Episode 333

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Published on:

15th Jul 2024

Winners & Losers from NHL Free Agency

Which teams won and lost free agency? Who improved their team the most, and who looks a lot worse than they did at the end of the playoffs?

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Transcript
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Hello and welcome to Overtime Hockey Talk.

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Justin Baker, wait right there, watch the software swap us.

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Justin Baker, Mark, Paul, we're joining you here.

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It is.

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We are knee deep in summer and we have finally figured out a way to,

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to make an episode happen where we can talk about free agency.

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we're just going to jump right in because there's been a ton that's happened.

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We want to talk winners.

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We want to talk losers, but before we do that, how's your

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summer going so far, Justin?

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Yeah.

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Knee deep in ball sweat right

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now.

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That's for sure.

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It's been muggy here lately in Michigan.

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that has a

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Yeah,

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lot of rain.

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Did you guys get like three, three and a half inches like we did up here?

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not that much, but we got quite a bit, though.

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Yeah, it was, I, we got three, a couple, maybe 10, 15 miles east of us.

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Got five.

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Oh,

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God.

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saw that some of those streets were just like right in front of people's

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houses, their driveway covered in water and all sorts of stuff.

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So I am glad to be not one of those people.

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but, yeah, you know, maybe some of the NHL free agency losers are currently

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sitting in a driveway full of water, because that may be the way that

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it looks for some teams right now.

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particularly, can we just start with the Carolina hurricanes?

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Oh, yeah, I

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Because is there a team on July 1st that got worse than the Carolina hurricanes?

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That got worse.

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Um, I might go Winnipeg, but no, I think you gotta go, I

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think you gotta go Carolina.

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Yeah, I could see Winnipeg.

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Winnipeg got lost a good amount of their, like their depth.

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They're, they're kind of, they're maybe four or five defensemen with, what

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Nate Schmidt going and Brendan Dillon leaving, Carolina just got hit hard.

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What Brady Shea, Brett Pesci, Jake Gensel, Tara Vinen, and Stefan Nosen all gone.

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And what they brought in, they didn't manage to re sign Jordan

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Martinuk and Jakob Slaven.

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They bring in Shane Gossesbeer, who had a good, nice little season for Detroit.

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I'll give him that.

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And Sean Walker, who was really good for Philadelphia and

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really not good for Colorado.

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And then they go and grab Jacqueline Roslovich, William Carrier,

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Eric Robinson, and Tyson Jost.

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So it seems like they traded a lot of pretty solid players for guys

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that were the scraps of free agency.

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is that a fair assessment there?

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They got the scraps

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They got scraps.

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Yeah, I,

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yeah, I, you know what?

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It was funny because being, being a Detroit fan, I was watching the

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Shanghassasphere one pretty closely.

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rumor was I was working it and he was probably going to get this guy

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reassigned and I thought he fit in very well in Detroit, right?

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he was great being a third pairing guy, not a lot of responsibility and he

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worked well as the top power play guy.

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seem like he liked being there too.

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Yeah.

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Why wouldn't you?

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they have good young talent.

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Yeah.

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My guess is the reason that he went to Carolina was, this,

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these spots just opened up.

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That means there's, we know Orlov's Slavin burns.

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There's some room there.

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he could, maybe he slots in as the fourth defenseman.

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If Sean Walker doesn't cut it, he gets 3.

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2 million.

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He also gets it for three years.

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that may have been.

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The stopping point for Detroit,

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because Yeah, gossips bear had a nice season last year, but let's

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take a look at the last three seasons before that, and then average them

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out amongst those four seasons.

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and you're not looking at a 3.

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2 million player.

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yes, he absolutely bought himself a nice cushy contract from Carolina.

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It's funny to me, the players that Carolina is unwilling to pay like an

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extra 700 grand, and yet they're willing to, go out and get people's scraps.

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it's not that Gosselaar is a bad defenseman, he'll do fine on their

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power play, sort of replaces the, the missing pieces on the power play.

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And I don't really, I'm not excited about Jack Roslevich at all.

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I

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think he, I think we know what he is and he's just a fine player.

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He's a third line.

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He's I don't see Jack Roslevich as anything more than that.

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guy.

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third line center.

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And he's never going to score you any goals.

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He's not moving the needle,

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especially in comparison to the guys that they lost

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that's the thing, right?

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nobody wants to be like, people like to play there.

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People like the area, but I don't think they like ownership.

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I think they think their ownership's cheap.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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We're spiteful, right?

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you look at what they did with, right?

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The offer sheet th

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And that worked out so well.

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Yeah.

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ever.

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But here's the t though, with like guys li Pesci.

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I have no good players, but I often they have, maybe they jus what?

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We could freaking g

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And plug them in and they're going to, they're going to do well.

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So maybe they're just cocky.

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guess that's yeah.

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I guess that's a better place to be this cocky over People don't

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want to come there, but it just felt like the hurricanes really

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did not do themselves any favors.

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And, you're looking at Rod Brindamore, I think came out and was like, it's

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really hard to see those guys go, right?

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Like he's been a coach there.

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I think this is up upcoming is his seventh year.

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And he's had slave and he's had, or he's had Pesci the whole time.

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He had Brady shape, what?

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Five of those years, four of those years to vote Tara vine.

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And they grabbed him out of Chicago after Chicago was winning cups.

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And he's been there ever since.

