The NFL season is over, which means it’s finally OK to pay attention to the endless regular season of the NHL. What’s going to happen at the trade deadline? It’s The Comeback weekly hockey mailbag!
1. Is this year’s trade deadline going to be the worst in years? There are so many teams in the playoff hunt or going for it and not enough teams that are dead. Isn’t that going to hurt trade activity? Will there be any trades of note?
Jesse
This may be a leap year but it may be hard for teams to LEAP into blockbuster trades. (I’m as embarrassed as anyone with how I use words.)
There are six teams that are absolutely, without question, not going to sniff the playoffs — Toronto, Buffalo, Columbus, Calgary, Winnipeg and Edmonton. Sometimes we can look in the mirror and convince ourselves that we are just a few pushups from having a body transformation like Chris Pratt before Guardians of the Galaxy; those six teams will let themselves go like Christian Bale when he gave up the bat suit to play Irving Rosenfeld in American Hustle and be better off for it.
The fun quotient of the trade deadline will come down to whether teams just above those six realize they should go full Bale or they delude themselves into thinking they are a protein bar or two away from Pratt abs.
The Leafs admitted they are Fat Bale by shipping Dion Phaneuf to Ottawa for nothing of true value, so good for them.
http://gty.im/508445878
In my opinion, only six teams have legitimate championship aspirations — Tampa Bay, Washington, Los Angeles, Dallas, Chicago and Anaheim (I’m sticking to my preseason Cup pick until they take me away in handcuffs). That leaves 18 teams in the middle that, if they are smart, should be rushing to dump every expiring contract they have to one of the six contending teams before the six Irving Rosenfelds pull the trigger on tank trades and leave them with no trade partners.
If all of those 18 teams feel like they are in the mix, there just won’t be enough rentals to go around, and the trade deadline will be a gargantuan letdown.
The other issue is most of the pending UFAs on those six terrible teams aren’t game-changers; now that Dustin Byfuglien has been re-signed, were talking about Andrew Ladd and about a dozen spare parts for contenders. The Jets should be able to ransom Ladd for a first-round pick.
The tougher decisions will be if teams like Arizona, Vancouver, Ottawa, Carolina and Philadelphia find themselves within a couple points of a wild-card spot on leap day. Nothing those teams do will turn them into contenders, so they have to have a honest conversation about their abilities and decide if pushing for two or three home playoff games (for a franchise like Arizona, it’s probably worth it) will matter.
The smart teams in the garbage pile above the Christian Bale Six will push to make a trade quickly with the few partners available, otherwise they may be left holding the expiring contract bag or find themselves exchanging the bag for 30 cents on the dollar. This is a salary-cap league and the contenders only have so much space.
With Byfuglien off the market, it could be a low-volume and a low-quality trade deadline.
2. Ghost In The Machine
https://twitter.com/E_Haberle/status/696551315909013505
I love this kid. He can skate, shoot, pass at an Erik Karlsson-esque level and will only get better defensively. He’s also a guy who is always a great value in daily fantasy if that’s your thing. I am truly pregnant with anticipation when it comes to seeing how the Flyers screw him up.
Is he top-three? Well…
Artemi Panarin is almost a point-per-game rookie and is running away with the rookie scoring lead. Dylan Larkin is an All-Star leading the league in goals and Jack Eichel is in the same neighborhood. I know everyone has Connor McDavid fever but I don’t think he’ll do enough over the rest of the season to crack the top-three.
http://gty.im/505741422
But Shayne Gostisbehere has 27 points in 33 games as a defenseman. If he keeps that pace and finishes with 52 points in 64 games, there’s probably a case for making him a finalist over Eichel or Larkin if one of the two fades. If Gostisbehere played 82 games he’d be a no-brainer as a finalist but such is life.
Then again, this is the team that traded Jeff Carter, Sergei Bobrovsky and James van Riemsdyk for 30 cents on the dollar, so instead of pulling for a Calder Trophy, maybe your primary objective should be to avoid seeing him traded for a mediocre goaltender in 2018.
3. Please Like My Sport
@davelozo What can the Pro Bowl learn from this year's NHL All-Star Weekend?
— Joe (@GoodPointJoe) February 8, 2016
Three words: Fat. Guy. Touchdowns.
