Schmidt’s offense was about the same as it was in Vegas, his defensive play fell off in Vancouver. Not surprising considering their system is terrible and they don’t have a good team. Jets need more offensive play drivers and It’s likely Schmidt can continue to drive play at an above average level. Sure there’s a risk in trading for him , but I think it’s a good bet. I can see him providing #3 value for at least the next 2 years.

Dillon is exactly what they needed. A borderline elite defensive defenseman who can also contribute offensively.

Winnipeg does not have a #1 D (pionk is the closest they have and he’s a #2) but if one of pionk/Schmidt can help Morrissey become at least an average 2nd pairing D, the jets will be a better team next season. Ideal pairings :

Dillon-Pionk
Morrissey-Schmidt
Heinola-Demelo

Actually, I feel like Winnipeg was lacking actual defense and Schmidt is a transition specialist with an offensive lean in his game. The reason why they've been crumbling the past few seasons is because they don't have enough defense to cover up Scheifele's, Wheeler's, Connor's and Laine's poor defensive game.

I wouldn't call Dillon an elite defensive defenseman either. He's above average at it, can play tough minutes and plays an hard-nosed game, so it's a fantastic acquisition but being their only hope at fixing their defense does not scream success to me.

Don’t the Sens already have 20 thousand good center prospects/established centers

Demelo, Forbort, and Pionk were solid defensively last season, I think the problem is WPG thinks Morrissey is a #1 and they gave him too much ice time against elite competition despite the fact that he’s brutal at both ends of the ice.

Don’t get me wrong I think WPG could have done better , but I think they improved. Riley Nash is an underrated signing as well. One of the best shutdown forwards in the league

They apparently are still looking for one as it seems they don't trust Pinto, Tierney, or White in that role

Actually it’s the opposite, he’s better at centre than winger. He played centre all his career before Seguin arrived, after that they decided to put him winger, but he still went centre to take the draws and played there on the PP. From what I’ve heard he’ll go back to playing centre this year.

He’s more suited at centre.

So who’s their 1c, Norris, Batherson, Stutzle ? They can all play C I think

I know he’s not a center but maybe he could be the centerpiece of a package for a forward such as Mark Stone

It’s not like he’s already been trading for him or anything like that.

Norris is their 1C rn. But apparently they are not comfortable with him there so they are looking for a top 6 Center to take over that role so he can slide to the second line.

Kind of makes sense as rn they are running Norris at 1c, Pinto at 2c, Brown at 3c, and Tierney at 4c.

Guess Melnyk is trying to rush them into contention so waiting for the kids to develop aint a long term option in his eyes

Hey would Tampa fans be willing to trade Cirelli to Ottawa for a Brannstrom package? I'm galaxy braining it here but Cirelli who I think is really good defensively, underrated in the boards and stick checking, but a little overrated offensively. But I think he has a lot of value in the league. Tampa's 2nd line is freaking Killorn-Cirelli-Stamkos where if you take out Cirelli and maybe replace him with Colton, that spot is still pretty sheltered. Colton doesn't look like he has the defensive game but he's got at least a better shot. Maybe a package of Brannstrom+Tierney+2nd for Cirelli? Tierney takes the 3C spot to help get a real 3C there instead of shoving only kids on that line. Then there's the mean 4th line with Maroon-Belllemare (not mean) - Perry. Am I crazy?

Tampa would be the last team trying to downgrade pieces. Cirelli IMO should be untouchable because he’s a great 2C defensive forward who’s on a steal of a contract.

Not really. Norris is a great, young, two-way top 6 centre, who was our 1C this year. Batherson is a RW. Stutzle would ideally (in my eyes) try to transition to C this year and be our long term 1C (Norris is great, but ideally he’s a strong 2C, kinda like Monahan in terms of offensive upside, but with more defense once he hits his prime), however recently it’s sounding like the Sens like Stutzle at LW, which means our C depth takes a hit if you don’t have him pencilled in high in the lineup. Pinto should be a 3C as a rookie and we’ll see from there, he has the toolkit to be a 2C, and has shown unprecedented year over year growth, but nothing’s confirmed. He should just be considered a 3C for now, and that might be all (he’s extremely good at faceoffs and won NCHC defensive forward of the year while also being in Hobey Baker talks, so he’s pretty much a complete all-around player, we’ll just have to see how high his skill ceiling is to determine where he winds up long term). Tierney is a 3C who we have at 4C because of Pinto, he likely gets flipped for a pick. White is remarkably inconsistent, he was our 1C between Tkachuk and Stone a few years ago and scratched at times this year. He’ll probably start at 3RW this year, that might be the best fit for him. Logan Brown probably isn’t gonna find a home in Ottawa unless he scratches and claws his way into earning one. Bishop is a 4C. Greig is probably a middle six LW long term. I’m not exactly overly high on Ostapchuk.

So yeah we have a lot of guys who could be centres, but none with high end 1C upside (apart from Stutzle, who like I said will probably stay at LW for now). And a lot of them are, or project as, wingers. Lot of guys who could maybe be a 2C if everything goes right, but project more as 3Cs. That’s kinda what happens when you have three top 5 picks and use none of them on centres, and get an elite LD prospect for your franchise player instead of an elite C prospect. It’s hard to find Points and Ahos, most elite 1Cs are top 3 picks.

@EsoYezzus69ight have to figure this out when he gets his fight and gets KO'd

Wanna bet on it. How much are you willing to pay? Just remember how much you put on the line is what you’ll lose so don’t put too much for your sake, but if you want me to become rich I wouldn’t mind.

And yes I’m seriously 100% confident.

For the Canes I'd actually say Gardiner. He is a literally pylon. Or should I say a broken pylon. Skjei can often be quite effective defensively and even though he doesn't live up to his contract, it's hard to say he's worse than Gardiner.

Did you know that in 1997 a cat was named honorary mayor of a small town in Alaska. Weird right? Still not as weird as the fact as a man hired by TSN had Yanni Gourde making his Team Canada Olympic team

You’re really gonna hammer Button put Gourde on team Canada in our heads aren’t you?

Its one of those moments that can never be forgotten. Until someone decides to put Cody Ceci on their Olympic team that is....

Just get Ken Holland to do team Canada and you’ll have
Keith-Barrie
Rielly-Ceci

Oh absolutely

Bill Daly has confirmed that over 85% of NHL players are vaccinated

W

What’s you guys’ take on the Evander Kane situation?