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Poll: Who Grabs Wild Card Spots In The East?

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With the trade deadline in the rearview, and less than 20 games to go in the regular season for most teams, all eyes are now squarely on the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs. Like most seasons, several teams are again going down to the wire to qualify for a postseason spot.

Although no teams have been eliminated quite yet, the Columbus Blue Jackets, Montreal Canadiens, and Ottawa Senators will all need record-breaking win streaks to come close to a playoff spot. The Buffalo Sabres, Pittsburgh Penguins, and New Jersey Devils are still well within the mix for the postseason, but it may be too little too late for all three organizations.

That whittles the list down to four: the Detroit Red Wings, New York Islanders, Tampa Bay Lightning, and Washington Capitals. Over the last two weeks, even though both the Red Wings and Lightning held comfortable positions in the wild card spots, the Islanders and Capitals have closed the gap considerably with solid 10-game stretches respectively.

Currently in the top spot, Tampa Bay has produced a 4-5-1 record in their last 10 games, while acquiring Anthony Duclair and Matt Dumba at the trade deadline. Holding a two-point advantage over Detroit and New York, the Lightning will face off against teams currently in a playoff position eight times over their last 17 games.

Moving north to Detroit, the Red Wings started the 2024 calendar year with a hot stretch, producing a 16-4-2 record after the New Year holiday. Over the last two weeks, however, a completely different hockey team has taken the ice. Currently riding a five game losing streak, Detroit is losing much of their footing in the Eastern Conference wild-card race, being outscored by their opponents by a margin of 17 over that stretch.

Now tied with the Red Wings for the last wild card spot in the Eastern Conference, the Islanders are willing themselves into a playoff position. Earning a 6-1-0 record in their last seven games, New York has been dominating their opponents in nearly all facets of the game. Not only are the Islanders making a considerable amount of noise in the wild card race, they are only two points removed from knocking off the Philadelphia Flyers as one of the top three teams in the Metropolitan Division.

Lastly, being one of the streakier teams all season, the Capitals find themselves only three points out of the last wild card spot in the Eastern Conference. Producing a 7-3-1 record in their last 11 games, Washington will be one of the few organizations vying for playoff candidacy after selling off a few pieces at the deadline. Life will not get any easier for the Capitals, however, as 13 of their last 19 games will come against opponents currently in a playoff position.

Now its time for you to take the crystal ball for the 2024 Stanley Cup playoff race, which two of these teams will qualify for the wild card spots in the Eastern Conference?

Poll: Which Team Will Trade For Jake Guentzel?

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Over the last several weeks, Pittsburgh Penguins forward Jake Guentzel has been gaining steam as one of the biggest fishes available at this year’s deadline. Even after suffering an injury that will keep him out until the deadline, plenty of competitive teams remain interested in his services for their playoff push.

In tonight’s edition of ’Saturday Headlines’, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that the Carolina Hurricanes, Edmonton Oilers, Florida Panthers, Vegas Golden Knights, and Vancouver Canucks as specific teams that have checked in with Pittsburgh regarding Guentzel. Of the five teams listed, factoring in available assets and deadline salary cap space, the Hurricanes, Panthers, and Golden Knights strike as the likeliest landing spots if Guentzel does indeed get moved.

In any trade for Guentzel, a first-round pick will undoubtedly need to go back to Pittsburgh, as well as a young prospect. Just yesterday, the General Manager of the Penguins, Kyle Dubas, told the media that Pittsburgh would place a priority on getting younger in any deal that they make. With the Golden Knights and Panthers having Brendan Brisson and Mackie Samoskevich at their disposal, respectively, they are in advantageous positions to give the Penguins what they are looking for.

All-in-all, there is no guarantee that Pittsburgh will move Guentzel at all, as he has created quite a bond with franchise icon Sidney Crosby over the last several years. Owning a projected $17.54MM available to them on July 1st this summer, the Penguins could opt to sign Guentzel to a long-term contract to take over as the face of the franchise once Crosby’s playing days are over.