John Scott was a massive man, an enforcer, dropped into a game of skill and finesse. And what did he do? He scored twice and won the MVP. Football doesn’t have fighting, so what’s the NFL equivalent? What’s going to capture the imaginations of fans that don’t care about this type of game anymore?
Fat guys at skill positions.
http://gty.im/507812422
Vince Wilfork is a giant, heavy dude. You know what else he is? An athlete. He has hands and agility but they come part of a gigantic package, so it’s a treat for the eyes of fans. Scott’s size was a big reason why he was such a hit at the NHL All-Star Game; Wilfork could do the same thing by playing an entire series at wide receiver or running back.
And like Scott, he could handle himself.
If you told me a guy like that would be on the field every other series running button hooks or catching screens, you’ve got me, NFL.
4. Capital Fun-ishment.
@davelozo as a Caps fan, how long can I expect to be happy?
— Gregg Lunn (@Feneban) February 8, 2016
At the very least, you will be happy until late-May. No one in the Metro is beating the Capitals four times out of seven. The Rangers, Islanders, Penguins, Devils…all four lack the depth and talent of the Capitals. Yes, there’s the whole “the Rangers beat the Capitals every year” thing, but the gap between the two is too wide for any mental chokehold to matter.
The only team in the East that can beat the Capitals is the Lightning. If they do, it will be an upset, but not a huge one. They are still mostly the same team that reached the Stanley Cup Final last year, only now that they have that experience stuff they lacked in 2015. Will Steven Stamkos be there? Almost definitely. Will Jonathan Drouin fetch something in a trade that helps Tampa immediately? Very likely.
http://gty.im/505427382
My current belief is the Capitals should be good for 12 wins and the Cup Final is up for grabs. I like their chances against anyone in the West.
Come mid-April, you will hear endless jokes and references to their Presidents’ Trophy collapse in the first round against the Montreal Canadiens, but this team is nothing like the 2010 team. This will be the year, at the very least, the Alex Ovechkin choking memes stop being a thing.
5. “Hey, Dave! You are so funny and sexy and I love you so much! Anyway, I know this is primarily a hockey mailbag, but I was wondering what your favorite late-night talk shows are, and who are your favorite hosts! I value your opinion not because you are so sexy, but because you are so smart AND sexy.
Sincerely,
Heidi Klum
(Originally, the question was in a tweet from someone not Heidi Klum, but they deleted it, so this is a dramatic reenactment of the question)”
David Letterman, 1987-1995
Conan O’Brien, 1993-2000
Jon Stewart, 1999-2013
Stephen Colbert, 2005-2014
Samantha Bee, 2016-TBD (hopefully)
6. Dave,
I feel that you are the talent on the Wednesday Marek vs. Wyshynski podcast and Greg is holding you back with his inane Star Wars drivel and horrid impressions. Have you considered having someone end Greg?
What are things to look for in a great hockey coach? (no sarcasm, please)
Could you take Colin Campbell now that he is a senile yet still vicious old fart?
Best,
Bob
http://gty.im/478217710
A-Greg does better impressions than me and is way better at the whole hosting thing than me. I’m only good because he does most of the heavy lifting. No, I have not considered having someone take the life of Greg Wyshynski because I am not a mentally deranged person (in that way).
B-I look at lineup decisions (like, does this coach feel the need to use Tanner Glass all the time), how a team looks within its structure (things like breakouts, gaps, etc.) and very rarely do I look at how hard players play for someone, because that’s all nonsense and open to interpretation.
C-Campbell is 63 but he’s a decent-sized guy. I’m all lanky and slow to get off a punch and chances are if we fought, he’d be the angrier one going into it, and that puts me at an even further disadvantage. I doubt one of my punches would hurt him anyway.
7. Wild About Hockey!
https://twitter.com/JBGo4Fan/status/696553401904029700
Ryan Suter is 31. Zach Parise is 31. Thomas Vanek is 32. Jason Pominville is 33.
Those players are signed through, respectively, 2025, 2025, 2017 and 2019.
So, to answer your question, yes. At least you got your outdoor game before all these guys retired.
If you want to be a part of next week’s mailbag, send at tweet to @davelozo.
