Gorbachav55

You're extrapolating my point way too far. Here's the thing: get vaccinated or get a negative test and then come to a hockey game. That's it. It's reasonable, it's relatively effective, and it means you don't have to quarantine. Otherwise, if you're going to be cavalier about other people's health, then stay home. I don't have any problem with that. And I don't find this to be a slippery slope at all - we're in a pandemic; it's a unique circumstance. Once it's under control, we can begin relaxing some of these measures.

First, we have done that before. Typhoid Mary being the prime example of someone who was quarantined despite being all those things. I'm not saying her case was handled all that well by the powers that be, but she got out of quarantine and ended up infecting more people, some of whom died, because she was an asymptomatic carrier of typhoid fever. Second, while not being as deadly as typhoid, this virus has acted in ways that mean people who are not sick or showing symptoms can pass it along to others who might get sick and die from it. People who have had it might contract it again (and then pass it along). Being vaccinated and wearing a mask are no guarantees, but those things help stifle the spread and help reduce the risk of getting seriously ill for people who are indoors with a lot of other people. I don't think asking people to get a vaccine or get a test is too much to ask if they want to attend an indoor sporting event.

There's a lot of excitement among prospect guys for Groulx. That's my bet.

We were there May 14th and there were definitely employees telling people to wear their masks properly. Of course, they couldn't be everywhere, so there were plenty of places where it wasn't enforced. But we saw it multiple times throughout the day.

We haven't been to a ton of highly populated places that still have the mask requirement, but we did go to Knott's after it opened up and there were employees whose job it was to tell people to pull their masks over their nose. My thought was, "Good for them! But man, that's got to be a rough job." I didn't notice anyone doing that at the Angel game we went to.

This. That's why the Ducks have often been discussed here and in publications as a "budget team." Meaning, the owners have set a budget for Murray at X dollars, and Murray can only spend up to that amount, even though the cap is set at Y dollars. A lot of teams are "cap teams" where ownership has authorized them to spend as much money as they can while abiding by salary cap rules. A budget team doesn't get any benefit for not spending to the cap. They just spend less on player salaries.

The motivation is for the owners to make money. The Samuelis have long said that they lose money on the Ducks. We have to take their word on it since the financials aren't publicly available, but that's what's been reported. The reason they don't spend to the cap is because they don't want to lose more money, which is understandable while also being disappointing. It means we don't get all the nice things we want. But in a season where they got expansion fees as an added source of cash, it should be a little easier to spend money to support the long-term success of the franchise. Essentially buying a first round pick by brokering a Tarasenko deal would be exactly that.

That's the sort of creative deal-making the Ducks should be all over. And yet our GM and/or ownership seem to want no part of it, whether because they don't want to spend the money or because Murray refuses to be creative.

He's had severe shoulder issues the last couple seasons. He was thoroughly mediocre in limited time last season (and only played ten games the season before that). He's about to turn 30, so he's into his decline. Tarasenko doesn't make any sense for the Ducks. He's only signed two more years, so while it would be fun to watch Zegras set him up for goals this season and next (assuming his arm is still attached to his body), it's not going to move the needle in terms of a playoff push. With Eichel, you can at least see the Ducks getting back to contention over the life of his contract. I don't think that's true of Tarasenko.

Didn't it say that you could also attend the game if you have a negative test within 72 hours? I have an 11-year-old, and while we are hoping to get him vaccinated as soon as possible (either through him turning 12 in six months, or sooner if they begin allowing younger kids to receive the vaccine), if we really wanted to bring him to the game, we'd just go and get him tested. I know that's harder to do for some than others, and I'm sympathetic to that, but there are places available to get tested now that aren't that inconvenient.

I figure Dunn is playing the right side behind Larsson. And I would put Fleury just behind Oleksiak and just ahead of Soucy. Plus there's the brother thing, although I don't think that means a whole lot (Ron Francis was the GM in Carolina when Eric Staal was traded away from Jordan). All that to say, I see Fleury being a pretty solid lock for their third pairing and probably not up for sale for a price that Murray wants to pay. I think that bird has flown, unfortunately.

You know who would be great for Drysdale on that third pairing? Haydn Fleury. He's a big, but mobile left-hander. He's got plenty of games under his belt so he can provide a stabilizing presence. He's...wait, what's that you say? No longer with the team? But surely we wouldn't have given away a young, cheap defenseman with upside? Thanks, Bob. Maybe let's just put Deslauriers back there instead, since he was worth protecting. In seriousness, I could see Drysdale spending some time in the AHL to refine certain parts of his game, but there's no reason to send him back to juniors if the Ducks can avoid it. And Zegras clearly is ready to develop at the NHL level.

I think I was less excited last season - we didn't know whether or not we'd get to see Zegras and Drysdale. This season, we get to watch those two do fun things. We also get to see Getzlaf set some franchise records, which he deserves. The rest of the team, however, is not exciting.

