MuddyInTheMiddle

Youth Mite teams don't pass; you know that!

Don't get me started on a Jesper Fast tirade!

Again; agree with everything you laid out. Sometimes you win on these things, and sometimes you lose. Everyone agrees that that this was a loss from several different angles. My main post was more with Pete's blanket assertion that trading Buchnevich had nothing to do with our continued quest to find top 6 RW production which is simply not true. And how crazy it is that people here are talking about to now 3 years later, offer that money to a 3 year older similar/same player for medium term both of which he will probably get more of on the open market.

Po-tay-to/Po-ta-to I cited those two because that is where Buch's cap hit was allocated(not to Kakko or Kravtsov); but absolutely some combination of those two plus Lafrenaire were supposed to replace his production. Agreed that none of the 3 have even come close. Wouldn't it have made much more sense to resign Buchnevich at that very reasonable cap hit relative to his production, and then move on by trading him for significantly more value when the market conditions were better? It's not like we are stacked with 1st and 2nd line RW's as we have given up additional assets to acquire Vatrano & Kane these last 2 seasons.

OK fine; should have said "similar; almost the same players". Both are 6 foot plus Russian right wings; neither plays on the PK and both play on PP2. Buchnevich- .76 points per game & .30 goals per game Tarasenko- .85 points per game & .40 goals per game You are right, not the same player but pretty similar. To the much larger point about the cap situation 2 years ago having nothing to do with this, I certainly disagree. As mentioned Buchnevich was traded away for much lesser value, essentially in favor of signing/trading Goodrow & Ryan Reaves with his cap hit. Two years in a row they have had to replace that production by giving up assets to acquire Andrew Copp and Tarasenko to the tune of 2 first round picks, a second round pick, a third round pick, and a serviceable bottom 6 forward in Morgan Barron. Would it have been better Kakko(or Lafrenaire) were able to fill the void left by that trade? Uh yah. Am I saying that spending those resources on Goodrow and Reaves were not well spent? Not exactly as they both added value albeit overpriced value. You can't say that trading Buchnevich has nothing to do with this however, when we are still trying to replace his production going into next Summer.

Love everybody here who is advocating to resign Taransenko to a 3-4 year/6 million contract(of which he will get more on the open market) when we had the exact same player(Pavel Buchnevich) two Summers ago, that we traded for lesser value because he was going to be "too expensive" on a 5.8 million contract. It makes my head explode.

To me hopefully he does continue to develop. It would be nice to swap him out for a rental like Kane rather than one of our first rounders(definitely not both). Past Othmann, Garand, Jones and maybe Cullyle the cupboard is looking kind of bare. We definitely need to be drafting defensive depth for the inevitable exit of Trouba and Lingdren's likely physical breakdown.

Is is just me or has Kravtsov started to look like a marginal NHL player?

"So coach Gallant, please let everyone know if you prefer the peanut butter or the chocolate when you have a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup?"

I would imagine both; with Jones getting he start opening night and Hajek being the 7th D. Of course based on past history, it will probably be Hajek starting on opening night with Welinski or Tinnordi as the 7th D and Jones to Hartford, because of some nonsense about losing a player like Tinnordi to waivers. #letJonesplayinNHL

Good luck with that negotiation.

Cullyle looked meh; but again could have just been nerves. Morgan Baron 2.0 with slightly meaner edge.

I know that we are exactly one preseason game into this and haven't even seen half of the team play, but I am going to go out on a limb here in search of rep points. Pick your opening night line-up. Don't have to get the lines/pairs correct, but the 19 starters. My call: Kreider-Zib-Laf Panarin-Trochek- Kaako Blais-Chytil-Kravtsov Vesey-Goodrow-Reaves Carpenter Lingdren-Fox Miller-Trouba Jones-Schneider Hajek Shesterkin Halak

If I was Drury, I would get K' Andre's signature on a team friendly deal ASAP; barring injury, he is taking a huge leap this season with that combination of physical tools, skating, and now it looks like confidence. Do you think that we could get done 7 years X 6 million?

I think that you guys are over-stating what I said, and apologies if I was not clear. All that I was stating was that Lundqvist is a diminishing asset. I did not imply anywhere that he was washed up at 22, just that he really needs to stick a role this season; it's just short of make or break especially after forcing a trade out of another organization. If he hits his projected ceiling as a 2nd pair NHL defenseman with PP QB capabilities, then Dallas got a good(not great) deal on him. If he is still bouncing back and forth between the AHL in March, then I don't think you can say the same thing. Look at Libor Hajek at 24 who has put together an inconsistent and unimpressive 3 year body of work. Does anyone think it's unlikely that he will be playing in Slovakia or the KHL next season?

I think that Drury nailed this trade: Lundqvist(late 1st rounder) for a mid-late 1st rounder(or better) + a 4th rounder. Something to keep in is that Lundqvist is 22 which is the age that most defensemen either stick in the NHL or don't. Sure you get late bloomers sometimes(Dan Girardi & Ryan Graves come to mind), but this is a diminishing asset that Drury got better than cost value on.

I think the point that you are missing is that he is not entitled to a job in the NHL. In all fairness, he was given an opportunity to play 25 games last year and looked underwhelming as a 3rd pair defenseman. Completely empathize with the idea of doing what is best for himself long term; he is just simply going about it the wrong way and painting himself into a corner by not reporting.

He would have been stupid not to; his whole brand is attached to the NYR. More a business decision than fortune imo.

When I coached Mites every kid on the team would have a different score at the end of the game or in the locker room. "We killed them 7-3!" "uh-uh it was more like 9-2" "No you are wrong! It was 11-1" Real score 3-3.

Have to assume that this leak came from Lundqvist's camp, as this will make it harder for Drury to get value if every team in the NHL knows that he wants out. Really don't see what they had to gain doing that.

Sent you a PM.

This year is the best team that I have ever coached(12U Major); we won a Spring tournament that we entered a couple months after evaluations. Have two more tournaments(one in Montreal), another showcase an overnight trip, and about 55 games between now and mid-March. Hoping that we can win the division in both leagues that we play in, and then retire so someone who actually knows what they are talking about can coach my kid at Bantams.

Thought I would bump this back to the top of the thread since there is almost nothing NHL related to discuss here. We had our Tier 2 season opening showcase last weekend. Anyone who coaches(manages or schedules too) and/or has kid in youth hockey give a shout out!

That was the other part of it; big surprise that Claude Lemiuex is his agent.

There goes that idea, but then again Peohling looks like the 5C on the depth chart and besides Ty Smith & Petterson, every defenseman in Pittsburgh is like 35 years old. Pittsburgh has a really old roster now that I look at it.