tommer-1

I still want to know the details of how the phone was handled. I saw a video blurb on Twitter from the pod, and Chelios and Biz both forgave Jenner for lying because he was afraid of Babcock's retribution, and forgave Gaudreau's lying for just backing up his coach. What? Is that even true? Or are they just guessing?

Yeah, pretty much makes zero sense. GMPV wants to pay him $860k for one year and he wants, what? $4 mil for 3 years? Neither side has leverage. Drysdale: "Fine, I just won't play hockey, then." Well, that's a brilliant strategy. GMPV: "Fine, we don't need you on our blueline that badly." Oh, yeah, genius-level thinking. Meanwhile, Cronin is over there looking at this and Zegras' situation, with zero influence, just muttering "You guys are fraking KILLING me right now."

I would think if they got term settled that AAV would not be that complicated. Who knows. At this point it's all a little much, imo. Somebody (both sides?) is being difficult. I think all sports contracts should be negotiated in the public, so that us regular schmoes can see all the ridiculousness of the process/terms/sweeteners/asks. It would probably make things go faster if it was public knowledge! 😊 I mean, read this and tell me what the hell it means: Dorion told TSN 1200 radio that conversations with Pinto’s camp are progressing. "My phone rang this morning, texting throughout the course [of the morning],” Dorion said. “We've been talking quite a bit over the last few days. We hope to get it done. We'd love to have Shane in camp as soon as possible, but this is a process. It's definitely been a process, in this case. We know our fans want him, we want him here, he wants to be here, so it's just working through it and hopefully there's a resolution sooner than later." When asked about a potential timeline for a deal to be completed, Dorion said he’s “still working right now” and “not a gambling man.” Pinto, who was selected by the Senators in the second round (No. 32) of the 2019 NHL Draft, had 35 points (20 goals, 15 assists) in 82 games in 2022-23, his first full NHL season. He is the final piece to a forward corps that was somewhat jumbled during the offseason.

Would you mind breaking down some of it, for those of us who are not interested in listening?

TOR needs cap relief, and they most likely can't/won't want to re-up him. So, Nylander ($6.962 mil) for Vatrano ($3.65 mil) and a 2025 1st and Warren or Luneau or Hinds works. Gets TOR cap compliant, ANA has $13.3 mil in cap to sign Zegras and Drysdale. Next season Henrique and Silf ($11.075 mil) are off the books, you give Nylander his payday. Nylander ($10 mil)/Carlsson (ELC)/Terry ($7 mil) Zegras ($7-8 mil)/McTavish (ELC)/Killorn ($6.25 mil) Regenda (RFA)/Strome ($5 mil)/McGinn ($2.75 mil) Nesterenko (RFA)/Gaucher (ELC)/Icanthinkofplentyofguystoplayinthisspot On D, Lyubushkin ($2.75 mil) Hagg (775k) and Vaaks (850k) can be let go/not resigned. That's $4.375 mil, and you have Fowler, Drysdale, Gudas paid, slot in LaCombe on a new deal and one or two kids - Mintyukov, Zellweger, Helleson - and one or two FA vets.

But he won't be enough. Zegras, Carlsson, Terry, McTavish is not enough. They need at least one more F who can beat NHL goalies going forward. Most likely that is gonna be a FA or trade. Nobody in the system is there. Killorn/Strome/Vatrano would be a great 3rd line next (this?) season. The replacements for Henrique and Silfverberg need to be upgrades, and one of those guys needs to be a goal-scorer (in the vein of DeBrincat, Fiala, Gaudreau, Laine, etc.). It's why if there is any scenario where they can get Nylander from TOR, they should pursue it.

Comparing the last two full seasons, comparing their respective first three full/partial seasons in the NHL, comparing their draft spots, comparing their marketability, and then moving forward, Zegras is more valuable than Terry. Not by a lot of money, but he should be "the guy". https://www.nhl.com/stats/skaters?reportType=season&seasonFrom=20212022&seasonTo=20222023&gameType=2&playerPlayedFor=franchise.32&filter=gamesPlayed,gte,1&sort=points,a_gamesPlayed&page=0&pageSize=50 They both, imo, are extremely valuable to the future of the franchise.

I think Zegras wants the bridge. Probably because GMPV wants the 7 or 8-year deal, but with an AAV ($7.25-$8 mil???) that Zegras feels will be an "underpayment" just a couple of years into the deal. Maybe not, but that's what it feels like. If GMPV is pushing for a bridge, then he is doing it wrong, imo.

My takeaways from watching the games: They didn't sit back. They attacked. They were physical. Or, as McIlvane says, they were on the hunt. I will watch that type of hockey all day, as opposed to collapsing, containing, mitigating. You have to force the action. Carlsson makes plays that don't appear to be there. I think playing with other skilled players like Zegras, Terry, McTavish, Henrique, Fowler, Drysdale, Zellweger, Mintukov will make him even more difficult to play against. And he's not a burner, but he is deceptively fast at a burst. Great explosiveness and elusiveness. The kid D are involved all over the ice, not just in their own end. Those top 5 of Mintyukov, Zellweger, LaCombe, Luneau, and Warren all look legit.

