2016 NHL Offseason Thread
 

In this thread, we pay homage to our Pittsburgh Penguins overlords...

.....and I suppose we can talk about the Draft, free-agent signings, trades, and how much of a clunker this World Cup of Hockey is going to end up being.

Cats got Yandle today . Pretty stoked about that

is the cats the panthers?

**** the Pens and their bandwagon fans!

Ahhh a brand new thread to celebrate another Penguins cup!!! What a season this was!

Curious to see where Stamkos ends up. I'm hearing Buffalo is a possibility?

Also interested to see if the Kings can bring back Lucic. I know there's mutual interest, it's just a cap thing. If they do retain Lucic, they'll probably have to make some corresponding trade to free up space, and also lose Trevor Lewis (one of my favorite under-rated players).

LeCavalier retired today (no surprise there). Great career.

Will the Pens move Fleury? The Leafs acquired Andersen from the Ducks for a couple of draft picks and extended him 5 years.

Just some random thoughts on the offseason.

I think Toronto is leading the Stamkos sweepstakes.....
If he wanted to stay with Tampa, I imagine that contract would have been signed already.

Shattenkirk to the Bruins/Oilers/Panthers/Flyers/Sabres/Red Wings?

I've been watching this closely. If Stamkos signs with the Leafs he'd be taking an enormous home town discount, (due to taxes), and risking the prime of his career to play for a team that just finished completing the "Scorched Earth" aspect of their rebuild.

On the Leafs end, they'd be committing 9+M per year on a long term contract to a guy who's had a recent blood clot issue.

There are risks on both sides but this has been the ultimate speculation/ dream scenario in Leafland for the past year. Stamkos must really want to come back to Leafland if this were to transpire as expected.

This has the potential to be magical or horrific. Anything other than a Stanley Cup win in the next 5 years would deem it horrific.

ROFL **** you salty douchebag

Just let him vent! lol

NHL Mock Draft

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports...chuk/86136442/

Not one goalie projected to go in the first round. Do the Chiefs have the first round pick?

Also, Auston Matthews is getting Eric Lindros (Flyers fan here) type hype. I'm going to have to watch some film on this guy.

I think people are just shocked that he's coming out of Scottsdale AZ. Most Scouts would have had him pegged to go 3rd overall last year behind McDavid and Eichel, (he missed that draft by 2 days),

For the draft tonight I think the #Preds select Defenseman Dante Fabbro with the 17th pick. Would love for Gauthier, Sergachev or Chychrum to fall to 17, but that is unlikely.

Rumor is Flyers are trying very hard to trade up to #4 in the draft.

Blues trade Elliot to the Flames for a 2nd

CBJ should fire the entire front office. How could they pass on Puljujarvi for Dubois?!?
Yet again, the Oilers have a horse shoe up their ass for the draft.

That kessel trade was worth it! Keep that first round pick we'll take the Cup!

It took you a while to bring this up...:rolleyes:

A kid from the American South West, a freaking Coyotes season ticket holder, selected as the hopes and dreams of Canada's biggest hockey market. It's quite a story. It shows the growth of U.S. hockey. 5 freaking guys from the St. Louis drafted in the first round! 12 overall. And Kane just won the Hart Trophy.

Personally I think Stamkos is going to DET.

Pay no mind to fans with no region loyalty

I would have liked to see Matthews go to Arizona. That might be the foothold that market needs to stay around into the near future.

But alas....

Elliott trade. I guess its okay for the Blues. Allen played okay last year and is younger.

Your point?

ROFL you're the saltiest person on this ****ing site. I don't have to explain myself again. Sorry I got to pick my teams when I was young and from a shit hole city with no major sports teams. Eat a dick you salty ****ing bum

Lake fanism, so your constant bragging is nullified.

Ya God forbid I brag about the one team I like that just won. Sue me. You're just a jealous bitch over the Blues. You made it to the WCF so enjoy that instead of being a bitter salty twat.

