Old takes

All takes

Oh so I guess it's bad to love your family now???

Takes

Jul 9, 2026

Oh so I guess it's bad to love your family now???

We're all accusstomed to rich people's self-aggrandizement by now, but shouldn't it be someone's job to say no?

Ryan Lambert

PIT

Jul 9, 2026

Take Town: Already a week out

If you're a big salary-cap studier like me, you've probably noticed that a lot of teams have plenty of money to spend, and almost nobody to spend it on.

Ryan Lambert

NJD

Jul 8, 2026

Hayton, Mammoth grin and Barrett

The Utah Mammoth decided, unsurprisingly, to match the New Jersey Devils' offer sheet to Barrett Hayton. But there's still plenty to figure out.

Ryan Lambert

What We Learned: When does it make sense to offer-sheet a star player?

ANA

Jul 6, 2026

What We Learned: When does it make sense to offer-sheet a star player?

The Leo Carlsson contract might change the landscape of the NHL, but when would kind of offer sheet actually work again?

Ryan Lambert

ANA

Jul 3, 2026

Offer sheets are now battlefields

The Flyers signed Leo Carlsson to an offer sheet with an $18-million AAV. Most likely, that's just the beginning.

Ryan Lambert

Movies

+11

Jul 2, 2026

Take Town: 5 winners and 5 losers from July 1, plus my top 10 movies of 2026 so far

It was a busy, busy, busy day across the NHL and only I know for sure who won and lost. Plus, ranking the 10 best movies out of the 62 new releases I saw in the first half of the year.

Ryan Lambert

Jul 1, 2026

Summer 2026 transaction grades (part 2)

Apparently they have a max word count on here, so this is even more transaction grades that will be updated throughout the summer. Hopefully things chill out a little.

Ryan Lambert

What We Learned: An easy solution to the NHL's 'loser franchise' perception problem

SEA

Jun 29, 2026

What We Learned: An easy solution to the NHL's 'loser franchise' perception problem

Few if any star players want to play for Seattle, Columbus, or most Canadian teams. Why is that, and what can those teams do to fix it?

Ryan Lambert

Live blog

Jun 26, 2026

Perfect Takes 2026 Draft live blog

I don't have expert opinions on almost any of the guys who are gonna get picked tonight, but I know for sure your team is getting the steal of the draft!!!!

Ryan Lambert