Around the NHL 2026 Offseason Edition

[PerreaultForever]

On 7/3/2026 at 2:45 PM, GoPuckYourself said:

Last year we had the players to fight back, who's fighting back now? Crevier vs everyone by himself and although he will stand up for teammates he's not a noted fighter. Östlund, Kulich and Helenius are not those guys, Malenstyn is a hitter not a fighter, I don't want Benson fighting anyone, Greenway is gone, Samuelsson doesn't fight. So who is that guy? I'm not saying get a whole roster full of goons but what would it hurt picking up 2 players know for dropping the gloves if you touch our playes or try to run our goalie is all I'm saying. 

This is a concern, especially given what you see Florida doing in the division. It would be nice to have an Olivier type guy on the 4th line but the team did show team toughness last year and maybe in this NHL they don't have to stand up and drop the gloves but idk, I could also see the issue creeping back up if teams do start to try to intimidate us and then we see the inevitable angry Ruff post game which will bring back bad memories. 

They can always dress Lucic 🙂

 

[Brawndo]

 

[ponokasabre]

2 minutes ago, Brawndo said:

 

Wow holy ***** that is bad! I mean I saw the video and it looked really bad, but this like worst case scenario!

[shrader]

17 hours ago, Hoss said:

Insiders keep trying to push a narrative that we’ve got a lot more action coming but… I don’t see it. The only player who played more than a few NHL games that was traded after this date in the offseason last year was… Dakota Joshua.

Teams are pretty set at this point outside of a few free agent signings here or there.

And then just two years ago you have Erik Karlsson traded in August.  What drives these things is so situational, so I'm not sure if the year to year look really means all that much, particularly when talking about the arbitrary cutoff date of July 8th.  The big question mark right now is obviously Carlsson (I guess Carl's kids are always causing trouble).  Where is the aftermath of that going to snowball?  Taro pretty much nailed that one.  To me, this year feels a bit more unsettled than previous years.

 

But that said, I don't trust a word coming out of Winnipeg.  We've been playing this game year after year lately.

[GoPuckYourself]

53 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

This is a concern, especially given what you see Florida doing in the division. It would be nice to have an Olivier type guy on the 4th line but the team did show team toughness last year and maybe in this NHL they don't have to stand up and drop the gloves but idk, I could also see the issue creeping back up if teams do start to try to intimidate us and then we see the inevitable angry Ruff post game which will bring back bad memories. 

They can always dress Lucic 🙂

 

It was an issue even with guys like Stanley, Carrick, Greenway, Tuch, Schenn now literally all of them but Carrick are gone, Crevier can hold his own but is not noted for fighting. We don't have a guy that I'm aware of even on the Amerks do we? I'd love a player like Olivier, I'm surprised with Ruff that there isn't more of a demand for at least 1 player like that.

[Weave]

24 minutes ago, GoPuckYourself said:

It was an issue even with guys like Stanley, Carrick, Greenway, Tuch, Schenn now literally all of them but Carrick are gone, Crevier can hold his own but is not noted for fighting. We don't have a guy that I'm aware of even on the Amerks do we? I'd love a player like Olivier, I'm surprised with Ruff that there isn't more of a demand for at least 1 player like that.

Gilbert, if he stays up.

[Taro T]

43 minutes ago, GoPuckYourself said:

It was an issue even with guys like Stanley, Carrick, Greenway, Tuch, Schenn now literally all of them but Carrick are gone, Crevier can hold his own but is not noted for fighting. We don't have a guy that I'm aware of even on the Amerks do we? I'd love a player like Olivier, I'm surprised with Ruff that there isn't more of a demand for at least 1 player like that.

What, no love for Geertsen?  🤣

[Doohickie]

2 hours ago, ponokasabre said:

Wow holy ***** that is bad! I mean I saw the video and it looked really bad, but this like worst case scenario!

So probably not prior to Thanksgiving... Wow.

[Doohickie]

2 hours ago, shrader said:

To me, this year feels a bit more unsettled than previous years.

I think heightened expectations for the Sabres in the aftermath of making the playoffs informs that unsettled feeling.

[Brawndo]

The first six names are the owner and five of his relatives. The players do not start until line nine 

[shrader]

7 minutes ago, Brawndo said:

The first six names are the owner and five of his relatives. The players do not start until line nine 

Every image I’ve been able to find follows the same pattern. I think I’ve see. About 15 years worth of them. 
 

Edit: I just found and 80s Islanders and Oilers. Again, it’s the same pattern, granted the “executive” block has gotten wider. 

Edited July 9 by shrader

[Brawndo]

1 hour ago, shrader said:

Every image I’ve been able to find follows the same pattern. I think I’ve see. About 15 years worth of them. 
 

Edit: I just found and 80s Islanders and Oilers. Again, it’s the same pattern, granted the “executive” block has gotten wider. 

My post was more directed towards the Dundon Family being placed on the cup. Unlike when the Panthers placed the entire Viola Family on the cup, none of the Dundon’s besides the owner are listed as Governor or Alternate Governors. The younger children are teenagers and imo to get your name on the cup, you should have directly contributed to the team in an official capacity. 

