radoran

It's a new day until it isn't. And it might not be. Is Deslauriers "the reason" they are picking 7th? No. Is he "a reason" they will be better next year? Probably not. Doesn't "need" to go, doesn't "need" to stay. Like anybody else over 27 if you can get something useful for them, seriously consider it.

He wasn't, really, and he was fairly steady and unspectacular in Anaheim before that. Buffalo was a dumpster fire inside a dumpster fire surrounded by flaming tires. And for all that, over 112 games for the Sabres he was -4. Ristolainen was -61 over the same three seasons. This year I think he got put in the right position at the right time and took full advantage of it. Not odd for defenseman to emerge in their late 20s (although 29 is up there). Can he replicate it? We'll see...

Ellis' "actual" salary next year is $7.7M Insured or not, there's no "bargain" on his salary until the final two years (where salary is lower than cap hit) Any other team is taking on the same four year burden that the Flyers face. Is there actually a disappointing higher paid player on a shorter term on a roster that has extra cap space? Well, speaking of that, they could trade him to Arizona for Voracek... I don't know why anyone takes Ellis with anything less than a heap of sweetener to do it.

I really don't see where they have the firepower to move on. The Islanders were a perfect first round match for them. This is the Devils' series to lose.

Which is true, but the Stevens/Lindros hit isn't legal today. It's a good hit in the sense that Meier still has the puck and is eligible to take contact. It is not a good hit in that the primary point of contact is the head.

Oh, yeah? Watch as I turn back the clock to where the Flyers transmogrify Danny Briere and Vaclav Prospal into... *ta daaaa* Adam Burt. In 1995 the Flyers acquire Pat Falloon for the first round pick that would become Daniel Briere. In 1998 they trade Prospal and Falloon to Ottawa for Alexandre Daigle (you can still see Daigle jerseys in the upper bowl of the Wells Fargo Center if you get a good running start and smack your head into a wall). A little over a year later they trade Daigle for Andrei Kovalenko. Three months later they trade Kovalenko for Adam Burt.

https://www.tsn.ca/nhl/video/~2678238 Sounds like parts of the entire organization were in open rebellion. The GM already quit.

I would say you can't do it with UFAs but if they ever open season on RFAs look out. And I don't mean Homer chasing Shea Weber or the Canes poking the Habs about Aho. I mean honest to God open season on RFAs. And they were among the ones absolutely insisting that we had to lose a season and a half of hockey to get the cap in the first place. It's midbogling. I think the defining characteristic of the group can be summed up with "arrogant." And when you look at the smug on Clarke's mug, you know where it comes from.

Ol' Fletch gave up a 1st, 2 2nd, a 7th, Shayne Gotstobethere, and Robert Haag for Ristolainen. Florida gave up a 3rd for Brandon Montour. Ristolainen might be made into an effective bottom six player. Montour had 73 points this season. True story.

That was the rant of a man headed towards the door. May have nuked his entire career at the same time.

They're quite a bit better than those Flyers teams - they have a Conference Final and eight playoff rounds in the past six years - but they're not as good as the top teams in the league. They've been at or near the top of the middle bubble, or have been, and are likely now going to take a dip. They did, and they do. Because they have the feeling that the current group there simply isn't going to get it done and many of their best players could go on to win somewhere else. Or else the franchise needs to really move the needle significantly. I think this is what Bowness means about "push back." Everyone can't just let the play come to them, some guys have to make the play happen. When the game asked players to step up and make it happen, apparently no one did.

The league clearly isn't going to crack down on these shenanigans, and when they finally do they will look back at a legacy of Questionable Cups. And you're obviously not wrong. It's tough in a Metro area with under a million people in it in southern Manitoba. Hard sell for top FAs and can compound other problems (like losing). I didn't watch enough (any) Jets games this year, but he's pointing back to January and February as well, which I think may relate to your previous comment above. I think it's tough when everyone involved knows that they're not good enough, but they have to go out there anyway. The injuries sure don't help. It's a shame, because there aren't a lot of towns like Winnipeg in major league sports. But this could be a reason why.

Honestly the criticism of Winnipeg for years has been that they have overall talent, but not enough drive and that their top talent isn't as good as other top talent. They're a good team. And consistently "good." They're just not great and there are other teams who are better. And consistently "better." There's a chemistry that turns good teams into great teams and they simply haven't found the catalyst to make it happen. Oddly, it wasn't Kevin Hayes.

Given that they already had Hayes and picked up a fifth rounder (from ol' Fletch) to get rid of him? No.

We have long since normalized billionaires blackmailing politicians to finance the billionaires' private interests on the backs of ordinary people who will then be charged exorbitantly to attend events in the arenas they helped finance. And that's #hockeyrelated

All organizations hire ex-players. It's not about hiring ex-players, it's about who those ex-players are and what those ex-players do. Being an ex-player in and of itself is not a problem. The way the Flyers have done it has been a problem. Again a matter of seeing that things have actually changed.

It really boils down to this and just this. I'm in total "show me" mode at the moment. I need to see a lot more before I'm on board with this being a "new way." The pieces are there for it to be, but there are still (many of) the old pieces there as well...

1. traded for/signed Deangelo 2. didn't trade JVR 3. picking up Sedlak instead of Tolvanen 4. extending Sanheim when they didn't need to 5. leaving Fletcher in control through the trade deadline, then firing him 6. year one of Ristolainen extension 7. Deslauriers The "front office" didn't even hire Tortorella. They hired an outside firm to do it. What did they do - aside from "fixing" a problem of their own creation by firing a guy they hired - to warrant a good grade this year?

Mr. Holmgren, sir, there's pudding in the executive lounge.

This is not a good game for Makar to be out. Seattle will be up on their skates, has already won in Denver, and now the Avs are down Makar. These split-second, impulsive decisions can have serious, series-changing consequences. A fair question is when/whether McCann will be back. But I wouldn't want to be Colorado going back to Seattle down 3-2...

Makar Suspended One Game https://www.cbssports.com/nhl/news/nhl-playoffs-2023-avalanches-cale-makar-suspended-one-game-for-hit-on-krakens-jared-mccann/

At first glance, absolutely. But, then, you're up 1-0, at home, down 2-1 in the series, less than ten minutes into the first period. Do you give up the instigator power play there? Rantanen scored both goals on the power play for the Avs. I will say they best not have Makar out on the ice with time winding down in a series clinching game. Bad Things can happen.