City approved the project today. This will compete with the group that bid in Forsyth and got the approval there as well. It has also been confirmed that Atlanta will be getting a new NHL franchise in addition to Houston per Allan Walsh.
I was fortunate to get rides in on both Kumba and Arie Force One these past couple of weeks and after getting to ride them, am sad to see them go.
Kumba: This one was a bit of a last minute surprise for me. We originally had a trip to Myrtle beach planned in mid July and the day before we were set to leave, we noticed that we had been booked in the wrong property. We were supposed to be booked at the Hilton Resort at Myrtle Beach and were instead booked at a Hampton in about a couple of miles from shore. When we reached out to Hilton to get the reservation moved over, we were told that the area was sold out. But they did offer to cancel for us and refund the amount paid for the reservation.
So having taken them up on that offer, and because we wanted to stay on the beach, we booked a last minute trip to Clearwater Beach instead, and I decided to take advantage of this spontaneous change by taking a trip to Busch Gardens on one of those days to get rides in on everything, as well as give Kumba a proper sendoff. While I have my gripes with the park, Kumba ran great that day, and I was able to get three rides in during that trip. For a 30 year old rollercoaster, I thought the ride ran well. A little bit of jankiness which is to be expected, but other than that, a great experience as always. While I hate to see it go, I’m excited to see what Busch does with its replacement.
Arie Force One: This is probably the most infuriating one for me. Not the coaster itself, which is excellent, and becomes an absolute demon falling the inverted stall. No, the infuriating part is that it took me until the next to last day this ride was operating for me to come and ride it when this park is 40 minutes away from where I live. I could never be bothered to make the trek down to come ride a world class rollercoaster despite living in Atlanta and for that I’m kicking myself. The outer bank turn, double up and quad down are filthy. Feels like one of the few rides where it doesn’t let up and continues to get better as it progresses through its layout. I really wish I had gotten down there more often to ride it. But I am glad I was able to do so before it closed. I do hope it finds a new home soon. It’s a brand new ride relatively speaking and it deserves to go to a park where it can truly shine. I would selfishly like to see it moved to Carowinds because they need an RMC and they need a second headliner to compliment Fury, and this one would do that easily. But I could see a smaller park which is looking to add a legitimate headliner to their park acquire it.
TLDR: Was able to get rides in on Kumba and Arie Force One before their closures.
Deleted and reposted due to a typo in the title.
Dude has our core locked up long term and almost all of them for less than $10 mil.
Meanwhile Leo Carlsson is about to become the highest paid player at $18 mil a year for a small fee of four first round picks.
I’m seeing rumors that Nosek won’t be coming back next season and is opting to return to the Czech Republic to play out the rest of his career there. Can anyone confirm it by chance? Kind of surprised. Figured he’d at least have a little bit more in the tank in the NHL.
If true, we’ll have to secure another good 4th line center that can win draws, play a shutdown role and kill penalties the way he did.
Would fill a need at RHD and give us some much needed youth on the backend.
What are you guys thoughts here?
I want to preface this by mentioning that Bill Zito has already cemented himself in the hall of fame as a GM and will go down as a franchise legend in his own right. In that regard, he has nothing to prove. But judging how he handles the upcoming offseason, has the potential to land him in GOAT conversations amongst GMs.
With Bob starting to show his age and with the likes of Montreal and Buffalo ascending the ranks with young and very talented rosters, Toronto landing the 1OA, and Tampa still being a strong team, Zito will have his work cut out for him. There is a lot he’s going to have to take into consideration here:
At full health, not much is different with this roster vs the one that won it all in 2025. We have our core locked up for the long haul and most of our depth is there too. But there are also concerns. The roster is getting older, with guys like Barkov, Reinhart, Jones, Ekblad, Bennett, and Verhaeghe all on the other side of 30 years. Against some of these teams with tons of youth and speed, it could be problematic. Also, how much does Marchand still have left? Can he continue to play at this level going into next season? And finally, what do we do at goaltender? Do we roll with Bobrovsky again with Tarasov, or do we make a play at one of Gustavsson, Cooley or Wedgewood? Or do we potentially try and take a swing at landing Hellebuyck or Shesterkin?
If Zito plays his cards right, it could extend our championship window significantly.
I’m interested in hearing whatever everyone here thinks we might do. In terms of prospects and picks, the 9th overall pick for this year, Mackie, Vilmanis and maybe Studnicka are potential bargaining chips for a trade. In terms of cap space, we have just over $15.5 million in available space with Bob’s hit coming off the books. This leaves us some space to sign goaltenders plus sign depth or potentially make a splash signing.
What do you all think?
Can’t wait for the Cap to return next year.