Jesus christ you two, get a ******* room...

only if he pays for it But i can't help that he hates on my (realistic) teams and terms and he makes unrealistic teams and thinks he's funny.

Well, he does love to toss money around...

See if you can pry a Binny's coupon out of him while you're at it.

Honestly, I don't think Bowman was the one who wanted to lock Seabs up....the real man in power is McDonough, and his business mind wanted this core to be immortalized....I believe he had a big say in the Kane and Toews deals too....but I could be wrong.

But no question, McDonough is the real boss...(only to rocky that is)

I would agree with you, except that interview that Stan did about a month or two ago, I can't recall who with, but he was asked something about being worried about Seabs' contract as a future albatross, and Stan gave this kind of offended look and said "Seabrooks contract? I'm not worried about that contract." Like he couldn't believe he was being asked that question. Which made me wonder many things about his sanity and judgment, but it seemed very clear to me in that moment that the contract was his doing.

I love Seabs, but he's the victim of the game changing dramatically in a very short amount of time to being a speed race, and he's too fat for that. When he came to camp in 2016, he looked lean as hell. But that sadly changed halfway through the season and he's been struggling since. It's on him to come into camp again this year lean, and really work on his foot speed, and maybe we're not having these conversations anymore.

You're absolutely right about Seabs game....and again I could be wrong...but I think the business side had a LOT of say in the core contract extensions.

And if I'm wrong about that (which i absolutely could be), then that's the reason stan traded Hammer. He was afraid to repeat the same mistake

Definitely they do, I'm just saying I don't think Stan wanted to run from that contract at all. Rather, I think he was stoked to sign Seabs to that contract. But the gamble on that one, and 19&88's contracts, were that the cap would go up to 80mil like the rat faced **** Bettman said it would. Big mistake to believe that line...

At the time, I was down with the Hammer-Murphy trade. I loved Hammer, I have one of his sweaters, but he had so much wear on his body from being a warrior for the team, and I actually loved that Stan made a savage deal to trade him for a younger, more cost controlled Connor Murphy, who seemed to be terribly mismanaged by AZ... Welp, Murph is not without his own failings, but as I said on one of ChiHawk's posts, I think Murph has a far better year this year.

The Laurent Dauphin thing was just ******* bizarre, and I have no idea what to make of that. Did Stan get fleeced? Was Dauphin some kind of issue and they wanted him gone? Who the hell knows...

I think (and god willing hope) Murphy will be a lot better next year....as in top 4D....it might be a reach, but if the hawks are going to be competitive he needs to be. I loved Hammer too....and I felt like the Q (according to the rumors where he stormed out of the building when he heard of the trade), and was pissed. But when I settled down I realized what Stan was trying to do (or learn from his past mistakes).

And I have no idea about Dauphin.....I thought he could be a piece but who knows what happened with that

I think Stan has full power in these situations. Mcdonough is a baseball guy, I don't think he's too familiar with scouting professional hockey players. I feel like Stan always owes players for the work they've done for him. (I get it that they need raises, but I mean he thinks he has to pay them back with interest or something). Seabrook's contract was a typical contract year deal. In 3 years we will probably see a severe drop off in John Carlson's play for the same reason. Sadly, only a few GMs have the ability to cut good deals for the team (In large due to state income tax, IMO). The Dauphin deal made no sense, as Clendening is a little older and gone now. He feels he owes them so much he attempts to revitalize their careers (Kruger coming back, bringing back Saad, bringing back Versteeg). I feel like the team needs new blood. They're continually becoming more and more stagnant. I don't agree with trading Oesterle or Hino either. Oesterle was a consistent top 4 guy paired with Keith and Hino was the fastest guy this team has had since god knows when. I feel like Stan is making small moves to prepare for a big one, but he's just so far behind the top GMs in the league right now. STL improved, WPG is still better with lots of cap space, DAL got Nichushkin back, COL got a great back up to cover for Varlamov's bound-to-happen injuries. NSH is far and away better.

Bottom line, I can't see a situation where the hawks make the playoffs this season without at least 2 major trades.

I’m flattered you went through tall this trouble for me lol, but I don’t 1 Star for no reason because I’m not petty. Past is past, let bygones be bygones.