June NHL News

cshea

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FWIW, on Friedman’s podcast, he says he thinks the 5 teams are definitely Toronto, San Jose, Dallas and then two of Tampa, Boston, Chicago.


There’s been some speculation of the Leafs pulling some cap circumvention shenanigans here, so that’ll be interesting to follow. The Leafs have 1 more year of Matthews and Marner on ELC’s, and thus have a ton of cap space ($26 million or something) for the 18/19 season. So the idea is they drop a 1 year, max contract on Tavares ($15.9 million) with a wink-wink, nudge-nudge 8-year extension with a much lower cap hit agreed to that takes effect when Matthews and Marner get their extensions.
 

OrrWeCan

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I would pay Tavares a lot of money to come here, but what is he looking for overall? Just a 7/$70m contract? Or is he more interested in winning long term? I don't feel like there's I still any insight nationally into his leanings, but I have always felt he was leaving the Islanders. He's a franchise player, so whoever gets him instantly improves. I can't recall anyone like him in recent memory hitting the free agent market.

Him coming to Boston makes them instant Cup favorites. They would just have to find a way to move Backes and/or Krejci.
 

timlinin8th

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So the idea is they drop a 1 year, max contract on Tavares ($15.9 million) with a wink-wink, nudge-nudge 8-year extension with a much lower cap hit agreed to that takes effect when Matthews and Marner get their extensions.
What would be Tavares’ motivation for doing that though? If he signs the one year deal and then gets a career ending injury would the Leafs honor their part of the wink wink nudge nudge? Why not just go for big bucks over a long term right now from another team?

I mean, yeah he’s from Toronto, but would he really risk a shitload of money like that to play for his hometown team? I don’t see it.
 

veritas

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I would pay Tavares a lot of money to come here, but what is he looking for overall? Just a 7/$70m contract? Or is he more interested in winning long term? I don't feel like there's I still any insight nationally into his leanings, but I have always felt he was leaving the Islanders. He's a franchise player, so whoever gets him instantly improves. I can't recall anyone like him in recent memory hitting the free agent market.

Him coming to Boston makes them instant Cup favorites. They would just have to find a way to move Backes and/or Krejci.
He's going to get something like 8y x $12m. That's not a good contract for any team. Tavares is a very good player, but he's not a top 5 center in the league right now and I don't see him aging all that well.
 

OrrWeCan

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He's going to get something like 8y x $12m. That's not a good contract for any team. Tavares is a very good player, but he's not a top 5 center in the league right now and I don't see him aging all that well.
Isn't the max length the Bruins could offer 7 years? Only the Islanders can offer him 8 years.
 

TheRealness

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Ah, yeah your'e right. And the max money is $16m/year
That's probably the most intriguing part (i.e. the money). Does he just want to get paid, or does he want to actually win? The Islanders could pay him the max, but no one else can. I'd hazard a guess that the closes contenders in terms of talent (Boston, Tampa and Nashville) could likely only pay him $8m-$9m per year, and even that's a stretch.

While I really want to rush to NHL 18 and plug Tavares in for Krejci, I agree it seems highly unlikely. I would probably rank them: (1) Toronto, (2) NYI, (3) Nashville, then everyone else.
 

RedOctober3829

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Toronto started meeting with Tavares at 6 pm EST. Each team has 3 hours to make their pitch. LeBrun thinks the Islanders are next at 9.

Update: The Leafs are done. They only used 2 hours per Arash Madani of SN who is on-site.
 

Salem's Lot

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Toronto started meeting with Tavares at 6 pm EST. Each team has 3 hours to make their pitch. LeBrun thinks the Islanders are next at 9.

Update: The Leafs are done. They only used 2 hours per Arash Madani of SN who is on-site.
Case in point of why you couldn’t pay me enough to play in Toronto if I were Tavares.
 

Salem's Lot

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On the other hand, if you win a cup in Toronto, you're a deity there for the rest of you're life.
Even if they love you though it’s zero privacy. You can’t ever go to a restaurant or walk around the city without people all over you. Maybe some people wouldn’t mind that but I couldn’t live like that.
 

