NHL General Thread

[Dougie93]

Play him with Pouty Time and Ocho-Ocho and I bet he could get 20 goals and 30 assists just feeding them pucks and going to the net with his stick on the ice.

[Dougie93]

Plus he's mean.  Not Tom Wilson mean, but he finishes his checks, he has no compunction about engaging physically, he uses his size.

So many of these big guys turn out to be gentle giants, like Freddie the Goat, Korshkov is the rare big skilled guy who likes to take the body and mix it up.

I think Babs has big plans for him.

[Yzermandius19]

Yeah, Korshkov is the kind of guy who should easily find a spot in the Mike Babcock Country Club. No doubt Babcock will love him some Poor Man's Landeskog.

 

[Dougie93]

Plus his father is Alexei Korshkov, who is 6'5" 245 lbs, so he's likely to fill out that 6'4" frame as he goes.

 

Edited July 19, 2019 by Dougie93

[Yzermandius19]

1 minute ago, Dougie93 said:

Plus his father is Alexei Korshkov, who is 6'5" 245 lbs, so he's likely to fill out that 6'4" frame as he goes.

So long as he holds onto that speed while adding to the frame, that'll be pretty sweet.

[Dougie93]

Just now, Yzermandius19 said:

So long as he holds onto that speed while adding to the frame, that'll be pretty sweet.

Probably not going to bulk up to his father's weight, his father was like an enforcer in the KHL but he's likely to be at least 210-215 once he starts on the Gayro shakes and the gym at the Mastercard Center.

 

[Yzermandius19]

2 minutes ago, Dougie93 said:

Probably not going to bulk up to his father's weight, his father was like an enforcer in the KHL but he's likely to be at least 210-215 once he starts on the Gayro shakes and the gym at the Mastercard Center.

 

Yeah, like three or four years down the road he'll probably be around 220.

[Dougie93]

In terms of his skating, Team Dubas believes skating is something that can be improved significantly by internal development, so I expect his skating to get better as he goes.

 

[Dougie93]

More of a playmaker who goes to the net than he is a sniper, so I don't see him ever scoring 40 like DeBrincat, but I bet he could outscore Zach Hyman right naow.

[Dougie93]

I think he gets a serious shot to make the team at camp, Leafs chatter is expecting him to be sent down to the Marlies, but with Hyman out and Marner plausibly still holding out, and the Leafs lacking size, I can see Babs giving him every opportunity.

[Dougie93]

As to Ilya Mikheyev, Babs recruited him so I assuming he's going to be on the team.  Doesn't have the upside of Korshkov, but he definitely looks to be faster and more skilled than Par Lindholm, and Par Lindholm worked out anyways, since for some bizarre reason Winnipeg traded the Leafs Nic Petan for him, so Lindholm turned into a 43rd overall pick C/W

Since Mikheyev is two way, I'm guessing Babs is bringing him in to check and kill penalties, I don't expect a whole lotta offense, but he does appear to be able to wheel.

 

[Dougie93]

So far the Leafs forays into Europe for free agents has been a net plus.

Ozighanov didn't have the hockey IQ for NHL pace, but no harm done.

Lindholm was too slow, but they turned him into Petan.

The only problem with Zaitsev was the contract, if Two Phones hadn't brutally overpaid he wouldn't have been such a whipping boy.

Andreas Borgman they might be able to trade for something.

And Calle Rosen they coached up and turned into an asset as well.

 

[Yzermandius19]

7 minutes ago, Dougie93 said:

So far the Leafs forays into Europe for free agents has been a net plus.

Ozighanov didn't have the hockey IQ for NHL pace, but no harm done.

Lindholm was too slow, but they turned him into Petan.

The only problem with Zaitsev was the contract, if Two Phones hadn't brutally overpaid he wouldn't have been such a whipping boy.

Andreas Borgman they might be able to trade for something.

And Calle Rosen they coached up and turned into an asset as well.

 

A huge net positive I'd say, especially when it comes to building up an AHL squad by paying the AHL big bucks to bring these dudes in and stash their contracts in the minors to help their other prospects improve while still putting up a top notch AHL team. Take a swing on high level AHL guys who might just make the NHL some day and try and turn them into assets while they give the AHL team mad depth.

The Leafs are the masters at it, using ownership's deep pockets to weaponize the AHL team into a prospect factory, when most other teams cannot afford to do it. It's one of the main advantages the Leafs have on every other team in the NHL really, and they've been using it to great effect the last several years.

Edited July 19, 2019 by Yzermandius19

[Dougie93]

The Marlies are value added, used to just be a dumping ground for all the plugs, but now they've turned it into an entertaining product in its own right, the Marlies are just fun to watch.

