The Cult of Hockey's "Should Edmonton Oilers keep, hold or fold with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins?" podcast

Let's do this, the faithful's

hockey

cult

podcast

for David Stapleton, the Edmonton Journal and today I'm here with Bruce McCurdy, hey Bruce, hey David, how are you today? Well, it's a beautiful day out there, uh, we're inside, but hopefully. We'll both be out sooner rather than later and, uh, Leafs games are coming up. Leafs have game 7 tonight, Bruce, he'd probably be watching something. I see that, um, the Leafs have now figured out a way to bring in 550 frontline healthcare workers. there fully inoculated, it's totally baffling to me why they couldn't get it to match Montreal, like you have these people fully vaccinated, they're frontline healthcare workers, I mean, get a little creative there, but anyway , in their province they will realize that they won.

They won't be selling $2,000 US tickets at the crack like they're in Montreal and, uh, for Saturday night, but I also bet you they won't have half fans there, like they had leaf fans at the center bell on Saturday night. night too. It's going to be packed with a lot of local support, so I thought the Habs, somehow, I read somewhere that they had frontline workers, but it must have been anyone if you know they had 2,500 tickets, real tickets. to sell, okay, sorry, good for my giveaway, um, uh, and we'll see what happens tonight. I hope my troll wins, although I don't have that strong feeling about it.

I'm one of the relatively few people left. Who really remembers the last time Toronto and Montreal went to game seven? It was in the 1964 Stanley Cup semi-finals and the halves finished first overall, the Leaf's third and in the structure of the day, first place, third second, played fourth in the first round. it made sense to me and then or now and Toronto uh Montreal wants games one, three and five Toronto won games two, four and six and then they turned the tables in game seven with a Dave Keon hat trick and a performance by 38 saves by Johnny Bauer. in the Toronto cage and the Leafs defeated the defeated halves three to one en route to their third consecutive Stanley Cup.

I'm talking about the Toronto Maple Leafs and I'm also saying I'm old, there's no other way to say it. So it was a six-team NHL and I'm thinking that any team that has won their division in the NHL has now won the equivalent of winning the Stanley Cup in the old days, essentially this year, absolutely yes, they have beaten six other teams, so it's a lot easier back then to win the Stanley Cup, which is never mentioned, as you know, rarely mentioned, I

should

say, but now it's a great achievement to get out of the first round of the plus that the owners made. on 27 in 2017, you know, they won the equivalent of a Stanley Cup in the old days, they beat whatever, it wasn't many teams to advance from the first round of the playoffs, so anyway, yeah, I don't HE.

There are a lot of fans who want to blame Toronto if they lose, especially because of all the nonsense that comes out of Toronto when the greasers come out and they already know, uh, you know, the kind of nonsense that oh Mcdavid did. in Edmonton and blah blah blah all that nonsense, so joining a successful playoff program means he's coming to Toronto. Yeah, I haven't won a damn playoff series since before the lockout and the salary cap era and some of the logic just escapes me, but I try not to take the bait too often. It's the largest hog wash in Toronto.

Hog Town is kind of one of those dumb Hog Towns. Oh, there you go, and we heard it anyway. all the time, so people like to give it back, you know, from Twitter, I've seen that there are tons of great Leafs fans, so I try to

keep

that in mind and I think it's okay, in the media class there are a few dumb brains and I just like to

keep

track it's fun it's good to keep track uh I think about all the nonsense we've heard over the years you know that little media clique and you know there are some fans that I think of the same way, but most of those Leafs fans are like us, they are fans of their team, they love their team and they are right, they are good

hockey

fans, so I don't

hold

it against the city of Toronto or against Leafs fans for the fact that there are some watches, uh, clucking, with all due respect to media types everywhere, but there are uh, uh, clucking here and there and everywhere, and in any market you will find one or two, I think, and I mean, Toronto is gifted with Catholic Kelly and Steve Simmons and a couple more beauties, but they also have some real beauties like James Myrtle, you know, and most of them came with my brother, Yes, yes, yes, my brother is a lease for life. fan and I were until I moved to Edmonton and we got our own team and I had to choose and it was an easy choice, I have to say, but most Leafs fans are hockey fans, you know, and there are some who like to lead with keyboards. that bothers people, but i don't think they represent the majority, so the bakersfield condors deserve some congratulations, they won the divisional playoffs, they beat the henderson whatever they're called saber nights, silver nights and um, it's good, it's a strong program, I mean, I think this team is more than the really strong team, I think it was in 2018-19, this team is more built, much more built on strong veteran players, this team had a backbone of veterans really strong. players adam crachdell six games ten points seth griffith six games seven points uh other veteran leaders were brad malone theodore landstrom who do you know 26 27 whatever now he apparently played with a broken hand he missed some of the games in the end kevin gravel played a tons of ice time um that was the heart of this team along with a couple of players that are still in the prospect class right at the end of their prospect class days Tyler Benson who scored a great goal won the goal of victory in the The third period received a nice assist from Cooper Maroti, who received a stretch pass from a real prospect, Michael Kessel Ring, to score the winning goal.

Uh, Kessel Ring also scored the first goal or helped score the first goal for Baker Bakersfield because he walked the line and got a puck in the net that was dunked into other prospects on that team phil kemp played in the final game uh rafaela played in all yes phil kemp scored a goal as an outside shot um rafael lavoie everyone counts raphael uh he was in the serie he's like 20 he's 20 years old he's probably in that team's youngest player on the team and probably the best prospect that played in that game by the orders other than maybe stu skinner uh who had a really strong year bruce stu skinner this That year that guy had the fifth best save percentage, I think it was the fifth best save percentage in all of Ahl and he has a year more than he can play in Bakersfield.

I think Deuters wants to take advantage of that and play him. all year there, although Ilya Konovalev will come and they will have Olivier Rodriguez, they will have the problem of three goalkeepers, but, yes, congratulations, Jay Woodcroft has done a great job at Ahl, he has really served the owner's organization well. a constant stream of players coming out of that team, so there are several people who deserve credit, you know keith gretzky, peter shirelli, ken hall and they have all contributed to building that woodcraft franchise at the top of the list, maybe. but the player acquisition has also been much better, yes Stewart Skinner had the top six goals against average in the league among qualified goaltenders and the sixth best save percentage in the league 914 and you really know there are guys ahead of him like several two. of them played 11 games, so I mean, they set the qualifying bar pretty low.

Bakersfield actually played more games, the Pacific division played more games than most and they got these little playoffs in quick playoffs, but you know, Bakersfield, they won games. two and three of their first round series against san diego in overtime where one mistake and they're eliminated and everyone down the stretch and in overtime Skinner never ever allowed that killer goal and it was, you know, two one three two type of games they won in the finals against the Silver Knights. I won the first game also in overtime 2-1 and then the last game they won 3-2 and he faced more than 30 shots.

