General Hockey Talk - Injuries, signings, factoids + other news from around the league

Flo The Action wrote:https://www.tsn.ca/talent/harpur-leaning-on-physicality-in-battle-for-leafs-roster-spot-1.1357078
Is it just me or this sounds more like wishful thinking on what he is?

DefenceWinsChampionships wrote:I saw the same article in the Ottawa Sun a year ago. Guy is a dud.

I don’t know if he’s a dud but it would certainly help him if he applied the things all the article states he does.

Then I thought, is everything Dorion saying about Zaitsev pretty much the same lip service?
Guess we’ll find out soon enough

Flo The Action wrote:

DefenceWinsChampionships wrote:I saw the same article in the Ottawa Sun a year ago. Guy is a dud.

I don’t know if he’s a dud but it would certainly help him if he applied the things all the article states he does.

Then I thought, is everything Dorion saying about Zaitsev pretty much the same lip service?
Guess we’ll find out soon enough

Dorion annoys me more than anything with his Dung eating grin all the time. I assume Smith knows a lot more about Zaitsev that most people and I think he sees some upside there that got crushed by Babcock and his dinosaur ways. I'm very nervous about him defensively personally.

Flo The Action wrote:

DefenceWinsChampionships wrote:I saw the same article in the Ottawa Sun a year ago. Guy is a dud.

I don’t know if he’s a dud but it would certainly help him if he applied the things all the article states he does.

Then I thought, is everything Dorion saying about Zaitsev pretty much the same lip service?
Guess we’ll find out soon enough

Hard to say. I don't think the NHL is necessarily geared for huge d-men anymore - especially those that aren't known to be physical or good puck movers. At least Zaitsev's shown that he can put up points and may be good in a better defensive system. I did hear he ices the puck a lot thugh. I can definitely see the Leafs cursing the Sens with Spezza, Ceci, and Harpur all known to be poor defensively and turnover machines. They're going to wish they still had Gardiner lol

PTFlea wrote:

Flo The Action wrote:

DefenceWinsChampionships wrote:I saw the same article in the Ottawa Sun a year ago. Guy is a dud.

I don’t know if he’s a dud but it would certainly help him if he applied the things all the article states he does.

Then I thought, is everything Dorion saying about Zaitsev pretty much the same lip service?
Guess we’ll find out soon enough

Dorion annoys me more than anything with his Dung eating grin all the time.  I assume Smith knows a lot more about Zaitsev that most people and I think he sees some upside there that got crushed by Babcock and his dinosaur ways.  I'm very nervous about him defensively personally.

I am too. I could honestly see him being pushed down the lineup to play with Hainsey.

Chabot-De Melo
Hainsey-Zaitsev
Wolanin-Jaros
Boro

And I see Boro/Wolanin coming in and out depending on matchups.

Sounds like there will be no lockout this time around. I was thinking and hoping the NHL would try and control the advantage that rich owners (all owners except for Melnyk) have by being able to give massive signing bonuses. No lockout only hurts Ottawa.

Lagoon wrote:Sounds like there will be no lockout this time around. I was thinking and hoping the NHL would try and control the advantage that rich owners (all owners except for Melnyk) have by being able to give massive signing bonuses. No lockout only hurts Ottawa.

Maybe no lockout means a sooner sale and not as much need for up front signing bonuses for Chabot

There may be a way for the NHL and NHLPA to make bargaining changes without having to cancel a season. I think these lockouts do nothing but hurt the product - especially with the NBA gaining so much momentum in Canada

DefenceWinsChampionships wrote:There may be a way for the NHL and NHLPA to make bargaining changes without having to cancel a season. I think these lockouts do nothing but hurt the product - especially with the NBA gaining so much momentum in Canada

They should be able to agree to continue under the terms of the current CBA while they work out a new one (like most unions/employers do), but then that also takes bargaining power away from both sides depending on how you look at it. The whole system of bargaining is so horribly and irreversibly broken.

I sent this privately but everybody should read *and watch* this if they care about getting excited about sucking this year.

https://futureconsiderations.ca/getting-to-know-alexis-lafreniere/

Ev wrote:

Lagoon wrote:Sounds like there will be no lockout this time around. I was thinking and hoping the NHL would try and control the advantage that rich owners (all owners except for Melnyk) have by being able to give massive signing bonuses. No lockout only hurts Ottawa.

Maybe no lockout means a sooner sale and not as much need for up front signing bonuses for Chabot

The NHLPA still has an opportunity to mess this up and opt out don't they?

Cap'n Clutch wrote:

Ev wrote:

Lagoon wrote:Sounds like there will be no lockout this time around. I was thinking and hoping the NHL would try and control the advantage that rich owners (all owners except for Melnyk) have by being able to give massive signing bonuses. No lockout only hurts Ottawa.

Maybe no lockout means a sooner sale and not as much need for up front signing bonuses for Chabot

The NHLPA still has an opportunity to mess this up and opt out don't they?

The NHLPA has until the 15th of September to opt out of they choose to

Hockeyhero22000 wrote:

Cap'n Clutch wrote:

Ev wrote:

Lagoon wrote:Sounds like there will be no lockout this time around. I was thinking and hoping the NHL would try and control the advantage that rich owners (all owners except for Melnyk) have by being able to give massive signing bonuses. No lockout only hurts Ottawa.

Maybe no lockout means a sooner sale and not as much need for up front signing bonuses for Chabot

The NHLPA still has an opportunity to mess this up and opt out don't they?

The NHLPA has until the 15th of September to opt out of they choose to

The way I see it is if the NHL likes the way I is than the NHLPA won’t. I really hope they don’t opt out.

Hockeyhero22000 wrote:

Cap'n Clutch wrote:

Ev wrote:

Lagoon wrote:Sounds like there will be no lockout this time around. I was thinking and hoping the NHL would try and control the advantage that rich owners (all owners except for Melnyk) have by being able to give massive signing bonuses. No lockout only hurts Ottawa.

Maybe no lockout means a sooner sale and not as much need for up front signing bonuses for Chabot

The NHLPA still has an opportunity to mess this up and opt out don't they?

The NHLPA has until the 15th of September to opt out of they choose to

If the NHLPA had any inkling that they may want to opt out, they would have taken the 5% cap inflator option they had for this season first. They didn’t. Therefore, in my mind, they are fine with this CBA.

I'm cautiously optimistic. Cap went down and that spooked a few people. Now is not the time to slam on the brakes but, rather, take your foot off the gas and see what develops before taking action.

Doing nothing at this time only means status quo for 3 more seasons. If the cap goes down again both sides will lose and both will want to negotiate - in opposite directions. They need to with together now to make sure that does not happen.

Just read Bettman's statement and it's pretty much what he's saying:

Based on the current state of the game and the business of the game, the NHL believes it is essential to continue building upon the momentum we have created with our Players

"Current state" is declining revenues, even if only a small blip. Working together if there only thing that makes sense for now.