Open Thread: MHH Week in Review 8/2/14

August, the armpit of the calendar, has arrived...

Luckily there are still bits and pieces of stories fluttering about for our loyal posters to talk some jive about. This week:

- According to everyone except Bob, Tyson Barrie still has not signed a contract. Jake Gardiner however, did sign a 5-year $20M+ deal with the Leafs this week and while that's not a straight comparable it is a bellweather which makes it pretty clear Tyson will probably get north of $3M on a bridge and something close to Gardiner's deal if long-term is the plan.

- We had our first real arbitration hearing in the LNH this year when the Habs and PK Subban couldn't make the numbers work at the deadline. For anyone contemplating an Avs/Habs trade, the conversation will begin and end with Duchene or MacKinnon. You can put on your video game GM hat and pile up all the O'Reillys and Barries and 1st round picks that you want but it ain't gonna get it done. The Avs have exactly two things that everyone in the league covets mightily, and if you want a Norris-caliber defenseman, that's what it's going to take.

- Throwing out a little Monsters news for filler and because it's what I do, former LEM forward Guillaume Desbiens signed with Dornbirner in the Austrian league this week. Good leader and more than the talentless goon I thought we were receiving when he signed a year ago.

Also Daniel Maggio has reportedly signed a contract with Lake Erie for next year. Mags made the transition from D to forward last year and really picked up his game towards the end of the season. I still see some upside there and he's a contemporary of all our Good Ontaria Boys like Dutch, Radar, Aggz & Hish. He was interviewed by the good folks at the Ft Wayne News-Sentinel in an interesting article about how the Komets will fit into our development system next year.