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NHL Offseason Thread

IMO, none of this or anything else other teams do will matter until LA enters cap hell and has to part with some talent. That team is stacked!
 
A few things... first off the spin about neal is probably BS. Local madia hated him ever since he clowned Rossi, and rightfully so. His style of play could have been fixed with coaching... it was a knee jerk move and pretty foolish if you ask me. they traded a 5 million per year cap hit for a 4.25 and 1.5+ rfa. they did not open cap space. they got a far lesser talent who is smaller slower and shorter than neal... he is a good player mind you, but it was a crap return. its akin to trading Antonio Brown for Jerricho Cotchery... Cotchery is productive,a hard worker and a good teammate, but he isn't that kind of value...
 
Rod Farva said:
IMO, none of this or anything else other teams do will matter until LA enters cap hell and has to part with some talent. That team is stacked!
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LA is vulnerable. You just cant play to their strengths... they are probably the 3rd or 4th best team out west.
 
madinsomniac said:
A few things... first off the spin about neal is probably BS. Local madia hated him ever since he clowned Rossi, and rightfully so. His style of play could have been fixed with coaching... it was a knee jerk move and pretty foolish if you ask me. they traded a 5 million per year cap hit for a 4.25 and 1.5+ rfa. they did not open cap space. they got a far lesser talent who is smaller slower and shorter than neal... he is a good player mind you, but it was a crap return. its akin to trading Antonio Brown for Jerricho Cotchery... Cotchery is productive,a hard worker and a good teammate, but he isn't that kind of value...
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I checked out some Nashville boards after the trade and about 50 percent of them were thrilled that they stole Neal from the Penguins.
Rutherford has not had a good start. Between the coaching search and now this. I am a concerned with how much he likes to talk. Maybe I'm just used to Shero and Colbert, but I'd prefer my GM not give a play-by-play to the media as to what his plans are. Free agency with him at the helm scares me a little bit.
 
SteelerFan448 said:
I checked out some Nashville boards after the trade and about 50 percent of them were thrilled that they stole Neal from the Penguins.
Rutherford has not had a good start. Between the coaching search and now this. I am a concerned with how much he likes to talk. Maybe I'm just used to Shero and Colbert, but I'd prefer my GM not give a play-by-play to the media as to what his plans are. Free agency with him at the helm scares me a little bit.
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I'll tell you what, if this upcoming season becomes a cluster and they miss the POs, we could be going through all of this again a lot sooner than later. I'm really not thrilled with the how this is all going down, as well. I am willing to adopt the "wait and see approach". Maybe Rutherford is a great hockey mind and can make chicken salad out of dog food, but there's something about him that has me uneasy. He reminds me of an uncle that was "with it" a few years ago and still thinks he has it, but is just not cool anymore. I can't put my finger on it, honestly. Hopefully, the two new bodies will add that something this team has been lacking. If not, we lost a good goal scorer.
It will be interesting to see if Rutherford and/or Johnston make it past year one. The fanbase is restless. Wonder if the ownership will be, as well, if this goes from bad to worse this year.
 
I'm really not worried about missing the playoffs. I mean, if they do, that would be downright pathetic. My concern is how he is handling things. He talks about everything that he is doing and when it doesn't go down as planned, it looks terrible for the organization and it will scare away potential free-agent additions. Again, I can understand moving James Neal, but part of the problem was the lack of depth on the team and a poor minor league depth at forward. This trade added salary and didn't bring in a draft pick that could have helped restock the system.
 
I didn't like them bringing in Rutherford. Apparently they didn't see the team Carolina has become. I still think James Neal is mostly a product of playing alongside Malkin, but that doesn't mean he is a horrible player. I guess we will see.
 
madinsomniac said:
LA is vulnerable. You just cant play to their strengths... they are probably the 3rd or 4th best team out west.
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Could be. Most of what I saw of them over the past 2 years has been PO and Finals hockey, at which they seemed to do pretty well. They are still a stacked team though.

I have to wonder what Mario is thinking with all the upheaval of late. If we're sensing the things that are raising red flags for us he's most certainly seeing them. Would like to see a little more involvement from him....it can be done w/o micro managing. Heck I wanted him to be the interim coach......I'm just a little confused because you know from experience that he cares about this team and their staying here and being contenders at least.
 
Over the past few years, the Cup winners have had excellent defence and great goaltending. Most have also had a Dman who could quickly transition into a 4th forward, or at least dominate inside the offensive zone. All of the Kings, Hawks, Bruins and Redwings had very tough 4th lines who could play significant minutes each game all season to save the big guys legs for the playoff push.

Not sure I see the needed goaltending, solid D, dominant offensive D (Letang is such a liability, like PK Subban at times) or a strong 4th line for the last few seasons.

Too much cap eaten by Sid, Shrek, Letang and MAF for the level of achievement last few seasons. Pens seem more like the Canucks than any of the Cup winners of the past few years.
 
Penguins sign D-Man Christian Ehrhoff to a one-year, $4 million deal.
 
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Jussi Jokinen signed with the Florida Panthers.

Brooks Orpik signs with the Washington Capitals.

Joe Vitale to the Arizona Coyotes.
 
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Bob McKenzie ‏@TSNBobMcKenzie 49s
PIT signs Blake Comeau to 1 year @ $700K and Thomas Greiss, one year at $1M.
 
Well, there's no doubt this will be a completely different team, come October.
 
Tanner Glass to the Rangers 3yrs @ 4.35. Orpik to the Caps and Glass to the Rangers. How metro....
 
Max Power said:
Tanner Glass to the Rangers 3yrs @ 4.35. Orpik to the Caps and Glass to the Rangers. How metro....
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Orpik's contract was insane: 5 years and $27.5 million. He will be 34 years old during the season.
 
Interesting to see so many jump ship. It's like they didn't even think that there was a championship team in that locker room.

Let's hope they get some chemistry going.
 
I like this house cleaning. Let Sid and Geno help pick some new guys. And get some frickin goons.
 
Djfan said:
Interesting to see so many jump ship. It's like they didn't even think that there was a championship team in that locker room.

Let's hope they get some chemistry going.
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Not sure its jumping ship if the Penguins didn't plan on keeping any of these guys.

Nisky goes to Washington as well. Seven years at I think $5.75 per year
 
So, the Caps will have the leaky D next year. Cool. Pretty sure Sid can't wait to make Orps skate backward.

Jussi's the only one I'm bummed about. Niskanen somewhat but he's getting up there, iirc. Vitale was crazy fast, might end up being pretty good but needs seasoning.
 
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Niskanen is 27. Still lots of good hockey left in him.
 
IndySteel said:
I like this house cleaning. Let Sid and Geno help pick some new guys. And get some frickin goons.
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At this rate, I wonder if there'll be anyone coming back from last year's roster besides Sid and Geno.
 
Rats fleeing a sinking ship.
 
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