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Like a lot of these guys are players that have played for rod, Brenda

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Moore, that honestly kind of expected some of them to go, I don't want

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to leave because I love playing for him so much, that didn't happen.

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Carolina's cheap.

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Maybe people don't like playing for him as much as they say?

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There's no other way to look at it.

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when you replace guys who have been there for seven years, that can score

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30 goals with guys that barely can score 15, it's going to be a problem.

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I think right now, and Carolina really did nothing, to address.

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The biggest elephant in the room and that's their goaltending situation,

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like how they can go back with Frederick Anderson, and have guys trust him.

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I just don't know.

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I don't know how the, how they can at this point.

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not that he's a terrible regular season goalie, but

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No, but they, they still have a chip to play here with Martin Nish's.

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yes.

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him, you maybe could move him and try to get a goaltender back, but

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really all the goaltenders who bring any kind of value, move the needle.

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they're all collected, swooped up.

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So they're not available anymore.

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Also, you're not trading Martin Nietzsche's for a goalie.

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No, absolutely

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No, one out there that, that is going to match the same value that

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Martin Nietzsche's can provide.

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Martin Nietzsche's is going to arbitration and given this

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desire to go with numbers.

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It makes sense that they would, Hey, if you're not going to sign for our number,

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we're going to arbitration and we're going to tell them exactly what we told you.

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They're going to hope that they hit that hit on the number they're looking for.

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I, one can only guess what Carolina actually is offering Martin niches.

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I imagine that they would like to get him on a little bit longer of a deal.

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his last deal, two year deal for 6 million, a cap hit of three and his

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qualifying offers for three and a half.

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There's no way that he's only getting three and a half, in this next deal.

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So now, the question is, how much does that end up being?

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Is it a six to 7 million a year?

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that would be my guess that's where it's going to slot in.

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I could see that.

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And to be quite honest, I just I think, at this point, the

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relationship's a little fractured.

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I think they're just going to move him.

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They may get him signed for a year.

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So a team has the contract already done and they don't have to worry about it.

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But He's gone.

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Okay.

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Yeah.

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And so at that point.

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You're probably still looking for another forward with Martin Nietzsche's

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given the forwards that walked out the door for the Carolina hurricanes.

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And that's where it gets hard.

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can we sidebar for a moment?

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Let's yeah, sidebar.

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It's very difficult to navigate puckpedia versus cap friendly.

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It is a little bit more difficult.

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I'm looking at it and you scroll down on a guy's Actual

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player card, right?

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Hey, here's how much he's making.

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And there's no

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statistics.

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yes.

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there.

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Yeah.

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So you have to find it and click it and open it up.

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It's there.

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It just is.

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It's a little convoluted for me.

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I appreciate that there is still something else out there because kept friendly

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going away, obviously leaves a big hole.

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My guess is that puck PDA is tripled in people visiting the website.

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If you don't know.

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You can go to puckpedia.

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com and that's where we get much of our contract information

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now because cap friendly.

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com was sold to the Washington capitals.

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yeah, I get it.

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I get it.

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Hey, if you started a website and everybody used it and then someone

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said, Hey, we'll give you 10 million to take your website down, you might go.

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Oh, and by the way, we'll give you a job and we'll pay you X amount of year.

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You'll go, okay.

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I am more than positive.

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They probably could have went and shop that website around a little bit.

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If people had known, this is available for sale because of

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the traffic they do, right?

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They get exposure.

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Every insider.

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Is always Oh yeah, thanks to Puck Pete or thanks to cat friendly, Yeah,

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on Twitter or X, whatever.

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They're always a shout out there from those guys.

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So just the marketing, the traffic they get, they could have found

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a buyer for, I'm sure whatever Washington paid them for it.

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I'm sure they asked around.

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I would guess, but yeah, it's, it's gone.

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And, it is Puckpedia is at this point, the best option, I thought about, I was

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like, how do I make my own cap friendly?

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Did you know those guys went to the draft themselves, sat at

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the draft and Make their own.

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they populate everything live at the draft.

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It was a bunch of brothers that worked together.

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Oh, wow.

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those guys worked their butts off.

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Like anytime there'd be a trade, we do this, we've been

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doing the show for seven years.

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If there's a trade before the trade, before we even find out about the trade,

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it's already updated and kept friendly every time, no question about every time.

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And I hope that Puckpedia ends up being really good or somebody else makes

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something really, really great, that there's some competition out there.

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But.

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It is taking, I feel like an old man being like, ah, these young whippersnappers

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making a new website and I can't figure it out, but that's how I feel about Puck

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PD right now, but I'll get used to it.

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I've only been using cat friendly for however long it's been in existence.

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I've been there.

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So, Sorry, back to winners and losers in free agency,

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Carolina, a pretty clear loser.

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what was the other team that you mentioned that you thought was a big loser?

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Oh, Winnipeg Yeah.

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is

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Oh goodness.

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to me, the biggest reason, yes, losing.

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Nate Schmidt, Brendan Dillon were two big keys to lose, especially

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at the defensive depth that they bring and the actual, defensive

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side of the puck, That they bring.

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but for me, the bigger loss was the fact that you lost Sean Monaghan

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to the Columbus blue jackets.

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To me, that just kind of seems insulting that you couldn't figure

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that one out and Columbus swooped in and got him, no offense, but I

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thought Sean Monaghan fit like a glove.

