Wow! I must have missed the news when Graves settled before arbitration. $9.5M signing. Good for him!!! NYR sure missed on that one. Not that I am displeased with where we are now...
- Tonybere

The return for Graves though, ouch.

Would have loved to see him develop along side Trouba. Cant win/keep ‘em all though.

Colorado may have to leave Graves unprotected
- jimbro83

Yep theyll have to decide between Toews and Graves.

Yep theyll have to decide between Toews and Graves.
- aecliptic

Can't imagine they would trade two second rounders for Toews and not protect him

Meh, you know how it is, Jan.
Trying to fill in all the gaping holes in our never-satisfactory line up with all that super green grass from elsewhere. All while avoiding political references to keep the reality out of our world a little longer and maintaining the high moral standards of the board.


- Tonybere

You had me until the high moral standards line

Can't imagine they would trade two second rounders for Toews and not protect him
- jimbro83

Thing is, its not restrictive to 7F 3D 1G. They could do 9 players of any position.

Thing is, its not restrictive to 7F 3D 1G. They could do 9 players of any position.
- aecliptic

All depends on how many players they have to protect because of contracts, how many elite players, etc. I don't know enough about their situation but its not as cut and dry

Thing is, its not restrictive to 7F 3D 1G. They could do 9 players of any position.
- aecliptic

yep, and it may stop them from extending Landeskog until the summer so they dont have to protect him, Saad too

yep, and it may stop them from extending Landeskog until the summer so they dont have to protect him, Saad too
- jimbro83

Don't be Saad, Jim. They'll be ok.

Thing is, its not restrictive to 7F 3D 1G. They could do 9 players of any position.
- aecliptic

Well any 8 skaters and a goalie. You have to protect at least one goalie. That's the route the Islanders went in the Vegas draft.

Well any 8 skaters and a goalie. You have to protect at least one goalie. That's the route the Islanders went in the Vegas draft.
- eichiefs9

You also gave up picks right?

You also gave up picks right?
- mdw7413

They traded the 15th overall pick and a nobody AHL defenseman to bribe Vegas into taking #3 goalie superstar JF Berube. That pick was the one used to take Brannstrom who eventually got them Stone.

Nobody was stupider in that draft than Florida. They gave them Reilly Smith so that they would select Marchessault...which is now 2/3 of their top line

They traded the 15th overall pick and a nobody AHL defenseman to bribe Vegas into taking #3 goalie superstar JF Berube. That pick was the one used to take Brannstrom who eventually got them Stone.

Nobody was stupider in that draft than Florida. They gave them Reilly Smith so that they would select Marchessault...which is now 2/3 of their top line
- eichiefs9

Both of those scenarios seem like losses for the non-expansion team.
So, essentially you guys gave up Brannstrom or a Stone equivalent, for who?? Is that player you held on to worth it?

They traded the 15th overall pick and a nobody AHL defenseman to bribe Vegas into taking #3 goalie superstar JF Berube. That pick was the one used to take Brannstrom who eventually got them Stone.

Nobody was stupider in that draft than Florida. They gave them Reilly Smith so that they would select Marchessault...which is now 2/3 of their top line
- eichiefs9

Yeah, that was an awful move in hindsight.


Well pretty much at the time too.

They traded the 15th overall pick and a nobody AHL defenseman to bribe Vegas into taking #3 goalie superstar JF Berube. That pick was the one used to take Brannstrom who eventually got them Stone.

Nobody was stupider in that draft than Florida. They gave them Reilly Smith so that they would select Marchessault...which is now 2/3 of their top line
- eichiefs9

To this day I'm not sure what teams were thinking. At some point they have to balance of what the bribe trade was and whether they would trade that for the value of the player they wanted to keep. It makes no sense.

Both of those scenarios seem like losses for the non-expansion team.
So, essentially you guys gave up Brannstrom or Stone for who?? Is that player you held on to worth it?
- Tonybere

Well, admittedly, at the time I was livid that they did that just to be able to protect Adam Pelech...but in hindsight that turned out to actually be a pretty good move. Pelech is arguably the Islanders most important defenseman.

