NFT: NHL Free Agency Thread

will also point out though that under that scenario, Skjei really has to be an offensive talent.

A 2016-2017 defense of (forgive me if I've screwed up LD/RD, I cant keep it straight):

McD-Girardi
Staal-Skjei
McIlraith-Klein

...doesnt bring much offensively at all. If you believe Klein had a career year offensively this past season, we might need to move him anyway

Skjei's a lefty, but that probably makes the most sense in terms of matching talent to pairing (hopefully)

Skjei had 10 points in 33 games last year. McDonagh had 18 in 33 during his junior year. I've read he's not nearly as good as McDonagh offensively, which the numbers suggest. I have no idea, just figured the numbers were relevant.

I'd really like to re-sign Yandle. Fucking loonie.

in that group. In a fucked up way... it'd be better to have Del Zotto back than Klein, given the way the rest of the group is constructed.

Really need to find a way to re-sign Yandle... and Stepan... and Kreider.. and Miller... and Hayes.

It means making some tough decisions on others (Girardi - remove the NMC my friend...)

MDZ has developed into a nice player.

I would be 100% good with that. Hopefully it's true.

In comment 12381325 arcarsenal said:

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I would be 100% good with that. Hopefully it's true.

Especially if it means dumping Glass

go get 'em, Braden


lulz... begging is pathetic, dude:

�I think it�s important for players that they realize we�ve had a successful team,� MacLellan (Caps GM) said, per the Washington Post. �If they believe we have a good chance moving forward to win a championship, they recognize that going for max dollars � which you could make the choice to do in certain situations � that it would hinder our ability to compete going forward.�

https://t.co/Rfiy61PWQs

Fuck you pj.

Piece of shit.

In comment 12383723 BrettNYG10 said:

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Fuck you pj. Piece of shit.

LOL, lazy euro-trash fits in well with Therrien system /sarcasm

seriously, I like the price, and Semin seems motivated, publicly saying he'd take a one year deal to re-establish himself. I just want them to extend Galchenyuk, that's the move I'm waiting for.

he plugs nicely into the cap slot for next season, with McIl and Lindberg also on the big club. Dump Glass and there's your cap cushion, as a starter.

All the fancy stats guys are rooting for him and think Therrien sucks as a coach.

Wish Sather gave him the $4.5 he was looking for two years ago, but...

In comment 12383804 BrettNYG10 said:

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Wish Sather gave him the $4.5 he was looking for two years ago, but...

Was that a multi-year deal?

That's a good deal for Semin. Cheaper than Tanner fucking Glass. And the guy can actually play hockey. Ain't that sometihng..

In comment 12383816 JonC said:

Quote:

In comment 12383804 BrettNYG10 said: Quote: Wish Sather gave him the $4.5 he was looking for two years ago, but... Was that a multi-year deal?

$4.7, not $4.5, I was going off the top of my head:

Quote:

Bob McKenzie ‏@TSNBobMcKenzie 3 Sep 2013 Tough sledding for NYR/RFA Derek Stepan. Player seeks McDonagh $ (6 x $4.7M) but no arb rights, NYR holding firm on Subban level bridge deal

really unimpressive offseason for NYR so far.

Semin/Boyes would be nice.

Article on Galchenyuk for pj.
Sport Log IQ - ( New Window )

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In comment 12383869 MetsAreBack said:

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really unimpressive offseason for NYR so far.

Well, we didn't have much money to work with with all the RFAs we had to re-sign, although we should some money even after we re-sign Stepan. Boyes could be a nice option. I could see him having a Pouliot type of season for us.

And no room at the inn anyway.

In comment 12383877 Davisian said:

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And no room at the inn anyway.

You think Hayes should fill in at the 2RW spot?

there is zero reason whatsoever for Glass to still be on this roster. Dressing just 11 forwards in a game 7 - Glass saw less than 6 minutes ice time anyway. Why is AV being so fucking stubborn?

And we also have a ridiculous amount of cap space tied up in 9 NHL calibre defensemen (I'm putting Skjei in this group who will be ready by Christmas)

There is opportunity to make this roster better ... but for whatever reason it doesn't seem to be happening.

