TropicalFruitGirl26

Atta boy...positive thinking! Unfortunately for me, I didn't have that luxury with VLC and the Flyers...hah. Also, and off topic, and not gonna take a bunch of space here doing it, but hope you and your family, especially your adorable twins are doing fine these days.

Well, perhaps....but think of all the marketing he blew up. I mean, he coulda had a Swiss shoe deal for chrissakes...

Jumbo Joe Thornton signs with the Maple Leafs on a one year 700K deal. [Hidden Content] First Marleau, then Thornton. Looks like Sharks players approach or over 40 will always have a place to play in the great North East, eh? @J0e Th0rnton What do you make of that? Jumbo Joe really think the Leafs are ready to win one this coming year? And if seeing Marleau in blue n white wasn't bad enough, how bad is seeing Thornton in that same outfit? If its any consolation, I might know how you feel and I sorta vomited a bit when I saw Vinny Lecavalier wear the Orange n Black (no offense to my Flyer friends here), so there is that... But yea....Thornton to the Leafs....after bailing out on the Swiss team he was supposed to have signed with...

Those may turn out to be some sneaky good moves by Buffalo, getting Eric Staal from the Wild and signing Eakin away from the Jets, who got him from Vegas. Buffalo will need guys like him in the bottom six who can take care of the puck without turning it over and chip in with some scoring. Two scoring lines are a must because we've already seen how one line teams fare. Adding Hall and Staal may make that possible. And I am sure Buffalo management would like to see Oloffsson and Reinhart continue their steady rising.

Meh...it happens. I've posted stuff that, after reading what I put, hurried to take it down before some forum police wise-apple gives me a citation for "misinforming the public"

Actually guys, the term and salary are correct....however, the signing team is the Toronto Maple Leafs. Seems he was brought in to push Jack Campbell for the backup job behind Freddy Andersen....or perhaps to BE a tandem with Campbell in the event the Leafs move Andersen as has been rumored earlier in the off season. [Hidden Content]

Probably...but NOT before Arturs Irrrrrrrrrrbe....

Patrick Marleau. Signs a one year $700K contract with the Sharks. Long time Shark....then he isn't a Shark, he is a Leaf. But wait, then he is a Penguin. No, no...we had it right the FIRST time... he is a Shark. Doo. doo. doo. doo.

Yes, Greenway has gotten more of a shot in the NHL than Anas ever did...likely for two reasons: 1-- Wild drafted Greener in the 2nd round while Anas went undrafted. Every team wants to say "their pick was a good one". Thus, whomever they pick, usually gets advantages in opportunity over those they didn't. 2-- Size. Fair or not, Greenway has it, Anas doesn't, and if all things were equal, teams want the bigger skilled guy as opposed to the smaller skilled guy.

And then there is this...

From nhl com [Hidden Content] Canucks lost the likes of Chris Tanev and Troy Stecher.... but get in a trade, a very good do-everything defenseman, Nate Schmidt, to partially replace what they lost. Schmidt comes to the 'Nucks at the cost of a 3rd rounder in the 2022 NHL Draft. He is still just 29 years old, should continue to make the Vancouver PP lethal, and perhaps, can help with the 5 on 5. He carries a cap hit of just under $6M for the next five years. Has had some injury issues that limited his playtime in the past, but hopefully for the up n coming Canucks, he can stay healthy through the duration of his contract. Vancouver's top four on defense may now look something like, Myers-Schmidt and Edler-Quinn. They do have Jordie Benn in there for the bottom pair, along with young Jack Rathbone. Perhaps they can pick up a solid bargain extra defender from somewhere? Barring health issues, good trade for Vancouver getting the versatile defenseman.

Big fish is hooked....... (well second big fish...the first was Hall). Vegas does it again! Just when people think they lose too much or are some kind of "decline", they just re-load and are back to being a problem for the Western Conference.

Ryan Graves re-upping with the Avalanche is big. 'Lanche have lots of offensive talent, but they sure didn't want to lose a guy like Graves who plays a grittier game, is underrated in generating offense, hits, and is just a generally solid defenseman. 3yrs at a 3.1M AAV.....very good for a d-man of his ilk. And not that it was a surprise or anything, but the Rangers officially signed Alex Lafreniere to an NHL contract. Looks like its the max ELC deal for a player of his calibur and draft standing.... 3yrs, 925K AAV. Further down the ladder, the Lightning re-sign Ben Thomas, a 24 year old defenseman who has been toiling away in their minor league system since they got him. Does he finally crack the big club with all the possible movement still going on due to TB's cap situation? Maybe...maybe not. Personally, I'd like to see if Callan Foote is ready, but we will see. Thomas gets a modest, show me contract of just a year, but it pays him 700K whether he plays in the NHL or the minors. And, AP (he should get his own thread) officially signs with the Vegas Knights. 7 years, at a 8.8M AAV.

@yave1964 I kept your title (because you started the thread first), but moved it to the Buffalo section due to HJ starting the same thread, but he is understandably excited about this signing, so merged both threads here. It was bugging me we had two of the exactly named threads and I kept trying to find posts in one, but they were in the other. At any rate, no harm, no foul here. As I said, exciting signing for the Sabres...Buffalo fans have something to look forward to, especially if they can round out the rest of their team. @Hockey Junkie , congrats on your team making this bold move....really hope it works and helps propel this team to what is slowly shaping up to be an awesome Atlantic division based on what the teams in it are doing!

Unfortunately, this happens WAY too often league-wide, not just with the Wild. There could be lots of reasons....could be player attitude or overall makeup (things behind the scenes we don't see), could be timing (player age vs what the organization wants to do or is looking to do at the NHL level), could very well be organizational....as in management simply misses the boat on a player that SHOULD have been given more than just a passing glance. Or could be just dumb luck. Bad luck. I can see your point of why should a player even try, but, if you are that player, and have a real desire to play in the NHL you continue to toil away, as they say, even if things look bleak for you in a particular organization, because you may find yourself somewhere else that would appreciate what you can do and give you that shot. That's where those 'feel good' stories you sometimes hear come from....Player A, toiling away wherever, and here he is, playing in a big playoff game, possibly on the verge of helping an NHL team win a title. In the case of Anas, perhaps his size really was working against him....fair or not. And perhaps the Wild, in this particular case, were wrong not to give him a real shot at the NHL. Maybe he will get that with the Blues if he doesn't lose heart.