Comedy gold out of Edmonton

[dash]

Google’s Edmonton display picture less than flattering

Edmomton:

Calgary:

 

[dash]

lol - Google photo updated confirms the insecurity and inferiority complex that is prevalent in Edmonton.

Google updates image for City of Edmonton

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

lol - Google photo updated confirms the insecurity and inferiority complex that is prevalent in Edmonton.

Google updates image for City of Edmonton

Where's the tundra?

 

[KennyBanyeah]

lol - Google photo updated confirms the insecurity and inferiority complex that is prevalent in Edmonton.

Google updates image for City of Edmonton

Q: Is that picture facing North?

 

[esls79]

lol - Google photo updated confirms the insecurity and inferiority complex that is prevalent in Edmonton.

Google updates image for City of Edmonton

Pretty sure they shopped out the mosquito swarms

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

Going by this thread, Edmonton's rebranding efforts are going swarmingly...er, swimmingly.

 

[dash]

FAN960 radio in Calgary this morning reporting that Leon's contract talks are not going well and that Dr. Drai is looking for 10 shmill per season.

 

[KennyBanyeah]

Q: Is that picture facing North?

No one took the bait on this one, so I'll just point out that it was a trick question. You can't face North from the North Pole!!!

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

FAN960 radio in Calgary this morning reporting that Leon's contract talks are not going well and that Dr. Drai is looking for 10 shmill per season.

These kids just don't wanna go to training camp. They all spoke to Johnny Gaudreau and now they're like "that's the way to go".

 

[dash]

8 years at 8.5 shmill per season

Oilers sign Leon Draisaitl to contract extension

 

[KennyBanyeah]

8 years at 8.5 shmill per season

Oilers sign Leon Draisaitl to contract extension

Oilers got hosed (slightly), IMO. He might develop into an $8.5M player but he ain't there yet. I'd have bridged him and somehow try to figure out if he can function at a high level without McD. Meh...If the cap goes up though this shouldn't be a problem contract in a few years even if he turns out to only be a 2nd line C.

Not bad I guess after thinking it through.

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

Oilers got hosed (slightly), IMO. He might develop into an $8.5M player but he ain't there yet. I'd have bridged him and somehow try to figure out if he can function at a high level without McD. Meh...If the cap goes up though this shouldn't be a problem contract in a few years even if he turns out to only be a 2nd line C.

Not bad I guess after thinking it through.

I always go back to Subban on these things. How dumb were the Habs for not giving him the 6x6 he wanted and giving him a bridge instead?

Even if Draisaitl is only at his best when he's alongside McDavid, his best alongside McDavid has been so far and is likely to continue to be freaking amazing. I'd gladly pay $8.5 mil for that, much like my team probably will have to with Nylander sometime in the next 12 months.

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

I also think the more of these long term, big money deals get signed by younger players owners are going to be more open to scrapping the cap in the next CBA so, ya know, sign away baby!

 

[KennyBanyeah]

I always go back to Subban on these things. How dumb were the Habs for not giving him the 6x6 he wanted and giving him a bridge instead?

Even if Draisaitl is only at his best when he's alongside McDavid, his best alongside McDavid has been so far and is likely to continue to be freaking amazing. I'd gladly pay $8.5 mil for that, much like my team probably will have to with Nylander sometime in the next 12 months.

All fair points but Subban was hardly a second fiddle. That was obvious. I don't think it is with Leon. A top defensemen is much more of a building block than your second C.

I don't see much risk, outside of alienating Draisaitl, by paying him a little less. He's never going to make as much as McDavid so he's capped at about $10 M max in the next few years. That's peanuts more than they're giving him guaranteed for the next 8 years.

I've been a fan of Drai's since the WHL where I saw him live a few times. I thought he'd be a hell of a player then and I still think he's fantastic player. I just think this contract was kind of unnecessary.

 

[dash]

They pretty much met in the middle as I saw a low of 7 million and the high of 10 million that I posted yesterday. It still makes me mad that some GM didn't offer sheet Leon at $9+ mil per season as the Oilers would have matched and would have put them in even more of a cap crunch moving forward.