So you are an admitted bandwagon fan of teams that make absolutely zero geographic sense....like an Fd up mastercard commercial...weird. At least i can actually watch my teams play ROFL

I can watch my teams. I grew up liking certain athletes of specific teams. I stuck with those teams even when they were dog shit. I couldn't care less what you think. You're the butthurt little pansy pussy. The only team you could say I bandwagon were the Bulls and still like them and liked them when MJ retired and they were god awful. So **** yourself with an Elliot bobblehead

I am trying to think about which situation is worse.. MFjones who is a fan of teams from cities all over the country for whatever his reasons are or PGM who is a regionally-affiliated Chiefs, Blues, and Mizzou fan. There is too much suck in both of those schools of thought. If you enjoy your successful non-regional teams, good for you; if you enjoy your regional-suckitudes, good for you.

I mean being from Toledo, I didn't like any of those teams. Why root for shitty Ohio teams? I was like 8 when I picked my teams. The only regional team I like are the Toledo Rockets. I hated the Browns, bengals and lions growing up. They were terribad. Didn't like the Red Wings. Didn't mind the Pistons but grew up a Jordan fan like a lot of my friends did. My brother liked Frank Thomas so I started liking him as well and stuck with them. I grew up loving DT and Andre Rison. At least I'm loyal to my teams and stick with them. I'm sorry I wasn't born in a city like KC and had 2 major teams. We didn't have one in Toledo. People always laugh at me but I'm like hey man I liked certain athletes growing up and stuck with those teams even when they moved on. I mean don't know how I can be a bandwagon Chiefs fan considering they never win and have the worst luck of any pro sport franchise.

Frontrunner here folks! Bet it took ya till those World Series runs to finally upgrade your 85 Powder Blues!

Mofo don't take me seriously you are an alright dude. Sometimes i start layong it on thick and just keep going. I'm done now man. Congrats on the victory.

Says the guy who transferred from NIU to KU. LMAO

Very original, but very wrong.

I wish I would've transferred from NIU instead of the pile that I actually came from LMAO.

So you didn't root for the Royals when they sucked then? Not understanding since they blew monkey nuts for a couple decades.

Chiefs fan since I was 9 years old. Besides hockey, that was the only sport I was into. Got into baseball in 2012 (a little bit of spark from the 2011 WS) and picked the Royals strictly because of KC. Couldn't have told you one thing about one of the players on the Royals or any players in the system. The first games I watched that year consisted of:
Jonathon Broxton hitting a batter to walk the A's off
Luke Hochevar giving up 7 runs to the Indians in the top of the 1st inning of the home opener
Soon after, a 12 game losing streak in April, during a season where the motto was "Our Time". From there, I was hooked and am very proud to finally live in the area.

Therefore, I will make a third category for myself: "former wannabe regionally-affiliated suckitude fan turned regionally-affiliated"

Chiefs are loaded we all may get to experience something special this year :) Every other sport is just a time killer anyway.

Military brat, so I had my pick of the litter.

In 1993, I took the runt (the Chiefs).

In 1998, I jumped on with the Penguins as my Dad was (and continues to be) a huge fan. We've called and talked about each Pens game for the last 5 years at every intermission. Given he's at home in western PA and I'm subject to the reassignment whims of the military, its one of the biggest ways we stay in touch. So yeah, the Penguins winning the Cup again was super special awesome.

That av logo though...ugh ROFL

What pile of shit did you come from? ;)

I go to the University of Kentucky and have no geographical or family connections there. I'm just there because I get a 4th of my cost covered via scholarship.

Same here that is why the teams I follow make no geographic sense.

Football: KC
Hockey: New Jersey
Baseball: Seattle

When I started watching each sport they were the local team where my family was stationed and I stuck with them.

