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I'm pretty sure Hyman plays the exact same role in Toronto that Burrows played during his time in Vancouver, minus some of the ol Burrows agitation. Burrows job was to go get the puck and give it to the Sedin's. That simple, and the twins explicitly said it in interviews. Hyman has been used the exact same way in Toronto: Go get puck, give to Matthews. Hyman is good at that job if that's what we want him to do, but I think were better off putting more skilled players like Mantha, AA, Zadina, Vanek, and Rassmussen around our centerpiece; Larkin. Hyman is a bottom 6 grinder on most teams, and I think even Zach Hyman knows that, hence him being completely ok joining the Leafs bottom 6. Babs playing Hyman in the top 6 is no different than when he used to play Abby or Glendening in the top 6.

Agreed especially with what's highlighted. His forechecking and willingness to battle in the corners/halfwall/etc has to be a lot better, especially if he's gonna play wing. His poke check is extremely underrated around here, but he too often leads with the poke check during the forecheck, fails, and then finds himself out of position. Either he has to learn to identify when to stay back and block the breakout pass up ice better, or he has to get more aggressive and play the body more. I'd be fine with either. That Helm clip is one of the few clips I watch every-time it's posted. Magnificent.

I'm not sure if you're serious, but Hyman sucks. He's basically Abdelkader. This team needs more skill, not more grit...

Wouldn't an ankle at 110% be a bad thing? I mean a healthy ankle doesn't hyperflex or hyperextend.

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That's what he said.

Even so, I think AA could learn a thing or two from some of the more underrated facets of Helm's game. Checking game. Forechecking ability. Physicality. Tenacity. Willingness and ability to battle in the corner and along the half-wall in the o-zone. Protecting the puck under duress in the o-zone. "Subtle interference," leaning on opposing players (maybe more of a Zetterberg thing than a Helm thing, but yeah). I want to see AA put some meat on the bones of his skill game. Give me some teeth, sandpaper, muscle.

It's pretty much as Prolix described it. The draftless system leads to prospects already worth millions and getting transferred to the big teams. It's a the rich get richer system with a few big teams playing for their national championships and then competing for the Championsleague on a europewide level. If your favorite team has a superstar in the making he is bought off pretty much immediately by the big teams.Just imagine Larkin or Zadina getting transferred to the Lighting or Penguins. It does make the national leagues very boring affairs, at least the German Bundesliga. The champion the last 6 (!) years was the FC Bayern München (or Munich for you guys ) and it was not even close most times. The relegation system plays a part in that, too. Every relegation breaks the teams neck in financial terms making those teams that could face relegation far more cautions. But with cautious investments you don't make up ground to the leading teams, which cements their position even more. I don't like this system at all and I don't think it will do the DEL any good in the long run. I love your North American system with the Salary Cap and the Draft in which every team has a decent chance to win a championship in the next decade.

