The end of July promised to be full of intrigue and activity and it certainly lived up to the hype. Seattle drafted their team in expansion, taking a much different approach than Vegas did when they selected their team. The Entry Draft came and went with some big trades being made along the way. The free agent frenzy lived up to its name as days later, many are still playing catchup to figure out who all went where.
With that in mind, it’s time to run another edition of the PHR Mailbag. If you missed the last one, it was broken into two pieces. In the first half, Vegas’ goaltending situation, Tampa Bay’s salary cap situation to finish the season, and what Chicago needed to do to get back in the playoff hunt, among many other topics. The second half included expansion, what Nathan MacKinnon’s next contract could look like, centers not named Jack Eichel that could be trade options, and more.
You can submit a question by using #PHRMailbag on Twitter or by leaving a comment down below.
Not 100% surprised by krejci uprooting for his home, but it does sting. my query is; as much as I’d love to see an internal candidate pick up his mantle or one of the signings made by the front office pan out in that regard… I’m not going to hold my breath. what/who are realistic options to now plug a rather large hole in the lineup? /in the event of a trade besides debrusk going the other way who would also be prime pickings to be dealt – should a decent trade option present itself ?
thanks for your response.
First time on here. Thx for the chats. What are your thoughts/ideas about Tarasanko ? Its past time to take a draft pick and eat some salary isn’t it ? Is there a D man you think they can aquire AFTER Army knows how much cap space is left ? Maybe sign Bozak with it ? Thx again for your insight.
NYR should offer Miller (D) and Lafreniere (F) for Tarasenko. He is an elite player and will put up 25 + goals for NYR. He’s healthy, we saw that when he went back to Russia to play. NYR would be a real threat with #91 Tarasenko than without him. Better pull that trigger or he’s gonna go to NYI. How heart breaking would that be.
Whoa that’s a bit high dont you think?!
NFW. Miller and Laffy are core guys for the foreseeable future. Rangers don’t need a RW, they need a center
Trading for Tarasenko would be kind of stupid, why pay him 7 million when Buch was a younger better Taransenko without the injuries and years younger and would have signed for 6.5mil?
Really? You would give up miller and lafren for tarasenko, and you just let buchnevic leave. Thats utterly ridiculous. Who cares what the islanders do, you cant worry about every other team. You need to build your own. Did you forget you need a centerman not another winger!
Did the Devils do enough this offseason to actually end this rebuild? Do you see them doing anything else this offseason?
My thoughts on the Tarasenko situation in St Louis compared to when Brett Hull was a Blue. Both were great goal scorers that didn’t contribute much to their defensive game when needed. When Hull left he became a much better all around player. Obviously Hull was more productive, but it was a different era. If Vlad leaves the Blues, do you think he can elevate that part of his game? If he stays in St Louis, can he get over the issues he’s brought up? Is he hard headed enough to say the heck with it and go back to Russia if he doesn’t get his way? Does he have it in him to be a “team” player?
I’d take hull – 87 goals vs 35….gimme Brett!!!
Capitals have took back the idea of trading Kuznetsov. Is this just a tactic to get a better return? Or will he truly be a Capital opening night?
I’d do Tarasenko for Kunetsov straight up…maybe a change of pace would be good for both
Gmm8811
I can prob do that trade. #91 Tarasenko is fired up and ready to play. He would tear it up at WASH.
I heard one hockey writer say that Eichel should just get the surgery he wants regardless of what the Sabres recommend, but couldn’t that give the Sabres a legal avenue to try and void Eichel’s contract, let alone cover the costs of the surgery? And might that be the angle Pegula is playing here?
I think given the fact he’s in the NHLPA and I believe his health insurance would come through them, if the CBA says Buffalo has the final say, then they probably have have Buffalo give them the okay first.
Id rather see #91 go to NYR or NYI.
Could there be a more dangerous team than Ovechkin and Tarasenko together. WOW!!! Electrifying.
Id like to see NYI Beauvillier and or Bailey plus a defenseman.