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With that second line there, he looked phenomenal.

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And you couldn't match that offer to bring him in.

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have four years at 5.

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5 million.

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It's a lot for a guy who, again, much like Gaustaspierre, where you look

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at, yeah, last year he had a great year before, he's 17 points in 22,

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23, and then what 59 last season.

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With 26 goals the year before he had six goals in 2122.

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He had eight goals, 2020, 2021.

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He had 10.

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So I don't know.

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I don't hate it.

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I don't hate them holding off on Monahan, even though yes, he was a good

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fit, but four years at five and a half million dollars for a guy who the last.

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Three, four seasons.

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he had three seasons before this one, he had 24 goals.

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He scored 26 this year.

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Mike, he scored more goals this year than he had in the previous,

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a hundred and what's that?

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140 games.

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So yes, great on him.

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83 games.

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He played this season.

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he, and he had 26 goals, but in 140 games before that, he only had 24.

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I wonder if he comes back down to earth a little bit.

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I know there was some injury issues there.

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Calgary was a little strange.

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I know there were some other factors, but I don't know if I'm willing to

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invest in them for four more years.

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I get it.

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I get it from the, for the next season, like he was a good fit.

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You are absolutely correct.

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He was a great fit, but are you willing, do you think as a, as Winnipeg, are

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you winning the cup this next year?

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I guess

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that's, Maybe.

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that's the bigger question.

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What is Winnipeg?

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What do they do?

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Okay.

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So I, so you look at Winnipeg, As far as where they fit in terms of the

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central division and yes, Colorado.

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Dallas, they're going to be above them.

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And I think after free agency, maybe you have to, put Nashville

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above them now, I don't

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Oh, a hundred percent.

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okay.

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You've got those three teams ahead of you at least right in the, at

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the very least, but to me, I still think they're a playoff team.

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And I think with the goaltending they have given, I know he, he shit

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the bed this last playoff, Connor Hollibuck is still a Vesna winner.

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And I still think you have enough pieces upfront, especially in

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that top six with Kyle Connor.

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I don't know where Elers is, if he's going to be back next season or if

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they're going to move him, you've got Gabe Velarde coming back for a full season now.

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there's good pieces there, right?

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And so to me, there's still a, there's still a contender.

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There's still a team that can come in that system, with that coach, head

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coaching they have over there to compete.

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If you look at it from Sean Monahan's perspective, okay, cool.

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You know what, maybe I'm going to get another year out of my

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contract to go to Columbus, right?

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Yes.

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Maybe I get to go play with Johnny Goudreau again.

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Maybe I can kind of reignite a little bit of what I had in Calgary during

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my 82 point season, but I'm further away from the Stanley cup than I was.

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And I don't see Columbus getting back anytime in the next couple of years.

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What good is that extra fourth year if I'm still scratching at the playoffs?

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That's yep.

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Absolutely true.

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Absolutely true.

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one, one thing that we didn't mention Winnipeg coming in with, I know, not a,

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not necessarily a new coach because he's been there for the last two seasons as

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an associate coach, but Scott Arneal, now the head coach of the Winnipeg jets.

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So I mean that, that could also play a factor, you go, probably not.

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I don't, I really liked, oh my gosh, why can't I think of his name now?

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Who the coach was before, came from Dallas, of course, but I'm, am I,

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are the wheels turning right now?

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Oh gosh, why can't I think of who the coach was?

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Yep.

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It's gone.

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It's summertime.

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anyways, it'll come up, your coach leaves and maybe that's who you

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associate your success with and you go, it's time for me to move on, I

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didn't really connect with Scott or Neil, Could be some of the factor.

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Yes.

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But the jets, Hey, they're all, they have Conor Hellebuck and they,

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whenever you have a Vesna trophy winner, you can always count yourself.

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At least in the playoff race.

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I think that's probably where Winnipeg belongs is somewhere

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in the wildcard conversation.

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I don't know.

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I don't know that they got better, but what we have seen from Winnipeg is a

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willingness to go out and trade for the pieces that they need mid season.

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Yeah.

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Like we've seen it several years in a row.

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We saw it a lot with Peter Stastny, we see it with Sean Monahan.

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We see them make those moves for that second line center to kind of shore

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things up and it makes them get through.

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So I will say they did get worse, but not that much worse to where they're.

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So far down the shoot, who's your winner toss some winners out to me,

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because I think I just actually, I just want to talk about Detroit

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is they're absolutely one of my winners.

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I know Patrick Kane was there last year, but it was looking like he

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was gone and then things turned around and he ends up signing.

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And then, you're like, okay, great.

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The wing sign Patrick Kane again, that's nice.

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And you're waiting around and then they go out and sign Tara Senko.

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Who's won two Stanley cups

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out of the last, what, five teams to win the cup.

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He's been on two of them.

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It's not so bad.

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Not so bad.

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And, they don't overpay for them in my opinion either, right?

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4.

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75 for a 30 goal scorer who can still play in your top six.

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I still think he has enough to offer.

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He's still fast enough and he's, he plays physical.

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He can, and then we also saw last season with Florida.

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If you move him down the lineup and ask him to play a more responsible

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game, he can do that still.

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Yeah, he was really good for Florida.

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I think his playoff was fine.

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I think he had some good games.

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I don't know if I'm going out on a limb and saying that he wasn't the reason

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that Florida won the Stanley cup by any means, but he was good when he needed to

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be, he contributed throughout their run.

