OffThePost.org

Sorokin switched agent. I think he wants to come over.

_________________

Wow. Think he's had that guy all along.

I've read that CSKA were trying to sign him to a 1 year deal that even gave him an opt-out for if/when he was able to come to the Isles.
Agent might have been telling him to just stay with CSKA since he could make much more there. I'm glad to hear someone wants to join the Isles! Especially a good goalie. Hopefully it all works out.

_________________
Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

Word in the Twittersphere is that the league is not allowing guys like Sorokin to sign this year.
Sometimes I think the Isles signed a deal with Lucifer for the Dynasty to happen, and this kind of shit is the payback. They just can't catch a break.
Sorokin will likely stay in the KHL for at least another season.

_________________
Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

Rumor has it the league will allow players like Sorokin to sign and burn a year of their ELC this year, but not play.

_________________
Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

The worst of all worlds for the teams, but I guess it's better than him staying in Russia...

_________________

Yeah. I was hoping he could play in the "playoffs" if they're going to play, but at least he shouldn't go back to CSKA. If that had happened, I don't know if he'd ever come over, regardless of them building in an NHL opt out clause. I had a feeling that would be signed and then the KHL would say the team may have allowed it, but they didn't. That would be so Islanders.

_________________
Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

The Sorokin saga continues. He can burn his ELC, which would make him happy. But from the Isles' standpoint, is it worth it to let him burn the ELC when he won't even be playing in Bridgeport, learning the north American game? He would be an RFA for next year, and would therefore likely command like $4-5 million/season, which is more than Greiss was making. The Isles already have a bit of a cap situation with the need to re-sign Barzal, Pulock and Toews, with only $3.1 million in space.

UFAs
F
Martin ($2.5 million). Unlikely to be re-signed, unless it's for $1.5 max. He's been far less useful this year than past years.
Brassard ($1.5 million). He was brought in to play C and that didn't work out. Had a great stretch during the big win streak at wing. Pageau makes him very expendable unless they bring him back for a little less at wing.
Kuhnackl ($850k). Decent depth guy but they've got kids coming up around the same money, some of whom were already on the roster. I don't see him returning.

D
Greene ($5 million). no way they pay him that much if he returns.

G
Gress ($3.3 million). Only way he's coming back is if Sorokin isn't coming over or if Varlamov is injured/ill.

So they'll gain some cap space, but the big 3 RFAs should command far more than they're going to have. If Lou can pull it off, I'd love to see Andrew Ladd go to Seattle in the expansion draft as some veteran leadership, even if they get another prospect or pick in the trade. Seattle needs vets and some cap mules, right? 3 more years for Ladd's contract even after this year is over. That was a horrible contract by Snow. Other candidates for a purposeful trade to Seattle include Boychuk ($6 million) or Leddy ($5.5 million), although I'd rather see Leddy's speed stick around.

Next year's RFAs include Beauvillier and Pelech, both of whom will be due a large raise. It's going to be an interesting few years with no cap rise.

_________________
Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

Lou was the unmitigated master at putting together a winner with a limited budget when there was no cap and he was regularly outspent by teams like the Avs, Wings, and Stars, but he has been shockingly bad at managing the cap when one would think he would've thrived. I just don't get it.

Lou says no Isles expected to opt out. Wants to get Sorokin signed. That kind of hoses him on the cap but he obviously wants him here next year, so it's probably necessary.

_________________
Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

Wow, I totally forgot the Isles also have Skarek as a goalie prospect. He obviously doesn't have the same potential as Sorokin but he still has a lot of potential based on what I've read.

0.888 save % in the AHL. 0.879 in the ECHL. I'm not exactly excited about him.

_________________
Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

Sorokin signs!

_________________

Yeah, it gets interesting now. He only signed the ELC for this year. So he's "signed" and can go be with the team, practice, etc. But can't play in games. Thanks NHL, for changing a rule that's helped many teams in playoffs before. Dicks.

But Sorokin didn't sign anything for next year and beyond. He'll be UFA eligible in spring of 2023. So most fans are thinking he'll get a 3 year deal around 2 million/year or a 2 year deal at 2.5 million/ year. That's still a pretty big step back from what he made in the KHL, so I think he demands more. Without having played an NHL game, would Lou go higher than that? I guess they're bringing him to Toronto to see what the rest of the team thinks and how he does against them. Be kinda nice to have a tough goalie to practice against, and this is the only action he's getting until Dec/Jan, so it should be good for him too. Let Korn & Greco get some looks at him...