Or the NYR trade I mentioned earlier. We need some help and #91 would complete this top 6 if not the top 3 for NYR
Major wave of free agency done…. Give me your top 8 in the East and top 8 in the west after addition and subtraction of players.
Last year, the Blue Jackets caught everyone off guard when they selected Yegor Chinakhov with their first round pick (21st overall). At the time, little was known about Chinakhov, but Columbus felt they had to move because they did not have another pick before the fourth round and Ottawa (whom Columbus suspected was in on Chinakhov) had five picks before Columbus would have their next pick in the fourth round. Given what we know about Chinakhov today, where do you think he would have gone in this year’s draft had Columbus not selected him last year?
Dear PHRM Crystal Ball [insert spooky harp music here]: 1. Success or Failure for Adin Hill & Connor Ingram ? 2. Does Gibson get traded; if so, to where? 3. Better scoring Futures between Valimaki/Fabbro, Sharangovich/Podkolzin, Kotkov/Tkachyov and Krebs/Newhook? Thanks!
Sweeney’s comments of “2nd line center by committee” are absolutely shocking to me. He let Krejci paint him into a corner. I appreciate what Krejci did for the club but doesn’t it seem that with Krejci’s timing and Sweeney not having a backup plan that they both screwed the Bruins? Sweeney does not impress me as a GM at all.
Based on who was available on the market, what should have he done? Overpay Phillip Danualt even more than LA?
probably not but he had options including a trade. If he knew by KKrejci
@ VB — for whom, and with what? Way too many commenters over recent weeks have been very shrill about how This GM or That GM Shoulda Done Somethin’! Quite a few of them have said that said GMs should have unloaded their trash for That Great Guy on another squad. Far fewer of them have explained why the other team should WANT it.
The Bruins have been riding a core for over a decade now, but that’s just about done. Zee is gone. Krejci is gone. Krug is gone. With the emergence of Swayman and signing Ullmark to that large a contract for that long a term, I have to think that they’re prepared to write Rask off. They have to stop thinking about piling on everything possible to win today, and think about winning the next year and the year after that. And it looks like they’re doing just that.
Don’t put me with the so-called “Shrill” crowd…I said nothing about trash for treasure trades. My point is total with the GM for being put into a corner with the timing of Krejci and losing the opportunity to replace him. The management of the roster has been poor. Overvaluing the farm (rated at 30th) bad contracts all the way to drafting.
So, why are the Bruins losers?
Their No. 1 need — a left-shooting top-four defenseman — still hasn’t been addressed. Furthermore, David Krejci choosing to leave the Bruins and return home to the Czech Republic leaves a massive hole at second-line center. The Bruins don’t have any good internal options to fill Krejci’s shoes. Charlie Coyle is best suited as a third-line center. Foligno is more of a winger and not a top-six player at this stage of his career. Jack Studnicka likely is not ready for a No. 2 center job after a disappointing 2020-21 campaign.
Can’t see any team paying top dollar for Eichel,due to his medical uncertainty.Lets see who offers the best package.
To me at least, this is where a team who may not have been considered a favorite to make a deal for Eichel could step in and do this. If you have the cap space and can either get Buffalo to retain some salary or take back some salary in the trade, you might well pull off a great deal for your team. There’s risk involved, but the reward could be huge.
Unless Buf opens their medicals, Eichel is untouchable from other teams. Without seeing his medicals, as a GM/team pres, I wouldn’t offer a 2nd for him at this point.
Why all the fuss about Jack Eichel? Any team that pays him $10 million AAV for the next 5 or 6 years AND gives Buffalo their asking price is foolish. The guy has a very serious neck issue and may not last one year.
Where will Tarasenko end up? Are the Blues stuck with a disgruntled employee?
What do you think of the Ducks new contract with Getzlaf – seems awfully rich to me. Follow up question – are the Ducks in such a position to warrant their lack of free agent activity or should they just fire Bob Murray?
What does the Kraken opening night roster look like? do they make any surprise additions before then? Who is the next William Karlson break out candidate?
Why do the Islanders wait so long to make their contracts official? What benefit is there for the team, and even more perplexing, what benefit is there for the players?