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Andrei Vasilevskiy

Andrei Vasilevskiy Named Replacement All-Star

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The Tampa Bay Lightning have another player going to the All-Star game, this time as a replacement. Andrei Vasilevskiy has been named the replacement for Carey Price, who decided to not attend the game due to nagging injuries. That leaves the Montreal Canadiens without a representative unless Shea Weber wins the fan-voted “Last Man In” contest. Tampa Bay meanwhile will have three players there with Vasilevskiy joining Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov, not to mention Jon Cooper as coach and Brayden Point who is also in the fan vote.

It’s easy to understand why Vasilevskiy would be chosen for the game, especially when fellow Atlantic Division goaltender Frederik Andersen is dealing with an injury of his own. The Tampa Bay netminder has been excellent again this season recording a .920 save percentage through 22 starts, a total broken up by injury. The Lightning have proven to be the league’s best team through the first half and that’s in no small part to the excellent goaltending they’ve received, though Vasilevskiy has allowed five goals in three of his last five games.

Still, there are few goaltenders in the history of the game as athletic as the 24-year old and he should put on an incredible show in the 3-on-3 All-Star format. After being named a finalist for the Vezina Trophy last season, Vasilevskiy is ready to really become one of the faces of goaltending in the NHL and make his mark among the best in the league. A Stanley Cup appearance would do just that, but the All-Star game will have to be first.

2019 All-Star Rosters Announced

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The NHL has announced the four rosters for the 2019 All-Star Game today, scheduled to be held on January 26th in San Jose. Earlier today, Alex Ovechkin, who was elected captain of Metropolitan Division squad, told the league that he wouldn’t be attending and will accept the punishment of missing one game either before or after the break. Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, and Auston Matthews will represent the Pacific, Central and Atlantic respectively, as the other captains. A replacement Metropolitan captain for Ovechkin has yet to be named.

The full rosters are as follows:

Pacific Division

G John Gibson (ANA)
G Marc-Andre Fleury (VGK)

D Erik Karlsson (SJS)
D Brent Burns (SJS)
D Drew Doughty (LAK)

F Connor McDavid (EDM)*
F Johnny Gaudreau (CGY)
F Joe Pavelski (SJS)
F Elias Pettersson (VAN)
F Clayton Keller (ARI)

Central Division

G Pekka Rinne (NSH)
G Devan Dubnyk (MIN)

D Roman Josi (NSH)
D Miro Heiskanen (DAL)

F Nathan MacKinnon (COL)*
F Mikko Rantanen (COL)
F Blake Wheeler (WPG)
F Patrick Kane (CHI)
F Mark Scheifele (WPG)
F Ryan O’Reilly (STL)

Atlantic Division

G Jimmy Howard (DET)
G Carey Price (MTL)

D Keith Yandle (FLA)
D Thomas Chabot (OTT)

F Auston Matthews (TOR)*
F Nikita Kucherov (TBL)
F Steven Stamkos (TBL)
F John Tavares (TOR)
F David Pastrnak (BOS)
F Jack Eichel (BUF)

Metropolitan Division

G Henrik Lundqvist (NYR)
G Braden Holtby (WAS)

D John Carlson (WSH)
D Seth Jones (CBJ)

F Sidney Crosby (PIT)
F Taylor Hall (NJD)
F Mathew Barzal (NYI)
F Claude Giroux (PHI)
F Cam Atkinson (CBJ)
F Sebastian Aho (CAR)

*Denotes team captain

One final skater spot on each roster has yet to be announced, as it will be determined by the “Last Man In” fan ballot, a concept borrowed from Major League Baseball. The format of the current All-Star Game, which requires one representative from each team on these smaller 3-on-tournament rosters, was bound to cause some confusion with the initial selections. Seven top-twenty scorers were not selected – Mitch Marner, Brayden Point, Leon Draisaitl, Sean Monahan, Matthew Tkachuk, Phil Kessel, and Gabriel Landeskog – and several will inevitably remain out of All-Star participation even after the fan ballot additions. Morgan Rielly, the league’s top-scoring defenseman, and Mark Giordano, enjoying an elite season on both sides of the puck, are two surprising omissions on the blue line. Several of the league’s top goalies are also going to miss out, ineligible for the fan ballot, including Ben Bishop, Frederik Andersen, and Andrei Vasilevskiy. The “Last Man In” will be an intriguing new addition to the All-Star process, with nominees to be named shortly, but more than a few notable names will be left out regardless. Meanwhile, the health of players like Price and Chabot for Team Atlantic and Hall for Team Metropolitan will bear watching, as those players may opt to skip the All-Star festivities, opening up more players to selection.

