2025 Offseason Thread

[kipwinger 8,772]

Looks like the Canadian World Junior defendants are being exonerated today. Wonder how long it will take NHL teams to start scooping these dudes up?

[Akakabuto 1,863]

2 hours ago, kipwinger said:

Looks like the Canadian World Junior defendants are being exonerated today. Wonder how long it will take NHL teams to start scooping these dudes up?

There have been reports of Comtois coming to Detroit. 

[diehardredwingsfan58 165]

17 minutes ago, Akakabuto said:

There have been reports of Comtois coming to Detroit. 

Yeah reportedly Detroit made an offer.

[Motor City Mullets 315]

5 hours ago, kipwinger said:

Looks like the Canadian World Junior defendants are being exonerated today. Wonder how long it will take NHL teams to start scooping these dudes up?

Will the NHL attempt to 'persuade' GMs not to do so? Would Bettman/BoG want to deal with the likely PR headache?

While I agree with these guys having every right to resume their careers - just not sure how the public will accept these guys.

[Jimmybigrigs69 467]

19 hours ago, kipwinger said:

Looks like the Canadian World Junior defendants are being exonerated today. Wonder how long it will take NHL teams to start scooping these dudes up?

They probably are guilty of being dumb teenage boys, but this is the right call. Their accuser was on camera grabbing their crotches and soliticing them. And then claimed later she was assaulted. Its all he said she said at that point, but she made it obvious she was the sexual initiator at that point. Not an excuse for the boys to abuse her, but there was no evidence of that other than her saying so.

[kipwinger 8,772]

1 minute ago, Jimmybigrigs69 said:

They probably are guilty of being dumb teenage boys, but this is the right call. Their accuser was on camera grabbing their crotches and soliticing them. And then claimed later she was assaulted. Its all he said she said at that point, but she made it obvious she was the sexual initiator at that point. Not an excuse for the boys to abuse her, but there was no evidence of that other than her saying so.

I didn't really follow it too closely, but the fact that they had their day in court and a female judge said the accuser's claims were "not credible and not reliable" seems pretty shut and dry to me. But I don't really care about the case. I'm curious when these guys will be able to play again. Carter Hart and Alex Formenton are both dudes that could really help this team given that they're not rapists.

[AtlantaHotWings 1,135]

I find it interesting most of the "five's" lawyers were women was that a play so it was woman vs woman during the trial?

 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/livestory/recap-all-5-former-hockey-canada-players-found-not-guilty-of-sexual-assault-9.6842381 

[kipwinger 8,772]

Just now, AtlantaHotWings said:

I find it interesting most of the "five's" lawyers were women was that a play so it was woman vs woman during the trial?

 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/livestory/recap-all-5-former-hockey-canada-players-found-not-guilty-of-sexual-assault-9.6842381 

The judge was also a woman.

[Jimmybigrigs69 467]

5 hours ago, kipwinger said:

I didn't really follow it too closely, but the fact that they had their day in court and a female judge said the accuser's claims were "not credible and not reliable" seems pretty shut and dry to me. But I don't really care about the case. I'm curious when these guys will be able to play again. Carter Hart and Alex Formenton are both dudes that could really help this team given that they're not rapists.

I didn't follow that closely either, but a couple things I remember from the height of it:

>security footage revealed she basically threw herself at these boys, openly groping multiple of them in public

>texts revealed she willingly went to their hotel to meet them

>after alledged assault occurred she left the hotel, but then went back to the room again because she forgot something and needed to look for it lol

>her testimony was constantly contradictory. I.E. Hart assaulted me... butttt when he asked me for oral I verbally agreed. 

>she also didnt want this going to court. The crown forced it on her. She already had a settlement from the league, and obviously knew actual court would not back up her side of the story

Id welcome any of these boys to the team... its a bit scummy and humiliating, but its been quite obvious they were the true victims here of false allegations and having their careers derailed

[town123 236]

Probably sign with Anaheim or Edmonton.   I'll let myself out.

[AtlantaHotWings 1,135]

Mailloux wasn't considered a good pick due to his actions but he seems to be okay

           https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/39954590/canadiens-call-d-man-logan-mailloux-had-legal-issue

Then there were antics of a guy named Kane....

          https://deadspin.com/reconstructing-patrick-kanes-drunken-weekend-in-madison-5909246/

          https://www.espn.com/nhl/news/story?id=4389932

If they are accused and go to court and it's found they are not guilty.  They should be able to work in this case play hockey again. Like the punter https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/39099853/lawsuit-alleging-rape-punter-matt-araiza-dropped

 

[Jimmybigrigs69 467]

I always found the story of the Japanese mob, the Yakuza, being the founding owners of the lightning interesting and finally dug into the story.

