I personally would consider Leon a top 5 centre but at the same time understand the league has plenty of quality options to choose from so that’s pretty tough to argue one way or the other.
One could say the awards he just finished winning is a pretty strong case in his favour.
I just don’t personally like or think it’s right that I see many discredit him because mcdavid is on the team. When they got split up did Leon’s production fall off a cliff nope it actually formed the best line in hockey over the second half the season. I can respect opinions based on quality of the league but just ask who ever going to consider above him please back it up with more logic than he’s on the same team as mcdavid.

I think CGY should keep Monahan, but I agree that Gauds could be moved

That's gotta be really irritating from a fans perspective.

I agree with the MTL one for sure.
For the Pacioretty trade, I agree it could be one of the biggest steals in a trade of all time, especially if Norlinder continues his trajectory. That said, Pacioretty is a great player, and I’d say that it works out for Vegas if they win the cup. Although that may just be my bias for Patches talking, since he and Suzuki aren’t that far off in regards to who is better right now.

I dont really agree. Yes Karlsson hasnt worked out, but I still think it was a worthwhile gamble. At his best there is no one better, so the chance of that was worth the risk even if the injuries have stopped it so far

I call it Domi bucks. They but absolutely everything.

Oh I wasn't talking about resigning EK... I think it was actually the thing to do.

That being said, his skating (which, remember, was basically what made him the elite d-man he was during his prime) already took a pretty massive nose dive after his 2017 injury. So 11,5 mil per was just too much for him. I don't give a damn if it was market value. if they gave him such an AAV, then drop the term to 6 years. Or keep the term but drop to AAV to 10,25 mil per.

As for Vlasic, even if when he signed that contract he was still an elite shutdown d-man nothing can excuse giving him 8 years at 7 mil per. If GMDW wanted to keep the term (he seems to really like 8 year deals (EK, LC and MEV)) then drop the AAV to 5,5 mil per. If he wanted to keep the 7 mil per then drop the term to 5 years.

As for Burns, 8 mil per for a 37-38-39-40 year old d-man is just bad. if he wanted to keep the term, then drop the AAV to 7 mil per. If he wanted to keep the AAV, then make the contract end at 38 years old.

So basically:
EK's deal: 10,25 mil per for 8 years
MEV's deal: 5,5 mil per for 8 years
Burns' deal: 7 mil per for 7 years

So, your big 3 at D now costs 22,75 mil per, which is still 3,25 mil per less than IRL.

Plus, if SJ wanted to move Burns, he'd be much easier to move. Cause with an 8 mil AAV if you retain 1,5 mil per, then the cap hit for his new team drops to 6,5 mil per. Now, at a 7 mil AAV, with a 1,5 mil retention, his cap hit drops to 5,5 mil per, which is MUCH more attractive to any team...

Is saying Detroit doesn't want to trade Mantha over valuing him?

Can we just let good players be good players and not burden them with Captaincy when there are better leaders on the team. Point is a fantastic player but he's not in the top 5 leaders on the lightning. Let him worry about his own game and let Stammer and Heddy worry about leadership.

nah man i think a bunch of fans who've never been in an nhl locker room should decide who should be the captain

Obviously fine with the Pittsburgh one

I went in the habs locker room on a tour once. Does that count?

I’m bored in school so I’m gonna respond to these

ANA- I agree, the hype was deserved 2 years ago, but not now
ARZ- also agree, although I didn’t expect him to be able to anyway
BOS- disagree, although one of these years I think they’ll surprise people by not making the playoffs, next year isn’t the year
BUF- never though ab this but I think u might have a point
CGY- agree, both overrated, don’t think they should trade Monahan tho, I don’t get why people do when they need center depth, not to get rid of it
CAR- he’s good, not top 5
CHI- agree, Toews has been very good at all facets of the game for like 2 years now
COL- lol tbh I don’t rly get it
CBJ- agree
DAL- I actually agree, and I never voiced this opinion cuz I thought I’d get roasted for it, but I 100% agree
DET- agree, he hasn’t had a 50 point season yet, I know injuries and stuff blah blah blah, but at that point I wouldn’t trade for him cuz of the injury concerns
EDM- disagree, he’s unreal, I still think some people underrate him
FLA- agree, Ekblad is very good, I think the fact he was a number overall pick makes people underrate him cuz maybe they expected more offensively
LA- I disagree, he’s not very good compared to what he used to be and his monstrosity that is his contract
MIN- agree, he’s gonna be 2020-21s Cirelli, and everyone will realize how good he is (defensively)
MTL- disagree, there’s so many good dmen now it’s hard to say Weber is top 10
NSH- 100% agree, I hate how their team is built
NYI- agree , but only tell Barzal that after his contract negotiations
NYR- I’m gonna have to disagree on this one, by a lot
OTT- I’d argue he’s a good gm considering the hand he was dealt, give him financial flexibility and I’d argue he could be a top 10 gm in the league
PHI- disagree, I think they have a shot and AV is a good coach, he was outcoached by one of the best coaches ever this year, he just had to not run into Trotz lol
PIT- disagree, I still think it’s Letang, but Marino is definitely #2
SJS- I agree that spending all that on 3 dmen was pretty dumb, especially when they had their Karlsson in Burns already. I do think Pavs was their heart and soul, j look at how they rallied after he got injured in last years playoffs
STL- I think he’s already there
TBL- he’s top 10, not top 5, but I do think naming him captain would be a good idea, although if they were to change it I think they’d give it to Hedman first
TOR- their MVP is Codi Ceci smh, and JT was definitely a mistake. Sure their offense will be good a while but they have like no money to spend on a competent d corps
VAN- lmao good point, I very much agree
VGK- Definitely wasn’t good for Vegas but Patches has at least been good for them, he def want worth Suzuki, Tatar and whoever they picked w that 2nd though
WSH- I think he wants to win another cup, idk tbh, I can’t read minds unfortunately
WPG- agree, he might b one of the most underrated players in the league

