They have known for a longtime LeBlanc wasn't going to be a NHL player. He played slow in the AHL...Not a good recipe for NHL success. They jumped at him and made a mistake-It happens but to pay a young guy $500k to play in Rockford is not a mistake Bowman will want to make very often.
- Al

Glad they take the risk on college free agents though. Most will not pan out but if they pick up a TVR (or potentially Kyle Baun) every 3-5 signings or so it is worth it. Wirtz can afford it and there is no cap hit. Obviously, if you're drafting late the logical play is to go for quantities of prospects to find what you need. Probably makes sense wherever you draft.

@JayZawaski670: @JGomez68 @OneStopHabs @670TheScore Thanks for reading/sharing. FWIW, the source told me he doesn't believe Montreal is a suitor.


- walleyeb1

wellllll thennnn.....

Sharp, Bickell + Versteeg to AZ for a 3rd round pick in 2016 and a 4th in 2017......

I had my run-in with him and got pretty bad, that I went on and found out everything about him, after, I felt bad and left it alone.
If he could just talk hockey and remove the homerism & doucheyness he's fine.
Which so far (with me) he has ....
- Ur Not Me

This is a tough thing for everyone to deal with. Posters, bloggers and fans alike, could really do wonders if they(and maybe even for 5 minutes a day) look at a situation from someone else's point of view instead of acting like the end all be all and always right.

You really think after losing Vermy, Richy and Sharp, we would have a stronger team?
- oconstyle85

Don't forget Saad.

You really think after losing Vermy, Richy and Sharp, we would have a stronger team?
- oconstyle85

I do. Even without saad as well.

The back end would 5 very good NHL defensemen with Johns or TVR with Rundblad.

Call me crazy.......but I do. I like that defense a LOT. I also like another year of Teuvo hitting the weights. This Tikihinov kid I think can be pretty good.

wellllll thennnn.....

Sharp, Bickell + Versteeg to AZ for a 3rd round pick in 2016 and a 4th in 2017......
- EnzoD

would sharp wave to go to AZ? why would the coyotes accept Bickell's contract? is AZ looking to add 12-13 mil?

@JayZawaski670: @JGomez68 @OneStopHabs @670TheScore Thanks for reading/sharing. FWIW, the source told me he doesn't believe Montreal is a suitor.


- walleyeb1

Islanders for Grabner + pick.......


I called it 1st.....

This is a tough thing for everyone to deal with. Posters, bloggers and fans alike, could really do wonders if they(and maybe even for 5 minutes a day) look at a situation from someone else's point of view instead of acting like the end all be all and always right.
- nurk

Whatever it is, so be it. But in all seriousness and not sounding bias, on my isles thread, we at least admit how bad a player is or whatever the case maybe of our own team. As an example; Amac/Streit, (not personally attacking the flyer dude) we couldn't wait to shed those players and we all admitted how bad they are, but we all were definitely surprised on what Snow got in return, we didn't care if it was a 4/5/6th round pick...
Some on my thread my overrate, but not as bad as others... geez

To keep Kruger and Oduya at around $6.5M total, they still need to move around $10M of salary. If Sharp and Bickell were sent packing for 8th-round picks, then it's done. Unfortunately, Bickell is untradeable on his own, and Sharp is going to be difficult to trade.

Bowman needs to consider (and probably has) making smaller trades and flipping those assets…

https://www.hockeyscap.com/armchair-gm/edit/17284

To summarize what's in the link… Trade Sharp to cosmopolitan Montreal in return for Emelin. Emelin and Bickell (?) get packaged to some team (like Dallas) that needs D in return for some smaller cap hit (I randomly selected Antoine Rousell because his cap is $2M). Then Rousell and Versteeg get packaged to San Jose for picks…

Again, Sharp, Bickell, and Versteeg are gone, with no salary retained. In the end, we have some prospects but keep Crawford, Shaw, Seabrook, etc...

wellllll thennnn.....

Sharp, Bickell + Versteeg to AZ for a 3rd round pick in 2016 and a 4th in 2017......
- EnzoD

one of the mostl ikely scenarios in AZ is a sale of the team. i doubt new owners would be thrilled with the current ownership taking on these contracts and giving away draft picks.

God forbid that they get an career threatening injury and have to get another job like the rest of us! You don't need to apologize for the modern athlete, they are fully capable of it themselves.

