Ongoing - Elliott Friedman's 30 Thoughts (Wednesdays)

[Teroy]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

If they sign Bishop then they pretty well have to re-sign Johnson because the team will likely need a backup that can play for a few weeks or more given Bishop's penchant for missing games.

I would be quite happy to have Elliott and Johnson. Improvements on defence will give us the needed improvement in goals against. We do not need to throw away 7 to 10 million on one player. That would be ridiculous. We're not going to win the Cup this year or next. Patience!

[Roof-Daddy]

Originally Posted by Teroy

I would be quite happy to have Elliott and Johnson. Improvements on defence will give us the needed improvement in goals against. We do not need to throw away 7 to 10 million on one player. That would be ridiculous. We're not going to win the Cup this year or next. Patience!

Completely agree.

I'd rather sign both Elliot and Johnson to roughly $6 million combined for 3 years each as opposed to signing Bishop for $6 million alone and for likely more years than that as well.

[Moneyhands23]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

Completely agree.

I'd rather sign both Elliot and Johnson to roughly $6 million combined for 3 years each as opposed to signing Bishop for $6 million alone and for likely more years than that as well.

Give elliot 3 years and Johnson 2 and I'm on board with that line of thinking.

[Roof-Daddy]

Originally Posted by Moneyhands23

Give elliot 3 years and Johnson 2 and I'm on board with that line of thinking.

Elliot 3 years $4 million per
Johnson 2 years $2 million per

Roughly.

Would be ideal IMO

[Moneyhands23]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

Elliot 3 years $4 million per
Johnson 2 years $2 million per

Roughly.

Would be ideal IMO

Solid and leaves room for a prospect goalie to step in around 2019.

[JerryUnderscore]

The reality is that we can't break Elliott's season down without getting into sample sizes that are just too small. Every goalie can have hot and cold stretches. Even his 34 games played is still too small of a sample size.

This year he's currently a .901 Sv% goalie with a 16-13-3 record. Let's give him the rest of the year before we declare who and what he is.

For what it's worth, he's faced 892 shots so far. If he had his career average .913 sv% that would equate to 11 fewer goals over the season.

[PugnaciousIntern]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

Elliot 3 years $4 million per
Johnson 2 years $2 million per

Roughly.

Would be ideal IMO

I'd be upset if we ended up with this pairing for $6 million / year. Not that they're the wrong pairing, but I think they should be cheaper.

[herashak]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern2814

Not that the Rags would trade him, but just a hypothetical. What would you offer for Lundqvist?

He's 35 years old, and has four years left at $8.5. If the Rangers retained $2.5M, I would look long and hard at it.

They'd prObably want something like ferland + kylington if they are retaining 2.5 mil

[manwiches]

Looks like he got in a day early!

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/3...mpic-decision/

Flames notes:

8. That team’s blue line could really be poached. Another defender, 24-year-old Viktor Antipin (also a lefty), is expected to join Buffalo. If that is the case, the Sabres won a bit of a recruiting battle, with Calgary, Chicago, Columbus and Pittsburgh all poking around.

Interesting note. Always good to add depth, although a moot point seeing as the Sabres seem to be the winner here.

9. Right after lunch, every game day, Calgary’s Brian Elliott does some shootout preparation. He’ll look at some video, make a few notes. “I like to have it on my mind before I take my nap,” he said Monday night, minutes after the Flames extended their win streak to 10 games.

Elliott stopped three of the world’s best to preserve the win. Evgeni Malkin went low blocker, Sidney Crosby high glove and Phil Kessel five-hole. Kessel’s shot did squeeze through, but Elliott got enough to direct it wide.

Does he review his notes in the moments before the shootout begins? “I go change my headband, maybe look at the notes a little, but by the time I get back to the net, I don’t remember anything anyway,” he laughed. “You look a little at what they did in their last attempts, but they obviously have a bunch of different approaches. You’re looking where (an opponent is) holding his stick or where the puck is.” Did any of them surprise you? “Crosby likes to go five-hole. I was looking for that. But he’s probably thinking the same thing, trying to bait me. There’s a lot of cat and mouse.”

Very fresh still, and amazing sequence to stop those 3. It's fun to see what was going through Elliot's head

10. Elliott is on a tremendous tear after a rough start, and those three shootout stops were extremely impressive. He did a massive fist-pump as Kessel’s attempt trickled wide.

