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2019 NHL Off Season News Thread

Puljujarvi would be happy anywhere else at this point I would think. Edmonton doesn't have to do fully right by the kid, they just need to get rid of him and move on. If that means they exile the kid to Ottawa so be it, its out of the conference at least.

Edmonton might also be looking at all of this and thinking that holding on to this kid, even as a defected player, might be worth it if the kid looks good in Finland for a couple of seasons and can attract Seattle's attention in the expansion draft. I don't think they will have that type of patience, but its quite possible that Edmonton ends up deciding their best move is to allow the kid to play out a full (hopefully very productive) season in Finland and then re-evaluate either his trade value or value as a chip to play with the expansion draft.
 
andyt said:
Jesse Puljujarvi signed with Karpat in Liiga. He has a clause which would allow him to return to the NHL before December 1, not coincidentally the last date a RFA can sign and still play during the season.

I remember sitting in PNC for the 2016 draft party screaming for Francis to trade up when he fell to 4th. We had 2 first rounders that year, 13 (Jake Bean) and 21 (Julien Gauthier). A pick and Faulk and we could have had him. Might things have worked out differently off we could have ended up with an all-Finn line of Aho, Turbo and him? Who knows?

This may also impact Tukka Tieksola, who we drafted in the 4th round this year. He played for Karpat’s junior team and was seen as a near lock to make the senior team this year.

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The interesting twist on the signing is that Harri Aho, Sebastian's Dad is the GM for Karpat and worked out the details of the contract for Jesse. Tripp likes calling Harri Aho the silent Euro scout for the Canes...so let's just connect the dots for fun and have Harri Aho round Pulujarvi into shape in Finland and then have the Canes acquire him via trade. In all honesty, the going rate on the trade market was said to only be a second round pick for Jesse and the Oilers of course expected a lot more than that. Jesse seems like an interesting project for a different team to take on in a fresh setting to see what he could do, but asking for a top 6 role right now seems like a stretch for him at the NHL level. I want to see what Nicushkin can do in Colorado now that he has a fresh start somewhere else. Nicushkin was also a much hyped first rounder that never seemed to pan out in Dallas, could not even score a single goal all of last season.
 
cmaleski2 said:
Edmonton might also be looking at all of this and thinking that holding on to this kid, even as a defected player, might be worth it if the kid looks good in Finland for a couple of seasons and can attract Seattle's attention in the expansion draft.
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This might be the best play for the kid. Ronnie ... pay attention.
 
jeffbear said:
I noted that they didn't mention Spectrum in the list of carriage agreements and I don't think that Sinclair has an agreement with our local cable megalith as of yet. Now we get to sweat THAT out. Fun times.
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Charter (Spectrum's parent) and Sinclair reached a deal back in July...

www.broadcastingcable.com

Sinclair Signs New Carriage Agreement With Charter

Sinclair Broadcast Group said it signed a new multi-year carriage agreement with Charter Communications.
www.broadcastingcable.com www.broadcastingcable.com
 
Are you ready for a lockout? LeBrun tweeted that the NHLPA Executive Board and others are meeting in Chicago this weekend for a CBA update discussion. They have until September 15 to decide. The league has until Sunday, so expect an announcement from them before the weekend is over.

 
Point of clarity ... any lockout would come after the 2019-20 season. And most reporters have indicated that the PA is only really unsettled about two things ... the Olympics and the escrow percentage. Surely even the meatheads in the NHL offices can handle that ... right? Ugh.
 
Dreger tweeted that, based on positive discussions with the NHLPA, expect the NHL to announce in the next few days that they’re not opting out of the CBA.

The ball is in your court Mr. Fehr. Don’t screw it up.

 
Sure. The owners are in decent shape and have managed to wring yet another round of expansion money out of the ether. They're always will to ride the status quo when they're getting expansion money. IMO the PA simply has too fractured a group to really find enough solidarity to make a meaningful threat ... because literally the only threat they have is a walkout and the players don't seem anywhere near that level of dissatisfied. They didn't fully understand the implications of the escrow holdback ... that much is clear. But even adding the Olympic issue on top of that doesn't rise to the level required to get the young ones and the old ones on the same page. The kids are in pretty good shape and are starting to leverage their second contracts nicely.
 
RFA movement ... yeah, not the HUGE kind, but still. Ivan Barbashev signed a 2 year bridge deal with the Blues with an AAV of $1.475 million. He's been mostly a disappointment in St Louis but was a bit of a menace during the playoffs in a pest role and it was thought he would be difficult to sign. Turns out ... not so much. The defending champs are all set for camp now, having brought back pretty much the whole team. They better hope everybody stays healthy though ... they have less than $500K in cap space.
 
Ron Francis hires Ricky Olczyk as assistant GM. Since leaving the Canes, he had been a pro scout for the Leafs.
 
andyt said:
Ron Francis hires Ricky Olczyk as assistant GM. Since leaving the Canes, he had been a pro scout for the Leafs.
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A. Shocking (sarcasm implied)
B. What took so long?
C. Guarantees that Eddie O will spend the rest of his broadcast career rhapsodizing about what a great GM Ron Francis is, no matter what else happens. As if we don't have to put up with that already.
 
jeffbear said:
C. Guarantees that Eddie O will spend the rest of his broadcast career rhapsodizing about what a great GM Ron Francis is, no matter what else happens. As if we don't have to put up with that already.
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That was my exact thought when that hire was announced. We'll only hear it when we play Seattle and IF Edzo is announcing-- otherwise, I think we're in the clear--- grateful we're in a completely different conference...
 
We're gonna hear it every time Eddie O does a Canes game though ... at least until Aho, Slavin and Necas are gone. Ugh. No mention of course of Paradis or any of the other boofs from Francis tenure, nor of his reluctance to trade anyone or his slavish devotion to that troll Peters.
 
Arizona has signed Clayton Keller to an 8 year, $57.2 million extension ($7.15 AAV).

www.tsn.ca

Coyotes sign Keller to eight-year, $57.2M deal - TSN.ca

The Arizona Coyotes signed forward Clayton Keller to an eight-year contract extension on Wednesday. Keller's agent, Scott Bartlett, confirmed the deal is worth a total of $57.2 million, and will see Keller carry a cap hit of $7.15 million through 2027-28, starting next year.
www.tsn.ca www.tsn.ca
 
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Keller won't set too much of a price precedent for the unsigned RFAs because he's the key man in a small market that doesn't have a lot of choice other than to pay the man. But hopefully some of the secondary guys will start to sign contracts soon. Marner and Laine ... ugh. I doubt either is going to be in camp for their physicals.
 
And now some good news...McPlankton has been demoted. Brian Boucher is replacing him on the first team. Unfortunately, that probably means that The Mighty Forslund gets stuck with him on NBC games.
 
andyt said:
And now some good news...McPlankton has been demoted. Brian Boucher is replacing him on the first team. Unfortunately, that probably means that The Mighty Forslund gets stuck with him on NBC games.
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I got the impression that they're still using him as a third commentator, so only those games that get those will be stuck with him. But yeah, he's on the B team now and I guess that means poor Johnny (and Kenny Albert when he does PxP) will have to put up with his nonsense.
 
We missed this one earlier today. Thornton re-signs with the Sharks, 1 year/$2 million. Looks like straight salary and no bonuses. If he plays 34 games, he’ll be the 11th player to get to 1,600 games. If he plays 74, he moves into 8th, behind Chelios, ahead of Andreychuk
 
Kevin Weekes reports that Columbus and Zach Werenski have agreed in a 3 year/$15 million contract. That’s $50k higher AAV than Noah Hanifin but 3 years less.
 
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