We haven't had an offseason thread for the NHL yet.  But I think today would be the most appropriate time for one.

It appears that all three proposals for a new arena in Tempe are gonna fail.  Meaning the Coyotes are at risk of relocation.

While I’m not surprised, I still feel weird watching the end of the Coyotes actually happen. I thought Gary Bettman was going to die before his little pet would leave Arizona.

I feel awful for the fans but this hurts Gary Bettman’s feelings and legacy so that makes me happy.

I think we finally see a team in Houston. Or they give Atlanta another shot (but I doubt it).

Poor Quebec City. Sending 18000+ fans out for junior hockey but won't get a sniff of NHL. Makes me appreciate having the Jets even more.

Speaking of Jets, I expect something major to happen.

Dubois RFA. Need to trade him now, otherwise he'll be a dog all year knowing he'll be flipped at the deadline to whoever offers the best package as a rental. Don't need that this year.

Wheeler, Scheifele, Hellebuyck all one year to UFA. Running this team back for another year would be nuts. Ideal world we retain on Wheeler and try and trade him. But for $4 mill who wants him for a year? Maybe buyout instead. Scheifele and Hellebuyck I'd like back on maybe 3 year deals. But only if we get some ready to play now assets from Dubois trade. Not sure why they'd commit if they don't see Jets contending anytime soon.

Part of me wants to blow it up. Trade all four. Get young players for a few years, see how it goes.

May 17, 2023 14:44:32 GMT Foos said:

Poor Quebec City. Sending 18000+ fans out for junior hockey but won't get a sniff of NHL. Makes me appreciate having the Jets even more.

Speaking of Jets, I expect something major to happen.

Dubois RFA. Need to trade him now, otherwise he'll be a dog all year knowing he'll be flipped at the deadline to whoever offers the best package as a rental. Don't need that this year.

Wheeler, Scheifele, Hellebuyck all one year to UFA. Running this team back for another year would be nuts. Ideal world we retain on Wheeler and try and trade him. But for $4 mill who wants him for a year? Maybe buyout instead. Scheifele and Hellebuyck I'd like back on maybe 3 year deals. But only if we get some ready to play now assets from Dubois trade. Not sure why they'd commit if they don't see Jets contending anytime soon.

Part of me wants to blow it up. Trade all four. Get young players for a few years, see how it goes.

We’ll give you Marner, Kerfoot and a 2nd for Wheeler and Hellebuyck. Make it so.

Way too early news on Arizona: apparently Salt Lake City is high on people’s lists of a place to relocate. No idea where that news is coming from but Andy Strickland (Blues reporter who is from Arizona and follows the Coyotes closely) is saying that is what he’s heard. That would be hilarious after everyone assumed it would be one of Houston, Atlanta or Quebec.

Also Clayton Keller’s dad replied to the Coyotes on twitter and said his son won’t be there next year. But judging by his Twitter profile he is just making shit up and his son probably doesn’t talk to him anymore.

Bill Daly has pretty much guaranteed the Coyotes will play in Mullett Arena next season, so even if they do relocate it wouldn’t be until the 2024/25 season at the earliest.

Mike Babcock is about to become the head coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Hilarious to think that Patrick Laine and Johnny Hockey are going to be coached by him.

Babcock seems a bit nice than Sutter. Shit, UM the the boys, got outworked by all 4 lines tonight. Fuck this, back to the farm I go.

Jun 5, 2023 17:09:18 GMT RT said:

Mike Babcock is about to become the head coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Hilarious to think that Patrick Laine and Johnny Hockey are going to be coached by him.

Yeah. Unless he's completely changed the way he coaches, he's not going to have coaching Laine and Gaudreau. And they'll hate him.

Finally moved Dubois, that brat. A true rare sign and trade.

Dubois with a 8 year $68 mill contract to the Kings for Vilardi, Iaffalo, Kupari, and a 2024 2nd round pick that was originally Montreal's.

Decent return. But makes me sad this is what Laine has turned into. Hopefully Vilardi signs a contract with us and we avoid arbitration haha

Also Montreal fans told me they were getting Dubois for free in just over a year, so they didn't need to offer anything for him? I'm confused. I guess LA only wants him for a year and then wi ship him to the Habs for future considerations?