I will allow fot that :) Just don't make a weird creepy Chief logo out of the Debil

Eastern Illinois. Don't get me wrong, I loved my time there, met a bunch of great people and faculty. But two years was enough. State schools in Illinois have gotten next to nothing from the government over the past 18 months or so before this summer due to a lack of state budget. Was fine for a while at EIU, then the school began ran razor thin on money and began laying off mass-quantities of service workers and before I knew it we no longer had garbage cans in the buildings. Not many donors there. There are two entire dorm buildings on campus that are vacant because of the drastic decrease in enrollment within the past five years.
I'm not saying I transferred because garbage cans weren't supplied to me, but the environment isn't where I wanted to spend the only four years of college that I get.

When I graduated high school, I wanted to be at KU after my second year of college and I am glad I made the move.

I understand. I don't want to have to worry about a state's budget impacting the quality of my learning and living.

Shoulda hit up SLU Rammy

Well that's good to know :D sorry for busting your balls in self defense.

I've just taken shit for my selection of teams by people for years. Especially Ohioans because they're all in suck mode most of the time in the major sports. Growing up I didn't like OSU or Michigan (Toledo is literally a hop skip and a jump from the Michigan border). Loved Ron Dayne so that's why I like Wisconsin along with UNC because of Jordan. I'm all over the place but it's kept me sane considering the Chiefs ineptness all these years. That's why last year was special to me. Playoff win was my first and I don't care how it came. Hopefully this season they can run the table.

1. Not Christian.

2. I don't have that kind of $.

So, all within the past hour:

Taylor Hall for Adam Larsson.

PK Subban for Shea Weber.

Stamkos staying in Tampa.

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl

Habs send Subban to Preds for Weber

Stamkos staying in Tampa

Taylor Hall traded to Devils for Larsson

http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/...jpg?1315930535

Gotta figure Shattenkirk wouldn't extend with Edmonton.

The rumors were that the Blues requested Hall in a Shatty deal and it didn't go anywhere. There's no world whereby Larsson is a better player than Kevin Shattenkirk so something else had to have been what scuttled that deal.

Suddenly that 'ridiculous' Larkin for Shattenkirk rumor seems oddly manageable. I'd have said that Larkin was way too much to give up for 22 prior to this deal but if Larsson gets you Hall, Shattenkirk gets you pretty damn close to Larkin.

Or hell, maybe Stamkos back to TB means that Shattenkirk for Drouin could be looked at again. I'd make that move 1 for 1.

The Larkin request was rumored as being prior to last season, meaning Shattenkirk had 2 years left on his contract and Larkin wasn't a stud(yet).

WTF is going on?

I get out of work and then find out about Hall/Larsson and even bigger, Weber/Subban.
And the cherry on top is Stammer resigning with the Bolts.

Holy shit, what an afternoon.

Subban must've not had a no trade? I can't imagine him waiving for Nashville.

Red Wing fans are really upset about Stamkos resigning lol

Habs got fleeced LMAO

Subban's no move would have kicked in July 1st. The worst trade in Montreal history.LMAO

If anybody got the worst of any trade today, it's the Oilers.
Taylor Hall for Adam Larsson? That's criminal.

Why would anyone agree to that? If Edmonton wanted to shake up their roster, deal Nugent-Hopkins or Yakupov. The Oilers could have had Hall and McDavid doing magical things for years to come, but instead you shoulder the majority of that load on a young McDavid. I absolutely hate this trade if I'm an Oilers fan.

lmao why in the hell did the Habs trade Pk Subban?

Not missing Shattenkirk, since my avs drafted him.. hes been meh

PBJ

The Oilers could have found an Adam Larsson on the FA market for a couple mil and keep Hall on the roster. As a Flames fan, I'm fine with this!

Hall for Larsson ROFL ROFL

A good breakdown of yesterdays deals plus tsn's top 50 FA list.

http://www.tsn.ca/wait-there-s-more-...-list-1.518321

That's absolutely wrong. There isn't a FA defenseman out there that comes close to him. He is easily a top 3 D man, in IMHO, top 2 on a team. First off, my favorite Devil currently is/was Adam Larsson so I will admit a biased before I start. I also fully admit that the Devils got the better of this trade, especially in the present, by a wide margin.

