BrooksBurner

He has another year left on his current bridge contract and his birthday is in October. Next year is his age 23 season. His next contract won’t start until his age 24 season. An 8 year deal when it expires puts him at 31 years old as a UFA going on his age 32 season.

A lot of players like to cash in on a big 8 year “take me to retirement” deal around 29-30. An 8 year extension would take him to 31, at which time he might be looking at 4-6 year offers instead. I’d bet they’ll settle on 5-6 years at $6-7M, which takes him to 28-29, but the Rangers should still try for that 8 year extension and hope sweetening the AAV by 1-2m is good enough.

We heard incessantly about how we got 1OA a year too late (Lafreniere instead of Hughes), and I won’t pretend I hadn’t thought that before myself, so I’m just gonna go ahead and say it. Jack Hughes might always be the more naturally gifted player with that coveted speed, but Lafreniere might always be the better, winning hockey player.

Yup, exactly, and in general he just has a knack for carrying the puck deep and helping establish zone time. Kakko's strength is playing with zone time. He's pretty shit on the rush.

Can't believe you led the donut brigade against him

It'd be interesting to see for sure. I wouldn't mind seeing it in this run, but it'd be a great line to see out of the gate next year. IDK what it is about Wennberg though. He's got very little going on offensively, but there's a lot of trust in him just making the right simple plays. He doesn't really panic with the puck in any zone. He knows when to settle it down when things might be getting hairy. He's a cool customer, and is probably a good anchor between Chytil and Kakko. I think I'd pass on moving any of the Rangers' centers around unless they need a jolt.

That's where getting Chytil involved comes in. He might make something out of Kakko and that 3rd line in general. Last time Kakko was truly buzzing, it was on the same line with Chytil. That Cuylle-Wennberg-Kakko line had been responsible and you could trust it not to blow the game, but they weren't contributing a lick offensively.

No way jose. Can’t mess around, be like this

This is probably obvious, but they can’t let this series go past 5 games. If it gets to 6, it’s probably going 7. Do the easy thing. Show up as focused and in a must win state of mind tomorrow, and just win baby. Then rest up and watch the bloodbath that is the Florida/Boston series.

Make like Kreider and score big!

Sound reasoning

Kreider showed him how to chop up a line of coke before the 2nd OT last game. They’re besties now

8 years 8 mill extension before it’s too late

I didn’t really care about Washington, but he’s been cooking all series against the Canes. He’s been finding the middle of the ice, making smart plays instead of turnovers on lazy cross ice passes, shooting the puck, taking the body, backchecking. That’s all I ever wanted out of this dude in the playoffs cause we see it all the other time. You need your best players to be the difference. That was his 2nd game winning goal of this series. 4th this playoffs. Game winner in 4 out of 7 playoff games. What else can you ask for? Nothing.