pi2000

This was far and away the most entertaining dev camp tournament to date. The pace of play and skill on display was light years ahead of where it was 3 years ago. Good sign for the franchise moving forward.

Todd Reirden named Caps head coach.

Hopefully that doesn't rub Pekar the wrong way. It's just 3-on-3 shinny, kinda a dick move to hit like that. I can imagine Dahlin doing this to Eichel in practice and Eichel getting in his face with some shouting and pushing back and forth. I think that would be healthy for the team.

Gravitas? I'd argue he definitely has more gumption... but more gravitas? Debatable. Away from the ice, sure, but game time they're both pretty serious. God. We have three and half more months of this banter. I guess it could be worse... we could be talking about how many years until Brady Tkachuk is ready for the NHL. :)

The trade was for a 4th... under the condition that it becomes a 3rd if Sheary hits some numbers OR Hunwick is dealt before the 2019 draft... so the 3rd is conditional, making it a conditional 3rd. I've bought a used car twice... but never did I agree to give the seller more money if I turned around and sold it within a calendar year. That's basically what JBOTs agreed to do. You seriously think PIT would've walked away from the deal if JBOTs said... "no way I'm giving you a third if we deal Hunwick. We're taking his salary off your books, that's more than enough to make up for the idea of Sheary for a 4th (conditional 3rd if hits numbers)." Which is why I think it has something to do with Hunwick wanting to stay close to home or something... however he doesn't have a NMC/NTC rider on his contract. So it's probably just PIT being nice... or JBOTs way of promising Hunwick we're going to keep you around for at least 1 more season. But again, being nice doesn't build Stanley Cup contenders.

Still married?

True. However. That's a step in the wrong direction.... this organization needs to stop taking 1 step forward 2 steps back.

I know a lot of enthusiastic people who aren't NHL hockey players. Sure he seems like a nice fun kid, probably a riot in the locker room, but he needs to be able to make some hay on the ice.

Not a chance he goes to Sudbury.

Over the past 5 years Carter Hutton has a .681 save % on shootouts. 47 attempts 32 saves 15 goals allowed This save % ranks 24th in the NHL over that time period for goalies facing 40 or more shootout attempts. Lehner is .559 over that same time period ranking 45th. Yay?

I see it the opposite... If he has value, meaning he's worth his contract, then wouldn't BUF want to keep him? If BUF feels he's not worth the money, ie poor value, then they would look to trade him. I give up.

I disagree. It's the same thing as coming back from an ACL injury. The ACL can be healed and 100% heatlhy, but you're nowhere near close to playing because you leg is weak. It's the same with brain related injuries... you may be symptom free, but it doesn't mean you're ready for live combat. Last season, Okposo clearly was not back to 100%.

They shoud've traded him last year in the Summer while he still had some value. Another year of underachievement last season and he's virtually worthless right now. I blame JBOT for not being more active last summer and getting some return for these clowns (Nylander, Larsson, Girgensons, Bogo, etc..) while they still had some value.

Hold up. You just said he was bad because he was in ICU, etc etc... last summer. So they could've made an argument for LTIR because of brain injury. But the fact was they didn't. Should they have? In hindsight, yes.

Then he should've been on LTIR last season. He wasn't. I'm not anti-Okposo, I'd like to see him turn it around and am willing to give him a few months to show something other than what he showed last season.

Hmmm, I'm not convinced. Eichel seems more like the type to call guys out more so than Dahlin... especially considering Dahlin's age and rookie status. Eichel's been around the block, hopefully he's figured some things out and will hold his teammates to a higher standard... maybe not by putting in extra work like wind sprints, but playing consistently with a certain level of urgency. That said, it's still the little things that concern me about Eichel... his lazy line changes, body language, etc.. when things aren't going right. Dahlin seems more mature than Eichel... more mature than most of the young players on the team. Hopefully the other young guns respond well to that and follow rather than expect him to do all the work.

When he had a consistently neutral TRpm with the Islanders.

TRpm is what really matters.... and if IIRC, Okposo's TRpm was somewhere in the high minus teens..... God awful on a last place team... he was the biggest anchor. That said, I'll give him 2 months to turn it around, because his history dictates he should be much much better than he was last season.

Regardless of the wording... it's a dumb condition. 1 - Why does PIT care what BUF does with Hunwick? They removed his entire salary off the books... MISSION ACCOMPLISHED... end of story for PIT. 2 - If #1 is true (PIT doesn't really care what BUF does with Hunwick).... then why would BUF unnecessarily paint themselves into a corner? I don't know why this bothers me so much.... maybe because it always seems like BUF is on the wrong end of these "conditions".... except for the Kane trade to SJ.... now that makes a lot of sense... if Kane does well and fits in with their group enough for them to resign him... then yeah, bump up the pick to a 1st.

The Risto apologists need to understand something.... He's had the same built-in excuse for his entire career... that his assignment is simply too difficult considering his age. This season is it... no more excuses. He is what the statistics say he is.

But the deal wasn't for a conditional 4th.. it was for a conditional 3rd. So it had to have come from the PIT end of the deal.

Or, like they did with Eichel, they'll sit back and relax and hope he carries the team.

Then why wouldn't PIT ask for a 3rd rnd pick, with BUF adding the condition that it will drop to a 4th if they keep Hunwick for the entire season? The way they did it seems backwards. In any event, all that PIT should care about is getting Hunwick's salary off their books, they've done that... so they shouldn't care what BUF does with him... .that's not their problem anymore. And BUF has plenty of cap room, it's not like they're going to be eager to move Hunwick. That stipulation is highly unnecessary IMO.

Why would PIT care if BUF is saddled with the contract for 1 year vs another team? The only thing I can think of is they did it as a favor to Hunwick maybe to keep closer to his family in PIT?