EHM The Blue Line

Do you guys think Yakupov will find a job in the NHL? It starts to smell KHL for him I think.

philou21 wrote:Do you guys think Yakupov will find a job in the NHL? It starts to smell KHL for him I think.

I've read that Yakupov really wants to play in NA, not sure if it's true

I think he should go to the KHL, as I think the slower pace of the game and less focus on defense (and potentially/likely more ice time) might result in his finding some offensive success (and maybe he can come back to the NHL in the future)

IMO there are far to many teams in the NHL now (and so talent is really diluted), so an NHL team might sign him if he really wants to play in NA


P.S. The KHL doesn't pay like it did a few years ago (and the ruble isn't worth what it was a few years ago), and so Yakupov can take a pay cut in NA and it still might be as much or more than he's make in Russia

Some teams will probably take the risk at signing him a cheap one year deal in hope he gets better. That's a safe risk IMO.

Vegas traded Methot to Dallas for a second round and a prospect of the last draft. I bet they plan on landing a couple of UFAs in July. Well, I hope for them they do because they got worse now. Not that Methot is a game changer but he's still good in his zone.

philou21 wrote:Some teams will probably take the risk at signing him a cheap one year deal in hope he gets better. That's a safe risk IMO.

Agreed

philou21 wrote:Some teams will probably take the risk at signing him a cheap one year deal in hope he gets better. That's a safe risk IMO.

Vegas traded Methot to Dallas for a second round and a prospect of the last draft. I bet they plan on landing a couple of UFAs in July. Well, I hope for them they do because they got worse now. Not that Methot is a game changer but he's still good in his zone.

At least publicly, Vegas is all in on the future, and don't really care about this season.

That and they still have what, 11 NHL defensemen under contract? I don't even want to think about how many they could potentially lose to waivers alone. While the media has drummed up the trade chips Vegas holds, every GM in the league knows McPhee HAS to move these guys, and are probably negotiating accordingly. Methot is also one who could only list 12 possible destinations, that can't help dealing.

Methot was traded to Stars, which is a good move probably for Dallas.

Alzner was on the spotlight yesterday (for Europe), I'm wondering why, he's average at 3rd line and I'm not sure how Chicago (team I follow) would be interested, even more considering his salary.
Oshie was rumored too, that'd be so sweet. But that's clickbait from trade rumour twitter accounts imo.

Oshie signed for 8 years in Washington shortly after the draft. He's not going anywhere.

As for Alzner alot of teams seems to be interested in him so I doubt he will cross the sea. He was earning 2.8 millions last season so I'm wondering how they can overpay him now! He's not worth over 3.5-4 millions for sure.

People are saying McDavid could land a 13 millions per year contract. What a big mistake this could be. I know the cap is raising but what if in the futur it drops? Even if it's a tiny bit this could put the team into trouble. I still don't understand why there's not a cap for player salary too.

philou21 wrote:People are saying McDavid could land a 13 millions per year contract. What a big mistake this could be. I know the cap is raising but what if in the futur it drops? Even if it's a tiny bit this could put the team into trouble. I still don't understand why there's not a cap for player salary too.

He and Crosby I suppose are at least worth the big bucks...the rest at the top, for me, aren't

I think one dimensional players like Ovechkin/Stamkos and inconsistent players that haven't produced as they should like Toews/Kopitar shouldn't get the same money as players like McDavid/Crosby.....except in rare occasions, no one deserves the big bucks IMO and those just below the top deserve 40-50 percent less not 10 percent less

nino33 wrote: I think one dimensional players like Ovechkin/Stamkos and inconsistent players that haven't produced as they should like Toews/Kopitar shouldn't get the same money as players like McDavid/Crosby.....except in rare occasions, no one deserves the big bucks IMO and those just below the top deserve 40-50 percent less not 10 percent less

What about d-men?

Good d-men are an even more precious comodity right now due to facepalm-worthy developmental problems. What d-men do you think are worth the big bucks?

Toews and Kopitar nit producting as they should? Kopi sure had better years but the Kings are going downhill. Toews has always been from my POV a 60 pts per season player and not more. He did more sometimes yeah but I only thought it was a pretty good year. Those two are one of the best all-around player in the NHL IMO. So scoring between 60-70 pts per season and being good defensively is pretty good I think. As for money no, they still don't deserve it! Especially Toews at 11 millions is ridiculous.

Primis wrote:

nino33 wrote: I think one dimensional players like Ovechkin/Stamkos and inconsistent players that haven't produced as they should like Toews/Kopitar shouldn't get the same money as players like McDavid/Crosby.....except in rare occasions, no one deserves the big bucks IMO and those just below the top deserve 40-50 percent less not 10 percent less

What about d-men?

