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Quick Strikes: Lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer

We’re officially out of headline ideas. It’s August.

The Bolts

As paper tickets are slowly phased out by professional clubs, nostalgia for both the medium and the memories those tickets represent are growing. The Tampa Bay Lightning moved away from them last season, so Justin decided to do something special with his paper ticket collection. [Raw Charge]

In a rush to make things more efficient and user friendly, there is a small bit of joy is lost. It’s not a huge thing like seeing a team win a championship or celebrating the birth of your child, but it’s still something that is lost in an increasingly digital world - the tactile feel of holding an actual ticket in your hands.

The Prospects

Our Top 25 Under 25 is coming down to the end. With just one week left, Taylor Raddysh clocked in at #6. [Raw Charge]

This leads to the biggest question surrounding Taylor Raddysh: is he a legitimate top prospect or are his point totals a byproduct of playing with elite linemates?

The Game

So. The Ottawa Senators are....uh. Welp.

Why is this a problem? As Alan explained yesterday: Talent drain, my friends. Talent drain. [Raw Charge]

The Ottawa Senators are methodically setting themselves up to have one of the worst summers in recent NHL history. In 2019, they face the possibility of losing Erik Karlsson, Mark Stone, and Matt Duchene to free agency. That’s...bad. Very bad. So bad that it made me wonder how it compares to other teams over the last few years. How often do teams lose that much talent to free agency in one summer? The answer is: not very often.

After yesterday’s Jeff Skinner extravaganza, one might be asking: But how does this affect (insert team name here)? Here’s one answer for the Toronto Maple Leafs. [Editor In Leaf]

If the Toronto Maple Leafs are seriously looking to add another forward like Panarin, they’ll definitely have to pay more than what the Sabres paid for Skinner. However, the Skinner trade will help set the market since both are pending UFAs. If it costs a medium prospect, and three draft picks (no first rounders) for Skinner, you can bet the price to rent Panarin would be a better prospect, and at least a first and two seconds, possibly more. Panarin is to Skinner as Matthews is to JVR.

Jersey fun:

Troy Brouwer is now a free agent after being placed on unconditional waivers by the Calgary Flames.

Maple Leafs prospect Yegor Korshkov may have the best name I’ve seen in a long while. He has an awesome name, true, but knowing much more than that about him is a bit of a challenge. [Pension Plan Puppets]

Two years later, he’s still not a well known commodity, having spent the past two seasons in the KHL with Lokomotiv and chosing to stay put for 2018-19. Over the past two years in Russia, Korshokov has grown on Lokomotiv’s men’s team, staying on one team in one league, unlike others who bounce from the top level to the junior level and all stops in between. He did return to junior in 2017 after the KHL season was over to play in the playoffs.

As the end of summer is now in sight, AHL rosters are starting to solidify. For fans that want to keep an eye on the Syracuse Crunch’s foes, a player tracker is pretty useful to have up and running. [Let’s Go Amerks]

Speaking of the AHL and the end of summer: More teams are starting to announce their preseason slates.

The NWHL is scooping up plenty of talented players from a variety of NCAA programs:

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