2025-2026 NHL Offseason

1ThoughtKnown

MayDay10 said:

Wobbie said:

MayDay10 said:

Disappointed Vegas won with their cap circumvention trick, and Jack Eichel is the prince of turds.  

But it’s nice to be in the offseason. 

and you’re just mad Buffalo fucked up the eichel situation

I am mad at Sabres' management for a lot of things.  Hopefully they have it turned around now.  I am not upset with the Eichel thing.  Eichel was always an entitled turd, even in youth/juniors, right along through college.  
He came here #2 overall and the Sabres tried to immediately build a team around him.  They got Gionta and Gorges to teach him how to be a leader/man.  Unfortunately, they also got Evander Kane.  I wonder who the 18-19 year old frat boy millionaire is going to follow... the boring married guys or the guy who snorts coke, skips practice to take a helicopter to NBA All-star games.  OReilly took the right path though.  Eventually he had enough of Eichel though.

So the Sabres tried for years to do everything they can to make Eichel happy.  They fired/hired coaches, GMs, made him captain, etc.  He was a terrible captain.  The team made him unavailable after the Sabres lost.   He would visibly loaf in the middle of games, he would show up his teammates by throwing his head and arms back if someone made a mistake.  His coke problem was well documented around town.  I know a few prominent people in local media, and behind the scenes, sports reporters laughed and made fun of him, and gave him the nickname 'jack-nape'.  They still tried to help kiss his ass with their print and news casts.  I have heard so many anecdotes of Eichel being a douchebag in public, including to kids.  

Eichel asked for a trade privately around the time of covid.  Then tried to create the whole surgery drama to demand a trade, and also tried to play the media.  His original agent acted like a fool and undermined both sides and he ended up firing him for a more professional guy who eventually told Eichel to shut the fuck up.  

He gets booed last year in Buffalo, they lose, and then postgame, he shits on the fans who supported him and sold out the building for a last place team for 7 years like a baby.

He isn't an easy guy to root for.  He embodies every villain from 80s movies.



He ended up going to the one situation that wasnt going to see his career spiral into obscurity.  He needed to walk into a team where he isnt 'the guy'.  There is an established leadership core in Pietrangelo and Stone.  The team was already really good and successful.  He is free to sneak off and snort coke whenever he pleases because it's Vegas.  

Jack-nape. Lol

1ThoughtKnown

Well the Canucks did the right thing  buying out OEL to kick off NHL silly-season.  Jim Benning will haunt this organization well into the next decade. I’m sure they didn’t want to do it, but Ethan Bear’s shoulder injury forced their hand. 

OEL is a third-pairing depth defenceman with a lack of foot speed at this point. Canucks needed cap room to add a RHD now that Bear is on the shelf. 

If only they could unload the chaos-giraffe Tyler Myers they could really reconstruct that blue line. Hughes can’t play 28 minutes a night like Tocchet had him doing at the end of last year to ensure they didn’t pick in the top-10 of the draft, lol. 

igotid88

https://twitter.com/NYRangers/status/1671595913599496194?t=YdJhQKpgGxQ0AZ4Qm2cS6A&s=19

F Me In The Brain

He was awesome.
Too bad he couldn't get a ring.
(Go Kings Go!)

Johnny Abruzzo

F Me In The Brain said:

He was awesome.
Too bad he couldn't get a ring.
(Go Kings Go!)

I will never remember which teams you like.

MayDay10

The only hall of famer on the list is Lunqvist.  Barrasso and Vernon are silly.  I can hear the case about Turgeon, but I like him as kind of a benchmark of out vs in.  

F Me In The Brain

Johnny Abruzzo said:

F Me In The Brain said:

He was awesome.
Too bad he couldn't get a ring.
(Go Kings Go!)

I will never remember which teams you like.

Ha.  Confusing as a person who has lived a bunch of spots.
Kings hockey
USC college
Reds baseball
49ers football
Sixers basketball, as much as I root for hoops these days but as a youngster I loved Chuck and whatever team he played for.  Hawkins, Dawkins, Barkley 76ers probably my all time favorite group


For Hockey I grew up a Bruins fan but once I went out to LA I couldn't very well root for a team called Bruins and I wanted a local sports pro team to go to games and root for.  Went to tons of Dodgers, Angels, etc games but always rooted for matchup.
Kings were the obvious choice.  Took a while but thanks to Philly and Dry Island, Kings got the bling.  (X2)

Vitalogensia

As a Pens fan, this was probably my favorite memory of "The King".  But the time he sprayed Crosby with a water bottle when Crosby was held down on the ice was pretty funny too.  