Imagine they trade Malkin for Philly's first, Philly goes in the tank and falls out of a playoff spot (which the Penguins, who get inexplicably hot, manage to sneak into), and then Philly's first wins the lottery to draft Wright. It's absolutely happening.

I have not heard anything, although I very much hope they do. I will probably avoid games unless they require proof of vaccination.

Bergevin definitely made lemonade with that Dvorak trade. Instead of getting screwed over by Carolina, he upgraded at a time when the Canadiens are trying to compete, and the price was giving up a second round pick for a third round pick. Essentially, he traded Kotkaniemi and a second for Dvorak and a third. That makes a ton of sense for him.

That show was so fantastic. After the first 10 minutes of the first episode when I thought it was just going to be cheesy, hackneyed tripe, I loved every minute.

After the season Getzlaf had last year (and yes, there are plenty of mitigating factors, but 17 points is 17 points), it was probably something like this: BM: "Getzy, we want you back. We need your leadership and your experience. We'd love for you to mentor Zegras. You will stabilize our lineup and provide much needed wisdom in the locker room." Getzlaf: "Like hell I will. I've tested the market and I could go out right now and get $2.5 million from a contender." BM: "We'll pay you $4.5 million." Getzlaf: "Where do I sign?"

If anyone listens to The Athletic Hockey Show podcast (available through Spotify without a subscription), Sean McIndoe talks a little bit about the Eichel situation in the episode that came out yesterday. His thoughts track along with what I've been thinking as far as Buffalo's strategy. Buffalo isn't getting the offer they want (nowhere close, although a lot of that is on them for putting the price so high), so they're simply waiting it out until they can get Eichel back on the ice, showcase him for other teams, and then trade him either at the deadline or after the season before his NTC kicks in. Obviously the biggest hurdle is figuring out how to get past the injury treatment impasse.

Yeah, that's one fewer piece of evidence that the Ducks might do the right thing and trade Manson (or at the very least, refrain from re-signing him to an extension).

I don't think numbers have anything to do with it. Eakins' job was to get these guys ready to succeed in the NHL. He hasn't done that, at either the AHL or NHL level. Comtois and Kase are the only guys who developed under Eakins who have gone on to live up to or surpass their projections coming out of juniors/college. It's not all on Eakins - Murray and the player development staff (headed by Marchant) have a lot to do with it as well. But Steel, Terry, Larsson, Jones, Ritchie, Mahura - Eakins hasn't gotten the most out of these guys. And some guys, like Pettersson, didn't realize their potential until they got away from the organization. It's certainly not ALL on Eakins. But he's not shown himself to be an asset in player development.

Good for him! (And for us.) This current coaching job Eakins is doing is bad, no doubt, but he also doesn't have much to work with. The bigger problem is that he doesn't have much to work with because he developed these kids terribly. I'm hopeful that the latest batch will be a bit better because of Dineen and now Bouchard.

If you live in Orange County and your cable provider carries Ballys Sports, you will get Ducks games. I use DirecTV and can watch games on the Ballys Sports app on the FireCube or on the website. I couldn't tell you for sure if Spectrum carries it. If you refuse to engage with Twitter as I do, there's no anesthetic, not even that mere glimmer of hope. It's just poking sharp things in your eyes until Zegras gets on the ice.

I don't think you can. At that point, you'd need to get the Center Ice package, but I see you're in Huntington Beach, so Ducks games would be blacked out for you. At that point, you're looking at internet streaming or using a VPN.

Maybe they get their price or a package just short of it from one of those teams. Or maybe they just keep Eichel. Buffalo is nowhere close to contending. They can afford to wait Eichel out for a year if they need to while they look for a package that makes sense, and maybe more teams get involved at the trade deadline, or next offseason. If Eichel sits a year (or, if he agrees to play for Buffalo after his surgery in order to show teams he's healthy to facilitate a trade), Buffalo has lost nothing. In fact, they might even be better, given that they're trying to lose. And in the meantime, maybe they convince him to stay. When Eichel was healthy and on his game, he was, what, a top 10 player in the league? Buffalo will eventually come down on their asking price, but that's the value they're trying to replace. If Adams isn't trying to do that, he isn't doing his job. Again, I think Buffalo should have let Eichel get the surgery a while ago so that they'd be farther along in this process by now and maybe have found a suitor who was convinced that his health was good. But they stuck to their guns about the medical implications of the surgery and now they're making sure they don't sell an elite player for 50 cents on the dollar. I agree with you that the price is absurd where it's at, but it's all negotiating tactics. Whoever is still sniffing around and asking about Eichel is serious, and Adams can figure out if those teams have a package that he'd even consider. It's clear he thinks he can get more value by holding on to Eichel.