I don't remember the exact number, but Henderson brought the heat, you know, he was behind for the entire third period and skinder had almost all the answers, so it's very good progress on his part and of course he made his debut in the nhl this year and you know it's a really big development year for stuart skinner and that's a really positive in the system and obviously huge for the orders because goaltending is an ongoing issue. We'll get to that in just a second. I forgot a veteran who was probably his best player. Ryan Stanton. He is a fantastic defender.

To the point where I think if an NHL team was desperate for a third pairing, Ryan Stanton is just a very, very solid hockey player, his skating is a little, you know, not great, but his position is fantastic, so we'll see. We'll see what happens with the Bakersfield team. There could be a lot of changes right there. You know, you never know if these veterans will come back. We never know that Woodcroft has been there for three years, so he has been there for some time. might want to get that nhl itch again, uh, we'll see what happens, um, could you come into order as an assistant coach who knows he's done well, even though he's running his own program and, uh, an nhl team could become an nhl team? one call and Bruce signed a three-year deal after his first year there, so he has one year left, but of course an AHL deal, if he gets a real offer from the NHL, there aren't many organizations that would say no, sir. stay down there um I think a team, a team did that, but then they promoted the guy after the next season, maybe it was Detroit with Blachill or it was one of those types of situations, yeah, the team had invested in the guy and they said No, we still have plans for that guy and we're going to enforce it and maybe it was Detroit, but it was like that.

It's happened once and maybe the orders have plans for Jay Woodcroft, but I'll tell you what. They don't know what plans I have as a head coach until after the playoffs next year. I think Dave Tippett is there solidly, but if they go next year and fail again in the first round of the playoffs, then he'll get back into shape very quickly. shaky ground and they might be looking for the next time, you know, turn the page, but we won't know until April 2022, so I'm not sure what promises can be made that can also be kept.

You can't do any because it's you. I know you have to do it. The real focus of everyone in the organization is that Dave Tippett is going to be successful and you can't have a secret thought, but you can't have a verbal conversation with another person in the organization. I don't think the level of conversation if the tip is ruined, you're the next guy so it's not going to look very good. I mean, this is not Game of Thrones, this is what you have to keep, uh, up and up. Bruce, I thought Michael Castle Ring looked good in the last game, especially since he didn't play much.

I saw a previous game. He didn't play much, but when Lenstrum went out, I guess he had a broken hand. According to a hardcore fan of the team who is my source on that and the rich refugees, right, he would know, I think because he follows the team religiously, um, yeah, so congratulations to you, rich, um, Mike Kessel Ring, uh , he played very well in the last game, he was, he is a great mobile. defense that can move the puck and if Tyson Barry leaves, which is more of a you know, I think there's a 1 in 10 chance he'll come back, but if kessel ring um kessel ring, I think I'd jump to the in terms of what fair. shot the number four members in the organization um wow yeah so they could sign they could sign a right shot they are definitely looking for a more senior guy so that's it but I think Phillip is coming uh Berryland who is the right shot?

I think I was supposed to come. and of course there are other guys that can move and play on the right side, so you know he's not necessarily the ultimate guy, but you know that in theory he could be called up next year if he continues to progress in Bakersfield, he has a future in this organization he is, you know, he is, what is he? six six five six four um two two about two fifteen two twenty he's a great guy who can move the puck so he's going to need time in the ahl, but I liked lavoie bruce I didn't think he played particularly well in the times when he did I saw at least um uh, he'll have to.

He looked better before in Bakersfield. um like I expected more from him playing a more physical game, more physically involved in the playoffs and I didn't necessarily see that, I think Tyler Benson on that team is just a good hockey player, a smart hockey player, not extremelyfast but very good with the puck, so I think he is a very similar player to Dominic. cahoon and um he's certainly ready for the nhl if he's ever going to get that chance so dominic cahoon had a chance he didn't exactly crush it maybe orders will go in benson's direction next year instead of uh instead of a player like hoon for the you know someone who will be I think tyler benson is a good checker so he could play the third or fourth line I wouldn't have any problem with him in that role yeah, well you'd like to think that they "They're going to graduate forward, yes, the miners somewhere along the line." You know, we've had two years in Dave Tippett's um ten holland regime and the only rookie forwards who have officially played for the orders tyler benson played seven games last year and

ryan

mcleod played ten games this year that's it now uh um kata yamamoto uh who would you think was a rookie last year technically it wasn't because he died he had played too many games in two previous seasons different, so he was, without a doubt, a young player who graduated from the miners, which is what you want. but all the rookies they've brought up have mostly been defenders and yeah, you know, and you've got guys down there, well certainly Macleod who's at the top now, but Morodi and Benson seem like reasonable options. and uh, ken holland keeps bringing in these kind of mid-level pros and putting them in their path and they haven't been able to beat those guys in the jobs, the graybeards, bruce, the big birds, well yeah, that's like 27 years.

That's not a very gray beard, you know, and you talk, you talk about gray beards when you get to be an old person like me, yeah, I don't know exactly what Holland meant by the gray beard comment like, uh anyway, uh what is that, that's what Toronto has, you know Toronto? you've got betsah simmons feline from thornton, it's actually a beautiful, beautiful group of veterans, there's four of them and they're all, there's reasons to like those guys, but uh uh, and the owners don't have that type of player, do they? ?, they don't have Eric Stahl. and Corey Perry who were watching that series or don't have that type of player, he's a gray-bearded guy with a lot of experience and I think that may be something that's on the buyer's list this summer to find a way to bring in Ryan Getzlaffer, You know, a guy who's been around for a long time has done that and the orders have a lot of 27-year-old professionals who don't have great resumes in terms of professional accomplishments, you know, reminds me. this study that came out of um Yellowstone, I think a year ago, when they looked at wolf packs fighting, oh yeah, and they found that the difference was that if a wolf pack had some older wolves, they tended to win the more older wolves they had. . tended to win the fight, no, and these are fights to the death, so yes, there you have the proof that the orders must present evidence that the owners must bring in some older players.

That was interesting, it was unexpected, that would be. the case, so, elliot Friedman and Bruce had some news, they really knew the, um, really newsy, extremely newsy, uh, interview in Calgary of all places on sportsnet 960 radio and he talked a lot about Nugent Hopkins and we'll get to that, but before. We got there before we got into this, he talked about acquisitions and it was just a quick comment and he said, uh, it's possible that the orders buy goalie Miko Koskinen, who has one year left on a deal that pays him 4.5 million. I have to think it's koskinen it's possible he's the guy and maybe neil but the problem with neil is he's in your cap for four years.

