Bedard pointless again and under water in the fancy stats. Wondering if the Hocks are going to ruin him or if he's just Jack Hughes good and not the king's sh!t. Not bad mouthing Hughes,the kid can play,but I was genuinely expecting Bedard to be a level above Hughes.

Still holding out some hope that a change(whether line mates or coach etc..) might help. Caleb Williams has looked different after Waldron was launched. And it doesn't seem like Luke is going anywhere,but can Nazar play with Bedard on the same line?

Kantserov with 2 goals and an assist today.

Bedard pointless again and under water in the fancy stats. Wondering if the Hocks are going to ruin him or if he's just Jack Hughes good and not the king's sh!t. Not bad mouthing Hughes,the kid can play,but I was genuinely expecting Bedard to be a level above Hughes.

Kantserov with 2 goals and an assist today.
- captainserious

Bedard is getting the star treatment by opponents. That should really tell you all you need to know. Opponents respect him so much and Hall so little. If Hall was half the player he was he'd be scoring a lot more goals than he is but unfortunately father time has caught up to him.

Bedard is getting the star treatment by opponents. That should really tell you all you need to know. Opponents respect him so much and Hall so little. If Hall was half the player he was he'd be scoring a lot more goals than he is but unfortunately father time has caught up to him.
- BetweenTheDots

Father Time and recovery from surgery. I won’t start judging him until he’s played 30 or 40 games. Also there’s the mercenary factor, TT, Bertuzzi and others including Hall may only be in it now for the paycheque.

Father Time and recovery from surgery. I won’t start judging him until he’s played 30 or 40 games. Also there’s the mercenary factor, TT, Bertuzzi and others including Hall may only be in it now for the paycheque.
- paulr

My theory is that's why Boston relegated him to the 3rd line and were ecstatic KD was shopping

That's why the Rangers are shopping Zibanejad, they see it

Bedard pointless again and under water in the fancy stats. Wondering if the Hocks are going to ruin him or if he's just Jack Hughes good and not the king's sh!t. Not bad mouthing Hughes,the kid can play,but I was genuinely expecting Bedard to be a level above Hughes.

Kantserov with 2 goals and an assist today.
- captainserious

If he's Hughes, that's not a bad thing. He's a really good offensive player and the Devils have him signed to an $8M per year deal for a long time. I'm fine with Bedard not being great defensively. If he is eventually a 90-100pt player that creates for himself and others that's an insanely valuable piece.

Definitely I think he could be moved and some teams would want a guy like him in return for a forward. Possibly KD would need to retain 1-2 mil on the salary or take a bad contract in the transaction. I think those deals will become real possibilities if Jones can avoid decline and if some guys like Rinzel, Arty, etc start to look like legit NHL ready RHD.
- breadbag

Avoid decline? Then we should keep him. Need at least one veteran d man.

One point behind Vinnie Hinnie.
- Chunk

Not Brandon Pirri?

Not Brandon Pirri?
- rpeters01

Nor Perlini.

Avoid decline? Then we should keep him. Need at least one veteran d man.
- rpeters01

Well, I just meant if his game doesn't fall off a cliff. Push comes to shove, if he needs to be moved because someone else is able to fill his role on the top pair or if he wants out, we can go out and pick up someone else with experience to fill the gap at least.

One somewhat interesting bit of data was floating around Twitter/X lately. One of the analytics guys (@JFresh) was looking at the skating speed data on the NHL edge and crunching some stats.

Some highlights of it. Pat Maroon was essentially the slowest NHL player when it comes to bursts of speed. Foligno was pretty slow too. Craig Smith middle of the road for his age. Connor Murphy among the slowest overall dmen.

Vlasic was 9th is top speed among all D but didn't hit those bursts so often compared to other D.

Lukas Reichel ranked as one of the top speed burst (above 20 MPH) skaters in the (under 23) age group just behind Stutzle. Bedard was ranked in the lower part of the league for speed bursts (Above 20 MPH).

Of course those things don't tell a whole story, but just interesting to see where some of our guys sit in those kind of skating categories.

Nor Perlini.
- Chunk

Hey, he was big and fast….

My theory is that's why Boston relegated him to the 3rd line and were ecstatic KD was shopping

That's why the Rangers are shopping Zibanejad, they see it
- BetweenTheDots

Stay far away from this guy, even with a sweetener I would not take him and that contract. Thanks but no thanks.

Hey, he was big and fast….
- Angotti

What? You mean that's not a guarantee of NHL success?

Stay far away from this guy, even with a sweetener I would not take him and that contract. Thanks but no thanks.
- Angotti

If truly available, and not just rumored, I'd be very interested to see what it would cost to acquire Frost and/or Kakko.

If truly available, and not just rumored, I'd be very interested to see what it would cost to acquire Frost and/or Kakko.
- Chunk

I’d prefer KD targets younger guys like that. The idea of targeting Marner or Rantanen makes no sense in the timeline of the team and it can cause huge problems in the team’s budget. And steer clear of injury prone players like Norris, Pinto or Zegras.

