Matt Boldy Is Dominating At Worlds

Looks like Sweden winning all games in regulation makes them the #1 seed.

Canada is 2nd seed with Switzerland 3rd. USA is 4th, with 5 regulation wins, 1 loss in regulation and 1 OT loss leading into the playoffs.

Next four teams are:

Czechia, Germany, Slovakia, Finland.

Quarterfinals matchups for the 2024 Hockey World Championship:

Canada vs. Slovakia

Swiss vs. Germany

Sweden vs. Finland

USA vs. Czechia

USA and Sweden are set to face one another again in the semifinals should they both advance. Matt Boldy did finish as the points leader for the preliminary rounds, 1 points ahead of Brady Tkachuk(7 goals, 6 assists).

Filip Gustavsson has the 2nd best save percentage in the tourney so far, sitting at .930. The only man above him is 22(23 on May 29th) year old Slovakian goalie Samuel Hlavaj(.939), who the Wild signed to an entry level contract in early April. Expect to see him in Iowa for the upcoming year.

Vaj is my new favorite goalie in the organization. 

The Wall blocks everything before it can get a sniff. The Vaj handles pressure, and absorbs all the shots. 

No metaphors here boys, that's real shit.

"Vaj" needs a nickname. I've got nothing.

We've got a bunch of guys competing in the Worlds, a far less intensive place than the SCP. Guerin is in charge of Team USA. I know he's there. I'm hoping he is also looking at some UFAs that nobody has uncovered yet. His goalies are doing well. 

But, are there other GMs watching this tournament too? One thing I've mentioned multiple times is that the teams not in the playoffs are free to trade with one another. If you've got other GMs at the tournament, what better opportunity than to have a face to face chat about trade opportunities?

Now, none of us has a bug on Shooter's phone, so we don't know what any conversations have been or haven't been like, but I was really hoping we'd have some trade news before the SCF that made our team better and perhaps lower the cap numbers. 

Sadly, to me Shooter doesn't seem to be a juggler. He seems to be a focused on 1 thing at a time guy. His trades do not really seem to have much creativity. Perhaps ones suggested to him do, but the one's he looks at simply don't have that vibe. I am doubtful we'll ever see a blockbuster from him where there are 8 moving pieces with financial tweaks. 

McDonaugh was a solid pick up for the Lightning, and it helps us as Nashville is subtracted from. In my pessimism, I could see Shooter looking at the transaction listing and saying out loud "I didn't think we could trade at this time?" 

Now there are plenty of other things that may have been on Guerin's plate too. 1 being the promotion of (I think) 4 guys to higher roles rounding out the FO. But, then we get back to the 1 thing at a time feeling of how Guerin tends to operate.

1 hour ago, Protec said:

Vaj is my new favorite goalie in the organization. 

The Wall blocks everything before it can get a sniff. The Vaj handles pressure, and absorbs all the shots. 

No metaphors here boys, that's real shit.

Vaj takes a pounding night in and night out and comes hard every game.

#toofar?

#never

9 hours ago, Pewterschmidt said:

 

10 hours ago, Protec said:

Vaj is my new favorite goalie in the organization. 

The Wall blocks everything before it can get a sniff. The Vaj handles pressure, and absorbs all the shots. 

No metaphors here boys, that's real shit.

I'd be real interested in hearing Dean Eveson's take on the Vaj.

Another Cane's rumor circulating. Supposedly he has interviewed with CBJ. A little insight on this is that Dundon does not like to pay outside of the players. He believes that support for the players should not be paid league average. This is one reason why Forsland left the broadcast booth, they undercut his salary. Unsurprisingly, Tripp Tracy signed his, and this was years ago.

Waddell has always had the ability to interview and exit if he could do better. He is one of the most underpaid GMs in the game. This would come as no surprise around here. Dundon had to pay for Brind'Amour, even though he probably didn't like it. There is another GM in the waiting who has already been interviewed according to the report. 

While Waddell isn't gone yet, it is expected to happen. Before anyone wonders if the Canes are tearing everything down, it's not really like that. This owner has a special way of doing things, and doesn't necessarily value certain positions like others do. 

Matt Boldy Is Dominating At Worlds
Way to jinx the US.

Another Canes' rumor that should interest us:

Quote

Alexander writes that Martin Necas remains the subject of trade talks and speculation out of Carolina dating back to the NHL Trade Deadline.

NHL Rumors: Carolina Hurricanes – Don Waddell, Blue Line, and a Right-Shot Center

Necas is a restricted free agent with arbitration rights. He is a top-six forward looking for a pay raise this summer. Current Hurricanes GM Don Waddell wants to try to figure something out with Necas.

According to those who know him, Necas wants to play center, but head coach Rod Brind’Amour has not used him in that position. So the question is, do the Canes think he can play the position, and what is his value to them?

I picked this off NHLrumors, and Boston is supposed to be looking at Necas. If Necas is for sale, we need to be in the hunt. While he doesn't play with size, he would remind me of a right handed version of Elias Pettersson. He would be an excellent candidate for Ovechkin's office too.

26 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

Another Canes' rumor that should interest us:

I picked this off NHLrumors, and Boston is supposed to be looking at Necas. If Necas is for sale, we need to be in the hunt. While he doesn't play with size, he would remind me of a right handed version of Elias Pettersson. He would be an excellent candidate for Ovechkin's office too.

Waddell just resigned as President and GM of Carolina.

Boy, resigned and re-signed are 2 very different words with pretty much the same spelling. For clarity, Tulsky is the new GM in Carolina.

18 hours ago, mnfaninnc said:

Boy, resigned and re-signed are 2 very different words with pretty much the same spelling. For clarity, Tulsky is the new GM in Carolina.

Either way, Waddell is out saying he wants to go in a different direction with his career.

18 hours ago, Up North Guy said:

Either way, Waddell is out saying he wants to go in a different direction with his career.

He will likely get a significant raise!