Board 8 > NHL Free Agency Discussion

(+) Yeah! (+)

davidponte posted...

I don't even know who that is. Is that the best and brightest of American hockey coverage?

If you want an insight as to where hockey coverage is at in the US, I'll say that as a Blackhawks fan, the best place for me to go to is an independent blog and the podcast they run.
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SmartMuffin posted...

No, he's the opposite of that.

His declaring the Leafs to be good gives me the utmost confidence that they will miss the playoffs.

Name your odds. I'm ready to take this bet whenever.
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James Neal to the Flames.

Anybody wanna bet on Vegas this year?
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Vegas just became more likable via that signing
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Karlsson bump
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I feel like the Sens are an incompetent enough organization to refuse to trade him because they "aren't getting value" and then eventually let him walk for nothing.
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Or they misevaluate and make a laughably stupid trade.

C'mon Sens, trade Karlsson to the Blackhawks for the Hossa + Anisimov Pu Pu Platter!
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gotta hit dat salary floor somehow!
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Shea Weber out 5 to 6 months after knee surgery.

Subban for Weber remains a laughably bad trade.
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Shadow Dino posted...

Subban for Weber remains a laughably bad trade.
Sergachev for Drouin remains a laughably bad trade.
Galchenyuk for Domi remains a laughably bad trade.

lol habs

Agreed.
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I'm wondering how Bergevin hasn't been fired yet.

Also, looks like Karlsson to Tampa is close to being a done deal.
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RIP Leafs chances of winning the division

July 1 2018 - July 5 2018
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I just can't see that working money-wise, especially when they wanted someone to eat Bobby Ryan in the same trade? Almost 14 million between those two, and that's just this year, and Tampa's so close to the cap max. I just don't get it.

But man, a team with Hedman and Karlsson, plus Kucherov and Stamkos... would be trending to Golden State Warriors territory there.

Except that the hockey gods don't tend to put up with that sort of nonsense. I don't feel like Tampa needs Karlsson. I wouldn't bet on them if they get him.
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After our shared thoughts on Vegas last year, and your talking about how the Caps were going to lose every step of the way until the finals, I'm not sure I'd want to take the same bets as you anyway, Smuffin.
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davidponte posted...

SmartMuffin posted...

No, he's the opposite of that.

His declaring the Leafs to be good gives me the utmost confidence that they will miss the playoffs.

Name your odds. I'm ready to take this bet whenever.

Still willing to take this one though.
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davidponte posted...

davidponte posted...

SmartMuffin posted...

No, he's the opposite of that.

His declaring the Leafs to be good gives me the utmost confidence that they will miss the playoffs.

Name your odds. I'm ready to take this bet whenever.

Still willing to take this one though.

....which team knocks Toronto out for 3rd in the division, at this point? Is there any scenario where Tampa Bay, Boston and Toronto don't all finish top 3 in the division once again?

Montreal and Ottawa are going to be dogshit, and pretty sure Detroit and Buffalo will too. Florida might be competitive for a wild card spot like last year, but catching up to Toronto? Assuming Toronto even was slated to finish 3rd? So much would have to go so wrong for the Leafs to miss the playoffs, even Andersen getting injured wouldn't be enough (they might actually improve, if they don't use McElhinney/actually call up Sparks). Nothing seems as certain as top 3 in the Atlantic, it's just a matter of who finishes where.

Last time I was in Vegas, one of the bets I wanted to place at the sportsbook was a parlay of heavy favourites in college football and would get a decent payout if this series of "sure things" all won. Did all my research, went to the sportsbook and learned, when the odds get too lopsided, they don't even allow you to bet on the game (the good news is I still did the parlay with the best bettable teams and it succeed, got a nice return, though there were some definite close calls).

Thinking about betting on the Leafs and whether they make the playoffs or not reminded me of that. "Name your odds", indeed.

Edit: and I just googled and apparently the Leafs, Lightning and Bruins are the top 3 teams favoured to win the cup. In that order. And they're in the same division. Which means (if it played out) the 2nd and 3rd best teams in a 31-team league would meet in the first round. When are they changing this horrible playoff system again???

Yeah, I absolutely hate this current playoff system and it has everything to do with my team being relevant for the first time in 15 years.
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Should've kept the old 1-8 and reseed format. That was fun.
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Yeah, I'm trying to remember their rationale for the change.... I think it was twofold, (1) it would create better rivalries by keeping it division-focused like in the Prince of Wales/Campbell Conference days, and (2) cut down on travel time/save money on travel costs, e.g. nobody in the Central division wants to deal with a team from the Pacific.

maybe it's just a quirk that the past 2 seasons, and looking like the next season, ended up having 3 of the top teams in the same division but it's really no good.