Anybodyhome

I think TDA had something to do with this, to be honest. The fact he went back home, he ha and s a strong charity program and presence in Philly and I heard there was a family issue as well. As I said earlier, it wouldn't surprise me he and Waddell had come to an understanding. After all, Philly was in need and we were probably very close to the same salary. So the Canes took the picks instead.

He got a 2-year deal in Philly for $5M per year. Canes could have easily done that deal. Not sure why Carolina let him go as an RFA unless TDA told Waddell he wanted to go home. Understand there is a family issue at home also.

Sh!t. The Canes have 3 D-men on their roster right now. Assuming they bring Chatfield up, that's 4. Gonna bring back Ethan Bear or try to resign the old guys Ian Cole or Brendan Smith? Regardless, the Canes now have a defense issue on top of their need to replace a couple wingers and get a scorer.

Realistically, he played on a 1-year, $1M deal, but he played like a $6M D-man and quickly made most Canes fans forget who Dougie Hamilton was. If he goes to Philly, it's not necessarily because of the money, but that he gets to go home, where he's got a pretty good-sized charity he's very involved with.

Will not be happy if the Canes let him go. They will pay dearly trying to find a d-man to replace him. Not to mention the intangibles, like how he managed to get teammates playing grittier last season.

In other news on Draft Day 1: Toronto traded Peter Mrazek and their 25th pick to Chicago for Chicago's 38th pick. Chicago then drafted a high school blue liner and have to pay Mrazek $3.8M for the next 2 seasons. Chicago is in full rebuild, sending DeBrincat to Ottawa in exchange for the 7th overall this year, a 2nd rounder this year and a 3rd round pick in 2024. DeBrincat has 2 straight 40+ goal seasons at just 24 years old. He was a $6.4M cap it and scheduled to be an RFA after the 22-23 season. Arizona traded up to get Morgan Geekie's brother, Conor, at #11 last night. The Rangers traded goalie Alexander Georgiev to Colorado for a few draft picks down the road. The Avs Darcy Kuemper, who hoisted the Cup this season, is a UFA as Colorado can't afford to keep him.

He's already fallen off. His offensive skills are still decent, but he's almost a defensive liability at this point.

Took a pay cut to just over $6M AAV to stay in Pittsburgh.

I agree- a little too pricey and would likely mean not being able to sign Nino and may lose TDA along the way. I'm all for trying to find a good winger to complement one of the top 2 lines, depending on how RBA shapes them. But $8M plus is a little steep. Hell, I'd try to keep a younger Trocheck if they're willing to spend that kind of money. Vinny won't sniff $8M, so why not? Strome, Kadri, Perron.... all younger, cheaper and better scorers.

The only roadblock I see is his $8.275M AAV, puts him right next to Aho at the top of the payroll. https://www.thescore.com/nhl/news/2382262/report-senators-hurricanes-join-oilers-in-pursuit-of-giroux The Ottawa Senators and Carolina Hurricanes are among the potential suitors for pending unrestricted free-agent forward Claude Giroux, reports The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun. The Edmonton Oilers were previously reported to be interested in the 34-year-old. Ottawa would represent a homecoming of sorts for Giroux, who hails from Hearst, Ontario, but moved to Ottawa when he was 14. The Senators have $27 million in projected cap space, per CapFriendly, and are seeking players with pedigree to help their young team get over the hump. The Hurricanes have prioritized adding some offense this offseason and may lose both Vincent Trocheck and Nino Niederreiter to free agency, LeBrun added. Carolina projects to have $19 million in cap space with a roster of 14 players. Martin Necas and Tony DeAngelo are their most notable restricted free agents. Giroux proved in 2021-22 he still has plenty of game left, recording 65 points in 75 games split between the Philadelphia Flyers and Florida Panthers. The versatile veteran is capable of playing both center and wing effectively. Florida is trying to bring Giroux back, LeBrun notes, but the club has just $3 million in projected cap space. Last 10 seasons stats:

