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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Hall to NJD for Larsson.

Did the Boston front office have a noxious fume leak? Benning, Sweeney and Chiarelli have lost their damn minds

Supposedly the Bruins are clearing the decks for a big offer sheet to that Jets defenseman.

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Elections have consequences.

Yzerman's still trying to swindle someone by dumping Bishop before the Lightning could lose him in the expansion draft.
Stars are apparently interested, if they can send one of their overpaid goaltenders back.

Two seasons in a row Bishop's come up injured in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Maybe these giant goaltenders aren't the most durable.

If nothing else transpires for either team, Wings and Stars should swap Howard for one of the Stars goalies. Howard's trending downward but he's never had a decent offense in front of him. Change of scenery and maybe Howard has a good year or two with a new team that scores more than 2 goals a game. And Wings don't have a pissed off veteran riding the pine behind their new number 1 goalie who took his starting job.

You could say the same thing for Fleury, i suppose. but i don't see pittsburgh trading him, at least not until they are more confident that Murray's their guy going foward.

Subban to Perds for Weber

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Not a mult.

Stamkos rumored to be staying in Tampa, 8 yrs/$8.5 mil a year.

Look for Bishop to be headed out of town sooner than later.

BERGEVIN!!!

Ladd and Brouwer gonna get paid now that Stamkos stayed put in TB

Taylor Hall for Adam Larsson is monumentally dumb.

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reading twitter on the Stamkos fallout, why do Habs fans automatically assume every free agent is signing with them.

I thought it was Leafs fans who had Stamkos penciled in, he being a local boy and all. Both should know, though, that Canadian free agents DO NOT sign with Canadian teams. The Jets and Nordiques had the right idea all along, building rosters primarily with Europeans.

Tampa got one hell of a deal on him considering people were talking about him getting Toews/Kane money this summer. Guess the Canadian economy put a stop to that.

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this guy might've just been trolling Leafs fans, but he backs up your point:

Well, it kind of makes sense that Toronto wouldn't be totally serious about getting him, because the trajectories of Stamkos and the organization wouldn't really line up. He might be damaged goods with the blood clots and all. The Sabres may seem like they're still rebuilding but they're actually ready to roll now with Murray willing to make big trades and the Pegulas willing to spend a ton to make themselves and others forget how fracking has destroyed the planet. (Not coincidentally, MSG just re-upped with the Sabres and is giving them a new RSN for Western/Upstate New York rather than just plastering Sabres games over the regular MSG feed where applicable.) Detroit is in perpetual win-now mode, which eventually becomes perpetual win-never mode.

But even if Toronto were where the Sabres are where it's immediately time to get serious and money is no object, Stamkos still wouldn't touch them, because Canadians are babies and can't handle the mean Canadian media. You know, we hear all about how hockey players are tough and selfless and how Canadians are polite, but apparently all it takes is a modicum of accountability from a lousy beat reporter and these little flowers go running to where no one knows them and they don't have to pay taxes. Enough of this mythology.

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for Shea Weber wow

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I'm going to bounce from the spot for awhile but I will be back at some point to argue with you about this hoops stuff again. Playoffs have been great this season. See ya up the road.

I'm out.

Even though they weren't directly involved in the moves so far today, not a good set of moves for the Blackhawks--now facing a tougher Preds team. Likely going to lose Ladd to some team that was telling its fans it'd bring in Stamkos and will now bid Ladd up and out of Blackhawks/sanity's range. And Bishop is likely going to find his way into net for the Stars at some point before next year's stanley cup playoffs, thanks to Stamkos staying. Tho Bishop was prolly trade bait by the deadline regardless of what Stamkos did.

At least St Louis dumped Elliott. so there's that.

I would weigh the relative merits of Buffaloing this whole season if I were the Hawks. Clear the books as much as possible and lose as much as possible. Draft is in Chicago next summer, maybe you can draft first overall and get right back in it. The harrowing possibility is that the Hawks can do what the Blue Jackets have done for years, which is spend to the cap and still suck.

