Math

From an outer persepctive, yeah maybe the Flyers will be on the bottom of the rankings but with Montréal, Chicago, Columbus, San Jose, maybe Arizona and maybe St-Louis being worse. However, I like the team's direction: Brière is a competent guy that bleeds orange and cares, Tortorella can take the 100% out of this roster, the prospects are decent from what I know. Fletcher destroyed and burnt down the forest but life always appears from beneath the ground. Still a long way to go but the direction is right and there are many reasons for optimism.

100% subscription to this. You pretty much nailed it. Ha, these memories... Maybe it was nothing personal (cough cough), Modano had been injured during his stint in Detroit but it sucked. If Nieuwendyk hadn't refused to bring him back for his last gig with the Stars, Modano would have surely hit that 1500-game mark. That Todd Marchant goal in OT of game #7... But at least we had an honorable mention for the figure skating style of Ledyard that opened all the way to Machant.

And 12 Stars games will be on national broadcasts, either ESPN, ABC, TNT or Hulu. I think it's a historical high and I'll be able catch up the french TVA feed for these games, which is not bad at all. @MoleMan I'll PM you, not to pollute the boards with my personal personal stories

Let's see how it goes this season as I heard Bally Sports SW is in trouble: On the Stars side, Michelle McMahon is gone, and probably Lauren Callender as well. I guess I'm going to Sportsnet+ for my annual subscription as we don't have many other options here in Canada...

Yeah I was in vacation with no connection to the real world when it came out, and I remember having reacted in the generic Rumors/Trades/FA thread. Oh, there it is:

Just my thoughts here but what if leaders like Gaudreau, Jenner and Werenski just step up, get together and simply tell him to f**k off with his demands... ?

Boy... Sometimes I wish I don't live in Montréal's market territory and have to suffer their endless rants about how good they are, how fantastic this franchise is and how perfect they are acting. Especially in September when they all think Montréal will win the Stanley Cup for sure. I understand their position when the players talk in front of the media. Of course every team will tell that the objective is the playoffs, or at least fight as long as possible to be in the playoffs discussion. But this team is far away from claiming a play-off spot. They have made baby steps. However, the goaltending is not good, the defense is meh and they don't have any depth. I'd say they are a bit better than last year, but their problem is that Detroit and Ottawa improved significantly in the same time and even though Boston will decline, the Bruins are still much better. I'm seeing them fight with Buffalo for the last division spot.

He did a trendemdously stupid thing at a young age, apologized a thousand times and even asked not to be drafted. At a certain point, what can he do more? Time to move on. Sucks that he's with the Habs organization and yeah, they did it wrong in selecting him at that moment but If he's good enough then maybe he will have a chance. If it doesn't work for him, I just hope that's because he's not sufficiently good and not because what he did.

Option #3: I force him to take a discount deal to actually become the face of the franchise. If not, let him walk.

If it's the case, Rick Bowness is behind the scene.

My goodness... Only one season reaching barely the 30-pt mark and that's what you get. I know that's the new standard and the kid has potential but this is a lot. Heiskanen now definitely looks as a bargain.

Maybe they should brink back Kessel to add some youth and speed.

Maybe I'll have a look by curiosity but a lot of challenges comes ahead and described above. Level of play, affordability, costs, etc. I was first surprised they didn't put a team in another big market like Chicago. The main problem right now is that Canada and USA are playing on another planet compared to the rest. You have Sweden, Finland and Czech Republic that are sometimes able to come a bit closer, but at every Olympic games or WC it's Canada vs. USA in the final while most of the preliminary rounds show huge blowouts. First, it's up to the respective federations to put in place efforts and structures that will allow those countries to progress and become decent opponents and generate greater interest later on. But it will take time even if it's trendind the right direction. Also, let's not forget that the pro Women canadian League collapsed in 2019. This League will be very fragile at its early stages.

