Around the NHL: 2020-2021

[Hank]

1 minute ago, apuszczalowski said:

Once she says yes, everything else is fair game, right? He plays sports good so it's cool

What he did was wrong, but if you think it's on the same level as rape there's something seriously wrong with you. 

[Weave]

12 minutes ago, Hank said:

What he did was wrong, but if you think it's on the same level as rape there's something seriously wrong with you. 

Wonder what her take on that would be?

[Hank]

19 minutes ago, Let's Go B-Lo said:

 I also don't recall making that equivalent to what Virtanen is accused of doing 

That's exactly what you did. 

7 minutes ago, Weave said:

Wonder what her take on that would be?

I don't know. What do you think her take would be?

[Hank]

Just now, Let's Go B-Lo said:

Ok then. Have a good day.

Thank you, you too. 

[Weave]

6 minutes ago, Hank said:

That's exactly what you did. 

I don't know. What do you think her take would be?

I suspect her level of traumatizing warrants not giving it the moral distance you are giving it.

[Hoss]

1 minute ago, Weave said:

I suspect her level of traumatizing warrants not giving it the moral distance you are giving it.

At the end of the day both women had something very intimate taken from them they did not provide consent to.

[Hank]

9 minutes ago, Weave said:

I suspect her level of traumatizing warrants not giving it the moral distance you are giving it.

It is not my intent to minimize her trauma, I believe it's very real and justified. If Virtanen is guilty of what he is accused of I think he is a monster. I think what Mailloux did was despicable but I don't think the two crimes are similar. Do you disagree?

[Weave]

1 minute ago, Hank said:

It is not my intent to minimize her trauma, I believe it's very real and justified. If Virtanen is guilty of what he is accused of I think he is a monster. I think what Mailloux did was despicable but I don't think the two crimes are similar. Do you disagree?

To some extent I do disagree.  Both crimes are crimes of power and humiliation. Rape is potentially more violent, but not always.  

[Hank]

22 minutes ago, Hoss said:

At the end of the day both women had something very intimate taken from them they did not provide consent to.

I agree with you. The trauma the two women feel may be similar, but the crimes committed against them are not. It shouldn't have happened to either of them. 

[Weave]

2 minutes ago, Hank said:

I agree with you. The trauma the two women feel may be similar, but the crimes committed against them are not. It shouldn't have happened to either of them. 

Robbery and assault are dissimilar crimes but I don’t see a moral distance between those either. I see what happened to those 2 girls as equally reprehensible.  If I were Canadiens exec I’d have protested that puck mightily.  IMO that pick is resignation worthy.  I wouldn’t want to be part of an organization that can accept this any more than I’d want to be a part of an organization that accepted a rapist.

[Hank]

7 minutes ago, Weave said:

Robbery and assault are dissimilar crimes but I don’t see a moral distance between those either. I see what happened to those 2 girls as equally reprehensible.  If I were Canadiens exec I’d have protested that puck mightily.  IMO that pick is resignation worthy.  I wouldn’t want to be part of an organization that can accept this any more than I’d want to be a part of an organization that accepted a rapist.

I don't want him on my team either, we can agree on that. If Virtanen is guilty of the sexual assault he is accused of I think he should be in jail. I don't think mailloux should be in jail for the crime he confessed to. I see  a distinction between the two crimes. If you believe Mailloux should be in jail because you don't see a distinction between the two crimes we can respectfully disagree, no worries. 

[WildCard]

 

Edited July 26, 2021 by WildCard

[Hoss]

 

[dudacek]

6 minutes ago, Hoss said:

 

Are the Sabres looking into any of these cap dump deals?

The amount of room they have is ridiculous and it doesn't seem like they are planning to go to town on free agents.

[Hoss]

1 hour ago, dudacek said:

Are the Sabres looking into any of these cap dump deals?

The amount of room they have is ridiculous and it doesn't seem like they are planning to go to town on free agents.

I hope so. Give me Tyler Johnson from Tampa Bay.

[GASabresIUFAN]

1 hour ago, dudacek said:

Are the Sabres looking into any of these cap dump deals?

The amount of room they have is ridiculous and it doesn't seem like they are planning to go to town on free agents.

I doubt it.  Had we wanted to take a contract we probably could have add Stralman to the Fla deal.

[Hoss]

5 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

I doubt it.  Had we wanted to take a contract we probably could have add Stralman to the Fla deal.

Stralman had to waive a NTC to go to Arizona and that had been in the works for a while. Before anyone asks: yes, to many people Arizona is more appealing than Buffalo.