Next up: Buy out Wheeler. Then trade Hellebuyck to the Devils.

I don't shit about coaching in the NHL. Is Dave Quinn any good? I haven't been thrilled with his tenure in San Jose thus far.

I had a real soft spot for the Yotes before the NHL came back to Ohio. Adopted them as my team on NHL '97 cause I liked their original logo & uniforms as a kid.

But hot damn did they become sustained garbage over time. Stripped away all of their cool identity by giving them a generic yawning dog logo with slapped on Cardinals colors. Worst of all, an ice rink in the middle of the desert should be drawing in packed houses but it's always been bottom 5.

While Quebec or Houston should inherit the franchise, SLC would probably be a surprise success. It's a decently sized market without any other pro sports teams and the NHL doesn't have to worry about a religious scheduling hurdle like the NFL would.

rad don't the Utah Jazz play out of Salt Lake? NBA is the same season as NHL.

Jets bought out Wheeler, not surprised. Let's see if they can convince any FAs to sign in Winnipeg

Jul 1, 2023 13:28:22 GMT Foos said:

rad don't the Utah Jazz play out of Salt Lake? NBA is the same season as NHL.

Jets bought out Wheeler, not surprised. Let's see if they can convince any FAs to sign in Winnipeg

Damn. Guess I forgot that the Jazz even existed for a second.

Houston just makes so much more sense. It's a proper sports city too, unlike Phoenix or Miami, and it's large enough to support a new team. KCMO makes sense, too.

Though I'd rather it be the Nordiques or definitely the Whalers coming back instead. Whalers ever come back I am ditching CBJ so hard until they finally adopt the cannon logo as their primary lol

Hartford only so I can see those sweet jerseys 82 times per year!

Quebec City makes sense for built-in fan base, good sized arena, etc. But the NHL doesn't need to grow the game in Quebec. But yeah, Houston? I'm sure there's a huge untapped market that could become NHL fans.

I'm laughing hearing Atlanta thrown around again. Hilarious.

Lots of moves today with free agency opening. I'm not recapping them all.

Instead I will talk about how my team doesn't make any sense, and therefore they will finally do well in the playoffs. I can't explain it, it's just how hockey works. You do weird shit and everyone goes "wtf are those guys doing?" and then they end up in the finals somehow.

Jokes aside, I'm fucking terrified with the how and why Ryan O'Reilly left Toronto. He got traded there, seemed really excited to be part of the team, then after a handful of regular season games and 1.5 playoff series he not only bad-mouthed how the team was structured, he actively sought out another team to sign with because he didn't want to stay.

A Stanley Cup and Conn Smythe winner from Ontario that grew up a Leafs fan spent like 4 months there and said "nope, I'm out. You can't pay me enough to stay here."

IS THAT GOOD? I'M NOT SURE. I DON'T THINK IT'S GOOD.

Hockey is very popular in the Connecticut area. The problem is CT is already split between Rangers and Bruins (and Yankees/Red Sox). No way anyone is jumping ship. And, commuting to Hartford for a game is not realistic.

Rangers signed a bunch of veterans. It seems like leadership was an issue on the team, which is not surprising due to their awful playoff effort. Hopefully the bottom 6 does not become cement. I would have liked Talbot over Quick. Ah whatever I don't really care. Their playoff run was so underwhelming and disappointing that I'm not wasting another year of my life to watch them play like bums in the playoffs. Go Sens and Sabres.

Apparently the Leafs are just adding as much "fuck you" to the roster as they can. I'm not hating it.

Losing ROR and Acciari still hurts but they kept Kampf and added Reaves & Bertuzzi. And apparently Max Domi isn't off the table yet either. And they still have McCabe. And Rielly doesn't have to babysit Justin Holl anymore.

There was a debate amongst Leafs fans last year that Michael Bunting's relationship with the officials wouldn't have hurt the team as much if he wasn't the ONLY PERSON playing with that kind of attitude. When you have one shit stirrer on your team they get singled out every game and you're fucked. But when you have multiple the refs can't call everything and you tend to come out on top, especially when games get shoddy and ESPECIALLY in the playoffs. I guess Treliving listened.

