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2024-25 NHL Misc. Thread

TheBigKahuna said:
Maybe SJ is stocking up on pieces to move at the deadline for draft picks?
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Honestly, it's hard to say. They passed on some offers this year but decided to move Granlund which basically sunk their top line and apparently ticked off some of their youngsters. I know Grier has basically said that they're done retaining salary and they already have a ton of picks next summer, after which I'm sure they'll be hoping to start being more competitive. You have to close that loop eventually, so they'll probably make a call based on where they are in the standings.
 
Vancouver traded goalie Arturs Silovs to the Pens for Chase Stillman and a 2027 4th rounder. Silovs just brought the Calder Cup to AHL Abbotsford and has played games for the Canucks in each of the last 3 seasons, and was their de facto starter in the playoffs last season, starting 10 games when both Demko and DeSmith went down with injuries. The Canucks have Demko signed through 2029 and Backup Kevin Lankinen signed through 2030, Silovs had nowhere to go and nothing to prove in the AHL, so the Canucks traded him where he’ll get a chance.

Stillman was drafted by the Devils in the 2021 first round. He hasn’t played a NHL game yet, spending a season with AHL Uitca and splitting last season between Utica and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton after the Pens acquired him in March.
 
I thought Stillman was a weird pick as a 1st rounder for NJ, but everything was so screwed up for the pandemic that I figure that 2021 Draft was kind of a write-off for a lot of teams. Still, he's not exactly a shoe-in to even make an NHL roster and I honestly thought Vancouver would get more than an AHL tweener and a 4th rounder for a goalie who probably should have been in the NHL full time last season.
 
Pens are going to be so bad that anyone asked to play goalie for them will feel like a sacrificial lamb…Silovs, come on down.
 
So, the Pens' current battery in net is Jarry and Silovs. Since Jarry's contract is essentially unmovable and he's what you might call erratic, there should be ample opportunity for Silovs to get some starts. And then you look at the D he'll be backing up and ... oops. Sorry, bud. The Pens aren't actually terrible up front. They've got a couple of solid forward lines when everybody is healthy, which is all fully half the NHL really can claim. But the D looks like somebody threw darts at a board blindfolded ... and behind their back ... and from a great distance.

FWIW, once Vancouver committed to Lankanen and got Demko extended, I was kind of hoping Carolina might make a play for Silovs. But I guess he's pretty much on the same level as Primeau, with a little more NHL experience.
 
The regular season opens on October 7 with an ESPN triple header. Blackhawks at Panthers at 5, Pens at Rangers at 8 and Avs at Kings at 10:30. Full schedule will be released on Wednesday at 1.

The State Fair opens on October 16, which is plenty of time for the league to screw us and schedule a couple of east coast away games before the State Fair roadie.
 
andyt said:
The regular season opens on October 7 with an ESPN triple header. Blackhawks at Panthers at 5, Pens at Rangers at 8 and Avs at Kings at 10:30. Full schedule will be released on Wednesday at 1.

The State Fair opens on October 16, which is plenty of time for the league to screw us and schedule a couple of east coast away games before the State Fair roadie.
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Don't forget that February 6-22, 2026 will also be the Olympic break with NHL players participating, meaning regular schedules will also get compressed in a big way. Is C.F. spelled with capital letters in this scenario, or will they just use lots of lube to cram them all together? Or both?

Jim
 
andyt said:
The regular season opens on October 7 with an ESPN triple header. Blackhawks at Panthers at 5, Pens at Rangers at 8 and Avs at Kings at 10:30. Full schedule will be released on Wednesday at 1.

The State Fair opens on October 16, which is plenty of time for the league to screw us and schedule a couple of east coast away games before the State Fair roadie.
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Let me guess ... a quick trip for back to back games in New Jersey and DC. The schedule monkey LOVES an early season playoff rematch almost as much as he loves making the Canes play a quick roadie before the Fair exile. The chance to combine the two will be too much to pass up. Then when they get back from the fair trip, Carolina will most likely play 4 games in 6 nights against mostly west coast or western Canadian opponents ... almost certainly including the Canucks who by then will have begun their annual early season 2 week road trip.
 
So, I was looking at Puckpedia today while wasting time on hold. It strikes me that 3 teams are significantly over the Salary Cap ... Vegas (+$7.6 mil), Montreal (+$5.4 mil) and Florida (+$3.7 mil). Vegas (Pietrangelo) and Montreal (Price) have obvious LTIR options availabel to more than cover their overage. Florida, not so much. Puckpedia is showing them with their usual 2 goalies and 7 defensemen, but also with 14 forwards. They will shave off somewhere between $1.5 mil and $775K by waiving a depth forward for assignment, depending on who they decide to shed (I'd guess Boqvist) but they still need to swap somebody out for Cap relief before camp.

