Around the league (signings, RFAs injuries)

[SKYO]

Sharks just cleared house. Bad hockey claimed the staff.

Cripes! How many coaches fired this year... are we approaching a record?

2019 the year of the NHL coach assassinations - a Netflix title documentary.

[Strangelove]

Sharks just cleared house. Bad hockey claimed the staff.

Cripes! How many coaches fired this year... are we approaching a record?

2019 the year of the NHL coach assassinations - a Netflix title documentary.

It's not even Christmas yet and 5 head coaches canned, not to mention Crawford likely ruined.

(otherwise Crow might have landed another head coaching gig)

[Meds]

That said getting a player of Quinn Hughes ilk at seventh overall is pretty fucking good, considering the lack of the Canucks luck at the lotto since 1970.

That is indeed why Benning is as well renowned as he is at the draft table.

With the exception of Juolevi and Virtanen, the guy has taken shitty lottery luck and come away with top-5 guys in every year.

2014 - Virtanen (6th). I think this was a bit of a political pick, and I don't think it has JB's fingers all over it as much as it does Aquamen and Linden. Benning had only been our GM for a couple of months at the time, and Jake was a fast skating, hard hitting, big shooting, forward who just happened to be from the hometown area. Fans were thrilled with this and the publicity was important after ticket sales went off a cliff following the 4 and out to San Jose and the "Fire Gillis" chant to end the Tortorella era. But in all honesty there are only two players behind him who Jim passed on that make this look lame and those are Larkin and Pastrnak. Nylander and Ehlers are regular season point producers, but they are soft and one of them has proven to be a prima-donna holdout princess.

2015 - Boeser (23rd). Picked that low in the first round and probably the 5th best NHL player of that year.....which is no small feat considering that the top 4 is rounded out by McDavid, Eichel, Marner, and Rantanen. Boeser and Barzal are tied in my books, Barzal had an incredible rookie season skating as a 2nd line center behind Tavares, but he cooled off when he was up against the top defenders every night once JT headed to TO. But he's still producing at a 0.88 ppg clip which is half and inch ahead of Brock's 0.84 ppg. Normally I'd give the centerman the edge in terms of overall usefulness, but Boeser has never been sheltered behind a top-5 player in his position, and only ended up with a legit linemate last season in Petey.

2016 - Juolevi (5th). Time will tell, but right now this is looking like the biggest dud of Jim's career.....and many speculate that Linden's fingers were all over this one.

2017 - Pettersson (5th). He's looking like the best player in the entire draft right now. Makar and Heiskanen could be fantastic as well, but Petey is still the crown jewel of the 2017 draft.....especially looking at the impact of Hischier and Patrick.

2018 - Hughes (7th). The only guy ahead of Quinn that I think anyone should have considered taking ahead of him is Dahlin.....and so far it's a toss up. But I agree with what UW said in regards to Dahlin's potential as a true minute-eating stud. I don't see that in Hughes yet unless his D-game takes a giant leap forward. Hughes is already possibly the best puck moving defenseman this franchise has ever seen.

2019 - Podkolzin (10th). Jury is out. None of us have seen much of what he can do, but the scouting reports are very flattering. Hughes and Kakko were the consensus top 2, but neither of them is setting the world on fire at the NHL level.....granted they are playing for shitty teams right now (though NJ is badly underachieving and has been rebuilding for almost as long as we have). Behind those two Jimmy may still come out with the 3rd best player in the draft in the 10 spot.

We also have two of the best goaltenders under 25 in Demko and DiPietro.

If we were to dive into the later draft rounds the story just gets better.

[Micky]

Sharks just cleared house. Bad hockey claimed the staff.

Elliotte Friedman
Peter DeBoer is out as SJ coach. Again, a hockey decision — nothing else.
No confirmation yet...but Bob Boughner is expected to take over in SJ
4:47 PM · Dec 11, 2019

Will the train make a stop at station JT ?
Scary. Might be dangerous.

[Doyle Hargraves]

That said getting a player of Quinn Hughes ilk at seventh overall is pretty fucking good, considering the lack of the Canucks luck at the lotto since 1970.

That is indeed why Benning is as well renowned as he is at the draft table.

With the exception of Juolevi and Virtanen, the guy has taken shitty lottery luck and come away with top-5 guys in every year.

2014 - Virtanen (6th). I think this was a bit of a political pick, and I don't think it has JB's fingers all over it as much as it does Aquamen and Linden. Benning had only been our GM for a couple of months at the time, and Jake was a fast skating, hard hitting, big shooting, forward who just happened to be from the hometown area. Fans were thrilled with this and the publicity was important after ticket sales went off a cliff following the 4 and out to San Jose and the "Fire Gillis" chant to end the Tortorella era. But in all honesty there are only two players behind him who Jim passed on that make this look lame and those are Larkin and Pastrnak. Nylander and Ehlers are regular season point producers, but they are soft and one of them has proven to be a prima-donna holdout princess.

