dtsdlaw

I’ll eat my shoe if Boston wins the Cup. With Chara now 42 and Bergeron 35, their last best chance was last season. There’s also a good chance they’ll draw the Leafs in their first series, which would mean all 7 games in Canada against their arch rival which has already played a “warm-up” series. That pick will be low to mid 20s.

That would be an entertaining offer... for Buffalo fans. No offense, but that's an insane over payment for the #8 overall if you're a Ducks fan. A 1st + Rakell is the kind of offer that should get you in the top-3, not #8. Rakell by himself should get you to #8.

No idea how this would play out in reality since it would require so many moving parts, but Bergevin and GMBM are close friends who have done "favors" for each other in the past. Maybe they'd be willing to go big on a blockbuster deal at some point. In fact, wasn't Montreal the supposed landing pad for Fowler a few seasons ago when he was rumored to be on the cusp of being traded at the 2016 draft? Montreal still seems like a natural trade partner for the Ducks too IMO, what with all of their young center depth and their obvious holes at LHD. I wonder if GMBM would agree to eat Alzner's contract and send them a Guhle or Mahura plus Boston's 1st in exchange for one of their young Cs (Kotkaniemi may be in need of a change in scenery). I would be completely stoked on that.

For sure. Bunch of young, wealthy athletes in the prime years of their lives - it's reasonable to assume that there are more than a handful that haven't been sheltering in place since March. We'll see what happens when they have to quarantine as a condition of their employment. btw, nieder, do all people entering Canada still have to quarantine for 14 days per the public health order? If so, I wonder how that will impact the players going to the hub cities from out of country. Are they all going to have to sit in their hotel rooms for 14 days before they can start skating again?

True, but daily numbers don't mean as much. As you can see from this chart, there's an obvious trend of the reported numbers going down on the weekend and back up mid-week. Not surprising that the numbers are low at the end of a 3-day holiday weekend. The ones who are collecting and reporting the data are at the beach. Of course, when Saturday, Sunday and Mondays numbers are all reported at once on Tuesday, the media will lose their minds, but what else is new....

I heard from a co-worker that Kaiser has a reimbursement procedure for testing performed by outside providers. I don't know if that applies to the rapid tests or just the standard tests that Kaiser performs at its facilities, but maybe check their website. As far as Canada v. U.S. goes for COVID-19, I know it's not a contest, but it will be interesting to see which approach to the pandemic ends up looking the best in hindsight down the road. Here, there is no national policy so states are pretty much making up their own rules as they go along. Some states are obviously having better results than others, but there are also no complete data sets anywhere because the virus has not run its course yet, and so it's obviously too early to be spiking the football, whether it's country v. country or state v. state, especially if there is no vaccine coming any time soon and we eventually have to rely on this "herd immunity" concept to resume normal lives. For example, here in California they are reporting that we've conducted around 4.8 million tests and have had around 276,000 positive tests so far (2nd in the union according to worldometers.com), with a mortality rate of about 161 per 1 million population (6,373 total). Looking at the reported numbers for Canada (which has a slightly smaller population than California spread over a MUCH larger area), they've have conducted around 2.95 million tests and have had fewer than 106,000 positives, with a mortality rate of about 230 per 1 million population (8,687 total). So is Canada "doing it better" than California? I guess it depends on which metric you look at. They're definitely trending better at this moment in time, but we may not know the entire picture for a while either.

I watched the Scouch for Holtz and I didn't find it as scathing as you did. The dude basically criticized him for his low danger shot selection, some of his defensive shortcomings, and his Corsi numbers (which seems kinda dumb to criticize a 17-18 y/o kid playing pro hockey for the first time) but he still said he was the best shooter in the entire draft and that he has the ability to pump in goals from anywhere on the PP. And he also went on to say his elite shot isn't even the best part of his game. The guy said the best part of his game is that he's "a really mobile, aggressive winger whose willing to chase down offensive players.. and forechecks aggressively." GMBM has many times over the years said that he's convinced they can teach a guy how to play defense, so if Holtz has some flaws there I'm ok with it. They'll work on it with him. And heck, it's not like Teemu and Pears ever played defense. As far as his shot selection goes, I would expect him to shoot from high danger areas more and more as he gets to play with better passers in the NHL. That seems like an easy one to improve on just by playing with better players. IMO, this team's #1 need is a scoring winger with an elite shot who can hit the back of the net on the PP. Even better if we can get one who forechecks like his hair is on fire. I'm all in on Holtz the same way I was all in on Zegras last year. Hope he's our guy.

Honestly, I just don't see it with Perfetti. I watched part of that video with the sound off just to focus on the "highlights" rather than the commentator's glowing praise, and Perfetti doesn't really even look like a top-10 talent to me compared to what I've seen of some of the other top guys. His skating, both effort and ability, don't look good at all. He looks like he's constantly just floating around the ice, with no real effort to accelerate. I don't think that's going to work at the NHL level against elite talent. If you're going to float around the ice like a Getzlaf, you'd better be 6'3", 225lbs with a massive reach and world-class hands, not a 5'10" perimeter player who appears to be somewhat of a defensive liability. Count me out on Perfetti. Especially if GMBM is truly trying to transition this team to a faster, more up tempo game.