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

All fair points but Subban was hardly a second fiddle. That was obvious. I don't think it is with Leon. A top defensemen is much more of a building block than your second C.

Is it? The last 4 clubs to win the Cup (since 2010) have had the following 2C's: Malkin, Richards/Handzus/Sharp, Kopitar, Bergeron.

Now, excusing Chicago because frankly you could put Lance Bass in between Kane and Saad and probably still have the best second line in the NHL but the rest of those teams have superstars at 2C. I don’t know what to call that other than a building block, especially considering that the team that’s won the last 2 Cups did so with a swiss cheese defence.

I don't see much risk, outside of alienating Draisaitl, by paying him a little less. He's never going to make as much as McDavid so he's capped at about $10 M max in the next few year. That's peanuts more than they're giving him guaranteed for the next 8 years.

I've been a fan of Drai's since the WHL where I saw him live a few times. I thought he'd be a hell of a player then and I still think he's fantastic player. I just think this contract was kind of unnecessary.

I mean, the risk is he doesn't sign it.

RyJo signed 8x8. Drai scored more points last season than RyJo has ever had in any of his 7 seasons.

Kuzy signed for just under 8x8 after a season in which his stats regressed in every way from his career highs that was still not as high as Drai's last year.

Drai was also a fucking monster in the playoffs.

I dunno, I guess it just adds up for me.

 

[KennyBanyeah]

Is it? The last 4 clubs to win the Cup (since 2010) have had the following 2C's: Malkin, Richards/Handzus/Sharp, Kopitar, Bergeron.

Now, excusing Chicago because frankly you could put Lance Bass in between Kane and Saad and probably still have the best second line in the NHL but the rest of those teams have superstars at 2C. I don’t know what to call that other than a building block, especially considering that the team that’s won the last 2 Cups did so with a swiss cheese defence.

Bergeron and Kopi are the #1 Cs on their teams. Without a doubt. Even if you say that they are number 2s, the only person out of that group that I'd have ever been really content to pay $8.5 per for 8 years is Malkin. Maybe Kopitar a few years back. If you replace Bergeron and Kopi with Krejci and Carter, $8.5M looks even worse.

As for Ryjo and Kuzy, both gave up many more UFA years and I'd still call both deals a big question mark.

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

Bergeron and Kopi are the #1 Cs on their teams. Without a doubt. Even if you say that they are number 2s, the only person out of that group that I'd have ever been really content to pay $8.5 per for 8 years is Malkin. Maybe Kopitar a few years back. If you replace Bergeron and Kopi with Krejci and Carter, $8.5M looks even worse.

They were second liners in their Cup-winning years if I'm not mistaken. Anyway, the argument isn't that those guys are worth $8.5 mil (although Carter signed a long-term deal that reduced his cap hit and he would likely have gotten close to the 2011 equivalent of $8.5 mil under today's limited-years system), it's that 2C's are vital to successful teams.

As for Ryjo and Kuzy, both gave up many more UFA years and I'd still call both deals a big question mark.

Well, okay fine, but it shows that this kinda money is now the going rate. And I'm not even sure it's really all that crazy - when Malkin signed his first extension his deal ate up 15.3% of the cap at the time and Kopitar's ate 11.9%. Drai's new deal only eats up 11.3% of the current cap.

 

[puckhead]

Leon and McJesus at a combined $20m won't hurt as much as Lucic and RNH at a combined $12m will. (Mainly Lucic of course).
Maroon was more valuable than Looch last year, at 1/4 of the price. Guess who's UFA next summer?


Chicago had to shed pretty much the middle of their lineup after paying Toews/Kane $20m, but that was after a cup or two.
Edmonton is running down the same path after one playoff appearance.

I hope they crash and burn, but the Leon contract is not an awful one.
Funny thing is, they most definitely could have had him for $7m per, before the McContract raised the bar

 

[esls79]

Guess the urinal expansion project will have to be put on hold now.