Coconuts

I dunno, I think it's a scenario by scenario thing Agents are always gonna start high though, no doubt, but I don't think all players end up having a bunch of smoke around em so to speak

Mixed messaging, but I can also see why the Wild would lie about it if it got out.

If he's waffling on a contract here's there's a good chance he'd have done so there too, and it's tougher to keep guys on teams that don't make the playoffs. If he's playing hardball here, I imagine he'd have done so there too.

Wings fans gotta be thrilled to have moved him when they did now

I could see it, he's in the twilight of his career and those teams are as good a bet as any to try and go deep with

He's replaceable, if he thinks he can get a larger opportunity elsewhere more power to him.

Could absolutely be that too, or both, but I've been under the impression that Carolina's owner gets more involved than some of the other owners around the league. And yeah, I'm glad we've got a buffer in Rutherford, even if I haven't agreed with all his moves. We've absolutely been a team with a rep for having an owner who meddles.

I think Duclair could be serviceable, he also brings a speed element. I didn't want Guentzel at the deadline, thought he'd cost too much, turns out I was wrong on that but the price was still probably more than we could afford. He's got a track record of producing and he fit in well while in Carolina, but I'd rather go after 2-3 good but not top end players than go after him. I Guentzel is gonna cost 8.5-9M+ than I'd rather see what Stephenson wants, I'd rather pay a player like him and have cap left over to allocate elsewhere. I don't think Duclair would cost a ton for example.

I think Crouse is a pipe dream, but yeah. Weren't the Isles supposedly shopping Wahlstrom at some point this season? Depth is why I think thy should probably go the route of trying to pay good, but not higher end players. It's not easy to find guys who will outperform their contracts significantly, but that isn't to say value can't be found. If brought in I'm not sure Stephenson would be a 3C imo, he's put up top six numbers the past three seasons. Maybe come playoff time that'd shift, but I'd assume that someone else would still be the 3C if he were a Canuck. I'm not sure he'd settle for a third line opportunity, even if it isn't a typical third line role. Semantics. But yeah, I think building depth throughout the forward group is the way to go, star power matters but so does depth come playoff time. It's one of the things the Panthers addressed leading up to the trade deadline, their forward depth. I'd rather go after a few interesting/serviceable players that can help multiple lines than go after a big fish so to speak. I think there's a chance of that, but we'll see. Sprong is an interesting case, I've read that he cheats for offense a bit and that he's weaker on the defensive side. I've read Wings fans saying that he tends to feast on lower competition and that he's not a true top six player, which isn't to say he can't be complimentary. Supposedly he can be productive against third or fourth lines but is a bit of a liability against top six players. He seems like a flawed, more one dimensional sort of player, but he could probably be useful for a team out there if utilized right and insulated. Toffoli is interest too, but it depends on what he wants. He's still productive but he's also going into his 32-33 year season next season, I'd be interested depending on what he wants in the form of money and term. A shorter term deal would be ideal, 2-3 years.

Definitely, I've included him in proposals in the past, haha. Mmmm, I don't even know if that's necessarily true. Once upon a time the Canes had an internal cap if I remember correctly, but Dundon is a billionaire even if the Canes are a team who are generally unwilling to overpay players, or give older players big money/extensive term. I don't think it's so much money issues so much as it's the Canes having an overly involved owner. Even with their recent GM search, I read rumblings that folks weren't necessarily interested in the GM job because it wasn't going to be more of a traditional GM job. Waddell jumped from Carolina to Columbus, taking on the same role, but he'll presumably have more autonomy in Columbus.

They can be pretty ruthless, but they've also had a good run of being a top team despite their lack of a cup win. Kuznetsov was a surprise, but it's also a low commitment move given there was salary retained and that his deal will be up after next season. They're rather bullish on not giving older guys extensive term, and really, that's an approach I agree with. Sometimes there's no avoiding it, but by and large I think it's something that should be avoided. Carolina's a weird team in that pretty much their entire defense is currently in flux, Morrow is the only D signed beyond next season. Skjei will likly be retained, Slavin too. Burns will be up after next season, maybe he gets extended but it's hard to say. Morrow likely gets a bigger role this season, but with much of their RD in flux it makes sense for them to retain Chatfield as a safety valve.

He'd be an interesting add but I'd be a bit surprised if Carolina doesn't find a way to retain him, his game has really flourished on that team.

Something like one of him or Monahan and then one or two of Duclair, Toffoli, Tarasenko, Sprong, Martinook, DeBrusk, Roslovic, Wennberg, or Amadio could be interesting. Even Domi and Tatar could be interesting. We'd probably be better served going after a few good, but not great players instead of trying to pay up for Kane, Marchessault, Duchene, Lindholm, and Guentzel. If I were management I'd be looking to build depth instead of going after talent who'd make us more top heavy capwise.

Haven't we already done this song and dance?

Probably gonna have to do some of that internally going forward, which means management is going to have to keep finding ways to make savvy NHL level acquisitions and young talent, whether that be via drafting high, trades, or college/European signings. It's one thing to just try and acquire high end youth when you're bad, but it gets harder to do while trying to build a competitive NHL level team. Balancing trading picks vs using them to build the pipeline is a tough tightrope to walk. Yup, like I said, best revenge is winning the cup. If the Panthers run around trying to get revenge it's more likely to hurt them than help them. They're better served taking numbers and punishing players in a clean manner when they can.

The longer the series goes, the more money and exposure the league gets. It's about more than just Draisaitl being a superstar, the league has a track record of ignoring cases where there should be discipline for the sake of profit, scoring, and what have you. It's part of why there's a double standard for higher end players, those are the players people largely go to see and they're the players who drive merchandise sales and so on. It's an ugly bit of the business, but it's not a particularly surprising one. The league has demonstrated time and time again that they're willing to gloss over the feedback and reactions of their consumer base.

I'm not particularly surprised, but it was pretty clear cut I even saw Oil fans calling it dirty

Can't hurt the ratings https://www.sportsvideo.org/2024/06/07/ratings-roundup-2024-stanley-cup-playoffs-sees-highest-viewership-since-2018-in-u-s-1996-across-north-america/

He was a Canuck tho

Maybe, but I think the approach will lean more towards not taking penalties Panthers can beat the Oil 5v5, giving up powerplays gives the Oil their best chance to win games

I would, their focus has to be on winning games, not revenge. I think that'll come down from the coaching too. The best revenge would be winning the cup. I actually really like Draisaitl as a player, dirty bits aside. He's very, very hard to stop when he's on.

Yeah, it's no secret that he's a dirty player despite his talent, he's just always gotten the superstar pass Helluva player, world class talent, but he's easily frustrated and crosses the line when he is

"Lack of history"