1ThoughtKnown

MayDay10 said:

The only hall of famer on the list is Lunqvist.  Barrasso and Vernon are silly.  I can hear the case about Turgeon, but I like him as kind of a benchmark of out vs in.  

Mogilny getting overlooked again is a head scratcher 

Vitalogensia

Awesome news: TSU Achieves Historic Milestone as First HBCU to Introduce Collegiate Ice Hockey - Tennessee State University (tsutigers.com)

F Me In The Brain

Kings with the big trade.  Don't know that I love it, but now I'm rooting for PLD, big time.

1ThoughtKnown

F Me In The Brain said:

Kings with the big trade.  Don't know that I love it, but now I'm rooting for PLD, big time.

I think the Jets won that trade by a mile. Dubois might be the most overrated player in the league. 

F Me In The Brain

1ThoughtKnown said:

F Me In The Brain said:

Kings with the big trade.  Don't know that I love it, but now I'm rooting for PLD, big time.

I think the Jets won that trade by a mile. Dubois might be the most overrated player in the league. 

Yeah, I was on that side prior to the trade.
I also think giving up 4 players for 1 (Durzi went to another team for the draft pick they included in this trade) is too much.  
That stated, Blake has hit the jackpot the last two off-seasons, so I am going to choose to be hopeful rather than bummed about Vilardi, Iafallo, and Kuparu going.

Not raising the salary cap again is fucked - the deal around that is not working out. 

I am excited to see Brandt Clarke come up and to see Q flourish. 

Kings have a lot of good players still in line - bug question is what they do in net.
I know everyone says the past few cup winning goalies show you don't have to be a thoroughbred....but winning two cups with Quickie showed Kings fans how much a star goalie can mean

 

Jumb0

Word on the street is that PLD has already requested a trade from LA

Lerxst1992

F Me In The Brain said:

1ThoughtKnown said:

F Me In The Brain said:

Kings with the big trade.  Don't know that I love it, but now I'm rooting for PLD, big time.

I think the Jets won that trade by a mile. Dubois might be the most overrated player in the league. 

Yeah, I was on that side prior to the trade.
I also think giving up 4 players for 1 (Durzi went to another team for the draft pick they included in this trade) is too much.  
That stated, Blake has hit the jackpot the last two off-seasons, so I am going to choose to be hopeful rather than bummed about Vilardi, Iafallo, and Kuparu going.

Not raising the salary cap again is fucked - the deal around that is not working out. 

I am excited to see Brandt Clarke come up and to see Q flourish. 

Kings have a lot of good players still in line - bug question is what they do in net.
I know everyone says the past few cup winning goalies show you don't have to be a thoroughbred....but winning two cups with Quickie showed Kings fans how much a star goalie can mean

 

League lost a ton of money 2020 and 2021. The NHL needs attendance a lot more than the other major leagues.

F Me In The Brain

Lerxst1992 said:

F Me In The Brain said:

1ThoughtKnown said:

F Me In The Brain said:

Kings with the big trade.  Don't know that I love it, but now I'm rooting for PLD, big time.

I think the Jets won that trade by a mile. Dubois might be the most overrated player in the league. 

Yeah, I was on that side prior to the trade.
I also think giving up 4 players for 1 (Durzi went to another team for the draft pick they included in this trade) is too much.  
That stated, Blake has hit the jackpot the last two off-seasons, so I am going to choose to be hopeful rather than bummed about Vilardi, Iafallo, and Kuparu going.

Not raising the salary cap again is fucked - the deal around that is not working out. 

I am excited to see Brandt Clarke come up and to see Q flourish. 

Kings have a lot of good players still in line - bug question is what they do in net.
I know everyone says the past few cup winning goalies show you don't have to be a thoroughbred....but winning two cups with Quickie showed Kings fans how much a star goalie can mean

 

League lost a ton of money 2020 and 2021. The NHL needs attendance a lot more than the other major leagues.

They made more than they thought they would the last two years.  The issue is the players still owe escrow, I believe.  It is complicated....a dude I worked with explained it all to me but then I forgot most of what he shared. 
Teams were hoping for more than a $1MM increase.  Boping it jumps $3MM or so next year.
Also, don't believe anything that mofo Bettman says.  They are selling all sorts of shit now that they didn't sell before, they are making money.  
I do think they need to keep things in check and not end up like they did before, but with the teams not knowing it is tough to manage.