[SDS]

25 minutes ago, Hoss said:

Stralman had to waive a NTC to go to Arizona and that had been in the works for a while. Before anyone asks: yes, to many people Arizona is more appealing than Buffalo.

Any place that lacks the basic need of water to live ranks high on my places to go.

[thewookie1]

My long shot hope is that Buffalo is waiting until after the Eichel trade to weaponize their cap space; plus the added benefit of Arizona having already used theirs up. Then only Seattle and us could really eat much in terms of cap.

[Randall Flagg]

3 hours ago, dudacek said:

Are the Sabres looking into any of these cap dump deals?

The amount of room they have is ridiculous and it doesn't seem like they are planning to go to town on free agents.

It would be unacceptable to not squeeze out some assets this way

[Hoss]

One less suitor for Risto … wait … 

 

[apuszczalowski]

12 hours ago, thewookie1 said:

My long shot hope is that Buffalo is waiting until after the Eichel trade to weaponize their cap space; plus the added benefit of Arizona having already used theirs up. Then only Seattle and us could really eat much in terms of cap.

but by that time will there be any teams looking to make deals to free up space?

From the sounds of it, the Sabres aren't willing to take on Cap Dumps in an Eichel Deal, why would they afterwards?

Its more likely the wells are drying up and TP can't just drill another one, so he won't be throwing what he has around for a while.......

[Hoss]

 

[Thorny]

16 hours ago, Hoss said:

 

And a steal for players leads to a steal for another. You get that ball rolling and it can be tough to stop. They are in such a good place. Jealous. 

[WildCard]

Dumping this all here since it covers a wide variety of topics, but here are Friedman's notes from his 31 Thoughts Podcast:

https://podcast.sportsnet.ca/31-thoughts/heres-32-thoughts/

Pacific

- Ducks : Bob Murray, very patient. Teams hear no, no, no, then he'll randomly say yes. Anaheim asked for Sabres #1OA pick, quick no from Buffalo. Friedman would be very surprised if they go all offseason without doing something, been too quite. Might do a deal like Chicago did with Seabrooke with their Kessler contract. They're willing to get creative and do some things that are new.

- Flames : Made a team filled with Sutter-like players. Still thinks Calgary is looking around like the Ducks. 

- Oilers : Thinks they'll regret moving Ethan Bear. Doesn't think their goalie situation is done yet. Sabres were rumored for Koskinen. 

- Kings :  Rebuild is over, FA period proved it. Outbid NYR for Denault. 

- Sharks : Still looking for moves, Kane was best player last year status throws them in flux. 

 - Kraken : Beat Colorado to Grubauer with term. Won't be any easy games against them, very physical roster. 

- Canucks: Deeper, better. Hughes and Pettersson contracts will be very important; can't sign long term because they don't have the cap space to do it. Good AHL depth.

- Vegas : Good for both Vegas and Fleury to move on; they didn't trust him in goal, he didn't trust their on ice decisions with goalie position. People in the organization weren't happy with picture his agent posted last year with a sword in Fleury's back, they didn't forget that. Sabres - Vegas is aggressive, if they see someone good they go after him, i.e. Pietrangelo. Until Eichel is somewhere else, Friedman will always think Vegas sees Eichel as a great player they can add. 

Central

- Coyotes : 'Pain for Shane (Wright)' brought up, Friedman - 'That's Arizona and Buffalo'. Thinks this is the right time to rebuild. Went for it under Chayka, didn't work.

- Blackhawks : Chicago is going for it. Friedman - Had a couple lawyers tell him, there will be a lot of people (i.e. victims) that will feel more comfortable coming forward with potential depositions if the report the Blackhawks are doing internally is kept private, something to consider when debating releasing the report. 

- Avalanche : Landeskog wanted to be an Avalanche, and he wanted to win. On if Colorado was a stealthy team for Eichel: They could do it, but the cap wouldn't make it work. 

- Stars : There's a chance they could move a goalie. Concerned if Bishop will be able to play, hence getting Holtby. Took a run at Getzlaf.

- Wild : Needed 3 D-men going into the offseason, filled all of those spots. Wanted Foligno, didn't get him. Looked at Bogosian and McCabe; Friedman is very happy for McCabe. Guerin needs to deal with Kaprizov and Fiala, and Eichel. Friedman really doesn't think they're done here, says just like Anaheim he doesn't think it's over. If they don't get Eichel, Boldy and Rossi will likely get playing time with the Wild. 

- Predators : Preds usually make moves late, doesn't think they're quite done just yet. 