No guarantee the Isles would've taken Brannstrom and/or traded him for Stone either. Brannstrom still hasn't seemed to be able to crack an NHL roster full-time so I'm not entirely upset about that. I love Mark Stone...but again, no guarantee that he'd have ended up on the Island even if we held onto that pick.

To this day I'm not sure what teams were thinking. At some point they have to balance of what the bribe trade was and whether they would trade that for the value of the player they wanted to keep. It makes no sense.
- 2sticks1puck

I think Seattle is going to end up being a more "traditional" expansion team and they're going to suck for awhile. Everyone learned their lesson with Vegas and I don't think you'll see too many (if any at all) teams make the same mistakes.

A little late, but to answer your question Jan, on a windy chilly day like this, I'm glad to be working from home this week. This whole alternating weeks working from home has spoiled me now. As much as I hope the Covid crisis ends soon, kind of dreading of when eventually I'll have to go to the office every day again.

At least for today though, I'm doing just fine.

I like Gortons approach to the Expansion Draft:

Screw it! We're gonna lose one guy, lets get this over with.....

I think Seattle is going to end up being a more "traditional" expansion team and they're going to suck for awhile. Everyone learned their lesson with Vegas and I don't think you'll see too many (if any at all) teams make the same mistakes.
- eichiefs9

I kind of see them more like Florida, San Jose, Anaheim etc from that period. They won't be Vegas good, but I don't think they hare going to suck for many years. With the cap and the league getting more watered down, I just don't think you'll see that gap in talent to make them really bad for awhile.

Wouldn't surprise me if by year 3 they are a bubble team.

I kind of see them more like Florida, San Jose, Anaheim etc from that period. They won't be Vegas good, but I don't think they hare going to suck for many years. With the cap and the league getting more watered down, I just don't think you'll see that gap in talent to make them really bad for awhile.

Wouldn't surprise me if by year 3 they are a bubble team.
- 2sticks1puck

Damn, NYC is boarding up leading up to the election.

I kind of see them more like Florida, San Jose, Anaheim etc from that period. They won't be Vegas good, but I don't think they hare going to suck for many years. With the cap and the league getting more watered down, I just don't think you'll see that gap in talent to make them really bad for awhile.

Wouldn't surprise me if by year 3 they are a bubble team.
- 2sticks1puck

I would say there is more competition now than there ever was. Before the Iron Curtain fell you had a limited pool. Hockey is more popular now also. Hell half the 4th liners in the 90's wouldn't make a squad today.

I would say there is more competition now than there ever was. Before the Iron Curtain fell you had a limited pool. Hockey is more popular now also. Hell half the 4th liners in the 90's wouldn't make a squad today.
- mdw7413

I'm not gonna argue that the talent pool is much more vast than the 90s. The iron certain is one thing, but you wouldn't have even had guys like Matthews before expansion.

That being said, the addition of teams and the salary cap has watered down things quite a bit. Part of it is good for the sport, but there was a time where the difference between a 1 and a 8 was gigantic. Now I think in an alternate universe where 10 teams per conference made it, a 10 could give a 1 for it's money in the right matchup.

Damn, NYC is boarding up leading up to the election.
- aecliptic

I'm not going to get al political, but this was one year I was like yeah better send in that mail in ballot. I don't want any of the smoke tomorrow.

I'm not gonna argue that the talent pool is much more vast than the 90s. The iron certain is one thing, but you wouldn't have even had guys like Matthews before expansion.

That being said, the addition of teams and the salary cap has watered down things quite a bit. Part of it is good for the sport, but there was a time where the difference between a 1 and a 8 was gigantic. Now I think in an alternate universe where 10 teams per conference made it, a 10 could give a 1 for it's money in the right matchup.
- 2sticks1puck

Maybe I'm missing the meaning of watered down, but I love the fact pretty much any team getting into the playoffs "could" make a run. I'd say thats more elite and very good players in the league, and when you have a bigger pool of players, you can expand and be successful if done right.