Exactly!! he played wing during the WJC, so he's not to unfamiliar with playing there. It also seems to be the league trend to ease young centres into the league by playing them at wing.... ie Mackinnon
- Mungo

It all depends if he earns it. If he comes in and he's obviously one of the better players, even at 19, then you give him a spot, despite his age.

Benning is creating some internal competition within for once, I'm really on board with that, it's creates a heathy team environment. Players who feel entitiled, which IMO the Canucks players have been, underperform.

Anyone care to explain to me the logic behind Washington signing Niskanen and Orpik to roughly the same combined cap hit as Keith and Seabrook? Last time I checked, PIT's D wasn't exactly elite.

Every summer a few teams make some deals and people pen them in as having improved. And if one team has improved then surely that means the teams that haven't made any deals have gotten worse. It rarely works out that way.

I don't think ANA getting Kesler and Stoner means they'll beat CHI, nor do I think STL with Stastny would do the job. LA made no changes, SJ is falling apart, and judging by Vanek's performance in this year's playoffs I wouldn't say MIN have made the changes required to vault CHI in quality.

CHI did sign Brad Richards for 2m, which is decent value as a 3rd or even 4th line C.

The tops dogs in the West (who are the top dogs in the league) remain LA and CHI IMO.
- AlexF

Fair enough, it's just my opinion.

I think they'll lose in 6.

Right? It'd be nice to see a player skating for us that makes you get out of your seat to watch. Something tells me this meat and potatoes approach should, at best, turn us into something resembling STL.
- AlexF

Great, Miller was great with StL.

Fair enough, it's just my opinion.

I think they'll lose in 6.
- golfingsince

And that's fair too because, you know what, they could.

That's why they play the games...

Calgary gave Raymond 3.15 aav and a NTC

Calgary gave Raymond 3.15 aav and a NTC
- A_SteamingLombardi

Anyone care to explain to me the logic behind Washington signing Niskanen and Orpik to roughly the same combined cap hit as Keith and Seabrook? Last time I checked, PIT's D wasn't exactly elite.
- AlexF

Sorry Bud it's the Eastern Conference of the NHL I haven't got a (frank)ing clue how things work over there, it's like the KHL with more Canadians.

Ah! In that case...
- AlexF

It's my fault, it's often difficult to imply sarcasm (yes, I know, not good when you have to explain yourself )

Calgary gave Raymond 3.15 aav and a NTC
- A_SteamingLombardi

Did you see what they gave Engelland?!?

Anyone care to explain to me the logic behind Washington signing Niskanen and Orpik to roughly the same combined cap hit as Keith and Seabrook? Last time I checked, PIT's D wasn't exactly elite.
- AlexF

Definitely a bit of a head-scratcher. I can see that they may want to add some grit with Orpik (albeit they do have Erskine), while Niskanen has some good offensive ability (perhaps it's in case Green has his usual 40+ game injury season, they at least have another defenseman to run the powerplay, at least until Orlov matures further. They also have Alzner, who is pretty solid as well - maybe this is a sign and trade type of situation?

Anyone care to explain to me the logic behind Washington signing Niskanen and Orpik to roughly the same combined cap hit as Keith and Seabrook? Last time I checked, PIT's D wasn't exactly elite.
- AlexF

The salary cap was 10 million dollars lower when Keith signed his deal , and, if he'd of signed a six or seven year deal his cap hit would have been ~7.70 million...it's stretched out over 13 years to make it lower. Which you obviously can't do now.

Still two head scratchers though???

Miller time all the time!!!!!

Miller time all the time!!!!!
- The_Kuze

Miller (demonstrating my distaste of Miller in stereo)

I'm gonna call it now.

The Blackhawks will be eliminated in the 1st round.
- golfingsince

Did you see what they gave Engelland?!?
- DrChristianTroy

Laugh it up guys, but they'll get last laugh with McDavid/Eichel. Those deals are basically paying for one of them.

demonstrating how sweet it is to be on miller time all the time

- Nucker101

Not sure about that, but I do feel people are underestimating Anaheim with respect to the upcoming year. Again, would not be surprised if they did a lot of damage in the playoffs.

Laugh it up guys, but they'll get last laugh with McDavid/Eichel. Those deals are basically paying for one of them.
- Nucker101

demonstrating how sweet it is to be on miller time all the time
- The_Kuze

Ok, you are officially dead to me

Not sure about that, but I do feel people are underestimating Anaheim with respect to the upcoming year. Again, would not be surprised if they did a lot of damage in the playoffs.
- Zogg

One we add a legit top 4 dman at the TDL we're set. Gibson is the real deal.

Laugh it up guys, but they'll get last laugh with McDavid/Eichel. Those deals are basically paying for one of them.
- Nucker101

Why tank for a superstar when you could possibly miss the playoffs by a few points and get a mediocre draft pick...

One we add a legit top 4 dman at the TDL we're set. Gibson is the real deal.
- Nucker101

- LeftCoaster

Singing Engelland and playing him 82 games helps them lose(which in reality is actually a long-term win). Amazing move. It's a shame they were outbid by the Sharks for the services of John Scott. Although that would have been much too obvious, subtlety is key.

Why tank for a superstar when you could possibly miss the playoffs by a few points and get a mediocre draft pick...
- DrChristianTroy

#Bending #MillerTime #BringBackGillis