NHL 2021 Irregular Season and Plagueoffs

I was hoping for a better effort these last two for the Canes but whatever. Nashville is pretty good when healthy so it's going to be a tough series.

Could Nashville be this years St Louis? They have been on an absolute tear. Definitely will be rooting for them this year.

Merrith said:

Reinhart is RFA, I know he's going to get PAID, but are they really not going to bring him back? Maybe expose him to Seattle?

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Reinhart can force their hand this season. If he takes them to arbitration, he gets a 1 year deal and will be a UFA next year. So Buffalo can choose to trade him now and get a haul back, trade him at the deadline for a rental price or lose him for nothing to free agency.

The exit interviews by Reinhart and Risto were pretty funny. Both those guys cant wait to get the fuck outta Buffalo.

After the Eichel bomb, sounds like they may just have to totally clean house and start over again up there. Quinn fired by Rangers btw

StoiCynic said:

The defending champs ain't the underdogs, i'm sorry. TB might be winning the season series if their best Center wasn't circumven.... err, resting for the playoffs.

But jokes aside, you're right. Florida is legit this year. Still gotta favor TB though imo.

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On the bright side this is the most rest TB has gotten in the past 2 months.

Probably past reconciliation with Eichel, but I wonder if they try and bring in Quinn to reunite them. Was his college coach.

Honestly, they may as well tear it down and farm 1st round lottery tickets for '22, '23. The rebuild failed miserably, time to admit it and try again. I feel for the fans, but if they win Bedard it's probably bad for the Hockey world.

StoiCynic said:

Probably past reconciliation with Eichel, but I wonder if they try and bring in Quinn to reunite them. Was his college coach.

Honestly, they may as well tear it down and farm 1st round lottery tickets for '22, '23. The rebuild failed miserably, time to admit it and try again. I feel for the fans, but if they win Bedard it's probably bad for the Hockey world.

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I mentioned this on a Caps blog today that was talking about trying to trade Kuzy for him. At this point they may just have to do the full tear down like you mention. It absolutely sucks to admit that's what they have to do, but it might just be what needs to happen.

Obsidian said:

I love Kuzy when he's in the zone, but that's sadly 30% of the time or something. If we can swing Eichel for him without also giving up a ton of other assets, I'd be amazed. As for the playoffs, East is obviously going to be Pens and Bruins. Caps goaltending will be our downfall, Rask will steal a game or 2 on his own

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I mean we'd have to shed cap to make that work unless they retain salary (which I doubt they would with how many years are left on his deal). Plus all the high draft picks we'd have to send them.

I'm a little more bullish on our chances than you are, but that shouldn't be a surprise. That said I think the East is just a bunch of good teams. Only one that slightly looks weaker to me is the Isles in that they might not have enough scoring to keep up with anyone else...but if they play Trotz's system tight and their goalie/s get hot, even they could make noise.

Guys are smoking some mega good weed if you think Buffalo trades Eichel for Kuzy and a couple picks lol

Animosity said:

Guys are smoking some mega good weed if you think Buffalo trades Eichel for Kuzy and a couple picks lol

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Hence the other contract to make the cap space working out...and "couple of picks" is pretty vague. It would clearly have to be multiple 1sts (maybe up to 3) with more.

Then again, if Eichel wants out, that's a $10M contract that for all his potential talent everyone around the league is going to know he wants out so they won't get the return they would have normally.

You dont trade Eichel for an older player and couple late 1st round picks. That doesnt do anything to help them. The Caps dont even have a good prospect pool. The only places that make sense is NYR and LA because they are loaded with top prospects and their draft picks will be earlier round picks.

If this was the other way around you wouldnt trade Eichel for Kuzy.

Animosity said:

You dont trade Eichel for an older player and couple late 1st round picks. That doesnt do anything to help them. The Caps dont even have a good prospect pool. The only places that make sense is NYR and LA because they are loaded with top prospects and their draft picks will be earlier round picks.

If this was the other way around you wouldnt trade Eichel for Kuzy.

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Crazy to me Kuzy even qualifies for that "older player" but compared to Eichel I guess it fits. Not like he's old, though. Again, it would have to be plus another player with a contract to make the money work, I don't know how you list it as just Kuzy plus picks. Eichel costs $2.2M more a year than Kuzy does. Our overall prospect pool is not great, absolutely true, but we have some decent guys at the top of it.

I also agree other spots make far more sense, just outlining what a potential Eichel/Kuzy trade would potentially look like. I don't think it's likely in the slightest, b/c again we'd have to send another roster player to make the money work and to sweeten the deal, plus a bunch of picks and we don't even have our 1st this year anymore.

Obsidian said:

Eichel is obviously better than Kuzy, but if he wants out they won't get fair value for him. Besides that, WHEN Kuzy is locked in he's pretty elite himself; he was our MVP when we won the cup imo, he played out of his mind. He still flashes that level of play from time to time, maybe a change of scenery will allow him to unlock it more regularly. I also think the Caps have some pretty good prospects. McMichael, Fehervary, Lapierre and Alexeyev are all going to be good players imo

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If Ovechkin didn't lead the playoffs in goals, I think Kuzy might have had a shot at the Conn Smythe. Wasn't like when Kessel was pretty much robbed of the Conn Smythe by Crosby during one of the Penguins back to back runs.

lurkingdirk said:

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I'm a believer, Leafs are actually good this time. But i'm here for the laughs if they're bounced!

StoiCynic said:

I'm a believer, Leafs are actually good this time. But i'm here for the laughs if they're bounced!

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I'm afraid of what happens when they meet teams with actual defense. It will be interesting.

lurkingdirk said:

I'm afraid of what happens when they meet teams with actual defense. It will be interesting.

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Oh, for sure they're fucked if they make if out of division.

Part of the process though, leafs are on track imo. This season was good for ironing out the kinks for alot of the "close" teams.