The Official 2016-17 NHL thread

[Doc Holliday]

I've just been told that Tampa Bay also made a side-deal with Vegas in order for Vegas NOT to pick any of the Lightning's unprotected younger defencemen in the draft. More details to come later.

Another team which has strongly been reported to have made a side-deal with Vegas were the Columbus Blue Jackets. No doubt it's a similar arrangement to Tampa's. Many teams prefer not letting any of their defencemen go for free unless it's for considerable cap relief. Montreal is another team which is looking to improve its defence, which is somewhat surprising considering they exposed Emelin (and Davidson) and basically gave away Nathan Beaulieu to Buffalo for next to nothing.

In other habs news, the team has been in active talks with Radulov's agent but are still rumoured to be very far apart. Radulov is looking for a long-term contract and for him term is more important than money. Many can't see any team granting him a 5-6 year deal considering he'll be 31 years old in July.

As for Galchenyuk, the Islanders are one team who is trying hard to acquire him. Montreal would like a defenceman back, but the only defenceman the Isles are currently willing to part with is Travis Hamonic. Montreal would prefer Nick Leddy and Anthony Beauvillier added to the package.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Golden Knights will select Erik Haula from the Minnesota Wild

Not only is Erik Haula set to join the Vegas Golden Knights via the NHL Expansion Draft, he appears interested in being part of their long-term future.

The Golden Knights will select Haula from the Minnesota Wild’s protected list in the expansion draft on Wednesday night. At that time, the multi-year contract the restricted free agent has agreed to, according to Russo, will become official.

Haula had 15 goals and 26 points in 72 games this past season.

Russo also reports that in exchange for choosing Haula and not picking one of defencemen Matt Dumba or Marco Scandella or centre Eric Staal, the Wild have agreed to trade prospect Alex Tuch and a conditional future draft pick to Vegas.

Tuch spent most of the season with the AHL’s Iowa Wild.

 

[gaby]

Emelin and Fleury are now players of the Golden Knights.....good luck.......pour le reste Végas vont avoir un bon mixte de jeunes et d'expérience....et surtout un coach-Gallant--que j'aime beaucoup. Il devrait peut-être engager Therrien comme adjoint....lol. Vont être intéressants à suivre.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Not at all. Only one goalie could be protected and Murray is far more valuable than Fleury. If Fleury hadn't waived his no-trade clause he'd have been traded at the end of February, not because they didn't want Fleury but because the rules didn't let then protect 2 goalies. Fleury and the Pens knew this as soon as the expansion draft rules were made.

The big reason why the Pens didn't protect him was his big contract. He still has two years left at a cap hit of $5.75 million/year. He was no longer the team's #1 goalie and you can't pay a back-up goalie that kind of money. He's also 32 years old and Matt Murray is not only the starting goalie, but he's the future for this team.

Vegas did the Pens a huge favor by picking Fleury and i'm very surprised they didn't ask the Pens for an incentive (e.g. pick or player) in order to take him off their hands.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Emelin and Fleury are now players of the Golden Knights.....good luck.......pour le reste Végas vont avoir un bon mixte de jeunes et d'expérience....et surtout un coach-Gallant--que j'aime beaucoup. Il devrait peut-être engager Therrien comme adjoint....lol. Vont être intéressants à suivre.

Many of the players picked yesterday won't be with the team come October. I read prior to the draft that the players who would show up on stage wearing their jersey would definitely be with the team on opening night, but that many of the others who didn't show up would be traded starting today and throughout the summer.

GM George McPhee did mention yesterday morning that his team had drafted many defencemen and it was implied they'd be used as bargaining chips for upcoming trades. It's also very likely that some of those picks were made with a deal already agreed upon with another team's GM. For example, Dallas' GM may have told McPhee to chose Marc Methot of the Senators and in return he'd send him some form of compensation either as a pick, prospect or roster player.

 

[gaby]

Yes it makes sense Doc...and i like GM McPHEE......ils semblent avoir une bonne équipe de direction.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Jordan Eberle was just traded to the Islanders for Ryan Strome.

