GDT: Free Agency 2023

[Boomstick]

 

[RasmusAndersson]

The magical "contender in 3-5 years." The phrase "kicking the can down the road" gets used a lot around here too. Accumulating lottery tickets and not competing now is essentially the same as retaining the core now and hoping some of the draft picks of 2021-2023 turn into a star.

It is not essentially the same though. It’s completely different. We know what we have in the core now. All of our top guys are around 30. We don’t have many potential top prospects (maybe Wolf and Coronato, but that’s it and we know that’s nothing compared to other prospect pools around the league. We have a decent core and decent prospect pool. Hoping some of our existing draft picks turn into stars and keeping our old core leads to mediocrity. We know this. Maybe we have a good regular season and make the second round next year, but we’re not consistently competitors.

On the other hand, selling some of our older core for lottery tickets has the potential to take us to that next level. We can acquire multiple firsts and A-level prospects for Backs Lindy and Hanifin that can supplement the rest of our young core. Building through youth and the draft is the way to hit that next level. That’s how Tampa went from good to great (Vaselivski, Point, Sergechev added to there core of Stamkos, Hedman, Killorn, etc.). That’s how Colorado went from good to great (Makar, Byram, Rantanen on top of MacKinnon). That’s the recipe to become a contender. Not sticking with what we know doesn’t work.

How do you figure anything they do now guarantees they're a "real contender" 3-5 years from now?

Nothing guarantees that. There is no doubt that a re-tool is no guarantee. We can ship those guys for picks, draft terrible players that don’t develop, and be stuck outside the playoffs. But that risk is STILL better than our current state of mediocrity. Cause at least in that case we’d drop enough in the standings to get top-10 picks. Staying the course or re-tooling does not guarantee any success. Framing it that there’s no way to guarantee success so we might as well just do nothing is exactly the wrong mindset. I genuinely don’t get how anyone could want that. There is no real upside with that plan.

That said, Conroy has an opportunity now, with all these guys waffling, to actually do the retool you want, if it comes to it. It's just not necessarily better than keeping Lindholm and Backlund while bringing a long the prospects who are actually NHL material.

But for the above reasons it is necessarily better than keeping Lindy Hanifin and Backs. Because the upside is higher (hit on some high picks and prospects), and the downside is exactly the same (no Stanley cup). Staying the course and finishing in the 8th seed and sneaking into playoffs one year just to miss the next year is not success. That’s failure, same as it would be if we trade for picks that end up becoming career AHLers.

To me it’s a complete no brainer - take the route with the potential upside. There’s no guarantees either way, but do you really not think a re-tool has the higher long-term upside as opposed to keeping those guys?

 

[Rubi]

Current and future AHL'ers... the lot of them.

 

[bam09]

It's pretty clear they're playing for time. They'll have cap room next year, and an increased cap the year following. They're going to hold on for dear life to win-now players, and then blow their wad in the market as soon as there's cap space. It's more short-term thinking. I hope they've worked out that half the league will have significant cap space by then. It has 2016 NBA offseason written all over it - silly contracts will be handed out left and right.

 

[Dertell]

amazing some people went through 09-13 are like "f*** it, let's do that all over again"

 

[Rubi]

Looking at what Fred VanVleet just signed for I think some hockey players may be thinking they took up the wrong sport.

 

[tmurfin]

Trelivings gotta love having a team that players actually want to play for. Domi and Bertuzzi one 1yr deals are great moves ngl.

 

[Lunatik]

Trelivings gotta love having a team that players actually want to play for. Domi and Bertuzzi one 1yr deals are great moves ngl.

The cap could be going up like 20%+ in 2024-25, so it makes sense for these guys to sign 1 year deals and cash in next year, especially Bertuzzi who didn't have the greatest year

 

[Kranix]

Trelivings gotta love having a team that players actually want to play for. Domi and Bertuzzi one 1yr deals are great moves ngl.

Big commitments from those guys.

 

[tmurfin]

The cap could be going up like 20%+ in 2024-25, so it makes sense for these guys to sign 1 year deals and cash in next year, especially Bertuzzi who didn't have the greatest year

I get it, doesn’t mean they’re just gonna sign one year with anyone though.

 

[centipede2233]

I get it, doesn’t mean they’re just gonna sign one year with anyone though.

its been reported Bertuzzi wanted a long term deal with a contender, he got long term deal from what he perceived as non contenders. And he also received 1 yr deals from contenders much lower than the 5.5 mil he got from the leafs. The leafs won by default since they are a contender and offered him the most from the contenders on a 1 yr deal.