And remember, the Investment "scheme" (because that's all it's ever been) works only for those who possess large amounts of money to invest. They lend or "deposit" it in a bank for interest, who then magically lend the original amount out 9 times through FRACTIONAL RESERVE BANKING, which is mathematically not even possible but somehow made legal! And when they purposefully destroy the world economy by creatively STEALING money through complex derivative schemes and polluting the bottom lines of every nation on Earth the banks ask for no jail time and bail outs, and voila, they get it!
- MexicoHawk

BACK TO THE GOLD STANDARD!!!!!!

would sharp wave to go to AZ? why would the coyotes accept Bickell's contract? is AZ looking to add 12-13 mil?
- nurk

Because of the great hockey fanbase in Arizona!! and AZ is looking to get to the salary cap floor...or are they already there? IDK anymore...every rumored suitor is now rumored to be out...too many rumors and not enough salary dumping

First off, I'm a blackhawks fan.
Second off you couldn't be more wrong. Being a blackhawks fan I know that the Sharp deal was awful, depsite the circumstances around it.
- nurk

Actually, im going to question you, bc being an outsider, Sharps contract is a good one, problem is that he's on a championship team that needs cap space, so other GM's have CHI against the wall.
For being a 20g scorer or more, the avg salary is somewhat $5-6m, he fits into that category.
So how do u see it as a bad contract?

God forbid that they get an career threatening injury and have to get another job like the rest of us! You don't need to apologize for the modern athlete, they are fully capable of it themselves.

And remember, the Investment "scheme" (because that's all it's ever been) works only for those who possess large amounts of money to invest. They lend or "deposit" it in a bank for interest, who then magically lend the original amount out 9 times through FRACTIONAL RESERVE BANKING, which is mathematically not even possible but somehow made legal! And when they purposefully destroy the world economy by creatively STEALING money through complex derivative schemes and polluting the bottom lines of every nation on Earth the banks ask for no jail time and bail outs, and voila, they get it!
- MexicoHawk

Well said, but keep in mind every one of the schemes you mention get a blessing from congress to be made legal. Our system is clearly broken and a fraud. Like a lot of things, you have to buy into some narrative to rationally participate. That is invest into a premiss, so that you can position yourself against everything else. Global warming is the biggest example.

BACK TO THE GOLD STANDARD!!!!!!
- StLBravesFan

Or at least some regulation and fair taxation like there was prior to the 80s, where more people prospered but I think Mexico is talking third world where people don't have the luxury of getting educated and making decisions to better thenselves. When the the majority of the wealth of the world is shared between so few, while the once strong middle class is shrinking and while so many have nothing, nothing good can come of it.

Well said, but keep in mind every one of the schemes you mention get a blessing from congress to be made legal. Our system is clearly broken and a fraud. Like a lot of things, you have to buy into some narrative to rationally participate. That is invest into a premiss, so that you can position yourself against everything else. Global warming is the biggest example.
- TrueGrit

C'mon dude, where not going down this road are we.....

I love Philly fans.

I thought hell was going to AC in January every year for a convention. Nope. This board with Philly posts tops that.
- SteveRain

Actually, im going to question you, bc being an outsider, Sharps contract is a good one, problem is that he's on a championship team that needs cap space, so other GM's have CHI against the wall.
For being a 20g scorer or more, the avg salary is somewhat $5-6m, he fits into that category.
So how do u see it as a bad contract?
- Ur Not Me

When did I say Sharp had a bad contract? I see this as the biggest issue. I never said Sharp had a bad contract, if I did, then I was hacked.

Actually, im going to question you, bc being an outsider, Sharps contract is a good one, problem is that he's on a championship team that needs cap space, so other GM's have CHI against the wall.
For being a 20g scorer or more, the avg salary is somewhat $5-6m, he fits into that category.
So how do u see it as a bad contract?
- Ur Not Me

Agree with you. Sharp's deal is not a bad deal at all. It wasn't when he signed it and it's even less so now, his decline in stats last year notwithstanding.

Despite his one year stat downtick, where the Hawks moved him to L3-W to create more balance, Sharp is still skating at a high level, remains durable, plays with a bit of an edge maybe moreso than early in his career. Lots of factors contributed to him being a bit down last year, but "being washed up" isn't one of them.

In short, Sharp passes the eye test.

Toss in his leadership intangibles, his Cup winning experience to go with a reasonable cap hit for what he brings for only 2 more years (well before his prime playing days are winding down) and it's clear that Patrick Sharp is a great get for a team looking for that piece.

Which leads me to believe YOU are correct, the Hawks are getting low-ball offers because everyone knows HE has to be one of the pieces to move. Either that or Stanley is turning down huge bounties and over-playing his hand (which I won't believe until evidence surfaces).

Think about this, if you got rid of currency, would there be crime?
- powerenforcer

The world existed without an organized money system for all but the last 300 years. Now compare the wars, crime, violence and inequality in these last 300 years to the previous millennia! Our society now requires an investment north of a million dollars to simply run for the mayoral seat in any city of significant size. NO average citizen has the ability to risk losing that kind of money to simply SERVE THE PEOPLE as per the Constitution! Multinational Corporations possess this kind of money and thus finance BOTH sides of the political race so that their's is a "sure thing" and not a gamble at all. ALMOST ALL, not some, modern politicians run for office with the help of money with strings attached...that is not democracy at all and it is derived solely through an organized Banking and Monetary system!

