Hope Maroon gets back to the Final again next year. It's always nice to beat a rugged former fan favorite for the Cup.

Kinda nice we aren’t like “oh, another Blues player who left and will win a cup elsewhere.” He won a cup here!

NHLTIM wrote: Sat Aug 24, 2019 5:31 pm No thanks to Brouwer. Promote from within....let’s see what the kids can do

Yes!

Sammy Blais, Mac Mac, Kostin. We've got plenty of young guys who will play well and improve under Chief.

Still have to sign Barbs.

Good luck Pat!!! We had a hell of a year.

Dread_Pirate_Westley wrote: Wed Aug 21, 2019 10:39 pm

Dave's a mess wrote: Wed Aug 21, 2019 3:47 pm If any of you have wondered what former Blue Bill Guerin has been doing since he retired in 2010, he apparently left the rink after his retirement press conference, spent the entirety of the next 9 years baking in the desert sun until he was named GM of the Wild today.

He should fire their social media team for using that photo of him

#facts

“We would like to thank Pat for a remarkable season and wish he and his family the best in Tampa.”

What a great landing spot for Maroon. If you can't stay home with your Cup winning team, might as well go to a crazy talented and surely pissed off team in an income tax free state. I hear the weather is decent there as well.

I wish Pat good luck, and want to see him play well for The Bolts. But I'm glad The Blues didn't re-sign him, even for the low salary of $900,000 for 1 year. They need playing room for Kyrou, Blais, Fabbri, Sanford, and Barbashev, to see what they can all do, and to have them progress in their development, and to decide who should be protected in Seattle's expansion draft. Maroon is a defensive liability, who slows down his line during the regular season. He'd be nice to have saving most of his strength and energy for The Playoffs, at that low cost. But, it's NOT worth losing the chance for younger players with much bigger upside, to not get the ice time they need to improve their game at a good pace, and for The Blues to make necessary decisions. Kyrou playing full time at a decent NHL level, alone, would make up for the loss of Maroon. And having several better quality forward fill-ins on hand due to their added experience, would push the value of letting him walk, over the positive line. Good move by The Blues to resist the temptation to re-sign him. The faster Blues, with Kyrou playing regularly, and Blais, Fabbri, and Sanford with more ice time, will more than make up for the loss of Maroon, as well as put The Blues in better shape to make personnel decisions in 2020-21.

Another high Oilers draft pick heads to Europe. Even faster than usual this time. He does have an out clause if he signs in NHL before 12/1.

Scruffy wrote: Sat Aug 24, 2019 7:52 pm

Dread_Pirate_Westley wrote: Wed Aug 21, 2019 10:39 pm

Dave's a mess wrote: Wed Aug 21, 2019 3:47 pm If any of you have wondered what former Blue Bill Guerin has been doing since he retired in 2010, he apparently left the rink after his retirement press conference, spent the entirety of the next 9 years baking in the desert sun until he was named GM of the Wild today.

He should fire their social media team for using that photo of him

#facts

Perhaps he is going for the whole lizard looking theme the Wild now have...Someone at PetCo told me that the team is going to be unveiling a new name soon: The Minnesota Lizard Kings

NHLTIM wrote: Thu Aug 22, 2019 10:23 am

UMSLBlues12 wrote: Wed Aug 21, 2019 7:53 am

I remember when I thought he could be a 20 goal guy one day.

I remember hating that pick from day one

On HF Boards there’s a thread about the cocaine suspension and someone said “The NHL has a huge cocaine issue... I have a feeling a it's worse than a lot of people imagine”

Do you agree with this?

BillP. wrote: Tue Aug 27, 2019 5:34 pm

NHLTIM wrote: Thu Aug 22, 2019 10:23 am

UMSLBlues12 wrote: Wed Aug 21, 2019 7:53 am

I remember when I thought he could be a 20 goal guy one day.

I remember hating that pick from day one

On HF Boards there’s a thread about the cocaine suspension and someone said “The NHL has a huge cocaine issue... I have a feeling a it's worse than a lot of people imagine”

Do you agree with this?

I don’t know about a huge issue but I’m sure guys are doing it.

No Bridge contract for Clayton Keller....8 years with an AAV of $7.15mil. He probably cost himself quite a bit of money in the long run but he gets security now. That's the the difference with Marner....he knows he's looking at $15mil per year down the road so thats why he doesn't want to sign longer than 5 years.

NHLTIM wrote: Wed Sep 04, 2019 6:54 pm No Bridge contract for Clayton Keller....8 years with an AAV of $7.15mil. He probably cost himself quite a bit of money in the long run but he gets security now. That's the the difference with Marner....he knows he's looking at $15mil per year down the road so thats why he doesn't want to sign longer than 5 years.

There goes my hope of him being a Blue anytime soon.

Hopefully the Tkachuk brothers link up here.

NHLTIM wrote: Wed Sep 04, 2019 6:54 pm No Bridge contract for Clayton Keller....8 years with an AAV of $7.15mil. He probably cost himself quite a bit of money in the long run but he gets security now. That's the the difference with Marner....he knows he's looking at $15mil per year down the road so thats why he doesn't want to sign longer than 5 years.

I was surprised to see some analytics types (but not all of them) express some concern about the Keller deal. You'd think Chayka would offer deals that looked great based on fancy stats.



Do I know exactly what those charts mean? No. I think getting Keller locked up at $7.15 seems like a reasonable deal though.

4yr
$4.05 mil/yr

Wow, what a steal.
Bye-bye Justin Faulk.

I say Waddell should send him, Teravainen, & a good prospect to Winnipeg for Laine, & call it a day.

Jake Gardiner ...4 year deal with the Canes

Canes are apparently trying to move Justin Faulk still. Guessing even more so after signing Gardiner.

Justin Faulk is the Zucker of the eastern conference.

One of the bigger RFAs signs:

He'll have one RFA year left when this expires before becoming a UFA. The bridge deal lives!

Dave's a mess wrote: Mon Sep 09, 2019 10:18 am One of the bigger RFAs signs:

He'll have one RFA year left when this expires before becoming a UFA. The bridge deal lives!

It's basically a 4 year $22 million dollar deal....his qualifying offer after his last year is gonna be $7mil. That's a helluva a bridge deal....

Some news floating around
Pavel Zacha appears to have signed in the KHL.
Justin Faulk to the Ducks is being discussed
Friedman says Ehlers is definitely available and perhaps Carolina is a real option.
I gotta tell ya...getting tired of these damn Canes thinking they know what the hell they are doing!!

Can't see how Winnipeg will be a threat next year. They might struggle to make the playoffs if teams like the Hawks, Coyotes, Oilers step it up. And I still think Minnesota has some gas left. Losing Dumba last year killed them.

NHLTIM wrote: Tue Sep 10, 2019 10:56 am
I gotta tell ya...getting tired of these damn Canes thinking they know what the hell they are doing!!

You and Don Cherry both!