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2026 NHL Draft Thread

I don't care who the player is, I look at it like this. If you'd rather have $10m per to play in a shit city on a shit team,, then you're an egomaniac without a winners attitude. Anyone can live quite well on $6.5m, AND be a winner, in a good city with a good franchise. There's a reason so many players are saying NO to Seattle. If all you care about is being the highest played guy, you're just an asshole.
 
TheBigKahuna said:
I don't care who the player is, I look at it like this. If you'd rather have $10m per to play in a shit city on a shit team,, then you're an egomaniac without a winners attitude. Anyone can live quite well on $6.5m, AND be a winner, in a good city with a good franchise. There's a reason so many players are saying NO to Seattle. If all you care about is being the highest played guy, you're just an asshole.
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Since we are looking through a glass darkly, probably makes sense not to get too annoyed with 21 until we know the facts.

His agent seems to be an ass though and is making the wrong noises.

regardless of that he’s probably a the most valuable tradable player we have.
 
jeffbear said:
I think that’s maybe the last thing you’d want. Then you’re probably keeping him to avoid only getting picks as compensation and then you’d lose all financial flexibility for a term set by somebody else.
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unless you already know you wont match and 3 firsts is fine, thank you. hey, im just spitballin here. I agree I prefer a player, but it looks like asking prices are too high.
 
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cmon3 said:
Since we are looking through a glass darkly, probably makes sense not to get too annoyed with 21 until we know the facts.

His agent seems to be an ass though and is making the wrong noises.

regardless of that he’s probably a the most valuable tradable player we have.
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I'm not hating on Nikishin. Just greedy players in general. At what point does an extra $1.5m a year make Calgary or Ottawa that much more attractive than Dallas, Nashville, Tampa, etc. The taxes alone will eat you up! I'd take $5m a year to play in Tampa over $10m a year to play in Edmonton on any day ending in Y. I'd also gladly take less to be on a good team, opposed to being a top paid player, on a eternally shitty team. Agents have pumped up these kids egos to think they have to be the highest paid guy in the room.

I've seen nothijng to point to him making demands. But we know his agent is a loud mouthed idiot. I don't think he's a bust, as I've seen some knuckledraggers already writing him off as (Rod and Tulsky have given up on him, he's a bust) It seems hard to believe he's unhappy here and wants to leave. If he does, he's a fucking idiot. But I firmly believe his agent will continue to make his life miserable until he's a top pairing guy on a team that won't sniff the playoffs, and his agent is cashing commission checks from a guy making $11m a year.
 
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cmon3 said:
Since we are looking through a glass darkly, probably makes sense not to get too annoyed with 21 until we know the facts.

His agent seems to be an ass though and is making the wrong noises.

regardless of that he’s probably a the most valuable tradable player we have.
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Oh, I’m not irritated with him at all. I’d vastly prefer a guy make his preferences known up front.

TheBigKahuna said:
I've seen nothijng to point to him making demands. But we know his agent is a loud mouthed idiot. I don't think he's a bust, as I've seen some knuckledraggers already writing him off as (Rod and Tulsky have given up on him, he's a bust) It seems hard to believe he's unhappy here and wants to leave. If he does, he's a fucking idiot. But I firmly believe his agent will continue to make his life miserable until he's a top pairing guy on a team that won't sniff the playoffs, and his agent is cashing commission checks from a guy making $11m a year.
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There’s legitimate reporting that the ask will be around $8 million AAV if it’s something more than a bridge and several national reporters have published stuff indicating that he wasn’t happy with his role last year. That’s basically a salary demand and an expression of discontent. Again, there’s less reason to think that his agent has gone rogue than to presume he’s doing his job and correctly conveying his player’s position, at least from where I sit. Labelling him a bust is, frankly, stupid. I’m kinda vaguely disappointed that he wasn’t as finished a product as he was projected to be, but you can see the goods under the hood. He’s a quality young player with tons of upside and thus will be an excellent asset in a trade. And that’s perfectly fine. Anybody who’s ticked off about that probably has some sort of personal position they’re trying to protect, and there were a LOT of people last year talking about how he was an instant first pairing guy and a Norris candidate right out of the box. That was patently ridiculous talk.

And again … the Canes immediately and publicly started shopping Nikishin the second the season was over. Even before the parade. That’s not something they generally do, which is one more reason to believe the reports about Niki being unsettled.
 
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