Even though the playoffs are over, we had a pretty big day's worth of news out of the NHL....

          The season is over, The Tampa Bay Lightning are on the way to becoming a dynasty and they're already an absolute wagon but if you're a hockey fan? A pretty good and exciting start to the offseason. We had a retirement, a traded vet, an official coach being named and two big/ high paid veterans being bought out. My phone was blowing up with hockey news today and I for one am completely here for it. Let's do a quick run of all the goings on in the NHL from just today.....



Duncan Keith traded to The Edmonton Oilers for d-man Caleb Jones and a 2022 3rd RD pick
          We were all waiting for Keith to get traded right after it came out that the Hawks were shopping him and he was very okay with that decision. I don't fully hate the trade because I do believe the Oilers need someone whos been there and done that before, but I do think they need to figure out the goalie situation before anything. I think it's a good trade for Chicago, they got rid of all of Keith's plus five million dollar a year earnings and Caleb Jones can be a decent top 6 or 7th defenseman for them. I'm not shocked at tall that he went to Edmonton because he said he wanted to play closer to home to spend more time with his son and that's exactly what he got and to be honest, good for him. Keith is a legend in Chicago and has done everything and anything asked of him. He's a three time Stanley Cup Champ, a two time Norris Trophy winner, a Conn Smythe winner, and a four time all-star, but let's be honest with ourselves he's 37 years old and still making a good chunk of money, it was time for him to move on and enjoy the final years of his career, Now for the Blackhawks this is a big move not only freeing up the cap space, this allows them to make the big push everyone is waiting for and that's for them to set up some sort of package to trade for all-star defenseman from Columbus Seth Jones. Plus it doesn't hurt that Caleb Jones? Yeah, he's Seth's brother....



Pekka Rinna retires after 15 NHL Seasons
          Now the last few years have been less than great for the Finnish goalie but if you look at his career as a whole it's been a god damn impressive one. The 38 year old Fin ended his career with a record of 369-213-75, a 2.43GAA, a .917 SV% and 60 shutouts. Rinne won the 2018 Vezina Trophy the award given out to the NHL's best goalie and helped the Nashville Predators to a Stanley Cup appearance in the 2016-2017 season. Rinne could easily be considered the beast Finnish goalie in NHL history.




The Minnesota Wild buy out Zach Parise and Ryan Suter putting them on waivers
          Suter and Parise have been a staple of the Minnesota Wild for nearly ten years, both signed in the same off-season for literally the same contract. This move means the Wild have to pay both Suter and Parise $6.7 million each of the next eight years. Rumors out of Minnesota have basically said Suter and Parise were a "diva duo", when they played well they were tolerable, then when they didn't they had to go. Bill Guerin, the GM of the Wild apparently wanted them gone and made sure it happened. As stated by the Star Tribune out of Minnesota, this was going to happen sooner or later, the contracts these two signed were outrageous and the buyout was going to come eventually. I can see both of these guys being picked up somewhere but I haven't the slightest idea of where. Doesn't seem to me that Guerin thought either of them were very good leaders or teammates in the locker room and Bill Guerin would know a good teammate.




Dominique Ducharme named full time Coach of the Montreal Candiens, signing a 3 year deal
          This was almost a certainty that this was going to be the move Montreal made. I mean what he got out of this team in the playoffs was absolutely incredible, yeah a lot of the Canadiens run had to do with how other worldly Carey Price played but in the NHL coaching is much more apart of the game then people think. Ducharme got everything he could out of this team and it was a a magical run to the finals and for a true hockey fan you had to love seeing them just run through teams (until the got to Tampa). It was the right decision to make and let's see what he can do for the Canadiens in the next three years.