But of course, it makes their cap situation next year that much more difficult. Unless he signs for equal or less than Greiss was making, as his contract is up at the end of this year and Sorokin should certainly make Greiss expendable.

I was bored enough today to read Eklund's site. He says the Habs, among others, plan to give Barzal offer sheets. Barzal has said in the past that he loves the mayhem created by things like offer sheets, so he may may look at some. Although he has to know Isles fans would want his head on a platter if he leaves in an even worse way than Tavares did. But if they have to match a crazy offer it could really screw them on the cap situation. I have a bad feeling the off-season will be more interesting than the post-season.

_________________
Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

Sorokin wastes little time, signing a 1 year extension the next morning. $2 million- $1m in salary, $1m in signing bonus.
Greiss is costing $3.3m so they save a little next year on their 2nd goalie, giving a little more room to pay Barzal, Toews & Pulock.
Good news all around!

_________________
Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

Isles schedule for qualifying round:

Sat 8/1- 4 PM Eastern. 4 on a Saturday- ok cool, at least they'll get a prime time spot during the week, and it'll be every other day right?
Tue 8/4- Noon Eastern. Okay, I guess everyone needs a noon game during their series. It'll be kinda neat to quit work early on a Tuesday!
Wed 8/5- Noon Eastern. What the fucking fuck? Back to backs, both noon starts on weekdays? The league really does hate this team.
Fri 8/7- TBD if necessary. $1 says if necessary they'll play at 4.
Sunday 8/9- TBD if necessary. And if they make it to here, they'll finally get the 8 pm start time, but the game before will go to like 7 OTs and they'll start after midnight.

Exhibition game Wed 7/29 vs Rangers 8 PM Eastern. Looks like almost everyone is playing an arch rival for their exhibition game. Pens-Flyers, Bolts-Panthers, Oilers-Flames... Who thought it was a good idea to have two arch rivals play their only "warm up" game against each other? It could be a great jump start for them both, or there could be some injuries due to the level of hatred. I guess it'll get people to watch, but it would suck to go through all this summer training only to get hurt in an exhibition game.

Side note- Since the qualifying round isn't "playoffs", it appears Lou isn't letting the team that invented the playoff beard grow them yet. All Isles are clean shaven for camp. He allows beards for "playoffs", but it's not playoffs until the 2nd week of August... Which is a weird sentence to write about hockey!

_________________
Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

Interesting plot twist- Sorokin is open to starting in the AHL, which plans to start their season ahead of the NHL's. So Sorokin could start down there and get some playing time before heading up to the Isles. Or, he could stay in the AHL for a bit after the NHL starts to get used to the north American game. If that's part of the plan, Greiss may not be done as an Islander. Although if I was him, I'd ask for a lot of money to be re-signed, since he should be pretty likely to be traded mid-season when Sorokin is ready. If you almost know you're going to be up-rooted, you ask for more.

So even though we know he's finally signed and coming over, there's still lots of uncertainty around Sorokin.

_________________
Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

Here he comes! https://twitter.com/HockeyAgent1/status ... 11008?s=19

_________________

Yay! Can't wait to see him play... whenever next year starts.

I still think it's complete bullshit that the league changed the rules this year.

_________________
Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

Isles with a bit of a surprise, leaving both Wahlstrom and Bellows off the post-season roster. Koivula is on it though. He never looked ready to me, but maybe he's been doing the right things during the pause. And maybe they wanted more center depth if needed, although they have Barzal, Nelson, Pageau and Cizikas, with Brassard, Komarov, Bailey and Beauvillier who have all played center. Guess they don't like them there.

17 F and 10 D. 3 goalies. I thought teams were allowed 31 players. Weird.

_________________
Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

(Exhibition) GAME DAY!
Isles-Rangers. Should be fun.

Sorokin has joined the Isles, even though he can't play, and is wearing #30. His presence is at the expense of a kid, with fans pissed that both Wahlstrom and Bellows are both sitting home. While it's doubtful that either of those kids would get into games, it is kind of weird to have a guy there who isn't even allowed to play when they've got such limits on the number of people.

_________________
Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.