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The nice thing in Detroit, no offense to Detroit.

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I don't think that they're in a position to do what Florida just did.

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Go on a Stanley cup run the next two years, probably not going to

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see them in the Stanley cup finals.

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Doesn't mean that they're not going to make the playoffs.

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I think they did themselves a lot of favors here and Hey, their

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forward group looks pretty good.

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And I thought about this today.

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Tara Senko comes from the Florida Panthers.

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And what team does it appear that Detroit is modeling their rebuild after?

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I would argue that it's the Florida Panthers.

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Okay.

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I

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Eiserman has been, yes, he's done a really, he's done a

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decent job drafting players.

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Yes.

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Dylan Larkin has been a red wing his whole entire career.

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and there's Marie cider.

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Who's there?

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There's Lucas Raymond.

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There are some, Simon Edmondson who will likely see.

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Time with the Red Wings this year should hopefully be a starter and be up at

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the big club the whole entire time.

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So they have players on their roster that they drafted, but at the same time,

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they're going out into free agency.

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They got conference cop and to bring it via trade, they signed

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Tara Senko and Kane, Christian Fisher comes in via Mott ding.

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I know Daniel Sprung's gone now, but, or it looks like he will be, but, yeah, And

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then they're half their defensive core.

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Most of their defensive core is just from wherever they could pluck them.

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This team is built a lot like the Florida Panthers where they didn't

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build through the draft very little.

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yes, Eck, Blad, Barkov, the rest of them were just acquired

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via trade or free agency.

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And that I think is what made the Panthers so unique.

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And it appears that Eisenman had may have taken a book from Dale talent,

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mean, you could make that argument, And.

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I think the, I don't necessarily think he's doing it out of just modeling.

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cause we know that a lot of times the NHL is a copycat league, right?

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Whoever won the cup, let's do what they did.

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I think the Red Wings are doing it out of necessity, more or less.

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Like they've got a lot of young, very young talent coming up and

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who are going to be good, but, they just need, they need to.

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Buy some time, right?

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And bring in guys to help make this team competitive until

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these guys are ready to go.

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And Nate Danielson might make the team this year.

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We don't know yet.

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and same with Marco Casper.

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there's guys there that could potentially come up.

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So we'll see.

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But, yeah, I think the reason I, would consider and agree with

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you that Detroit is a winner.

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Not only Tara Sanko, but, I am glad that, of course losing Shane Gossett severe was

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kind of a bummer, but I think replacing him with Eric Gustafson at 2 million

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bucks at two years was a good signing.

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They don't overpay

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little player with

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Yeah, good player.

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He's always had, if you go look at his numbers, especially, during his time with,

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his, Walden and the Rangers, he had good Corsi numbers.

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He's put up decent offensive numbers.

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if you shelter him on a third pairing and then you rotate him into that second

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power play or maybe even give him some first PP time, he's going to do great.

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He's going to do pretty good.

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do like that.

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You said PP time, but, yeah, Hey, he does have a 60 point season

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does in Chicago.

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Yeah.

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Chicago.

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pretty, yeah, he's a good offensive defenseman and you're right.

Speaker:

It's a good replacement for cheap.

Speaker:

And they do, they did.

Speaker:

Pretty well bringing in Cam Talbot as well.

Speaker:

I like the

Speaker:

I like that.

Speaker:

I think that, Hey, Hey, nobody wants Billy Hugh.

Speaker:

So heart, no need to buy them out.

Speaker:

You're not in that position.

Speaker:

You might as well see if you can get him to play the way that you think he

Speaker:

can when you acquired him from Carolina.

Speaker:

And if he can't, it's fine.

Speaker:

You bury them, you use lions and, and then you have your Talbot

Speaker:

lions, which is not an awful tandem.

Speaker:

but if who so confined his way, you've got three solid goalies.

Speaker:

And what do we see from so many of these teams?

Speaker:

you need three goalies, two goalies, doesn't cut it anymore.

Speaker:

Cause one of your goalies is going to go down for probably

Speaker:

more than five games at a time.

Speaker:

That was the Red Wings last year.

Speaker:

Who?

Speaker:

So

Speaker:

It's happening to everybody.

Speaker:

yeah,

Speaker:

So it makes a lot of sense to do what they're doing.

Speaker:

And I can't hate the toss out to Jack Campbell to say, come here,

Speaker:

let's see if you can find yourself in Detroit away from not the Detroit

Speaker:

is not, of course it's hockey town.

Speaker:

People love their hockey, but there's not going to be the same kind of pressure in

Speaker:

Detroit that there wasn't Edmonton and Edmonton was a complete and utter failure.

Speaker:

Like maybe the greatest failure of any signing ever in the

Speaker:

history of the Edmonton Oilers.

Speaker:

He won't find me

Speaker:

a word.

Speaker:

If you're watching this, think of a worse signing that the Edmonton

Speaker:

Oilers made something that affected them more that went more poorly.

Speaker:

So find me one and I'll recant.

Speaker:

But

Speaker:

Okay.

Speaker:

I'm game to try that one.

Speaker:

But,

Speaker:

Okay.

Speaker:

I will prove you wrong.

Speaker:

but I'll tell you what, what's nice for Detroit, right?

Speaker:

You talk about those goalies, by the way.

