Leafsfan29-Embrace the drought!

A ton of signings and trades went down yesterday. What deal surprised you the most?

Consider the following: The team has 36 points (4th worst), and -25 goal differential. Five players (Shea Weber, Carey Price, Jeff Petry, Karl Alzner, Andrew Shaw) eat up 32.4 million in cap space (75mm max cap). Weber and Price are under contract until 2026. Price, Petry and Alzner have NMC or NTC's. What value do you think these players have?

We all love it when Gary Bettman steps up to the podium and says "We have a trade to announce!" So who's the biggest name getting moved tonight?

Buffalo Sabres fired head coach Dan Bylsma and GM Murray this morning, less than 48 hours after Eichel said that he would not play for Bylsma (and then walked it back). So is Jack Eichel a coach-killer?

At this week's NHL GM meetings, the GM's broke up into groups about how to improve/change the game and there were a few odd ideas thrown around. What idea would YOU present to the NHL Board of Governors and how would it improve the game? Keep in mind that TV ratings and league revenues are stagnant and the NHL has their TV rights deals in places until the next decade.

Why would you acquire a mid-30's year old forward with rapidly declining production (Alex Burrows) and get rid of a younger forward prospect who projects to be a 45-50 point producer? This has the potential to be Erat for Filip Forsberg bad.

Yesterday Tom Poraszke (who ran the site General Fanger which had salary cap hits and projections for each NHL team) was hired by the Las Vegas expansion team. In previous years, Tyler Dellow was hired by Edmonton, Vic Ferrari was hired by Washington, and Cam Charron was hired by Toronto (there are others but these were the 3 most high-profile sites; each ran an analytics-heavy website that was taken offline as a condition of hire).

He traded PK Subban for Shea Weber straight up. Years 27-31 of Subban for years 31-40 of Weber. Have fun Habs fans!

Traded Taylor Hall for Adam Larsson straight up (confirmed by TSN). So he's traded away Tyler Seguin and Taylor Hall with very little to show for it.

So after being fired in Anaheim and replaced by a guy who won the division every full season he coached (and twice lost Game 7's to the eventual Cup winner), the Ducks brought back the guy who coached the single-worst Game 7 collapse in league history.

The Ducks fired Boudreau today. Where does he end up next?

TSN and the Globe and Mail released emails from the NHL that pertain to a lawsuit over concussions and fighting. Who comes off the worst? Bettman, Daly, Mike Murphy, Colin Campbell, or someone else?

LAK 2014, CHI 2013, LAK 2012, BOS 2011 had one statistical advantage. Name it. It's not goal differential and it's not special teams.

Hint: Steve Simmons doesn't think it exists.

So Steven Stamkos is officially not on Team Canada's roster (hasn't recovered from injury) per TSN, Sportsnet, and the Lightning. So who goes in place of him?

Having finished with some forward-thinking assessments for work, time to focus on the hockey world for 2012. Accuracy counts

1) What will be the number of points needed to win the Art Ross trophy for 2011-12?

2) What city will be chosen to host the 2013 NHL Winter Classic? Not your wish but what you think the NHL will do.

3) How many regular season games will each NHL team play next year?

4) What will be the single biggest issue to come about during the CBA negotiations, and why?

5) You have been invited to present ONE recommendation among fellow fans at the next Board of Governors Meeting. What is this suggestion (that might actually garner support among the Board of Governors)?

6) What team will make the first overall draft pick in the 2012 NHL entry draft, and who will they pick?

7) Come July 1st 2012 who will be the biggest name UFA on the market that is unsigned?

8) Who will be the biggest name player to be moved during the trade deadline?

Ottawa hosts both the 2012 All Star Game and the 2012 NHL Entry Draft. Currently, Ottawa and Columbus are in a race to the bottom for worst record in the league. If Ottawa were to win the draft lottery at the end of the season, they'd draft first overall and be the host city for the draft. For a trivia question- when is the last time this happened, what year, what team, and who was drafted?

EC- This draft was historic for two reasons. What were they?

In other sports (in the UK this is common) teams are punished with point penalties for going into administration and/or worse (an example is a Premier League soccer team that goes into administration is docked 10 standings points; other sports have similar penalties). Yet, despite a salary cap system the NHL is operating Phoenix, with Dallas and New Jersey having issues and alleged issues. Would a deduction of standings points be a fix/solution or a draconian punishment?

With Woods having just withdrawn from the US Open (per his Twitter account), is there a favourite for the US Open in two weeks' time?

NBC was just awarded US tv rights (per SBJ) to the 2014, 2016, 2018, and 2020 Olympic Games (their new NHL contract expires after the 2021 season). Will this help with negotiations between the league and the NHLPA regarding NHL participation in the 2014 and 2018 games (and will this possibly influence a bid to come from North America for 2018)?

From TSN, the deal is Kaberle to Boston for C Joe Colborne, their 2011 first round draft pick, and a conditional pick if Kaberle signs with Boston. Thoughts?