The NHL draft more resembles the MLB draft than it does the NFL. Almost nobody drafted in the NHL finds themselves sitting on an NHL team that season. Most draftees spend time in the minors or developmental leagues before making it to the big ice. That being said, the Canes have no 1st round pick this year and are thought to be looking at defensemen in the draft. Owner Tom Dundon has stated publicly he'd never use a first round pick on a blue-liner because their upside is so damn difficult to predict. That's good, the Canes have no 1st rounder, so make your first pick in the second round a defenseman. The Canes farm system is stacked right now- no need to trade draft picks. Let teams looking to rebuild and add youth to their rosters come to the Canes and offer picks for prospects.

There's a reason they're not staying in Pittsburgh. Far too expensive. Malkin (35 years old and hasn't played a full season in years) left Pittsburgh with a $9.5M AAV and Letang (also 35 years old) with $7.25M. Please- neither are worth that kind of money.

Gave it a look yesterday. It's a 8 team league of 3-on-3 made up of former NHL guys, journeymen minor leaguers, etc. The game is 2 8-minute halves of running clock. Icing is a penalty shot and every called penalty is a penalty shot, but the defense gets to come after the shooter after a brief delay. Full sized rink with a complete roster of 7 guys (1 goalie, 6 forwards). Each week's schedule is a bracket starting with 3 games. The 3 winners then play each other and the highest scoring losing team also gets into round 2: Watch this sick penalty shot goal from yesterday:

Not to mention going completely against what Tom Waddell himself stated just last week. Not to mention Waddell saying on June 2 the team is working on a multi-year extension.

You gotta read this. Pretty amusing because it's apparent the writer knows nothing about how bad Necas's season really was. And, if the Habs did pull a Jesperi revenge move, the Canes would likely go silent and let Necas go. Let Montreal put an offer sheet on Necas for about $4.5 AAV and Waddell would probably not respond. https://sports.yahoo.com/m/328e50f8-7c62-36de-82f9-3358157060cc/canadiens-should-send.html Stieg Larsson once said “To exact revenge for yourself or your friends is not only a right, it’s an absolute duty.” As we continue through the NHL offseason, the Montreal Canadiens might have an absolute duty on their hands to exact revenge. A Quick History Lesson The offer sheet was for an AAV of $8.454 million for five years. The Hurricanes had seven days to match. Then GM Marc Bergevin didn’t mince his words when it came to Aho. “He’s a player who wants to come to Montreal,” Bergevin said of the offer sheet. “It was an offer that he did not have to accept, so for him it’s an offer that for the value he sees in himself, the group of young players coming up in our organization, he wants to be part of that. He’s 21, he’ll turn 22 this summer.” “It’s certainly a surprise. It’s a surprise it wasn’t more,” Waddell said. “I know my summer just got better, because I’m not going to be negotiating a contract all summer. We make a decision and move on.” Six days later, Waddell and the Hurricanes made their decision. They stuck to their word. The Hurricanes matched the offer sheet on Aho keeping him in Carolina. In the end, it was an easy decision for everyone involved. “I’m just relieved that it’s done and Sebastian’s not going to have to worry about this anymore. He’s a great player and a big asset for us,” owner Tom Dundon said. “We said all along that we would match any contract offer,” Waddell said. “It should come as no surprise from anybody that we are (matching) it.” Then in one last shot to the Canadiens, Waddell said that Aho “never wanted to leave Raleigh.” While this situation was fun while it lasted as we finally got to see an actual offer sheet presented, we all thought this was the end. But in a plot twist, it was only the beginning. It seemed the Hurricanes wanted to get some revenge. A little more than two years later, they struck. Jesperi Kotkaniemi, the third-overall pick in the 2018 NHL Draft, was given a one-year, $6.1 million offer sheet by the Hurricanes. The Canadiens now had seven days to match. Like Bergevin before, Waddell didn’t mince his words. Related: Hurricanes Get Sweet Revenge With Kotkaniemi Offer Sheet “Jesperi Kotkaniemi accepted our offer. He wants to come to Carolina,” Waddell said. “He sees the core we’ve built here and he wants to be a part of that. We’re proud, but there’s still a waiting period. When you make an offer like that, we saw a vulnerable position. The offer, with the compensation and the core we have, we realized that it was the best chance we had to get the player.” Familiar sounding words, right? But then the Hurricanes took it even a step further and offered Kotkaniemi a $20 signing bonus, the same number as Aho. Not only did Waddell not forget about the Aho offer sheet, he wanted to make sure the Canadiens never forgot it either. He got his revenge. But unlike the Aho offer sheet, the Canadiens elected not to match allowing the player to join the Hurricanes. Bergevin might be gone. But don’t think the Canadiens have forgotten about this series of events. In fact, they are now in a position to exact some revenge of their own. How crazy would that be? Given what’s led to this, it’s not out of the realm of possibility for this to happen. The Canadiens should send the Hurricanes a revenge offer sheet. The target? 23-year old forward Martin Necas. Canadiens Revenge Let’s set the scene for you. On the surface, the Hurricanes appear to have more than ample cap room to answer any offer sheet thrown their way. As of this writing, they have over $19.3 million in cap space available. But looks can be deceiving. They are in this case. Not only do they have to fill out their roster, they have the eventual task of signing Aho to a long-term deal after the 2023-24 season coming off an AAV of $8.46 million. That’s going to be a doozy. So from an actual dollars available standpoint, it’s considerably less than what we see. Necas is coming off his rookie deal and due a considerable raise given he’s reached 40 points the last two seasons and averaging 15 goals in his first three seasons. The talent is tantalizing.