I'm not so convinced about one, I think it's more likely that he's koskinen, which took everyone by surprise. I think most people in Edmonton assumed at the time that they were going to buy Neil and not Costco, although four years of purchase payments in a flat cap era, I can see why orders might be hesitant to do so and the other is The other benefit of buying Koskinen if you're convinced he's not your goalie, you bring Mike Smith back, well you know you have a pretty decent bet for next year. I know a lot of people just look at his age and say he's done.

You know, but when you look at it, the funny thing about these old goalies is when you look at them, Bruce, they're the ones who succeed when they're 38, 39, 40 years old. It's usually not just one year like they often do. two three four years old when they're at that age where they're actually pretty good so we'll see if Mike Smith can do that but they might want another goalie you know some of the names mentioned are that. all the buffalo brands or mers columbus leaks just who's who is apparently a better bet than koskinen so that was interesting to me and we're going to delve a little deeper into all of these players in the incoming

podcast

s but uh, I can see that I can see if they went to buy Koskinen instead of Neil.

I could see the thinking there. I don't think it's crazy, at least, but you take my opinion is a buy, um, that most of the team's advantages would be Neil, uh, open up. get more police space for two years like they're stuck with 5.75 million for two more years for that guy, you know, if they cut the court like um Elliott said, they have to spend four years at a, you know, 1.9 or whatever. It's millions of dollars in cap

hold

, which is painful, there's no way around it, I mean, but that was the whole point of that trade to get Neil, which at least was edible and, honestly, Neil, you know Basically, October of the year he got here didn't really do much to help the team.

He did help them get off to a very good start in 2019-20 when he was on fire in October and since then, I mean, since The calendar moved to 2020. He has five goals, but Bruce, he is their grey-bearded man, he is their gray beard and he's a gray beard guy who was benched after the second game or playoffs because he couldn't keep up so yeah yeah you make a good point I forgot when I was talking to all these others gray beards before. You know, the good thing about a great beard is when they make about a million a year and not 600, yeah right, that's what you want your cemeteries to make.

It's a million a year, the Toronto four combined make less than James Neal, that's what you want, look at Bakersfield, he just made an upstate, all the big beards that helped them win, like the crack, you know what 35, he was their best player, um, in the playoffs, so you can see. what they're saying, but maybe it

should

, maybe the gray beard should be Adam Crachdoll on the others next year and not James Neal, like those guys have, but anyway there are no takeovers, it's just me, I really don't I've done. I wanted to report the news.

I haven't decided yet who is better to buy. I want to dig a little deeper because all of these things are, uh, another piece that will buy both of you. It's that way, but yeah, if you give me the option, I would say Neil opens up more cap space, opens up more cap space in the second year, as well as in the first and Koskinen, there are different ways to clear a contract. hold and make a trade or you can make a more punishing trade or make some kind of deal with Seattle that would also be a punishing trade.

I guess you know there are different ways to do it or maybe you just say he's leaving. He'll be our backup in the future, but he won't be our number one, but as long as they don't make a shit out of buying a guy like Benoit Puliot and then not using the cap space, that's my memory, they bought them out. and then they didn't use the sacks it's like what, so they're in this tough situation because they're going to need, they don't need, they don't need the cap space to sign. Darnell never said yes. They pull the pulley Harvey and, in theory, Yamamoto and Bear next year and whoever else they will have to pay, but they will not need it this year, but next year, they will need a lot more cap space . for the players, so they are in a very tense situation where they can have guys on one-year contracts, essentially if they bring in someone, so let's say they bring in Thomas Tatar, let's say they bring in someone who is now in he benches in Montreal and doesn't play, although some people go crazy over time, let's find that guy, he said he's an analytical hero right now, so let's sign him up and maybe he's a good player, I don't know, but he's a player, he is a good player, but he is a guy like He likes that, in some way, he is a blessing for the orders.

They're benching him right now because his value is collapsing, but it could mean that one year brings him to a one-year deal because that's what makes sense for the Oilers, it's a couple of. guys with these kind of Tyson Berry contracts where it's hard to get people to convince them to sign a one-year deal, but maybe not so much in this new NHL, so the owners could sign a couple of guys of two or three that There are pretty decent hockey players like Tyson Barry on one-year contracts and that should be the play. I think this summer is that wonderful one-year deal.

Well, maybe the play then is to keep Neal for the first of his two remaining years and simply buy him out. in 2021 and then I only have two years to pay them off and create some cap space right around that time when the nurse and pulley yarvey deals, among others, will expire in a year because those guys are going to get raises, I think the guys expiring this year nuge larson barry i mean all three i'm not sure you'd have to pay much more than the salary cap they're already making to re-sign all three combined certainly

nugent

berry or sorry,

nugent

larson, i think you could probably give them up for the same dollars they were making now barry is looking for a raise and i don't think they're going to hire barry, so fredman said in larsen, i hear larson's number is right where it is now, so it looks like the orders are very close and I'm listening.

We'll talk about Larson in more detail, but I'm really glad that Adam Larson is coming back, I mean, the way I look at it. In the game, he has been as valuable to the Oilers as any defenseman on the team in recent years, including Darnell Nurse. His defense is simply exemplary. He's one of the best closing demons, I think, in the NHL, and he still has a couple of years left in him. at least you know he's gone, you'd expect him to be 29 next year, you know that, so if they give him a three year contract, they'll sign 29 30 31, you know, defensemen usually are, those are usually pretty safe years for defensive backs um after that it starts to get a little bit more iffy so I'm thrilled to hear that Adam Larson is coming back.

I think it's a bargain contract for a player as good as Adam Larson personally. If he signs for what he says now, that's great that he wants to come back he'll be back so um that was a little bit more Friedman news and the latest Bruce news is that Edmonton's goal is to find out which of their young players can play with Friedman , he said naming uh chart and

ryan

macleod and his quote was Overall, what I think they're going to do is try to put more responsibility on their young players and figure out who they can count on long term, to me that's probably the right thing to do. and considering the fact. that they have tyler benson cooper morody, who we didn't talk about, uh, dylan holloway, um, who was not only a fantastic player at the US collegiate level last season when he was 19, um, that's three forwards that could and ryan mcleod himself, four forwards in total.

Young, talented players who could attack and play two-way hockey and who, in theory, can help the Oilers on the wing, so it's not the worst thing in the world to at some point think, yeah, let's see what we have in Tyler Benson. let's not bring in, you know, tyler anus or adamic dominic cahoon, let's see what he can do well, get a left winger in the top six, of course, yes, when you are looking for professionals to fill your lower suits, well, you have this professional who Now he put in five years of development time and three of them on his entry-level contract, with just a little cup of coffee in the NHL, so you know, and two very good years in the AHL and, anyway, he's one Of those who certainly should consider a full-time job in the NHL, at least you know, be on the roster and be a regular bottom-six contributor.

