2022 Free Agency Thread

[Rzombo4 prez]

Would you rather see Leddy, DDK, Staal, and Oesterle?

Pretty much any legit NHL LHD would be an improvement. Stevie overpaid for Nemeth, and nobody complained because he was better than the crap on the ice the previous season. A 3rd pair NHL LHD is a top pair LHD in Detroit.

Term is more important than salary, I wouldn't go past 2 years.

Like I said, I want futures on the bitching. He is one of the dumbest players in the league.

 

[Gniwder]

Like I said, I want futures on the bitching. He is one of the dumbest players in the league.

Good, he'll fit right in with Stevie's warm bodies.

 

[jkutswings]

Good, he'll fit right in with Stevie's warm bodies.

Detroit Red Wings Franchise History | Hockey-Reference.com

After tonight's win, the Wings are on pace for 84 points, which would be their highest since 2015-16 (which was their last playoff appearance).

I had no issue with a handful of fillers during the phase of bottoming out. But the upswing has clearly begun, and the strategy will change accordingly.

I would expect this summer to forecast an end to the playoff drought next year, not a continuation of stockpiling placeholders while the kids cut their teeth.

 

[golffuul]

Detroit Red Wings Franchise History | Hockey-Reference.com

After tonight's win, the Wings are on pace for 84 points, which would be their highest since 2015-16 (which was their last playoff appearance).

I had no issue with a handful of fillers during the phase of bottoming out. But the upswing has clearly begun, and the strategy will change accordingly.

I would expect this summer to forecast an end to the playoff drought next year, not a continuation of stockpiling placeholders while the kids cut their teeth.

I think next year will see more of our prospects make their way into the system. And that could mean some slight regression, since that means we won't be as heavily weighted towards veteran role players. But it could also mean some big progression as well if the current group, along with some well-placed vets, can keep to the team's core identity and instill that in the new players. Will be interesting to see where that all falls. We should have a good idea based on our Free Agent signings.

 

[Winger98]

Looking at the UFA list and where this team is I don't really want to see us paying the $5-7m per for middle tier talent. A guy like Gaudreau costs more but his impact is huge. A guy like Trocheck would be an upgrade on our 2C, but will it be an upgrade that is worth the additional cost over just rolling with Suter there? I don't think so. Especially when a guy like Gaudreau allows you to shift your entire forward group around to have more talent on the wings further down the lineup.

Honestly, this is one of my worries with Lindholm. He's arguably the best LD on the market this summer, top3 D overall, and will be looking to get paid. His actual salary this year is $6.75m, and I'd bet that he's looking at that as what he's hoping his average is. Is he worth that, especially with term? I really don't know, but I'd be a little leery of it considering I think he's ideally a 3D on a good team. At that point I could definitely see an argument for a filler type like Giordano who you know is likely to only be here for a couple of years before he walks.

 

[Rzombo4 prez]

Looking at the UFA list and where this team is I don't really want to see us paying the $5-7m per for middle tier talent. A guy like Gaudreau costs more but his impact is huge. A guy like Trocheck would be an upgrade on our 2C, but will it be an upgrade that is worth the additional cost over just rolling with Suter there? I don't think so. Especially when a guy like Gaudreau allows you to shift your entire forward group around to have more talent on the wings further down the lineup.

Honestly, this is one of my worries with Lindholm. He's arguably the best LD on the market this summer, top3 D overall, and will be looking to get paid. His actual salary this year is $6.75m, and I'd bet that he's looking at that as what he's hoping his average is. Is he worth that, especially with term? I really don't know, but I'd be a little leery of it considering I think he's ideally a 3D on a good team. At that point I could definitely see an argument for a filler type like Giordano who you know is likely to only be here for a couple of years before he walks.

If we are paying a premium (which is the nature of the UFA market) I want to be paying that premium for a position of need like center. I think Trocheck is much better than Suter and probably is worth the difference in compensation so long as you have no reason to believe that he will fall off of a cliff. We have other options for acquiring wingers. We don't really have other options for acquiring a center at this point.

Cap space only has value if you actually use it. Managing the cap for the sake of managing the cap won't get you anywhere. The key is to avoid the situation where you get relatively little for the premium price that you pay (i.e. Weiss and Nielsen).

 

[Winger98]

If we are paying a premium (which is the nature of the UFA market) I want to be paying that premium for a position of need like center. I think Trocheck is much better than Suter and probably is worth the difference in compensation so long as you have no reason to believe that he will fall off of a cliff. We have other options for acquiring wingers. We don't really have other options for acquiring a center at this point.