“As a goalie, you don’t get as many opportunities to celebrate like a player does when he scores. I figured I’d take the opportunity while it was there.”

Bautista bat flip.


League Notes

1. Initially, the plan was to give Las Vegas 48 hours with the protected list before the expansion draft. That is being increased to 72. At the GM meetings, the Golden Knights’ George McPhee let everyone know that once the lists are handed to him, it’s an auction for any unprotected player another team might want. This has outstanding potential.

Absolutely fascinating. This expansion draft is going to be great drama. I hope they do a TV day on the network channels with this.

21. Darin Stephens, who uses the Twitter handle @SharksStats, had a good one the other day. Marc-Edouard Vlasic just played his 800th game. He’s won 473 of them since his 2006-07 debut, most by any NHL defenceman during that time.

A few notes about him. I've always loved Vlasic. This guy is a stud.

[icecube]

^ 800 games played. Not bad for a pickle boy.

[Badgers Nose]

Originally Posted by icecube

^ 800 games played. Not bad for a pickle boy.

Agreed!

It says so much about Kipper that we absolutely crushed that trade.

[GioforPM]

So on number 1, McPhee is saying that he will claim a guy and trade him to a team that wants him for the right price? Far out.

This means GMs must get each team's list, or else they wouldn't know exactly who is unprotected. There are going to be leaks.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

Elliot 3 years $4 million per
Johnson 2 years $2 million per

Originally Posted by PugnaciousIntern

I'd be upset if we ended up with this pairing for $6 million / year. Not that they're the wrong pairing, but I think they should be cheaper.

Johnson had better numbers last year in Buffalo and got 1.7 for one season from us last summer, can't see him improving on that contract.

Signing Elliot to a decent contract is priority one then get something done with Johnson or a goalie like him on a cheaper contract that can be easily moved or buried if a guy like Rittich steps up.

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

So on number 1, McPhee is saying that he will claim a guy and trade him to a team that wants him for the right price? Far out.

This means GMs must get each team's list, or else they wouldn't know exactly who is unprotected. There are going to be leaks.

Even if the GMs didn't get each teams list McPhee just sends out an email out to all 29 teams that says "These are the players that are available to me - listening to all offers".

[bigrangy]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

So on number 1, McPhee is saying that he will claim a guy and trade him to a team that wants him for the right price? Far out.

This means GMs must get each team's list, or else they wouldn't know exactly who is unprotected. There are going to be leaks.

I'm really hoping that Treliving puts in a serious bid for Silfverberg. He's be the perfect piece to fill out the team's top 9. He's pretty much a right handed Frolik with a little bit more scoring touch.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

Even if the GMs didn't get each teams list McPhee just sends out an email out to all 29 teams that says "These are the players that are available to me - listening to all offers".

I suppose. Maybe he can include the press :0

[Calgary4LIfe]

Originally Posted by bigrangy

I'm really hoping that Treliving puts in a serious bid for Silfverberg. He's be the perfect piece to fill out the team's top 9. He's pretty much a right handed Frolik with a little bit more scoring touch.

I know Anaheim has some really big issues for the expansion draft, but I just don't think they will leave him exposed. He is such a driver on that team. They will make it work somehow to protect him. I would be buying some players out and getting stuck with a cap hit before I expose Silfverberg.

[REDVAN]

Originally Posted by Badgers Nose

Agreed!

It says so much about Kipper that we absolutely crushed that trade.

I disagree about crushing it.

Sharks didn't need Kipper, weren't going to use him, and we got lucky. Just like they hit the lottery with Vlasic. Flames would not have picked him anyway.

So I would say this is one of the rare trades that worked out as a HUGE win for both sides.

I mean, if we got 800 games out of a second rounder D-man, we'd be pretty excited too.

[DJones]

I actually really like the idea of pushing the draft till 19.

Allow 18 year olds to be picked in the first round then do overagers for another round or two? Don't know how many are worth picking.

Then the next year they can pick the rest. So one draft where there may not be any elite guys in the first round.

I think it's worth it in the long run.

[Jay Random]

Originally Posted by DJones

I actually really like the idea of pushing the draft till 19.

Allow 18 year olds to be picked in the first round then do overagers for another round or two? Don't know how many are worth picking.

I believe the league tried to arrange something like that back in the 90s. The agents filed suit against the NHL for age discrimination, and it was a no go.