Edmonton claims Kapanen, probably as a temporary Arvidsson replacement. His whole career has been skating fast and doing not much else. Haven’t had much faith in what EDM is doing with the forward core after seeing Jeff Skinner play the fourth line this year. #LetsGoOilers

Oliver Ekman-Larsson hit 1000 games this week. In his prime he had one of the most unbelievable seasons to exist in my model (2015-16) so I thought I should mention it. Such a shame his prime was wasted on one of the worst franchises in NHL history.

If Nashville is going to turn it around at some point then they can’t be allocating $13.5 million to these versions of Skjei and Marchessault. The new additions have to be better. That full NMC on Skjei is looking bonkers right about now. #Smashville

Quick update on the Ben Chiarot situation: he’s getting worse and is the most detrimental defenseman in the model so far this season. #LGRW

One thing is very clear about Pittsburgh: their older Top 6 guys have abandoned defensive hockey. They are only concerned about one half of the ice and the issues absolutely start at the top. #LetsGoPens

Anthony Mantha being done for the season is an underratedly big hit to the Flames. Smart possession guy that doesn’t like to spend time in his own end. Everything was heading towards dominant business as usual in Calgary, really just a shame. #Flames

People are finally waking up and realizing Dylan Strome is an elite foward. His metrics have been showing this for at least one season, he’s just getting the points and attention now that his linemates are finishing on his excellent chance creations. Big success story #ALLCAPS

I don’t think a team as desperate for goals as the Flyers should be scratching Michkov unless you’re giving up on the season already to “properly develop” him or whatever. This player is clearly NHL calibre and I doubt he needs to be sitting. #LetsGoFlyers

Can’t say I’m surprised Lindholm isn’t scoring in Boston, he’s struggled offensively ever since he didn’t have Gaudreau/Tkachuk on his line. Maybe when I update the model his underlyings will be okay so far, but $7.75 million for this player was always so risky. #NHLBruins

San Jose gets a good, young Top 4 defenceman in Liljegren for scraps. Toronto gets one of the most detrimental defencemen in the league as depth. Mike Grier did a great job with this bet, assuming they can get Liljegren extended next year. #TheFutureIsTeal #LeafsForever

Utah gets a lowkey pretty steady defenseman with Olli Määtä. He will crush his third pair minutes, or you can play him in a Top 4 role if needed. A 3rd rounder is a pretty low price for him honestly. #UtahHC

The Red Wings are struggling bad, and Ben Chiarot is 4th on the team in TOI per game. That’s inexcusably bad. How is it actually possible that an NHL coach can’t see something so obvious? How many wins are you willing to sacrifice just to see more crosschecks? #LGRW

Hot take: I think if the Leafs want to win they should try playing their good Top 4 right handed defenceman. Might help. Won’t help those terrible special teams though. #LeafsForever

Alexis Lafreniere gets about $7.5 million AAV. He’s coming off of easily his best season and playoffs, where before that he was a decent middle sixer. Rangers paying for potential big time here. #NYR

Shea Theodore is a great Top Pair offensive defenceman who won’t kill you defensively. $7.4 million AAV is pretty great value for a player like this. Another good deal on Vegas’ books. #VegasBorn

Conor Sheary is waived. His impact is incredibly non-existent in every factor compared to the average replacement level player. It’s actually crazy he was this insignificant one way or the other in 57 games last year. Might actually deserve the title of cardio merchant #GoBolts

When you can build a superteam of the best Canadian hockey players, you obviously have to consider a mediocre 2nd line player like Tom Wilson who will take stupid penalties. Remember: always ignore previous better evidence and use tiny sample sizes to make big decisions.

Jake Oettinger gets $8.25 million, certainly too much for his performance level. If they keep signing their top guys to steal contracts it will be easier to stomach, but I don’t see this as a very good deal right now. #TexasHockey

31 teams pass on Ville Husso. $4.75 million AAV for basically replacement level goaltending or worse the last two years. Makes sense but I thought someone might have taken a flyer on him. #LGRW

Noah Cates is healthy scratched instead of Scott Laughton. Apparently Tortorella has forgotten what good defence looks like or has given up. Teams should be drooling over acquiring Cates for the bottom 6. Flyers staff might be washed. #LetsGoFlyers