No need for Smith, Swayman makes some sense, but I think they're content with the offseason they've had and are going to ride with this group. No need to get too creative, they have more holes than they can fill. Main goal is get Bedard on the ice, keep him healthy, and see what can be done next offseason. A lot of prospects in the system looking to take the next step in the next 1-2 years, there'll be more clarity on what the hawks need as the season progresses. They need to figure out what they have in the prospect pool before they plug holes.

Part of Gary Bettman doing 12 takes of that pre-recorded BS was CHI promising not to offersheet anyone

I think the Bruins would probably match that, but they would be pissed about it. And given that they may suck for a while, I'm sure they'd be eager to return the favor in the coming years.

Boy, you are overrating Lavoie and Smith by quite a bit.

Pens decline to match for Smith and accept the 3rd rounder with thanks.

And you're not going for Lafrenier? You could have a top line of Hall-Bedard-Lafrenier, all 1OA picks.

Ask Montreal how karma treated them after they tried an offer sheet. Those players you targeted are good but not difference makers. Hawks have prospects they drafted waiting in the wings for opportunities to play. Doesn’t make sense to draft players if we never bother to develop them. Let’s be patient & do the rebuild the right way.

😭

it was 16m for the full length one and he could have shaved off a few minutes each time CHI didn't win. Easily done in one afternoon or morning; who can say bc there was no outside light.

Isn't that kind of how it works with offer sheets? You have to overpay in order to lure a young player to a bottom feeder.

Okaaaay, but Lavoies are a dime a dozen. He's an AHLer who can't skate well enough for the NHL. Smith has arguably not done enough to warrant half that salary, and putting him on the top pairing is just suicide. There are far better players to spend that money on.

Lavoie is expected to make the Oilers roster this fall, so I'd temper your judgement a bit for now.

Right, so the three independent journalists who were there witnessing the whole process live are lying for the league when they say everything was above board? One of those journalists also covers the Columbus Blue Jackets. Seriously, you need to move on, this is a pathetic take.

Heh. That says far more about the Oilers roster this fall than it does about Lavoie. His skating style is roughly "wounded fawn" and he generally tunes out the D and neutral zones. There's a very good reason why an almost 23 yo has yet to see a single game for a team that has been desperate for cheap bottom 6ers.

Edmonton was one of the deepest teams in the league last year. And Lavoie's skating has improved over the past few years too. Maybe you should get up to date.

Hmm. Not sure any team that gives loads of top 6 minutes to Yama can really say they're not top heavy, but any way you slice it they went outside the organization to acquire three bottom 6 forwards to get to that level of depth.

Any team with McDavid and Draisaitl in the top-6 is going to be "top heavy" no matter who is in the bottom-6. And everyone knows that Yamamoto played in the top-6 so much because Draisaitl liked playing with him.

Heh. Not sure why.

Any way you slice it, Edmonton has showed no interest in giving Lavoie a shot despite loads of opportunities. They always look to someone else or somewhere else (and some of those someone elses were quite brutal, it must be noted). Could he finally have suddenly figured it out? I suppose, but I certainly would not go betting on it. Or somehow think his skating is NHL caliber.

This is just ignorant. Last October Lavoie wasn't ready, that's why he didn't get a shot. Now he is. It's called "development". He didn't get recalled down the stretch because the team was rolling, there weren't any injuries and they were focused on winning the division. You don't shoehorn a rookie into the lineup late season unless your team sucks and you want to see what he's got.

Bruh... thus far, there has never been a time to bring him up. I'm not cherry picking a small window of time. We're talking about four full years since he was drafted #38. Only four of the 37 taken before him have not played an NHL game. Eighteen of them have played at least a full season's worth of regular season games. Forty two players taken after Lavoie that year have played NHL games. Five of those have played at least 80. There's exactly nothing ignorant about stating that Edmonton have always looked elsewhere when they need a forward for four years now. Or in pointing out Lavoie's obvious and widely discussed flaws.

But hey, if you want to believe he suddenly made the huge leap just right now, go for it. Even calling him up with hope that he's ready to be a 3rd liner (because let's get real, he is not a 4th line player) is a very different animal than spending near double his ELC salary to offer sheet a guy they've yet to deem ready up to now.

Independently bribed, lol.

If it were legit, they'd just do it live. Reveal the balls and draft positions all at once with a huge audience. It's the most idiotic thing to do the balls and positions separately, unless you wanted to control the results.

You do realize all 32 teams can send representatives to monitor the lottery process, right?

So you mean to tell me that all of the other 31 teams would stand by silently (as well as 3 independent journalists) and allow the NHL to hand Bedard to the Hawks. Don’t you think those others teams would like him in their own organization to reap the rewards a projected “ generational” talent could bring. All 31 other teams are going to be ok with Bettman handing all that season ticket money, broadcast exposure, jersey sales etc. to a competitor? And better yet none of these other 31 teams have spoken out and claimed it was “fixed”, not to mention the independent reporters. The only people to make such outrageous claims are crackpot conspiracy theorists.

If you believe that garbage in light of all the evidence, proof, articles, podcast discussions etc to contrary, then I guess there is no point in discussing it further.