AROUND THE LEAGUE - 25-26

[theman]

Radio says Sam Bennett has re-signed with Florida.

[Nuckertuzzi]

Honestly they don’t need to do it all at once. Some players are better dealt In season.

Yup, if I was them I'd be hunting for next year's firsts and target desperate bottom feeder teams (not suggesting who that could be ).

[Cornuck]

Radio says Sam Bennett has re-signed with Florida.

Florida Panthers President of Hockey Operations & General Manager Bill Zito announced today that the club has agreed to terms with forward Sam Bennett on an eight-year contract extension with an annual cap hit of $8mil..

[Nuckertuzzi]

Die nasty.

[Lancer]

If that isn’t a team-friendly deal, I don’t know what is. Florida’s tax regime doesn’t hurt.

[Meds]

Seeing it is their 1sts (16th and 17th)

Looks like the Isle is going full teardown rebuild. Wonder if it would be the case if they didn't win the lottery.

Should we go knocking so they can go Boston circa 2014 and select three 1st's in a row??

They just moved out a 25 yo..Bo and Barz are over 28...just sayin'.

Pettersson + 15th OA + Lekkerimäki + 3rd for Barzal + Horvat.

Had the exact same thoughts. Only thing is I hear Nucks are on Barz's no trade list. The dude just doesn't want to play here.

Many have moved on from Bo and prefer to leave him in our past. But given their current situation and the limited options out there, if the 15th and a sweetener brings him home, I don't think that's the worst thing you can do.

I was actually being facetious.....just the irony of choosing Miller over Bo then choosing Pettersson over Miller and then choosing Bo over Pettersson.

[Blob Mckenzie]

Eklund is a nice pick. now they have another.... was the Maritimer a headache? Doubtful.....shitty coaching. Noah Dobson could be a top 10 D man every year for a decade. The Habs made a great trade. Must have been some serious scrimony. You don't piss away a guy like that. Darche fucked this up. So you throw the new kid Shaefer into the fire?

[Chef Boi RD]

Is Tocchey Hockey Happy?

The Flyers did real well at the draft - Martone and two centres in Nesbitt

Center - Couturier, Zegras, Cates, Luchanko, Nesbitt

RW - Konecny, Tippett, Brink

LW - Michkov, Foerster, Martone, Pelletier, Hathaway, Barkley, Bump

D - York, Drysdale, Sanheim, Bonk, Ristolainen

Their D is in rough shape.

[Chef Boi RD]

Eklund is a nice pick. now they have another.... was the Maritimer a headache? Doubtful.....shitty coaching. Noah Dobson could be a top 10 D man every year for a decade. The Habs made a great trade. Must have been some serious scrimony. You don't piss away a guy like that. Darche fucked this up. So you throw the new kid Shaefer into the fire?

I’m of the mind, Blob that Montreal won that trade. Dobson will thrive in Montreal. The Habs have amazing depth in every position, definitely a team of the future.

[Chef Boi RD]

The Redwood forest of Anaheim:

Centre Ice

Leo Carlsson 6'3 205lbs
Mason McTavish 6'1 220lbs
Roger McQueen 6'5 195lbs
Poehling - 6’-2” - 204 lbs

Wings

Chris Kreider - 6’-3” - 230 lbs
Cutter Gauthier - 6’-2” - 201 lbs
Sam Colangelo - 6’-2” - 211 lbs
Alex Killorn - 6’-1” - 192 lbs
Beckett Sennecke - 6’-4” - 195 lbs

With Vatrano, Terry, I imagine the ducks will be a shit ton better soon.

The D looks solid with - Trouba, LaCombe, Zellewegger, Mintyukov, Helleson, Gudas

[UWSaint]

The Redwood forest of Anaheim:

Centre Ice

Leo Carlsson 6'3 205lbs
Mason McTavish 6'1 220lbs
Roger McQueen 6'5 195lbs
Poehling - 6’-2” - 204 lbs

Wings

Chris Kreider - 6’-3” - 230 lbs
Cutter Gauthier - 6’-2” - 201 lbs
Sam Colangelo - 6’-2” - 211 lbs
Alex Killorn - 6’-1” - 192 lbs
Beckett Sennecke - 6’-4” - 195 lbs

With Vatrano, Terry, I imagine the ducks will be a shit ton better soon.

The D looks solid with - Trouba, LaCombe, Zellewegger, Mintyukov, Helleson, Gudas

That d has potential, but the potentially special is green; the experienced guys kind of suck, imo. A quality defenseman would go a long ways towards a possible playoff berth. Has Ekblad signed?

