healthy in the future though.
Then you have Spezza falling off a cliff which pretty much screwed over their depth scoring.

Just finished watching the Nashville Winnipeg game. Great hockey. Makes me sad thinking of the crappy hockey we have to watch. Dullsville.

 

[danielpalfredsson]

Over the last 3 or 4 seasons, Dallas seems to be the team that people get envious every off season about their acquisitions, but they somehow almost always miss the playoffs.

After this season, they would have only made it once in the last four years, and they've only won a single playoff series in nine seasons with only two playoff appearances in that time frame.

During that time frame, both through trade and free agency they've added Seguin, Spezza, Bishop, Radulov, Hanzal, Sharp, Hamhuis, Methot,....oh and Gonchar.

The Stars made some strong trades, but they also have benefited quite a bit from being a strong free agent destination. All but 2 players on that list were either free agent signings, or players acquired with limited term who were open to staying in Dallas long term.

 

[BondraTime]

Borgstrom will be suiting up for the Panthers in the coming days.

He is going to be an offensive star very soon, absurd skill-set.

 

[Langdon Alger]

We sticking a fork in the Stars?

 

[Lenny the Lynx]

We sticking a fork in the Stars?

Yes. I think this means we won the Spezza trade. Congrats everyone

 

[pzeeman]

Does it blow anyone else's mind when analysts talk about PHI desperately hoping to get Brian Elliot back for the playoffs?

 

[tony d]

Mcdavid's playing great hockey as of late. Got to think he'll get to 100 pts. this week.

 

[Hale The Villain]

playing Carolina tonight reminded me of this post.

Francis out of a job

Carolina misses for the 9th year in a row.

Everything I said in that post still is true, except that Darling didn't work out at all.

He went from having .936, .915 and .924 save percentages in his 3 seasons in Chicago to a .885 save percentage in Carolina. Hard to see that coming. Thought he'd work out kind of like Talbot.

Francis shouldn't have been fired. His moves in the aggregate made Carolina better. I'd love for him to be our GM.

 

[Zorf]

Everything I said in that post still is true, except that Darling didn't work out at all.

He went from having .936, .915 and .924 save percentages in his 3 seasons in Chicago to a .885 save percentage in Carolina. Hard to see that coming. Thought he'd work out kind of like Talbot.

Francis shouldn't have been fired. His moves in the aggregate made Carolina better. I'd love for him to be our GM.

It's not uncommon for new owners to come in and shake things up. They want to make their stamp on the team, make big moves, energize the fanbase.

Ron Francis, for all of his good moves, is not a flashy or splashy kind of GM. He's very reserved, makes safe moves, doesn't rock the boat. He probably wasn't going to jive with the new owner. I think his "promotion" to President of Hockey Ops was more a personality move than anything else. Also, not making the playoffs for 9 years, despite the strong drafting he's done, isn't good on anyone's resume.


Remember when Pegula bought the Sabres and spent like a drunken fool on players?

 

[Hale The Villain]

Man the way people talk about Zibanejad around here you'd think he wasn't much of a loss at all.

He's averaged between 50-60 points in two seasons with the Rangers - both of which he sustained a major injury (broken fibula last year, concussion this year) that contributed to his production rate sharply falling off once he came back from them. When he's been healthy he's actually produced closer to 70P as a Ranger.

Let's not pretend that a big young center producing like a 1st liner wouldn't be a big asset to the team right now. Also if inconsistency is a worthy cause to trade a player as good as Zibanejad, I imagine the same people want Duchene got because of how hot/cold he can get.

It's not uncommon for new owners to come in and shake things up. They want to make their stamp on the team, make big moves, energize the fanbase.

Ron Francis, for all of his good moves, is not a flashy or splashy kind of GM. He's very reserved, makes safe moves, doesn't rock the boat. He probably wasn't going to jive with the new owner. I think his "promotion" to President of Hockey Ops was more a personality move than anything else. Also, not making the playoffs for 9 years, despite the strong drafting he's done, isn't good on anyone's resume.


Remember when Pegula bought the Sabres and spent like a drunken fool on players?

Ideally a new owner comes in and purges the underperforming parts of the franchise and keeps the staff that contribute to it's success.

Francis has only been GM since 2014, and he took over a disaster of a franchise that sucked and had very little going for it in terms of youth. Canes are in a much better position now than they were then, largely due to his excellent trades and signings.

If I were the owner I'd keep Francis and look to change up a scouting staff that is largely responsible for selecting R.Murphy over Miller/Klefbom/Armia, E.Lindholm over Monahan, Fleury over Nylander/Ehlers, Bean over McAvoy/Chychrun, and Gauthier over Borgstrom/Howden/Thompson.