JR Ewing

I think the Sabres than plenty of people think. Sub-par goaltending skewered their chances last year, and if that can turn around, it will REALLY help.

@WordsOfWisdom For the Coyotes, the "PR move" was signing on to the Hockey Diversity Alliance. It was, from what we can see, a meaningless gesture where they can virtue signal in all the right ways. Where they failed was when they turned right around drafted a kid who spent years abusing and racially denigrating a mentally handicapped black kid. This wasn't some grand scheme by the Coyotes, where a perennial bottom-feeder just gleefully threw away a badly needed draft pick in order to look like the good guy. The only way that it could work out was that they would look bad for drafting such a sh|t stain. Fact: the Phoenix Coyotes organization thought that Mitchell Miller's apology letter would be enough to let his troubles stay in the past, and they didn't count on the boy's mother (bless her heart) to continue defending him with every breath she draws.

Ralph Krueger isn't the world's leading X's and O's guy, but is a player's coach. I wasn't even a little bit surprised to hear that Taylor Hall wanted a chance to play for him again.

The words "Prior to selecting Mitchell in the NHL Draft, we were aware that a bullying incident took place in 2016. We do not condone this type of behavior..." clearly indicate an attempt to be seen as pro-BLM? What the hell are you talking about? Just so I have your argument straight... You're suggesting that the Coyotes drafted a guy who had spent years mentally and physically abusing a handicapped kid for the GOOD press? You might want to run that one through the LogicTron v0.3 again... Does anybody want to take bets on Mitchell Miller turning to a career in law enforcement?

I don't know how this list can't include Nail Yakupov, who is not only one of the biggest busts of the last 10 years, but of all-time. He's a talented player who is obstinate and steadfastly refuses to change his game for anybody. Jesus himself could put a whistle in his mouth and tell Yakupov what to do, and his response would be "Meh".

Yeah, I dunno... Bennett IS harder to play against, but it's not like it results in the Flames getting more goals than they give up when he's on the ice. He and Kerfoot have very similar numbers in that regard. As he's developed, Bennett has been given less and less ice time; less and less responsibility. That doesn't really scream "last piece of the puzzle" to me, if Kerfoot has been swapped for Bennett. It wouldn't be a bad move, imo, but I just don't think it would move the needle that much.

I don't like the signing, but reports had Holland in on the other notable goalies that signed in other cities. He tried, wasn't able to work out anything, and then circled back to Smith. The signing gets worse if/when he plays more than 25ish games, imo. Edit - I'm glad that the contract is only for one year, so at least Holland isn't stuck with any kind of term. It's the only real saving grace for me.

Smart move on Barrie's part. He'll wrack up PP time with McDavid, Draisaitl and Nugent-Hopkins, get his 50 points, and then some poor sucker GM will pay through the nose in 2022.

Matt Benning to NAS for 2 x $1M. Nice deal for the Preds. I read an interview with him, and the impression it left was that Evan Bouchard is seen as being ready to play 3RD in Edmonton next year. Benning will never win any major awards or get any all-star votes, but his pairing outscored the opposition every year that he's been in the NHL. I've heard that's how you win hockey games.

Probably their 3rd line, and for under $4M.

If Dave Tippett isn't coaching your team, do NOT sign that guy.

1 x $1M. I'm good with that. He'll do some pinch hitting on a few different lines, get some pressbox time, etc. Insurance should Tyler Benson not be ready for the 3LW job.

Personally, I like the Wennberg bet for Florida. If it doesn't work out, they're not stuck with term.

@yave1964 Playing against Brandon Tanev is like sandpaper to the perineum, and I mean that as a compliment to him.

I saw a report (later thankfully declared fake) stating that the Oilers had signed Mike Hoffman to a 5 x $6M deal and my heart sank.