 

[Dougie93]

Mo Korshkov.

Wearing #26, sets up the first goal, scores the second, both times going to the net with authoriteh.

https://www.thedraftanalyst.com/nhl-draft-2016/2016-wjc-sf-rus-usa/

[J4L]

After demanding a trade out of Winnipeg, and having his wish granted, NY Rangers Defenseman Jacob Trouba signed a 7 year, $56 million contract today, worth $8.0 million/season.

 

In other news, the Oilers traded Lucic, and his absurd salary to the Calgary Flames, for James Neal. The Calgary fan base is having a collective meltdown. 

Edited July 20, 2019 by J4L

[Dougie93]

2 hours ago, J4L said:

After demanding a trade out of Winnipeg, and having his wish granted, NY Rangers Defenseman signed a 7 year, $56 million contract today, worth $8.0 million/season.

 

In other news, the Oilers traded Lucic, and his absurd salary to the Calgary Flames, for James Neal. The Calgary fan base is having a collective meltdown. 

James Neal had a debacle of a season, but Lucic can't even play anymore, Neal will bounce back playing with McDavid, I can't believe Edmonton found a sucker to take that contract, just goes to show, you can always move a bad contract, because that Lucic contract is arguably the worst in the league, with the possible exception of Louie Eriksson's.

Edited July 20, 2019 by Dougie93

[Dougie93]

Even from the point of view of buying them out, Calgary got fleeced.

To buy Neal out costs you $1.96 million for six years, which is bad, but at least you get almost $4 million in cap savings.

The Lucic contract is buyout proof, first four seasons the cap hits even after a buyout are like $3.6 million, $5.6 million,  $4.1 million, and $5.6 million, so even with a buyout you don't save much.

[Yzermandius19]

Fire Brad Treliving, I can't believe he's that dumb, wow. Great job on Holland to find a sucker to fleece, Calgary is so dumb.

 

Edited July 20, 2019 by Yzermandius19

[Dougie93]

Speaks to the the sheer Harold Ballard syndrome in Calgary that Treliving wasn't fired for the Neal contract in the first place, how do you not see that one coming?

  The wheels were falling off when he was in Nashville, jumps on the Vegas bandwagon for a few months, presto, 5 x 5.75 for a 30 year old who was never a fast skater even before the wheels fell off. 

[Dougie93]

This is why all these RFA's are holding out for five year contracts, with the pace of the game now, 30 is the new 40, if you don't get paid again at 27, you're not getting paid again, even with Harold Ballard syndrome, surely these 30+ year old big contract own goals can't persist for much longer.

[Yzermandius19]

33 minutes ago, Dougie93 said:

This is why all these RFA's are holding out for five year contracts, with the pace of the game now, 30 is the new 40, if you don't get paid again at 27, you're not getting paid again, even with Harold Ballard syndrome, surely these 30+ year old big contract own goals can't persist for much longer.

Indeed, if you can get a five year contract you have to try. You gotta get paid again in your prime UFA years before you hit thirty or you aren't going to get paid unless there is really stupid GM, and even that probably won't be happening very often by the time these RFA's hit UFA.

Asking for five years is just common sense for these RFA's, expecting them to act different and being mad at them for not acting differently is pointless, if they don't act that way, they are suckers.

Edited July 20, 2019 by Yzermandius19

[Dougie93]

15 minutes ago, Yzermandius19 said:

Asking for five years is just common sense for these RFA's, expecting them to act different and being mad at them for not acting differently is pointless, if they don't act that way, they are suckers.

Their interests are not my interests, I want my GM to go to war for cap room and break them.

[Yzermandius19]

5 minutes ago, Dougie93 said:

Their interests are not my interests, I want my GM to go to war for cap room and break them.

Acting against their own interests is a silly expectation, not worth getting bent out of shape about. Sure it would be nice if they signed long term on the cheap and were suckers, some of them will probably be dumb enough to do that, but not doing that doesn't make them an asshole. The players should be looking out for themselves, not fan bases with unrealistic expectations, or teams who would prefer a deal that screws them over the most for the good of the team.

Edited July 20, 2019 by Yzermandius19

[Dougie93]

1 minute ago, Yzermandius19 said:

Acting against their own interests is a silly expectation, not worth getting bent out of shape about. Sure it would be nice if they signed long term on the cheap and were suckers, some of them will probably be dumb enough to do that, but not doing that doesn't make them an asshole. The players should be looking out for themselves, not fan bases with unrealistic expectations.

It's sports, getting bent out of shape is the whole point.