Now it’s your turn to vote — will any one of these teams deal for Guentzel by March 8th, or will the Penguins decide to keep him around for the long haul?

If you can’t access the poll above, click here to vote.

Poll: Favorite Hockey Moment Of 2023?

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Now that 2023 is coming to an end in a few hours (depending on which coast you are on), it is time to reflect on some of the big moments of the last 365 days, which there have been plenty of in the NHL.

On April 9th, in their game against the Philadelphia Flyers, the Boston Bruins won their 63rd game of the season, breaking the most wins of the regular seasons previously set by the 2018-19 Tampa Bay Lightning, and 1995-96 Detroit Red Wings. The Bruins would go on to win 65 games last season, cruising to the President’s Trophy, annually awarded to the team with the most points at the end of the regular season. Ultimately, Boston’s winning ways would not continue into the 2022-23 Stanley Cup playoffs, as they were ousted by the eventual Eastern Conference Champion, Florida Panthers, in seven games in the opening round.

Following along with the theme of team accomplishments, the Vegas Golden Knights became the quickest expansion team to win their first Stanley Cup, ousting the Panthers in five games in the 2023 Stanley Cup Finals. Originally founded in 2017, it took the Golden Knights only six seasons to win their first Stanley Cup, beating the previous record of the 1974 Flyers team, which took only seven years from their introduction to the league during the 1967 NHL Expansion.

On an individual level, on the Edmonton Oilers’s last game of the regular season on April 13th, Connor McDavid recorded his 153rd point of the season, by way of an assist against the San Jose Sharks. Because of this, McDavid would pass Bruins’ legend Phil Esposito for the 15th-best scoring season in NHL history, the highest of any player not named Steve Yzerman, Mario Lemieux, or Wayne Gretzky. Winning the Art Ross, Hart Memorial, Ted Lindsay, and Maurice Richard Trophy all in one season, McDavid would go on to have the best individual season in the salary cap era.

Aside from these moments, the NHL has been filled with memorable events in the 2023 calendar year. Now it’s time to pick, is one of these moments one of your favorites, or is there another that stands out?

Poll: Who Will Be The Biggest Name Moved At Trade Deadline?

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In a little over three months, the NHL calendar will set its sights on one of the most exciting days of the year, with this season’s trade deadline falling on March 8th. With the annual roster freeze lifting this morning, the unofficial start to the trade season is finally underway across the league.

In one of the bigger deadlines in recent memory, the 2022-23 season saw star players such as Timo Meier, Ryan O’Reilly, Patrick Kane, and Mattias Ekholm all change hands, as two arms races sprouted in both of the league’s conferences. This year, once again, there are a handful of high-profile players seeing their names pop up in the rumor mill.

Chris Johnston, writing in The Athletic, has produced a Trade Deadline Big Board for this season, an assortment of players he annually produces around this time each year. Currently, the four best players available appear to be Elias Lindholm and Noah Hanifin of the Calgary Flames, John Gibson of the Anaheim Ducks, and Jake Guentzel of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The future of both Lindholm and Hanifin has been clouded since the beginning of the summer, with multiple reports indicating they would like to stay with the Flames organization, and other reports saying the complete opposite. As of now, with the Flames currently holding a 14-16-5 record and sitting four points back of the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference, Lindholm and Hanifin’s days in Calgary are likely numbered.

Even outside of this season, Gibson has been the subject of trade rumors dating back several years now, with reports suggesting that Gibson had tried to force his way out of Anaheim this past summer. Even though those reports were soon downplayed, the market for Gibson has likely never been higher, as several competitive teams are in dire need of goaltending help. Unfortunately, with a $6.4MM salary until the end of the 2026-27 season, few teams will have the cap space to acquire Gibson outright.

Lastly, Guentzel is one of the newer names on the board, as recent reporting indicates that the Penguins and Guentzel are not close to a contract extension, leading many to believe Pittsburgh might be interested in moving the winger if the right offer came along. Headed for unrestricted free agency at the end of the season, and with Pittsburgh currently sitting three points back of the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, Guentzel and the Penguins may be headed for a divorce before the end of the season.