2015 - Boeser (23rd). Picked that low in the first round and probably the 5th best NHL player of that year.....which is no small feat considering that the top 4 is rounded out by McDavid, Eichel, Marner, and Rantanen. Boeser and Barzal are tied in my books, Barzal had an incredible rookie season skating as a 2nd line center behind Tavares, but he cooled off when he was up against the top defenders every night once JT headed to TO. But he's still producing at a 0.88 ppg clip which is half and inch ahead of Brock's 0.84 ppg. Normally I'd give the centerman the edge in terms of overall usefulness, but Boeser has never been sheltered behind a top-5 player in his position, and only ended up with a legit linemate last season in Petey.

2016 - Juolevi (5th). Time will tell, but right now this is looking like the biggest dud of Jim's career.....and many speculate that Linden's fingers were all over this one.

2017 - Pettersson (5th). He's looking like the best player in the entire draft right now. Makar and Heiskanen could be fantastic as well, but Petey is still the crown jewel of the 2017 draft.....especially looking at the impact of Hischier and Patrick.

2018 - Hughes (7th). The only guy ahead of Quinn that I think anyone should have considered taking ahead of him is Dahlin.....and so far it's a toss up. But I agree with what UW said in regards to Dahlin's potential as a true minute-eating stud. I don't see that in Hughes yet unless his D-game takes a giant leap forward. Hughes is already possibly the best puck moving defenseman this franchise has ever seen.

2019 - Podkolzin (10th). Jury is out. None of us have seen much of what he can do, but the scouting reports are very flattering. Hughes and Kakko were the consensus top 2, but neither of them is setting the world on fire at the NHL level.....granted they are playing for shitty teams right now (though NJ is badly underachieving and has been rebuilding for almost as long as we have). Behind those two Jimmy may still come out with the 3rd best player in the draft in the 10 spot.

We also have two of the best goaltenders under 25 in Demko and DiPietro.

If we were to dive into the later draft rounds the story just gets better.

Good post Meds. But I’m not so sure Brock is a clear cut top 5 in 2015. He was a hell of a pick where we got him though. Chabot, Provorov and Barzal are all studs not to mention Konecny and Connor let alone Aho.

[Per]

**Meds' long post**

So, to sum it up - you say ”stay away from Finns”?

[Micky]

Dave Isaac
Flyers say that LW Oskar Lindblom likely will not play again this season and has been diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma, a form of bone cancer.

only read if you want to find out about the disease. MORE

[Meds]

Good post Meds. But I’m not so sure Brock is a clear cut top 5 in 2015. He was a hell of a pick where we got him though. Chabot, Provorov and Barzal are all studs not to mention Konecny and Connor let alone Aho.

I forgot about Chabot, Provorov, and Connor. Changes things up. He's still a top-10 player from that draft who was found at 23.

Currently Carolina has the diamond from the rough though scoring Aho in the 2nd round.

[SKYO]

And good observation on that virtanen pick there meds.

Drafting plans got changed up after JB was at the helm after a full season.

And if OJ can stay healthy, he looks to be a blue-chipper dman still. I bet more than a few teams have called in on if Juolevi is available due to his upside.

[The Brown Wizard]

So the blues are offering Robert Thomas and Jake Allen for Taylor Hall and its apparently getting closer to a deal...which was why he was sat out last night.

Interesting. Hard to say if I'd do that move but the guy is only a year and a half out of winning a fuckin hart trophy.

A comparable for us might be Guadette/Virtanen and Demko. Would you make that move if you get to offload Looey in the process? The assumption would have to be you resign TH

[Micky]

A comparable for us might be Guadette/Virtanen and Demko. Would you make that move if you get to offload Looey in the process? The assumption would have to be you resign TH

That's a different question now then it would have been a week ago.
Still "no" for me.

[The Brown Wizard]

A comparable for us might be Guadette/Virtanen and Demko. Would you make that move if you get to offload Looey in the process? The assumption would have to be you resign TH

That's a different question now then it would have been a week ago.
Still "no" for me.

Consider this before declining....

You attach Looey with zero retained

You gain a 100 point winger in his prime. Hall can dominate like a crosby/McKinnon/Mcdavid when hes motivated. Adding that to an already proficient scoring top 6 might be massive for these kids. Hall Boeser Petterson on that top unit PP? One timers from everywhere!

How would that look

[Doyle Hargraves]

Robert Thomas is going to be a stud. Virtanen and Gaudette together doesn’t get him. Demko might entice them, but they aren’t taking on the air thief for 2 1/2 years.

[The Brown Wizard]

Robert Thomas is going to be a stud. Virtanen and Gaudette together doesn’t get him. Demko might entice them, but they aren’t taking on the air thief for 2 1/2 years.

One or the other plus Demko was the thought...Looey going there is rough tho i agree

Theyre putting Subban, Simmonds, Hall and Vatanen on the block with Vatanen apparently and justifiably having the most value. He would be a very interesting piece IMO.

[Doyle Hargraves]

I think the point I was trying to make in my hungover state is that Vancouver doesn’t have a Robert Thomas type asset to give up in any deal. I’d trade anyone outside of the core 4 for that guy. I’d even consider dealing Bo for him.