I'm not seeing anything that really backs this up. In 9 more games Murphy and Vlasic are still behind the total that Seth has put on goal. I'd say the one thing that was most notable about Seth this year was that he was much more effective offensively. His passing seemed to have improved, he was more aggressive offensively and was certainly taking more shots and getting them on net.

We can rant all day on him not being a great defenseman and that he is certainly overpaid, but from the numbers that I'm seeing, he was notably better this season on offense.
- Chunk

Eh, The results and numbers for the team in general about the same.

You'd think if a No.1 was out there would be more impact. Same amount of goals, same amount of high danger chances. Which are all inconsistent.

I think Vlasic is better on the top of the umbrella and has a better sense of when to shoot.

And I just don't like the player and would like to see him traded so there's certainly some bias.

No no no, Jones is at least a quality dman for 20 minutes of the game. Zibanejad is at that magic age where his play is diminishing, this trade would be worse than when the Leafs singed Tavares. We have one Taylor Hall we don't need 2.
- BetweenTheDots

Would be ok with a Jones for Trouba swap though. Trouba would not come here for reasons that everyone else won't come here but I could live with that.

Would be ok with a Jones for Trouba swap though. Trouba would not come here for reasons that everyone else won't come here but I could live with that.
- fattybeef

My guess is the hawks are on Triuba's 15 team no trade list. Jones can nix any trade. I don't think he wants any part of the Ranger media bubble.

The time, for me, isn't the issue. Just kind of throwing poop on the wall this year is a little irritating. It doesn't seem like they attempted to build a cohesive team, just put a bunch of guys together and said "well can't be worse than last year".
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.
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I guess reserving judgement until after the TDL is probably the more reasonable course. I'd think that things will move around. If they take bad money and move productive players while they can (Donato, for example would have some value) that sends a pretty clear message. If they bring in a more talented player or two then that also at least give some direction.

I think the biggest red flag at this point would be them doing absolutely nothing.
- fattybeef

The first paragraph is sure how it seems. I liked most of the summer acquisitions and though they could have a decent year (80 standings points or so). The team has not jelled at all and so I am expecting that after the holidays they will move on to the next step in the process. Something like:

- Hall, Maroon, Smith, Martinez, and Kurashev traded for whatever draft picks they will bring back (preferably 2026-27-28 picks)
- Trade for a young center (the recent rumor of Murphy + picks for J. Norris, or something like it)
- Nazar, Slaggert, and Dach brought up to replace Hall, Maroon, and Smith.
- Jones needs to stay a couple more years if Murphy goes
- Donato signed to extension
- Go with the young guys on defense, and live with their mistakes the last 30 games or so

Penciled in lineup looks like:

Bertuzzi - Bedard - Teravainen
Nazar - Norris - Donato/Reichel
Foligno - D!ckinson - Mikheyev/Anderson
Slaggert - Reichel/Donato - Dach
Mikheyev/Anderson

Vlasic - Jones
Kaiser - Allan
Brodie - Del Mastro
Crevier
maybe a few games for Korchinski and Levshunov

Just my ideas, but I think they will wait until Jan-Feb and go as young as they can, and take the top-5 pick in 2025.

The first paragraph is sure how it seems. I liked most of the summer acquisitions and though they could have a decent year (80 standings points or so). The team has not jelled at all and so I am expecting that after the holidays they will move on to the next step in the process. Something like:

- Hall, Maroon, Smith, Martinez, and Kurashev traded for whatever draft picks they will bring back (preferably 2026-27-28 picks)
- Trade for a young center (the recent rumor of Murphy + picks for J. Norris, or something like it)
- Nazar, Slaggert, and Dach brought up to replace Hall, Maroon, and Smith.
- Jones needs to stay a couple more years if Murphy goes
- Donato signed to extension
- Go with the young guys on defense, and live with their mistakes the last 30 games or so

Penciled in lineup looks like:

Bertuzzi - Bedard - Teravainen
Nazar - Norris - Donato/Reichel
Foligno - D!ckinson - Mikheyev/Anderson
Slaggert - Reichel/Donato - Dach
Mikheyev/Anderson

Vlasic - Jones
Kaiser - Allan
Brodie - Del Mastro
Crevier
maybe a few games for Korchinski and Levshunov

Just my ideas, but I think they will wait until Jan-Feb and go as young as they can, and take the top-5 pick in 2025.
- totem

If Levshunov doesn't play 10 NHL games does his contract slide a year? Not sure if that rule applies to guys coming from NCAA Hockey?

I could go with that being the lineup the last 30 games.
Korch probably deserves more than 30 games to be honest,but if Levshunov's contract slides a year, I see them maybe giving him only 8-9 games at the end of the year.

Kantserov with a hattrick

If Levshunov doesn't play 10 NHL games does his contract slide a year? Not sure if that rule applies to guys coming from NCAA Hockey?

