marcaractac

Would be a good thing. Better to have a guy like him sitting out games than calling up a prospect to do the same.

If it's top 10, it's bumped to 2025. But that 2025 first could very well be a lottery pick too.

NO.

I'm only half joking when I say that, BUT he is entering the season at the age at which Thompson earned his big contract. At this stage, Ras actually outproduced Thompson at this stage of his career. Having said that, no I do not see Ras hitting those highs. But I feel comfortable saying we absolutely have yet to see the best of him.

Just wait until he has his Tage Thompson blow up in the next two seasons.

Those claiming he was generational were always out to lunch. The guy has the tools to be a top-10 scorer in the league for a long time for sure. But that 'generational' term is used far too loosely these days. Bedard is the closest thing since McDavid. But until he shows he can do it at the NHL level, it's all speculation. As for Hughes, he's still only 22 years old. He'll figure out this whole playoffs thing. My guess is he will do so sooner rather than later.

I don't think these things were difficult predictions at all really. Tampa/Toronto was really close last year, and this time around Toronto got better and Tampa got worse. The Oilers are just not as good as they are made out to be. They are stacked up front, but they don't have a championship-caliber defense at all. And their goaltending? Woof. Boston faced zero adversity all season and coasted into the playoffs. They were ripe to get upset like many President's Trophy winners do. As soon as the Panthers pushed back, they had nothing. It didn't help them that Bergeron is always two steps from the ICU every playoff run.

The only 3 things I correctly predicted were Toronto making it beyond round 1, Boston losing in the first round, and Edmonton not sniffing the final 4. All kinds of wrong outside of that though.

They basically didn't. They were a really good, but not great team there for a stretch of years. They happened to get hot at the right time one season and went the distance. I feel like this can be accomplished via UFA next summer tbh.

Rafalski being broken was what changed the course of that series. There was that goal where he got beaten 1v1, which gave the Pens life. Can't recall if it was a tying or go-ahead goal, but god damn...

I just hope if Yzerman gives up any first-round picks that it is to bring in guys who fit the Seider-Raymond-Kasper timeline and not the Larkin timeline. I want to see a nice long contention window like Tampa, or Boston. Not St. Louis.

Remember how Arizona lost a first-rounder because they had their own little combine for prospects? Remember how New Jersey lost a first-rounder because they signed Kovalchuk to a contract that was well within the rules of the CBA but the league decided to cry foul? Yet the team who covers up sexual assault for 10 years gets barely a slap on the wrist. Clown league.

My thoughts exactly. No teams get screwed in a lottery, and it would be significantly more difficult to abuse the system for high draft picks. It also would prevent scenarios like that Rangers lottery win that year where they were literally in the ******* playoffs.

Yes. Imagine in 3-4 years the team starts getting really competitive, and then suddenly adds a superstar scorer to the lineup. It would be like when the Wild got Kaprisov, except the Wings will be a much better, deeper team.

The difference is that Wings squad was still young. Boston is about to lose their top two centers. If a GM is still gonna try to win with zero center depth, well gl;hf. Without their centers, they will still have good players that can help them win some games. But there are a LOT of good upcoming teams now. Not to mention they are with the Wings in the division of death. Cracks are gonna start to show. They will have streaks where they play well. But 82 games with no Bergeron of Krejci will be their worst enemy. In the end, if Yzerman has any desire to use that Boston pick to make a trade, it should not happen until next offseason when we have a better idea of what that pick could be.

The league should do without the lottery and do something like base the draft order on the overall standings of the most recent 3 seasons combined. As well as not allowing any team to get a top pick in consecutive seasons. I'm sure this idea can be poked full of holes with more thought than the 30 seconds I have thought about it, but I feel it limits tanking, as it would be financially insane to tank for three straight seasons. Could very well be a stupid idea, but something to rant about I guess.

They still have nothing down the middle. And no assets to make big trades. Trading Ulmark allows them to fill 10 roster spots for little more than the league minimum. Unless Bergeron and Krejci give it another year, it's pretty bleak.

they also have over 4 mil in cap penalties for Bergeron and Krejci contracts. The latter of which they will also likely lose this summer. They won't have a top 6 center and will have about 6 mil to fill half of an entire roster. It's much more bleak than you make it seem. They have to move salary and litter their roster with league min contracts. 10 roster spots to be filled with ~6 million. gl;hf. Their goalie duo will likely have to be broken up. So trade their Vezina season goalie or lose the promising young gun. While I don't forsee them being a basement team yet, a bottom 10 finish is very possible.

The Boston first-rounder is probably the only shot Yzerman has at a lottery pick tbh. With the offseason the Bruins have coming up, it's very plausible that they could finish bottom 10 next season, bumping the pick to 2025. If that happens, they may be ripe for a rebuild going into the 24/25 season. They will likely lose their two top centers, they can't afford Bert, and when factoring in cap penalties they have like 6 million to fill out half a roster. Hard times ahead. Hang on to that pick.

People said the same thing about Jack Hughes not very long ago.

Now that he has finally coached a team that I know people root for, it seems the guy is a one-trick pony. Once you figure out how to beat his teams, he reaches his expiration date. Also holy s*** have the Rags absolutely botched their rebuild. Gifted two lottery picks to build around, did nothing to develop them, and now there is talk of one being shipped out of town because of the cap. It turns out you need to suck for more than two years to build up the ol prospect pool.

The Wings have a 0.2% chance at the third overall pick. While there are only 2 lottery picks, there is a scenario where Detroit moves up to #3. That is if Ottawa wins the first lotto pick and Detroit wins the second. Ottawa can only move up 10 spots to 2nd. so in that case, Detroit would be bumped to 3rd, and Anaheim gets 1OA.

More old guys? Yawwwnnnn. Here's an idea: roll with the young players.

The exposing of modern day Ken Holland. Chris Illitch dodged a ******* bullet getting Yzerman back. Aso, they can't score 5v5 dealing with Kopitar and danault.