LindG1000

I believe that's right.

Brooks breaking the news, but he seems to be very confident this is a targeted piece for voicing against Putin. As a precautionary note here - there's almost no way this does not devolve into something approaching a political discussion, so lets please keep this respectful and thoughtful.

Story breaking, so nothing besides "what the fuck" for now

It's this, 100%. Zib isn't playing well at all, but he's also just been horrendously unlucky. At his career averages, he'd be up around 6 goals now (if you remove his ENG from his shooting stats, he might have been closer to 8), which...we'd definitely consider it a step down from last year, but I doubt we'd be sitting here having this conversation. Doubly so since him scoring four more goals likely means this team is over .500. He'll regress to the mean. As for his extension, Zib's contract was capped at around 9.5M the second they called the cap flat for the first half of this decade. Combined with his real rough start here, he's going to be lucky to get 8, let alone into the Eichel range. Not that it's nothing, but it's also not the kind of deal that completely hamstrings the team either. Might be one of those odd blessing in disguise things. Brooks is just "old time hockeying" this take, and it's really not a good look for him.

Eh, I think every good team has their Jed Ortmeyer or whatever who does just enough to be an on-ice presence but whose true value is stuff like that. For what it's worth Bitetto's been serviceable - he's stepped onto the ice and hasn't really been on the wrong end of too many high danger chances (opponents shooting 7.5% against, which is better than average). That's impressive, especially considering his partner is Libor Hajek. At the end of the day with someone like Bitetto, anything you get is good. But I think Blueshirts Breakaway said it best - what the fuck kind of season would you think we're having if I had told you we just won a game against the Flyers in which Colin Blackwell scored a powerplay goal with the primary assist going to Anthony Bitetto? That happened. Yeah, it'd be better if it was more like yesterday, where our bigger guns went to work, ALF, Strome, and Panarin were the sparks - sure. Let's just be happy we get to see a local kid live his dream and do it at a rate that lets him hold down a spot. It's a good story, and we're fine with him on the third pair (and apparently special teams).

It's not the way you want to get him because of the cost structures. He works out, awesome, but seeing as he's being waived off a team with serious issues akin to ours and he's signed for 2 more years past this one, he's falling into the buyer beware space. It'd take a bit to really even this one out for me, even if it's ADA going the other way. That extra year is an actual issue.

Bout as good a 1st as you could ask seeing as we're short a a few top players.

Haven't loved our game, but we're in it. Let's try to pull out a greasy one, eh?

Good thing we got rid of Greg McKegg eh?

Yup. I think it's Peacock, ESPN+, and CBS Sports.

Braden Wheat Kings. Braden, Wheat King. Perfect nickname.

Yeah, the Premier League US streaming situation is just confusing and excessive.

What part of that is untrue? He's an alternate captain - that's evident. He's a rising leadership figure - there's been quite a bit on his mentorship of K'Andre Miller among others. He's one of our first pair defenseman. Seems on point.

What the fuck is a Connor Bunnyman?

Mercogliano said something similar on his pod - bit more of a "defense" of Quinn thing.

Johnson's a UFA. If someone gives you a 7th for him, whatever. I left Strome off my list, but you all probably just made the jump anyway that he's on the block too. As for Kreider/Trouba- This is a weird season. I think there are going to be teams faced with truly difficult decisions on upcoming contracts and what they can and can't afford. Both players have cost certainty, term, and no-move clauses. They're well respected and have held leadership roles. That's attractive to a lot of teams that might need to sell pieces they don't want for strictly financial reasons. I'm not saying do it. I'm saying we need to listen to what's out there, because it might surprise us. It's sort of the same with Zib, imo. He might be a sell-low right now. Fancystats basically say he's insanely unlucky and should rapidly regress to the mean here - and that's something that might be enough to flip an analytics-minded team. Again, I don't think you actively search to trade him, but I do think you have to do more than hang up the phone if someone mentions him.

