Deciding you would rather have Connor Geekie than Logan Cooley is insane lol.

Or they can just re sign him like 99.9% of teams do

99% of star players don’t get to free agency. Gaudreau just changed that by getting there. These guys today want to hit the open market

No, gaudreau wanted to get there. There are no guys, just a guy. Two guys if you wanna go 4 years back and count tavares.

I just can't see what the attraction is for Arizona to do that trade. Giving up a bunch of futures and have Matthews walk in one years. Oh, and Matthews doesn't help the Arizona finances at all.
That is one awful look at centre for the Leafs.

LMAOOOO THIS GUY THINKS PEOPLE ACTUALLY WANT TO LIVE IN COLUMBUS OHIO 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

On a real note, guadreau wanted to go to philly but they never tendered an offer for him. NJ offered a deal for him and he didn’t want to sign there so he chose Columbus. If you look deeper though, his wife/fiancé (I forget which it is) is a nurse and guadreau is likely making the best decision for the family here. Columbus has a great childrens hospital and nationwide (the owner of the arena) owns that hospital too where his wife now has a job at. Props to guadreau because he put his wife into serious consideration for his choice of where he goes. He may be a little further from family than he would like, but he made the choice for the family he is starting. Props to him for that.

Listen to his press conference. NJ did not sound like they put much of a hard press on him at all. They did send an offer early on, but then ghosted him after Philly pulled out. His agent tried to reestablish contact but never heard back.

(My guess is that Fitzgerald was just seeking to raise the price on Philly and the Islanders thinking they’d keep him out of the division…both got priced out, but he still ended up in Meteo).

If the entire premise is that Matthews is angling to land in Arizona via free agency, I don't understand why Arizona would give up a load of prospects instead of waiting 12 months. Not like they'll be competing and need to add Matthews to the 23-24 lineup. Why wouldn't they just shrug and wait for the inevitable the next July if that was true?

He’s a poorer Jack Hughes. He will get knocked around a lot and have a difficult time staying healthy just like Hughes

Because there’s no guarantee he wants to sign there. If they get him then they’ll pay him crazy money to keep him.

I mean Hughes has had some bad luck and is pretty young. Also Cooley may be stronger than Hughes anyway.

Regardless I’d take either guy over Connor “Can’t Skate” Geekie.

Lots of big “can’t skate” centres have done just fine. Cooley like Hughes just needs to be knocked around a bit and he will break. Hughes is a soft player. I guess there’s time for Cooley to prove he isn’t as soft as Jack. Remember when Lauzon threw a basic check on Hughes and broke the kid? Smaller forwards need to be tough and play a bigger game. Bedard does it the right way.

Cooley isn’t soft tho… no one says that

I’ve yet to see film of him skating through contact in between the circles

You should watch him in a game. His opponents can’t even touch him half the time.

That tends to happen in junior hockey. It won’t happen in the NHL. He has to play through contact. All the great or even remotely good players do.

He did at U-18 worlds. It’s not like he isn’t doing it against high level talent. I think he is willing to play thru contact but he doesn’t have to.

I’ve been involved with junior hockey by playing it and being a fan of it for over 5 decades. In the NHL you have to play through contact no matter how good of a skater you are. Even McDavid has to do it.

Never said I disagreed — just saying Cooley is legit skilled and you should give him a chance

He is going to get a chance. He’s on a bad team that’s going to let him play. I still believe Wright will be the better player in the end. Then again I think Montreal was foolish for passing on him too

I have no issue with that take. Just the idea Geekie is better than Cooley lol.

I don’t necessarily think he will be better but he’s a safe pick. Geekie is going to have a respectable NHL career. Cooley is high risk high reward

Geekie can’t win face offs, he isn’t an elite two way player and he can’t use his speed to create separation in the CHL. Best case scenario I think he is Dylan Strome. And that’s very optimistic.