you're talking about veleno?

GM kyle with another deal...helping utah with their cap and helping his club approach the cap floor.

blackhawks take on shea weber' contract of $7.85 million for the rest of this year and all of next year and give utah a 2026 6th round pick in exchange for the signing rights to D victor soderstrom (11th overall pick in 2019 draft) and finnish RW aku raty.

I don't know the guy, but if he's really shit he's still half the price of Mrazek. Keep him around if he's not shit, put him on waivers if he is shit and use the roster spot for one of the college guys.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

i'm sure the club will keep veleno around...he won't make it for tonight's game and the club has only 11 FWDs to dress tonight. dickinson and kurashev still injured.

we've all seen him, but we all don't watch every red wing game and shift to determine qualities/attributes. scouting reports say: good size, good skater, speed, decent face-off C. maybe he just needed a change of scenery. same age as kurashev and basically the same salary.

shea weber trade is a bit of a downer for those wanting GM kyle to accelerate the rebuild...add nearly $8 million to next year's payroll. likely tipped his hand that he's planning on the 2026-27 season to fill the salary book. that's the year that just about everyone left on the roster will either be a UFA or RFA.

Super disappointing.

I read that it's only $1M cash outlay, and the contract can either go to IR to help get to the cap floor if the various FAs deserving say $8M+ refuse to come to Chicago, or LTIR if they do manage to bulk up the roster. So it's just an insurance policy costing $1M and a 6th.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

Now that trading season is over, can one of you explain to me why Teuvo isn't the linemate for Bedard and Nazar? Teuvo actually plays some defense and still generates a lot of offense.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

Bedard’s looking much better today…

yes...had 5 shots on goal, 50% on face-offs...goal, assist. need more of this from him.

obvious that utah was going high on knight...one incredible save on schmaltz. the coaches really need to help these guys clean up in their own zone. at times, a shit show. kaiser playing very well, del mastro has played above all expectations.

blackhawks are 11 points better after 63 games than last year. 50 goals better.

2023-34
16-42-5 37 points 130-225

2024-25
20-35-8 48 points 176-221

game tomorrow night in nashville.

Yeah, I saw that too. I hope they are playing in the trade and FA market this offseason. There really seems to be an energy here.

definitely insurance to hit the cap floor. it's still $7.857 million AAV in regards to a cap hit.

if it only costs $1 million, why didn't utah just keep him on the roster payroll and not lose 2 iffy prospects?

I think there is some rule where they have to be cap compliant by the start of the season and can't put someone on the LTIL until then. So, they couldn't spend the cap hit until the start of the season.

to me, the biggest question is where does the sloth on skates play? 5x5, he's brutal defending in his own zone and very slow/low agility (always falling) when on attack. $5.5 million for a handful of PP goals. he is what he is, will say that his discipline has been very good and seems to be good in the room.

bedard needs to shoot more. stop with the trying to pass the puck into the net.

in regards to donato - read that the blackhawks are leaking info that potential trade returns for donato were disappointing. considering some of the trades - find that hard to believe and maybe a cushion if donato is asking for too much money and walks after the season.

i wouldn't pay him $4 million per (double current salary), but, he'll prob get 4x4 and has potential for an 'A' or even a 'C' on the sweater. once foligno retires, can see dickinson and donato moving up. he wouldn't tip his hand in negotiations, has to be ecstatic being here: all the minutes and PP minutes.

3x4 would suffice. I believe Foligno comes off the books after next year. He might even be "hurt" for most of the year. They have cleared a lot of money off the books, and I would assume Brossoit gets dealt in the off season as well.

yes, looking at the D....top UFA is ekblad of florida ($7.5 million) and offensive-minded chychrun ($4.6 million) of the caps. chychrun is around vlasic money and he's getting a good raise, from someone. another LD..i'd take a pass on both and go with what we have.

assuming martinez leaves at age 37/38 and brodie is bought out, 2 spots open up and the names of korchinski and allen are written all over that. it's almost a perfect scenario. of course, GM kyle will need to resign crevier and kaiser...so we'll have 6 D for game day and 1 scratch/reserve rotation. i think the blackhawks can keep both crevier for $1.75-$2 million per on a multi-year and kaiser for $2-$2.50 million for a multi-year. willing to give kaiser more on future ability. with jones gone, i'm thinking that korchinski is the only D on PP#1 and vlasic on PP #2. could be risky with korchinski...willing to take that risk. willing to keep murphy for one more year.

vlasic has been in the doldrums for much of this year, can't figure it out. him and crevier didn't look good as a tandem last night.

with that, we'll have levshunov and rinzel in the wings.

i'm using the money on FWDs.

loser's point tonight, didn't really deserve anything...all credit to soderblom. lots of individual mistakes - easy to see. foligno was terrible. lost many key face-offs (8W-13L) and made a nice pass to stamkos for stamkos' second goal. PP was a lazy joke, PK needs to mix it up a bit, too passive, all the time. nashville PK aggressive, blackhawks looked like a high school team on the PP. i believe the opponents are picking up the blackhawks predictability and i'll guess the blackhawks will not finish the year in the top 10 PK.

didn't like kaiser's defensive game tonight, the slow murphy getting way too much time on the ice and the most of the FWDs were crap. bertuzzi nearly breaking his own kneecaps more than once. can't stay on his skates. one trick pony on the PP.

club is getting schooled in their own d-zone and barely any pressure in the o-zone. have to start looking at the coaches. this is unsustainable. out-chanced/attempted by a country mile every game. club could be on a cusp of a 8-2 shellacking in denver.

Levshunov called up.

