And all the colors are bleeding/where’s old Van Gogh when you need him/Bet you my left ear he can relate.
What up?!?!
Welcome back to THF Over/Under. Didn’t get enough last week, huh? We are going to be friends. Welcome back to the best weekly wrap up blog from a hockey podcast network…probably. Seriously though, thanks for reading. We have almost made it through the hockey less drought that is summer, or Bobby Margarita season.
This week, contract madness…incoming greatness…and breaking news???
Hockey
Over- It’s the most wonderful time of the year.
Do you feel it?
It’s like a slight slight change. A chill in the air. Like…almost a thing but not quite a thing.
It’s better than PSL season. (Remember kids…Pumpkin spice is just cinnamon.)
It’s right between Hot Girl Summer and Fat Boy Fall.
It’s PTO season!!!!!
So excited. Watching Sportsnet headlines and waiting with…
Always love a prove it deal. But remember when the PTO deal was for those guys who were A) old and probably washed up or b) KHL players that may or may not have been good because they were backed by a Russian oligarch. Now, there are still plenty of A)…such as CBJ and James Neal and Florida and Eric Staal. But a majority of these deals are for players that are bottom six guys that every good team needs but may be cost more than they are actually worth. The best examples of this is Zach Aston Reese, one of my favorite Penguins from the last few years, in Toronto, Sonny Milano (THE GODFATHER!!!) in Calgary, and Jimmy Vesey with the Rangers. These guys are worth an NHL guaranteed contract, but have to prove it in camp. Are teams being more judicious with their bottom six dollars? Or are they just cheap? I hope these guys make it, but with other teams.
Over- CONTRACT WHEEL OF MADNESS!!!!!!
So much contract news. Let’s spin the wheel!
Evander Kane Contract Settlement– Was there a welder story last year then Evander Kane being sent to his room by San Jose by being cut or maybe he wasn’t cut…or whatever. Kane was signed by Edmonton twice now without any judgement on whether he was actually even a free agent. So very weird. And even weirder…Kane will get his money…and the Sharks get a retroactive cap hit of the difference between the Sharks contract that they cut him for and the multi year deal that Edmonton signed him for in the offseason.
Yeah…I feel ya.
Look…calling Kane a knucklehead is understating just what a morally questionable and pain in the a$$ he may or may not be. I like watching him play, and he was fried gold in Edmonton last year. So hopefully this is the end of this stupid story and will probably just be a portend of next ridiculous thing out of Evander Kane.
Spin it again!!!!!
The Ballad of E-Rod and his Agent– One the biggest suprises last season was the Evan Rodrigues. There was a point last season when he was on the Crosby line that he was one of the leading scorers in the league. Because when I think of stone cold goal scorers…I think…
Matthews
McJesus
Leon
Kuch
and E-Rod
He was incredible for the first part of the season, pretty good for the second half of the season, and was due for a hefty raise. Which he got last week when he signed a 1 year/ 2mil deal with the world champions of the world Colorado Avalanche. A good pickup for the champs and a good landing place for Rodrigues. I remember reading it thinking that he still seemed underpaid.
Then he fired his agent.
Cause allegedly his agent turned down a 3 year/8 mil dollar deal from an unnamed team. Longer term and more money. Ooof. If this story is true…his agent sucks. If you had a top five list of agents that suck…it would start…
5. Alan Walsh stabbing MAF in the back with a sword while he was in Vegas. I may have some of the details of this story wrong
4. E-rod’s agent
3. Scott Boras. Just Scott Boras
2. Being hit by a bus
1 Jack Johnson’s parents.
That’s it….that’s the list.
Let’s sing the wheel one more time…
Wow…before I can even spin the wheel we have breaking news.
Three stories.
One…the Avs do the most obvious thing and make Nathan MacKinnon the highest paid player in the league. Eight years/100.8 million dollars…just slightly above Connor McJesus.
This is the most obvious move and I love it. I’m all for guys making as much money as possible. You would never take less in your job. Why should he? Good for him.
Two…P.K. Subban retired? At 33??? There was a section in which I wondered why Subban would be on the PTO possibility list. Now I know. His wheels must really be bad. I love Subban. You love Subban. He’s so great for the sport and promotes it like no other, short of that embarrassing hat.
Looks like Billy Preston in the 70’s.
Anywho…Subban had one of the greatest coming out parties in the playoffs in 2010…beating my beloved Pens who were coming off defending the title. He seemed to wear on the Club de Hockey Canadien so he was traded straight up to Nashvegas for Shea Webber in 2015 in a trade that still mystifies to this day. Those Preds teams were fun, and there are a lot of hockey fans in the south because of that team and Subban’s influence. Subban eventually began to wear on the Press and he was traded to the New Jersey Devils for some magic beans. His numbers have been bad for a few seasons now, and he just was not as effect because of injury and the loss of wheels. I found it puzzling that no one had even thrown a below value contract at him…but maybe his contract value was really low. He will be on TV and still in our day-to-day, but this one was a tough one.
Three- Zdeno Chara retires.
Wow.
Twenty Four years in the league. A massive star with a massive frame calls it quits after a long career with the Boston Bruins and ring chasing for the last two seasons. Jeff Marek always said that Chara should win the Lady Bing every year because of what he didn’t do to the rest off the league. I’m glad he won a cup. I’m not so glad he beat my Pens in the 2013 ECF. That 2019m Finals with his jaw wired shut is still one of the bravest things ever done in hockey history. I’m glad we were around for this bar tab after the 2011 Cup win that Big Z picked up
Yikes.
But mostly, if I am being honest, I’m sad because Chara was one of the two remaining hockey players that are older than me. At 45, he was still an absolute beast, and at 41 I am trying to learn how to play a game that I have loved for a long long time. And we all need role models, and Big Z was one. Cheers mate.
Also….how about one more year Jumbo Joe. #winoneforJoe
See you next week.