He had 50 points in 50 games (15 G, 35 A) in the OHL last season. Pretty good for a Dman. 6' 2", 207 lb

from 4 days ago

Jenner's statement was basically, "He asked about my upcoming wedding and asked if I wanted to share some photos of my fiance and house, and he showed me his lake house, so I showed him some photos. It was good." Now, maybe he asked some kid and all he has are pictures of him banging puck bunnies and clubbing it up, or porn/OnlyFans/IG half naked influencers, and so they didn't have any appropriate pictures and they felt they were being "grilled". You would think you could find a picture of your dog, or you and your girl at dinner, or pictures with your folks, your new car, whatever. If he took their phones and scrolled thru their camera rolls or made them put it up on screen to peruse, then he has no concept of privacy and needed to go ASAP.

I think a ton depends on what exactly happened. Did he ask Gaudreau and Jenner to share some photos off their camera roll of their families/pets/hometown, etc., and then when it came to the younger guys he made them hand over their phones or airplay their camera roll? That would point to two different standards, and would be a reason to not trust his judgement and move on. Did he just ask guys to share photos of the same thing, leaving the choice up to them, and some guys had no problem with it and other guys did? That would be about par for the course on the way a lot of things have been going recently. He has apparently done this since he started coaching in TOR, and I never remember it coming up as a "breach of conduct" when the other stuff came out in TOR. Don't remember anybody saying anything about it. When this came up, former players and staff said they did the same thing in TOR, no issues. He and Jenner and Gaudreau say nothing untoward went on. Biz and Commie say that he was trying to cop a squint at dick pics or naked girlfriends or some such, according to their player source Kinda weird that the players would not have first gone to their Captain and team leaders, or to management. Doesn't sound like they did. If they did, and Jenner and Gaudreau and or/Davidson and Jarmo shined them on - or conversely, thought that it was a legit non-issue - boy, will that locker room be fun!

I hope Carlsson is gonna be a great NHLer. I just have a nagging feeling in the back of my mind that missing on Bedard and passing on Fantilli is going to be looked at in 10 years or so as baaaaaaad luck/a huge fail. I hope that the feeling is wrong and I start to be elated with Carlsson.

I think they just rotated 4 lines. One stat from last season's Junior/College stats I really liked for the young Dmen: Mintyukov - +33 Zellweger - +30 Luneau - +49 LaCombe - +12 Hinds - +61 Warren - +21

13-1-3 since it started (2016)

Carlsson looked good. When he got the corner on the D crossing the blueline they were cooked, he had the upper hand. Gaucher likes to hit. The Ducks need guys like that. Clang played great. Very calm and didn’t overplay things. All the D kids looked good. LaCombe, Mintyukov, Zellweger, and Luneau all looked very good. Those four can skate. The whole squad played a physical game, which was good to see. Good start. But since this tournament has started the young Ducks are something like 14-6-2, so, par for the course.

Well, then maybe if he is back that means they are just hammering out details.

The guys who interviewed him - guys who interview current and former coaches all the time - were surprised by his response. They expected the canned stuff about being competitive and working on the process and all that. I think all he was saying was his plan is not to be some happy loser. He's not looking to find the positives in not playing good hockey. Boy is that a refreshing attitude. His basic take was if the players play well, buy into the system, have trust in it, then the winning will follow. I like that. A plan to be better. Not a plan to develop players while playing bad hockey, which is completely incongruous.

Hopefully. I can't see the organization looking at the season and not having those two guys as MAJOR contributors to a better overall result.

I still for the life of me don't understand why the league allows guys to slam an opponent into the glass directly from behind, hitting them right in the numbers, when it's not allowed under the rules in the rulebook. Just like the hit that injured Drysdale. Those hits make zero sense as a legal play.

If they are not under contract - and they aren't - they cannot be involved in anything related to the team.

Good God, Mumbo Jumbo post of the year.

Cronin was on NHL Network Radio yesterday for an interview. I was driving and got a chance to listen to it. It was very insightful. He talked about building the culture and his coaching history and the normal stuff, but his answers were informative. He also mentioned that he had no previous history with Verbeek - I was not aware of that. The most interesting thing to me was when the two hosts asked him about expectations about the season. He gave a great answer, I thought. He (paraphrasing) basically said, "Well, let me turn it around on you. If you are coaching a team - any level, midgets, pee wees, juniors - what would your goal be? Make the playoffs, right? That's anyone's honest answer to that question. So, while we are working on process and culture and habits and building those things, we want to win games and we want to get to the dance." Neither host expected that answer, and I got the feeling they basically wanted to say "But your team sucked last season!" by their tongue in cheek comments, but he didn't back down from that stance. He wasn't making any guarantees or predictions, he was just saying that they are not coming to claim moral victories or "good" losses. I liked it. And after the interview was over, both hosts were impressed with his candor and lack of "canned" responses.