2022-23 Off-season Thread: Endless Pain, Hatred, and Rage ... Also Boredom

[siddious]

2 minutes ago, Ozzy said:

You know, I gotta be fair about something else here too.

 

We've been getting on Trouba a lot, especially me.  I gotta say, after looking at all the other players, and giving them their due for not having the correct support system, I think Trouba also can be way better, being utilized correctly and efficiently.

 

Gallant put him in situations that were way out of his comfort zone, as far as I'm concerned. 

 

First off, I don't think he should be anywhere near a fucking Power Play, and his physical presence can be used much better in the correct match-ups.  Albeit his contract is a burden, I think Lavvy should be able to get a metric fuck-ton of mileage from Trouba this coming season.

 

I don't even dislike Trouba.  I think he's a very useful asset...IN THE RIGHT MATCH-UPS, and also in the proper game situations.  I'm anxious to see how he improves this season. 

 

With that said 8mil a year is a fxkn burden. No way he ever lives up to that contract. 

[Ozzy]

4 minutes ago, siddious said:

With that said 8mil a year is a fxkn burden. No way he ever lives up to that contract. 

 

Nope...never.  I remember us talking about this with the whole crew before last season.  He's overpaid by probably $2 million, but....

 

The right coach/voice/system/pairing can make him look a ton better in better matchups, and also if he's played in spots where he can prosper.  I'm thinking in physical games against physical players.  He might even be better with a little less ice time.  I don't think a freight train like him should be logging over 20 minutes a game....well, not every game anyway.

[siddious]

3 minutes ago, Ozzy said:

 

Nope...never.  I remember us talking about this with the whole crew before last season.  He's overpaid by probably $2 million, but....

 

The right coach/voice/system/pairing can make him look a ton better in better matchups, and also if he's played in spots where he can prosper.  I'm thinking in physical games against physical players.  He might even be better with a little less ice time.  I don't think a freight train like him should be logging over 20 minutes a game....well, not every game anyway.

Agreed. He has actually grown in my quite a bit. This contract was bordering on wade redden territory for me at one point. Just hate to this what this team could look like with an extra 2mil in cap space

[Ozzy]

I know man!  I just don't think they planned for a flat cap when they signed him before COVID.  If the Cap crunch didn't happen, I think this would be a little less of an issue, and maybe wouldn't look so bad.

 

Other than his contract, I think he'll be fairly useful to Lavvy this season.  He's had some big, physical defenseman in his day with his former teams.  Laviolette will know what to do with him.

[Br4d]

Without Trouba this [snapshot]roster[/snapshot] goes absolutely nowhere.

 

We'd be like the squishy matchup half the NHL feasts on and just about every decent team in the Atlantic.

[siddious]

16 minutes ago, Ozzy said:

I know man!  I just don't think they planned for a flat cap when they signed him before COVID.  If the Cap crunch didn't happen, I think this would be a little less of an issue, and maybe wouldn't look so bad.

 

Other than his contract, I think he'll be fairly useful to Lavvy this season.  He's had some big, physical defenseman in his day with his former teams.  Laviolette will know what to do with him.

I still don’t understand how there’s wasn’t some cap relief from the league when Covid happened 

[Ozzy]

1 minute ago, siddious said:

I still don’t understand how there’s wasn’t some cap relief from the league when Covid happened 

 

Our Commissioner is ugly!  LOL

[LindG1000]

2 minutes ago, siddious said:

I still don’t understand how there’s wasn’t some cap relief from the league when Covid happened 

 

The players basically agreed to trade that for the CBA certainty and a clear line on the escrow damage. 

 

What's wild is that we're not seeing a bit more stretch this offseason, since the escrow is literally 90+% paid off at this point and the expectation is that players will cross the line into the black before the end of this year. Based on current NHL revenues, the cap should really be closer to 90M right now.

[siddious]

Still should have at least been an amnesty buy out or something. This coming season can’t end fast enough cap wise. 

[LindG1000]

Just now, siddious said:

Still should have at least been an amnesty buy out or something. This coming season can’t end fast enough cap wise. 

 

PA hates these. Never a good thing to give up 32 jobs.

[Pete]

20 minutes ago, Br4d said:

Without Trouba this [snapshot]roster[/snapshot] goes absolutely nowhere.

 

We'd be like the squishy matchup half the NHL feasts on and just about every decent team in the Atlantic.

That's laughable. He's a disaster in his own end. You can add Radko Gudas and not miss a beat.

[Ozzy]

2 minutes ago, Pete said:

That's laughable. He's a disaster in his own end. You can add Radko Gudas and not miss a beat.

 

He's tough to look at though!  He may even be uglier than Bettman!  LOL

[Phil]

7 minutes ago, Pete said:

That's laughable. He's a disaster in his own end. You can add Radko Gudas and not miss a beat.

 

If they do/did move on from him, that's exactly who I'd hope they'd add.

[Morphinity 2.0]

 

1 hour ago, Ozzy said:

You know, I gotta be fair about something else here too.

 

We've been getting on Trouba a lot, especially me.  I gotta say, after looking at all the other players, and giving them their due for not having the correct support system, I think Trouba also can be way better, being utilized correctly and efficiently.