Instead we're apparently banking on a breakout year from a guy who had 5 goals/5 assists last year.... as well as every young guy to build off what they did last year (Kreider, Miller, Stepan, etc). I hate the forward depth on this team right now and even without injuries (which are inevitable, especially for a group that has as much wear and tear as this one does last few years), think we'll struggle to score goals with this current group.

I really disagree with you on the forward depth. I think we have a really good top nine, with Etem being an obvious question mark (adding Boyes to the mix would give us a legitimate bottom six wing, who can fill in if Etem doesn't develop). Glass is the only real issue and Etem is a question mark.

I'm with you on some guys not necessarily taking steps, but there's no one in the top nine who I feel has to go.

In comment 12383871 BrettNYG10 said:

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Semin/Boyes would be nice. Article on Galchenyuk for pj. Sport Log IQ - ( New Window )

thanks Brett, not uncommon for younger players. Galchenyuk is still 21 years old and will be for most of next year.

I'm not surprised.

What is enlightening from that article is Desharnais is awful at center.

In comment 12383897 BrettNYG10 said:

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I really disagree with you on the forward depth. I think we have a really good top nine, with Etem being an obvious question mark (adding Boyes to the mix would give us a legitimate bottom six wing, who can fill in if Etem doesn't develop). Glass is the only real issue and Etem is a question mark. I'm with you on some guys not necessarily taking steps, but there's no one in the top nine who I feel has to go.

I think we are in agreement - maybe just wording it differently. The only forward i'm recommending we let go of is Glass -- not sure about some of these smaller summer signings (Gibbons, Stalberg), but for the most part harmless. Glass has to go - we have to get back to having 4 capable lines.

Also think moving a D for a 2nd/3rd line Wing makes a lot of sense. Otherwise we'll probably end up waiving McIlraith in September which is just utterly ridiculous.

For a young forward who's on the cusp, but can be sent down. (and more depending on the defenseman dealt)

But I have no interest in handing a contract to some old dude just to make things look more stable on paper.

There's nothing about Miller, Hayes, Fast or Etem that says they can't handle increased roles. And Lindberg deserves every chance to make this team.

Hell, even Stahlberg has the advance stats to show he's better than Glass.

The depth is there. It needs reinforcement on the AHL level, not on the 23 man roster.

when we signed Stalberg, i thought that meant Glass was finally gone. Stalberg can fill the role... but a lot better.

But like when we all got our hopes up last year when Sheppard got here -- nothing seems to get Glass off this roster.

for a prospect or two

But with the cap savings from that move + getting rid of Glass.. you could sign a guy like Boyes to a 1 yr deal.

We could use another 20 goal scorer in this lineup. I like some of those young players you mentioned too (other teams have better ones.. but we can be competitive with these guys) -- but injuries happen and i dont think we've adequately replaced "regular season MSL" and Hagelin to date.

A lot of improvement is going to be predicated on player improvement from within and that's fine. This was never going to be a flashy offseason. The Rangers right now are a very good team with players who are still arcing upward (Stepan, Hayes, Kreider, Miller, Fast, ~Brassard, Lindberg) and they can improve based on that alone.

There are very few players on this roster you can look at and reasonably assume a possibility of decline outside of Girardi, Boyle or Moore. I personally think Moore will stay fairly constant. Yandle and McDonagh should both have better 2015-16's for us.

It's not an exciting offseason, per se.. but it's certainly not a bad one. This team should be right back in the mix for a Cup.

and we need to replace the 38 regular season goals lost from MSL and Hagelin

My other concern is we're counting on Zuccs to be back to normal and an essential part of that top 6. Who knows - that was a scary, life or at least career threatening situation. He's tough... but wouldnt be surprised if he took a bit of a step back this year as a result.

Our young players may improve on last year - certainly Fast and Miller will - but that's a lot of production to make up for. And its a young group that while solid, lacks that superstar that can carry the load (and in fairness you usually only get those kids through lottery picks, but to Sather's credit - we've been a playoff team for 10 years now).

