Drunkard

Yet it seems like half the board wants to shift O'Reilly over to Eichel's wing. How is that supposed to work when O'Reilly is the great Selke type who's never won a Selke and Eichel's defense is sub par at best? Is Eichel going to be center only when the Sabres have the puck with O'Reilly doing all the heavy lifting in the defensive end? If that's the case we might as well keep them on separate lines with our franchise guy getting the sheltered minutes so he can focus on offense.

Apparently I'm near suicidal over the loss of Carrier as well. I'm not just slightly bothered that we whiffed on the opportunity to bribe a new team into taking somebody like Moulson or Ennis, I'm distraught over the loss of future Hall of Famer William Carrier!

I could get on board with this. Is Slavin generally Faulk's partner on the top pair? If so, that could definitely help to balance out our talent between the left and right side. Eichel would take O'Reilly's minutes and Reinhart would take Eichel's minutes on the second line.

Says math. Faulk $4,833,333 in cap hit for 37 points equals $130,630.60 per point O'Reilly $7,500,000 in cap hit for 55 points equals $136,363.60 per point I get that there's a ton more to hockey than scoring points but the fact that Faulk produces more per dollar of cap hit despite being a defenseman while also anchoring Carolina's top pair and playing against the toughest competition the same way O'Reilly does here is kind of tips the scales in his favor.

That is approaching Roy for Malkin and a 1st type territory. You get more bang for the buck with Faulk at under $5 million than we do with O'Reilly for $7.5 million. Given their glut at defense and ours at center it seems like an even swap to me. O'Reilly does have 3 extra years on his deal though so I can see them adding something, but I highly doubt it would be all of the 3 things you listed.

Ryan O'Reilly for Justin Faulk of Carolina. We get a top pair defenseman, they get a top line center. Gives us the added benefit or practically forcing Reinhart into a center role for us and additional cap space since Faulk's cap hit is under $5 million. They'll like how much we front loaded O'Reilly's contract since they are a budget team even though for the next 2 years they'd still have to pay him more than his cap hit but they'd be able to recoup it on the back end of his deal. This would stack our right side compared to our left but it would allow us to play Antipin on the left hand side and slide Bogosian down to the third pairing. McCabe Faulk Beaulieu Ristolainen Antipin Bogosian

So we could have 43 million and 4 more open spots. Enough to extend Kane and bring in someone like Shattenkirk or someone else who would actually earn their paycheck. My point still stands. We could ice a much better team without those guys. Maybe we wouldn't have wasted the ELC's of Eichel and Reinhart. At this rate we'll be wasting the cheap years for Nylander and Guhle next waiting for these bums to come off the books.

Bull . Between Ennis, Moulson, Bogosian, and Gorges that is almost 19 miilion in cap space for dead weight next season. There's no possible way that much dead wood isn't impacting our ability to ice a better team this season.

I had to shut it off and play something from the dvr. Switched back just in time to see the first round of picks and shut it back off. The format is brutal. It reaffirms my decision to avoid awards shows in general.

I don't think anyone is losing sleep over Carrier. It's more about missing out on the opportunity to bribe them into taking one of our bad contracts (Moulson, Ennis, Bogosian, or even Gorges). I meant to say protect Ullmark, not Ennis.

We should have upped the bribe to get Vegas to take one of our anchors rather than just giving them a 6th and exposing Carrier to protect Ullmark. Maybe a second round pick would have enticed them to pick Moulson or Ennis. Seems like a wasted opportunity to gain cap space and dump a bad contract.

I don't get that point either. If we're not keeping him long term I'd rather see what we have in his replacement now. We aren't serious contenders yet. His value will only go down as he gets closer to UFA status and if he's gets hurt before the deadline we risk seeing him walk for nothing.

Exactly. It just so happens to reach the point where it's unbearable when he starts earning $1 million per year in his contract. I don't buy it but I hope his skin rots off anyway just for karma's sake. http://www.spotrac.com/nhl/chicago-blackhawks/marian-hossa-2021/

Same here. Last vacation I took was to Buffalo. I can't afford to go anywhere fancy.

If there's a deal in place I expect them to take Moulson for whatever they agreed on. In a vacuum I would expect them to take Bogosian.

They also have Crosby and Malkin. When you have 2 of the (probably) best 5 forwards on the planet it's easier to get away with a weaker defense. The rest of the NHL doesn't have that luxury.

I hope you're right but I'm skeptical. People assumed he was just pumping tires on Moulson and Ennis then they turn around and protect Ennis when we should haven't been hoping for Vegas to take him off our hands.

He's younger and almost $4 miiion cheaper than Ennis and they wasted a protection spot. It's not so much about Carrier it's wasting a spot protecting a more expensive player who hasn't been productive in the last 2 seasons.

I don't think that's true. If they want Ullmark they will still take him and if they have other goaltending preferences they won't. Carrier isn't necessarily good enough to force them to pass on Ullmark. The biggest deterrent to them drafting Ullmark is his one way contract. They may not want to pay him that much to tend goal in the AHL.

Struck a nerve, huh? Looks like you're the one who needs to relax not me. Second, I didn't call him names or question his manhood or toughness. He was one of our best players through the bad years. That doesn't change the fact that he's been a shell of his former self over the past 2 years and his $4.6 million cap hit would be better spent on player(s) who actually play and produce. If he can stay healthy and produce like he did 3+ years ago, I'll be happy to eat some crow. I just don't expect it and I would have rather protected Carrier because he's younger and cheaper. That extra $4 million Ennis earns over Carrier could be better spent elsewhere.

His production 3+ years ago and the fact that he's still relatively young are in his favor. Still a big time head scratcher for sure though.

He had 11 points the year before. I'm not buying whatever it is you're selling about him. I guess JB does though, unfortunately. Matt Moulson produces more and has fewer years left on his contract.

$4.6 million cap hit for 13 points is a good value? Are you his agent?

I can't believe they protected Ennis over Carrier. After Moulson, Ennis is the player I was hoping most that Vegas woud take off our hands.

If they are luke warm on Reinhart but feel the need to buck up the confidence of Moulson and Ennis then I question their intelligence already, at least compared to everyone who seems to be proclaiming them mensa members during this honeymoon phase. If they plan on moving Reinhart or Kane they should be pumping up their tires rather than the bums that we're hoping Vegas does us a favor and takes as a personal favor.