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A few names on this last I've already seen brought up a number of times here (Jeannot, Mangiapane, Smith, Brazeau, Tanev). Two names that I hadn't thought a ton about that were included here both come from Carolina: Eric Robinson and Brent Burns. Robinson, 30, is a "big, speedy, physical" as...

McMann's probably the best example. Holl to a degree. There's also guys like Marchment, Moore, Brazeau who spent at least some time going through the Leafs developmental system who ended up being players after leaving here. Oddly enough all these guys were UFAs. Leafs have had arguably more...

Feels crazy but yeah obviously they wanted to avoid the perception that they're going into the tournament with a starter in mind. Hellebuyck and Oettinger will likely be battling for that role until the last second I'd imagine. I think the bigger omission there was Slavin. Guy was by most...

There'd be A LOT more Brad Marchand's if it were that easy.

All correct.

Somewhat riffing on my last post I wouldn't be surprised if Toronto's current analytics/R&D team sees some upheaval during the offseason. The vast majority of the group has been here for 10+ years now and while it's impossible to know for sure what their impacts have been or what they've maybe...

He certainly took another step with the Panthers but the signs of him being a very, very good player were always there, reference this from when he was originally traded to Florida: It's a little funny. For all the talk of the Panthers being this gritty, tough, old school hockey team...

Stamkos signed a couple of days before free agency opened in 2016. Assuming you aren't talking about Stamkos last year, who was a great player sure but too old to really be considered a marquee elite level free agent.

The Leafs could theoretically give his agent permission to talk to other teams before July 1st I guess in exchange for waiving his NMC for a team that's showing interest. But yeah I agree it's looking more and more likely something like that won't happen.

If there was a team that Marner was 90% leaning towards signing with already it'd be nice to work something out, either a sign and trade or just a trade like Guentzel and Tanev last year, that benefits all 3 parties involved. But you can't really blame him for wanting to go to July 1st and...

San Jose would be a really interesting one. I don't think they have official roles with the team but IIRC Thornton and Marleau are still semi-involved with the team at least in an informal sense. Both players are obviously big influences on Marner as he grew up in the NHL (maybe not for the...

I'm still betting on LA.

I forgot this was a thing.

Niemela's of course been rumored to do the same. Man that trade sure did blow up in our face after all the fanbase's gloating. Not that I think Kleven's anything special but still a NHLer.

I think Vezina+Hart combos should be reserved for truly exceptional goalie performances. Carey Price's 2014-15 year being a good example where his stats were significantly better than any other goalies close to him in wins. I'm not fully convinced that was the case here. Hellebuyck dominated in...

It's a little crazy that the two best players of the most recent eras (Crosby and McDavid) each had another centre behind them who at times was as good as any other player in the league (Draisaitl a little more than Malkin but still). As just a fan of the game in both cases I would loved to...

I did wonder about something like a Domi/McMann-Laughton-Giroux scrappy/two-way 3rd line yeah. Have a new speedy 2C move Tavares to 2LW (which is maybe the obvious answer to the 'Tavares is too good for 3C but too slow for 2C' problem): Knies-Matthews-Domi Tavares-Karlsson/Zibanejad-Nylander...

I think Giroux often doesn't get talked about a lot as a free agent target because many assume he's definitely returning to Ottawa. But if that's not the case he's definitely fairly high on my wish list.

I'm sure Oilers fans weren't happy with that performance but 52 goals and 140 points in 94 playoff games now. Having one bad round isn't the same as consistently having one bad round every year.

It was the full cap hit and the Canes also had to pay the $3mil signing bonus: Was a 1st rounder too much? Maybe. But I also don't think there has ever really been a comparable to this. Acquiring LTIR deals is completely different than just taking on a full $6.25mil in dead cap space that...