Good riddance for the Oilers!! Eberle and his gross $6 million/year contract will have a chance to put his career back on track playing alongside John Tavares.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Trades

Carolina gets Trevor VanRiemskyk and a 7th-rounder in 2018 from Vegas for a 2nd-rounder in tomorrow's draft. Is there a non-American currently on the Hurricanes' defence?

Montreal gets David Schlemko from Vegas for a 5th-rounder in 2019.

More trades to come later.....

I predict the Leafs will wind up with Colin Miller, a right-handed shot who would be counted upon to be a top-4 defenceman on the Leafs team. I also predict that Marc Methot will wind up in Dallas.

The Devils have now entered the Alex Galchenyuk sweepstakes. The Isles are still active in those, as are other teams.

 

[EagerBeaver]

Dave Poile has stated the Las Vegas Golden Knights will have the best expansion team in history. They look like they could be decent. Should be fun for those hockey-starved Vegas fans.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Dave Poile has stated the Las Vegas Golden Knights will have the best expansion team in history. They look like they could be decent. Should be fun for those hockey-starved Vegas fans.

They'll probably suck for the first few years and it will be due to their inability to score goals. M-A Fleury is a good goalie, but he's not in Carey Price's league. And don't forget that many players they drafted last night will not be with the team come next September. They will have been traded away for draft picks.

On another note, well-regarded coach Dave Tippett is about to be fired in Arizona.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Trades today

Several trades today to announce. The Rangers sent Antti Raanta and Derek Stepan to Arizona for tonight's #7 overall pick and Anthony DeAngelo.

The Blackhawks sent Nik Hjalmarsson to Arizona for Connor Murphy and Laurent Dauphin. Later, the Hawks sent Artemi Panarin & Tyler Motte to Columbus for Brandon Saad & goalie Anton Forsberg. Late round draft picks were also exchanged in the deal.

 

[smuler]

The Rangers sent Antti Raanta and Derek Stepan to Arizona for tonight's #7 overall pick and Anthony DeAngelo.

This made my whole day :bounce: ..he was useless when it was crunch time..Too bad it took Antti Raanta to fall on the sword so we could get him out of town..

DeAngelo is a local boy with a knack for getting into suspension trouble...

Let's see who # 7 will be tonight...

Best Regards

Smuler

 

[EagerBeaver]

The salary caps especially in hockey and football incentivize teams to churn as many young and cheap and healthy bodies onto their rosters as possible. The Rangers have tried to put together a younger core of players. Hopefully they get a good player with that pick. It's very hard to put together a really great core of younger players unless a franchise sucks and/or tanks for a number of years. Look at the Edmonton Oilers and Toronto Maple Leafs. A good solid 10 straight years of sucking coupled with strategic tanking led to each franchise being able to assemble formidable and reasonably cheap young talent that they can grow and control for a 5-7 year period. Those teams are going to win Cups soon. For a team like the Rangers which has been reasonably competitive for a long time, they usually are not able to secure very high end young talent like the Oilers and Leafs, but they do have solid young talent that can be augmented with a nice free agent signing here and there.

 

[lgna69xxx]

Mr. Holliday, did the Leafs luck out or what?!!!!

Getting D-man Timothy Liljegren at #17 is amazing. He was projected to be the #2 ranked player in the entire draft back in the fall until he got sick with Mono and it messed up his season. He is fully recovered and could be the steal of the draft.

http://thehockeywriters.com/the-next-ones-2017-nhl-draft-prospect-profile-timothy-liljegren/

Surprised a team like detroit as well as a few other's who need an elite dman missed this opportunity to grab this talented kid but thanks!

Great for the Leafs!

meanwhile, Montreal drafted another 3rd-4th line centre

 

[Doc Holliday]

Mr. Holliday, did the Leafs luck out or what?!!!!

Getting D-man Timothy Liljegren at #17 is amazing. He was projected to be the #2 ranked player in the entire draft back in the fall until he got sick with Mono and it messed up his season. He is fully recovered and could be the steal of the draft.

Great for the Leafs!