Now it’s time for a vote, will one of these four players be one of the biggest names traded at this year’s deadline, or will a surprise player take the headlines? Vote below!

2009 NHL Draft Take Two: Sixteenth Overall

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Hindsight is an amazing thing, and allows us to look back and wonder “what could have been.” Though perfection is attempted, scouting and draft selection is far from an exact science and sometimes, it doesn’t work out the way teams – or players – intended. For every Patrick Kane, there is a Patrik Stefan.

We’re looking back at the 2009 NHL Entry Draft and asking how it would shake out knowing what we do now. Will the first round remain the same, or will some late-round picks jump up to the top of the board?

The results of our redraft so far are as follows, with their original draft position in parentheses:

1st Overall:  Victor Hedman, New York Islanders (2)
2nd Overall: John Tavares, Tampa Bay Lightning (1)
3rd Overall: Ryan O’Reilly, Colorado Avalanche (33)
4th Overall: Matt Duchene, Atlanta Thrashers (3)
5th Overall: Chris Kreider, Los Angeles Kings (19)
6th Overall: Nazem Kadri, Phoenix Coyotes (7)
7th Overall:  Mattias Ekholm, Toronto Maple Leafs (102)
8th Overall: Evander Kane, Dallas Stars (4)
9th Overall: Brayden Schenn, Ottawa Senators (5)
10th Overall: Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Edmonton Oilers (6)
11th Overall: Ryan Ellis, Nashville Predators (11)
12th Overall: Dmitry Orlov, New York Islanders (55)
13th Overall: Anders Lee, Buffalo Sabres (152)
14th Overall: Tyson Barrie, Florida Panthers (64)
15th Overall: Reilly Smith, Anaheim Ducks (69)

It’s a nice jump for Smith who goes from being an early third-round pick to a mid first-rounder after being picked here.  As was the case with the 14th pick, the margin of victory was quite narrow here with Smith receiving just under 20% of the votes.

Smith opted to forego the major junior route, instead spending his draft-eligible season at a tier below that level, retaining his NCAA eligibility.  He was quite productive in his draft year with St. Michaels of the OJHL and then followed that up by averaging just over a point per game in three seasons at Miami University, earning him his entry-level deal in 2012 where he made the jump to the NHL right away, getting into three games with Dallas that season.

While Smith spent half of the following year at the AHL level, he hasn’t been there since then.  However, his time with the Stars was limited as in the 2013 offseason, he was a key part of the trade that saw Tyler Seguin go to Dallas with Boston hoping that Smith could be an important piece of their future.

He fared pretty well with the Bruins, notching 20 goals and 51 points in his first full NHL season and followed that up with a 40-point showing the following year in 2014-15.  But Boston opted to do in a different direction the following summer, using Smith as an incentive to move Marc Savard’s LTIR contract in exchange for Jimmy Hayes.

Smith responded with a 25-goal, 25-assist campaign in his first year with Florida, earning him a five-year, $25MM contract.  Unfortunately for them, his production dipped again, this time to 37 points.  At that point, Smith once again became a cap casualty with the Panthers sending Vegas a draft pick to incentivize the Golden Knights to take him in expansion.

The change of scenery worked out well for Smith who once again had a career year in his first season with his new team, picking up 60 points, following that up with two more 50-plus-point efforts.  While his output dipped the next two years (one the COVID-shortened year and the other due to injury), the Golden Knights saw fit to give him a three-year, $15MM deal in 2022.

He rewarded them for that confidence with a 56-point performance just last season.  But once again, Smith found himself a salary cap casualty this past summer as Vegas sent him to Pittsburgh for a third-round pick.  He’s off to a nice start with his new team, picking up four points in as many games so far this season.

Smith sits tenth in scoring among players from this draft class and was the highest-producing player still left on the board.

Now, we turn our focus to the 16th selection which was held by the Minnesota Wild, who selected defenseman Nick Leddy but traded him before he even played an NHL game.  Leddy remains available in our redraft; is he still the right pick for them or should someone else go in that slot?  Make your selection by voting in our poll below.

