2025-2026 NHL Offseason

mrussel1

Meltdown99 said:

Islanders draw first.  

Flat effort by the Bolts.  Great game by Isles

josevolution

Totally happy with the game plan against the bolts, I have to admit I haven’t been this excited for this team for a while this just feels a bit different..

Meltdown99

mrussel1 said:

Meltdown99 said:

Islanders draw first.  

Flat effort by the Bolts.  Great game by Isles

I’d say the Isle.  played a perfect road game until the last 2 minutes…that was a real dumb penalty and pageau with 30 seconds left could have walked the puck out of the zone instead of icing it.  Tampa was sloppy, so was Boston…Tampa could have been up early on.  Going to be a great goaltending battle I think…playing for Russian Pride…May go 7?

tempo_n_groove

josevolution said:

Totally happy with the game plan against the bolts, I have to admit I haven’t been this excited for this team for a while this just feels a bit different..

Totally agree.  Last year didn't feel real yet.  This year does.

MayDay10

Poncier said:

Meltdown99 said:

cutz said:

https://www.thescore.com/nhl/news/2182285

Projected No. 1 pick Power leaning towards return to Michigan next season

Owen Power, projected No. 1 overall pick for the upcoming 2021 NHL draft, is leaning towards playing another NCAA season at Michigan instead of turning pro.

"I think right now I'm probably leaning more towards going back to school," Power said during an interview with NHL Network on Friday.

"It's something I'd like to do, try and get the true experience of playing college hockey. At the end of the day, it obviously depends on what the team wants and what everyone around me thinks is best. I don't think there's really a bad option."

Central Scouting labeled Power the top North American skater heading to the draft in their final rankings in May. The 18-year-old defenseman had 16 points in 26 games for the Wolverines this past season and won gold with Canada at the world championship in Latvia.

The Buffalo Sabres, Seattle Kraken, and Anaheim Ducks hold the top three picks in this year's draft.

He might want a guaranteed roster spot in the NHL or he’ll just stay in college…

Or he might not want to go to Buffalo

NCAA players don't have much/any leverage here, at least the big-ticket ones.  The players who you see time-out and become UFA are typically the late-blooming mid round picks who might come into their own in their Junior year or so, and they can see the light at the end of the tunnel to choose their path (Id also argue that those kids stunt their own growth by negotiating for an NHL spot/pay and skip AHL development).

If a guy like Power decides to play a holdout game, he would have to wait like 4 years, 4 years of a really good salary, playing at a level that provides a ceiling as far as his progress/development goes, risks injury, etc.  He is better off just putting his head down, killing it, and possibly setting the stage for a trade.

Power is too young for the AHL this year, I think you need to be 19.  So its either sign a contract and be locked into the NHL (and lose all NCAA eligibility), or play for Michigan.  Michigan is probably the best place for him at this time (Id much rather see him in the grind of a CHL season though.  TBH, the Sabres would probably prefer he seasons in amateur for a year as well as that saves a year of his ELC, and he will get a lot of ice time, minutes, and situations.   Michigan is also looking like they will be a machine next season and he can be exposed to some team success.   Being the 4th-7th defenseman and getting sheltered on the Sabres' who will likely be having a tough season isnt going to be great experience.

If I had to guess, Sabres draft Power, Power plays at Michigan, Sabres sign Power fairly early after the Frozen 4. At a minimum, he starts off 2022-23 in the AHL for Rochester.  

Meltdown99

18 is the AHL age limit.  I highly doubt he'll pull a Lindros, I think he just wants to be where he is most comfortable...and if the Sabres guarantee him a roster spot he'll be in the NHL next year...and why wouldn't they... it's highly unusual for the number 1 overall pick to play minor hockey...and let's be real...at this point, Michigan might be better than buffalo ... hehehe ... 

Meltdown99

Montreal had good 1st then it fell apart…Vegas looks to be the best team in the league…

2-1 or 50-1 a loss is a loss…

Wobbie

I’m glad the knights have no russians on the team.

mrussel1

Wobbie said:

I’m glad the knights have no russians on the team.

I do like that too.

mrussel1

Bullshit call on the Varmolov play.  Should be a cross check

erebus

Just curious on the hate for Russian players ?
I usually hear no heart/passion 
here are the top 20 all time Russian points in the NHL, some solid players on this list. Detroit wouldn’t have dominated without them in their last cups

1		Alexander Ovechkin
2		Sergei Fedorov
3		Evgeni Malkin
4		Alexander Mogilny
5		Alexei Kovalev
6		Pavel Datsyuk
7		Ilya Kovalchuk
8		Vyacheslav Kozlov
9		Sergei Gonchar
10		Alexei Yashin
11		Pavel Bure
12		Sergei Zubov
13		Alexei Zhamnov
14		Igor Larionov
15		Andrei Markov
16		Sergei Samsonov
17		Nikita Kucherov
18		Viktor Kozlov
19		Alexander Semin
20		Valeri Kamensky

mrussel1

Ovechkin is a Putin stooge

Meltdown99

erebus said:

Just curious on the hate for Russian players ?
I usually hear no heart/passion 
here are the top 20 all time Russian points in the NHL, some solid players on this list. Detroit wouldn’t have dominated without them in their last cups

1		Alexander Ovechkin
2		Sergei Fedorov
3		Evgeni Malkin
4		Alexander Mogilny
5		Alexei Kovalev
6		Pavel Datsyuk
7		Ilya Kovalchuk
8		Vyacheslav Kozlov
9		Sergei Gonchar
10		Alexei Yashin
11		Pavel Bure
12		Sergei Zubov
13		Alexei Zhamnov
14		Igor Larionov
15		Andrei Markov
16		Sergei Samsonov
17		Nikita Kucherov
18		Viktor Kozlov
19		Alexander Semin
20		Valeri Kamensky

Russian 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Five

Pavel  Datsyuk was the best Russian to plsy in the nhl.  That dude was magic at both ends of the ice…

mrussel1

The only Russian I like is Ruslan Fedetenko, who scored both goals in game 7 when the Lightning won the Cup. And the best part is he actually Ukrainian.  

mrussel1

Bad officiating tonight.  

Meltdown99

The NHL is the worst run and worst officiated league out there…the only time I like the officiating is when they put their whistles away except for blatant and obvious penalties…

dankind

mrussel1 said:

The only Russian I like is Ruslan Fedetenko, who scored both goals in game 7 when the Lightning won the Cup. And the best part is he actually Ukrainian.  

Bulin Wall?

mrussel1

dankind said:

mrussel1 said:

The only Russian I like is Ruslan Fedetenko, who scored both goals in game 7 when the Lightning won the Cup. And the best part is he actually Ukrainian.  

Bulin Wall?

Oh yeah.  And him too. And that Vasy guy in goal now.   But other than them and about ten others,  I hate the Russians! 

Wobbie

I just feel like until russia quits fucking with our elections, our infrastructure, etc., we shouldn’t afford any of their citizens the opportunity to make millions of american dollars.

F Me In The Brain

Wobbie said:

I just feel like until russia quits fucking with our elections, our infrastructure, etc., we shouldn’t afford any of their citizens the opportunity to make millions of american dollars.

Had the good fortune to be one of the early waves of folks able to visit the former USSR as they reopened to the world... we went in 1992. 

Spent a small amount of time in Estonia and then Russia (St. Pete).

Very different experiences but met a whole lot of wonderful people.

Their leadership was (and is now) a damn train-wreck but I do not color the people based on this.

Happy to have Russian citizens here working the same way we would have citizens of other countries.

Don't think the Kings has any Russians on roster this year, at least not for long.