Now we move on to Friedman's news on Ryan Nugent Hopkins and, I want, over the last few years. I've done something called the Keep Hold or Fold series and this is poker-based terminology and none of us play poker so we're probably getting this wrong, but I understand that in poker it's like when you play poker. uh you can stay because you know you have a pair of kings or aces and you think you're going to win the hand so you're in and you go forward and then you wait. Well, maybe you're just waiting for the right card, so you're waiting to see what happens and if things go well, then you'll make the bet and then

fold

.

Obviously there's nothing there, so we're moving on, so this is our hold or

fold

series and we apologize if we've ruined the poker terminology, but we're going to get on with it,so nugent

hopkins

bruce brian nugent

hopkins

is the first. player you're looking at, so you're going to look at playing all the turn order players and rate them on their season over the next six weeks and the first one is Nugent Hopkins and keep or retire Bruce keep starter retire what's his pay? Well, I know even less about poker than you, but I don't know.

I'm going to say, "Wait," which means you make them a decent offer, but you don't break up. to the bank that you have to keep them at all costs and that you know that you do it within a reasonable budget, but also within a reasonable time frame and at this point, and this is a player that I have all day. for uh, but he's now coming off his 10th season in the nhl and showed a clear decline in his offense this year despite the fabulous opportunity and I'm reluctant to say let's push a six or seven year contract for a lot of money for this player, so that I'm in the middle and definitely in the holding camp too, that's what Friedman said because he, what you know, he kind of shook up Euler's oil country.

I'm going to suggest with your comment and he was asked what the order should do with Nugent Hopkins and he said quote, I have to tell you that one has been diffi

cult

, they were very close before the season started and it fell apart at the last second, I don't know what is going to happen there, whatever is on the table, then I won't do it. going, I'm not convinced that it's on the table, now we're going to have to see, it's a negotiation that went sideways, they really tried it a couple of times, I don't know how to harm that one, I really don't know, something happened there.

I think it was always the plan that Nugent Hopkins was going to stay and they wanted to keep him. I think anyone who is familiar with this situation will tell you that he thought it was going to happen and he broke down and from time to time I don't. I don't know I don't think it's the worst thing if someone leaves as long as you do something good with the cap space so there's a discussion like you know there are some free agents out there Zach Hyman is a name that came up on Edmonton uh a little shaken up and you know so it's really you know you have that six billion dollar hole in a flat cap area where the cap won't go up apparently for three four five years we'll see how that turns out. um, but the limit isn't going up and um, you have this six million dollar slot, what do you want to spend it on?

And that's really true, it's not. I agree with Friedman's essential point, it's not the end of the world if Ryan Nugent Hopkins, uh. if you want, let's say six and a half or seven million dollars and over five years or six years and the orders just say listen based on where it was last year, where or it's not happening, like we can't make that bet for you ,Ryan. this year because you just didn't do it, you didn't get that kind of contract on direct terms and I don't know how many order freaks would disagree with that Bruce, I think some would be determined to hire the guy, but the wisest thing is probably that, I don't know what I think, they could go a little further, especially in the first year.

Well, the salary caps were averaged out, so that doesn't matter, but I would like to see a three-year max contract with the new John Hopkins paying him, you know, six million a year, let's say he leaves you, you may have to go up more with the money, but for him to go back to the salary that he has with the fixed cap, um, you know, no No, I just don't know if he will find a team, a contending team that has the cap space and wants to use it with him in the long term. You know the four things.

How many suitors are there for Ryan Nugent Hopkins? It means he could sign in Ottawa. There is a rumor. You know Ottawa might be interested in them. How many teams are contenders for cap space? Who will pay him more than six million a year? Long-term. Bruce. I don't know. There is some? Know? maybe seattle maybe maybe seattle is there any team like that? Am I missing something because your best bet for the same amount of money might be Edmonton? Not many contenders have the cap space, you know, so the question. Do you know how important that is and at this point in his career where he just made $42 million in seven years?

You know that's uh and he's still going to get paid well no matter where he goes so is that an extra voice? million dollars, I mean, maybe if it's a long-term deal, then you'll take it and say, you know, Ottawa is the next big thing in two or three years, they'll be better than Edmonton. Now I mean that's the kind of question he's going to have to answer, but he's here this year and if it was the breakdown of those negotiations, who knows, David, how much that affected his psyche and his performance, you never really know what's going on. passing like he said the right things he's always been a professional he played more time this year with connor mcdavid than with any other oiler and when he was there uh uh what they have uh 20 goals for 19 against, they just broke even, ya You know, and that's your first and third highest paid player on your team, you have to win that part of the game, you have to win that part of the game and yeah, yeah, anyway, it wasn't the breakthrough that a lot of us all expected afterward. the way he ended 1920 with, you know, the big push where he got 41 points in his last 31 30 games playing with dry chair and yamamoto mostly and it still baffles many of us why the decision was made and it remained. so religiously to keep it with mcdavid for most of the year and away from the dry place, settle for almost everything because when it wasn't mcdavid's, when your dry cell was mine, my theory is that mcdavid and this is just a theory. this is just speculation that conor mcdavid wanted to play, you know, there were two really good wingers, it seemed like in last year's orders, yamamoto and nugent hopkins didn't seem like, it probably didn't seem fair, maybe the coach or mcdavid had to both. of them with saddle, not one of mcdavid, so spread, you know, balance the team tippett said this balance the team beat nugent hopkins with mcdavid, so they're probably thinking that's the best idea balance it and get both.

Of these guys did well, it turned out that both Yamamoto and Nugent Hopkins' scores absolutely collapsed in that scenario. certainly not for Nugent Hopkins and Yamamoto, so Bruce is on the positive side, although it is the reason I am excited about the idea of ​​​​writing a new John Hopkins that returns and there are a few reasons, oh right, and they have nothing to do As long as it's not sentimental reasons like he's a fan favorite or he wants to finish his career in Edmonton, I think I'm over that kind of view of the NHL, a sentimental view of NHL players who need to take the right decision for themselves, the teams made it necessary to make the right decisions for themselves and it is a big mistake to invest too much in that type of thinking, on the one hand as a fan you will be eternally disappointed as the players move . of their team and because it's the nature of hockey right now, they have the freedom to move forward, they have to use it if they want to use it and the team has to accept it and the teams also have a limited amount of money to spend and I have to be very wise to spend it, so there are two reasons why I think I have to take an unsentimental and opinionated view of hockey right now, so it's not that I'm not where I was when they sold Gretzky in '88, where I thought it was a big betrayal, right, um, or even when Pronger left when he of course had a contract with the team, so it was a little bit different, so if Nude wants to move on, he's free to do so. and I wish you the best. if others decide they can't afford it and want to use it with money on someone else, hopefully you're okay with that too, I think it's a reasonable decision based on orders, all that said, this is what nuge has to offer.