Speaker:

just go back and maybe think about Mikko Koskin in a little bit.

Speaker:

so with Jack Campbell, you get a good piece who a guy

Speaker:

who, has had a lot of time.

Speaker:

Obviously in the NHL, but now he can go down.

Speaker:

He had some good numbers in the AHL last year with Edmonton, when he did

Speaker:

get finally sent down, but you've got a young guy in Sebastian Kosa, who,

Speaker:

isn't quite ready for the NHL yet.

Speaker:

And I think having a guy like Jack Campbell to kind of mentor

Speaker:

him and teach him the ropes, is going to be good for him.

Speaker:

And then say, Campbell does find his game down there.

Speaker:

He looks good.

Speaker:

You've got an asset.

Speaker:

You can move at the deadline to a team that maybe wants a third goaltender.

Speaker:

Third round pick something like that, that you scoop up for really nothing.

Speaker:

Exactly.

Speaker:

775 K and he probably helps you win some games in the AHL or, God

Speaker:

forbid you get down to your fourth goalie and you have to use them.

Speaker:

That has happened.

Speaker:

yeah, it has definitely happened.

Speaker:

okay.

Speaker:

Detroit, definitely a winner on deadline day.

Speaker:

we have already mentioned the natural predators, but I think it behooves us to,

Speaker:

To talk about the Preds because they have the biggest signing of free agency day.

Speaker:

maybe the most, the best player to change teams in a while.

Speaker:

Can we think of a, like a bigger superstar that went, okay, I guess

Speaker:

I'm leaving and went to a totally different team after being with

Speaker:

the Tampa Bay Lightning since 2008.

Speaker:

He goes and signs with the predators, 17, 16, 17 seasons for Stamkos and Tampa.

Speaker:

Just unwilling to give him that extra year

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

they wanted to give him eight years at, I think it was two or 3 million bucks.

Speaker:

bunch of cheap bastards.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

That's the thing.

Speaker:

They're like, Oh, you'll get your money.

Speaker:

We'll just put you on IR when you're 40.

Speaker:

But what happens if he decides, you know what, 41 years old,

Speaker:

he's I still want to play.

Speaker:

Maybe he's still got something going.

Speaker:

So he could go out and get.

Speaker:

Also, you get your money, you can do something with it now, right?

Speaker:

You can go and you can invest it and.

Speaker:

And whereas if the team has your money, 2 million, now we've all seen

Speaker:

inflation and not that 2 million has ever been a small amount.

Speaker:

I get it.

Speaker:

it's less money that you are getting over those years because

Speaker:

of inflation and because the cap's invariably going to go up.

Speaker:

So your percentage of the cap is going to be completely wiped away.

Speaker:

Like the minimum salary in the next CBA is probably going to be 1.

Speaker:

2, 1.

Speaker:

3 million.

Speaker:

So we're creeping up to where a 3 million contract is, is not much, you

Speaker:

look at the NBA and stuff and you're like, Oh, that garbage player just

Speaker:

signed for a 15 million bucks a year.

Speaker:

it's a different, it's different world, but, good on Sam coast.

Speaker:

he goes somewhere else and.

Speaker:

I don't know that anyone has any hard feelings in Tampa Bay.

Speaker:

Like you just kind of have to go, they weren't willing to pay them.

Speaker:

And that's that, you can't be mad at Stancoast.

Speaker:

You can be mad at breeze.

Speaker:

And

Speaker:

you can't blame Stamkos at all for this.

Speaker:

if

Speaker:

what he's done.

Speaker:

yeah, sorry, go ahead.

Speaker:

no, I was gonna say what he's done for that franchise.

Speaker:

he'll get his number to the Raptors.

Speaker:

He'll get a statue down there.

Speaker:

he brought Stanley Cups to that team and just holds every record.

Speaker:

And if Tampa Bay goes and Hey, they signed Jake Gensel.

Speaker:

So good on them.

Speaker:

They signed a younger.

Speaker:

I think what they would say is we signed a younger Steven Stamkos.

Speaker:

I like that's got it now, not the exact same player.

Speaker:

You signed a high scoring winger and Jake Gensel had a more, a bigger

Speaker:

point production than Stamkos did.

Speaker:

And they signed him for 9 million, barely more than what Stamkos got.

Speaker:

So in some respects, you look at it and you go, he did.

Speaker:

Tampa Bay did pretty well for themselves.

Speaker:

They get a guy who is only 29 instead of 34.

Speaker:

And I, the, just the downside is that his name is Jake

Speaker:

Gensel and not Steven Stamkos.

Speaker:

He has never bled for the Tampa Bay lightning, whereas

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Stamkos has given it all.

Speaker:

And and.

Speaker:

To be honest, what's the, what are the chances that Tampa Bay

Speaker:

lightning can go and win another Stanley cup with this group?

Speaker:

I'd say it's pretty unlikely.

Speaker:

I don't know about that.

Speaker:

I

Speaker:

think it's pretty unlikely.

Speaker:

You got Vassie back there.

Speaker:

You've got Hedman still, he's still in his, he's still looking good.

Speaker:

And you've got Kucharoff, Braden Point.

Speaker:

You still got good pieces, man.

Speaker:

So

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

them out.

Speaker:

It's not that they're not going to be good, but I don't know.

Speaker:

I don't think this group's winning a cup anymore.

Speaker:

I wouldn't pick them.