I was dumbfounded that he was still available!! This kid was supposed to be among the top 2 picks in the entire draft when the rankings first came out last fall! But as you mentioned, his stock went down after he got mononucleosis and came back too early, which affected his play earlier on. He also had to deal with an injury last season which kept point numbers down. But he can skate like the wind and many experts say that his play and skill level reminds them of the great Erik Karlsson. And when he got picked, the tv people doing the draft called it a steal for the Leafs!

Surprised a team like detroit as well as a few other's who need an elite dman missed this opportunity to grab this talented kid but thanks!

I do not understand Detroit's pick. They picked Michael Rasmussen. who is practically a Michael McCarron clone. So many more talented players were available when the Red Wings picked at #10 and i'm as shocked as you that they didn't chose a defenceman, since the Red Wings' defence is crap right now.

meanwhile, Montreal drafted another 3rd-4th line centre

I also don't get why they picked this guy. He's basically just another Bryan Flynn or Torrey Mitchell, at best. He's a two-way center who can't score. Even more surprising is that he's 6'2 and not 5'2, which usually is the type of players the habs love.

 

[EagerBeaver]

Actually the experts not so impressed with the Leafs draft. Here is the BR grades and analysis:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...results-team-by-team-grades-for-notable-picks

Bs did not cut it in my family. I would have received a spanking, but the Leafs GM probably will get his ass spared

 

[joelcairo]

Thanks for the link to the excellent analysis EB. I see that the Wings received a B+, particularly gratifying since this was the first time in over a quarter of a century that they were not relegated to the bottom reaches of the draft, since it was also the first time in over a quarter of a century that they missed the playoffs. All that time of course perpetual bottom dwellers like the Leafs (and sometimes the Oilers) were getting high picks due to their consistently pathetic performances.

At least the Oilers have become a team with potential, as I predicted a couple of years ago. Even the Leafs picked up ONE good player, as they were gifted with Matthews after over a decade of sucking and finally coming 30th in a 30 team league during their first year with Babcock as coach.

BTW, my compliments to you for being an active and productive contributor to the hockey threads during my lengthy vacation from MERB. Your insights were very welcome...and you made an excellent prediction on McDavid winning the Art Ross long before it came true.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Actually the experts not so impressed with the Leafs draft. Here is the BR grades and analysis:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...results-team-by-team-grades-for-notable-picks

Bs did not cut it in my family. I would have received a spanking, but the Leafs GM probably will get his ass spared

What are you talking about?? The Leafs were rated a B. Your team the Rangers got rated a C+ even though they got the 7th overall pick. I also looked up who wrote the article you're referring and it's written by a Steve Silverman, whom i've never heard about in my entire life.

I doubt the great Lou Lamoriello will ever get his ass 'spanked' or 'spared' by Leafs management.

 

[EagerBeaver]

The USA Today, while not offering grades, has offered an in depth analysis of each pick in the 1st round and they assess the Rangers pick much better than the Leafs pick, whom they call "troubling" because of his "loads of turnovers", "mind numbing mistakes", "stagnation" of his progress, and lack of passion while not mentioning that 5'11" defensemen are a rarer species in the NHL than 5'11' linebackers in the NFL (although they do say his size is a "concern"):

https://www.usatoday.com/story/spor...first-round-picks-scouting-reports/424648001/

The Leafs could have taken the guy that the Rangers got at #21 (who is assessed better than the guy taken at 17). Maybe Lamoriello should receive a spanking,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,the old fashioned wooden paddle to bare ass variety.

 

[Sol Tee Nutz]

22. Edmonton Oilers — RW Kailer Yamamoto. One of the best playmakers in the draft. Undersized winger is ultra-skilled and can make plays develop out of nothing — always knows where his linemates are. Team catalyst can change the course of the game by creating a big play or scoring the big goal using his high hockey IQ and creativity. Leaves his mark in all three zones with great work ethic. A real speedster with a low center of gravity that enables him to gain leverage despite lack of size. Shows excellent acceleration with a quick first step. Has tremendous hands and is a great stickhandler, especially around the net and in tight spaces. Quick to pounce on loose pucks. Not afraid to skate into greasy areas and battle for position in scoring zones. Missed time with injury in mid-season, but has otherwise been healthy throughout his three-year WHL career — ducks under checks and is adept at avoiding big hits.