>zeigler, the commisioner before bettman, announces he wants to expand the league by 7 teams in the early 90s

>phil esposito wants his own team, and thinks he can make one work in Florida

>phil collects investors and stages a game in florida to show florida can support a hockey team

>game goes great, but phil later discovers the owner of the stadium he used is Karmanos (later and now former owner of the Canes and rival of the illitch family... somethin somethin fedorov and compuware) and Karmanos wants in on phils bid in exchange for lease of his stadium

>esposito tells him to pound sand, but now has to build his own arena and thus loses his investors

>seeking new investment phil meets a guy who says he can setup him up with wealthy japanese investors who want in

>they fly to japan, where high profile business is usually done in honorable boards rooms, but the company he meets with instead take him to a hostess club, which is basically a hooters/borderline strip club 

>phil is cool with it, and former commissioner zeigler basically does no background checks, because the japanese are offering straight cash and a lot of it

>then, through a series of hostile power moves, the jap investors basically force out all the minority owners and take full control of the lightning

>it becomes clear the owner of this japanese group may not even exist. He never attends a game, or is even seen or met at all. Never heard from other than by letter. And theres basically no record of his existence in japan.

>the japanese run the lightning into the ground both on the ice and financially. And theres many transactions on the books that make little sense (money laundering/washing)

>the land developer for the lightning stadium ends up suing the lightning for hundreds of millions. In the lawsuit its revealed the japanese henchman of the owner assigned to oversee the team (a real physical person) has been accused by many japanese businsses of being a gangster.

>after running up millions in debt (and likely washing even more money than that) the japanese sell the team and all the japanese involved dissapear off the face of the earth like they never existed

 

Interesting story. The japanese mob ran an NHL franchise as a multi million money laundering scheme. 

 

Edited yesterday at 12:06 AM by Jimmybigrigs69

[AtlantaHotWings 1,135]

12 hours ago, Jimmybigrigs69 said:

I always found the story of the Japanese mob, the Yakuza, being the founding owners of the lightning interesting and finally dug into the story.

>zeigler, the commisioner before bettman, announces he wants to expand the league by 7 teams in the early 90s

>phil esposito wants his own team, and thinks he can make one work in Florida

>phil collects investors and stages a game in florida to show florida can support a hockey team

>game goes great, but phil later discovers the owner of the stadium he used is Karmanos (later and now former owner of the Canes and rival of the illitch family... somethin somethin fedorov and compuware) and Karmanos wants in on phils bid in exchange for lease of his stadium

>esposito tells him to pound sand, but now has to build his own arena and thus loses his investors

>seeking new investment phil meets a guy who says he can setup him up with wealthy japanese investors who want in

>they fly to japan, where high profile business is usually done in honorable boards rooms, but the company he meets with instead take him to a hostess club, which is basically a hooters/borderline strip club 

>phil is cool with it, and former commissioner zeigler basically does no background checks, because the japanese are offering straight cash and a lot of it

>then, through a series of hostile power moves, the jap investors basically force out all the minority owners and take full control of the lightning

>it becomes clear the owner of this japanese group may not even exist. He never attends a game, or is even seen or met at all. Never heard from other than by letter. And theres basically no record of his existence in japan.

>the japanese run the lightning into the ground both on the ice and financially. And theres many transactions on the books that make little sense (money laundering/washing)

>the land developer for the lightning stadium ends up suing the lightning for hundreds of millions. In the lawsuit its revealed the japanese henchman of the owner assigned to oversee the team (a real physical person) has been accused by many japanese businsses of being a gangster.

>after running up millions in debt (and likely washing even more money than that) the japanese sell the team and all the japanese involved dissapear off the face of the earth like they never existed

 

Interesting story. The japanese mob ran an NHL franchise as a multi million money laundering scheme. 

 

A movie in the making ...perhaps?

[Motor City Mullets 315]

On 7/29/2025 at 7:04 PM, Jimmybigrigs69 said:

I always found the story of the Japanese mob, the Yakuza, being the founding owners of the lightning interesting and finally dug into the story.

>zeigler, the commisioner before bettman, announces he wants to expand the league by 7 teams in the early 90s

>phil esposito wants his own team, and thinks he can make one work in Florida

>phil collects investors and stages a game in florida to show florida can support a hockey team

>game goes great, but phil later discovers the owner of the stadium he used is Karmanos (later and now former owner of the Canes and rival of the illitch family... somethin somethin fedorov and compuware) and Karmanos wants in on phils bid in exchange for lease of his stadium

>esposito tells him to pound sand, but now has to build his own arena and thus loses his investors

>seeking new investment phil meets a guy who says he can setup him up with wealthy japanese investors who want in

>they fly to japan, where high profile business is usually done in honorable boards rooms, but the company he meets with instead take him to a hostess club, which is basically a hooters/borderline strip club 

>phil is cool with it, and former commissioner zeigler basically does no background checks, because the japanese are offering straight cash and a lot of it

>then, through a series of hostile power moves, the jap investors basically force out all the minority owners and take full control of the lightning

>it becomes clear the owner of this japanese group may not even exist. He never attends a game, or is even seen or met at all. Never heard from other than by letter. And theres basically no record of his existence in japan.

>the japanese run the lightning into the ground both on the ice and financially. And theres many transactions on the books that make little sense (money laundering/washing)

>the land developer for the lightning stadium ends up suing the lightning for hundreds of millions. In the lawsuit its revealed the japanese henchman of the owner assigned to oversee the team (a real physical person) has been accused by many japanese businsses of being a gangster.

>after running up millions in debt (and likely washing even more money than that) the japanese sell the team and all the japanese involved dissapear off the face of the earth like they never existed

 

Interesting story. The japanese mob ran an NHL franchise as a multi million money laundering scheme. 

 

This franchise was destined for Milwaukee...