Speaker:

No, absolutely not.

Speaker:

They wouldn't be in my top three or four teams, come playoff time

Speaker:

that I think would win a cup.

Speaker:

But if they won one, I wouldn't be like, Oh, that's a big shocker.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

Yeah, I would agree with that.

Speaker:

Hey, they go out and they signed Jake Gensel and that's

Speaker:

their replacement for Stamkos.

Speaker:

And I don't remember where I was going with this, but

Speaker:

that's, that's what happened.

Speaker:

yeah, Nashville though.

Speaker:

let's just, let's get back to Nashville.

Speaker:

they signed Steven Stamkos, huge signing for them, maybe the best

Speaker:

player they've ever signed in free agency who was actually likely

Speaker:

Repeat the pattern of the past.

Speaker:

I guess they had Peter Forsberg who was unbelievable for them for the

Speaker:

36 games that he got in for them.

Speaker:

Like he didn't play a lot.

Speaker:

He was hurt.

Speaker:

I actually, I can't remember how many games did Peter Forsberg

Speaker:

play for the Nashville predators?

Speaker:

I'm gonna look that up.

Speaker:

I am looking it up right now.

Speaker:

He played 17 for the Nashville predators and he had 15 points.

Speaker:

He had two goals for the bread.

Speaker:

So yeah.

Speaker:

All right.

Speaker:

I gave him too much credit.

Speaker:

17 games.

Speaker:

So yes, was he the, he was the biggest signing that franchise had ever had.

Speaker:

But he played 17 games, Steven Stamkos, barring some crazy injury is going to

Speaker:

play for four years for the national predators, and is going to put up likely

Speaker:

around a point per game for at least the first two seasons of that deal.

Speaker:

He's he is probably the best free agent signing that franchise has ever had.

Speaker:

And Hey, they just, all they do is go out and also sign Jonathan Marsha.

Speaker:

So who also has a Stanley cup to his name just two years ago.

Speaker:

Oh, he only had 69 points and 42 goals last year.

Speaker:

They have set themselves up in an unbelievable way and Barry trots

Speaker:

from where they were two years ago.

Speaker:

It is unbelievable what he's been able to do.

Speaker:

Like we thought Philip Forsberg was going to leave.

Speaker:

We thought they'd trade Roman Yossi.

Speaker:

Juicy sorrows was supposed to get dealt.

Speaker:

And here they are signing Stephen Samcoe and Jonathan March or so.

Speaker:

And.

Speaker:

Now you look at them, find me five better teams in the West.

Speaker:

And there's at least going to be a debate about some of them.

Speaker:

They also snipe Brady Shea.

Speaker:

I'll

Speaker:

put Dallas ahead of them right now, for sure.

Speaker:

yep.

Speaker:

Okay.

Speaker:

I could probably still put Vegas in front of them.

Speaker:

Edmonton.

Speaker:

I would still put

Speaker:

an ad ahead of

Speaker:

absolutely.

Speaker:

Vancouver, maybe.

Speaker:

And

Speaker:

I don't know.

Speaker:

Vancouver lost a lot in free agency.

Speaker:

They did,

Speaker:

lost their, Elias Lindholm and they don't have that second line center

Speaker:

anymore.

Speaker:

bringing him in, that was a good,

Speaker:

Colorado could be the, maybe the

Speaker:

one other team, but there you go.

Speaker:

Okay.

Speaker:

So we struggled to name five teams that

Speaker:

are better than they just made themselves legitimately a Stanley cup contender.

Speaker:

For the first time in almost 10 years, like we thought, 2016, 2015 in there, they

Speaker:

were, they had legitimate possibility.

Speaker:

And this is the first time that I think you could say that again.

Speaker:

And go ahead.

Speaker:

No, I was gonna say, I do think, an underrated signing that nobody

Speaker:

really talks about, given all of the.

Speaker:

all the talent they just brought in, but nobody really talks much about Luke Shin.

Speaker:

I think

Speaker:

he's going to be so underrated on that back end for this team.

Speaker:

I think it's just gonna, he's going to be a shutdown guy for, for some

Speaker:

of those, other defensemen like Dante Fabbro and Jeremy Lawson.

Speaker:

I think he's just going to fit in really well with this group.

Speaker:

we also didn't mention Alexander Carrier.

Speaker:

So there's another, he's, coming off of a really good season with

Speaker:

the predators, 50 points in 21, 22.

Speaker:

27 last year, 44 the year after.

Speaker:

And I just think he just keeps on getting better and better.

Speaker:

And, yeah, that team, you look at their Yossi Shea carrier, Shen

Speaker:

Fabro, Lauzen, they have one of the best defenses in the league.

Speaker:

It's not just Yossi anymore.

Speaker:

No Yossi.

Speaker:

they've, they got rid of McDonough too, which I thought was, it's probably

Speaker:

a pretty smart move on their behalf,

Speaker:

yeah, it's what allowed them to go out and get Marcia.

Speaker:

It basically replaced his salary with Marcia.

Speaker:

and they desperately needed.

Speaker:

That forward position, like their top six was really what

Speaker:

was probably holding them back.

Speaker:

Now they've got Samco, Marsha, so two guys who I think are real hungry to

Speaker:

shove it to the team that let them go.

Speaker:

I both players are probably gonna have their jerseys in the rafters somewhere.

Speaker:

It's just not gonna be in Nashville.