Cap space only has value if you actually use it. Managing the cap for the sake of managing the cap won't get you anywhere. The key is to avoid the situation where you get relatively little for the premium price that you pay (i.e. Weiss and Nielsen).

Yeah, I just don't see it with Trocheck. I think he's a guy you can plug into a line and will do his thing but he won't seriously upgrade his linemates or the line. I expect him to cost ~$7m plus a decent term (5+ years). At that point, I would want to spend a couple of million more, a couple of years more, and go after a guy like Gaudreau. Or spend a few million more but significantly less term and go after an older guy like Giroux, Pavelski, or Bergeron. If you can get Trocheck for 3-4 years, I'd be more interested.

Yeah, cap space is only useful if you use it but paying a premium for moderate but long term upgrades in the middle6 is how you end up with a bloated cap and middling team.

 

[Rzombo4 prez]

Yeah, I just don't see it with Trocheck. I think he's a guy you can plug into a line and will do his thing but he won't seriously upgrade his linemates or the line. I expect him to cost ~$7m plus a decent term (5+ years). At that point, I would want to spend a couple of million more, a couple of years more, and go after a guy like Gaudreau. Or spend a few million more but significantly less term and go after an older guy like Giroux, Pavelski, or Bergeron. If you can get Trocheck for 3-4 years, I'd be more interested.

Yeah, cap space is only useful if you use it but paying a premium for moderate but long term upgrades in the middle6 is how you end up with a bloated cap and middling team.

I appreciate buying quality, but we can't simply ignore the center position if we want to improve the ceiling of this team. Gaudreau clearly makes us better, but I am not sure he makes us all that much better collectively. The biggest area for improvement continues to be the #2c position.

 

[golffuul]

I appreciate buying quality, but we can't simply ignore the center position if we want to improve the ceiling of this team. Gaudreau clearly makes us better, but I am not sure he makes us all that much better collectively. The biggest area for improvement continues to be the #2c position.

If we upgrade our defense, you'll see a much greater increase than if we tried to incrementally upgrade our 2C position, IMO. Suter is quite capable and has done really well for us the last 20-25 games. Good two-way center...52+% in faceoffs. Kills penalties and can play the half-wall/high-slot on the 2nd PP. Hard to find that level of value in a FA center. I would even say that Suter is a better value center than Trochek and only trails him in goals by 2 without the benefit of a team that is already a Cup contender.

But yeah...Defense will get us where we want to go. We have so many upgrades to make on the back-end it really is amazing that we've been able to be above .500 this season.

 

[Gniwder]

Detroit Red Wings Franchise History | Hockey-Reference.com

After tonight's win, the Wings are on pace for 84 points, which would be their highest since 2015-16 (which was their last playoff appearance).

I had no issue with a handful of fillers during the phase of bottoming out. But the upswing has clearly begun, and the strategy will change accordingly.

I would expect this summer to forecast an end to the playoff drought next year, not a continuation of stockpiling placeholders while the kids cut their teeth.

Agree, but we'll see what Stevie does. Big UFA signing isn't his thing.

It'll be interesting to see if he at least upgrades on the short term signings instead of $1M players. Even over the hill guys like Malkin, Giroux, Giordano Goglioski would be an upgrade over crap like Gagner and Rowney.

 

[NickH8]

Agree, but we'll see what Stevie does. Big UFA signing isn't his thing.

It'll be interesting to see if he at least upgrades on the short term signings instead of $1M players. Even over the hill guys like Malkin, Giroux, Giordano Goglioski would be an upgrade over crap like Gagner and Rowney.

I can see Stevie doing this most likely, fits his MO. Getting a guy like Giordano to play with Seider and bring leadership would be a huge upgrade over DeKeyser in that role.

 

[NickH8]

I like Pius Suter a lot, but he's ideally a third line center. Whether the centers in free agency this year are the answer long term is the question. I don't think any of them are.
This take is gonna sound similar, may as well bring it up from the old thankfully obsolete "is Larkin a 1c" debate. Suter alone may not be a winning teams 2c, but if we can get another Suter level center (an attainable goal for guys like Veleno and Rasmussen) and surround them with good wingers (Bert/Vrana, Fabbri, Berggren? Soderblom? Mazur?) could that be a winning formula? I think it could be, alongside our very promising defense pool.

