The Official 2018-19 NHL hockey thread

EagerBeaver said:

Maybe he is a hero if the money saved is used to sign Marner. But if he doesn’t sign Marner it’s the ole double anal penetration on the Toronto GM.

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This is actually the first & only time i've ever heard anyone criticize Dubas for the Marleau trade. Most people have credited Dubas with being creative in order to rid himself of Marleau's big cap number for this upcoming season. By deleting his cap number it allowed him to re-sign Kapanen & Jonsson today to multiyear deals. Without getting rid of Marleau's big cap hit he never would have been able to accomplish this.

Marleau decided to get his contract bought out by Carolina instead of joining them. The Canes would have liked to keep him on but Marleau promised his family they'd be relocated to their California home this season and if he can't find work with one of the California teams he'll retire from hockey. By the way, Carolina is still stuck with Marleau's cap number this upcoming season although they bought out the final year of his contract.

Sure they got Toronto's 1st-round pick next season but that pick is expected to be a late first-round pick which means it'll take a couple of years at least for that player to ever reach the NHL if he does reach it at all. Late first-round picks aren't much better than second round picks when it comes to potential future NHL employment. Yes there are and have been exceptions but the large majority of late first-rounders are either fringe players or don't end up sticking or even making the big show.