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Definitely higher than I thought they'd sign him for, but that deal should look pretty good a few years from now.

Bertuzzi-Larkin-Mantha I really hope this line sticks in the regular season. It's not a very strong first line, but Larkin skates, Mantha shoots, and Bertuzzi creates space. Veleno looked awesome, but he got sent back to the Q today. Surprisingly, I'm excited about our D prospects. Cholowski has been calm, reliable, and an all-around rock. Hronek is going to be in the AHL this year on the top pair. Super pumped for him. Hicketts may get a shot as the 6/7 d-man in DET. This Libor Sulak guy came out of nowhere. He's looked incredible. But, most importantly, super sad that Zetterberg isn't gonna play. It's going to be a LOOOOOONG season.

Leafs have been both fun and tough to watch at times. Tavares, Marner and Matthews have been great to watch, but there's also been some bad giveaways that led to goals thatare hope. But I guess that's just what you get with preseason hockey. Will be more fun to watch as the fat gets trimmed, and we get to see the rumored PP1 of Tavares-Matthews-Marner-Rielly-Kadri all together, as well as the return of Nylander (hopefully sooner than later). Really like the play of some of the younger defencemen. Sandin and Liljegren looked good, so have Borgman and Holl. Other things: - If Nylander does miss the first week or two of the regular season, it'll be interesting to see how Ennis does in that spot (he has looked fairly comfy there so far). Hopefully Nylander gets sorted out soon (despite some of the Leafs fan base insisting he gets moved for a RHD), though he shares an agent with Gaudreau, who held out as well. ($7mil x 7 years...fair?) - Wonder who's going to make up that bottom pair. I'd like to see Holl get a chance on the right side. And while it's doubtful, if Babs moved Hainsey to the third pair as more of a PK specialist, and moved Rielly/Gardiner/Dermott over to the right side, that'd be nice (Rielly-Dermott/Gardiner-Zaitsev/Hainsey-Holl). - The battle to back up Freddy. Sparks or Mac will take it. My guess is Sparks. No matter who loses, do you risk the waiver wire (though there is considerably less risk with Mac), or can Dubas get a late pick/package deal done? It's gonna be a fun year for this team. Can't wait until Oct 3rd!

Penguins look pretty sharp in the 2.5 games I've watched so far. Haven't really seen anyone playing though... Brass, Sheahan, Malkin, etc. Some takeaways: - Jack Johnson is super strong. Looking forward to seeing what he's capable of... I think he might fit real nicely. The real question is just how the pairings shakeout. Letang/Dumoulin seems the obvious top pair. I don't love the idea of Maatta with Johnson, though. We'll see. - Juuso Riikola could actually be an NHL defenseman someday. Honestly I like him as the #7 defenseman better than Ruhwedel or Trotman or Corrado. Something to keep an eye on. He's still quite young. - Dominik Simon sucks. Derek Grant is better, and should replace him. - Teddy Bluegers would easily be a bottom 6 center on just about any other team in the league. He's buried soooo deep on the depth chart (Crosby, Malkin, Brassard, Sheahan, Cullen, Grant, Bluegers... J-S Dea might even be in there ahead of Bluegers. Management loves him.). Kind of disappointing, really. But he's looking really, really solid. Another year or two and we'll probably see him in the NHL somewhere. - Bryan Rust looks phenomenal. He's almost making Carl Hagelin expendable, really. The thought of a 4th line of Sheahan/Cullen/Rust is pretty nuts. Gotta be among the best 4th lines in the league. But what Rust's play really does is put the heat even more on Daniel Sprong. - Speaking of Daniel Sprong... he does look really good, but he's just SO inconsistent. From shift to shift... even within the same shift sometimes... he's sometimes exactly where he should be and sometimes exactly where he shouldn't be. I suspect GMJR is going to force Sully to try to make this line combo work (Guentzel/Crosby/Sprong). But if Sprong can't find some consistency, I really think that top 6 will see a shakeup pretty quickly. You might see Sprong down on L3 before long with Rust or Hornqvist getting time in the top 6. - I've seen each of the Pens' three goalies play once now (although I'm still only halfway through watching Murray's game). Murray does NOT look confident. He's obviously got talent, and he's got the most experience, but there's just something about him that looks shaky to me. Casey DeSmith looked really good in his start... and that was with a terrible Pens lineup against a stacked Buffalo lineup. He's super confident, extremely athletic, and sees the puck really well. Jarry gave up a hideous rebound for the game-tying goal, and wayyyy over-committed on the OT winner. He's AHL-bound anyway since he's waivers-exempt and DeSmith isn't. Given Murray's health history, and the lack of confidence he seems to be playing with (not to mention his .907 last year), DeSmith is a real interesting player to keep an eye on in fantasy.

Hurricanes = Stanley Cup Champs.....is it too early?