As much as the Avs just blitzkreiged everyone, beating Tampa and Vasi with some adversity makes it all the more special. They are so fucking hard to kill. Really cool for Darcy to end the series on a high note. Pumped for Landy and Mackinnon. Makar continues to take it all in stride. What a team
Dude's back making generation changing money after a year or two of pennance. If anything that's a goddamn joke compared to what would happen to an average working person who couldn't handle alcohol. Always fascinating how substance is never discussed whenever brought up. Sorry for lashing out rough day.
Kadri, Nichuskin, Burakovsky and Eric Johnson are all UFA. Little less but Manson is too. Lehkonen is a RFA I believe too. Don’t see a scenario where we bring Kadrk back but I really want them to make Nichuskan a priority. Love his style of play.
If Tampa can get a special exemption to get 20 mil over the cap again next season they’ll be right back in it
What is the salary stuff with Tampa? I do not watch much hockey but have had a lot of down time recently so watched a good amount of the playoffs and am curious what gave them an advantage
they manipulated the salary cap by keeping high paid players out just long enough that they could sign/trade for replacement players to fill their cap hits only to have them magically return in time for the playoffs. Salary cap doesn’t apply in the post season so they had a roster that cost something like $20 mil more than every other team
Congrats to Avs fans, you guys have a hell of a team and they showed it all playoffs. They learned from heartbreak over the last couple years and had a great run this year. Lightning tried to find a way to comeback last night, it didn't look like they had much left in the tank in the third though and couldn't reach an extra gear after doing it so many times the last couple years. Not having Point was a big blow but injuries happen, that's just part of the game. Just amazing they were able to get that far without him after he went down against Toronto. It sucked watching the Avs hoist the cup at Amalie Arena last night, but the last three postseason runs by the Lightning have just been incredible to watch and I'm very appreciative of that. I doubt I'll ever see any of my teams have a stretch like that again in any sport. A couple big decisions with Paul and Palat as UFAs, not really sure what is going to happen with either one. If Briesbois brings back Palat I hope it's on a short team deal, he's on the other side of 30 and has some wear on the tires after several deep postseason runs with the team. Paul was a great fit but I'm sure he's a earned a fuck ton of money after these playoffs.
On the plus side the Avs won and the lightning didn’t win three in a row. On the downside now Kadri has a cup.
It was nauseating hearing about him redeeming himself all playoffs when it's his own fucking fault for taking cheap shots and receiving lengthy suspensions for three playoffs that cost his teams.
Kadri, like Kessel before him, was a guy that was never going to win a Cup if he was a premiere player on the roster. He’s an absolutely fantastic role player, but not the guy you can rely on to go win you a Cup. He deserves credit for winning a Cup on a great team. But he did nothing to disprove the previous criticism he received.
I'm not sure Paul gets that much tbh. Point production in playoff runs aren't usually used much in contract negotiations and he's still a career high 20 point regular season player. Palat on the other hand I think is gone. He's 31 and is going to be looking for term/money on what is probably his last contract he'll ever sign.
I will say it was really odd they way they talked about him when they handed him the cup on ESPN. "Battling back from his suspensions" is just an odd way to phrase it.
Bad form to speak ill of a team that just won the title apparently. It all has to be sunshine and rainbows.
thats not what im saying. it was more how they talked about it as something outside of his control like you would talk about an injury or some other extenuating adversity. go ahead and mention it - just do it better.
Interested to see what Colorado does this offseason. They have like 26 million in cap space, but have about 7 forwards (including some pricy ones) and a goalie to re-sign/replace.
With Paul while I agree with that logic not all GMs use that logic. Goodrow last year who had 24 points as a career high in the regular season and got a 6 year deal for 3.6 per year. It takes one to overpay. He's a big, 3rd line guy who can kill penalties and has a decent amount of skill. This might be his best chance at a big payday and I think he'll try to cash in with a 5+ year deal. Palat I could see taking maybe a little less to stay in Tampa out of some loyalty and being close to a lot of guys on the team. I'd be fine with a 2-3 year deal, anything longer than that I wouldn't like. Previously there'd be guys on the farm waiting to step in but the pipeline is pretty thin right now after trading a lot of picks the last couple years while the window has been open.
some guys will go but sakic is going be able to leverage some guys into taking less and they'll bring back more than most think IMO
Kadri is gone, dont see how we can afford to keep him long term. Same With Burky although I am curious what he ultimately gets. Really would love for them to find a way to bring Nichuskin back, I just love his style of play and think he is a perfect fit. Keumper likely needs to be brought back as we have no other alternative. I think we can get him back on a reasonable number. I think Eric Johnson comes back on a team friendly deal, cant see him wanting to move on. Manson would be a nice luxury addition to bring back but who knows what his market ends up being. We have to hope for more natural growth from Newhook to step into a bigger role and then fill out the back of the roster with vets. Ryan Murray seemed to get alot of praise from the team going into the year so I wonder if they look to bring him back again.
A 31 year old player that many teams would currently covet, taking a 3 year deal to reach RFA status at 34 would be pure stupidity He'd likely be leaving tens of millions on the table. Even if he's still good at that age, nobody is going to pay a 33-34 year old huge money unless they're a Crosby/McDavid level player. If he falls off, he might get next to nothing on his next deal, or even be out of the league.