Tampa Bay Sends Eddie Pasquale Back To AHL As Andrei Vasilevskiy Nears Return

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The Tampa Bay Lightning have sent goaltender Eddie Pasquale to the Syracuse Crunch of the AHL. While that regularly may not be a very newsworthy transaction, this time might be different. The Lightning did not recall another goaltender in his stead, likely indicating that Andrei Vasilevskiy will be ready to return to action on Thursday night when Tampa Bay welcomes in the Toronto Maple Leafs. It’s not clear if Vasilevskiy would play in that game, but it does mark four weeks since the star goaltender was given a four to six week timeline for recovery from his broken foot.

It’s hard to imagine the Lightning actually getting stronger this week, given the 12-2 record they have since Vasilevskiy went down but goaltending might be the one place they can actually still improve. Despite Louis Domingue winning the second star of the week recently for a 3-0 performance, he still has a sub-par .905 save percentage through 18 games and carries a 2.95 goals against average. Those numbers have been good enough behind a blazing Tampa Bay offense, but are quite a bit south of the Vezina-caliber goaltending that Vasilevskiy routinely brings to the ice.

Before he was injured, the 24-year old netminder was actually putting up the best numbers of his career. Even after season in which he finished third in Vezina voting and led the league with 44 wins, Vasilevskiy had found a new gear and was carrying a .927 save percentage through 13 games. That kind of goaltending will make the already league-leading Lightning even more powerful as we move forward, something that must give the rest of the Atlantic Division nightmares.

Tampa Bay has a 24-7-1 record on the season and an eight point lead on the Toronto Maple Leafs, who just happen to be second in the entire NHL. That dominance makes them an early favorite for the Presidents Trophy, and a dangerous team to watch out for when trade season comes around. Amazingly, the Lightning still have some cap space available this season, even if they won’t be able to take on much term with Brayden Point about to break the bank with his upcoming extension. It’s hard to find much fault in the Lightning roster at the moment, and with Vasilevskiy back in the crease it’ll be hard to find much room in net.

Andrei Vasilevskiy Suffers Serious Foot Injury, Out Four To Six Weeks

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11/16: Tampa Bay has updated the situation, confirming that Vasilevskiy did indeed suffer a left foot fracture. The Lightning announced that their starting goalie is expected to miss four to six weeks while he recovers. The timeline leaves open the possibility that Vasilevsky could return to the Tampa net by the middle of next month, possibly in time for a divisional clash with the Toronto Maple Leafs on December 13th. However, on the other end of the spectrum, Vasilevskiy may have already played his final game of the 2018 calendar year.

11/15: The Tampa Bay Lightning lost their last game at the hands of the Buffalo Sabres 2-1, but may have suffered a loss even bigger just a few days prior. Darren Dreger of TSN is reporting that goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy has suffered a broken left foot, while Joe Smith of The Athletic confirms that he’s going in for evaluation later today. The last game Vasilevskiy had played was a 6-4 loss to the Ottawa Senators on the weekend. Louis Domingue will now likely take over the full-time starting duties for the Lightning as they deal with this situation, and Eddie Pasquale has been recalled from the Syracuse Crunch.

Vasilevskiy apparently injured the foot at practice while making a save, and has been sent back to Tampa Bay to have further testing done. In the meantime the team has already placed him on injured reserve, meaning they know that he’ll be out for at least a week. If it turns into a long-term issue, the Lightning have to be concerned about their precarious lead over the Toronto Maple Leafs in the Atlantic Division, given Domingue’s lack of experience as a true starter.