If you can’t access the poll above, click here to vote.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Poll: When Will The Sharks Win Their First Game?

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To say the San Jose Sharks have been the worst team in the league through ten games would be an understatement. Expectations for the 2023-24 iteration of the squad were low, but the team is on the verge of making history with a 0-9-1 record through ten contests. Two more losses would put them in second place all-time among winless streaks to start a season, trailing only the 1943-44 New York Rangers, who went 15 games without a win.

The numbers behind it aren’t pretty, either. They’ve scored just ten goals, four less than the 31st-ranked St. Louis Blues offense, who have played two fewer games. Through ten games, the Sharks also have a lowly goals-for percentage of 17% at five-on-five – worse than the worst team in NHL history, the 1974-75 Washington Capitals, who controlled 30% of goals at five-on-five through their first ten contests.

Obviously, some positive regression is bound to come offensively. The team is shooting at just 2.9% collectively at five-on-five, far below the 7.7% league average. Their goaltending had helped matters somewhat, although conceding ten goals to the Canucks last night took a significant bite out of both Mackenzie Blackwood’s and Kaapo Kähkönen’s save percentages. They’re controlling 40.6% of expected goals at five-on-five (per MoneyPuck), still the worst in the NHL but significantly higher than their actual rate of 17%.

All of this is to say the Sharks are absolutely a slam-dunk pick to finish 32nd in the league at season’s end, but the points will likely start coming soon for players like Tomáš Hertl, Luke Kunin, Mario Ferraro, and Fabian Zetterlund, who all rank top four on the team in shots at the moment. There’s no telling when that positive regression will occur, however, and the clock will keep ticking on perhaps the worst start to a season in NHL history.

With all that in mind, when do you think the Sharks will log their first two points of the 2023-24 season? Vote in the poll below:

If you can’t access the embedded poll, click here to vote.

Poll: Did The League Make The Right Choice On The Draft?

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A few days ago, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reported that a majority of the teams that make up the National Hockey League had voted to decentralize the NHL draft, making it so teams would no longer appear on the floor of the draft venue. Players would no longer get to put on their team jerseys, as well as meet team staff immediately on the podium.

Originally, the current draft format began in 1963, beginning at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal for 10 years, until it began moving around to various locations (still inside Montreal) until its first visit to Toronto in 1985. In 1986, and for the next 37 years, the NHL Draft would be located at a specific team’s home arena, still carrying the original draft etiquette and procedures.

Although the 2024 NHL Draft in Las Vegas still does not have a designated location up to this point, it will likely be the last draft for the foreseeable future that fans are accustomed to. Unlike the NBA, MLB, and NFL drafts, the NHL has had a long history of teams making their draft selections in person, and the players trying on their new jerseys for the first time in their pro careers.

Aside from the game itself, it was one important and notable difference that the NHL had to differentiate itself from the other professional sports leagues in North America, making the draft a more entertaining event overall. The league has not announced any specifics on the upcoming change, meaning the fans are still in the dark about how much similarity it will have to the other professional leagues.

Nevertheless, from a fan perspective, we at PHR would like to know how the actual consumers of the game perceive the change. Vote below!

Poll: Which Is The Most Surprising Team To Start The Year?

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A little over a week and a half into the 2023-24 NHL season, it’s still tough to gauge for most teams where they will end up in the standings in April. Between teams reaching well beyond expectations, and other teams reaching well short, there have been a handful of surprises out of the gate.

By far and away the team most dramatically outperforming expectations is the Detroit Red Wings. Led by Alex DeBrincat and Dylan Larkin, the Red Wings bring a 5-1-0 record into tonight’s game against the Seattle Kraken, looking to extend their winning streak to six games. Detroit had primarily been projected as a fringe playoff candidate coming out of the Eastern Conference this year, but with DeBrincat and Larkin one and two in league scoring, respectively, and the Red Wings leading the entire NHL in GF/G, their offense could easily carry them to postseason hockey.