The control of any country's wealth is LEGALLY only in the hands of the people, and those they elect to represent them. However, in the United States (and most of the world) a FEDERAL RESERVE BANKING SYSTEM (which is privately owned ultimately by the Rothschild family of "Europe") has illegally seized control of every nation's wealth and monetary system IN RETURN FOR A FEE! Every single US dollar printed by the Federal Reserve Bank comes with interest! This is the ultimate scam in human history, because to pay back $1 dollar of the Federal Reserve Money (which is all there is in the United States), you MUST BORROW a second dollar! Which of course means that any country who is controlled by this scam can NEVER pay back their debt, it simply grows with interest (which artificially creates INFLATION within the economy) until the country, state, county, city, etc are simply BANKRUPT and thus taken over by the Federal Reserve itself, like say the countries of Greece and Italy, or the State of California, or the cities of Detroit, Michigan or Stockton, California.

Crime exists BECAUSE of our illegal, inequitable monetary system!

When did I say Sharp had a bad contract? I see this as the biggest issue. I never said Sharp had a bad contract, if I did, then I was hacked.
- nurk

Didn't u just post this before I responded;


Being a blackhawks fan I know that the Sharp deal was awful, depsite the circumstances around it



So now im confused.....

I do. Even without saad as well.

The back end would 5 very good NHL defensemen with Johns or TVR with Rundblad.

Call me crazy.......but I do. I like that defense a LOT. I also like another year of Teuvo hitting the weights. This Tikihinov kid I think can be pretty good.
- SteveRain

Defensively I think you are spot on, we would slay with that backend...


Just curious about these young wingers that we picked up. Excited to see how much faster we will be, compared to last season.

Or at least some regulation and fair taxation like there was prior to the 80s, where more people prospered but I think Mexico is talking third world where people don't have the luxury of getting educated and making decisions to better thenselves. When the the majority of the wealth of the world is shared between so few, while the once strong middle class is shrinking and while so many have nothing, nothing good can come of it.
- paulr

There's a big difference between what you just said - much/most of which I would agree with - and saying that the fractional reserve banking system is illegal.

The quicksand is over your head and your still trying to argue the merits of blindly walking right into it...wisdom requires taking a step back and seeing the bigger picture! Sports are "serious" games that society requires (just like the Gladiators were to the Romans) so that the average citizen can lose him or herself within instead of seeing the bigger picture all around them! Would you like a hand out of the trap?
- MexicoHawk

In my experience, when a person starts speaking in metaphors and riddles, neglecting to address the points made by others, it's almost always an act of sophistry, meant to deflect from the fact that they cannot argue their way out of the situation using plain language and direct address. It also reeks of arrogance, implying that that person is so far ahead intellectually that you simply cannot understand their verbosity and complex thought.

I don't fall prey to those things and I speak plainly.

When you use a standard of measure, it tells you where you stand within certain constraints. Johnny Oduya is way richer than the homeless man I saw last night on the street. Johnny Oduya is exceptionally poor compared to Carlos Slim (since you're in Mexico, it's a propos). But Johnny Oduya is neither homeless nor a business giant. Johnny Oduya is a hockey player, and we measure his salary based on what other NHL players are paid. And in this case, he is relatively average or even below average when it comes to career compensation for a player of his experience, talent, and, yes, value.

And for the record, don't ever try to pull someone from quicksand by hand, or you'll end up falling in too.

Agree with you. Sharp's deal is not a bad deal at all. It wasn't when he signed it and it's even less so now, his decline in stats last year notwithstanding.

Despite his one year stat downtick, where the Hawks moved him to L3-W to create more balance, Sharp is still skating at a high level, remains durable, plays with a bit of an edge maybe moreso than early in his career. Lots of factors contributed to him being a bit down last year, but "being washed up" isn't one of them.

In short, Sharp passes the eye test.

Toss in his leadership intangibles, his Cup winning experience to go with a reasonable cap hit for what he brings for only 2 more years (well before his prime playing days are winding down) and it's clear that Patrick Sharp is a great get for a team looking for that piece.

Which leads me to believe YOU are correct, the Hawks are getting low-ball offers because everyone knows HE has to be one of the pieces to move. Either that or Stanley is turning down huge bounties and over-playing his hand (which I won't believe until evidence surfaces).
- kwolf68

In all trades in majority of sports, its highly unlikely to get fair or equal value bc of circumstances, just a fact....
That's why I literally chuckle when I see homers make these trade offers...