- Blues : Bring in Saad at good value, and Buchnevich; latter dealt from NYR because they knew he was leaving. Tarasenko is the other big question mark in the NHL right now, the other being Eichel. Somebody in St.Louis, likely the agent, is lobbing media bombs to get him out of there every few days or so. St.Louis is doing the same as Buffalo, holding strong until they get the deal they want. Interesting comparable. Thinks Tararsenko to Islanders maybe. 

- Jets : Liked what they did so far. Thinks they try and move Sami Niku.

Metro

- Hurricanes : (Jokes?) acquiring ex NYR is their big thing right now. Owner is big on putting values on players and refusing to go past it. Hamilton and this offseason is a big test on if that approach works or not. Still thinks this team is good, love Ethan Bear.

- Blue Jackets : Werenski contract reminds Friedman of OEL in Arizona, have to do it for credibility of franchise; A) we'll pay B) people want to stay here. Lot of people didn't think they could keep Werenski; teams called, they were determined to keep him. This is where analytics miss, not understanding the intangibles (fans, organizations, perceptions, player mentalities) on keeping a guy like Werenski. 

- Devils : Wanted to breath some life into their franchise (Hughes draft pick, and Hamilton). Have looked into Tarasenko; some teams, including NJ, aren't crazy about his health. NJ isn't done, looking for a winger.

- Islanders : Friedman's theory is Lou Lamoriello is trying to trade for someone (possibly Tarasenko) and he hasn't resigned players because he doesn't want anyone to know how much cap he has. He thinks Palmeri, Parise, and Cizikas are all signed, but Lamoriello is willing to wait months to keep teams in the dark. 

- NYR : Thinks Tom Wilson was a factor for Reaves, but he also thinks the Islanders pushing them around was a factor too. They have some big decisions to make with existing players on their teams on what/whether to pay them or not. Thinks they were in on Denault. Doesn't think they're remotely close to done.

- Flyers : Probably take a run at signing Hart long term. They're gambling on coaches, players being much better on defense this year. They wanted people caring more during play/about winning, sighted Ristolainen and Atkinson as 'high care guys'.

- Penguins : Friedman thinks they've been trying to move Marcus Pettersson. 

- Capitals : Ovechkin is not too much term to give up, as far as Friedman is concerned you can never pay him enough based on what he's meant for that organization. Thinks he wants Gretzky's record. Doesn't think they're going to be able to move Kuznetsov.

Atlantic

- Bruins : Ullmark was really, really, surprising, makes you wonder about Rask's future. Need a 2nd line center. With Krejci gone and Bergeron having 1 year left and getting older, Friedman wonders if they're looking around the league looking for a #1 center. 

- Sabres : Did the interview with the doctor on the neck procedures, says people reached out after and educated Friedman on insurance and how the surgery goes that he hadn't thought of and wishes he asked in that interview. The Sabres and Bills share a Dr.Capaccuino that has done these neck procedures before. That Dr. and Eichel's camp have not spoken yet.

How much does the Peter Fish note move an Eichel trade along? Sentiments don't surprise anyone, Eichel just wants the process to be over and wants to get the procedure done on if he can do it. Russo (Wild) commented on Friedman's interview and said the Wild will let him make that decision. Eichel's camp probably knows that. Eichel is mad, but Sabres are mad too by being pushed. He thinks the Sabres have that line and will not move at all; if they would, he'd be gone already. 'Sports are very alpha. You have to be able to handle intimidation, and be willing to intimidate. Sabres are looking at this as a test to that' (paraphrased). Believes he's eventually traded. 

Sabres will look for more vets, and goalie help. Thought Anderson would retire, he's there to mentor really. They're looking to fit pieces around kids that will play. They want Mitts and Cozens in big roles. They want to evaluate Mittlestadt. 

- Reg Wings : Yzerman is building, still a long term play. 

- Panthers : Bennett and Montour are good deals. Spencer Knight will likely be starter, with Bobrovsky splitting. Would like to have Chara. Believes they're trying to sign Barkov. Reinhart could be anywhere between 7 years, $6.5-7.5M per year.

- Canadiens : Savard really wanted to go to Montreal. Hoffman and Montreal flirted last year, couldn't move Tatar to make room. Denault gone makes Suzuki's role much different/harder, because now he's a 2 way guy instead of the scorer he was.

- Senators : Friedman believes they challenge for the playoffs. Surprised Dadanov didn't fit there. Wonders if they go after a veteran on a short term contract.

- Lightning : Likes what they did this offseason. Biggest question is how are they going to replace the Gourde, Goudreau, Coleman line. 

- Leafs : Maple Leaf players sense mentality around organization is they want to ramp up urgency on the team, won't even be easy to make the playoffs in this division. 4 teams for 2 playoff spots, that's tough. The organization is really trying to convey if they don't accomplish something this year, there will be changes.