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2024-25 NHL Misc. Thread

Congrats to the Florida Panthers. Credit is due Florida as they rolled through their opponents-Tampa, Toronto, Carolina and ultimately Edmonton.

Toronto was the team closest to knocking out Florida, but FLA turned the corner and TO failed to close the deal. Carolina was outmatched in our series.

Overall, there are a lot of teams that have been left head scratching and looking for the right answers and fix— goaltending, physical play, smothering yet activated defense, big size and depth. From a Hurricanes perspective, it looks like these are the same needs each off season…

I wish it had been EDM that lifted the Cup, but congrats to those rats in Sunrise…
 
Florida is built for the playoffs. And made one hell of an acquisition getting Marchand. Love him or hate him, (does anyone love him?), he was a massive difference maker. He outplayed Edmonton's best players. And goaltending will be the thing many people blame on Edmonton getting trounced. But it wasn't the man treason. Bob is great. But Edmonton has the two best players in the game, supposedly. And they didn't do diddly squat.
 
So ... before we get into the meat of the offseason with the buyout period starting in a couple of days and the draft in a week and change, what wrong lessons do you think NHL general managers will "learn" from Florida's back to back Champs?

I think we've already seen a shift back towards size and grit/filth over the post pandemic period. Teams like Winnipeg have put together massive lineups and there's been a pronounced preference for size, especially on defense. So the wheels is already rolling on that one.

Mo still plays a very wall-centric trap defensively, and we've already seen a shift back to more purely zone defenses and away from man to man and hybrid systems. I think that will continue. Of course, that stuff didn't work for him at all in Winnipeg or Toronto in his prior stops, at least not the point where anybody was copying him.

I think the big takeaway is going to be that goonery pays big dividends even though that's sort of 2nd or 3rd on the list of stuff that Florida does to you to unsettle your systems.
 
Good defense. Good goaltending. High pressure with guys that are fast, and big enough to overwhelm the opponent on the boards. Then talented and clutch enough to make the resulting plays.

They also seem to target the vulnerable links in playoff series. Keep punishing and pressuring the same weak spots until they break. Then the get in your head goonery and overwhelming the system with violations to the point the refs start letting them go because you can’t call them all without ruining the game and then the refs also tend to want to balance out the calls so the other team gets held to a higher standard on calls.
 
Yeah, but most GMs are morons who are only capable of processing one takeaway point. I'm guessing they only saw the physical nonsense and missed 90% of the rest of it.
 
Now that we got that pesky Stanley Cup awarded, we can get down to what we really care about. Here is the full schedule:

Thursday June 19th 5PM EDT - Ordinary Buyout period opens. This is also the 1st period deadline for teams to declare any club elected salary arbitration they may wish to pursue

Friday June 27th - NHL Draft 1st round

Monday June 30th 5PM EDT - Ordinary Buyout period ends. This is also the deadline for tendering qualifying offers for pending RFAs

Tuesday July 1st, Noon EDT - Free agency opens

Saturday July 5th, 5PM EDT - Deadline for players to file for salary arbitration

Sunday July 6th, 5PM EDT - 2nd period deadline for teams to declare club elected salary arbitration

Tuesday July 15th, 5PM EDT - Qualifying offers expiration day (unless the team files a request with the league for an extension)

July 20 - August 4 - Arbitration hearings.

Things happen quickly after the Cup is awarded.
 
Guess where the top landing spot for EVERY free agent is so far? Toronto! They're getting them all according to every one with a webpage or credentials.
 
The Blackhawks signed forward Ryan Donato to a 4 year/$16 million extension. He doubled the term and money from his last contract. His 31 goals tied his career high for points and he added 31 assists.
 
andyt said:
We won’t have Erik Haula to kick around as often. The Devils traded him to the Preds for a minor league dman and a 2025 4th rounder

www.nhl.com

Predators Acquire Erik Haula From New Jersey | Nashville Predators

Forward Appeared in 69 games With New Jersey During the 2024-25 Season; Skated With Nashville in the 2020-21 Campaign
www.nhl.com www.nhl.com
Click to expand...

To keep our string of knocking him out of the playoffs every year, we'd have to make the SCF this time (along with Smashville making it) and win the Cup, or have Covid lockdowns again change the division lineup and schedule. I know which one I'd prefer.
 
Sens sign RFA to be Fabian Zetterlund to a 3 year/$4.275 AAV extension. The deal covers 1 UFA season. He had 19 goals, 22 assists between the Sharks and Sens. He had 24 goals last season, his first full NHL season.
 
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