2015 NHL offseason

[jersey cubs fan]

The draft happened and nobody really cares but this Mike Richards story seems interesting.

 

[tweet]

[/tweet]

 

[tweet]

[/tweet]

 

[tweet]

[/tweet]

 

Did Pierre McGuire out the reason why the Kings terminated the contract of Mike Richards for a “material breach” of his deal?

 

While the NHL on NBC Sports analyst didn’t get into the hard details on TSN 690’s Melnick in the Afternoon show in Montreal, McGuire indicated the incident that led to the Kingss decision happened at a border crossing. Here is the link and we’ve displayed the transcript below. The segment starts at around the 9:17 mark.

 

Melnick: “Somebody in the know is telling me something happened with Mike Richards at a border crossing.”

 

Pierre: “Correct … I’m not going to talk about it until it’s made public. I have a pretty good idea of what’s happened.”

 

Melnick: “So the information I have, you can confirm that?”

 

Pierre: “Your information is probably pretty accurate.”

 

Earlier, ESPN.com said it was because of an ‘off-the-ice incident’ the team was made aware of Friday.

[Banedon]

Yeah, I wasn't super interested until that Pierre Mcguire part. Now I'm really curious to find out what exactly happened.

[jersey cubs fan]

So does the saad offer sheet still come in or does that other team not even bother? I assume Columbus has plenty of cap space which would make an aggressive offer less useful.

[Derwood]

So does the saad offer sheet still come in or does that other team not even bother? I assume Columbus has plenty of cap space which would make an aggressive offer less useful.

 

I think shedding Anisimov's contract gives them enough space. The Jackets just gave out a bunch of extensions last year, so I don't think they have tons of cap space, but I haven't looke that closely this off season

[Banedon]

According to TMZ, former Kings center Mike Richards was stopped at the Canadian border two weeks ago and “questioned about oxycodone pills,” but has not been charged with any crime. (Update: According to the Winnipeg Sun, Richards was arrested at the border.)

 

http://deadspin.com/report-mike-richards-stopped-at-canadian-border-with-o-1715046335

[jersey cubs fan]

[tweet]

[/tweet]

[jersey cubs fan]

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/free-agency

 

free agency tracker is active

[jersey cubs fan]

http://deadspin.com/phil-kessel-traded-to-pittsburgh-1715190359

We’ll need to know exactly how much of Kessel’s salary the Leafs will will retain, and the value of the picks that are changing hands, but on the face of things it’s a remarkable underwhelming haul for one of the best scorers in the game, especially since Derrick Pouliot and Olli Maatta had been rumored pieces.

 

But this is about money. Brendan Shanahan is cleaning house in Toronto, and that means moving Kessel and his $8 million cap hit through 2022. If this is all the market would bear for a salary dump of this size, it’s a move the Leafs had to make. Still, it’s hard to imagine they couldn’t have done better.

[jersey cubs fan]

[tweet]

[/tweet]

[Guest]

the leafs are a complete disaster

[Brian707]

the leafs are a complete disaster

 

 

I think Boston is an even bigger disaster

[jersey cubs fan]

[tweet]

[/tweet]

[BrockLanders]

the leafs are a complete disaster

 

They've been one of the smartest organizations for over a year now, ever since they hired Shanahan. He hired analytics prodigy Kyle Dubas as AGM and the franchise went from having no advanced stats presence to the largest analytical department in the league. Shanahan also hired Mark Hunter, who had a ridiculously successful track record drafting and developing stars with the London Knights.

 

As a Leafs fan, it feels very much like the first couple of years under Theo. Still a long way to go, but it's just a huge change for the organization to be continually making smart moves in a proper rebuilding effort. The farm system has gone from bottom 5 to top 10 in two drafts as they continue to target as many skilled forwards as possible (much as the Cubs target the best bat available). They also use free agency like the Cubs did, picking up undervalued veterans on short deals with the intention of flipping them at the deadline for assets. They did it with Santorelli and Winnik last year, Parenteau is an obvious candidate this season.

