Hockey News & Rants
Nashville Predators, Colton Sissons agree to 7-year deal | On the Forecheck
Nick takes a look at the Colton Sissons signing, including a yearly salary breakdown, and what it means for the lineup.
To be honest I wasn’t expecting this kind of a deal for Sissons, but then again I didn’t really know what to expect. David Poile seems to like his long-term deals that don’t have potential to cause cap space issues.
Predators are being bold with term; are they being smart? | NBC Sports
The Preds know what they’re getting out of Sissons; it’s a long-term deal sure, but he’s still young enough to maybe have a breakout season or two that could make his contract a steal. They didn’t throw the kitchen sink at him and he’s reliable enough to know when he needs to step up. He’s still the only Nashville Predator in history to score a goal in a Game Six of a Stanley Cup Final…
Putting this deal in context with Roman Josi, Matt Duchene, and P.K. Subban and calling it a gamble is way too much of a stretch for me. If anything Poile is creating contracts that can be easily traded and moved if he does end up in a desperate situation. Maybe it’s the business side of me talking, but term doesn’t hold as much weight when the player is under 30 in the cap era making less than $3M a year. The term is just logistics with another expansion on the horizon. The cap era is ruthless; there are plenty of teams that would trade away top players for contracts like Sissons just to fix their cap problems.
The underlying problem with Colton Sissons’ new contract with the Predators | AtoZ Sports
Ok…you got me, this situation is eerily similar to the Calle Järnkrok over James Neal move during the Vegas expansion, but that’s also a bit of a stretch for me too.
While I enjoyed James Neal’s time with Nashville, realistically he needed a contract that would have hurt the Preds in the long run. He isn’t coming off a stellar season either, not that Poile could have predicted that, but you could argue it worked out in Nashville’s favor not having to defend “healthy scratch” Neal.
Taking that into consideration and looking to the looming Seattle expansion, Sissons is setup to be the perfect fall guy. That sounds harsh, but as Alex points out, unless something happens to JOFA, Matt Duchene, Kyle Turris, or any of the top four defenders, Sissons is really the odd man out.
This is way too much speculation for Wednesday in July.
NHL Power Rankings: Rating every team heading into 2019-20 | ESPN
If power ranking history repeats itself we’re in for a very long season.
Please stop putting Tampa Bay at number one. I’m honestly starting to feel bad for them and maybe if we stop giving them the top stop they’ll go the distance?
Preds are sitting comfortably at number five. That’s a good spot—they still have some areas to improve but they’re not so broken after last season that they should be overlooked. They’re also just ahead of St. Louis, which is exactly where I need them to stay…forever.
Penguins aren’t the only NHL team worried about salary cap | Trib Live
*insert evil laughing .gif here
Maple Leafs re-acquire David Clarkson’s contract in perplexing deal with Golden Knights | CBS Sports
This is the most obscure thing in this sport. Re-acquiring the contract of a player who is basically in retirement because of long-term injured reserve, so you can put it with the contract of another player who is basically retired because of long-term injured reserve to free up cap-space by using cap-space is just…oof.
You would think the league would have better measures in place for players who can no longer play instead of just letting them ride LTIR until their contracts run out. While this is probably the measure that is in place, it makes dealing with cap space and crunches that much more confusing. The Leafs might have given themselves the room to sign Mitch Marner, but having to wait until after the season starts to move players to LTIR isn’t ideal or practical. I have anxiety just thinking about it.
Kaapo Kakko, Diabetes, and Celiac Disease | Blue Shirt Banter
It takes another level of discipline not only to be a professional athlete but to be a professional athlete who also has to monitor celiac disease and Type 1 diabetes. I’ve worked with people in an office setting who have struggled with celiac so I can’t imagine what life is like on the road and trying to deal with it.
Hockey evaluation continues to evolve | Die By The Blade
For the most part analytics are way over my head. I know enough to get by in conversation and enough to pick things out in a game, but I barely dip a toe into the analytics water compared to Kate and Bryan.
There’s a lot of debate over analytics and while it’s not my natural calling I think it has to be respected. It’s part of evolving the game and making hockey bigger. Change is hard, but ignoring them and writing them off as unnecessary is only going to hurt the game in the long run.