Diamonds

One of the best things about Hronek being an RFA is that we don't actually have to make any decisions before July 1st. We can qualify him then wait to see how free agency goes before making any decisions. Potential Hronek trades will all be player trades so the draft doesn't matter. Also, the teams we would be most likely to trade with aren't looking for draft picks either. Potential trade partners like Carolina, Ottawa, and Utah are all looking to compete now or take the next step. As such, players like Necas, Zub, and Crouse are unlikely to be dealt at the draft. I think a big factor in how we deal with the defense this summer is going to be how far away management thinks Willander is. If management thinks he's going to be ready to step in at the end of next season then a 2-3 year stop-gap is all that's really needed. For example, we could look at someone like DeMelo at something like $4.5Mx3 to play on the 1st or 2nd pairing. A Zadorov-DeMelo pairing would be a better and more physical version of the Zadorov-Cole pairing. If we can bring in someone like DeMelo we can run a top 4 of: Hughes (7.85) - Hronek (7) Zadorov (4.5-4.75) - DeMelo (4.5) If Hronek still insists on $8M then we can trade him for Zub ($4.6M). Or, if we're able to sign Roy for something like 5.5x5 then we can trade Hronek's rights for Necas' rights and re-sign Necas for $6.5Mx6 or $6Mx7 or do a Hronek + Mikheyev to Utah for Crouse ($4.3M). We can also probably dump Mikheyev to Chicago if nothing else for something like a 6th round pick just to clear cap. Swapping out Hronek and Myers for Roy and DeMelo loses us a little bit of offense from the blueline but we would be stronger defensively and likely harder to play against.

I think 5 years is long enough to make Zadorov happy. He's the same age as Myers was when we signed him as a UFA and that was a 5 year deal which Myers felt gave him security. Other than his ELC the longest contract Zadorov has ever signed was 2 years so a 5 year deal would give him the most security he's had in his career by quite a bit. Zadorov has had an incredible playoffs and really elevated his game. However, he's still prone to taking a bad penalty or two and hasn't proven he can continue to play 20+ minutes over a full season. As such, I would start with an offer of $4Mx5. It would be the highest salary and term Zadorov has ever been offered. It's a deal that likely gets countered and I'd be willing to go up to 5x5. Personally I still wouldn't go over $5M for Zadorov though and would love to have him in the 4's.

I would definitely like Pesce for the right price. His injury history has to start to become a concern though. He has been pretty durable for most of his career, but he's also approaching the latter half of his prime. However, if the reports are true that he turned down a 5x5 contract than he's probably looking for something like 6x6 or 6.5M+ if it's a shorter term. That becomes a much tougher decision.

I would do both of those trades. Crouse and Zub would make us even harder to play against and Zub might also fit well with Hughes. It looks like you're sacrificing re-signing Joshua to bring in Crouse, but that's a trade-off I would make even though I really like Joshua. If we're trading Silovs I would be looking to draft a goalie with our 3rd rounder this year though. Even if we get another 5 good years out of Demko, it takes at least that long to develop a goalie and I don't think we have any starter caliber prospects in the system after Silovs. Edit: I wonder if we could somehow also grab McBain if we're trading with Utah.

Didn't show up to play today. Not very impressed with most of the Canucks and lots of bad passes.

I like Jen, I think she does a pretty good job and is certainly better than Cassie was in my opinion. Luke is hit or miss. I appreciate that he tries hard to do a good job. One thing about Bieksa though is that he's a lot more intelligent than I realized and can really break down a player's thought process or set plays (his bit on the wingers jobs in offensive zone draws for example). Luke tries to match him but clearly never saw the game at the same level (he was a borderline 4th line player) so it doesn't always work out so well. Nice guy though who seems like he's at least trying to be impartial and do a good job.

Necas is decent defensively, but he really doesn't PK. I'm pretty sure he averaged less than 0:30/game last season and less than 0:10/game this season on the penalty kill. He's more like Boeser who can play solid defense but for the most part just doesn't hurt you in the defensive zone (I think Necas is a bit better defensively than Boeser though). He scored 4 goals and 9 points in 11 playoff games this year and 4 goals and 7 points in 15 playoff games last year. He isn't a superstar, but he does produce. He also might be the fastest skater in the league and, while not a wrecking ball, does hit a decent amount. I would love to bring Necas in to play with Pettersson. That's still a huge need this team has, a true top 6 winger to play with Pettersson. Maybe that guy does actually end up being Lindholm, but Necas would also look great with Petey. I agree with the few others that have mentioned a possible Hronek for Necas swap. Obviously if Hronek's ask comes down then it's nice to keep the guy who know has known chemistry, but if it doesn't this is the exact kind of trade we should be considering. We can always go after Pesce/Roy in free agency or even DeMelo/Walker/Dumba/Tanev for a more budget-friendly option.

I'm pretty sure McCann even admitted in a recent interview (last year I think) that he thought he was rushed in retrospect and would have benefited from another year in junior.

Myers is far from perfect, but the question is can we get a better defenseman for less than it would cost to re-sign him? My guess is no. He's keenly aware he didn't live up to his last contract and also wants to stay in Vancouver. As such, he's likely to take a discount and I wouldn't be surprised if he's willing to re-sign for close to $2M. For that price I definitely think he's worth bringing back.

