2019-2020 NHL season thread

Sharks keep Thornton. Deal Goodrow (hero of Game 7 vs. VGK) to Lightning.

 

Sharks also deal Marleau to Pens for third-rounder.

 

Report: Bruins trade Danton Heinen to Ducks for Nick Ritchie

 

Not hearing that this is a deep, rich draft. The fact that Skjei has a reasonable contract, relative to his skill set and potential ceiling, make this a worthwhile shot to take for the Whalercanes.

The guess here is that Sami Vatanen is, in essence, the replacement for Brett Peace for the time being. Vatanen is a UFA at season's end, so Pesce simply slides back here into the rotation next season. Skjei makes it much easier for Don Waddell to ship Gardiner, who was signed to replace what they lost when Justin Faulk was shipped to St. Louis. That hasn't exactly worked.

EDIT: It will be the Whalercanes' option to deal either its own first-round pick or the one it acquired last offseason for taking Patrick Marleau's contract off of Toronto's hands - whichever one is lower in the draft order to the Rangers for Skjei.

 

Sam, are the Hurricanes being successful, despite Waddell? It's been a while but I don't recall him knowing what the hell he was doing running the Atlanta Thrashers.

 

The more I look around, the more I believe that Don Waddell does have a clue of what he's doing. And I was somewhere between skeptical and believing that Tom Dundon had been told a piles of lies to hire Waddell to run the team (he was at the ESA running the arena and game-day operations, but nothing with personnel by a previous administration).

The backstory seems to be that Waddell had to answer to too many overlords with the Thrashers, which far too often couldn't agree on anything, seemingly right down to not knowing when to meet, what to talk about and what to eat. To hear the stories, "dysfunction" might be too kind a term. I had heard the number of owners who wanted to give Waddell their .02 was nine. That meant Waddell couldn't ever do anything right by them. And, obviously, many of us on the outside of the organization - whether in the media, casual fans or whatever - were bagging on the guy.

In his defense, name a person alive who can succeed in those circumstances.

Thing is, he has been solid for the Whalercanes. Helped when he shipped off Victor Rask's awful contract and somehow got back Nino Niederreiter last season. They had to spend a little more because Nino's contract was a little heftier than Rask's, but that's where the player comparisons end. Nino has been really solid, whereas Rask's disappearing act continued in the Twin Cities ... at the cost of $5M per season.

Not sure I agreed with the Jake Gardiner signing, then dealing Justin Faulk to St. Louis ... not sure if they really thought Faulk needed a change of scenery or if he wasn't going to sign long-term. Waddell has had some contentious issues with players trying to re-up in Raleigh ... depending on your point of view, Waddell has either lowballed them, not listened ... or maybe he and/or Dundon didn't think the players were worth their ask. It explains why Elias Lindholm and Noah Hanifin are in Calgary now - but at least that returned Dougie Hamilton. Hamilton has been an offensive force, the only real issue being the disappearing act during the Boston series last season.

But let's see ... as deadline neared, he got a first- or second-line center, a stellar young defenseman with term left on his deal and another defenseman to take the place of Brett Peace - who could be gone a while - for Erik Haula, Lucas Wallmark, a couple of prospects and first- and second-round picks. Whalercanes still have a first- and second-round pick for the upcoming draft, they're a lot stronger up front and the blue line could be hell on wheels if they can sneak into the postseason and Hamilton's broken fibula heals by April.

Guess they're counting on Alex Nedeljkovic to fulfill the promise between the pipes. He might have to if both Petr Mrazek (concussion ... the replay made this one kinda obvious) AND James Reimer (lower body) are out a while.

So far, Waddell has done pretty well. No question this is a redemption stint for him. Of course, it could also go down as yet another reason for why the Thrashers were somewhere between embarrassing and needed to be relegated. Notice how much better that organization became when True North bought it, moved it to Winnipeg and found a competent GM and got Paul Maurice behind the bench.

 

That's some good stuff. Thanks, Sam!

 

Was Goodrow the ref?

 

My bad. Barclay Goodrow.

 

Not sure where you are hearing this isn’t a great draft but it is. And Carolina might be the smartest team in the league

 

Tlusky is the stud in that front office. They are one of the most analytical teams in the league.