However, if you are just looking at Larsson and not comparing him to Hall, he is a fantastic player. He does not have the offensive stats to wow people, but he really does have the ability. He has a good shot, plays with his head up in the offensive zone, and has great break out passes. Unfortunately for him he was a rookie when the Devils had a good offense and was coming into his own on an awful Devils offense the past few years.

He was an absolute shutdown defenseman the past few years, especially last year. And he has room to grow. He is also on a fantastic 4.5 mil cap hit for years to come.

Point is, I get why people don't really appreciate him. He is been on a bad team, in NJ, without sexy numbers. Watch the kid play, especially in the defensive zone when the opponent is set up. He is cool as a cucumber and works the boards very well with his body. He is exactly what EDM needs, just not at the price he cost them.

But if you do care about those numbers, he did have a +15 on a bad team last year. I recognize my bias here, but I also recognize that I have watched him more than any non-Devil fan that has weighed in on Adam the past few days. Depends on the discussion you want to have. Is he equal to Taylor Hall or is he a really good defenseman who can actually still get better at 23 years old.

Decent article on why the Oilers and Canadiens couldn't make a deal, (Hall for Subban)-
http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/3...eal-make-deal/

Look at Rangers fans saying they're going to get Shattenkirk for Nash.

Nash has ****ing negative value with the 2/$16 he still has left to be paid. Nobody's going to give a thing for a declining forward with an albatross contract.

Still hoping that the Blue can convince the Devils to be too cute by half and flip Hall back our way for Shatty. Or that the Bruins get a FA forward signed and are willing to move Pastrnak for him. Larkin's a pipe dream, but then again, so was Hall for Larsson.

Oh well - if keeping Shattenkirk prevents us from making a silly decision on a Backes extension, then it's a win for us. Backes is going to hurt any team that gives him the 5/$32 deal that he's looking for in fairly short order.

The Blues didn't win shit with him - they can not win shit without him. The window on the Backes era closed a month ago; it's time to move on. There's nothing they can do to make up for the fact that they needed to have this season's run 3 years ago to act as a springboard to further success. It didn't happen - it's over. Move on behind Petro, Tarasenko, Schwartz, Parayko and Allen.

(And please please please see if anyone will give you a bag of pucks for Bouwmeester....**** that guy)

Perron back! The Cup is ours!

Flush that turd Bo. **** thought we were rid of Perron for good.

Don't forget Svbotka DJ!!

Backes to Boston. This could actually be good news in that it may allow them to trade Pastrnak for Shatty now.

And Shatty's preference has always been Boston or the Rags. The Rags have jack and shit to offer so a Shattenkirk for Pastrnak deal would be about as good as we could hope for.

Hundreds of Bleed Bluers weep in a corner for Capn underachiever

Ladd to the NY Afterthoughts

So after today I don't know how to feel about the Blues.

On one hand, I'm happy they dodged two bullets in Backes(though I would've loved him to be a lifelong Blue) and Brouwer.

On the other, I feel disappointed that they don't appear to have brought in a top 6 forward and seem to have slightly downgraded offensively without a stud #1 C/replacement for Backes.

Perron is fine as a replacement for Brouwer.

I would be physically shocked if the Devils traded away any veteran offense for defense. While we have holes, we also have guys like Santini, Severson, and eventually Jacobs coming up. And while their offensive cupboard isn't as bare as it once was, there is just no way they would move an offensive player. Maybe Cammalleri because of his age.

Unless STL is interested in the Devils first next year plus a Severson or Santini or Boucher I can't see them making a deal. Ray Shero, for better or worse, at least always comes out on the better end of trades for both PIT and NJ. Especially since you guys have time, I wouldn't expect a deal between those two teams. That is unless you really like one of the names I mentioned plus our potential lottery pick of a 1st rounder next year.

Yeah, I'm a little confused by the Perron hate.

I don't love the guy; he was never someone I was sorry to see leave. But we got good value for him (our best forward prospect in Barbashev) and he brings speed that I felt was sorely lacking.

