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2025-26 NHL Miscellaneous Thread

Yeahhh I mean there’s lots of work to be done but I’m gonna enjoy winning the lottery as much as possible in the meantime. Likely a free impact player vs no first at all, I’ll take it. One less hole to fill.
 
The legend of Donut Don Koharski was born 38 years ago today.

On a side note, my daughter’s coach with the Jr. Hurricanes in the early aughts was Canadian and was a level 4 ref and coach before moving to the US. He was refereeing an adult game that Koharski was playing in. He said Koharski was chirping at him all game and walked right up to the line of getting tossed and barely stayed on the right side.


View: https://x.com/bostonradio/status/2052035986331181538?s=61
 
hockeylover said:
Yeahhh I mean there’s lots of work to be done but I’m gonna enjoy winning the lottery as much as possible in the meantime. Likely a free impact player vs no first at all, I’ll take it. One less hole to fill.
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Nothing wrong with that. At this point McKenna COULD be all that. The alternative outcomes certainly were not as exciting as winning the lottery. I would be excited too.

The Leafs are not 100% out of the woods yet though. Now both of their 2027 and 2028 first round picks are totally unprotected. You wouldn't expect them to be a lottery team in either of the next 2 seasons, but then again who saw this season's disaster coming? Goaltending, D, the bottom 6, and older and oft injured Matthews to potentially re-sign or trade, a new controversial GM....never dull in Toronto.
 
andyt said:
Wake Forest Freddie didn’t make the cut for the 2nd round. Somehow, TJ Suxmore did.

scoutingtherefs.com

NHL Officials for Round 2 of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs

The National Hockey League has selected the NHL Referees and Linespersons advancing to Round 2 of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
scoutingtherefs.com scoutingtherefs.com
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Luxmore was the spare for Canes/Flyers Game 2. Thankfully. Because the only thing that could have made that mess worse would have been that dipstick joining the circus.
 
hockeylover said:
Yeahhh I mean there’s lots of work to be done but I’m gonna enjoy winning the lottery as much as possible in the meantime. Likely a free impact player vs no first at all, I’ll take it. One less hole to fill.
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Oh, sure. You’d absolutely rather get your pick of the whole lot than watch Boston make your pick at 6. There were a lot worse outcomes for the Leafs last night.
 
I’m honestly not really sure how many max Cap teams there will be at a $104 mil ceiling, especially with the uncertainty about regional broadcasting revenues.
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The UFA pool also is going to be smaller and thinner.

If you just think about the Canes situation, we have tons of cap room, but other than Nikishin's big pay jump, not really much need to spend all of that cap money. Sure, we will continue the search for a superstar to pay a fortune to, but the Canes are probably going to end up $10-20 million under next year's cap. Not because we are cheap, not because we can't spend to the cap, but more 'what would we even spend that money on?' Are we going to go replace Jankowski with an $8 million per year 4th line center? Are we going to replace Chatty with a massively overpaid Darren Raddysh or Rasmus Andersson? Do we really need Alex Tuch at $10 million per to play on our....which line would he even play on? Is Hellebuyck going to suddenly become available (would the Canes ever pay a goalie more than $5 million per?)

Other than trading for a very high priced superstar who has or needs a really big contract (not many of those floating around, and none who are looking to force a trade to the Canes), the Canes are not really in a position where we have a need to massively increase our payroll.
 
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Yeah, the only inflationary thing I could legit see the Canes doing is taking a stab at finally going with a name brand goalie. And they’d only do that if this year’s playoff campaign doesn’t work out well and it feels like a different approach to the goalie position would get them over the hump. That make make sense, but as CM says, given what they already have on the books for next season, if they aren’t shaking the core group up then they really just need to address 4C and some depth spots. Oh, and finding a home for KK. Maybe they look at a scoring winger with an eye to shifting Hall down and then using him to boost a sagging line or as Top 6 injury protection. Maybe. Again, a lot depends on how this season ends.

Personally, I’m investing almost zero energy thinking about next season right now.
 
TheBigKahuna said:
The FA list for this summer is about as exciting as reading junk mail.
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Yup. Which is why I mentioned the possibility of movement at the draft. I do think some of those teams in the Top 10 that are a little deeper into their rebuilds or who are just looking to re-load might be looking to move those picks for veterans. It’s a really good draft, even if the guys at the top might not be sure things. There’s real high end quality down to 15 or 16, and teams WILL be interested in moving for specific guys that fit their program needs. There’s a lot of good do-it-all type defensemen, for example, and most of them have size. Florida and New York in particular might be looking to plug an NHL need as a priority because they’re looking to compete right now. Chicago might well prefer a lower ceiling but dependable defenseman rather than adding yet another prospect that won’t hit for a year or two. The chances of none of those teams making a deal seems low, and once that stuff starts percolating it tends to go to a boil pretty quickly.
 
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