On the other end of the spectrum, the Edmonton Oilers have failed to deliver on some lofty expectations coming into this season. After finishing sixth in the league standings last year thanks to a generational season by superstar Connor McDavid, as well as losing to the eventual Stanley Cup Champions in back-to-back postseasons, the Oilers were considered the third likeliest team to win the Cup by Vegas oddsmakers. Nevertheless, the team has gotten off to a 1-3-1 start, in large part due to the subpar play of their defensive core and goaltenders.

In a similar vein to the Oilers, the Carolina Hurricanes had incredibly high expectations heading into this season, carrying some of the best defensive depth in the entirety of the NHL. The Hurricanes still have plenty of time to recover from a 3-3-0 start, but they will need their goaltending to bounce back in a big way. After finishing second in the NHL last season in terms of GA/P, Carolina now sits alone in last place to start the 2023-24 campaign. Combining the trio of Frederik Andersen, Antti Raanta, and Pyotr Kochetkov, the Hurricanes goaltending trio holds a 3-3-0 record, with a .833 SV% and a 4.50 GAA.

So there you have it, even though the season is young, there are still plenty of emerging storylines to follow throughout the season. Now it’s time for the vote, which team do you think is off to the most surprising start?

2009 NHL Draft Take Two: Fifteenth Overall

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Hindsight is an amazing thing, and allows us to look back and wonder “what could have been.” Though perfection is attempted, scouting and draft selection is far from an exact science and sometimes, it doesn’t work out the way teams – or players – intended. For every Patrick Kane, there is a Patrik Stefan.

We’re looking back at the 2009 NHL Entry Draft and asking how it would shake out knowing what we do now. Will the first round remain the same, or will some late-round picks jump up to the top of the board?

The results of our redraft so far are as follows, with their original draft position in parentheses:

1st Overall:  Victor Hedman, New York Islanders (2)
2nd Overall: John Tavares, Tampa Bay Lightning (1)
3rd Overall: Ryan O’Reilly, Colorado Avalanche (33)
4th Overall: Matt Duchene, Atlanta Thrashers (3)
5th Overall: Chris Kreider, Los Angeles Kings (19)
6th Overall: Nazem Kadri, Phoenix Coyotes (7)
7th Overall:  Mattias Ekholm, Toronto Maple Leafs (102)
8th Overall: Evander Kane, Dallas Stars (4)
9th Overall: Brayden Schenn, Ottawa Senators (5)
10th Overall: Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Edmonton Oilers (6)
11th Overall: Ryan Ellis, Nashville Predators (11)
12th Overall: Dmitry Orlov, New York Islanders (55)
13th Overall: Anders Lee, Buffalo Sabres (152)
14th Overall: Tyson Barrie, Florida Panthers (64)

After being an early third-rounder originally, Barrie fares much better this time around, going in the final lottery spot.  It was a narrow margin of victory as he checked in with just 18.5% of the votes, barely 2% ahead of the next-highest player.

Barrie was, unsurprisingly, a high-end point producer from the back end in junior.  After putting up 52 points in his draft-eligible year, he followed it up with back-to-back seasons with greater than a point-per-game average.

While he spent a good chunk of his first two professional campaigns in the minors, Barrie did see action with Colorado and by the midway mark of that second year, he was a regular with the Avs.  Before long, he was one of the more consistent offensive blueliners, putting up a double-digit goal total in five of six years, notching at least 49 points in four of those.

In 2019, the Avs decided to trade for an impact center, acquiring Kadri from Toronto (who went sixth in this redraft) as part of a four-player, two-pick swap.  The Maple Leafs were hoping Barrie would be a big boost to their top power play but it didn’t go as planned as he had just five goals and went to Edmonton via free agency the next summer on a three-year deal with a $4.5MM AAV, one that expires at the end of the upcoming season.

Barrie did have some success with the Oilers in that power play specialist role but last season, his contract was needed for cap matching purposes when they picked up Mattias Ekholm from Nashville.  A speculative trade candidate over the summer, a move didn’t come to fruition but if the Predators are out of the playoff picture by the trade deadline, he could be on the move again.