Bonus- agree, Lindell is gud

This took a lot of time, but I missed a majority of English, so I thank you for that

Why do people think Lindell is bad? Also, Ovechkin seems to really love the game ... I think he's a team player. I'm sure he'd like to beat Gretzky's record but I'm 99.9% sure he puts team first.

Adam Fox is great but I would value Hughes and Makar higher.

Idk if I'd call Doughty elite but he's not a bottom pairing d-man or whatever some people think he is ... he's still a great player.

Marino was a great add but I wouldn't say he's better than Letang.

gonna add my own hot takes:

BOS - Krug isn't an elite defenseman. He's been very sheltered with the Bruins, and any team that pays north of 6 million for him is going to have a rough time.
CBJ - Werenski is better than Jones by half a tier.
EDM - RNH should be traded. He's going to cost too much, and it's a sellers market for his abilities at 2C.
FLA - Barkov is overrated, Huberdeau is underrated. Trading the latter would be a huge mistake.
MTL - Sell the farm and win now. Price, Weber and Petry are going to look bad sooner than you think.
TOR - Holl is a top 4 defenseman.
WPG - Trading Laine would be a mistake.

Agree on all but Holl i would say hes a 4 AT BEST. hes more of a bottom 3 in my eyes than a top 4.

Krug in my eyes is and has always been a bottom pairing dman thats a pp specialist.

as a PIT fan I say marino has the potential to be a #1 for sure, but rn no he's #3...dumo-letang are each superb at what they do and are still better. but in 2 years I think there's a 75% chance marino is the new #1.

I agree with your takes on TOR, WSH, NYI, NSH, MTL, EDM, DET, CGY 100%.
on the BOS thing-i'm seriously believing that the big teams and dynasties of the last decade are going out one by one...I think CHI is out in a year or 2 even though they've tried to reboot it. as a PIT fan I say they have a generous 2 years...maybe...to compete...if everything goes well...WSH a year or two...which beings me to BOS...they have some good young players...but so much of the core is getting up there...I wonder if between getting old, goalie "issues" maybe, Krug leaving prob, and Chara retiring I think they won't be nearly as good next year. add that to TOR, MTL, BUF, OTT getting better and Tampa still being stacked no matter who they have to dump...I like TBL, TOR, and MTL as the top-3 and after that I think boston will be lucky to compete for a wild card spot...
and on the ARI/kessel thing--I agree again. Kessel was good on the PP (with elite players) and good with Malkin some, HE ONLY DROVE HIS LINE ONCE.(for 1 playoff run)--never a team... I knew Kessel would have a down year in ARI. they don't have the dynamic offensive pieces to support Kessel. remember he got like 40 PTS a year on the PP...

An even hotter take? McDavid isn't even a top-5 center in the league. He and Draisaitl are very much top-5 forwards, but they're horrible centermen.

didn't think mods were allowed to burn the forum down with their posts

Damn that’s a hot take, I have to respect it

I tend to think Dumo is better defensively, Letang is better offensively

Marino better balanced than either. For now, Letang is probably better overall but it's close

Hollow is, in my opinion, either a below-average top 4 guy or a great bottom pairing guy ... i'd say a 4/5 guy ... not too bad if you have him in your top 4, but there are better options. Krug isn't a bottom pairing guy IMO. But again, these are hot takes, so I'm not going to argue with anyone lol.

I agree, Makar and Hughes are much overhyped. Dahlin in particular, but Heiskanen for sure too, are criminally underrated

We should sell the farm, unless we want to be like the Wild(no offense). With Pricey still one of the best goalies in the league, we can hopefully get an elite winger and upgrade our other weaknesses. 100% agree