Rambling about Radulov’s value, expansion, Dobbernomics and more…

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Get the Fantasy Prospects Report here – it’s out now and you can download it one second after you buy it. Don’t fall behind! I’m targeting June 12^th for the release of the update on the FPR (may be earlier if the Pens close it out in five). Included in the update: Some error fixes/missing hyperlinks/Addition of Rankings to the draftee player profiles/Mock Draft/and 10 new profiles – including one for Jake DeBrusk, who is easily the most popular player that was missed in the first release.

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In Monday’s Ramblings when I listed my top UFA’s I neglected to include Alexander Radulov. For what it’s worth, I would put him sixth on that list. Darren Dreger is reporting that Radulov is looking for $7.5 million per season for two years. And some hockey writers think that’s crazy. As I speculated in the forum here, Radulov would be taking a big pay cut to take that deal. Radulov should, at the very least, be treated like Mikkel Boedker. And Boedker is going to get four years or more at $4.5 per season. At least. Radulov should get at least $5.5 per season and get the two years he’s looking for. Is he a risk? Sure he is. He’s very flighty. Can’t make up his mind. Gets frustrated if the coach doesn’t make him king. But he’s been the best KHL player for a few years now and a couple of those years he was often considered the best non-NHL player in the world.

So where will Radulov end up and how will he do? This question is very coach-specific. Just from how he interacted with Barry Trotz, and how he punched (either by accident or otherwise) his one KHL coach (see below), there is a good chance that the wrong coach would see Radulov sulk his way to the press box. The “wrong coach” would be a demanding one. And if he sulked his way to the press box then we’re looking at something like 24 points in 40 games and then a mutual termination of the contract and then back to the KHL he goes. But with the right coach he could be a point-per-game player. So this is almost the Artemi Panarin question all over again – could be huge or could be a bust. And like I was with Panarin last year, I’ll be ‘interested’ but won’t overpay. That attitude cost me a great player last year, but I think caution is smart with these guys. Usually. Last year the risk-takers really cashed in, I’ll admit. Anyway, here is the KHL coach hit:

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Interesting news: EA Sports to include ECHL in NHL '17

The logistics of this will be interesting. The players need to be members of the PHPA, and if they’re not will they be replaced by fake names? And what about updates?

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Lots of great trade rumors being dug up and posted in the rumors section of the forum. Have your say! And if you find one, please share with the community. Among the ones being bandied about yesterday included Colorado offering Matt Duchene to the Jets for Jacob Trouba. That one is very interesting, but I have a hard time seeing the Jets letting go of Trouba. Colorado moving Duchene I can see.

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Here’s some clarification to the expansion draft rule that clarifies the no-move clauses in contracts. All players with a NMC must be protected as one of the team’s 10 players. However, this is not the case if their NMC expires on July 1^st, as a few do. Such as Dan Girardi, Ben Bishop and Dennis Wideman. I’m sure the same would go for retired players too. Looking back, it was silly to think otherwise. If the expansion draft took place on June 20^th and the player had a no-move clause until July 1^st – why on earth can’t the expansion team draft him? They could draft the player…and just hold the pick in “stasis” until July 1 and then make it official. Just shuffling paperwork, really.

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Will expansion even happen? Well, yes. Will it happen next year? Suddenly, instead of being 100% certain, I’m now only 97% certain. Carolina could actually move! And if that happens, does that push back expansion by a year while the NHL works out the kinks in the process?

If an expansion draft happened today, Puck Daddy put together their roster. Damn…not a bad team:

Lupul – Zajac – Vanek

Kunitz – Fisher – Hemsky

Comeau – Lecavalier – MacArthur

Korpikoski – Beagle – Etem

D – Enstrom, Martin, Wideman, Girardi, Gunnarsson, Franson

G – Andersen, Howard, Vasilevskiy

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Oh, and the Stanley Cup could be won tomorrow by the way. And you know that year after year in the preseason I predict the Pittsburgh Penguins to win ever since they actually did win. Until this year. I got tired of the Penguins getting knocked out first round with either poor goaltending or snakebitten and injured superstars. And I loved what I saw in the Lightning last year. So last September I chose Tampa Bay. And I spent much of the season dialing back my investment on Pittsburgh players (two of my pools have a playoff component). So I went from six Penguins in one league and four in the other, to four in one league and two in the other. That may cost me the playoff trophy in one, and a second-place finish in the other. Murphy's Law, right? I always preach patience…and then I lost mine.

My situation – I’m tied for first with 115 points. I have Malkin and Hornqvist. He has Letang, Burns, Thornton and Pavelski. The tie goes to me because I have way more goals. So basically I need a game like the last one – where Malkin gets two points and his guys get shut out other than maybe Letang getting one. Go me!

Tomas Hertl is “not ruled out” for Game 5 as he makes progress in his recovery from an LBI. But I suspect that’s bunk. I think he’s out and this question mark is simply a ploy by the Sharks.

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By the way, I think TB would have won the Cup were it not for all the injuries. Not just in the playoffs, but in the regular season. It impacted home ice advantage and matchups. They just had a very hard-luck season.

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So if the playoffs are over on Thursday, how will you do in Dobbernomics? I’ll double-check what I offered, but I believe it was $100 for the person who led in points, and either another $50 for leading in team value, or another $100. Can’t remember. I’ll dig that up if the Cup is won and the standings are official. I was hoping to win it myself and save myself some money! But I’m 30^th out of 174. I tried, but I missed a roster deadline and I think that cost me a good 10 spots that would have made it interesting.

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The Jiri Sekac experiment is over. He has signed with Ak Bars Kazan of the KHL. Give him 29 points in 108 career NHL games with ANA/MTL/CHI/ARI. He’s still only 23 years old (until this weekend). I think he made a poor decision and gave up on the NHL far too soon.  I mean – at his age, Mike Hoffman had played four NHL games! Not that Sekac had anything remotely resembling that kind of future or talent… he shouldn’t have given up though. He hasn’t hit his prime yet and there’s still plenty of time to improve.

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Some Tyler Seguin news. Now that he no longer has to rush things, he was able to properly recover from his Achilles injury (and the related injury stemming from returning too early). He was back on the ice yesterday.

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