What about Canada? They could play all the games up there, no? Also, this is another instance in which pro sports does not necessarily mirror real life. If you dive into the details of how Euro teams are isolating and testing athletes, coaches, employees, etc. it's not hard to see how that system could work for an entire NHL playoffs. And you also have to figure that, unlike the American public at large, no 20-something NHLer is going to risk being "that guy" who was sent home during the SC playoffs (or worse, causing their team to be sent home) because he can't stay out of the bars and clubs or simply HAS to go to that beach party while refusing to wear a mask. These guys will isolate and not do stupid things that would put themselves or their teams at risk. In fact, I'd wager that you could drop the NHL playoffs into the hottest hot spot in the US and they'd still stay 99.9% COVID-free in their own highly-regulated isolation, simply because it's the Cup.

I think it's Door #3 - they care about both. Sure they like their money, but they're also going to do this thing as safely as possible to protect their assets players. I don't think any owner wants to jeopardize the long term health of a star player just for a little extra playoff revenue. And fortunately for the NHL (and other leagues), the Euro soccer leagues are already setting the table for them in how to conduct the re-start of a season. For example, the Bundesliga has been at it since early May, the English Premier League started playing matches on June 17th, and the Italian Serie A just started games about a week ago. And I just saw that the Brits said yesterday that they have had only one positive test out of 2250 tests since the league resumed training camps, so it seems at least for now that the Euro leagues have figured some things out in how to keep the transmission rate down. So I think by the time the NHL games start in late July or early August, there will be enough data from the Euro soccer leagues to give the NHL a pretty good road map for what works and what doesn't so that they can put a system in place to do this the safest way possible. Then it will be up to the players to do the right things to keep themselves, their co-workers, and their family members healthy.

If you're Ottawa, I'm not sure how you hitch your wagon to two U20 RHDs that were drafted near the end the 1st round (Jacob Larsson territory) when you have a legit top-5 prospect available as your second of two top-5 picks. And as far as I know, JBD is still in college and carries the risk of Jultzing them (because why wouldn't you Jultz the Senators if you had the chance!) so it would be pretty foolish to pass on Drysdale if JBD still hasn't signed a pro contract by the time the draft rolls around.

I'm with this bolded part 100%. Drysdale would be sweet, but I don't think he makes it past Ottawa's second pick at #5 overall. Ottawa needs forwards, but they also have another 1st rounder from the Isles (possibly, unless the Isles win that #1 overall) and four (4!!) second round picks in this draft too. With likely 7 picks in the first two rounds, I think they almost HAVE to use one of their top-5 picks on a high end defensive prospect. Especially since they already have several young, high-end forwards to build around. There doesn't seem to be that many defenders ranked in the top-30, so if they pass on a defender at #5 then they may not get one at all. As for Holtz, I love his shot and especially his shoot-first mentality. Dude wants to score every shift and he is not timid about putting the puck on net. He also seems to be pretty good at picking corners. That's something this team needs badly. I worry that if FG3M (future-GM Martin Madden) goes after a guy like Raymond or Perfetti we're going to end up with just another pass-first guy (like Terry) that frustrates the heck out of the fans. I want a guy who loves to score as much as Teemu loved to score. That's Holtz IMO.

Just a reminder to anyone still checking these boards that the draft lottery is this Friday, June 26th at 5pm (California time). The Ducks have the 5th best odds at 8.5%. I have a good feeling this is our year to move up with the lottery. The Devils jumped from the #5 slot to the #1 slot in 2017 with our same odds. I think we end up somewhere in the top-3 this time too.

Nonis? I think at that time GMBM was still under the impression (delusion?) that #4 could play the right side, so he was envisioning Fowler being paired long-term with a Guhle or Larsson. At least that's what his comments last summer seemed to suggest. Speaking of Fowler, if the Ducks are facing a logjam on the left side of the blue line in two years and HAVE to jettison a top-4 LHD in exchange for rebuild talent, count me in for re-signing Lindholm and trading Fowler. Lindholm is better and younger, and Cam's history of knee injuries makes me worried about the longevity of a guy who's game is 100% built on his world-class skating ability. Fowler could also get a bigger return since he wouldn't be a rental. I also see the skills sets of guys like Mahura and Guhle as being a closer match to #4 than #47.

This is exactly why I DON'T favor moving Lindholm. Every prospect in the pipeline that is or has been in line to take a top-4 LD spot from Lindholm has shown no real signs of being able to fill his role. Moving Lindholm just to create competition for his spot among vastly inferior players makes zero sense to me.

