TrueBlueGED

In today's episode of "you don't need great wingers to put up points with O'Reilly and Eichel" I give you Jamie McGinn! I remain dumfounded by the angst over not keeping him.

I just don't think Sam has much more to offer at the wing than what we've seen. His shot is only okay, he doesn't have the speed to fly down the wing, and he's not going to be barreling into the corners to win a bunch of battles physically. I think this is especially true on Eichel's wing--I want Jack with a skilled plumber who can cover defensively, and a finisher. Sam is neither of those things. As Dudacek has outlined, his skills are his smarts and puck distribution, neither of which gets a ton of work when Eichel is flying around with the puck 75% of the time. If Reinhart simply must remain at the wing, I'd rather see him with O'Reilly. Strawman alert! Strawman alert!

I've never seen it but I will happily disagree with Qwk about a movie.

Vanek. Maybe Hudler.

Well, that sucks. He would've been a much better add than Josefson.

I think he'll get something like 30-55 or 35-50 for around 85 points. He CAN score 40 goals, I just think his nature is going to lead to more assists.

Oh, I'm not arguing about what *should* be....I'm just saying, there is a 0% chance an ownership group led by Jeremy Jacobs gives the players a higher percentage of HRR. He'll die first. Then you're really going to enjoy the next lockout when the owners try to re-define HRR to be more in their favor :p

They'll betray you, in the end.

Yea, I'm sure Jacobs will get right on that :p

I'm not sure you're really understanding how this works. Whether McDavid gets $12.5M, $14.5M, or $2M, the owners are going to spend the same share of revenue on players. The only way for the players, as a group, to make more money, is for the league's revenues to grow.

Okay, but I don't understand how McDavid's contract affects the PA's bargaining position in the next round of CBA negotiations (see also: lockout).

Maybe if you were Jack or Draisaitl you'd be pissed, but if you were a mid or low tier player you would be happy. The more the top players command, the less there is to go towards the rest of the rosters. Players get 50% of HRR--McDavid getting more/less as an individual player has no impact on how the players get as a group, it just shifts around the distribution of money within their share.

Jokinen would be a great add.

They've played 677 even strength minutes together over the last two seasons. He's been Eichel's 2nd most frequent linemate (behind only Reinhart). This is not a small sample, and the results have been unspectacular. It looked better this season than last, but Kane was so chugging along at twice his career shooting percentage. And your time line is off--Kane started to go on his tear in December, while Jack didn't mail it in until the last handful of games of the season.

I just want to take a moment of my day to commend this post. Great phrasing. Eeeehhhhhh. Nill has some head scratchers for sure (last year's UFAs, the Russell trade, and the Niemi contract), but he's done a lot right as well. He got Seguin, Spezza, and Sharp for pennies on the dollar, and Oduya two years ago really helped them. I think his track record looks like a lot of GMs--it's not amazing, but its also not a disaster.

Well, I don't think he complements the roster very well because I don't like his fit with Eichel or O'Reilly. If I'm shelling out term and dollars, I want more versatility.

If Matt Moulson starts the season on Jack Eichel's wing, I'm kicking a puppy into Lake Erie.

The last time he had under 30 points was the lockout-shortened season, in which he had 20 in 34.

Charity wager on whether Risto would get a bridge or long term deal. And yea, I believe you paid. And if you didn't, I mostly just wanted bragging rights :p

At some point an unproven guy is gonna get the chance to shine...and shine. Every good teams has 'em. Why not us?

Pretty sure it was last summer. Now, you could point to the wickedly disappointing season, but as a glass half full guy, I'd like to say any curse I brought upon them ultimately got Bylsma fired.

This can't be any worse than when I denounced the hockey gods. I AIN'T SCURRED!

It's on like Donkey Kong. I'll point out the last time we bet it was on Risto's contract, where you were left bloodied and humiliated. Your belief in Ennis is going to lead to much the same result.

Tom GulittiVerified account @TomGulittiNHL The Capitals announce they have traded Marcus Johansson to the Devils for Florida’s 2018 2nd rd pick and Toronto’s 2018 3rd rd pick. Damn. I'd have loved to do this.

Good news: Kuznetsov just signed at $7.8M for 8 years. Though I think Jack's upside demands more than that, I think this increased the likelihood we can sign him for $9M or less.