 

[Gniwder]

I can see Stevie doing this most likely, fits his MO. Getting a guy like Giordano to play with Seider and bring leadership would be a huge upgrade over DeKeyser in that role.

He's over the hill but still a better player than Leddy. He's 38, so the most he's gonna get anywhere is 2 years, though I'd prefer one.

He's from Toronto, not sure if his extended family is still there in which case it'd put him a lot closer. I think his other option is to head back to Calgary, I can't imagine he wants to be captain of the Krappy Kraken. The team isn't even worth watching. Francis could've picked Domi and Tarasenko. I don't even post over there anymore because the idiots are defending Francis, lol. I should pay The Oaf to go rip on Francis.

 

[Frk It]

I wonder what Francouz will get on the open market.

He only has 47 career games, but he has a .923 SV% for his NHL career so far. He also has had some injuries and is 31.

I would like to replace Greiss with an upgrade in net. I don't know if we want another small goalie as our tandem with Ned, though, and we may want someone with more of an established track record.

 

[Frk It]

Looking at the UFA list and where this team is I don't really want to see us paying the $5-7m per for middle tier talent. A guy like Gaudreau costs more but his impact is huge. A guy like Trocheck would be an upgrade on our 2C, but will it be an upgrade that is worth the additional cost over just rolling with Suter there? I don't think so. Especially when a guy like Gaudreau allows you to shift your entire forward group around to have more talent on the wings further down the lineup.

Honestly, this is one of my worries with Lindholm. He's arguably the best LD on the market this summer, top3 D overall, and will be looking to get paid. His actual salary this year is $6.75m, and I'd bet that he's looking at that as what he's hoping his average is. Is he worth that, especially with term? I really don't know, but I'd be a little leery of it considering I think he's ideally a 3D on a good team. At that point I could definitely see an argument for a filler type like Giordano who you know is likely to only be here for a couple of years before he walks.

Giordano would be 39 by the start of next year. I think he either retires or signs a 1 year deal.

 

[Coach Reggie Dunlop]

We legit have to make a splash in free agency this off season. Our defense is so bad it’s not even funny, getting better defenders would open up our offense even more which is middle of the road. Gotta go after guys like lindholm, we can’t stay in the basement forever. We will have a ton of cap space to do it too with all of our defenseman coming off the books.

 

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

Detroit is at the point where it's shit or get off the pot time.

6 seasons with no playoffs is pushing them into Dead Things territory.

They are also shedding the last of the Holland era bad cap hit in DeKeyser. And they will likely be far under the salary cap with only 4 significant raises coming in Larkin, Bertuzzi, Raymond and Seider that will make about 30ish million between them.

Upgrade the D, for the love of all things holy. And work to either push Fabbri and Suter down the lineup or move them to get more magic beans. 2022 is a really good year for free agent wingers.

Also Detroit could start looking at moving B level prospects for real roster upgrades.

Lindholm + a 3rd pair D (Zadorov or Merrill) + Andrew Copp and/or Ondrej Palat don't hurt Detroit's wallet much. The team would still be far under the cap.

 

[LeighDx59]

Theres only a handful of guys I'd like to see Detroit pickup. Giroux, Trocheck, Pavelski or Hertl would be good pickups up front, depending on the price/term.

 

[golffuul]

Detroit is at the point where it's shit or get off the pot time.

6 seasons with no playoffs is pushing them into Dead Things territory.

They are also shedding the last of the Holland era bad cap hit in DeKeyser. And they will likely be far under the salary cap with only 4 significant raises coming in Larkin, Bertuzzi, Raymond and Seider that will make about 30ish million between them.

Upgrade the D, for the love of all things holy. And work to either push Fabbri and Suter down the lineup or move them to get more magic beans. 2022 is a really good year for free agent wingers.

Also Detroit could start looking at moving B level prospects for real roster upgrades.

Lindholm + a 3rd pair D (Zadorov or Merrill) + Andrew Copp and/or Ondrej Palat don't hurt Detroit's wallet much. The team would still be far under the cap.

Honestly, I see one more year of what he had this year with maybe slightly better win %. At this point we are probably 8 players away from being regular playoff contenders. That's way too many to really start to hone in on any particular free agents or prospects that can have the kind of value to our win-loss that Raymond and Seider have brought. While we have some players coming, they are not guaranteed to make it to the main club next year. But the year after we should start seeing real playoff pushes.

While I would love to see Yzerman make some moves, either with a good free agent who will be here long term or via trade, I still think he is going to play the long game and build for dynasty-type scenario where we become the team that all free agents want to be a part of.