NYCSox

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Even if they love you though it’s zero privacy. You can’t ever go to a restaurant or walk around the city without people all over you. Maybe some people wouldn’t mind that but I couldn’t live like that.
Plus they obsess over your hot dog eating habits. No thanks.
 

PedroSpecialK

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It's awesome to see O'Ree finally going in.

On the other hand, with both Bettman and Jacobs now in, when is the league going to posthumously enshrine Sam Walton and Ronald Reagan?
 

Greg29fan

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I vehemently disagree with Bettman going in. Two lockouts, including a lost season, and the upcoming concussion lawsuit that'll probably bankrupt the league are huge, gigantic, massive red marks against him.
 

TheRealness

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I vehemently disagree with Bettman going in. Two lockouts, including a lost season, and the upcoming concussion lawsuit that'll probably bankrupt the league are huge, gigantic, massive red marks against him.
I don't think anyone but the HOF committee (or whoever votes on these), and the owners agree he should be in.

He's one of the worst sports commissioners of all-time, and should be panned, not honored. Disappointing, but I didn't expect much more. Great to see O'Ree FINALLY get in.
 

veritas

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Does the meeting with Tavares suggest they have an option to shed Backes/Krejci? Or another move to free up cap space (Tuukka, Krug?)
 

The Napkin

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Most likely. I can't imagine Tavares coming back to them and saying yes and them saying "oh, now what?" and having to all of a sudden dump some salary. Grzelcyk's extension might point to Krug. But that's a wag.
 

RedOctober3829

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Does the meeting with Tavares suggest they have an option to shed Backes/Krejci? Or another move to free up cap space (Tuukka, Krug?)
I would think they would have had to present a case for a meeting and this would be a big question by Tavares' camp. Apparently, Tavares has a detailed binder on every team that is upwards of 80 pages per team so he is fully aware of every team's situation. So, yes I believe they have moves ready to go contingent on Tavares signing.
 

Salem's Lot

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Most likely. I can't imagine Tavares coming back to them and saying yes and them saying "oh, now what?" and having to all of a sudden dump some salary. Grzelcyk's extension might point to Krug. But that's a wag.
My best guess would be Krug considering he only has an 8 team no trade list starting on 7/1, and Krejci and Backes have full No move clauses.
 

cshea

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I’m sure they’ve done their leg work on cap maneuvering if they land Tavares. There have been rumblings about Krejci and Backes drawing interest this offseason. I guess the bigger hurdle for those 2 are the no-move clauses. If they can move Backes, they should probably do so with or without Tavares.
 

OrrWeCan

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Well, maybe not wasting his time will work, but I doubt being the briefest is a good thing.

Great thing for summer time fun, but I would imagine this is probably down to the Leafs and Isles. Does anyone know if there's are odds on this? Love to know what Vegas thinks.
 

Salem's Lot

Andy Moog! Andy God Damn Moog!
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Well, maybe not wasting his time will work, but I doubt being the briefest is a good thing.

Great thing for summer time fun, but I would imagine this is probably down to the Leafs and Isles. Does anyone know if there's are odds on this? Love to know what Vegas thinks.
I still don’t understand why Toronto would be favored higher than any other team other than the Islanders. They would literally have to gut the team after next year to sign him and keep their good young players, the tax rate is ridiculous, and he’d be living in a literal fish bowl. This feels like Stamkos all over again.
 

cshea

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Nothing earth shattering, but JT isn’t taking any additional meetings. Stars and Bolts get to take their swing at it today and then that is it.


I guess we’ll probably know in the next fee days if the Bruins have a chance. The 8-year deal with the Isles comes off the table on 7/1, so if he is staying then presumably he’ll sign that sometime between today and Saturday.
 

RedOctober3829

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Nothing earth shattering, but JT isn’t taking any additional meetings. Stars and Bolts get to take their swing at it today and then that is it.


I guess we’ll probably know in the next fee days if the Bruins have a chance. The 8-year deal with the Isles comes off the table on 7/1, so if he is staying then presumably he’ll sign that sometime between today and Saturday.
Chris Botta was on the radio yesterday saying the reported offer to Tavares wasn’t true. Take that with a grain of salt.