This concept doesn't really exist in pro/rel football (soccer) leagues. With very few exceptions the system of main/farm team doesn't exist. Clubs have youth teams at different age tiers (with U23s and U18s being the most prominent). By and large these youth teams take part in their own, separate, youth-exclusive league/tournament/structure. (Edit: Although U21 players are usually always available for first-team selection without taking up a registration slot.) The most notable exception is the Spanish top tier, La Liga. There, the top clubs' equivalent of an U23 team is named [Team Name] B (e.g., Barcelona B, Real Madrid B, etc.), and these teams play in the same pro/rel league structure as their top level club. They are not permitted to play in the same division. If Barcelona B would qualify by position to be promoted to La Liga, they would be passed over and it would go on to the next team. To my knowledge it is somewhat rare for a B team to even make it into the Segunda División; the third division (confusingly, the Segunda División B) has 4 such "B" teams. I don't know the specifics of how the Spanish leagues operate, but generally speaking (like in the NHL) there is a limit on how many players can be registered to the team in one season, and windows during which registrations can be added or removed. These requirements are typically waived for players under a certain age (this age is usually 21, regardless of playing history); so it is conceivable that a good youth (U21) player could play regularly for both the main and B team in a given season. Other players assigned to the B team, however, who do not meet this eligibility would have to spend the entire season at their B club. Most other major European leagues don't incorporate youth/B teams into their league structure though. The major objection is the desire to avoid diluting the competitive structure (every B team from a top tier club in a lower division means there's one fewer club, probably 100+ years old, that can't be in that division). If young players can't break into their parent club directly, they are often sent on loan to lower league teams for a season at a time (although 2 seasons is becoming more common) [European teams often have to do this with players requiring work permits as well; it is faster/easier to gain residency in certain countries than others]. These can rarely involve formal parent/"feeder" club arrangements, wherein the parent club pays the lower league club for the relationship and the feeder club accepts players on loan (with a cap on how many you can have total and from one club) from the parent club without being responsible for their wages. Usually loans are to clubs with no formal relationship, though. That club is under no obligation to play the player. Players can only be called back to the parent club if such an option was agreed upon. There would be no moving back and forth (there is a limit on how many teams you can be registered for during one season). Some top tier clubs have gotten to the point where they have literal dozens of young prospects out on loan at any given time (not to the same team). And yep, as @NerveDamage says, transfer of player ownership (really transfers of the player's registration) almost exclusively take the form of money changing hands. Player-for-player swaps are almost nonexistent and there is no such thing as draft picks. When a transfer takes place, a new contract must be negotiated between the player and the purchasing club. This means that selling a player (or renewing) becomes critical as their contract nears its end (like the NHL) but there is no need to consider if a player 'has term' as the purchasing club; they'll be on whatever length of contract you agree with them (usually 5 years). Correct. Regional conferences only exist at low levels of football because the teams are too poor to travel far. It's even worse in Argentina. Relegation is tracked on a rolling three-year (I think) average so that the good teams (who are actually solvent) don't accidentally get relegated because of one bad season. Disparities between tiers on a pro/rel pyramid can be really drastic. English Premier League teams who get relegated to the Championship (the 2nd tier; which is confusingly ahead of the "First Division" [tier 3] and "Second Division" [tier 4]) actually receive what are called 'parachute payments' to ease the financial contraction of going down a division (where their wages are now way too high to sustain with the decreased revenue). Pro/rel is a great system in a sport that has been using it for decades (and has been playing the sport for over a hundred years). But the US has too many clubs for a single, unified top division and too few to properly split it into tiers, not to mention absolutely no cultural or historical concept to understand it by. It's probably (slowly) coming to US Soccer, but that's a whole other can of worms. BTW, Detroit City FC is great fun and y'all should go see their games!

That extra 10% he took from Hoffman is actually what started their whole feud.

When Don Zberg hears about a hurty ankle

I've been thinking hard on this for the past ten minutes and I don't know how you'd even begin to go about implementing it. Unholy logistics nightmare. And antithetical to Bettman's grow-the-game mandate. And it would surely throw the NHL's finely-tuned parity ecosystem totally out of whack.

Stephen Weiss got you like...

I don't necessarily NOT believe him...but "110%" is exactly what I'd expect him to say, regardless of how good/bad the ankle actually is. Dude wants dat $. If I'm the team that ultimately gets him, I'm thrilled to have him on board but also expecting his body to start breaking down just a few years from now. He plays an assload of hard minutes and he's already suffered through several major injuries. Buyer beware, I s'pose. (I still want him in the Winged Wheel.)

Holland's already got a conditional pick set aside to get him back, don't worry.

So I assume that's enough time for everyone who wants to to vote. I'm honestly surprised by the result. Bernier? Really? Howie gone give it to ya

Agreed. 63 points as a 21-22 year old is more than impressive... I'm impressed when a 26 year old can get 40 pts. On top of it, the kid is already looking like he wants to lock in the job as future captain, and he probably will. We have every reason to be overly excited about this one, and to pay him well. Benning is probably poopin his panties right now

63 points as a 21 year old is more than just "potential" though. That's already proving to be worth $6M. His 2nd year was an aberration (sophomore slump), not the norm for Larkin. Sure, sign him to a short bridge deal, then in two years when he's 23, and has a 60+ point season and two 70+ point seasons under his belt, and is just entering his prime, he will command upwards of $8M, maybe more. Sometimes you have to bet on young players, and Larkin is exactly the type of player this organization should be betting on in my opinion. If it were up to me, I'd give him max term, at around $6-6.5M now. Worst case scenario, he plateaus as a 60 point, borderline 1st / 2nd line center, which would still be worth that contract. Best case, he hits his "potential" and becomes a point per game, borderline elite top line, two-way center, that plays in all situations. You now have a stud player signed to a great contract through his prime years. I think he is / will be.

I choose Coreau. IDK, but I am guessing that one has a username that rhymes with chaps

WHO THE f*** VOTED FOR MRAZEK? DEFEND YOURSELF