As good a player as Buch is, it's hard to argue that we're so strong on the wings that he's both in the "don't re-sign long term" range and the "could be a top TDL acquisition" space. With Laf in tow, sure, I'd much rather have given Buch 5.25 than Kreider 6.5 - but that's revisionist history. We keep this up and I'm around here: I'm selling off Smith, Johnson, and PDG. Expiring contracts, UFA, just get the assets. We can get rid of all three with little issue - Bitetto and Hajek have been fine, and Kravtsov basically steps in PDG's spot by the TDL anyway (after Traktor gets knocked out and he completes his quarantine) I'm fielding offers for Buch, Howden, ADA (assuming he's still here), and Kreider. I'm actively listening on Trouba, in part because of the complexity of dealing that much cap makes it real hard to move on without a desperation throw. I doubt the TDL's the spot, but this is where you can lay groundwork for the bigger deal later on. I'm quietly listening on Zibanejad.

Let's shoot straight here: we are a better team than we've played so far. That's fair, but it's also fair to say our record is our record. We're sitting at a glorious 11 points in 13 games. By points, we're tied for fourth bottom. By points percentage, tied for sixth bottom (5th, really, but Seattle's getting the #3 spot as Vegas did). We're almost at the quarter point of the season - we will be after Thursday's Flyers game. It's time to start thinking forward - and yeah, hopefully we turn it around, but we know how critical that quarter pole is. What on earth should we do with the trade deadline? How about the seemingly inevitable top 6 pick?

What a play by Lindgren there

There's still a lot of time to right the ship, so to speak. We're still just 4 points out of a playoff spot. I'm going out on a limb some here: if this season starts to go up in flames, that cap issue sorts itself out. We're on 26M in space without considering the following: 1 - In an ass-end season, Buchnevich probably gets dealt at the TDL, especially if Kravtsov comes over. 2 - In almost any scenario, Ryan Strome gets dealt at the TDL or draft. He's not the answer at 2c. He isn't the right talent profile for 3c or 4c. That's 4.5M in space back - we're up to 30.5 (pending return, so let's say we're at 28.5) 3 - Obviously 12M in buyouts dropping to 4.5 or so (assuming ADA buyout) 4 - We have three contracts that have to get done no questions asked - Chytil (who I figure to make 2-3M for 2 years), Lindgren (same, lower end), and Shesterkin (3.5 or so on a bridge). Figure we've got 20M left. Further, this draft is...confusing. There does not appear to be a true can't miss. There doesn't really appear to be a top player or two - there's like clusters. It's almost as if the draft starts at #4 or so talent-wise. Further, it's all defense. I have to think that top pick is in play for a real piece, especially with teams struggling on attendance and revenue. I don't know if it puts us in the Eichel or Crosby conversation, but with the ability to eat every ounce of cap on a player, I have to imagine players like Bo Horvat on the lower end or Brayden Point/Alex Barkov on the higher end might be in real consideration here. Bluntly, assuming we get a 1st or a few seconds for Buch - does #5 overall, the Buch pick(s), Matt Robertson, and a B-level put us in the conversation for a top center already on a deal? I'd have to think so.

I'll confess that part of the reason for this thread is a discussion on what value our top pick really has to us versus to others this offseason. If we're sitting in that top 5 range, in a draft that's heavy on defenders, hasn't really got a sure-shot talent on offense - isn't that better used as an accelerator for our rebuild? I'd much rather see what this pick as the centerpiece of a package gets us on the trade market.

Let's shoot straight here: we are a better team than we've played so far. That's fair, but it's also fair to say our record is our record. We're sitting at a glorious 11 points in 12 games. By points, we're tied for fourth bottom. By points percentage, tied for sixth bottom (5th, really, but Seattle's getting the #3 spot as Vegas did). We're almost at the quarter point of the season - we will be after Thursday's Flyers game. It's time to start thinking forward - and yeah, hopefully we turn it around, but we know how critical that quarter pole is. What on earth should we do with the trade deadline? How about the seemingly inevitable top 7 pick?

Where's Blair Betts when you need him?

Yup. If the Flyers turn up more positives though - they'll need to make a call quickly.

Unfortunately, yeah. It would be sweet to see the Rangers blues on Tahoe, but it's looking like Philly might be good to go here.