Coconuts

He's been on the job almost as long as I've been alive

Maybe not on waivers? Def available tho

Dude just wants to slum dunk in the US

It'd be a bit of a gamble up front but I think Petey could drive that line and I'm sure Phil would be motivated to succeed, dude just wants to keep playing Worst comes to worst he's off the books at the end of the year Defence would be better tho

Maybe, but it also depends on who is offering what dollars and term Term probably being the biggest thing Bear wants

Could happen, would be a fast turnaround Vrana's in the final year of his deal and carries a 2.6M cap hit because of retained salary He's produced before

https://www.thescore.com/nhl/news/2790872/report-blues-to-place-struggling-vrana-on-waivers

He was a likeable enough guy and maybe he'd be an improvement on some of our 5-8D but I'm indifferent as to him going elsewhere Can't blame a guy for looking for a better opportunity, NHL careers can be short for bottom pairing D, gotta grab on to the best opportunities you can

That's just it, Bear was in our top 4 last season and that spoke to the quality of our defense, no offense to Bear. If he doesn't want to come here because he'd be stuck in a 5-6 role that means we've improved our defense, that's not a bad thing. If he can land on a team where he can get a larger opportunity and some term I wish him all the best.

If they fall out of it gotta think Washington will trade Edmundson too, he'd be an interesting fit here

Could be more opportunity elsewhere though, he's unlikely to get a crack at top four minutes again here now that we've improved our defense Washington is a team in transition and they've been turning their D over, as demonstrated by their acquiring Sandin last season They also haven't gotten a whole lot of offense from their back end this season, he'd likely get a shot at playing an offensive role https://www.capfriendly.com/depth-charts/capitals

Obligatory fuck Messier post

Kuzmenko is a talented player, and he scored almost 40 goals last year, but I'm not sure why folks are painting him as an elite scorer after a single season. A season that featured a sky high shooting percentage that was never going to be sustainable forever. Kuzmenko was always due for regression, he's more likely a 20-30 goal guy than a 40ish goal guy. His shooting percentage is now much closer to the league average, which isn't surprising. If he's going to score more he needs to shoot more to make up for it. This isn't to say he's not a talented player who isn't capable of producing, but I'm not all that sure what people are expecting a "return to form" to look like. 38 shots on goal in 25 games, shooting percentage of 10.5%. Any team that's inquiring about him is probably aware of this too.

4-3 Canucks Hughes

Another season, another slew of Habs injuries

Games in hand are a factor but only if they win them, we'll see if they do, they've been winning a lot of late

If one of the three divisional teams were to slide I'd guess it'd be us based on our recent inconsistent stretch but it's hard to say, all it'd take is a big injury or two to any of us, Vegas, or LA for things to suddenly look very different. Lot of season left, Edmonton would need to stay hot and have one of the teams in front get injured, stumble, or some combination of both to grab a spot though imo. It's hard to gain ground when the points gap is as big as it is, but they've done well to get themselves back into the wildcard mix.

For real though, I was thinking about asking my siblings to pony up some money earlier today, if that's what it takes so be it, we'd get it back eventually

I think you're probably right I'm not even seriously willing to talk about contention until we make the playoffs at least a couple seasons in a row The odds of us waltzing back into the playoffs and heading straight to a conference or cup final aren't very good, more than likely we'll have to beat our heads against the playoff wall the way other championship teams over the past decade have There are teams trying to become playoff regulars and then there are contenders, we aren't a contender

In the end it doesn't really matter outside of home ice advantage (which doesn't always result in the home team winning the series), if the Oil catch a wildcard spot they're going to have to duke it out with a top conference team Thing is, so long as we've got a divisional spot we're guaranteed to go head to head with one of Vegas or LA Isn't easy for us or the Oil any way you spin it, but the Oil are a team that has pressure to accomplish something before the looming McDavid and Draisaitl extensions become an actual cap factor

Not always, but they can be Teams need a lottt of things to go right

Only if you view them as having to catch a divisional spot imo, which they don't The Oil squeaking into the playoffs with a wildcard spot would have to be considered a success this season given the hole they dug for themselves, and they're closing in on one They likely won't catch us but they've put themselves into a position to catch one of Arizona or Nashville

Some folks talk as if our window has to be before Demko, Hughes, and Boeser need to be re-upped as if we aren't going to try and compete after those deals are extended. Things rarely work out perfectly, which is why management has been looking to bring in additions that serve both the short and long-term. Cole and Soucy work in the short term, Zadorov could work in the long-term. Even Kuzmenko is a short-term piece. Always gotta juggle the short-term and long-term needs, they're trying to figure that out with Pettersson right now. I'm not interested in blowing our asset load because management is fixated on a 2-4 year window. If you can make smart additions, sure, do it, but we're better served by bringing in longer-term assets if we can do it. Let's try making the playoffs for at least a season before thinking about somehow going all-in.