Since being drafted in 2010, the 26-year old Domingue has just 101 NHL games under his belt and has never played more than 39 in a single season. Even that was several years ago with the Arizona Coyotes, and since Pasquale has still yet to make an appearance at the NHL level the Lightning don’t have a ton of experience in the crease right now. Domingue did perform well after coming over to the Lightning last season and earned himself a two-year extension with the team. He’ll have to earn every penny of that paycheck now, as the Lightning will have to rely on him for the foreseeable future.

2018-19 Season Primer: Tampa Bay Lightning

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With the NHL season now just a month away, it’s time to look at what each team has done this summer and what to watch for in the year to come. Today, we focus on the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Last Season: 54-23-5 record (113 points), third in the Atlantic Division (lost to Washington in the Eastern Conference Finals)

Remaining Cap Space: $2.646MM per CapFriendly

Key Additions: D Cameron Gaunce (free agent, Columbus); Kevin Lynch (free agent, Syracuse Crunch (AHL))

Key Departures: F Chris Kunitz (free agent, Chicago Blackhawks); D Andrej Sustr (Anaheim Ducks); F Matthew Peca (Montreal Canadiens); F Erik Condra (Dallas Stars); Mathew Bodie (Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod (KHL)); F Alex Gallant (Vegas Golden Knights)

[Related: Lightning Depth Chart From Roster Resource]

Player To Watch: F Nikita Kucherov – The 25-year-old superstar quietly signed a eight-year, $76MM extension this offseason and after breaking the 100-point barrier, many wonder if Kucherov takes another step this season. He broke the 100-point barrier last year as his assist totals took a jump, most likely in part because of his success playing next to center Steven Stamkos.

However, is there more that Kucherov can do to help the team capture a Stanley Cup? The winger took his game up a notch after the 2016-17 season when he jumped from 30 to 40 goals. Then last season, he took those assists up a notch, raising his assist totals from 45 to 61, while maintaining his goal-scoring prowess as he still tallied 39 goals last season.

The real question is whether the 100-point performance last season is just Kucherov scratching the surface of his potential or whether he will slip back to his 80-pont ways. No matter what, he remains one of the best plaeyrs in the NHL, but one wonders how much better he can be.

Key Storyline: General manager Steve Yzerman has never been shy of making a big trade to add talent for their Stanley Cup run. He did that at the trade deadline last year when the team went out and acquired two key pieces for their run when they got defenseman Ryan McDonagh and winger J.T. Miller, both who were critical to their playoff run. Unfortunately, they hit the Washington Capitals’ wall and failed to reach the Stanley Cup Finals, but they were extremely close.

The team didn’t make many moves in the offseason, but were rumored to be in on a potential Erik Karlsson trade and at one point it looked like it was a done deal. However, the team may not have been ready to part with talented defenseman Mikhail Sergachev at the time. However, with Karlsson still in Ottawa, don’t be shocked if the Lightning do everything it can to bring the star defenseman aboard. If the team could find itself with a top-four of Victor Hedman, McDonagh, Karlsson and Sergachev, the team’s defense might be the best in hockey.

Overall Outlook: There may be only eight teams that could be considered legitimate candidates to win the Stanley Cup this year and Tampa Bay would likely be considered among the top two or three teams this year. With their offensive success throughout their forward lines as well as a developing defense with two solid top-two defenders on the roster and the most talented young goaltender in the NHL at the moment in Andrei Vasilevskiy, the team is in good hands for the 2018-19 season.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Salary Cap Deep Dive: Tampa Bay Lightning

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Navigating the Salary Cap is probably one of the more important tasks for any general manager to have. Teams that can avert total cap chaos by walking the tightrope of inking players to deals that match their value (or compensate for future value without breaking the bank) remain successful. Those that don’t see struggles and front office changes.

PHR will look at every NHL team and give a thorough look at their cap situation heading into the 2018-19 season. This will focus more on those players who are integral parts of the roster versus those who may find themselves shuttling between the AHL and NHL. All cap figures are courtesy of CapFriendly.