Speaker:

It's gonna be somewhere else.

Speaker:

Maybe they can, I don't know, set things up a little bit

Speaker:

for themselves in Nashville.

Speaker:

I think I just.

Speaker:

Ooh,

Speaker:

I lost your voice.

Speaker:

Oh, there you are.

Speaker:

Nope.

Speaker:

You're gone again.

Speaker:

Did I lose you?

Speaker:

Oh, ah, there he is.

Speaker:

technical difficulties.

Speaker:

Okay.

Speaker:

35 minutes.

Speaker:

Fun stuff.

Speaker:

Oh, I was going to say probably the one guy who I mean, is going to benefit

Speaker:

the most from all this is Tommy Novak.

Speaker:

we'll see if this pays off, man.

Speaker:

listen, if Oh, for sure.

Speaker:

Absolutely.

Speaker:

No doubt.

Speaker:

But if they, come out and they just can't build the chemistry, maybe you

Speaker:

could blame a little bit on coaching.

Speaker:

But I think, if you look at the signings, he's got Tommy Novak

Speaker:

signed for three years at 3.

Speaker:

5.

Speaker:

if he pans out the way I think he will, he could be a 60 point

Speaker:

player easily at that money.

Speaker:

Fantastic.

Speaker:

Ryan O'Reilly signings, Yeah, phenomenal, right?

Speaker:

And Jonathan Marshall, so you get a 40 goal score at 5.

Speaker:

5.

Speaker:

Same with Steven Stamko.

Speaker:

So this could really, this could look really nice if your top six

Speaker:

works out the way I think it will.

Speaker:

and of course, bringing in Brady Shea to, to replace that hole that,

Speaker:

Ryan McDonough left when they moved him out to, to get that money.

Speaker:

he could easily elevate this defense to even, higher heights and then not

Speaker:

only that, but you get UC Saro signed to what I think is just A phenomenal,

Speaker:

AAV because you look at what guys like, Bobrovsky just winning the Stanley Cup.

Speaker:

these top free agent goaltenders could easily go out and say, you know what, you

Speaker:

need to pay a goaltender 10 million bucks.

Speaker:

Cause you're not going to win one without them and look at, Bobrovsky and.

Speaker:

This is what I deserve.

Speaker:

Or you could go look at Hollaback and say, I've been playing, putting up good numbers

Speaker:

like him and playing all these games.

Speaker:

And what do they do?

Speaker:

They, I think they maybe used, Escaroff is a little bit of

Speaker:

leverage, but still at seven ish million bucks, that's pretty, yeah.

Speaker:

He wanted to be there.

Speaker:

I've got the Edmonton Oilers.

Speaker:

I just think the Jeff Skinner signing alone was just a win right there.

Speaker:

I said it in the playoffs and I think I've mentioned it to you a couple

Speaker:

different times, but Leon Drysdale had nobody to play with on his wing and

Speaker:

now he gets just a pure goal scorer and Jeff Skinner that they could slap

Speaker:

on his wing and have him just feeding the puck to Skinner all day long now,

Speaker:

9 million bucks.

Speaker:

Yeah, absolutely could.

Speaker:

And you could get lucky too and have a bunch of guys in the league.

Speaker:

Just look at him who maybe aren't like projecting him to produce and just

Speaker:

say, you know what, he got bought out.

Speaker:

He's garbage.

Speaker:

So I'm not drafting him and he falls to round 12, 13, 14, and you pick up this

Speaker:

guy and he could be a, he could be a 30 goal scorer, 40 goal scorer again.

Speaker:

Maybe not.

Speaker:

They signed their entire third linebacker again, Henry.

Speaker:

Yanmar, Connor Brown.

Speaker:

Why not?

Speaker:

Why break up the band?

Speaker:

They look good in the finals.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

I'm probably pushing Connor Brown down to the fourth line and putting

Speaker:

Evander Kane down there if it's me,

Speaker:

right?

Speaker:

Really?

Speaker:

Oof

Speaker:

I was gonna say he's due . Ridiculous deal.

Speaker:

Ooh.

Speaker:

listen, I think regardless, right?

Speaker:

Even if you only put up 70 points, right?

Speaker:

Say you maybe have a down year, right?

Speaker:

you, you put up 70 points versus the 82.

Speaker:

You're still so valuable to that team in such a way that you can

Speaker:

look at Darnell nurse and be like, I want more than that guy.

Speaker:

yeah, I think so.

Speaker:

it's,

Speaker:

I could see a bridge deal where maybe, Bouchard says, you know what, I'll

Speaker:

take three years at 10 million bucks.

Speaker:

And then he resigns for, in hopes that, again, Assuming Drycidal re signs and

Speaker:

McDavid re signs, you could easily cash in another three years and then go to 12 14.

Speaker:

That's true.

Speaker:

Yeah,

Speaker:

that's true.

Speaker:

Maybe you're just waiting for Leon Drycidal re sign before you can

Speaker:

figure out your number, right?

Speaker:

Because I think, obviously, Drycidal is the priority, I think, for

Speaker:

this team over Bouchard, for sure.

Speaker:

maybe they just want to get that deal done first.

Speaker:

And if you're Bouchard, you're just waiting, licking your chops.

Speaker:

Dude, did you hear what his agent said?