Yes, this team needs another top 6 forward to compete. Army can put on a brave face and say that we'll roll with Shattenkirk but if they go into this season with him instead of the forward we need to replace our defections (it ain't Sobotka), we'll be in trouble.

But as you said - sometimes the best deals are the ones you don't make. Brouwer's deal doesn't seem unreasonable, to be honest. But at the same time, the guy was a rich man's Andrew Shaw. He's just another of those guys that will take as many stupid goddamn penalties as he delivers clean hits. Jaskin could be a better player as soon as next year if he takes the step forward we've expected of him for years (and while Jaskin's slow as shit, he's not any slower than Brouwer).

I'm disappointed we didn't get Boedker; loved the speed he could bring. At the same time, there's a good chance he'll shut it down when he gets paid...and he wasn't exactly lighting things up to begin with.

This is the reality of a cap league; make a push and re-load. Those that don't deal with those waves are the guys with legitimate superstars and/or outstanding head coaches. Well we don't have an outstanding head coach and Backes/Oshie/Steen aren't that kind of player either.

The hope is that Tarasenko/Schwartz/Fabbri are (because Yeo isn't an elite coach either).

I wouldn't say the future is bright...but has the future ever been bright for the Blues? We're probably in the same boat we've always been; bit players in some other team's championship video...

Spent the day in the car, only to learn we've lost Backes and Brouwer to FA. Add in the Elliott deal, and the lack of a Shattenkirk trade and this is the offseason from hell.

I really don't have an issue with letting 42/36 walk - it would be crazy to offer them term and $$$. It's the stupid ****ing contracts (19, Lehtera, Stastny) that don't allow us to replace those guys.

Here are our centers: Lehtera, Stastny, Sobotka and Brodziak.

RW: Tarasenko, Reaves, Jaskin.

If that gets you excited, call 314-622-BLUE for season tickets.

The Stastny contract was a necessary evil.

Bouwmeester and Lehtera, OTOH, were not.

Yeah, this is looking like a 7th/8th place squad.

True. And in fairness to 26, he's shown flashes of being worthy of that contract.

Bouwmeester and Lehtera? Not even close.

I would have felt a lot better had we been able to get Hall from Edmonton, but 22 being unwilling to sign long term killed that chance. Army has zero leverage because it seems like Shatty's only willing to sign in NY or Boston.

Or, we'll let him walk for nothing this time next year...

Doug Armstrong is the worst......

I'm fine with Perron being back, but the return on him was absolute garbage. Paajarvi + Edmonton's 2nd was and still is a terrible return for him given the situation (a mid forward in his mid 20s under contract who is at least a .5 PPG player). He's an upgrade over Brouwer.

Brouwer's contract is fair, I just don't know how to feel if he put up the same production for 4 years. I don't think we'd be feeling this way if he didn't go HAM in the POs, though.

Blues dodged a bullet with Backes, but it hurts so much right now.

I don't have an issue with Army right now(I need to see how Shattenkirk plays out as well as the entire season) aside from not just saying the team's retooling, not a SC Final contender right now but should be a playoff contender. Hitch returning for a swan song and Backes leaving makes this whole dynamic ****ed up.


No. Offseason from hell would be signing Backes to a terrible deal and trading Shattenkirk for the shit the Blues gave the Flames for Bouwmeester.

Elliott trade is good value. I get the skepticism with Allen, but Elliott wasn't going to re-sign here.

Not much Army can do with Shattenkirk. He's a good defenseman who should return something valuable, but if he won't extend to the team he's traded to, he's better off being in St. Louis for a year than getting a shit return.

Right now, the worst contract on the Blues is Lehtera(way over ****ing paid) followed by Bouwmeester(still a top 4 defenseman, groin injury ****ed up him playing like a top pairing one, though). Stastny's worth his contract, IMO.

Honestly, I'm OK with how today played out. I wouldn't feel good if they overpaid Eriksson, Lucic, Backes, or Brouwer for 4+ years. The only forward I'd hope they'd get into was Okposo.