[UWSaint]

Trades today so far:

John Gibson to Detroit for Mrazek, a 4th (2026) and a 2d (2027).

UWS Thoughts: That's a pretty soft market for a quality goalie, isn't it? An overpaid-for-what-you-get Mrazek (who should be okay in Anaheim backing up Dostal), a second, and a 4th. Granted, Gibson's salary cancels his quality a bit -- he's a good goalie, but he's not the goalie making $6M+ who is a "deal." I sort of feel bad for Gibson. Just as Anaheim might get back into the playoffs, he's going to a team (Detroit) that seems to be unable to make the jump and (IMO) has been managed suboptimally the past few years. But he'll be the starter (or primary part of a tandem), so that's something.

Connor Timmons and Isaac Bellliveau from Pittsburgh to Buffalo for Clifton and 2025 2d R (39th OA, Peyton Kettles selected).

UWS Thoughts: This one is a bit of a head scratcher for me -- but aren't most trades involving Buffalo? Belliveau is not really a prospect, but eats a spot on a 50 man. So that means Clifton and the second was traded for Timmons. Clifton and Timmons are fairly identically tiered right shot bottom pairing defensemen -- Clifton's career peak might have been a little better, but these days, meh as to the difference, and Clifton makes $3.3M where Timmins' is an RFA who will make less than $2M. So I guess you could see that 2d as being the sweetner to take Clifton.

Timmons was traded with 4th liner Dewar from Toronto to Pittsburgh last years as a roster clearing move to make way for their acquisitions. The return was a 5th. So Pittsburgh has essentially traded a 5th Rounder to get tweener Dewar, a 2d (39 OA), and Clifton -- let's call that an NHL player for a season who can fill a roster spot but they'll have to overpay him by 1-1.5M for the privilege. The guy they picked (Kettles) is one of those really tall potential shut down guys -- might not make it, might be Kesselring some day, might be Conor Timmins (who isn't as big, but you get the point). That's not a bad bit of business for Dubas and Pittsburgh, who are in a rebuild no matter what they call, could use more prospects, and "volume" isn't a bad approach in a draft like this where there is arguably less differentiation of players.

This move would make a lot more sense for Buffalo if they needed every penny of their cap cleared, as they should get similar value from Timmins for less scratch. But they aren't near the cap. They can't possibly see themselves as a top destination for UFAs. And they could use a 39th OA.

Jordan Spence from LA to Ottawa for 3rdd (2025 67 OA); and a 6th (2026).

I think Ottawa moved this pick to Carolina...but this can be seen as a low cost acquisition of a third pairing defensemen who is making $1.5 million. Now teams often prefer a 6-7 who provides size, intimidation, etc., and Spence isn't that. But I think he's probably better equipped if pressed into a need for more minutes than a pylon. Either way, Ottawa needed a right shot defenseman, and if they were going on the cheap, this isn't a bad move when isolated. Bigger issue is, IMO, whether Ottawa's right to not go for something that improves that top 4. It isn't terrible, but it doesn't seem good enough and Jensen isn't getting younger. Because at the end of the day, monkeying around with the bottom set just doesn't tend to have significant marginal rewards.

[Cousin Strawberry]

I think the sens are looking for Spence to usurp Jensen in the top 4

NJ is 34, Spence is 24. There's still some upside there

[UWSaint]

I think the sens are looking for Spence to usurp Jensen in the top 4

NJ is 34, Spence is 24. There's still some upside there

I think you might be right -- but I sort of feel like I felt when the Canucks kept going after guys to marginally improve what they had below Myers and ORL, when the only real chance would come from getting someone better than Myers. Spence is no safe bet to outplay Jensen (or Zub) -- or how they played last year (which wasn't bad, but wasn't quite good enough for the Sens to make the playoffs comfortably and advance past R1). They need to improve their D if they want to make the next step, and a marginal improvement on the third pairing doesn't much change the needle. The likelihood Spence provides better play than their top two RD did last year is more than zero, but it is pretty small (IMO).

But it is an okay move if they are looking at this like: we are going to run it back one more time with this top 4; on the chance Spence is great, great, we'll play him more and pay him for the future (he'll be an RFA); and if he's okay, we will solve the issue next year when we must (Jensen's contract expiring).

[Strangelove]

I've said it before and I'll say it again... Conor Timmons is horrible.