perry_mvp

Putting aside what happened, Jarmo hired a coach with a controversial background. Why? Why hire someone like Babcock? Sounds to me like there is some kind of bad culture going on in Columbus.

Jarmo. I think this is his fourth HC in how many years? I mean it was a stupid hire. There are no secrets about Babcock's past. Columbus had their season derailed even before training camp. Jarmo has to be the fall guy. Columbus acted fast. Already have Babcock off the team directory...LOL

Don't forget, todays rookie game vs Colorado is at 1PM and is supposed to be streamed live.

I still prefer Carlsson. However, depending on how you view Zegras, we have that superstar. Is he signed?.... I have a feeling Fantilli will fast track his way out of Columbus. He's going to be just like every other young player they get.

On a sour note, Carlsson's direct comp, Fantilli, had a hat trick in his first game. Ugh... On a positive note, Babcock is still the HC for now.

Yeah. I was just thinking if he was slated to at least get 9 games with the big club, why risk an injury in these rookie games. The other prospects have more to prove than Carlsson does now.

The beginning of the game was rough. Then Pitre got the short handed goal and I think that loosened the team up. Too bad there aren't any stats posted anywhere. Seems to me that Carlsson didn't play a ton. I wonder if he's being saved for the season.

Depends on who you think we passed on. There are no videos from Minnesota on their game against the Blues (Riley Heidt) and Washington (Andrew Cristall) hasn't had any games yet. The Sharks (Kasper Halttunen) played yesterday but the video from the game is unavailable and no results were posted. Kinda seems like Anaheim is the only team that keeps the fans informed.

True but when you see a pattern of passing on higher end talent then you have to wonder who is thinking what.

Every once once in awhile, Madden picks a goose egg. Tracey was obviously Murray's golden child. Gaucher (the jury is still out) was Verbeek's golden child.

The one goal by Pitre was on the PK too.

All he can get is better because he's at the bottom of the barrel.

Maybe move Luneau to RW. He kinda stinks on defense.

This years Tracey. I wanted Hatttunen but jeez you pass Cristall and Heidt (3 times)? Good thing Pitre looks good.

yeah

Nice 1st period. Slow start but they turned up the heat on Vegas. Carlsson is a lot quicker than I've seen him before. I like the Minty/Warren pairing. OZ doing OZ things.

For some examples of which players I would personally compare Zegras to, Stutzle, Cozens and Hughes they are all on 7-8 year contracts and have no trade protection in the first four years. I suppose you could throw Nick Suzuki in there as well and again, no trade protection in the first four years of his 8 year contract. Now the Stutzle contract is backloaded when he does have trade protection but he doesn't have a signing bonus in the first year while the others do. I don't know if Brisson represents any of those players but maybe all those players have the same agent since the contracts in a way seem to be structured in a similar fashion. Except for Stutzle. I'm just focusing on players listed as centers. Of course there is Boldy who again has more of a front loaded contract and only has trade protection in the last two years. Now a guy like Svechnikov who also has an 8 year deal had a very precise signing bonus of $4,000,037 in the first year. Weird. I think the general theme with all of them is long term deal. Elias Pettersson is the only youngish center that I can find that actually had a 3 year bridge deal after his ELC. Every other top 10 picked C from 2017-2020 is long term. I really don't think Zegras wants a bridge deal. I think what he's looking for is big money in the first year of a long term contract say $9M. Maybe Anaheim just wants straight salary throughout the contract. Seems pretty silly if that's the holdup.

According to the Anaheim Ducks website, all the games of the tournament will be streamed live online. So in the past it's been done on the Ducks website. Tonight's game is against Vegas at 7pm. Sunday's game is at 1pm vs Colorado. Monday's game is at 12:30pm against LA.

That's an interesting way of putting it. Are there "perks" besides money and term that could go into an NHL contract? Such as a residence or transportation? At this point it's just a wild guess to term. They could be settled on the money part. Or they could be settled on term and money is the issue. Either way doesn't matter. What matters it gets done.

The rookie tournament games are supposed to be streamed so we will at least have that.

They have to because they have three games on the same day one of which is in Australia and the other two are in different locations in North America. Whoever scheduled that should have his plums dipped in honey and tied down next to an ant hill.

To answer part one $1.775M. It's what his AAV was last season so technically, he isn't costing the team more of a cap hit. To answer number two is a little more complex. The Ducks had the worst defense last year. One of the worst in NHL history. Thankfully, Drysdale only contributed eight games to that. So it's not just Drysdale that needs to improve but since he does then I would say that Verbeek is under the microscope with this. His coaching changes need to pay off. If the team as a whole comes out and replicates last seasons defensive debacle then are you just going to point a finger at Drysdale? One of the things about juniors players is that they need to put up good numbers to get noticed. That seems to be one of the bigger deciding factors with them being a success at the NHL level. I never watched Drysdale before he was drafted. I don't know if he was good or not defensively. After one full season under Eakins "complex defensive system" so complex that even long time NHL defensemen didn't understand it, I hope whatever Cronin and his staff cook up will work. I hope whatever they cook up will help Drysdale as well as the younger defensemen like OZ, Minty, LaCombe ect.

That's good then that it's a common injury. That means there should be an established protocol for recovery. Also if Drysdale was going to suffer this injury, I guess at the start of a season is better than the end. Now down to the brass tacks. The Canadiens signed Caufield in June 2023 to an 8 year $62.8M contract. It doesn't appear that they have concerns about Caufield ability to come back and play. Otherwise, why not sign he to a one year "prove it" deal? I find it interesting that your approach to Drysdale is that he is only deserves his QO (which you made an argument for many times) because he needs to prove himself and he should be happy to get that while Kent Hughes on the other hand is confident enough in the surgery and recovery process as well as Caufield himself to sign him to an 8 year deal. I suppose that Montreal has more confidence in their young players than Anaheim does.

This is exactly why I want Zegras on a $9M x 8yr contract.

Anaheim was obligated to pay him his full salary. Unless Drysdale wanted to pay for his own doctors and PT, the team pays for that for every player. It's part of owning a professional sports team. Look, Drysdale had a freak injury which I believe Max Jones also suffered the season before. You can doubt Drysdale's durability all you want but he still played 81 games his rookie season. He was playing a few months ago after the season concluded. I do agree a 1 year contract is in order but not with a "prove that you can stay healthy" premise. More of a "can you you replicate or exceed your rookie season" premise. For the AAV of the contract, how about $1.775M which was exactly what it was before.