NHL 2017 -Official Discussion Thread

[Smitty-48]

Any Shattencancer at all is still Shattencancer, but Shattenkirk will be better in NY than he was in Washington, it's not a total disaster, if they can put him with the right guy on the second pairing. Mind you, they don't have the 1C, and Ryan McDonuts is not Colton Parayko, so they're not going anywhere anyways.

[StCapps]

No Move and Modified No Trade Shattencancer though? Double Yikes. Like you said, makes Phaneuf look not so bad when that's the comparison and that's quite a feat.

[Smitty-48]

Chris Pronger 2.0 already, at 21 years of age, if I was Edmonton, I'd trade McDavid for Parayko, and keep Draisaitl as my 1C, but you know what? I bet you St. Louis wouldn't do it, because they know what Parayko is.

Parayko is awesome but he's not even a first paring guy yet, maybe next year and moving forward he'll turn into one of the best defensemen in the NHL, but you are jumping the gun. False start. I get it, future value through the roof, but league MVP isn't handed out based on future potential and even if it was, they still would have picked McDavid. St. Louis would jump all over that deal, you're nuts.

You have to get these guys before their value goes through the roof, see, what happened was, when St. Louis took Parayko 86th overall, he was 6'3" and 195 pounds, now; 6'6" 230lbs. He was in the middle of a growth spurt, where he grew 6 inches in 18 months.

McDavid is expendable to Edmonton, I know they can't fathom that, but it's the truth, Draisaitl+Parayko > McDavid+Draisaitl, two Mc1C's is just going to put them in cap jail without moving the needle that much, too much up front, with no 1D, Pittsburgh gets away with it, but it's not actually a model I would try to emulate if I had a second Matthews on my hands.

[Smitty-48]

Don't underestimate Sidney Crosby and Gino Malkin, McDavid over Crosby for the Hart is silly, Crosby is top ten all time, McDavid on the cover of NHL18, does not a Crosby make, marketing McDavid over Crosby is just the media going for the novelty of it, you can't be Pittsburgh without Crosby and Malkin, that's not how it works, it's not about how many assists you have, players will go through walls for Sidney Crosby, he makes them take their games to a whole nother level, he's the Mark Messier now, McDavid, no, he's not that kind of guy, he's not that kind of leader, he doesn't have that kind of juice, he's McBirdboy, yeah, he'll go real fast, but he doesn't bring everybody with him when he goes, not like Crosby.

Edmonton is making a mistake, trying to emulate Pittsburgh, thinking that McDavid=Crosby, they need to move one of those Mc1C's, and not the one who is 225lbs and $4 million cheaper.

If I had both McDavid and Matthews? McDavid for Parayko, in a heartbeat. Hart and Norris > Hart and Lindsay.

[Smitty-48]

Dominic Moore back to the Leafs, on a one year one million dollar contract to play 4C; attaboy, Lou... Shanaplan!

28 points in 82 games, 54.6% on draws with over 500 taken, for entry level pricing, can be moved to the Marlies with only a $100K cap hit left over; Mmmhmm, oh yeah, that's how it's done, Lou.

Hainsey in for two, cuz Hunny had to have three, Moore for Boyle, $4 million in cap room saved, "wtf I love free agency now!"

[Smitty-48]

No Move and Modified No Trade Shattencancer though? Double Yikes. Like you said, makes Phaneuf look not so bad when that's the comparison and that's quite a feat.

Not going to be able to trade him anyways, once you give him 6+, so might as well give him the LNTC, sending him down to the A can only save you $900K, so no point in moving him any place cuz there's nowhere to go, in for a penny in for a pound, anyway you slice it. The only way you get your money's worth here, is coaching him, this is where you need a Babs.

[StCapps]

Carey Price gets 10.5 million a year, for eight years.

[Smitty-48]

That would be fine, if they weren't blowing big money on middling players like Karl Alzner, teams are still not getting the new reality; there is no middle class, spend the money on your superstars, everybody else is interchangeable parts.

Leaf fans are all "meh" about Ron Hainsey, but me I'm a big Ron Hainsey fan, he's the epitomy of what Babcock means when he says "good pro", Ron Hainsey can do what Karl Alzner does, for half the dollars, and the Leafs got him for a third of what the Habs paid for Alzner, so that's a good signing.

[Smitty-48]

And you can't just look at annual cap hit, you have to factor in term, it's not $3 million for Hainsey v. $4.625 million for Alzner, it's $6 million for Hainsey v. $23.125 million for Alzner, $6.75 million for Hunwick, would be fine, at two years, but when Hunny said "I have to have that third year", bye-bye Hunwick, enter Hainsey, who I think is better than Hunwick anyways for the Leafs purposes, Hunwick actually a rushing guy, Hainsey more of a defensive specialist.

I could see Babs putting Hainsey on the top pairing, just to be the pivot with Rielly, Hainsey not really a 2D, but to let Rielly rush and do what he does best, he needs backup, a steady eddie to hang back and cover for the counter play, Hainsey basically doing for Rielly, what Methot did for Karlsson.

And as Babs would say; he's 6'3" 215lbs, every shift, he's not a bruiser, but he doesn't back down to anybody neither, and he will even drop the gloves if push comes to shove; good pro.

[StCapps]

And you can't just look at annual cap hit, you have to factor in term, it's not $3 million for Hainsey v. $4.625 million for Alzner, it's $6 million for Hainsey v. $23.125 million for Alzner, $6.75 million for Hunwick, would be fine, at two years, but when Hunny said "I have to have that third year", bye-bye Hunwick, enter Hainsey, who I think is better than Hunwick anyways for the Leafs purposes, Hunwick actually a rushing guy, Hainsey more of a defensive specialist.

I could see Babs putting Hainsey on the top pairing, just to be the pivot with Rielly, Hainsey not really a 2D, but to let Rielly rush and do what he does best, he needs backup, a steady eddie to hang back and cover for the counter play, Hainsey basically doing for Rielly, what Methot did for Karlsson.

And as Babs would say; he's 6'3" 215lbs, every shift, he's not a bruiser, but he doesn't back down to anybody neither, and he will even drop the gloves if push comes to shove; good pro.

Bubble bursting time, brace yourself.....

Leafs sign Patrick Marleau. $6.25 million a year for three years, for a 37 year old, still productive last year, but still. You got young dudes to pay in a year or two, why pay over $6 million for someone who will be 40 when the contract is up and makes it real hard, if not impossible to keep them all?


There's the Leafs I remember. Welcome back to hating free agency again. He's already the highest paid member of the Leafs, fucking brutal. I was really missing "Lou just gave a veteran UFA what?!" stories, but damn.