I could go with that being the lineup the last 30 games.
Korch probably deserves more than 30 games to be honest,but if Levshunov's contract slides a year, I see them maybe giving him only 8-9 games at the end of the year.

Kantserov with a hattrick
- captainserious

No, Arty as a college player once you sign a pro contract, you are a pro.

Just spitballing. You know I've been trying to trade Jones for a couple of years. LOL. I hope at least KD is open to moving him eventually and is gauging the market for him.

Yes he serves his purpose by playing 20+ minutes against the opponents' top lines thusly taking the pressure off the kids. But like you say about Zib, Jones' play will also decline in upcoming years.

Sooner or later, the Hawks will have to move a D especially if they wind up with Schaefer in the draft next June. Who else will bring a lot of value in return, Kaiser, Crevier, Phillips, Allan, EDM? Or do you trade one of the higher rated prospects Lev, KK or a young vet like Vlasic?

Everyone here wants a young 23-25 year old forward. Lots of names have been bandied about - Zegras, Norris, Pinto, Rossi, etc.. If Jones could be persuaded to move would you include him in that package?
- boilermaker100

Also the way the Hawks have played recently - Pinching hard and early, disrupting plays in the neutral zone and trying to hold the blue line rather than yield it - are all things that Jones is not great at since he doesn't skate good side to side.

Jones would be a good fit in Ottawa. I dunno about the Ducks but if they wanted him I wouldn't ask questions.

Ideally thats the guy you trade because he should have value. Nashville may be interested. They want a top 4 veteran defender allegedly. Hall, Kurashev and Jones for O'Rielly two seconds and a swap of later round picks. Lol. Talk about fantasy land but maybe not that outrageous. People still think highly of hall and Kurashev can skate faster than O'Rielly.

I don't think he fits in Minnesota.

I really disagree. Before he was injured there were so many times Jones was the only one willing to take the shot and put it on goal and it was at times generating results, with forwards like Foligno making tips, scoring goals, making things happen around the net.

All too often, we have guys like Murphy who just shoot wide (either unintentionally or on purpose) and the play ends up dead. Jones is also better in the corners defensively than most of our other guys, just because of his physical size and ability to battle. He has generally been making good defensive plays this year.

Jones ain't perfect and he is overpaid, but he is still a ~40+ point dman on an NHL roster. There has been no actual evidence that subtracting a guy like that has improved the offense. Look no further than the Hawks record when he is out in the last 2 seasons, we are even worse at winning games without him, that's just a fact.

Finally, I would highlight that if Jones was so bad, why was he leading the NHL in minutes played when he got hurt? It's not just LR playing him. For several years his coaches have been giving him a tremendous amount of minutes and key situations. I refuse to buy into the premise that several NHL coaching staff are fooled and that Jones is bad.

I'm not saying he is the greatest dman around, but we don't get better by losing him when we have a lack of top 4 dman to take up the minutes he played. Jones is our most productive dman offensively, because he is better at producing results. Those results matter and are what actually move the needle a bit between winning and losing.
- breadbag

BUT - think of what it's done for Vlasic and Kaiser now. Theyre ripping shots and who knew Vlasic had that freakin bomb.

I like that its forced these younger guys into expanded roles and also forced them to get the puck to the net rather than just swing it over to the other point.

I think the last few weeks has proven they won't get worse and with Arty and Rinzel coming in the next 1-3 years its not like they're going to pay a guy 9.5 to play the third pairing.

I'd rather see Brodie and Martinez each extended for an additional year than Jones for the next 5 or 6 or whatever it is.

Nice move by Vanacker too. I think this guy will be a lock to make the Hawks however he may be more middle six than top six. I said it when he was drafted, many things about his game reminds me of Hossa, strong two way game, strong defensively, very strong on the puck, he’s a bull on his skate, can play on the powerplay kill penalties, he is great at stripping the puck away on backchecks, strong forechecker. The one thing I’m not sure about is his offensive upside? A poor man’s Hossa.
- paulr

Bull on skates would be a nice change of pace.

Bedard pointless again and under water in the fancy stats. Wondering if the Hocks are going to ruin him or if he's just Jack Hughes good and not the king's sh!t. Not bad mouthing Hughes,the kid can play,but I was genuinely expecting Bedard to be a level above Hughes.

Still holding out some hope that a change(whether line mates or coach etc..) might help. Caleb Williams has looked different after Waldron was launched. And it doesn't seem like Luke is going anywhere,but can Nazar play with Bedard on the same line?

Kantserov with 2 goals and an assist today.
- captainserious

He'll be fine. It'll just be irritating for us.

I think you see a bump when Nazar comes up and probably Slaggert. I think Slaggert is in that Kruger mold where he may not score but he's gonna win a lot of battles, make the other team insane, make his line mates better and be one of those glue\culture guys captain talks a lot mentions. Maybe he could wear an A in a few years.