 

Gallant put him in situations that were way out of his comfort zone, as far as I'm concerned. 

 

First off, I don't think he should be anywhere near a fucking Power Play, and his physical presence can be used much better in the correct match-ups.  Albeit his contract is a burden, I think Lavvy should be able to get a metric fuck-ton of mileage from Trouba this coming season.

 

I don't even dislike Trouba.  I think he's a very useful asset...IN THE RIGHT MATCH-UPS, and also in the proper game situations.  I'm anxious to see how he improves this season. 

 

It's just a hard pill to swallow when you're making all of those considerations for a player who commands an $8M cap hit. 

[siddious]

39 minutes ago, LindG1000 said:

 

PA hates these. Never a good thing to give up 32 jobs.

I’d say most guys that get bought out get another job. You get paid and and you get another contract. But I get it.

[Ozzy]

32 minutes ago, Morphinity 2.0 said:

 

It's just a hard pill to swallow when you're making all of those considerations for a player who commands an $8M cap hit. 

 

Agreed, Morph....The bright side is that after next season I believe his NMC becomes limited.  Not that guys don't waive that sometimes, but it's good to know we can make some arrangements to clear some, if not all of his cap hit.

 

I don't expect it to be easy, but even if Laviolette can find a good use for him, I think that 8M has to be cleared ASAP!

[BrooksBurner]

Not that I want Trouba on the PP anymore, I don't and haven't, but he actually played significantly more PP for Winnipeg. It's not like Quinn or Gallant introduced him to the role. They actually significantly reduced it, or phrased another way, Fox forced Quinn to play him on the PP instead and Gallant just kept it that way when he was hired.

[Ozzy]

9 minutes ago, BrooksBurner said:

Not that I want Trouba on the PP anymore, I don't and haven't, but he actually played significantly more PP for Winnipeg. It's not like Quinn or Gallant introduced him to the role. They actually significantly reduced it, or phrased another way, Fox forced Quinn to play him on the PP instead and Gallant just kept it that way when he was hired.

 

I was just saying I think we can do better than having him out there QB'ing it.

 

I'd rather see K' Andre or Zac on PP2....maybe both at the same time on PP2.  K' has a cannon of a shot that he never uses, and I would love to see Zac back! 

[Phil]

 

[Bugg]

About the cap; we now have a whole new revenue stream in gambling income and licensing; "official bookie". Where is that $ going? Instead of it going to players, NHL again whines about "escrow" or some such crap.

 

Meanwhile, 3 of the 4 teams have zero state tax, and North Carolina is a low tax state. Off this season, spare a few exceptions like Fox and Tavares, players are gravitating to teams that let them keep the most money. 

 

Also while not on the scale of the TBL, the VGK engaged in cap shenanigans. Heck, entirely plausible somebody is gonna sign Kane and put him on the bench until around April 10th next season. 

 

Look, you root for Columbus or Winnipeg, bad news; you probably aren't winning a Cup. The whole Arizona situation is a bad joke. Why do we have this charade of having to give a fuck about whether an owner wants to spend more or less  on players than any other? For decades post 1994 didn't much help hapless Sather anyway. 

[Cash or Czech]

1 hour ago, Phil said:

 

 

Not sure who's worse. Bellows or the guy picked two slots after him. Both are AHL fodder.

[The Dude]

10 hours ago, BrooksBurner said:

 

I don't think that's going to be the case. Players and coaches generally get a year to "adjust" with a new coach, and the following season is when there's more potential consequence. That's the problem with this direction. An excuse has already been cooked to a beautiful medium rare for another soft playoff exit. I wouldn't expect any "big" moves next summer.

Laviolette typically hits big in his first 2 years.  Probably another reason why he was brought in and only on a 3 year deal. He's expected to get results quickly.  He will. 

[The Dude]

10 hours ago, Ozzy said:

I've been siding with the belief that this team needs direction.  For me it's been pretty clear since I watched that puke against the Hawks, when Trouba did the helmet throw.  I was thinking this team isn't making the playoffs.  Igor I believe was the reason this team got anywhere, and it can't work like that in this NHL.

We'll see what goes down, and I do believe that there will be an adjustment period before the team buys into Lavvy, and gets rolling.  How long that takes is anybody's guess, but I hear where you're at, my man! 

One thing that a lot of us forget.  Igor wasn't exactly "on" for most of this season.  He turned it up I believe after the Allstar break or more around the trade deadline. The team DID come together somehow and got out of that funk. But Igor wasn't exactly at the center of that. Late in the season? Yes. All year? No. 

[BrooksBurner]

5 minutes ago, The Dude said:

Laviolette typically hits big in his first 2 years.  Probably another reason why he was brought in and only on a 3 year deal. He's expected to get results quickly.  He will. 

The 3 year deal tells me he’s here no matter what through the end of the Panarin and Trouba contracts. If he’s gone before that, so is Drury.

[The Dude]

7 minutes ago, BrooksBurner said:

The 3 year deal tells me he’s here no matter what through the end of the Panarin and Trouba contracts. If he’s gone before that, so is Drury.

I'm with you on the Drury hot seat take.