Very quietly, Barrie sits eighth in scoring among all players from this draft class, second to only Hedman amongst blueliners.  All in all, he has had a pretty impressive career for a third-round pick, one that likely will still have a few years left in it after this coming season.

Now, we shift our focus to pick number fifteen, held by the Anaheim Ducks.  They opted to look for help down the middle with their original selection, selecting Peter Holland out of OHL Guelph.  Holland had a somewhat successful tryout with Colorado this training camp, eventually earning himself a longer look with their AHL affiliate but there are certainly better options for Anaheim in this redraft.  Who should they take?  Make your selection by voting in our poll below.

If you can’t access the poll above, click here to vote.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

2009 NHL Draft Take Two: Fourteenth Overall

at CDT | by 1 Comment

Hindsight is an amazing thing, and allows us to look back and wonder “what could have been.” Though perfection is attempted, scouting and draft selection is far from an exact science and sometimes, it doesn’t work out the way teams – or players – intended. For every Patrick Kane, there is a Patrik Stefan.

We’re looking back at the 2009 NHL Entry Draft and asking how it would shake out knowing what we do now. Will the first round remain the same, or will some late-round picks jump up to the top of the board?

The results of our redraft so far are as follows, with their original draft position in parentheses:

1st Overall:  Victor Hedman, New York Islanders (2)
2nd Overall: John Tavares, Tampa Bay Lightning (1)
3rd Overall: Ryan O’Reilly, Colorado Avalanche (33)
4th Overall: Matt Duchene, Atlanta Thrashers (3)
5th Overall: Chris Kreider, Los Angeles Kings (19)
6th Overall: Nazem Kadri, Phoenix Coyotes (7)
7th Overall:  Mattias Ekholm, Toronto Maple Leafs (102)
8th Overall: Evander Kane, Dallas Stars (4)
9th Overall: Brayden Schenn, Ottawa Senators (5)
10th Overall: Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Edmonton Oilers (6)
11th Overall: Ryan Ellis, Nashville Predators (11)
12th Overall: Dmitry Orlov, New York Islanders (55)
13th Overall: Anders Lee, Buffalo Sabres (152)

Lee goes much higher this time around, jumping up from the first pick of the sixth round to just above the midway mark of the first after receiving just shy of 30% of the votes.  It’s a pick that would have gone over much better for Buffalo after Zack Kassian didn’t quite live up to his draft billing.

Lee’s path to the NHL certainly wasn’t a quick one.  He had a stint with Green Bay of the USHL after being picked and then spent the following three years with Notre Dame where he was a consistent scoring threat, putting up at least 17 goals and 34 points each year.  That earned him an entry-level deal in 2013 where he made his NHL debut just days later.

But it wasn’t until 2014-15 that Lee became a regular with the Islanders.  As he did in college and the minors, he just kept on scoring, notching 25 goals in his rookie year to help him finish in the top ten in Calder Trophy voting for Rookie of the Year.  His best season came three years later when he cracked the 40-goal mark while also eclipsing the 60-point plateau.

While Lee hasn’t been able to get back to that level since then, he has been a relatively consistent scorer.  He has scored 28 goals three times in the past five seasons; the two that he didn’t were the campaigns shortened by the pandemic.  Along the way, he took over as captain in 2018 after John Tavares left for Toronto and signed a seven-year extension with the Isles one year later; that deal – which carries a $7MM AAV – still has three seasons left on it.

As things stand, Lee is tied for seventh in most goals scored from the 2009 draft class.  He’s tied with Schenn, who went ninth in our redraft, despite playing in 180 fewer NHL games thus far.  As a result, he was one of the best bargain selections from 2009, if not the best value pick overall.

Now, we turn our focus to the 14th pick which was held by the Florida Panthers.  They selected blueliner Dmitry Kulikov, a player who hasn’t lived up to the offensive profile he had in the QMJHL but one who has carved out a pretty good career for himself nonetheless and actually rejoined his original team in free agency this summer.  Was that the right pick for them or is there a better fit on the board?  Make your pick by voting in our poll below.

If you can’t access the poll above, click here to vote.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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