He's not a strong defensive center, he's a pretty good defensive end based on the way we grade players, Bruce, and if you do, if you consider Drysettle as a center, he was the Oilers' best two-way winger this year. when it came to creating. qualify scoring opportunities by making big contributions to big chances and limiting them uh defensively he averaged the best now that he was playing with mcdavid which helps your offensive numbers you get the puck to mcdavid better things are probably going to happen but he was a part of that. He's a solid offensive player on the wing and he's a solid defensive player, so losing your best two-way winger doesn't excite me.

You know, I'm a little worried about that. I also think the owners will finally find a winger for Conor Mcdavid this summer. It could be Dylan Holloway who fits there, but they may find that veteran. Because they have some money to do it. Who will fit with Connor Mcdavid? So I think there is a good chance that from the first day of the training limit next year we will see the dynamite line and although they didn't play well together this year, we know that Nugent Hopkins and Yamamoto took hits to some extent this year. they both lost playing time for various reasons and I think if from the first day of training camp the commitment is there to go with dry settling and yes, excuse me, mcdavid, yes, an rv pulley and you know, extreme x and then go with the dynamite line we have.

I could see that line reactivate. I see no reason why they can't play well together again. They are all excellent hockey players. They played well in the past. If there is a commitment in everyone's head to make these two different lines work. like there was this year with the various lines they used that didn't work um nugent hopkins mcdavid and pulley harvey kahoon yamamoto and dry saddle those were the two lines they committed the most to this year so I think nuge comes back and wins the same money. uh for the next three years, I'm fine with that because I think he can still help this team win and that's what I hope happens, is that it's the money that he wants in a shorter term than he wants it to be a saw. for both sides and what that offers you is that we are not saying that you can't win as the owners would say, we are not saying that you can't win money when you are 33 34.

If you're still a good player, then they will pay you and we will pay , that's our commitment to you, but you have to make the right decision here too and, um, and then you say if he says no to that, then let's say, well, the offer is on the table for now, um, check the market and contact us, maybe the offer is not on the table at that time, it's like take it or leave it and then we'll get back to you when you take a look at the market, we'll see, we'll see where we both are at that time.

I guess I'm not a master negotiator, obviously, I think I just made that very clear, but that's what I'm comfortable with. a fan of the team is missing the same amount of money, well the other thing is that we tend to focus most of our attention on five-on-five games when you know when the balance of isis and, for nugent hopkins, Much of his value comes from special teams. He's very good on the power play. He's been very good as a third wheel and the 1-3-1 system the Oils have used for the last two years and basically devastated the league with the finish. first in power play conversion rates by practical margins both seasons, he's been a part of that, he's the third wheel, i mean, obviously it's mcdave and dry colont the key drivers, but they've been working with different point men, different men in front of the net.

It's not new as they, you know, played a big role in that power play, but you know the question is, can you replace all the different elements of their game with the other guys that you bring in because you're going to need to do that too? ? find someone who can cancel out penalties and of course you can do it for much less than six million dollars a year, but it's a good value add to a contract when that six million dollar player can also cancel out penalties, although the goals against results this year suggest that he wasn't the best they had in that role, yeah Bruce, I guess if you're playing, if you are, then let's get it, let's just say it goes, yeah, when I think on the power play without Ryan. agent Hopkins, yeah, um, I think about Tyson Berry, let's say, let's say they lose both of them, yeah, um, there's a forward that has that money to then use on other players, so there may be someone they bring in, but Let's say they can't even do it. that they have to go with what they have right, the idea of ​​darnell nurse at the point or evan bouchard at the point um, the idea of ​​having a bouchard at the point really excites me when I'm completely honest and So, but then you have half from the left wall, which is there taking the place of Nucha.

Well, you have Kangaroo Yamamoto, who is not a great shooter, but you have Apollo Harvey, who wants to know if he once made some pucks on the net, now they had him as a net front, but. just in finland who played in that place yesterday and looked very good in finland on the left point uh once in the park and having a good timethe puck you could also have the nurse at the point on evan bouchard and bruce evan bouchard's idea on Point one on the left, timing the puck on the net. I'm not convinced that Bouchard isn't better than Ryan Eugene Hopkins.

In that spot on the power play, it's a risk now because he's a rookie and he hasn't done it in the NHL. level yet, but he's a really good offensive player who has a fantastic shot and is a great passer of the puck, so they have this guy who would fit in there, they need someone else at the point, but let's say the key bomb Oscar comes back and just goes back to what he did, which is just distribute the record. Well, Nurse Darnell might as well just hand out the puck. I saw enough nurses here if the cloth binding doesn't work, so I'm not particularly alarmed by the power play.

I think there could be some decent options with that spot uh if the stripping were to move forward in terms of penalty you know they have put guys in there pretty consistently and it seems to be more of a systems thing where you can do that the players move with the penalty under this system they have, which is quite effective and seems to be going well for them. I think nuge is a very good penalty killer, but maybe they can find other players who can play that system. Ryan mcleod could do it, for example, this and how scary it is for nakeds when you think about his even strength scoring this year replacing actual results I think.

I think if Nuge had had better luck with the puck this year, Bruce probably would have had five to ten more points, it's fair to say there was just some bad luck with the puck, partly because he wasn't a great shooter of the puck. this year, he says he's going to work on it this summer, but to replace his even strength score, he finished 343rd out of 432 regular nhl forwards, meaning guys who played over 200 million. 334 is the fourth score line, that's Bruce's fourth score line that he was on. the same class as franz nielsen adam gadette cedric paquette uh tanner pearson tanner pearson signed a three year contract for 3.25 million and was in the same scoring level as rnh and many people felt that the pearson deal was an overpayment, so that was historically low for ryan nugent hopkins and i think there was some bad luck involved there, but i don't know if he gets a six year, six million dollar contract with bruce, i think that's a mistake at this point, like if I would have done that.

Seven even strength goals this year and this after consecutive years of 13, 18, 19 and 15. This year it was reduced to 7. Now I admit that the season was shorter, but not much shorter, so I would have had 10 , yeah, yeah, yeah, and its uh. He had eight even strength assists and only two of them were primary assists and the other ones were secondary assists so when you think about the offensive opportunity he had, like I said, he played more with Conor Mcdavid than any other teammate , including the goalkeepers, you know. Like he played a lot on that front line and even though Mcdavid was racking up points at a historic rate and of course he was racking up points on the power play as well, but he was getting a ton of them at even strength and it wasn't leaking. . some somehow, some pretty weird stuff with this year's orders, I mean yeah, here's one for you, the owner's two best forwards had more points than the other 16 forwards combined, the best two outscored the rest of the forward, the number two rank four not the number one the number two rank forward surpassed the numbers three four and five forwards combined like how do you explain this?