I know Foos wasn't too keen on Blake Wheeler at this stage of his career but the Rangers getting him at 800k seems pretty incredible considering his production. Even if he's terrible defensively as his critics point out he basically slots into the lineup as a much cheaper version of Kane.

At the end of the day though we knew that NYR were locked in to this core for the next couple of years and moves are limited - it really just comes down to whether they can get the job done or not.

The knocks on Wheeler were his $8.25 million salary, and the stupid coaches playing him first line minutes, when he really should have been middle six. If the Jets signed Blake Wheeler to $800k salary for 3rd line minutes, and second line PP, I'd be happy about that.

I mean he can stay if he's prepared to play for 800k!

Jul 5, 2023 23:37:29 GMT @admin said:

I mean he can stay if he's prepared to play for 800k!

This has me baffled. They’re saying he might end up in Ottawa now? Like what?

Jul 1, 2023 23:23:53 GMT RT said:

Lots of moves today with free agency opening. I'm not recapping them all.

Instead I will talk about how my team doesn't make any sense, and therefore they will finally do well in the playoffs. I can't explain it, it's just how hockey works. You do weird shit and everyone goes "wtf are those guys doing?" and then they end up in the finals somehow.

Jokes aside, I'm fucking terrified with the how and why Ryan O'Reilly left Toronto. He got traded there, seemed really excited to be part of the team, then after a handful of regular season games and 1.5 playoff series he not only bad-mouthed how the team was structured, he actively sought out another team to sign with because he didn't want to stay.

A Stanley Cup and Conn Smythe winner from Ontario that grew up a Leafs fan spent like 4 months there and said "nope, I'm out. You can't pay me enough to stay here."

IS THAT GOOD? I'M NOT SURE. I DON'T THINK IT'S GOOD.

It's crazy to me how much Toronto has suffered for 60+ years. Hendrix was still alive last time Lord Stanley visited Canada's most important city.

Even shit shows like Carolina have won it since. VGK's barely old enough for kindergarten and has a cup now. Hell, the Raptors won an O'Brien Trophy and didn't even exist until 30 years after the Leafs last title win.

One day they're probably gonna just pull it out of their ass as a 7th or 8th seed that goes on a miraculous run. I honestly hope so at least for your sake, there's been enough torment for almost two lifetimes.

Vladimir TaraSENko

Jul 28, 2023 0:06:08 GMT RT said:

Vladimir TaraSENko

Where's Zappy with his brand spanking new Tarasenko Sens jersey?!

Also LOL at the Leafs but more specifically the league.

Matt Murray quoted in May about he's ready to play in the playoffs if needed. But now on long term IR so the Leafs get cap relief. We've seen this so many times with money making franchises. NHL just doesn't care.

Jul 28, 2023 15:48:50 GMT Foos said:

Also LOL at the Leafs but more specifically the league.

Matt Murray quoted in May about he's ready to play in the playoffs if needed. But now on long term IR so the Leafs get cap relief. We've seen this so many times with money making franchises. NHL just doesn't care.

They really need to get rid of the hard cap. Big market teams are going to find a way around it one way or another, so they might as well work with the teams and come up with something more fair.

Common Dubas W

Can't spell "Dubas" without "Dub"

Pittsburgh Penguins have acquired Erik Karlsson in a 3-way trade.

They also receive Rem Pitlick, Dillon Hamaliuk & SJ's 3rd round pick in 2026.

Sharks got the Pens 1st round pick in 2024 (top 10 protected), Mikael Granlund, Jan Rutta & Mike Hoffman.

Montreal gets the Pens 2nd round pick in 2025, Jeff Petry, Casey DeSmith & Nathan Legare.

There's a bunch of salary retention, cap nonsense and roster slot mumbo jumbo involved with this trade that I'm not going to get into. But there it is. Kyle Dubas does Kyle Dubas things and goes all-in on the Pittsburgh core for 1 or 2 final runs at the Cup. And he will try to get Karlsson a ring in the process.

I MISS HIM SO MUCH. :cry:

Good for Pittsburgh fans. That PP gonna be elite.