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Around the NHL: 2021


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5 hours ago, Norcal said:

With Burke in Pittsburgh are Malkin and Crosby safe? I feel like he shakes things up wherever he goes.

I believe there is some talk that Sid wants to play with McKinnon in Colorado for a real shot at a cup or two before he retires. Malkin has one more year on his contract after this one I think. I heard Burke on Tim & Sid today and if he's being honest, they plan to talk to Sid, assess their realistic chances and if they think they can still win in Pitt will try to add some D and grit and make a run but if they assess it and decide it's a longshot at best I suspect Sid, Malkin and Letang will all be dealt. Just a guess on that though. Pitt will definitely look different in a few years no doubt. 

Will be interesting to see if Hextall drafts as well there as he did in Philly. If he does, then we clearly missed out on an opportunity. 

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3 hours ago, dudacek said:

 Not really a fan of what Burke brings in this day and age.

I think his manner and things he says gives him a bit of a bum wrap on that truculence thing. He does believe teams that are big have better chances of winning it all, and history bears that out as true overall, but he believes in balanced hockey teams. Attitude is more important to him than just toughness. Hard workers. 

As a president though, what he brings is knowledge of the game, and more importantly relationships all over the league and in the NHL at the top. He is a guy who can sway trades and pull favours. I'm a firm believer that you need owners to step back and you need a hockey guy like him at the top overseeing and networking. Sadly, the Pegulas do not agree. 

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Living north of Toronto it is funny to hear all the Leaf fans going on about how this is their year and how well they are playing. fact is the Canadian division is pretty bad and I said at the beginning that the Leafs probably would not lose a game (being sarcastic but they won't lose many). Montreal of all teams is also hot which goes to show you that a team can win on shear heart and tradition and the excuse we always hear about the Sabres an dhow they have so many new players and it takes time to gel is hogwash  as other teams add lots of new players and still play well.  Only good thing is in our division no one is wining a bunch other then Boston and Philly but obviously we'd never end up ahead of them anyways but once we get playing again hopefully we can make up ground.

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4 hours ago, Sabre fan said:

Living north of Toronto it is funny to hear all the Leaf fans going on about how this is their year and how well they are playing. fact is the Canadian division is pretty bad and I said at the beginning that the Leafs probably would not lose a game (being sarcastic but they won't lose many). Montreal of all teams is also hot which goes to show you that a team can win on shear heart and tradition and the excuse we always hear about the Sabres an dhow they have so many new players and it takes time to gel is hogwash  as other teams add lots of new players and still play well.  Only good thing is in our division no one is wining a bunch other then Boston and Philly but obviously we'd never end up ahead of them anyways but once we get playing again hopefully we can make up ground.

I agree.  May we never forget that the Leafs ***** suck.

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When Columbus acquired Laine I really wondered if this would be a situation where Columbus them flips Laine to a team who wants to win now to get more assets and then Laine picks his destination for 2021-2022 and beyond.

Hearing Tort might be on thin ice on Columbus, if o I hope Adams gets on the horn, makes Kruger Prez and hires Torts as the coach in Buffalo.

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1 minute ago, Ruff Around The Edges said:

When Columbus acquired Laine I really wondered if this would be a situation where Columbus them flips Laine to a team who wants to win now to get more assets and then Laine picks his destination for 2021-2022 and beyond.

Hearing Tort might be on thin ice on Columbus, if o I hope Adams gets on the horn, makes Kruger Prez and hires Torts as the coach in Buffalo.

I could handle a couple of years of Tortorella here.

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On 2/9/2021 at 8:28 PM, PerreaultForever said:

I think his manner and things he says gives him a bit of a bum wrap on that truculence thing. He does believe teams that are big have better chances of winning it all, and history bears that out as true overall, but he believes in balanced hockey teams. Attitude is more important to him than just toughness. Hard workers. 

As a president though, what he brings is knowledge of the game, and more importantly relationships all over the league and in the NHL at the top. He is a guy who can sway trades and pull favours. I'm a firm believer that you need owners to step back and you need a hockey guy like him at the top overseeing and networking. Sadly, the Pegulas do not agree. 

So who do you call when you want to make a deal with Pittsburgh? Burke or Hextall?  Who has the final say on draft choices?

Buffalo fans used to argue that the Bills needed a Prez of Football operations, but then they hired a GM who knows his a## from a hole in the ground, and everything is fine with Beane running the show.

Teams just need to hire a competent GM.  It's harder than it sounds, but it's better then adding an unnecessary layer of confusion to the front office. 

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5 hours ago, jad1 said:

So who do you call when you want to make a deal with Pittsburgh? Burke or Hextall?  Who has the final say on draft choices?

Buffalo fans used to argue that the Bills needed a Prez of Football operations, but then they hired a GM who knows his a## from a hole in the ground, and everything is fine with Beane running the show.

Teams just need to hire a competent GM.  It's harder than it sounds, but it's better then adding an unnecessary layer of confusion to the front office. 

It's not an unnecessary layer, if they get along and have a common vision it makes for a strong organization. For one thing, the GM doesn't have to keep answering to the owner in all likelihood and can focus on his job. My understanding is Pittsburgh was only looking for a GM but Mario was calling Burke and asking him his opinion on guys and they got talking and then Mario asked Burke, hey, you want to be top dog (or something like that). So obviously they saw eye to eye. 

I imagine Burke isn't going to work all that hard actually. He's just there to shape the organization and deal with big issues should they arise. I'm sure Hextall was hired to be in charge of the draft as that was what he did so well in Philly. 

Why I still advocate for a guy like Dudley to be made our hockey czar is we do not have a very well built organization and we need to have a stronger hockey culture. That's what his task would be. The GM would still be the GM. Look, the Pegulas do not know how to run a hockey team and they need to acknowledge that. But of course, they seem incapable of looking in the mirror. 

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7 hours ago, pi2000 said:

1 hour?  Why aren't they using rapid tests?

The NHL just got enough equipment for the US Based Clubs to do rapid testing. The Canadian Teams are attempting to do the same now, the American Teams with their higher number of players on the Covid List got first priority. 
 

Edmonton did have some rapid testing done on its players tonight 

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19 hours ago, Ruff Around The Edges said:

When Columbus acquired Laine I really wondered if this would be a situation where Columbus them flips Laine to a team who wants to win now to get more assets and then Laine picks his destination for 2021-2022 and beyond.

Hearing Tort might be on thin ice on Columbus, if o I hope Adams gets on the horn, makes Kruger Prez and hires Torts as the coach in Buffalo.

While I would love Torts in Buffalo, there's no way he's on thin ice.  He also doesn't quite seem like a Pegula type of hire anyway.

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