And there you know, I mean, I would say the writing is on the wall that Ken Holland has work to do. do in terms of improving his supporting offense, I don't know how it could be clearer than knowing that his top two are not the problem and if you replace Nugent Hopkins with another guy, obviously, they have to bring in at least one uh. winger who can put the cookie in the basket and if you're going to move on from Nugent Hopkins and bring in another one and put the cookie in the basket and then that's fine, how many good left wingers are there on the market and there are 32? teams out there and you want the orders to go to those guys, now you know they're probably going to have to overpay and you're back in the same hole, that's why Friedman sings, trust the younger guys, like that, yeah, yeah , dylan holloway or ryan could ryan mcleod score at the same level with the same strength that nugent hawkins did this year yeah i think it's a pretty safe bet that you could tyler benson could it's such a low level right to replace so it's not that no I want to replace that you want to improve it, certainly yes, you want a guy that is moving, you know, like Nugent Hopkins did the year before, won the RNH, that was, you know, a great backup that finishes plays and gets his name in the PA system on a regular basis. and so on, but the question is how much are you willing to bet that this was just one down season and that it will bounce back with several good ones, yeah Bruce, it's tough, isn't it?

This is really amazing. Tough time, uh, because, uh, do you have a number in mind and a term for your contract that you like, what would be nice, what contract would bother you, and what would you think is reasonable. Is it hard to imagine him searching? Even less so when you know this last season, I could point to two very strong seasons immediately before this one, I think it's a bigger question, his tenure like he's in the boat of, you know, two three-year terms is a good salary for the guy, but don't pay him until the end of time, you know, and you know, the same, the same level as some kind of high water markets, as far as I'm concerned, it's a real shame that Dylan Holloway broke that finger, uh, because we would have seen it. him in Bakersfield but he broke his thumb because we would have seen it, we would have a better idea if he had broken it in the HL and looked like a real force down there, we might be thinking, well, you know that.

It's a reasonable solution, I mean, Dylan Holloway just crushed it. In college hockey, he was one of the best players at that level, so you can't have that certainty right now. No chance Ken Holland did it? I have Dylan Holloway close to his top six for next year, no chance, like he's not sure he has him on his NHL roster. All things being equal, it will all start in Bakersfield, if he destroys it there, then he will. come and play at the bottom of the list here, you know, are you sure, Bruce, yeah, yeah, I'm okay, I'm pretty sure, I mean, ken holland is ken holland, I mean his uh probability of uh of um of put a A 20 year old kid, I mean, maybe he's us taking it.

I've made that comparison before, but it will be easier to do so if he could stay healthy, which he took two different hits this year, which he didn't. Doesn't help at all um when dylan larkin broke in he was drafted 15th overall yeah same player very similar um broke in with the red wings when he was 19 bruce and um very similar player same size same player profile I think philip zadina in uh his freshman year he had a chance in Detroit early on. um, if I'm not mistaken, she failed. Dylan Larkin didn't do so well. Listen.

Ken Holland was a guy when he had all kinds of good players on the team and then. when he didn't, when he had a shitty team and needed to put players in and he just turned to what everyone turns to, his best available player gets the chance, so I would say there's a non-zero chance that Dylan Holloway, um, be uh on the owner's list to start next season and he could be if dylan larkin worked out and uh so could Holloway so we'll see that's not a plan but I don't think he's telling Connor Mcdavid, hey Connor, we've got your new left winger for your next season and it's going to be this guy we just drafted last year who has no games of professional experience but we sure think he'll work on your line, I just don't see that being the organizational strategy. uh and I think I would be a failure, Bruce, like I'm saying, I'm just arguing with you because that's what I do, I argue with people, uh, advocate, yeah, and I thought about this, yeah, I just can.

I don't see Holland doing that, it's their kind of main plan. I just can't see it. The Netherlands has a but is it too much to hope that it will actually get a very good deal? You know, you know other teams do it, other teams imagine it. they brought him out and brought him back really like you know Toronto brought in Brody last year and uh she's such a good defender, isn't she? And they found a way to bring in Jake Mason and you know they've done it. Toronto brought something good. The players can't, the orders bring in a good player on the wing to play with this guy and uh, it shouldn't be impossible, it shouldn't be impossible, and the owners have some cap space and you know what they can , so let's say it. they have this much cap space this year, it's clear they have a couple of spots, even if they sign Nutrit Hopkins, they should be able to bring in one more player than you, so let's say you keep James Meal for a year and then buy them, then you look, then you have that's where you get the cap space next year, I guess, I think the cap space is more limited than people think.

I've looked at the salary cap space in the coming years and I think it's tighter than everyone thinks the owners have this big ball of money. No, I don't think they really have it. I think it goes away quickly if you pay the nurse and you have to, let's say the RV pulley opens and you. you have a and you want to pay, you want to pay him five million dollars a year, that's the hope and I don't think it's a reasonable expectation that yes, a pulley motor home can continue to progress and we're going to see a player who scores between 20 and 30 goals next year in a full season, why wouldn't that happen?

It happens to other good young players all the time. Hopefully we can see that from him, so when that happens, you know it's not going to be like that. easy, but I think there is a way to bring in one more player, sign naked to bring in another player, then maybe you are difficult in the net, you don't have money for a goalie, so, and you certainly don't have money for another lefty I don't think that's in the cards at all, I mean I know people are talking about the order should bring someone in there, but anyway, yeah, I think Holland should bring in a good veteran winger to play with Connor Mcdavid.

I name that player no I don't know who he is I don't go through all the nhl teams and study them like we make orders they don't do that kind of work they have the money and the staff they should be doing should have identified who it is that player that has the particular attributes that can fit with mcdavid and they're going to have to think a lot about that because not every player is going to be able to do it, but they've got to find that guy that's going to be the first job this summer and it's more than anything how we're going to grade to uh ken holland well, I need to find a guy who can play uh play a strong two-way game uh I think and uh even if he doesn't score a million goals, but if he can, you know, if he can score goals, and a guy like Blake Coleman, who's in Tampa Bay, will be a free agent, he'll be, uh, earning a raise and Tampa Bay won't be able to give them that raise unless they can sink two or three more guys into long-term injury reserve next year the same way they did with Kucherov this year, he said bitterly, but you can also look. in Tampa Bay and maybe target a player like Andre Palat, who's 30 years old, has a contract, I think it's a $5.3 million cap hit and Tampa is on a reduced salary somehow and you could probably get that type for a not very high acquisition cost, I mean.