Swarm and Hive? Is there some kind of bee history in Utah that I don't know about? Of the shortlist I think Outlaws is probably the best. I don't mind Swarm and Canyons is at least something Utah is very known for.

Yes, but we weren't in that position because of him. On the tying goal for example Soucy decided to go for a hit instead of realizing it was McDavid coming at him and Myers fell down. In the 3rd period Hronek bobbled a ton of pucks which allowed Edmonton to gain the offensive zone or keep it in the offensive zone. Those weren't on Cole.

Yep, especially after getting us to the 2nd round I think they give Silovs one more start. If we lose the next one then we switch, but right now the team is still confident in Silovs.

Last game Ian Cole had a very bad game, but honestly he was quite solid this game and definitely not our worst defenseman. The OT goal is obviously painful but no one should be blaming Cole for this loss.

They didn't call it because it was McDavid. Can't touch the golden child.

Took a few bad penalties, but the missed double minor on McDavid probably cost us the game. Not only would we have had a 4 minute PP at a crucial point, but it would have slowed McDavid down and taken him out of the game a bit. Honestly McDavid is given way too much lenience.

I wonder if Ryan Pulock would consider trading his NTC for Toronto. A Marner for Pulock (plus some additional salary) swap could benefit both teams. Pulock would probably be a really good partner for Morgan Rielly and Marner would give a huge offense boost to the Islanders.

Yep, he's definitely showing his Selke finalist form. He's turned the Garland-Joshua line into a high end 2nd line and gives a second match-up line after the Miller-Boeser line (who are both playing great hockey). Being able to always have a match-up line out against McDavid or Draisaitl could be the difference in this series.

Brock Nelson is also a good producer and has somehow managed to get better in his 30s, but there is a legitimate question about how long he can sustain it. Marner would certainly be a fantastic addition to the Isles, but the Isles also have no assets. Toronto likely asks for Dobson or Sorokin which would both be non-starters. The Islanders have one of the weakest prospect pools in the NHL so the best offer they could probably make would be something like Romanov, Holmström, and a 1st which I don't think gets it done.

I think Hughes wins the Norris this year, and I believe Hughes drove play more than Makar did. However, where are you getting 4 minutes a night on the PK for top unit? Literally zero defensemen in the NHL averaged 4min/game shorthanded this season. The top two were Esa Lindell and Gustav Forsling and they were slightly over and slightly under 3:30/game respectively. Makar averaged 2:33/game on the PK this year which, yes is slight decrease from his 2:44/game last season but, is second on Colorado only to Toews. For reference, Manson averaged 1:59/game so, no, he was not Colorado's top PKer, Toews and Makar were. Maker's 2:33/game shorthanded places him around 50th in the league amongst defensemen. While it's not quite Lindell's 3:32/game, since there are 32 teams in the league it does still make Makar a top pairing PKer. Also, for comparison, Ian Cole was Vancouver'd top PKer and averaged 2:39/game shorthanded so Makar essentially matched him. Regarding Hughes, yes his PK minutes were cut this year. Last year he averaged 1:19/game shorthanded and this year 0:36/game. However, that means that Makar still averaged twice as much time on the PK this season as Hughes did last season, and four times as much as Hughes played this season.

I don't think that's the only consideration. Point and Stamkos might not have hit 100 but they were both over a PPG (and both scored 40+ goals) plus Hedman was at a PPG and Hagel had 75 points. Kucherov still had a lot of support in Tampa. Colorado had a pretty big drop off after Rantanen and Makar for support and I'm sure by now we've all seen the numbers that show that MacKinnon greatly elevated Makar this year. Also, even though Rantanen got to 100 points there was still a 36 point difference between him and MacKinnon. Not to take away from Kucherov, but I think MacKinnon did more to drive play and elevate his teammates this year. I think he finally takes home his first Hart.

This is not Benning's team anymore. There are only 2 defensemen remaining from Benning's tenure and only 1 bottom six player. While the heavy majority of the core may be from Benning, this is a very different team. I don't think Green was a great coach, but he also takes too much flack. He coached 3 straight Calder finalists so the narrative that he hurts youth doesn't really work. The team never really had scoring problems under Green, but it did have defensive issues. Some of the defensive issues might be on Green, and some on Baumgartner, but the heavy majority falls on Benning. The most consistent thing about Benning's tenure is incompatible defense. The defensive chemistry was horrible almost his entire tenure and through multiple coaches so that's not just on Green. I think Green's biggest struggle when in Vancouver was adjusting his systems after they were solved/when they became stale. Green is still a pretty young coach so I'm interested to see if he's learned in his second kick at the can.

I'm going with Stars in 7 on this one. The series really could go either way. Ultimately a series that will likely depend on the goaltending. Will Georgiyev play well enough to allow Colorado's offense to take over the games, or will Oettinger continue his elite level play and keep the games close enough that Georgiyev's mediocre goaltending costs the Avs?

Really only game 1. Every game since he's had an over .920 save percentage. Oettinger has had an inconsistent season this year but he can play at a very elite level and has shown the ability to step up his game when it matters.

I don't disagree that Staal is still very strong defensively, and he is one of the best faceoff guys in the league, but as you said he does seem out of place as a finalist. He's still a fantastic vet, but I think there were more deserving finalists this year.

Based on the finalists, I fully expect Barkov to win it. I'm definitely a bit surprised to see Matthews and Staal over Kopitar or Eriksson Ek for example.