Saw it yesterday. Was as cheesy as the original, except the effects were far better. Anyone who served any time in the Navy understands just how far off some of this stuff was/is.

That kind of money is typically handled thru wire transfers, not actual checks.

One of my favorite players on the Canes. Not a ton of pub, not a lot of recognition, but does he get the job done- without question. A tremendously underrated player, not just with the Canes, but across the NHL. Jesper Fast By the Numbers Age: 30 NHL Seasons: 9 Scoring: 14 goals, 20 assists, 34 points in 82 games Playoff Scoring: 1 goal, 0 assists, 1 point in 14 games Advanced Statistics: 58.1 CF%, 59.43 HDCF%, 57.76 xGF%, 62.35 GF% Average TOI: 12:56 ES, 0:17 PP, 1:35 SH Contract Status: One year, $2 million AAV left on his current deal. UFA after 2022-23. In year two of his three-year contract with the Carolina Hurricanes, Jesper Fast had one of his best, if not the best, regular seasons of his nine-year NHL career. The 30-year-old Swede posted career-highs in goals (14) and points (30) and tied his career-high in assists (20) while playing in all 82 regular-season games for the first time in his NHL career. Most of his 1,200+ minutes on the ice were alongside Jordan Staal. When that duo was on the ice together for the Hurricanes, the team scored 39 goals and rendered just 19 against across ~765 5-on-5 minutes. Combined with Nino Niederreiter on the other wing, that duo was even more dominant. In 534:46 of 5-on-5 ice time, the trio outscored opponents by a whopping 34-14 margin while controlling 61.88% of the high-danger scoring chances and 59.58% of the expected goals. Fast was part of one of the best middle-six lines in all of hockey for a large portion of the season, dominating the defensive side of the puck and using their size and physicality to push pucks up ice and maintain offensive zone puck possession. You’d be hard-pressed to find a more efficient and better-tuned machine of a forward line. All three pieces were bought in and played the exact way they needed to play to make them as effective as possible during the regular season, and Fast was a huge part of that. Fast was an elite defensive forward last season, as he was for most of his first season in Carolina, but his 5-on-5 offense was what took a serious step forward. His offensive generation was uncharacteristically low in 2020-21, but he rebounded and was closer to what he was at the end of his time in New York - a winger with average or slightly above average offensive impact combined with elite defense. He did get bumped up the lineup at times, but he was never as effective at the top of the lineup as he was next to Staal and Niederreiter. He does have the versatility to play up for a shorter stretch of time, though. He bookended his season with very strong stretches of offensive production. He netted five goals in the team’s first ten games and racked up nine points in an 11-game stretch in April to close out the season. Of course, much of his impact also came on the penalty kill. He was the fourth-most-used Carolina forward on the PK, just one second behind third-place Teuvo Teravainen. While Jordan Staal was a physical beast and Sebastian Aho was such a huge counterattack threat on the PK, Fast used his active stick, quickness, and smarts to drive him to success in those situations, as he’s done through most of his career. Jesper Fast Isolated Impacts 2021-22. Micah Blake McCurdy His success also came against quality competition, routinely going toe-to-toe with the other team’s best players in the top-six and tasked with playing a shutdown defensive role. There’s very little to complain about on the Fast front during the regular season; he was every bit of what he was brought in to