from Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet,
- Quote of the week: “We’d all like to make a (bleeping) trade,” one GM said, “But there’s no room to do it.”
- Team I wonder about for Brock Boeser: Washington. This is a personal opinion, but I wonder if a Boeser-Anthony Mantha move makes any sense for both. The Capitals need a jolt, and, as GM Brian MacLellan said last weekend, can’t do anything financially lopsided until there’s clarity on Nicklas Backstrom’s availability. Mantha’s cap hit is slightly lower than Boeser’s, and he’s got one fewer year — which would appeal to Vancouver. Anyway, just an idea.
- Couple executives said they took notice of the last thing Erik Karlsson said last weekend in his Hockey Night in Canada pre-game interview: “I’ve got lots of years left in me, guys.” It wasn’t only that the said it, but the way he said it: making a point of adding that comment while taking off the headset, when it looked like the conversation had concluded. Karlsson said he wants to win, that as a child, “I use to cry after every loss,” before adding, “I don’t do that any more,” which was pretty funny.
- Also taped a podcast interview with Todd McLellan on Wednesday. One of the topics was the NHL’s scoring explosion, as league-average save percentage is on-pace to be the lowest in 16 years. My theory is that the NHL’s crackdowns on obstruction, goalie equipment, slashing and cross-checking combined with more skill than ever throughout a lineup have made it much, much harder to defend. (I don’t think too many people are complaining about it, either.)
McLellan agreed with that, but took it one step further — that it’s these great shooters and passers have found and can exploit the weaknesses in the ways goalies are taught to play....
more on the last topic plus other notes....
I also think there just aren't very many good goalies right now. Vas is in a league of his own, and even he has shown over the last season that he's pretty human until the playoffs when it really counts.
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