 

I am extremely underwhelmed with the Kessel return, but I am willing to cut them some slack since essentially every other transaction has been great. I think Kessel's salary and NMC really left the team without many viable suitors. Why they absolutely had to move him, I'm not sure. Obviously either Babcock or Shanahan absolutely wanted him gone. Very disappointing. On the other hand, having an elite sniper in his prime on a rebuilding team doesn't make much sense either.

[NewUserName]

I agree with your assessment of the Leafs. They are building a foundation for consistent success. I know a lot of Wings fans are happy Babcock is gone because he reluctantly played young players, and those players did not seem to improve once they reached the NHL. Is there any sense of this with Leaf fans, or is this a concern?

[BrockLanders]

I feel like the situations in Detroit and Toronto are so different that it's unlikely the burying of young players would even be possible. Detroit has never had a true rebuilding season in my entire life, they've just had so much talent consistently. It's certainly easier to choose veterans over youth when you have reasonable options on both sides. With the Leafs, there's no infrastructure of talent to block their prospects. Next year is a write-off, but the 16-17 season will likely have all their star prospects on the roster simply because they'll be far and away the best options.

 

As for Wings prospects not developing well, I don't have much of an opinion there as I haven't been that familiar with their system. I think Tatar has certainly improved a lot since I first saw him in the league, but I would defer to Wings fans on those accounts.

 

It will be interesting to see how quickly Wings prospects move now under Blashill. Was it really Babcock not trusting them or was it an organizational philosophy? How quickly guys like Mantha, Larkin and Svechnikov progress will be very telling.

[NewUserName]

I think it's organizational philosophy, but even when it was obvious several yrs ago that Tatar, Nyquist and others were better options, Babcock rode the likes of Cleary and Bertuzzi until injuries forced his hand. I do think Tatar has improved, also Ericsson and DeKeyser. But not sure Nyquist, Smith, Sheahan are moving forward. Jurco is going backwards. The thought is the young players will thrive under Blashill, because they did in Grand Rapids. But there is no evidence to show that they will.

[UMFan83]

I hope Toronto gets their crap together. Although it's fun to laugh at their follies, the NHL is a better league when the Leafs are good. At least I think so. It's been awhile since that's been the case (other than that outlier year where they almost beat the Bruins in the playoffs)

[seanimal]

i just want all the other canadian teams to be better than vancouver, is that so wrong?

[Derwood]

i just want all the other canadian teams to be better than vancouver, is that so wrong?

 

Not at all. Vancouver can suck it

[minnesotacubsfan]

Great City: Exceptionally Disappointing Hockey

 

That should be Vancouver's tag line

[Banedon]

The AHL Milwaukee Admirals got new uni's and an update logo, and it looks awesome, imo....

 

http://news.sportslogos.net/2015/07/15/fear-this-admirals-evolve-unveil-new-logos-and-uniforms/

[jersey cubs fan]

Lamoriello to Toronto seems kind of dumb to me. Is Toronto really lacking in "old men with connections"?

[BrockLanders]

Pretty surprising news. I think he'll be more of an adviser in practice, the GM title here won't give him the final say in decisions.

 

The guy most responsible for the Leafs moves over the past year (outside of the draft) has been Assistant GM Kyle Dubas. Analytics kid, Theo comparisons, he's a rock star in the city already. But Dubas is only 28, so I understand why they won't give him the GM title just yet. I think Lamoriello has a different type of credibility, which may be useful at times depending on which team or executive they're dealing with. Hoping Lou is being brought in the mentor him for a couple of seasons before Dubas officially takes the title.

[kujay]

Yeah I don't see how that can be a bad move for Shanny.

 

I felt so bad for the Leafs fans after that debacle against Boston, I hope they get it together over the next few years.

[biittner77]

Holtby got more or less the same contract as Crawford.