be. But, unfortunately, his impacts weren’t as substantial in the postseason - as was the case with many players on this Hurricanes roster. In the playoffs, the Nino-Staal-Fast trio saw their numbers drop significantly. In fairness, had they maintained a damn-near 3-to-1 ratio of goals for and against in the playoffs, they would have been one of the most dominant lines in all of hockey, but they did get scored on six times and scored just four goals of their own in the postseason. When the quality of competition was amped up, and they were being game-planned explicitly for across two seven-game series, it almost felt like they ran out of steam. The penalty kill also fell on hard times, especially in the second round against Artemi Panarin, Chris Kreider, Mika Zibanejad, and Adam Fox, among many others. That’s where running out of steam becomes very pertinent to the conversation. The Hurricanes’ stunning marching band to the penalty box during the playoffs certainly took a toll on the team’s most reliable penalty-killers, a list that Fast is near the top of. It also could go a long way in explaining Staal and Fast combining for just two total goals in the postseason. In the second round, when Carolina’s top offensive producers couldn’t find the back of the net with any sort of regularity, more pressure was dropped on the depth players to score, and that’s a tricky thing to place on the shoulders of players who have a particular set of skills. Things fell apart late in their series against the Rangers, but it’s tough for me to place blame on a guy like Fast, who was so consistent all year and performed excellently in his role on the team. Fast also had no part in all of the penalties Carolina took at any point in the season. It’s pretty remarkable that a player who is used so often against elite competition only took two minor penalties across 96 combined regular season and playoff games. The second of his two penalties all year came all the way back on February 21 against the Philadelphia Flyers. After that game, in which he and Philly “defenseman” Rasmus Ristolainen took matching roughing minors, he went 32 regular-season games and 14 postseason games without a single trip to the penalty box. That is likely what earned him a handful of Lady Byng votes to go with his three Selke votes - he finished 17th in voting in both categories. He is entering the final year of his three-year pact with the club in 2022-23. If he has another year similar to the one he just had, it’s unquestionably within the team’s best interest to extend their relationship with the player moving forward. He is as professional and likable as they come, regardless of how things are going on the ice. In Fast’s case, things are usually going pretty well for him on the ice.

If this is the case, Waddell might have to go hard to keep Vincent Trocheck. Regardless of the talent level in Chicago, I'm not sure the Canes can afford to lose both Nino and Vinny without a major free agent acquisition.

Yeah, they changed it. Congrats to the Calder Cup Champions, Chicago Wolves.

2-0 at the end of 2nd period. LaJoie and Keane with gols.

Better coach, better roster, better chance of winning.

Is there really a need to intentionally tank? Seems to me this team is perfectly capable of tanking without trying.

I really like the kid and hope he can get his game back and then some. Would really enjoy his story becoming a part of the franchise, but it's a business.

I watched the last 5 minutes of regulation and OT. Tampa Bay was down to 5 blue-liners and they couldn't get off the ice in OT. They were totally gassed when Kadri scored the game winner. The best part of that goal was that no one knew it was in the netting up in the back. Complete delayed reaction. Had everyone fooled.