Why? He's not finished proving himself at Rockford, unless they want to kick his ass in practice for a few days and play him on the third defensive line so he can see what he will eventually be up against.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

They guy as excelled at each destination. I am interested in how he does.

we know what we watch. i'm not so sure about development, so, i'll wait and see. preliminary arguments just starting on gm kyle and crew - jury verdict a few years away. vlasic was not drafted by them, but, they are 'developing' him. believe he has 160 nhl games under his belt and had some 60 games at rockford in the ahl. still think he'll be fairly good....half of this season has been a mystery for him. overall, i'm slightly disappointed with his current season.

bedard? today, fantilli of columbus registered his 2nd career hat-trick against the rangers.

fairly good debut for levshunov. played some 21 mins after martinez injury...baptism by fire. looked good on the #2 PP unit.

i felt the club played this game like a road playoff game and it worked for 2 periods. wedgewood with some unbelievable saves.

if this was a home playoff game, would sorenson put nazar on bedard's line? i'd hope so.

got caught dirty...PEDs...20 games. will miss florida's first 2 playoff games. can't wait to say that about any of our players.



my guess here is that he won't get the 9 nhl games this season and shave a year off his ELC.

I don't think he will, either.

I thought he played pretty well. Made quick decisions with the puck, crisp passes, nice shot. Not afraid of contact.

yeah, agreed. great on his skates. let's see how he develops...could be his natural talent overrides any mold the blackhawks try to shape him into. i know dean is well-respected, have to ask questions on d-zone coverage and almost always giving up the blue line. if korchinski pans out, this club is set to rock and roll for another 6-7-8 years with this D corps.

speaking of development...been watching more and more sharks games and highlites, when i can. celebrini is very impressive. i'm no hockey developmental expert, just wondering if the 'bedard should play wing' people were/are correct? the sharks front office don't appear to be dummies, but they got pantsed on the georgiev trade. he's just brutal and san jose has a G problem - where as the blackhawks appear solid in G and D for the long term.

i see the captain is endearing himself to whomever he can - with his seth jones comments.

yeah, smart move. 3 points in the last 6 weeks, getting 14-15 mins of ice time a game, isn't cutting it. watched jones and florida blow a 2-0 lead in the 3rd and lose to the all of a sudden sellers in boston. interesting fight at the end of the game, zadorov x sam bennett. i remember when scouts were mortified when sam bennett couldn't do one pull-up at a scouting combine. remains the same, probably can't bench his weight and shouldn't look to press his luck. young tkachuk cleaned his clock at the 4 nations....just tell us you're a lover of dirty play and not a fighter. zadorov got him fairly good.

blackhawks in san jose tonight.

celebrini in 11 less games, has 31 more shots on goal than bedard. celebrini averages 1 more shot a game than bedard. fantilli with 2 career hat-tricks, bedard, zero.

shoot more. considering his supporting cast, should always look to shoot.

ehlers with winnipeg on $6 million per in his last year. LW. jets have a few FAs to take care of. would look formidable - ehlers-bedard-nazar. 2 skilled and speedy wingers with bedard. now bedard can play play-maker.

celebrini 4 shots on goal/1 assist/set the play in motion that led to the sharks' 3rd goal...bedard no shots on goal and a mystery 10 minute misconduct.

- bedard has spent a few thousand hours in his life perfecting snapping shots into the top corner - passes off/defers to others in nhl games. needs to shoot more, all the time.

- i get the piling on, some of it is legit criticism. gets held & roughed up all the time, occasionally, gets a call. an obvious trip on him, no penalty....which led to the frustration and subsequent misconduct.

that was where sorenson should have held up the game and demanded an explanation....then bitch about the no-call on the tripping. didn't happen. i think sorenson has cemented the notion in GM kyle's mind that he will not be the head coach next year.

as time goes by, more and more clear than slaggert and dach will be decent roster players, but, they are not top 6 FWDs.

- knight got beat high on the first 2 goals and it was clear the sharks were shooting high.

watched the game last night and saw seravalli on the pre-game. he's turning into hockey's jon heyman.

so, 3 RWs on 1 line after free agency? marner-bedard-nazar? sam bennett? no thanks. marner and bennett will cost you $21+ million per. they need a C and a #1 LW and i'd rather go the ehlers/duchene route.

speaking of free agency, it would be GM kyle and his crew making decisions and these guys brought us bertuzzi and brodie. the sloth on skates once again was a few foot lbs. of pressure off of breaking his ankle attempting to defend hughes. this guy is a pro hockey player and can't skate. we check the roster/salary cap, he's the highest paid player on the club.

one thing about seravalli - he did take a shot at sorenson in regards to the lines. soderblom couldn't make any saves last night - is allowed a bad game. the next time teuvo or reichel win a simple board battle in the o-zone or d-zone will be cause for celebration. the club should concentrate it's play in the neutral zone to generate rushes, not off dump-chase and forechecking to start a cycle. not their forte at all.

the canucks are like everyone else, they have caught up to the blackhawks PP. they pressure the puck, when players like donato and bertuzzi are on PP#1, the puck-handling abilities/speed are lacking to defeat the pressure. the blackhawks did amp up their pressure on the PK and the canucks couldn't handle that switch. kudos to the staff for that.

despite scoring last night, vlasic has lost his spot as the #1 D on the PP. levshunov has stepped right into it. not sure, there's something going on with vlasic and it's not good. not the same player he was last year nor earlier this year. had saw that he has double the giveaways that he had last season. he's not clearing the crease, going for skates in his d-zone, weak in the crease...overall, a bad season.

I am not sure you are close with that figure per year. They need to make a run at Marner at least. I would think around $15-17 per year is what he will sign for. If you are going north of that, I think we are getting to teams like where Chicago are at.