Tampa had put Tyler Johnson on waivers this year because they were just trying to get rid of his salary so that you wouldn't necessarily have to pay the value of the player to acquire him and then pay him that contract that you would be making, Tampa, uh. You know Top would be looking to advance guys and maybe him or Alex in abundance and you know they have some good players who are paid well, but they are paid well to be good players and who have you been with? the top of the mountain at this stage of his career so maybe that's a shopping area, it would be some other team facing the limit and taking a good player away from them for a relatively cheap cost and mantapa is the obvious example of a team that might be susceptible to that kind of treatment, I just want to see Coleman's even strength score this year.

I pulled up my own jersey, so yeah, that's more like Bruce, he was um, oh, come on 54th in the NHL, even strength score. Bruce 2.47 per 60, which is more than double and Nugent Hopkins rated Zach Hyman at 2.46 per 60, 57th overall in the NHL. Sam Bennett was 59th in the NHL, by the way, 2.45 per 60. There are a lot of players in that range and they had to target one of them. and they had to get them and uh like autographs, that's as simple as that and with Nugent Hopkins as a scout, they needed him there, there was a space in thetop first line, he didn't, he didn't, that didn't work there.

It was this: There's a spot at second-line center that hasn't worked out either, so for me the priority is this other guy that they may think can fill this spot. That's absolutely the job, one is to get that guy and that has to be the Focus this year, so we'll see who it is and Holland has to do it, so I agree with you, if you go with Dylan Holloway, if that's your plan, that's a bad plan right now, with Connor Mcdavid on the planet. bad plan and if he kills if he kills him but you can't say no and where we are we can end May you can't say he'll kill him in September and October and be 100 ready you just can't make that assumption alone I have to assume it's going to take time developmental.

Here's an interesting one. Daniel Sprong in Washington. He didn't play that many minutes. 461, but he was 43rd and even scored strength for NHL forwards. 2.6 per game. He was on waivers last year. I remember, so there will always be something that won't show up, that you have points per 60 in more than one season could be misleading, we all can, I think we'll agree on that, but it's interesting, but you know some of these other guys like Coleman have done for a few years in a row, haven't they? And they bring the defensive element that I think you really want to have in your forward line, so, especially on the unmcdavid line, you want guys that can know how to fight and win pucks and that can take care of business in the defense event and, in the case from blake coleman or house galoren, also being a good penalty killer, of course, that's what you know. added, but when you're paying when you're investing in a winger, you want guys that bring complementary skills to what you already have and what you already have are two high-level offensive aces, yeah, and for the third one. line and third and fourth lines, I don't want to see them go that route where they bring in more of these 27 year old tweeters like they have merodi, benson, mcleod and players like this, what owners need is a guy that turns out like mason did appleton in winnipeg, that guy really impressed me a lot as a two-way winger and that's what the orders need to do, they need to say they need to figure out, okay, which one of you morodi benson and mcleod is who? our mason appleton here and we're going to try to get you three to compete for that role and you know, I suspect one of them will be that guy, he may be that guy and, uh, you just have to commit to that. kind of naked stuff, can you know you pay him like a second line winger gets paid in the nhl and um, but you're saving, you're saving the most money for the guy who's going to be your first line winner. connor mcdavid and he's instantly under leon dry's cap solve again that doesn't work so this is the way uh let's see what happens bruce yeah how what would you think if he's nooch signs with another team if he signs right if he decides to gamble? on another team with a one year deal that will break my heart, if he doesn't know, he's following the orders of that deal, that would be really annoying.

Go ahead, I can't see it, but I don't know. I mean, when you hear words like gutted, I mean, it's not entirely failed, but it tends in that direction, contact negotiations or maybe they just have different valuations of value and I mean, probably the news field might be thinking that we should having signed that. contract offer when he was there because since then his value has gone down, I didn't know he put together a platform season on which he can base a great contract offer, he has to go back to his body of work and hope that after 10 years in the league where it hasn't peaked at the top of the curve and starting on the way down, it's a big bet for anyone who can dig deep, yeah you can see it, so let's dig into that wrecked thing I think than what was probably destroyed. it was just when the season is going on and he is not understanding, he is not preparing mcdavid for goals and mcdavid is not preparing him for goals, this has to be alarming for the team and that is probably what destroyed the orders that could have been had. a contract offer there and I wonder if it wasn't like that, there was no question about it, which would make sense for you to know at the time, yes, you have to pay, you pay for performance in the nhl, so I could see that destruction and I. means and that would be very difficult for the player to accept, of course you know that would be very disturbing and annoying and you might even feel betrayed on some level if that were the case, but what are you going to do?

I know Mcdavid spoke well of him after the season, him and Larson as part of the leadership group along with of course himself the dry chair and the nurse since you know all the guys that carried the letters and David said that. For him, for Nugent Larson, it is a vote of confidence from Mcdavid. It is not the worst thing they can have when entering into negotiations, but he is not going to get everything done by himself. I think that's important and I think you really have to accept that. into consideration, but what's going to keep Connor Mcdavid happy and Leon Dry Settle happy in Edmonton is winning and winning happens with the right decision, not with what feels like the right decision, it's with the sensible decision, so I want.

Kent Holland will be as stubborn as he's always been here and I want Nuge to be that too. I think if they both are, a deal can be made here, a short-term deal for decent money and some sort of enough vote. of a vote of confidence in the player where I don't think he wants to, I would be surprised if players of that age want to settle down a bit, so I think we are looking at three years, Bruce, I don't know if one or two years will do it well, but maybe it's three years to 5.5 million, something like that, if you go down to three years or certainly four years, you'll go down to five million for each year.

Let's say it's okay one year at 6.5 two years at six three years 5.45 four years at five that's the offer this is a fair offer and that's a fair offer as it really is I think I'd be crazy don't answer to that, but yes it is that offer is crazy no no it makes sense to do it on a sliding scale like that where you know the further you go you know the player is going to be a year older every year I mean we did it , we saw it. that with the four year contracts that were signed by chris russell and zach cassian, many people do not consider any contract against, but in each case the player clearly chose a fourth player in a fourth year that reduced the salary cap for the full term and it wasn't necessarily a case of one, two, three, four, but it was three for this money or four for that money in the fourth year, which took a big chunk out of him and I think that type of contract in general. for players who know that reaching maybe a little bit past their peak makes sense, they know they want more turns, well, they're going to have to give up the cap on the hit side of the cap, yeah, and then there's a whole clause aspect of non-movement. so you could certainly give Nugent a year without movement, maybe two highs after that, I don't know, I don't think so, just you, you just can't do that because the performance wasn't there, the performance was like that.