Tampa Bay Lightning

Current Projected Cap Hit: $76,853,780 (under the $79.5MM Upper Limit)

Entry Level Contracts

D Mikhail Sergachev (two years, $894K)
F Anthony Cirelli (two years, $728K)
F Brayden Point (one year, $687K)

Potential Bonuses:

Sergachev: $850K
Cirelli: $183K
Point: $183K

Total: $1.22MM

After a impressive rookie campaign, the Lightning knew they had a special player in Point, who proceeded to have a breakout year as the team’s second-line center. Point, who is good enough to be a No. 1 center, provided the team with a 32-goal, 66-point season. Now in his third year, Point could really walk away with a huge payday if he can equal or even better on that performance this year. Cirelli looks to have the third-line center spot locked down after the 21-year-old had a successful, but short stint, last season. He posted five goals and 11 points in 18 games last season and played in all 17 games of the playoffs, adding a pair of goals.

Sergachev has two years remaining on his contract and the 20-year-old defenseman had an up and down season, but still posted a nine-goal, 40-point season. He did have trouble getting regular minutes as the team often lost faith in his defensive play along with some immaturity issues. Regardless, the left-handed shot actually proved to head coach Jon Cooper that he can play on the right side, solving their depth issues on the right side. Sergachev should continue to develop his skills and also be in line for a big payday in two years.

One Year Remaining, Non-Entry Level

D Anton Stralman ($4.5MM, UFA)
D Braydon Coburn ($3.7MM, UFA)
D Dan Girardi ($3MM, UFA)
F Yanni Gourde ($1MM, UFA)
F Cedric Paquette ($1MM, RFA)
D Slater Koekkoek ($865K, RFA)
D Jake Dotchin ($813K, RFA)
F Adam Erne ($800K, RFA)
F Andy Andreoff ($678K, UFA)
F Cory Conacher ($650K, UFA)

For a team known for its defensive depth on its defense, it’s a little shocking to see that they only have three players signed after the 2018-19 season. Almost all of the team’s defense become free agents, restricted or otherwise, including Stralman, Coburn, Girardi, Koekkoek and Dotchin. With the team heavily laden in long-term deals, the team might be willing to allow Stralman, Coburn and Girardi to walk at the end of the year. All three are solid players, but there might not be any cap room to extend any of them, especially if the team has to give long-term deals to both Sergachev and Point. Stralman’s situation will be the most interesting as he’s a solid defenseman that complements his partner quite well and was the veteran who mentored Sergachev last season. Coburn and Girardi are likely expendable. Koekkoek and Dotchin will only be restricted free agents, but neither got a lot of playing time with the team, especially after the team added defensive talent at the trade deadline. However, both could play bigger roles this year, or within two years.

Another interesting decision the team will have to make is Gourde, who posted a breakout season in his first full season. The 26-year-old spent many years working on his game in the AHL before finally catching on with the Syracuse Crunch in 2014. From there he worked his way up before catching the team’s eye in training camp to win a spot. The result was a 25-goal, 64-point performance and now he has to prove he can duplicate that performance this season to get a big boost in his pay. For $1MM, Gourde may be the best bargain on the team, but he could get pricey quickly.Read more

Atlantic Notes: Vasilevskiy, Eichel, Backes, Evans

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Despite an impressive season in the net, Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy learned one valuable lesson by the end of the year: Rest is a good thing. The 24-year-old netminder put up amazing numbers, including playing in a career-high 65 games and posting a .920 save percentage (also a career-high) which was good enough to earn him third place in the Vezina Trophy voting. Regardless, Vasilevskiy wore down in the second half, saying he was both physically and mentally fatigued by the end of the season.

Joe Smith of The Athletic (subscription required) writes the response was to take two months off from hockey this summer. Vasilevskiy had never played more than 50 games in a season before last year and finished fourth in games played behind Cam Talbot, Frederik Andersen and Sergei Bobrovsky. Tampa Bay goaltending coach Frantz Jean said the ideal number should be between 55 to 65 games. However, Vasilevskiy has changed many of his routines within the last six months in order to rest his body more and more, including doing post-game workouts immediately after games, so he can rest his body completely on off days.