 

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

Honestly, I see one more year of what he had this year with maybe slightly better win %. At this point we are probably 8 players away from being regular playoff contenders. That's way too many to really start to hone in on any particular free agents or prospects that can have the kind of value to our win-loss that Raymond and Seider have brought. While we have some players coming, they are not guaranteed to make it to the main club next year. But the year after we should start seeing real playoff pushes.

While I would love to see Yzerman make some moves, either with a good free agent who will be here long term or via trade, I still think he is going to play the long game and build for dynasty-type scenario where we become the team that all free agents want to be a part of.

One more season starts to push them into Sabres territory though. And with a free agent shuffle happening across the league this offseason, plus some traditionally strong teams starting to decline, the 2022-23 season is the perfect time for Detroit to start making that push up the standings.

Boston lost Rask and Krejci. They might even lose Bergeron and don't have anything close to a replacement. THIS is where I expect Hertl to get overpaid.
Pittsburgh has Malkin and Letang to worry about. I don't know if those guys are going to take pay cuts.
Tampa is going to lose 2 to 3 of their best players (I'm guessing Killorn, Palat and/or Cernak).
Philadelphia is in free fall. I'd expect them to shed players.
Carolina looks like they could lose Trochek and Niederreiter and/or TDA. They'll be good next year but probably not as strong.
Washington is going to have to pay their goalie and they'll need to add some D with very little space.
Chicago is in a world of hurt next year as Kubalik and Strome are RFAs and Jones' deal increases
Minnesota gets hit with 12.7 mil in buyout penalties starting next season
Toronto will need to sign 9 players with roughly 9 million dollars for next year.

I'm guessing that we'll see a 3-4 year period where the most dominant teams are Florida, Colorado, Vegas and Carolina with the Rangers just outside of the top 4. Toronto should be near this group just by virtue of their top 2 lines but until the cap increases they're going to be a paper tiger.

Look at Yzerman's tenure in Detroit as a 10 to 12 year project. By year 4 (2022-23) Detroit could be fully in phase 2 of the rebuild by escalating their timeline by getting a couple guys through free agency to let a couple of our less marquee prospects (Mastrosimone, Wallinder, Buium) cook a little longer. I'm not saying break the bank on Hertl or Forsberg, but the guys I mentioned move that timeline up and help strengthen the foundation. Then 4-5 years from now Larkin, Seider and Raymond will (hopefully) have enough support around them to be in or close to that group of top 4 teams in the league.

 

[Reddwit]

One guy I’d love to see us add is Mikheyev. Love his game. Big, fast, feisty, great forechecker and PKer. He’s a “young” UFA at 27. He’s got middle six scoring capability too. Just all around great asset - the type you win with.

 

[Rzombo4 prez]

My god is the UFA market for defensemen bad. Even if you just set your targets on "competent" you have a hard time coming up with many options. I knew it was bad, but holy hell is it bad.

 

[Bench]

My god is the UFA market for defensemen bad. Even if you just set your targets on "competent" you have a hard time coming up with many options. I knew it was bad, but holy hell is it bad.

This is why I'm pretty firmly in the "trade and sign" Klingberg camp. There's nobody better than that coming along so call up your buddy Nill for his rights and see if you can't work out a deal.

If that makes Hronek expendable, you cross that bridge.

 

[Gniwder]

Washington is going to have to pay their goalie and they'll need to add some D with very little space.

They lose Schultz and Kempny who both suck, Kempny has only played 10 games this season. Jensen has been playing the middle pair. So they need a 3rd pair RD for around $2M to afford the goalies.

A possible offseason trade is Hagelin + 2nd as a cap dump, his actual salary is $1.8M, cap is $2.75M, he kills penalties. I'd like to see Stevie fleece McLellan again.

Their biggest problem is an aging core, in about 2 years they'll wind up looking like the LA Kings rebuild where their old players were slow AF.

 

[Gniwder]

My god is the UFA market for defensemen bad. Even if you just set your targets on "competent" you have a hard time coming up with many options. I knew it was bad, but holy hell is it bad.

Which is why I keep bringing up Goglioski, Giordano, and Letang. If Stevie wants a short term contract, those are the only viable good options.

Stevie did sign Sami Salo at age 38 when he was with Tampa, I'm just not sure if the players will be interested without severe overpayment.

Otherwise we might wind up seeing Kempny or Maatta as reclamation projects, which will probably wind up a lot like watching Oesterle play.