Curt

Ok, and what do you do if your guy says that he wants to take this week with his family, which should be all about his son, go home and then make a decision? Throw an extra $2M at him and tell him you need a decision in the next 12 hours?

They fired Housley 4 days ago. The reason Florida hired Quenville so fast is because Talon and Q already have an extensive relationship from working together at GM/coach in the past. Once again, it's been 4 days. It's ok.

I believe that it does apply to signing bonuses as well as salary.

For coaches with experience and a good track record, I think 5 is more normal. Inexperienced coaches usually get less I think. Wasn’t Housley on a 3 year contract?

You really think that salary is not a major issue for NHL coaches when making decisions about taking a job? I can't imagine that is true in the majority of cases.

Nice information, that's fun. These guys who are the top possibilities at #7 really all have mad skills. I wouldn't be upset if the pick was Zegras. I think I like a couple others more, but Zegras has the potential to be a pretty dynamic offensive player.

You can vary the actual salary year to year, but there is a limit in how much it can vary. Without looking it up, I think its 25% or something. You are correct that the cap hit would be the same each year even if the salary is not, but contracts with very extreme differences in salary, like the one above, are no longer allowed under the current CBA.

I would say his skating IS powerful yet graceful. He is a strong guy and his edges/agility are good. He has worked on his skating stride to improve his acceleration/quickness, but it could still get better, and also his top end speed is probably average. So overall I would say his skating is good, but not great.

Because it is probably the only thing that would be more boring than watching them hold up cards.

I think it would depend on who else is available. What are the alternatives here? ?

It’s the only reason that I go to work where I do!

200lb is small? Is Sidney Crosby small? Turcotte is the same size. That is average size at worst.

I worry a little about reading too much into a stretch of poor play by a 17 year old for like 10 games. Now it’s a little different if they consistently take shifts or periods or games off here and there. That’s much more of a red flag for me. If he just struggled for a month but then got right back to it, it doesn’t worry me so much. These are still kids after all going through a pretty stressful year. Lack of effort/drive popping up repetitively is more concerning than one slump.

I’ll play! Both play a 2-way game at C. They have a similar physical build. Turcotte is a very good all around skater, while ROR is average. Turcotte probably has better stick handling skills. Both are good passers. Both have a good shot, Tucotte’s may be better though. ROR has elite all around hockey IQ that Turcotte probably doesn’t match, although it’s definitley not a weakness for Turcotte. ROR is better defensively, but Turcotte is responsible and could grow into an excellent defensive C. ROR is the faceoff master. In summary, I think they could be somewhat similar, but Turcotte can be more dynamic offensively, specifically because of his skating. It’s hard to say if Turcotte could ever be as good defensively as ROR, but the potential is there.

That’s fair. I actually think Dach has a very good shot also, possibly as good as Cozens, but doesn’t use it as often and isn’t as inclined naturally to be a finisher. What I am really curious about is this alleged consistency issue with Dach. I’ve seen it mentioned a few times, but I don’t know specifically what people are referring to. I know he had a slump earlier in the season. Is that is? Or is there more?

Matthew Boldy scouting report from Ben Kerr of Last Word on Hockey Prospects.com https://lastwordonhockeyprospects.com/2019/04/09/matthew-boldy-scouting-report/

Trevor Zegras scouting report from Ben Kerr of Last Word on Hockey Prospects.com https://lastwordonhockeyprospects.com/2019/04/07/trevor-zegras-scouting-report-2019-nhl-draft-8/

Dylan Cozens scouting report from Ben Kerr of Last Word on Hockey Prospects.com https://lastwordonhockeyprospects.com/2019/04/04/dylan-cozens-scouting-report/

Peyton Krebs scouting report from Ben Kerr of Last Word on Hockey Prospects.com https://lastwordonhockeyprospects.com/2019/04/10/peyton-krebs-scouting-report/

Alex Turcotte scouting report from Ben Kerr of Last Word on Hockey Prospects.com https://lastwordonhockeyprospects.com/2019/04/06/alex-turcotte-scouting-report/

You think Cozens has more skill? I would say Dach does. His passing, playmaking, vision is better than Cozens IMO. I would give Cozens the nod in goalscoring/finishing and skating though.

Kirby Dach scouting report from Ben Kerr of Last Word on Hockey Prospects.com https://lastwordonhockeyprospects.com/2019/04/05/kirby-dach-scouting-report/

I think 3 years is a good conservative estimate for a prospect of that caliber to be a top 6 level contributor. D+1 year in college/juniors, D+2 year breaking into the NHL with maybe some AHL time, D+3 year (age 21) ready to go.

And of those 7 in the 4-5 year range, some are already on warm seats. Tort, Maurice, even Babcock, they are on playoff teams and the pressure is on them big time to deliver results. It’s a tough business for sure.

Yeah, there are always reasons good why someone takes a job. What like about Buffalo’s current situation is 1) the young pieces of Eichel, Dahlin, Reinhart, etc 2) the incredible cap flexibility going forward allowing the team to be built in a variety of different ways, ideally tailored to this hypothetical incoming coach. That’s got to be attractive. Obviously the situation is not perfect though........