Thoughts? The popular theory seems to be trading Rodrigues ($3 mil AVV) out for futures along with waiving Boqvist and then bringing a cheaper ELC guy in to flesh out their depth lines. Either way they've got to do something before final rosters are due and the Cap overage grace period expires.
 
Rodriguez would make sense as the trade piece. His contract is easily consumed by teams with cap room ($3 million AAV) and the value and remaining 2 year term match up with his production. Add in that Florida already paid his 25-26 signing bonus ($2.225 million) he should be really easy to trade.
 
I'm thinking they should pretty much be able to pick the return from multiple options for Rodrigues. $1 mil out of pocket for a dependable middle third winger who can score a bit? Literally half the league could use a guy like that.
 
Elliotte Friedman says the Sabres and Bowen Byram are avoiding arbitration and agreeing on 2 years, $6.25 million AAV
 
Somebody make a case for Byram for me, because I don't get it. He's had trouble staying healthy his whole pro career, and aside from his rookie year he's never really produced that much. He has some offensive numbers, but he's only a net zero defender when he's being carried by Dahlen. Apart from him, the numbers tank with alarming speed. And his agent was talking $9 mil plus AAV if he was going to commit to a long term deal. Huh? So far as I can tell, this guy wishes he was as productive as Ghost (who makes half as much money), and he can't stay healthy. Make it make sense. I know Buffalo has to pay a premium to keep guys, but so far as I can tell Byram is getting paid based on his draft year in junior and half of his rookie year with the Avs.
 
jeffbear said:
Somebody make a case for Byram for me, because I don't get it. He's had trouble staying healthy his whole pro career, and aside from his rookie year he's never really produced that much. He has some offensive numbers, but he's only a net zero defender when he's being carried by Dahlen. Apart from him, the numbers tank with alarming speed. And his agent was talking $9 mil plus AAV if he was going to commit to a long term deal. Huh? So far as I can tell, this guy wishes he was as productive as Ghost (who makes half as much money), and he can't stay healthy. Make it make sense. I know Buffalo has to pay a premium to keep guys, but so far as I can tell Byram is getting paid based on his draft year in junior and half of his rookie year with the Avs.
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And that two year deal walks him right to unrestricted free agency. The agent probably feels that propping him up next to Dahlen on the first pair for the next two years so the points add up can allow them to fool a new team in 27-28.

Buffalo only has two right shot defenders on the roster and one of them is a plug in Conner Timmins who hasn’t been able to stay employed on three different teams in four years…Adams seems like dead man walking in Buffalo.
 
Oh, I get where the agent is coming from. You always want your client to land at UFA as soon as possible, and especially so when he's on a team with no hope of contending. What I don't get is why Byram is still considered some sort of Makar Lite. He may have that kind of mobility but has just never produced the results to back up a strong rookie season. His best actual season was 22-23 when he notched 10 goals and 24 points in a concussion shortened 42 game season. He does finally seem to have found a way to stay in the lineup, as I don't think he's missed much if any time the last two seasons ... but he's only produced 29 and 38 points in those years. This just seems like a case of a guy with all sorts of skills that hasn't found a way to produce anything, but he's making a case that it's a Buffalo problem, not a Byram problem. I ain't buying it.

For me, this is Seth Jones and Darnell Nurse in different clothing. Guys who look awfully good while not actually doing anything. Jones finally found something more than the ability to look great while playing way too many minutes in Florida, but that system has a way of doing that. Maybe what Byram needs is to be on a great team. Wait. He was already on the Avalanche during their peak. I call BS on this guy.
 
With Dahlin and Power ahead of him, he’s not getting PP time like Ghost. At even strength, he gets 2nd pair minutes, about 40 seconds less than Dahlin but 1:30 more than Power. It will be interesting to see where they slot Kesselring. He didn’t get as much PP or PK time in Utah as Byram does. But Connor Clifton was 2nd in PK time at 2:45 per game behind Mattias Samuelsson and those minutes have to be replaced somewhere.
 
Byrum's agent is big time playing the 'if he was on another team getting PP1 time, his offensive contributions would be worth this contract. See what he has done in the past'?

Byrum is being paid on potential, not on actual production. What is really important for Buffalo now is maximizing the trade return when they finally trade him. I wouldn't want anything to do with him at that price point.
 
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