Fifth Avenue Forum

ferland - more a product of the great western canadian hype machine-the same bunch of writers who constantly overrate calgary and winnipeg.
didn't see much from ferland in calgary nor carolina but the western nucks always thought he could be tom wilson
imo not much chance of that happening
for me they overrated tanev too but at least he's faster and more game than ferland

Blues, Binnington agree to 2-year, $8.8M deal

We might get a Lucic/Pulju for Neal/Bennett trade soon...or something that kind of looks like that...

Nope...just Lurch for Nealer...minor pick/retention ****, I don't know about...but the roster player deal is 1 for 1 it seems like...

I don't really get this from Calgary's perspective, even if Neal is falling off/not working out. Lucic is arguably even worse.

If you're getting basically the same thing out of them on the ice...then maybe you don't want Nealer around your young players off the ice compared to Lucic...?

Neal is the perfect Oiler

Jacob Trouba, 7 years, 8 million per.

Because, James Neal. You don't want him in your room.

Neal for JJ. Malkin gets his old line mate back

Garrett Wilson is heading to the Maple Leafs.

Garrett Wilson is heading to the Maple Leafs.

A inexplicably non-competitive forward? Welcome home.

Best news of the offseason.

Oskar Sundqvist has agreed to a four-year, $11-million contract to return to the #Blues.

Has to be one of the most improved players in the league...good for him. Had a terrific season and playoffs...

I wonder how much of a discussion there was when the Blues gave him the 1 year deal last summer. I wonder if there was a serious "You need to make a decision about your future" type talk. He had a pretty big turn around from 17-18 to 18-19.

With the Blues:
17-18: 42gp 1-4-5 , 9:04 5v5 , 10:20 TOI (less than Upshall, less than Beau Bennett)
18-19: 74gp 14-17-31, 11:47 5v5, 13:49 TOI (incl 2nd PK)

NHL overall:
15-18: 70gp 2-7-9, -9, 63 shots, 3.17 s% (28 games Pit, 42 games STL)
18-19: 74gp 14-17-31, -1, 113 shots, 12.39 s%

That is a "I want to stay in the NHL" wake up call.

It’s nice to see a guy who started the season as a fringe NHL’er with a head injury turn it around so suddenly.

You’re up, ZAR. Let’s do a Tom Wilson victim rehabilitation thingy.

Neal Pionk makes $3 million per year to play hockey...what a time to be alive...

On the plus side, it makes the Tanev deal perfectly reasonable.

Pionk is a RHS defenseman. Not comparable at all.

Was joke.

It's actually a double joke, as nothing could make the Tanev deal look reasonable... #fun

ways the Tanev deal could be a killer:

1) chronic injury
2) he got his $$$ so his compete level dips

a healthy Tanev is a guaranteed top tier 4th liner, at worst, right? and he should be pretty agnostic, as far as which teams he would fit in on. so play it out in practical terms. what will be the issue that makes us say, "F this contract"? he's overpaid by a mill at most. which is bad for a guy that low in the depth chart, but not a big deal with the cost certainty of our key players, and how a mill stacks up against the sum of the cap. with his age, the term doesn't really bug me, aside from the 2 considerations above and that it's sort of bonkers on its face. but his age makes him physically resilient and he seems like a character guy, so i don't expect him to rest on his laurels.

i think worst realistic case is that by year 3, he starts to disengage and needs a change of scenery. by that point, his contract is movable. teams will take a flyer on a guy like him with those terms. the NMC is a the dumbest part of this, but there will be a match for him on the remaining 20 teams.

the contract represents a mad man as GM and is in no way something that should have been handed out. but the actual implications of this deal don't bother me that much, and i'm looking forward to seeing a high compete level in the bottom 6..

In three years, with the way things are going, he'll be underpaid.

For the record, I don't mind the contract at all.