@yave1964 @J0e Th0rnton I hope you guys are as good in predictions as in fantasy lol. Very good points as always. As I tend to search for scratches on a marble floor, the Stars still lack a legit top-4 Dman to give flexibility and options on the PP. They didn't have the cap space to do that and the market was dry anyway. At least they didn't overpay some declining vet but on the other hand they didn't consider a Suter buyout, which I was ok with (probably next year). Suter should never see any PP time ever and I hope Harley will fill this role if he's trending the right direction like he was during last season's playoffs. It's still a true pain in the àss and a waste to see Heiskanen being forced to play on his weak side because of Suter. But DeBoer LOVES him so there's that... The offense offers more options and strength. Benn had a surprising rebound year and has a good connection with Dadonov. About "Big Daddy", I'm more relying on him for the postseason as he tends to be a bit of a lazyass when it doesn't count. Still, a significant improvement over Gurianov (thanks Montréal). Faksa had a terrible season and it can't be worse this year. I'm more worried about Seguin: it's heartbreaking to see him play. He's not the same after his hip surgery. Slow, losing every battle, trying to do things he can't do anymore. It's sad because he's truly trying, but the body doesn't follow and it's a miracle if he can play at that level. His role in the future should be limited to take some important Fo and stay in the crease to go for garbage goals and deflections in the Pavelski style. But at $9.85M AAV for the next four years, it hurts. But I don't think he will make it to the end and he will be likely put on the LTIR list at some point. Marchment was a big disappointment, let's hope for a rebound. In the net, I hope Öttinger won't be overworked like he was last season. He's still a force and an elite NHL goalie, but he was barely average during the playoffs. I hope Wedgewood gets more starts but he needs to be more consistant. About the prospects: Stankoven should stay in the AHL unless the Stars face major and numerous injuries. I'm curious about Stranges, which is under the radar but showed pretty good skills with the London Knights. I have high hopes on Bichsel too with the objective to see him with the big club within one or two seasons and become a sort of Häkänpää of riches to be paired with Heiskanen. On a side note, I will try to apologize to Johnston's parents. I met them in Centre Bell last October when the Stars played in Montréal and I told them stuff like "well you know, dont be disappointed if he's sent back to the Juniors after his 9-game tryout, it's a learning process, maybe he can have a spot later on, blah blah blah..." And yeah, the more Johnston was scoring, the more I felt bad.

I think there are significant reasons to be optimistic. Still a major painpoint in goaltending (at least they didn't overplay for Korpisalo) but my major concern is the hire of Babcock as coach: I'm really not sold on him.

In my recollection, never... We can argue about the 2019 Blues or the 2012 Kings, but that's about it I think.

I like the term. There's still a question mark about the defense and the goaltending (I think Woll is a very talented and gifted goaltender, but more in the mid-term future) but this team has so much talent that it should go for a deep run. But again, the unpredictable parameters: injuries, the shape of the puck, the ice temperature, the Toronto syndroma...

I'm going Pastrňák

That's right. You mention Oilers and Senators, but it's much worse in Toronto and Montréal. Those two markets can be career killers, especially if you are a local. Also, the tax factor can be a significant one. When Radulov has two exact offers on the table from Montréal and Dallas, the net amount (i.e. the actual money that ended up in his pocket) for sure played a role and the amount had be considerable. Not to mention Québec is the most taxed province of Canada (by extension, of the Americas) where you can be ripped off by almost half of your revenue. Another little reason is weather/location. For two teams that have comparable situations on the purely sport aspect and for the same contract conditions, you may likely prefer to stay in L.A. or Florida rather than Winnipeg (without any disrespect).

Hard to tell. I feel last year was some kind of an accident. For sure Markström's deal was terrible from day 1 but with Sutter gone, some new fresh air, approach and system might work well and I don't see Huberdeau's slump repeat. Sometimes, you just need another voice, another message in the locker room. I guess they will fight for a playoff spot and be likely in the postseason as a WC team.

The Sens will be interesting to follow for sure, and I'm listing them to finally make the postseason (as a WC team) despite the big question mark in the net. Looking forward to watch it live in Ottawa when the Stars are in town.

Montréal is retaining half of Petry's salary, so the Wings got him for $2.3M AAV, which is very good IMO. I still have the feeling the Habs got flawed in the Karlsson deal because they had to take back Petry while retaining salary. Now they got two AHL/NHL guys, a second, a conditional fourth, DeSmith who is barely average while losing Hoffmann and Pitlick. It's part of their rebuild but I'm still not convinced, not to mention that they lost Gurianov for nothing.

Personally, there are two good things about the Blues winning the Cup: give the illusion that Binnington is an elite goalie and have the chance to hear Brett Hull signing Laura Branigan's Gloria totally drunk in downdown St-Louis. And as a lifelong Blues hater, I hope they will stay in the basement as long as possible.

Just learnt that Galchenyuk has a swiss licence because he played a year of his junior hockey there in 2001. Therefore, he's not considered as a "foreign" player in a league that currently allows seven non-swiss/non-EU players in each team. Won't be surprised to see him land there if he doesn't go to the KHL.