“I think it was hard for him in the past to step back, but I think last year once we got to that second half of the season, I think he was actually open to taking a little more time off,” Jean said. “When we’re going in practice, we go hard. We work hard. I think he understood he needed that rest time, to allow his body and mind to kind of refresh.”

  • Count Jack Eichel as a player that is really looking forward to training camp this season after a successful offseason for the Buffalo Sabres, according to NHL.com’s Amalie Benjamin. The 21-year-old superstar who saw his team struggle with constant losing the last couple of years sees an immediate change in the clubhouse. The Sabres drafted Rasmus Dahlin with the first-overall pick this year, traded for Jeff Skinner, Conor Sheary and signed goaltender Carter Hutton as well as add quite a bit of veteran depth to the team. “There’s a lot of new faces in there,” Eichel said. “So I think a lot of the people with a sour taste in their mouths from the last few years have either gotten over it or aren’t in the locker room anymore. I think it’s a good opportunity for us to just prove ourselves to the League and prove ourselves to ourselves.”
  • After an injury plagued year for the Boston Bruins, forward David Backes re-dedicated himself this offseason, according to Boston Globe’s Kevin Paul Dupont. The 34-year-old winger has seen his game decline over the past three years and found himself putting up just 14 goals and 33 points in 57 games. However, he lost 10 pounds to his 6-foot-3 frame and now stands a much leaner 210 pounds, which he hopes can help him increase his speed and help him avoid injuries this season. Backes, who is signed for another three seasons at $6MM per year, is hoping to move up from the third line last year to a top-six role this season. “I’ve played with a 220-pound frame for 8-10 years in the league, and now it’s going to be a little lighter and a little leaner,” Backes said. “It’s my attempt to adapt to what changes have gone on in the league. It might just swing back the other way and be a heavier, harder league. But it’s certainly more skillful and quick, and that’s just the realization I had to make.”
  • NHL.com’s Matt Cudzinowski writes that Montreal Canadiens center Jake Evans has high hopes to make the team out of training camp this year. The 22-year-old, who finished four years at Notre Dame, last offseason is finally healthy after requiring surgery in May to repair a sports hernia and now hopes he can take on his next challenge as he’s been practicing with Dallas’ Tyler Seguin and Washington’s Tom Wilson this summer. As a senior, he tallied 13 goals and 46 points last season for the Fighting Irish and now hopes to take his talents directly to Montreal. “I want to go in with a mindset of making the Canadiens, but I also need to go in open-minded and ready to learn from guys who’ve been there for a long time – how they handle their bodies, how they act,” concluded Evans.

Morning Notes: Gretzky, Avangard, Vasilevskiy

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Today marks 30 years since the infamous Wayne Gretzky trade, which sent the best player in the history of hockey to the Los Angeles Kings. The deal stunned the sports world and changed the path of hockey in California, though Gretzky would never bring the Stanley Cup to Los Angeles. He would record 918 points in 539 games for the Kings though, and grow the game in an extremely non-traditional market.

Though the deal was (and is) seen as a pure sale of the greatest player in the world, the Oilers did receive some hockey assets in the deal. Jimmy Carson, Martin Gelinas and three first-round picks were included in the trade, along with a $15MM check. Carson would play just 84 games with the Oilers, while Gelinas didn’t really hit his stride until years later in Vancouver. Regardless of the outcomes for each team, the trade changed everything in hockey and spawned multiple generations of fans who will point to it as reason to believe anyone in the league can be traded at any time. After all, if Wayne Gretzky can be traded…

  • The KHL, a league that Gretzky just agreed to lend his name to as the global ambassador for Kunlun Red Star, has decided that one of their teams will play home games more than 1,600 miles away from home. The arena for Avangard Omsk has been deemed not ready to host games this season, meaning the team will host their home games in the Moscow region on the other side of the country.
  • The Tampa Bay Lightning seem to have a new superstar restricted free agent every offseason, and the summer of 2020 will be no different. Andrei Vasilevskiy is scheduled to become an RFA in two years meaning the team can start negotiating an extension as soon as July 1, 2019. In his latest for The Athletic, Joe Smith (subscription required) spoke with several agents around the league who do not represent the Russian goaltender who believe his eventual cap hit could come in between $8-8.5MM. According to one agent that’s if he doesn’t win the Stanley Cup and MVP, which would bump the number up into “[Carey] Price money.”

