NHL 2019-20

[Benit0]

The Canes have to match it. Aho is their best player and only 21. Basically Montreal force them to sign him at a higher price than anticipated. As a Canadians fan, I would be thrilled to have him, but I don't think it's going to go that road.

[billchao]

25 minutes ago, Benit0 said:

The Canes have to match it. Aho is their best player and only 21. Basically Montreal force them to sign him at a higher price than anticipated. As a Canadians fan, I would be thrilled to have him, but I don't think it's going to go that road.

From what I've read about the situation, the Canes and Aho weren't too far on money. It was term that was the issue. Aho wanted a 5 year contract that makes him a free agent in his age 27 year and the Canes wanted him to sign a 7 or 8 year extension that covers some of those early UFA years.

[iacas]

10 hours ago, billchao said:

There doesn't need to be any collusion. The whole offer sheet system is dumb.

I don't know about that.

RFAs are important for building a team. Teams who don't want to let special players reach RFA status where they can get an offer sheet often extend the contract before they reach that stage. For example, Jake Guentzel with the Pens.

Though most of the time, teams won't offer sheet another team's RFA, it obviously CAN happen.

[billchao]

This offseason just got better:

But honestly I felt we already won the offseason when we picked up Lindsey Vonn 😉

 

[Warren Zevon]

   Ahhh, I love the night before the season starts, lots of last minute entries into hockey pools I know I have no chance of winning.   

    And I hope the stars align right this season for my Edmonton Oilers.  Although it’s just about getting to the point where I’m pretty much only cheering for McDavid and whomever is lucky enough to be his winger.  

[Piz]

I met Gordie Howe...woo...woo..woo...I have his autograph...woo...woo...He shook my hand...woo...woo...woo.

Hey...it works sometimes.  And, by the way, he had beautiful penmanship.

[mcanadiens]

8 hours ago, Piz said:

I met Gordie Howe...woo...woo..woo...I have his autograph...woo...woo...He shook my hand...woo...woo...woo.

Hey...it works sometimes.  And, by the way, he had beautiful penmanship.

The story goes that Gordie worked hard on his signature as a kid. He submitted samples to his sister Violet and she chose the one that he used for the rest of his days.

It really is very nice. Rather unlike the man's famous elbows.

 

 

[Warren Zevon]

  Two weeks plus into the season and the Oilers have only lost once.   About three of those games the team deserved to lose, but (gasp) solid goaltending and team defense have been effective so far. 

   I've never been a huge fan of James Neal, but if he keeps scoring goals at half the rate he's doing it now I'd be satisfied at the end of the season. I'll admit I usually only saw him on the high and low light reels. For a guy who was so horrible in Calgary last year he's doing a fantastic job with Edmonton.  And since the team jettisoned the Lucic contract in return, it seems like the gift that keeps on giving. 

   Connor McDavid isn't quite the same yet, either.  He's still the fastest skater on the ice every game, but I've never seen opposing players strip him of the puck as easily as this before.  I'm glad Leon Draisaitl has picked up right where he left off last season.  This guy is scary good, and has improved his two way game immensely in a few short years.   But riding the guy for 23 minutes a night will catch up sooner or later.

 

 

 

 

[billchao]

7 hours ago, Warren Zevon said:

I've never been a huge fan of James Neal, but if he keeps scoring goals at half the rate he's doing it now I'd be satisfied at the end of the season. I'll admit I usually only saw him on the high and low light reels. For a guy who was so horrible in Calgary last year he's doing a fantastic job with Edmonton.  And since the team jettisoned the Lucic contract in return, it seems like the gift that keeps on giving. 

Pretty sure you guys won that trade after the first three games. Any scoring he does the rest of the year is a bonus.

7 hours ago, Warren Zevon said:

I'm glad Leon Draisaitl has picked up right where he left off last season.  This guy is scary good, and has improved his two way game immensely in a few short years.   But riding the guy for 23 minutes a night will catch up sooner or later.

Didn't he lead the league last year in TOI for forwards? I don't think you have to worry about him fatiguing just yet. He's pretty young.

[iacas]

4 minutes ago, billchao said:

Pretty sure you guys won that trade after the first three games. Any scoring he does the rest of the year is a bonus.

Neal was played on the third line in Calgary, IIRC.

[Warren Zevon]

10 hours ago, iacas said:

Neal was played on the third line in Calgary, IIRC.

   He was a healthy scratch a few times too.  Neal played in back to back finals before signing with the Flamers.  That has to take a toll.

 

  And honestly @billchao just having Lucic gone is addition by subtraction for the Oilers.  I can't say I've seen him play this season, but last year Lucic, aside from a few big hits, was just plain horrible at hockey.  Could barely make or receive a pass, usually the last one of the forwards up the ice, and some of the worst hands around the net I've seen in ages. 

  If he carves out a solid role for himself in Cowtown, great.  But he was a pretty big hindrance to the Oilers, and I'm glad he and his massive contract are now tied to Calgary for probably the duration, even if the Oilers are paying some of it.

 

[billchao]

11 hours ago, Warren Zevon said:

And honestly @billchao just having Lucic gone is addition by subtraction for the Oilers.

Agreed. Was surprised somebody was willing to trade for him but the NHL is full of dinosaurs and size and grit will always have a seat at someone's table.

---

Jack Hughes scored his first career goal yesterday:

I was there 😃

[iacas]

Took him long enough. 😉

[billchao]

48 minutes ago, iacas said:

Took him long enough. 😉

I think it took Stamkos 8 games to score his first NHL goal and he ended up just fine 😉

[Warren Zevon]

  Any questions I had about McDavid were erased tonight.

https://www.nhl.com/video/mcdavid-pots-second-of-the-game/t-310493168/c-70230903

   Great victory over the Ducks tonight.  I don't hate Anaheim as much now that Bieksa, Kesler and Perry aren't in the lineup, but Getzlaf is still a highly skilled cheapshotting goon.  He's not a happy camper, though.  There was a camera shot of him during tonight's game where he was on the bench and looked, well, dejected.

   Having Dallas Eakins as a coach will do that to you.

 

[grubby98]

My blues just keep winning...in OT that is. 

[Warren Zevon]

  After the All Star stuff tonight there was an hour long documentary (or Masterson application video, probably) on the amount of damage done to Connor McDavids knee in the final game of last season.  I'm not sure how you'd watch it in the States since it isn't on YouTube yet, but wow, just wow. 

  The Oilers picked up the rumored four million dollar tab for his rehab, and even still it's hard to believe he skated on opening day, let alone the preseason.

  I already had a lot of respect for the guy, but after watching this it's shot through the roof now.

[billchao]

9 hours ago, Warren Zevon said:

  After the All Star stuff tonight there was an hour long documentary (or Masterson application video, probably) on the amount of damage done to Connor McDavids knee in the final game of last season.  I'm not sure how you'd watch it in the States since it isn't on YouTube yet, but wow, just wow. 

  The Oilers picked up the rumored four million dollar tab for his rehab, and even still it's hard to believe he skated on opening day, let alone the preseason.

  I already had a lot of respect for the guy, but after watching this it's shot through the roof now.

I read about it. Pretty big gamble from what I could tell, but at the same time if it didn’t work he would have ended up getting surgery anyway, so it was worth trying. He might have never been the same again if he had the surgery done.

The All Stars skills challenge sucked this year. That platform target thing was dumb. The LED screen accurate shot challenge was also dumb. At least they got rid of the breakaway challenge, but puck handling race and the passing challenges they used to do were good.

Al MacInnis at 56 years old matched his own top speed in the hardest shot challenge with his old wooden stick? Give me a break.