I love that the D-man just realizes "nope, not gonna catch him".
- Chunk

Hopefully he has better hands than AA, we saw that alot of this from AA last year.

I love that the D-man just realizes "nope, not gonna catch him".
- Chunk

Great stretch pass from the D to LW who set up Moore for the goal.

Imo, a 50 point season should not result in a 7 year deal with a $7M AAV. Call me berserk....
- mohel

Agree more around 5 million in that range.

One person's view of the World Junior Summer Showcase day 3 best performers.

https://www.dailyfaceoff....top-performers-from-day-3

No mention of Nazar, but Hayes and Moore made the list.

#29 Gavin Hayes, RW (Chicago Blackhawks): Hayes continues to have a sneaky-good tournament. His work along the boards on the 2-1 marker helped keep the play alive, and it resulted in Gabe Perreault finding Zeev Buium for the goal. There’s a ton of competition to make this roster, but Hayes is making himself known here.

#21 Oliver Moore, C (Chicago Blackhawks): When watching Moore, it’s the speed that you notice first. Not just the top speed, but how he uses it to his advantage, too. He saw a play developing, started to cheat a bit and, suddenly, he was rushing towards the net all alone and scored. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: there’s absolutely no reason why he should have fallen to that second Chicago pick.
- boilermaker100

Thanks for posting, BM..........

Here's a bit on Nazar from day 2. Sure, the production is nice but all that matters to me is how is his skating/health after hip surgery last yr cuz the production will follow as he climbs the ladder and this was addressed. Very very nice to read.

https://www.dailyfaceoff....top-performers-from-day-2

#36 Frank Nazar III, C (Chicago Blackhawks): It’s safe to say there’s nothing to worry about regarding his health. After missing most of 2022-23, Nazar looks healthy and playing like he did when he was a dominant junior player. He had four goals and five points to bounce back after a frustrating first game against Finland. With Michigan looking a bit different this year, Nazar will play a big part. And that’s true for the world juniors, too.

Personally i think the Cozens, Thompson deals are going to look really good in a couple of years
- BetweenTheDots

Guess I could have tagged 10 different people on this subject but Thompson, Cozens and the BUF roster fits well in this discussion.

Simply said, bridge or a long term deal in place of the bridge contract comes down to a franchise being able to objectively evaluate their own young players. If they think the kid will be a top 6 or top pairing Dman you lock em up early and for term.

If you can lock up a Cozens, Thompson, Jack Hughes, Hintz, Stutzle to long term deals, and you've evaluated them properly, you have a player that will be a bargain in a couple yrs with great value for 5ish yrs. ,,,,, Buying out 4ish yrs of UFA and prime yrs of these types is the goal. They get security at a young age and the organIzation gets a handful of value contract yrs for the risk they assume.

You hit on 2-3-4 of those types, with NO misses, and you have the "flexibility" KD talks about. Flexibility to add missing pieces in a trade or UFA that you pay fair value, or even a slight overpay, for and you are viable for a long 5-6 yr stretch due to enough value contracts.

Or if the kid "bets" on himself and decides not to sign long term you give him the 2-3 yr bridge deal. He gets a bump in AAV with the cost being less term.

Ideally you get a budding superstar in 21 yr old Stutzle signed for 8 mil for 8 yrs and in 2 yrs the contract is a big underpay. And for him he gets security and can be a UFA when he's 29 and sign another lucrative deal. A win for both sides.

But, the key is proper evaluation. It all starts there........ And yes, when I heard about Terry's deal my first thought was Reichel. And yes, KD will answer another unknown. How does he approach the contract for a probable top 6 young player.

We now know he loves speed/skill. Is not afraid of undersized guys if they are skilled and have speed. We now know he'll use resources on the goalie position using a rd 2 pick on Gajun. We know he ain't scared of bold moves trading Dcat and Dach. ...... Many more questions to be answered and how he approaches young top 6 players contractually will be answered soon.

I received my DirecTV renewal for this season's Center Ice package. (No I haven't cut the cord.)
The cost is 3 installments at $23.33 each or $69.99 total, the same as last year.

And I wont be picking up ESPN + at 9.99/months to see the one or two games per week they exclusively stream.

I received my DirecTV renewal for this season's Center Ice package. (No I haven't cut the cord.)
The cost is 3 installments at $23.33 each or $69.99 total, the same as last year.

And I wont be picking up ESPN + at 9.99/months to see the one or two games per week they exclusively stream.
- boilermaker100

Does come with blackout games or can you watch any games

The sad part of Rocky's passing might be the fact he went in for a minor procedure and they didn't think it would cause his passing.
Not completely sure if it was related to food poisoning incident or not.

This will be in the press later...

