Stumpy

Smart penalty by Necas. Ugly turnover right I. Front of Raanta who had no idea what just happened.

Didn't see any of the pregame notes, is Jesse skating tonight, or nah?

I've been pretty entertained by this whole "cheap" brouhaha as it pertains to this trade deadline. I think it stems from a few different things. Dundon When Tom came in, after making his billions off of a buy-here/pay-here used car empire, he immediately started cutting costs anywhere he could. Unceremoniously firing a living legend in Chuck Kaiton and picking a contract dispute with Rod over not wanting to pay his assistants did nothing to endear our new oligarch to the fanbase. However, TD has opened the wallet for arena upgrades and has taken us from a cap floor team to a cap ceiling team every year since his first. Donny Wads Waddell came up through the organization under Karmanos. Learning to GM in a poverty mentality, Waddell had to rely on his scouting and dumpster diving abilities because Ole Petey barely had the money tip the valet, much less get into a bidding war for literally anybody. Turns out that Donny has pretty good eye for hidden gems and he was able to build one of the best farm systems in the league rather quickly. Now that those gems have become polished, we have the team to consistently compete for a cup. The problem with getting the most out of your scouting and development, is you start to overvalue the opportunity cost of letting any of them go. Catbird Jones Our team and organization has become the envy of the league. With sustained success in the regular season and of the best farm systems in the league we are in the catbird seat in the East for years to come. Some teams are trying to figure out how to emulate what we do (NJD) and seeing some success. Some (BOS) are loading up now because they know this is their last shot before they're back to the cellar. The result has been an arms race in the East as everyone tries to keep up with the Jones's. Here's the thing about that though, and I can't stress this enough, we are the Jones's!

Max was insurance in case Necas and Jarvis were still not quite ready for primetime. They both stepped up and we haven't needed Max as much as we thought. And Ghost over Chych leaves us enough room to still bring in a Schmaltz or Hayes level top 6 forward. As of yesterday, we still had the second highest odds to win the cup. We have upgraded the 4th line and our 3rd pairing. And we still have ~$4-6m and 36 hours to work with...

Paywalled Nothing earth-shattering, but confirms a lot of what has been reported already. Wads wouldn't name names, but did admit that Nikishin is untouchable and that SJ wanted guys we weren't willing to move.

Another LHD off the board...

We are still reported to be seriously interested in Hayes, Schmaltz, Domi, Chychrun and Ghostboy. If we do work something out with the Yotes, they'll need help getting to the cap floor. Not sure we have many dumpable contracts to send back or if we'd need to add a 3rd team. But with retention, we could easily fit Scmaltz and one of Chych or Ghostie with enough room to add a Domi level rental before all is said and done. As others have alluded though, with all the moves being made, if we don't come away with a difference maker and we make another early exit in the playoffs, Donny will have some serious questions to answer.

We are not done yet.

He Said It

Which team will try to unlock Jesse Puljujarvi’s potential at the Trade Deadline?

At 6'4" 201 lbs he should at least add some physicality to our bottom 6.

Hockey is for everyone, Except kids and fans that care about their personal safety. I don't make it out to games much, but have seen this guy on TV a few times. Wondered if any of yall had any experiences with the guy. Tons of people sharing almost identical stories of this dude being a dick to kids who are excited to see their favorite players up close during warmups. Seems like PNC should do something about this dude and his wife. But, a Change.org petition always makes my eyes roll out of my head and across the room... lol. Caniac twitter also doxxing Sparklefug's personal and business info. Not a good look for Canes fans as a whole...

The highest bidder...

Schmaltz trying to drive up his asking price... don't you want to escape that shitty desert hellhole?!?

Was literally about to post this exact tweet.... no Mercer or Holtz, but good lord that's a haul! And, quite possibly for a rental...

Weird that the details of the trade still haven't come out yet.

Get a grip dude...

Also there's this... With the deadline @ 3pm, he could go through morning skate with the Yotes skate across the ice and suit up for us that night...

Timo is the belle of the ball for a reason... But Schmaltz is certainly no slouch by any means. Not nearly as good on special teams, slightly better at even strength though. Much better defensive forward, which fits Rod's mentality. He is another right hand shooter, which we already have a glut of, making it a little more complicated to slot him directly into our top 6. However, he would absolutely make our team better and add some much needed firepower. His price is also considerably lower, which would allow us to add a LHD and possibly a PP specialist as well. Timo would've been our golden goose, but a silver swan is nothing to scoff at. Don't forget, a big reason that every Eastern Conference team is loading up is to keep up with us. As long as we don't sit on that $10m, we are still going to be betting favorites for the ECF.

Mostly just randos speculating, but with reports of what SJ is asking of both NJ and Vegas, it wouldn't surprise me if this is why Donny Wads walked away.

Word on the (twitter) streets is that SJ wanted Necas, A-level prospect and multiple picks... Honestly, if NJ is dumb enough to give up Mercer + prospects and picks, our road to the cup might get easier by staying put. Still think we add Schmaltz and another LHD before all is said and done.