Good d-men are an even more precious comodity right now due to facepalm-worthy developmental problems. What d-men do you think are worth the big bucks?

Didn't Pittsburgh just win the Cup with a depleted D and no "star defensemen"?

Nowadays, with team/systems defensive play I'm not sure any defenseman is worth "big bucks" (or any goaltender either)
I know that quality D are valued, but you don't need them IMO (given the rules/playstyle of modern hockey you need a few goalscorers and a team D and that's it)

For me "generational players" are very few, and many modern players are extremely overrated (they're good/great, not close to generational)


And...my point about "deserving the big bucks" is I believe some athletes are head and shoulders above their peers (Jordan. Gretzky, Pele, etc) + they're for sure "generational" + they bring way more to their sport/team/city/league than just their stats show - those are the players I'm saying might be deserving of the insanely large salaries NHLers make

nino33 wrote:Nowadays, with team/systems defensive play I'm not sure any defenseman is worth "big bucks" (or any goaltender either)
I know that quality D are valued, but you don't need them IMO (given the rules/playstyle of modern hockey you need a few goalscorers and a team D and that's it)

Indeed you don't need super good d-men if you have a good system, that's so true. But this truth hurts!

What about guys like Burns, Karlsson and maybe Subban? Who can score alot of pts in a defensive NHL? Do they deserve more bucks than others because of that you think? Personally I think they can deserve a bit more but for example Subban at 9 millions is wayyyyyyyyy too much.

If you look at Karlsson's stats this season, not only did he put up impressive numbers (especially in the 2nd half where he out played Burns), but he was also one of the league leaders in takeaways and blocked shots. But that was also Karlsson buying into what Boucher was selling. When people think of Karlsson, they think big offensive numbers, but he's also probably the most underappreciated defenseman in the league for his defensive play. So is a guy like Karlsson, who is doing it at both ends of the ice worth big bucks? Yes, he is.

If I had to re-sign Karlsson for my team, I'd give him as much money as he wants because he's without a doubt the best defenseman in the NHL and deserves it.

I'd do the same

Karlsson I could go up to 8 maybe 9 millions but over that forget it! Nobody should get more than 8 millions.

I would definitely pay 9 million to Karlsson if I had the cap space. The fact that he makes 6.5 million right now is crazy to me, seeing the other contracts in the league.

Keith also has a low contract considering his usual production (5.5 M), but he's signed for 5 more years with NMC, and is 33 y-o.

Yeah Karlsson is cheap at 6.5millions but who knows. Maybe he accepted a lighter pay so the team could have a better manoeuvre at signing other players.

Also when did Karlsson signed this contract? The cap was probably lower a little bit.

philou21 wrote:Yeah Karlsson is cheap at 6.5millions but who knows. Maybe he accepted a lighter pay so the team could have a better manoeuvre at signing other players.

Also when did Karlsson signed this contract? The cap was probably lower a little bit.

That's what I don't get about signing McDavid to a 13m a year contract how do you then afford good line mates for him.

MWE wrote:

philou21 wrote:Yeah Karlsson is cheap at 6.5millions but who knows. Maybe he accepted a lighter pay so the team could have a better manoeuvre at signing other players.

Also when did Karlsson signed this contract? The cap was probably lower a little bit.

That's what I don't get about signing McDavid to a 13m a year contract how do you then afford good line mates for him.

McDavid seems the kind of guy that could also say that he wants the team to have a good core and they should not "overpay" him but if they predict that the cap will keep growning each years (which I doubt it would at some point) maybe they will still go ahead and give him this ridiculus salary.


Benoit Pouliot got waived so the Oilers can buy him out. Seriously who didn't saw that coming? Big LOL that contract was a joke from the beginning.

They're talking about Leon Draisaitl getting 8 to 9 mil. And same as McD 8 years.

philou21 wrote:Benoit Pouliot got waived so the Oilers can buy him out. Seriously who didn't saw that coming? Big LOL that contract was a joke from the beginning.

Hey! He was a good prospect!! 10 years ago

They need to sign them both...at a reasonable price. They still have no defense...

Montreal wanted to take Pouliot at the 4th place before Minnesota decided to pick him. Then MTL decided to pick Price since Pouliot got picked. It would've been interesting if it happened that way...maybe MTL would have truly had a reconstruction!

Orlov 6 years, 30 millions. This is a really stupid deal IMO. Do the Caps still have cap space with Oshie now? They probably don't have any place now.