Does come with blackout games or can you watch any games
- Scott1977

Get all the games on Center Ice except those on ESPN +, ESPN, and TNT. But ESPN and TNT channels are on DirecTV so I'm able to watch 99% of the games.

Can't wait until StevefromGlencoe is back here and tells his Nashville draft stories, talking to both Oliver Moore's family and Otto Stenberg's...and Stanbo

Where did you see that? I heard Makar wasn't in the city, but I haven't seen anything like that about Raddysh.
- DarthKane

I saw it on another site. I meant to say "I thought it was established". Left out a crucial word.

I don't either were involved in the incident, tho. From what I have read in the scuttlebutt realm, neither Katchouk or Raddysh have been mentioned in the speculations of players.

No denial in the statement by Boris.
- mohel

Like anyone would believe it anyway.

I saw it on another site. I meant to say "I thought it was established". Left out a crucial word.

I don't either were involved in the incident, tho. From what I have read in the scuttlebutt realm, neither Katchouk or Raddysh have been mentioned in the speculations of players.
- Elbows15

I keep hearing how reporters know but aren't reporting it? Brave new world we are living in, hahaha

I keep hearing how reporters know but aren't reporting it? Brave new world we are living in, hahaha
- BetweenTheDots

Its really not something you want to get wrong, is it? Maybe they can't verify the source.

It used to matter and still does to some reporters.

I keep hearing how reporters know but aren't reporting it? Brave new world we are living in, hahaha
- BetweenTheDots

A journalist sit on a story? No way.....

A journalist sit on a story? No way.....
- mohel

they will if they have been told they will never get another piece of info from the source.

also. my decades team
60's B Hull
70's Mikita
80's Larmer
90's Belfour
00's Seabs
10's Keith

also. my decades team
60's B Hull
70's Mikita
80's Larmer
90's Belfour
00's Seabs
10's Keith
- Elbows15

I thought it was spelled Makita??

I thought it was spelled Makita??
- paulr

In Boston it is spelled "Mikiter".

I thought it was spelled Makita??
- paulr

- Elbows15

It is spelled S-T-O-S-H

A journalist sit on a story? No way.....
- mohel

Journalists, the new Used Car Salesman

Can't wait until StevefromGlencoe is back here and tells his Nashville draft stories, talking to both Oliver Moore's family and Otto Stenberg's...and Stanbo
- wiz1901

On Wednesday night while the players were walking the Red Carpet I was asking the mom's how they raised their kids. I asked Moore's mom if she was a Tiger Mom. She shugged but her husband said, " Tiger mom? She's a Drill Sargent." The two sisters were laughing and I asked them if she had been as tough on them as on him. "Oh no," one said, "She was easy on us but real tough on him."

Stenberg's family looks amazing. The mom is stunning. The dad is incredibly fit. The two brothers look just like Otto. I didn't know who he was so I asked one of his brothers and he told me. I joked to the brother, "When are you going to be drafted in the first round?" He told me, "Three years 1st round." My kid looked him up and he is the 10th ranked prospect for that year. A little later I ran into the family in the rink and congratulated them. The mom said, "This is the most exciting night of my life." The dad said, "To be honest with you, I am so nervous right now I am just trying to keep myself together." When Otto was drafted by the Blues late in the 1st round, the family jumped for joy. The youngest son was crying.

Before the draft in the rink, we saw Chevy and had a real nice conversation. We saw Stan Bowman and talked to him. I have to say he was a bit akward socially. I have spoken to Scotty Bowman a few times over the years and he too seems a bit unusual.

[I got a chance to talk to an NHL Director of Player Development that I am friendly with over last weekend.

I had seen him at the Ice Hogs-Wild series and asked him if he thinks Reichel is too much of perimeter player. He told me that every high end player does the same thing. They have so much talent and love handling the puck so they take the puck to the areas on the ice where they can do their thing. He said the challenge for every team is getting high end guys to change and take the puck to the net instead of the safe areas.

As for the Hawks challenge of developing all these young guys, he thought that the team would probably not graduate players to the AHL and NHL in an accelerated fashion and let everyone stay in their leagues as long as possible. He said the Ice Hogs will need really solid veteran guys to help create the culture. When I asked him how they can win in the AHL with such young team, he said that the culture to look for is not as much wins or losses but playing young guys and watching them get better over the year.

He pointed to what happened with the Wolves last season. They had the youngest team in the league and got crushed early. Then as the year went on the young guys got better and better. They missed the playoffs because they ran out of time. He said if they had a few more points and made the playoffs they would have won the West.

As for the Wolves decision to go independent, he thought is was justifiable so they can build some fan favorites. Also thought there will be many chances to get good players from other organizations where the guys are blocked or need a change of scenery.

The Caps have re-signed Tom Wilson to a 7 year $6.5 AAV contract.