F Me In The Brain

This is great
https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/37931415/chicago-blackhawks-gm-kyle-davidson-interview-incognito

tempo_n_groove

F Me In The Brain said:

This is great
https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/37931415/chicago-blackhawks-gm-kyle-davidson-interview-incognito

Ha I love this!  I'm not so crazy as to know who most GM's are anyways but this was cool.

Best part was at the end Kyle says "I'm actually the Hawks GM ." and the interviewer gave him a side eye, lol.

Lerxst1992

F Me In The Brain said:

Lerxst1992 said:

F Me In The Brain said:

1ThoughtKnown said:

F Me In The Brain said:

Kings with the big trade.  Don't know that I love it, but now I'm rooting for PLD, big time.

I think the Jets won that trade by a mile. Dubois might be the most overrated player in the league. 

Yeah, I was on that side prior to the trade.
I also think giving up 4 players for 1 (Durzi went to another team for the draft pick they included in this trade) is too much.  
That stated, Blake has hit the jackpot the last two off-seasons, so I am going to choose to be hopeful rather than bummed about Vilardi, Iafallo, and Kuparu going.

Not raising the salary cap again is fucked - the deal around that is not working out. 

I am excited to see Brandt Clarke come up and to see Q flourish. 

Kings have a lot of good players still in line - bug question is what they do in net.
I know everyone says the past few cup winning goalies show you don't have to be a thoroughbred....but winning two cups with Quickie showed Kings fans how much a star goalie can mean

 

League lost a ton of money 2020 and 2021. The NHL needs attendance a lot more than the other major leagues.

They made more than they thought they would the last two years.  The issue is the players still owe escrow, I believe.  It is complicated....a dude I worked with explained it all to me but then I forgot most of what he shared. 
Teams were hoping for more than a $1MM increase.  Boping it jumps $3MM or so next year.
Also, don't believe anything that mofo Bettman says.  They are selling all sorts of shit now that they didn't sell before, they are making money.  
I do think they need to keep things in check and not end up like they did before, but with the teams not knowing it is tough to manage.

They’re certainly making money but losing 100% ticket revenue for a year and a half is a big hit, especially for the NHL. But I’m with you,as my Isles just sold Josh Bailey to the Hawks, they basically purchased our 2026 2nd round pick to free up his $5M cap hit. Living at the cap isn’t fun.

josevolution

Lerxst1992 said:

F Me In The Brain said:

Lerxst1992 said:

F Me In The Brain said:

1ThoughtKnown said:

F Me In The Brain said:

Kings with the big trade.  Don't know that I love it, but now I'm rooting for PLD, big time.

I think the Jets won that trade by a mile. Dubois might be the most overrated player in the league. 

Yeah, I was on that side prior to the trade.
I also think giving up 4 players for 1 (Durzi went to another team for the draft pick they included in this trade) is too much.  
That stated, Blake has hit the jackpot the last two off-seasons, so I am going to choose to be hopeful rather than bummed about Vilardi, Iafallo, and Kuparu going.

Not raising the salary cap again is fucked - the deal around that is not working out. 

I am excited to see Brandt Clarke come up and to see Q flourish. 

Kings have a lot of good players still in line - bug question is what they do in net.
I know everyone says the past few cup winning goalies show you don't have to be a thoroughbred....but winning two cups with Quickie showed Kings fans how much a star goalie can mean

 

League lost a ton of money 2020 and 2021. The NHL needs attendance a lot more than the other major leagues.

They made more than they thought they would the last two years.  The issue is the players still owe escrow, I believe.  It is complicated....a dude I worked with explained it all to me but then I forgot most of what he shared. 
Teams were hoping for more than a $1MM increase.  Boping it jumps $3MM or so next year.
Also, don't believe anything that mofo Bettman says.  They are selling all sorts of shit now that they didn't sell before, they are making money.  
I do think they need to keep things in check and not end up like they did before, but with the teams not knowing it is tough to manage.

They’re certainly making money but losing 100% ticket revenue for a year and a half is a big hit, especially for the NHL. But I’m with you,as my Isles just sold Josh Bailey to the Hawks, they basically purchased our 2026 2nd round pick to free up his $5M cap hit. Living at the cap isn’t fun.

It does! I’m not going to games unless they make big moves for next season so far they’ve done nothing that would make me spend $$$ on going to the games! I’ll watch them
on tv that’s about it.