Now that they are officially eliminated, does Stan survive?

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Not a mult.

Most likely he gets one full year with his boy genius head coach and, hopefully, his top-ten pick. If it all falls apart next year, he's a goner.

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I disagree with the 1yr unless they really suck next year. That Schmaltz trade looks amazing.

Yeah, I think Stan gets one more season, but dammit, he better find someone to play defense, plus he has to look at a long-term solution for a goaltender. Delia may or may not be it, but Crawford's not gonna here beyond next season.

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Not a mult.

Stan will be here a long time.

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Elections have consequences.

This is what I've been saying since the Blackhawks got tossed from the 1st round of playoffs 2 years in a row. Defense not what it once was.

I don't see a solution here with these cap hits.
Toews 10.5M
Seabrook 6.8M
Keith 5.5M
Crawford 6M

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Seabrook's cap-hit is the only one that's egregiously (~$5M) high. Toews is still overpaid but when a guy like Schmaltz is gonna make $6M it looks like the league salaries are catching up.

Agreed. Seabrook's contracts and to a lesser degree Keith's are team killers. For one thing, they have no-trade clauses and NO ONE is trading for Seabrook's unless you add Debrincat or Boqvist. Unless there are amnesty clauses in the new CBA or Seabrook agrees to a fictitious LTIR, he is here for 5 more years or at least long enough that Toew's and Kane's prime are gone. And you get very little relief if you buy him out due to the yearly signing bonuses. It is a dreadful contract for a 3rd pairing dman who is only going to get slower every year.

This team is a dumpster fire on defense and I see no path to playoff success unless all their young D blossom into stars and that doesn't seem likely from what we have seen this year. And I agree with several others in this thread, Bowman is not on a short leash and has several more years with the team and maybe more if they surprise.

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Lay off that whiskey and let that cocaine be.

You better hope there is a buyout or Q gets the Seattle job, and wants Seabrook.

Seattle may want Seabrook to help reach the salary floor, especially since he's from the region. He can be the face of a perennial last place franchise.

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

The expansion rules are going to be the same as they were for Las Vegas, they won't be allowed to suck on arrival. That courtesy is reserved for places like Quebec City and Ottawa.

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agreed...and he should be. The D will be addressed and the offense will carry them back to the playoffs.

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Mr. Trump is unfit for our nation’s highest office.- JD Vance
When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn't become a king. The palace turns into a circus. - Turkish Proverb

Why should he be?

If this years offseason goes differently than years past, I think you will have your answer. Stan always seemed to acquire young talent, and Q always wanted the old gritty guy.

How? That is easy to say but very hard to do. Everyone wants dmen and you have to massively overpay in free agency. Do you want Jake Gardiner or Tyler Myers? What are you going to give up to get Hamilton or Faulk?

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Lay off that whiskey and let that cocaine be.

After reading Powers's and Laz's long Q&A on the Athletic, I came away with the realization that I don't learn a damn thing from them. My only take-aways from their session is that they reminded me that the Euro player they acquired from LA might be next year's Kahun and that Powers likes Jordie Benn as a defensive defenseman. Feel free to analyze some stats and explain what we are seeing. Laz is fucking useless. His stories about players numbers and other locker room bullshit is the kind of stuff I completely ignore. And while Powers is more useful, he is far from riveting. It is the coverage of the other NHL teams and prospects that keeps me subscribing to the Athletic. I could easily do without reading Lazerus and Powers.

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Lay off that whiskey and let that cocaine be.

Holy balls. Top 3 pick!!!

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That's my purse! I don't know you!

IMO, beat writers know little to nothing about the team they cover.

Did they hold the draft order?

Leaked image before it started. Whoops.

GO HAWKS !

Its over now. NJ 1, NYR 2, Hawks 3. Damn....top 2 would have been amazing but I will take 3.

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That's my purse! I don't know you!

3 is great. And they didn’t break kids spirit tanking hard.

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Elections have consequences.

Oh and fuck Edmonton.

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Elections have consequences.

So who should we get?

It's really unfortunate that it's a 2-player draft but #3 is a helluva lot better than #12 or wherever they were going to pick. You got the toolsy Russian with signability issues or a couple Americans that played with Hughes that are nearly just a good. Should be a fun draft!

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Lay off that whiskey and let that cocaine be.

It looks like they will take the Russian.

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That's my purse! I don't know you!

I read in a lot of places that it will be a 2-year wait until his KHL contract runs out.

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Lay off that whiskey and let that cocaine be.

How can it be a two person draft of Hughes teammates are almost just as good?

Because there is a tier of Hughes and Kakko and then there is a large group of players after that. The Russian has signability issues, there is a dman (Brahm), a couple Americans (Turcotte and Zegras) and a couple Canadian forwards. Turcotte has some similarities to Hughes's game but doesn't have the upside or the electrifying play of Hughes but he is still projected to go in the top 10 maybe as high as 3. Hughes and Kakko are clearly in a tier by themselves according to scouts.

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Lay off that whiskey and let that cocaine be.

If the Russian truly is unsignable then the 2 americans look legit.

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That's my purse! I don't know you!