Now we would hopefully win a cup. Ceci is meh, but I hope we can get Larsson, if not then maybe Pysyk. Holloway I rather send down to the AHL for a year, and see if he can learn something and get better for the NHL in a few. I rather not rush him honestly.

I think it would take a lot more to get Landeskog north of the border. Unfortunately I think there are better suitors in St. Louis, Long Island, Tampa, Colorado, Seattle, Vegas, LA. Calgary or Edmonton looking at him would need to pay upwards of 8.5 in my mind.

Woe brah, Scary good is trademarked by the Sabre. Kassian is most likely going to cost you an asset. It was weird to see him protected.

Edit: Ullmark is going to command more, I would wager closer to 5 million

I could take more to get Landeskog anywhere, but a bunch of the teams you named aren't outbidding Edmonton. Islanders, Tampa and Vegas don't have any cap space, while St Louis and Seattle don't have nearly as good medium-term prospects as Edmonton does. That leaves Colorado and LA as serious contenders. Sakic has already pissed Landekog off and LA is in the middle of a rebuild. I like Edmonton's chances.

I don't know what sort of value Kassian has around the league and said so in the trade.

Ullmark might get $5M but it's an overpay IMO. His numbers in Buffalo are good but not great. He's never played more then 37 games in a season, so why should he get paid like a 50-game starter?

I don't have enough money for Larsson, Pysyk is horrible. I could replace Holloway with Kahun, but then I wouldn't have a kid line!

I agree that it is too much, but that is why he doesnt have a contract with Buffalo haha.

I dont know if he will get it, seems to be quite a few good goalies out there. But Markstrom, Demko deals, and others are paving the way for what he wants

Islanders have 12 million right now and are about to lose at least 5 million off the books in expansion they have plenty of room, Vegas is a Pacioretty or Fleury trade away from having the room and we have seen that they will heavily pursue big names at the cost of their current roster to try win now. Seattle doesn't have a team.. what do you mean they don't have medium term prospects?

Landeskog has recently said he would paly in Colorado for 5 - 6 million, that doesn't sound necessarily pissed off and LA just made a move for Arvidsson and have a ton of really good talent in the worst division in hockey, Landeskog puts them in contention in the Pacific.

All the teams listed above likely pay him the 7.5 - 8 you have in your post, teams in Canada probably well north of that.

Markstrom was a proven 60-game starter when he signed that deal though. As for Demko, well, I can't be responsible for what Jim Benning does. In his defense, Demko was an established starter at just 24, but still...

Why would teams in Canada have to pay him more?

You realize that Edmonton plays in the Pacific too, right? And they have the two best players in the world? If Landeskog wants to succeed there aren't many better landing spots than next to Connor McDavid.

You realize that 3 teams make it out of the Pacific? Vegas, Edmonton, someone. That has been an option for every free agent over the last 5 years but it has really attracted no body other than Milan Lucic. More good players have left Edmonton than joined Edmonton since McDavid and Draisaitl have been there, that's not a knock on them but it's telling that player don't want to play in Edmonton regardless of whose line they get to be on. If he wants to succeed then out of the teams I listed that are options for him, Islanders, Avalanche, Vegas are all significantly better options.

Edmonton hasn't had any cap space to attract UFA's before now, and the only reason good players have been leaving is because Chiarelli was determined to trade down from a house to a red paperclip. Good players weren't leaving because they wanted to.

Got to agree with YYC, there is no denying Canadian teams need to pay more. There are few players playing on a home town discount and none of them reside in Canada. Regardless your version works fine. Buy out Koskinen and pay Smith 1.5 again. Theres an extra 1.5 to pay a premium for Landeskog.

My bigger issue is the defense. Tippett is a great coach still but do you honestly think the defense is enough to compete in the playoffs?

Whatever version you'd like to paint here it's undeniable that Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Ottawa are low on the list of places player want to play.

Player agents have said otherwise regarding Edmonton. They say its a top destination, there just hasn't been any cap space until now.

Would love to see where that's coming from

What proof do you have of this?


Really? Nuge, Tavares, Spezza, etc - there are lots of players taking discounts to play on Canadian teams.


Maybe Klefbom is doing the Kucherov thing this year...

I think this defense is underrated. Samorukov was a fantastic shutdown guy in the KHL last year and could be up for 2nd pairing comp by January, while Bouchard (small sample size) looks like an elite offense creator so far: he was top-20 in P/60 (minimum 150 minutes) and #1 in shots/60 in the league.

I don't recall which one, but there was a player agent on Edmonton radio a year or so ago who said it. The host said something like 'nobody wants to come to Edmonton' and the agent actually got a bit mad at him and said that the opposite was true. Players DO want to go to Edmonton but they aren't willing to play for free.

Again, paint whatever picture makes you feel better about that but years and years of history, players, analysts, agents, etc. have said different.

- The no discounts would be the proof.

- Nuge at 5.125 through his age 35 season is no discount. He got years extra for a lower cap hit. Spezza is a vet chasing a cup not a free agent in his prime; its 750k or retirement. Maybe you can convince me of Tavares because of what SJ reportedly offered. But I have to really squint to see the 5th highest payed player by cap hit (40m cash in 3 years) as a discount.

- That would be quite the curveball . I agree I think they have a future but that's a lot of pressure on rookies to be great with very little backup options. Personally I think they decided they just needed 1 winger by doing the Keith trade.

You're a Calgary fan, so your view is understandable. I know what I heard, you're welcome to believe whatever you like.

Have a great day.

Do you have proof of that though? Even McDavid is considered to have signed at a discount.


Here’s an interesting look at UFA targets & their boxcars for each of their last 82 regular season games:

Landeskog: 31-48-79
Nugent-Hopkins: 31-45-76
Hyman: 31-33-64
Tatar: 19-42-61
Hall: 18-38-56
Saad: 30-15-45
Coleman: 23-20-43


There's no pressure on the rookies - I have veteran players in the top-4. Besides, the org clearly likes Broberg, I have Russell as 7th man and Lagesson, Berglund and Kemp in the minors, so I don't think it's accurate to say that there's little backup. There's more backup than many teams have.

They do just need 1 (top-6) winger now that they've got Nugent-Hopkins signed.

x - McDavid - Puljujarvi
Nuge - Draisaitl - Yamamoto

The bottom-6 has holes but those will be cheaper to fill.

I'm not sure what else can prove it. Argue semantics on whether McJesus is worth the max salary allowable 12.5 is no hometown discount. Like I said they are few and far between now. Crosby, Tampa guys, and Theodore took discounts for their teams.

Ceci shouldn't be playing top 4 minutes. Bear needs to rebound after a poor year, they played russell ahead of him in the playoffs. Kieth needs a bounce back in a new role. Russell Lagesson are depth the other guys are not able to play reliable NHL minutes yet.

To each their own. I'd just use the 5.5 from saad or 7.5 to have a reliable top 4 man and some bottom 6 depth.

Not sure what the boxcars are but the last two seasons Landeskog is P/G is .89 and Nuge is .82. I would argue Landeskog is better in every aspect of the game with the lone exception being Nuge is on the PK.

That’s okay that you don’t have enough for Larsson, but in my opinion, Pysyk is way better than Ceci.