radoran

Yes, the point being that when you look back at a draft, you see things differently than when looking forward to a draft. Flyers probably would have screwed up Rantanen as well.

2016 and 2018 are just terrible drafts. https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/draft/nhl2016e.html - six first round players have played less than a season - six more have played less than two https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/draft/nhl2018e.html - three first rounders haven't even played in the league - six more (including the 9 overall) have played less than a full season's worth of games - six more two seasons or less Terrible drafts happen. It's why picking in the bottom half of the draft isn't a notably effective way to improve a team's overall talent. The Patrick situation no one saw coming. Just didn't. Nothing on his record pointed to head problems. It sucks. Doesn't mean the team "failed" or "was wrong" when they did it. O'Brien they at least get a 2nd back for this year.

Yeah, but we'll always have the Cooperalls...

And they missed the playoffs that season, but haven't missed since and have a Cup Final appearance...

I honestly don't, didn't, and won't have K'Andre Miller on my "foundational" board. The problem this team has that is far more crippling than hindsight picks is moves like two roster players, 1st, 2 2nds, and a 7th for a bottom four defenceman then paid as a top paid long term. Stop doing those sorts of things and do more of 1st, 2 2nds, roster player and cap hit for a middle pair defenceman and then flip the roster player for another 1st. They obviously need to draft better, but hindsight is always 20/20 and often ignores that many other GMs also "made the wrong pick." I mean, Edmonton took Puljujarvi 4th.

Charlie O'Connor's best friend's sister's boyfriend's brother's girlfriend heard from this fan who's going with this girl who asked two randos who thought the Wild might have considered offering Rossi for Gauthier three months ago. You're right. I guess it's pretty serious.

Who was the moron who took Provorov over Rantanen? That 2015 draft is actually a great example of the perils of drafting. The Bruins had picks 13, 14, 15 and picked those right before Barzal and Connor. They got DeBrusk out of those picks. All the wailing and gnashing of teeth over JVR's UNH days and they were gonna go Makar over a Canadian centre who they could put on the roster immediately? The amazing thing is that people actually believe Clarke's Thursday afternoon quarterbacking on the issue.

Seems odd, indeed. Could be that someone is feeding him that information? The 2021 salary cap was 900 million rubles ($12.8M) https://fullpresshockey.com/2021/10/25/khl-team-salary-payroll-revealed/ Top players in 2022 https://www.markerzone.com/news/index.php?no=131738 1. 90 million rubles ($1.5 million USD) Maxim Shalunov (Lokomotiv) This is all on page 1 of google results. Not sure where O'Connor is getting his information...

His previous deal was for $548,000. https://broadstreetbuzz.com/2023/07/08/ivan-fedotov-wont-return-philadelphia-flyers-signs-cska-moscow/

Time machine?

If by "offered" you mean "a fan asked two writers on a show who said that Gauthier might have been something that could have convinced the Wild to move Rossi" then, fine. https://phillyhockeynow.com/2024/04/24/philadelphia-flyers-trade-rumors-cutter-gauthier-minnesota-wild/

Certainly possible. I'll decry it when it happens. Er, if. Yeah, uh, "if" it happens.

Humperdink Lives.

True, but it's still just cap space. If the Flyers were at a point at which they needed space because UFA1 is coming out, then that's one thing. But that's not where they are. After next season they drop Atkinson, Johansen, and Petersen. They also get TDA's buyout space back. That's $15M right off the top. I'm not "happy" with the contract. I just don't see it as a harbinger of doom.

They have more money than they're spending on Fedotov in dead cap space for Petersen in Lehigh. This organization isn't looking to bank cap space at the moment.