The year was alarming in terms of strength and um, don't you know that there are some things that made you think that he can definitely change things, but this is definitely a kind of change and strength situation. I don't think there's any doubt about that. So we need someone here like a great Nuge advocate, Bruce, to tell us how wrong we are. Some fans say well, you're not going to get a better player than him on the open market. That's right, you're just not. I will Ben, maybe it's true, but I don't know. There is the appeal of playing with Conor Mcdavid.

If you're a top-level player, I don't think it's insignificant. I don't think it's something defeatist. Thinking and I think you could get a good player to come here and play if that's the field to play with Lucich decided to do it, he wasn't the right player but he had other offers um no uh Tyson Berry decided to come here and probably at a discount, probably I could have gotten more elsewhere for players, so see how this goes. I think we have some of the other ideas, well, it's also a question of who you know versus who you don't.

I don't know if Blake Coleman is a better player at this point in his career than Ron Nugent Hopkins. You know, I don't know. You know, I wouldn't say well. You know he wasn't even drafted and News was the first overall pick. and so on, well, you know, it's what you've done lately and what you know, I mean, Coleman had 31 points this year, but 29 of them were the same strength as if he hadn't been given the power play role. , okay, it's not like that. I need it on the power play, I guess when you got uh uh, when you got stamkos and a point etc., running your power play, you probably don't need it so evington can find solutions for this part in that part, I mean , they had to do it. replace the key bomb on three different teams, they had to replace them on the five-on-five team, the power play and the penalty kill and even the overtime team, you know, they had to fight, who can replace him here, nurse ?

He's not really going to do his job on the power play, but we can increase his minutes on the penalty kill. You know, he finds your solutions elsewhere on the list. You're not just going to find a new clone. sign that he will just come in and do the same things, you will have to be a little creative, yes I think the orders have a strong bargaining position with the player and don't want to be idiots. They obviously want to make a decent offer, but there are a lot of options, especially with this fixed limit. There are very few teams that are good teams and that can bid for players.

They can be creative with the players they have and sometimes. They can figure something out, I mean, other teams seem to do it regularly, I say better with some bitterness, but there will be players who will probably let go, like Dominic Cahoon was a very good bet last year for the orders, he scored 2.3 points per 60 , which is the second line scoring level and that player suddenly came to the Oilers, there will be other players like that, other good bets you can make for not as much money, I think there are teams that are bankrupt and not.

They are going to get a lot better in the future, they will have their own internal caps that are lower than the nhl salary cap that will be more common in the next few years, so it's just a time when it's good that it's good that the Oilers They didn't sign Nugent Hopkins last summer, for example, to a big long-term deal. Now they have a better chance of giving him their vote, what his real value is in the years to come and they also have a good chance in the next few years to find some players for one or two, two or three million dollars a year that can really help this team to win and we have to keep that in mind as they negotiate this very difficult contract. what's your bet if he came back or not oh boy um it's 60 40 sure it's good yeah I'd say it's more likely than not but it's by no means a dunk and it may take a while I mean it may that it is necessary for them to give. he makes him an offer and he accepts it, maybe he wants to test the market or maybe he just wants to talk to Seattle and tell him that you know Seattle is there, just down the road from Burnaby, on the west coast, you know, the Pacific Northwest, where I know I'm comfortable if they come in, they would say we see you as a long-term candidate here and we'll offer you a six-year deal, he'll maybe sign it and then that takes care of at least the expansion draft, uh . aspect where if Seattle signs a free agent from Edmonton then they are no longer obligated to give him another player in the expansion draft so he at least has some value, but maybe if he goes to Seattle and they say no, we'll build. in a different way and we're not looking for Excel or anything, that'll be all you need to say and I'm not sure what my market value is.

I got this offer in Edmonton, sign it and they'd sneak them in during expansion. draft that way, you know, I mean, it's very likely that it will go all the way like that, yeah, it's interesting, the key bomb comparison that you mentioned was really interesting, Bruce, because you know who would have thought that the owners, already You know. a lot of people were predicting doom there, but there was no doom, they realized that they had players who adequately replaced them, you know, maybe not as good as the key bomb, but even strength, but they finally realized of his penalty.

The power play didn't miss a beat, they brought in a player on a one-year deal, so I think if six million dollars is a lot of money in this new NHL and if Nuge moves on, I think they're going to be able to resolve it, then that should be the most important thing in their minds and in terms of the negotiation, in terms of avoiding a contract, it is very likely that if they go for a long time. -I'll finish with the new, I simply think that the chances of them regretting it are very high and I would say that not only is it not personal against nudity, but that all types of players who reach 30 tend to fall and some of them they fall. fast, so I have to be aware of that, yes, any contract in theIf you commit more years than the 30s of a 20 year old man you are taking a risk, that's how I would analyze it in terms of age, early 30s are fine, but If so, if you buy between 30 and 30, you know that in your case is 28.

So you know that a six year contract takes you to 34. No thanks, no, I don't want that 29 30 31, yeah, and then again and then hire him again if you're still playing, but the economics of change of the nhl fundamentally changed, I think over the next five years maybe it will change again, but the orders have to be above this, not behind the trend, but but, as you know, when they signed Cassie and they were not aware of the trend, so there's a little bit of slack there, but yeah, David and Dry Saddle's contract, you know, you could have expected that the percentage of the cap that their contracts were taking.

The increase was going to decrease as the cap increased and that would give the team options that didn't happen. They have these two huge contracts to take a large percentage of the cap. This is your reality. They have to be parsimonious with other money. they pull and it's time for that kind of attitude to prevail and they continue to buy value and not deal, that means less money for the players, other veteran players, well luckily the big two are hedging the bet, but it would have been better if they were 21 million out of an $87 million cap hit than 81.5, yeah, or you know, 90 next year who knows what would have continued to go up, but the trend was always that the cap percentage at the beginning of the contract gradually decreases to over the term because the limit continues to increase and unfortunately disappeared, so the value of those two contracts decreases. but I would say they are producing value and then some at that price point from those two big guys, but they have to do better with the supporting cast aspect of the roster and especially the top six, do you want to leave it there then?

Sure, all right, we'll have other free agents to talk about as we move forward and of course we'll start our season reviews of player performance and look primarily at the free agents first because those are the ones the decisions are made about. they have to come up uh before long yeah so you're gonna write about nooj uh adam larson mike smith yeah tyson berry tyson berry yeah and we're gonna podcast about each of those players like Well okay thanks for talking today Bruce it's well, thanks for listening everyone and, in the meantime, and in between moments, this has been another edition of the cult hockey podcast.