Do they believe this? The Ducks have so many LHDs right now that it makes me think they aren't really sold on Mahura's development. I currently put him around 5th or 6th on the depth chart behind Lindholm, Fowler, Djoos, and Larsson, and probably about even with Guhle. And although I haven't seen him in-person yet, it sounds like Benoit is developing nicely as well. That's a LOT of bodies Mahura is going to have to beat out in order to get into the starting lineup. Also, with Larsson still needing 10 games under the current rules, keep in mind he loses his waivers exemption next season, so the Ducks won't be able to bounce him back and forth to get those games in. If he gets outplayed early on by Djoos, Mahura, Guhle, etc., then it will make for some interesting roster decisions with respect to the ED.

Don't forget we've got an expansion draft coming too. Guddy won't need protection since he'll be a UFA. But if GMBM adds anyone else to the blue line then the Ducks may be looking at losing Manson anyway in the ED. btw, how screwed up must the expansion draft plans of most teams be right now?!?! I assume the league is going to have to adjust certain rules and requirements to help teams adjust their plans. I mean, the 40/70 games played requirement HAS to be changed now, right?!?! I'm thinking that Bob's quote about Bill Daly helping him "with some other things we're planning going forward that we need to do as an organization" may be about the ED and how the exposure requirements will apply.

I respectfully disagree. I thought he was pretty good this season playing top-4 minutes, all things considered. He had positive possession numbers despite having the highest D-zone start % and some pretty poor possession forwards playing in front of him, and I also found his game very complimentary to both 4 and 47 (when they were healthy). Meanwhile, Manson has really struggled the past 2+ seasons and we all saw how truly awful that Fowler-Manson experiment turned out. I'd prefer to keep both guys because I think 4-6 and 47-42 would still be a very good top-4 on a team with a better forward group, but if we're picking only one of Manson or Gudbranson to play a top-4 role here for the next 2-3 seasons, Guddy's got my vote right now based on his play this past season and how badly Manson has struggled recently.

At the beginning of their final podcast (released March 8th) Kes said he had a "minor procedure" done the previous week. Then on March 20th (7 days into quarantine) he posted this: I'm no doctor or physical therapist, but color me doubtful that he'd be dancing like that less than three weeks after a full hip replacement (it's his right hip, btw). There are also a number of sportswriters out there who apparently also believe the photo was from 2019 (see here and here for example). Here also is how Johns Hopkins describes hip resurfacing: Based on his dancing video and what I've read about hip resurfacing, I think that's what the photo shows.

I believe that image is from the surgery back on May 9, 2019 (more than a year ago) and that he was just using it as a visual metaphor for 2020, not to show that he has had this surgery in 2020. I'm not optimistic Kesler will play again, but the surgery that the image shows is something that other athletes have had and then returned to their sport afterwards. For example, I believe Andy Murray (tennis) was back on tour last season after having the same surgery in January 2018. He's a little younger than Kes, but I would consider tennis just as grueling or maybe even more grueling on the hips as ice hockey is. So resuming his NHL is not an impossibility. Jovanovski had the same surgery years ago and also returned to the NHL.

Hakanpaa got a 1-year one way extension on May 5th and it sounds like GMBM thinks he is starting to figure how to play on North American ice. If Hakanpaa can play his way into a bottom or even middle pair RHD spot for the Ducks next season, things could get interesting, because then they'd have three 28/29-year-old giants on the right side in Manson, Gudbranson and Hakanpaa. Guddy is a little younger Manson, will be making $1.45M less than Manson in salary next season, and will likely come in at a lower AAV than Manson's current $4.1M on an extension too. And Manson has been the one rumored to get the biggest return in a trade. So maybe Gudbranson isn't the one they should be shopping next season if/when they fall out of the playoff picture....

It’s being reported on hockey Twitter that one of the Sens players has tested positive and that “several” others are thought to be infected. Also the belief is that LA Staples Center is the source of the Sens’ infection. Sens played there right after their game at the Ponda Center, and the Ducks were supposed to play their next game at Staples, but for the season being suspended. Hopefully that means a huge bullet was dodged there. Possible the Hockey Gods are evening things up from the Mumpisota infestation from a few years back?

I think that's an easier sell for the NBA since (a) there is a pretty clear delineation between the 8th and 9th seeds in both conferences, and (b) nobody really cares who the 5-8 seeds are anyway since they basically have zero chance of getting past the second round, let alone winning the championship. It'd be a tougher sell for hockey, since the standings are so much more bunched up and there is also such a history of low seeds making SC Finals runs. It also seems like Bettman really wants the season to continue, and I wouldn't put it past him to re-start it as soon as he can. Maybe they don't get the full 82 in, but if they can re-start by mid-April I think 74-75 games would be doable. That would at least give all the bubble teams a last chance to play their way in or out of the tournament. And if they can start the playoffs by May 1st, I think they could still wrap the season up before the entry draft.

And just think of how burned out the teams who make the playoffs would be if they only got a month off before the next season started!

I miss watching Ducks hockey in June. It's be about 13 years...