Speaker:

No, so his agent came out and said, basically, if I don't know the exact

Speaker:

words, so I'm kind of paraphrasing, but said, you know what, if we don't

Speaker:

have something done by the end of the summer, we're not talking till the

Speaker:

end of the year, and it didn't sound very, didn't sound very positive as in

Speaker:

he'll still resign here kind of thing.

Speaker:

Maybe they're negotiating tactic, but.

Speaker:

Sometimes.

Speaker:

Okay,

Speaker:

for sure.

Speaker:

But on the flip side of that, if you are, okay, say you're Leon Dry Seidel's

Speaker:

Camp, you came out, you said that, right?

Speaker:

If you as a media personnel, right?

Speaker:

Or as somebody in the news, if you come, come to camp or whenever, September,

Speaker:

and he still hasn't signed a deal.

Speaker:

This is gonna be huge news in Edmonton all season long and something that I don't

Speaker:

think that Edmonton wants to deal with.

Speaker:

Exactly.

Speaker:

Exactly.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

I,

Speaker:

that's the thing.

Speaker:

I think they're just going to have a little sit down this summer and

Speaker:

be like, Hey, do we want to hang out here for another eight years?

Speaker:

Okay, cool.

Speaker:

Let's do it.

Speaker:

Right.

Speaker:

I don't, I think they're worse.

Speaker:

I'm going to go with worse.

Speaker:

I think, I, so first and foremost, I think the biggest reason

Speaker:

why they're going to be worse.

Speaker:

Is now you don't have all Mark Swayman, right?

Speaker:

You don't have that dual in there anymore.

Speaker:

Now I know Swayman looked much better than all Mark this year, and he had a

Speaker:

majority aligned share of the games, but I think not having that reliable

Speaker:

number two option, that one, a one B kind of thing going on, if you have

Speaker:

to press on Swayman a little bit more, yes, I think corporate solo might.

Speaker:

Be all right in that role, but

Speaker:

could,

Speaker:

right, exactly.

Speaker:

But I just don't think this duo is going to be as good as their last two years.

Speaker:

And then not only that, but look, I liked Elias Lindholm when he was,

Speaker:

in the playoffs for Vancouver, I didn't like his regular season.

Speaker:

So I don't know what, which one we're really going to get this year.

Speaker:

and you look at his numbers, especially looking at, the Corsi

Speaker:

over the last couple of seasons.

Speaker:

Yes.

Speaker:

When he was with the flames and 22, 21, the numbers were good.

Speaker:

He put up some decent points, going to Calgary, obviously in 23,

Speaker:

24, they had good pieces, but it didn't really work out Vancouver.

Speaker:

His Corsi number was just meh.

Speaker:

so I just, I see it trending in the wrong direction really.

Speaker:

And to give a guy that much money and that much term, just

Speaker:

basically out of desperation, because you really needed a center.

Speaker:

I'm a little worried about it.

Speaker:

And so if he ends up being nothing more than a second line guy, 60 points, right?

Speaker:

you basically are replacing what you lost in, in Dubrask as far as point

Speaker:

production, but yeah, maybe you get a slightly better defensive player, I think

Speaker:

in the long run, but it doesn't, right.

Speaker:

But is he going to be that much better than what they had in, in Charlie Coyle

Speaker:

and, and gosh, why am I blanking on the name, but now you've got to move, You have

Speaker:

to move Pavel Zakha to the wing, I think, or, Elias Lindholm, they tried to put

Speaker:

him on the wing in Vancouver initially.

Speaker:

Yeah, it was terrible.

Speaker:

So you have to play him down the middle.

Speaker:

Pavel Zakha has shown he can play the wing.

Speaker:

So I think that's probably what they'll end up doing.

Speaker:

what happens when, again, you're just getting the same production from

Speaker:

Jake DeBrusque that you just lost.

Speaker:

And it's, are they better for it?

Speaker:

I don't think so.

Speaker:

I think there'll be, slightly worse just because of the goaltending, situation.

Speaker:

Sure, and Colin Miller.

Speaker:

Absolutely.

Speaker:

His point for games are going down.

Speaker:

I think you hit your microphone or your camera.

Speaker:

Hey, there it is.

Speaker:

Yeah, I think so.

Speaker:

No, I agree.

Speaker:

And I think, they could see an uptick as far as the forward group is concerned

Speaker:

with a guy like Matthew Patra or Poitra.

Speaker:

I really don't know how to pronounce his last name correctly, but, he could

Speaker:

be a guy that could help move that needle a little bit and help the team.

Speaker:

replace some of that lost production as far as the depth is concerned, right?

Speaker:

And now you don't have to, what they started the year off doing, forcing

Speaker:

him to play in top six minutes.

Speaker:

Now you can shelter him a little bit more, I think, with Elias

Speaker:

Lindholm, which could help.

Speaker:

but they just didn't do anything to move the needle to me and went out

Speaker:

and overpaid, I think, for a guy like Elias Lindholm, which was a concern.

Speaker:

I

Speaker:

love it.

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About the Podcast

Overtime Hockey Talk
OT Hockey Talk is one of the internet's longest-running hockey podcasts, currently in its sixth year of creating unique hockey content.
OT Hockey Talk is one of the internet's longest-running hockey podcasts, currently in its sixth year of creating unique hockey content from in-season coverage to deep dives into all-time top ten lists, this show is for anyone who loves the game of hockey and follows the NHL.

About your host

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Mark Paul