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Maybe if Toews gets injured in the World Cup of hockey and Kane does something to take him off the ice for the season,...otherwise, they're too good not to compete.

Stars adding a healthy Seguin and Bishop in goal would be formidable--but that's not guaranteed to happen or to be there come playoffs.

Preds will be murder to play. Subban does lose focus tho. He put two pucks in the crowd for 2 delay of game penalties on routine, no pressure clears vs the Stars the game I saw him play down in Dallas last season. Habs fans I talked to btw periods weren't happy with Subban at the time.

Biggest thing in terms of Hawks roster is it's going to be tough for Ladd to turn down whatever offers are going to come his way now and stay in Chicago at a discount. Wouldn't be surprised if he does but he's going to have to leave a lot of cash on the table to do so.

Interesting how taxes flatten out/even up these guys end of the day salaries:

^^^ Was listening to SXM 91, and they were saying the tax tbing may have had great influence on Stamkos staying put.

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Not a mult.

Wow, Marc Bergevin is a giant asshole.

Tanks the Canadiens by trading for a worse defensemen with a worse contract and happens to send his guys to a Hawks division rival. But he keeps Michel Therrien?!?

The Hab fans must be losing their minds. And I thought Bostonians were run by an absolute dunce in Sweeney. Bergevin fucking one upped him somehow.

Yzerman should've let Stamkos go. Their run this year proved he was a luxury rather than a necessity. Allocate the 8.5M elsewhere.

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Not a mult.

Yzerman might've let Stamkos walk--if he'd have walked over to the Western Conference. Wings jettisoning Datsyuk's cap-hit to Zona meant
the Wings were the most likely team to sign Stamkos if the Bolts did not.

Stamkos blood cot thing is weird. Could crop up again at any time.

Bergevin worked in the Hawks front office with Kaner and team running around wild porking women and raging their asses off. LA Kings sprinkled coke on their pancakes and waffles every morning. Yet both franchises have been battling against each other racking up Cups.

The Canadiens vast history and cultural shackles turn people insane. Limited GM candidates, limited head coaching candidates, prohibited from being "bigger" than the crest, blah blah blah.

No wonder these guys can't wait to run down south and work/live a normal life.

I can't understand either the Subban or Taylor Hall trades. Hall should have brought back more than just Adam Larsson. Weber for Subban..... I don't see the point except both teams are "shook up".

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Same sex, different habits - who gives a fucking shit
This won't make the species unfurl

I thought the coach didn't like Stamkos.

From a Nashville standpoint it makes sense, as Subban has the better contract and is 4 years younger, plus, maybe he would be a better D-complement to Josi...? The ONLY reason Montreal did this that I can fathom is that rumors are there were some locker room tensions between PK and others; otherwise, Bergevin is just a shit GM.

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Not a mult.

Shit GM.

The desire to have a NFL "#1 RULE: NO DISTRACTIONS" organizational culture to avoid any ounce of drama in a pressure cooker market like Montreal leads to idiotic decisions like trading Subban.

Lightning's GM Yzerman backed his coach Jon Cooper in the Stamkos/Drouin/Cooper 3-way tiff--even extended him.
Stamkos didn't like Cooper playing him on the wing instead of center. And then Stamkos started weighing in on other personnel decisions, Drouin's playing time/trade request.

Yzerman backing his coach + Cooper somehow taking a team with injuries to their starting goalie and one of their top scorers all the way to Game 7 of the ECF sans Stamkos appears to have appeased/stuck a sock in Stamkos complaint.

Also, going to Toronto to play for MIke Babcock vs stay in Tampa with Cooper? Babcock would've shipped Stamkos off to some northern Canadian AHL squad like the Manitoba Moose right after Stamkos' first snarky tweet.

Toronto's AHL affiliate is just down the street.

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even better for Babcock to punish guys by demotion.