Louis Domingue Signs Two-Year Contract With Tampa Bay Lightning

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The Tampa Bay Lightning have re-signed Louis Domingue to a two-year $2.3MM contract ($1.15MM AAV). Domingue was scheduled to become a restricted free agent, but will now remain with the Lightning and presumably have the inside track to be Andrei Vasilevskiy’s backup given the team’s recent trade of Peter Budaj.

Domingue, 26, came over from the Arizona Coyotes in November of last season and made quite the impression on his new team. With a .919 save percentage in 18 games with the Syracuse Crunch, and a .914 in 12 appearances with Tampa Bay, Domingue showed himself to be quite capable to back up Vasilevskiy for the foreseeable future.

He’ll receive just a slight raise on the two-year $2.1MM contract he signed with the Coyotes in 2016, and remain an almost risk-free proposition for the Lightning. Even if Domingue falters, almost all of his cap hit can be buried in the minors without trouble. If he can provide the same excellent play going forward, he’ll look like one of the better goaltending contracts in the league.

It’s important that the Lightning locked up a suitable back up goaltender, as Vasilevskiy admitted late in the season that he was feeling fatigued from taking over the full-time starting duties. The 23-year old goaltender played in a career-high 65 games last season, a huge number for any netminder. Adding in another 17 playoff starts and there was a clear need to bring in someone who could spell Vasilevskiy for somewhere around 20-25 games, and Domingue will be asked to be that player.

The team does have Connor Ingram on his way, but he’ll still need at least a few years of development before he’s ready to jump to the NHL. It might work out perfectly, as Domingue will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of this deal.

Vezina Finalists Announced; Is The Evaluation Process Flawed?

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The NHL has announced the three finalists for the Vezina Award, given each year to the league’s best goaltender, as voted on by the league’s general managers. Vying for the trophy at the NHL Awards in Las Vegas this June will be the Winnipeg Jets’ Connor Hellebuyck, the Nashville Predators’ Pekka Rinne, and the Tampa Bay Lightning’s Andrei Vasilevskiy. This is the first nomination for Hellebuyck and Vasilevskiy, while Rinne has previously been up for the award three times.

At first glance, the three nominees are not surprising. All three have had great seasons and are clearly among the top goaltenders in the league. However, hockey analytics guru Rob Vollman makes a pretty good case for why the evaluation process my be flawed. As Vollman points out, the only category in which the trio were tops in the league is wins, a statistic based entirely off of team performance, not individual performance. Hellebuyck and Vasilevskiy led the league with 44 wins, while Rinne was right behind with 42.  Yet, only Rinne was top three in the league among goalies with 41+ starts in save percentage, quality starts percentage, and goals saved above average, Vollman’s stats of choice. By those standards of evaluation, Vasilevskiy should have been nowhere near Vezina contention. Instead, Vollman’s poster boy for proper evaluation is the Anaheim Ducks’ John Gibson, who was a top-four finisher in each of those three categories and a top-ten finisher in wins. Also garnering some more attentions should have been the Vegas Golden Knights’ Marc-Andre Fleury and the Arizona Coyotes’ Antti Raanta, both of whom were excellent statistically, but lacked the number of starts and wins that are apparently requisite for Vezina contention in today’s NHL.

It’s no surprise that the three contenders for best goaltender are who they are. However, that doesn’t mean it’s correct, especially in a season so many other obvious choices. General managers surely do not evaluate goalies based on wins alone when evaluating them for acquisition, so why does a clearly-flawed statistic hold so much weight in the Vezina race? It’s a question worth asking and Vollman’s reaction, as well as others’, may change the voting results come next season. In the meantime, look for Rinne to finally take home the hardware this year in his fourth try, a result that was likely even with proper evaluation.

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