Kreider may end up being that guy ... but he potted 21 last year so its a lot to ask him to all of a sudden jump to 30-35G elite status (and if he did... we'll need to back up the Brinx for him next offseason anyway)

Could use one more vet scorer to anchor us a bit on a 1-year 'prove it' deal. That's all.

And all i asked you guys for on my birthday was to trade Tanner Glass - and you couldnt even do that for me. Fuck all of you.

That's a safe bet for the regular season. What's more important to winning a Cup is if he can increase his playoff productivity. That's very feasible.

.

he gave them a hometown discount. $6 mil/year for that guy is a steal.

As much as I love Hank and still think we can win with him... the market seems to be settling on elite goalies at $6-7 mil/year... it'd be nice to have that extra $2 mil of cap space to play with.

I see your point, but that extra $2.4M wouldn't have kept Hagelin.

And Lundqvist's cap hit is about the same percent it was in 2008-2009.

Lundqvist's contract is far down the list of ones I wish I could amend.

BTW, I read a theory the Rangers have a trade in place for Glass but won't pull the trigger until Stepan signs. They have levers (Klein/Glass) to create breathing room that haven't been utilized yet.

In comment 12384215 BrettNYG10 said:

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I like Holtby more than some on here, but that's a great deal.

Tim Wharnsby ‏@TimWharnsby 58m58 minutes ago
@nyrs_rangers #NYR offer: $5.2M; Stepan asking: $7.25M.

On the other hand I don't see Step as a $7M player. $6.5M would be as high as I would go and that is projecting growth to recoup investment. If that's not enough everyone is tradeable.

That's why the offer is so low. 6.75 would still be great value for Step. 7 is still fair.

Have to remember, we are getting his prime years here. This deal is going to encapsulate his age ~24-30 seasons which should be the best of his career for the most part. When you compare it to the deal Kesler got and the fact that Kesler is already beyond his prime, it would be very fair.

Sitting at the pool today with my kids. New issue of THN arrived in the mail. I think I read it cover to cover in about 20 minutes (plug for the article about Glen Metropolit and his brother in jail for murder; hardscrabble life in the Toronto projects..great article). Awesome to be talking hockey here in the dog days of summer. Can't wait for the new season.

6 yrs, $25M. $4.166M AAV.
NHL.com Link - ( New Window )

In comment 12384334 pjcas18 said:

Quote:

In comment 12384215 BrettNYG10 said: Quote: . I like Holtby more than some on here, but that's a great deal.

Agreed - give me that deal over Lundqvist's...

If winning is hank's #1 priority he should have taken less. His $8M cap number is restrictive. I think he's clearly a better goalie than Holtby who is a tier below. But wouldn't $7M be enough to feel respected and well compensated?

I agree Torrag - and I say that fully supporting a player's desire to maximize income as well as not thinking the extra $1-2M is hurting the team.

Part of my comment was because of how I view Holtby vs. Lundqvist (I think Lundqvist will be the superior goaltender for most of the rest of the decade, but the gap isn't large enough to make me want to allocate the marginal cap dollars to Lundqvist), part is due to the risk Lundqvist starts declining, but most is because of my view on the goaltending position itself. The gap between Getzlaf ($8.25) and Stepan ($6.5) is bigger than it is for Lundqvist and Holtby IMV.

It's easy for us to sit here and say that. The players union doesn't want any of that shit going on. In a sport where elite players are paid far less than they are in others, it's pretty hard to expect a guy to just leave money on the table.

What does Lundqvist get on the open market? I really don't know. Does he hit $10?

I think most of our guys (not Girardi/Staal) sacrificed a bit of income for stability.

I'll never shit on guys for trying to get every dollar they can.

There's definitely a compromise made in exchange for stability which is what we've seen with a few of our own.

Hank definitely would have been near 10 per on the open market at the time we re-signed him, IMO. Would still get 9+ even now I would think.

I hate to criticize, but he's compensated as if he's head and shoulders better than anyone else and he simply isn't. He's consistently top five or so. But he's only won one Vezina that Quick could've won. Relatively, his contract isn't great.