[GHOST OF KEVYN ADAMS]

On 7/3/2026 at 11:43 PM, GoPuckYourself said:

He only played in 40 games but still managed 57 hits and 3 fights against Keegan Kolesar, Tom Wilson and Nikita Zadorov. His core muscle surgery definitely held him back you can tell and in the playoffs he was a huge disappointment but he fought 3 of the tougher dudes in the league and hit plenty when he actually played. I'm not saying the guy was great but he was a presence so yes I'm pointing to Greenway. 

I wish him well. Im glad we have 4 million to spend elsewhere.

[French Collection]

7 hours ago, Brawndo said:

My post was more directed towards the Dundon Family being placed on the cup. Unlike when the Panthers placed the entire Viola Family on the cup, none of the Dundon’s besides the owner are listed as Governor or Alternate Governors. The younger children are teenagers and imo to get your name on the cup, you should have directly contributed to the team in an official capacity. 

One of the things I loved about the NHL was that the players got the trophy first. Watching an owner get the trophy left an image of business first in my mind.

[#freejame]

The Islanders are holding a fan design contest for their third jersey. It’s honestly pretty sweet. Gord is almost certainly coming back. I highly recommend playing around on the site. 
 

https://www.islesjerseybuilder.com/

[That Aud Smell]

10 hours ago, Brawndo said:

My post was more directed towards the Dundon Family being placed on the cup. Unlike when the Panthers placed the entire Viola Family on the cup, none of the Dundon’s besides the owner are listed as Governor or Alternate Governors. The younger children are teenagers and imo to get your name on the cup, you should have directly contributed to the team in an official capacity. 

It is repulsive that Dundon put his kids' names on the Cup. F*ck that guy. 

As a cohort, owners are just the worst.

2 hours ago, French Collection said:

One of the things I loved about the NHL was that the players got the trophy first. Watching an owner get the trophy left an image of business first in my mind.

Good point. At least the Cup gets handed first to the team's captain.

I dislike that ritual in the NFL.

[That Aud Smell]

1 minute ago, That Aud Smell said:

It is repulsive that Dundon put his kids' names on the Cup. F*ck that guy. 

As a cohort, owners are just the worst.

Reading dude's wiki - and it appears that some owners of pro sports teams are worse than others.

Dundon's a used car salesman who became a predatory lender at scale. What a POS.

[Taro T]

13 hours ago, Brawndo said:

My post was more directed towards the Dundon Family being placed on the cup. Unlike when the Panthers placed the entire Viola Family on the cup, none of the Dundon’s besides the owner are listed as Governor or Alternate Governors. The younger children are teenagers and imo to get your name on the cup, you should have directly contributed to the team in an official capacity. 

Wonder if the NHL will still have the balls to X out the names of Dundon's family members that have played no actual role with/for the team.  Ala Peter Pocklington's dad getting his name on the cup and then the league having it X'd out.

Hopefully they do.  Heck, still don't agree with them allowing teams to make exceptions to the rules of what a player needs to do in a season his team wins the cup to get his name on it.  The ol' Eddie Olczyk exception that the Rags instituted and the league allowed to stand.

[Nacho Libre]

18 hours ago, Brawndo said:

The first six names are the owner and five of his relatives. The players do not start until line nine 

Completely asinine. So much for the best trophy in pro sports 

[Taro T]

1 hour ago, Nacho Libre said:

Completely asinine. So much for the best trophy in pro sports 

At least in 50 or so years, those names will be off it.  

[GoPuckYourself]

17 hours ago, GHOST OF KEVYN ADAMS said:

I wish him well. Im glad we have 4 million to spend elsewhere.

Same, if we spend it. 

[Andrew Amerk]

14 hours ago, #freejame said:

The Islanders are holding a fan design contest for their third jersey. It’s honestly pretty sweet. Gord is almost certainly coming back. I highly recommend playing around on the site. 
 

https://www.islesjerseybuilder.com/

This was pretty cool. 
 

[Andrew Amerk]

9 hours ago, Taro T said:

Wonder if the NHL will still have the balls to X out the names of Dundon's family members that have played no actual role with/for the team.  Ala Peter Pocklington's dad getting his name on the cup and then the league having it X'd out.

Hopefully they do.  Heck, still don't agree with them allowing teams to make exceptions to the rules of what a player needs to do in a season his team wins the cup to get his name on it.  The ol' Eddie Olczyk exception that the Rags instituted and the league allowed to stand.

“The team determines which members of the management staff will appear on the Cup. All names must be approved by the Hockey Hall of Fame and the NHL with a maximum of 55 names allowed.”

If this is accurate, the NHL reviewed and approved the names to be on there. 

Edited July 10 by Andrew Amerk

[Brawndo]

13 hours ago, That Aud Smell said:

Reading dude's wiki - and it appears that some owners of pro sports teams are worse than others.

Dundon's a used car salesman who became a predatory lender at scale. What a POS.

His meddling puts Terry to shame, fortunately for him he hired the right person in Eric Tulsky. 

[Brawndo]

Jeff Marek had a compromise, after the owners name put the Dundon Family and allow for your senior equipment manager who has been wit( the team since Hartford to get his name on the cup