 

[SlovakFlame]

I am not too concerned about low free market activity. There is a salary cap problem, as well as the long-debated process of introducing Wranglers players to the first team. The main task is to make good decisions about future UFAs. I still believe it was a mistake not to trade some of those players during the last deadline.

 

[Lunatik]

I'd like to add a low cost C that can PK and win draws. Either for the 4th line or as an extra forward. He's older, but P.E. Bellemare fits that bill and we could still give Ruzicka a shot at the 4C spot first.

 

[Kranix]

I'd like to add Phil Kessel. No matter what it's a positive.

 

[TheGroceryStick]

Wanted to ask in here , instead of getting BBQd on the main board - because I don't know value.

Would a deal around Brodie for Zadorov work at all?

 

[bam09]

Wanted to ask in here , instead of getting BBQd on the main board - because I don't know value.

Would a deal around Brodie for Zadorov work at all?

Short answer: no. Conroy and the Flames seem resistant to taking on cap or contracts. Brodie will receive almost double the salary that Z does this year. A saner team might facilitate for assets.

 

[TheGroceryStick]

Short answer: no. Conroy and the Flames seem resistant to taking on cap or contracts. Brodie will receive almost double the salary that Z does this year. A saner team might facilitate for assets.

Fair response. Thanks.

 

[Rubi]

I honestly believe this will be a very quiet summer for the Flames. Conroy will pick up a few players for the Wranglers but nothing of major interest will happen concerning the Flames and available UFA's

 

[Anglesmith]

I honestly believe this will be a very quiet summer for the Flames. Conroy will pick up a few players for the Wranglers but nothing of major interest will happen concerning the Flames and available UFA's

A lot of that has to do with the fact that no one really has any clue about what this team is next year, I think.

We know that the team issues from last year will be improved, and two years ago we saw how massive of a bump that can give a team.

On the other end of the spectrum, many posters think we're a basement team. That may be predicated on the assumption that we're losing guys, but so far only Toffoli has been traded.

There are so many question marks based on what, if any, trades are going to happen, it's completely understandable that Conroy didn't want to reduce his flexibility. And we have young guys ready to take those spots, too.

 

[BobColesNasalCavity]

There are so many question marks based on what, if any, trades are going to happen, it's completely understandable that Conroy didn't want to reduce his flexibility. And we have young guys ready to take those spots, too.

Pretty excited to see Phillips get a fair look. Especially after leading the Wranglers in scoring. Add that with Love behind the bench, presumably running the powerplay, and he could put up some decent numbers.

Oh wait this isn’t the Caps board

 

[Kranix]

Pretty excited to see Phillips get a fair look. Especially after leading the Wranglers in scoring. Add that with Love behind the bench, presumably running the powerplay, and he could put up some decent numbers.

Oh wait this isn’t the Caps board

What makes you think he's making the caps roster? They signed him based on the theory he could be a full time nhler, but they're taking a chance on him and he'll be Subject to the same nhl evaluators he was in Calgary. Mitch Love can't save him. It's up to him. I'm not rooting against him. I hope he sticks and has a career.

 

[Anglesmith]

Pretty excited to see Phillips get a fair look. Especially after leading the Wranglers in scoring. Add that with Love behind the bench, presumably running the powerplay, and he could put up some decent numbers.

Oh wait this isn’t the Caps board

I think Phillips is one of those guys who could be a perennial all star in the AHL.

 

[Kranix]

I think Phillips is one of those guys who could be a perennial all star in the AHL.

He's seemed like a Darren Haydar to me for sure.

 

[DFF]

That may be predicated on the assumption that we're losing guys, but so far only Toffoli has been traded.

Only their top scorer

To get back to a player team they need Huberdeau to replace Gaudreau’s offense and Kadri to replace Tkachuk’s

They got half from one guy and the other guy quit

Huberdeau may recover a little bit

Kadri can only go down from here as he is 33 and may have already quit, Sutter or not

 

[CamPopplestone]

What makes you think he's making the caps roster? They signed him based on the theory he could be a full time nhler, but they're taking a chance on him and he'll be Subject to the same nhl evaluators he was in Calgary. Mitch Love can't save him. It's up to him. I'm not rooting against him. I hope he sticks and has a career.

He'll get games, even if he doesn't make the opening night roster. Unless he absolutely shits the bed in camp and in Hershey. Washington has a lot of players in their top 9 who are coming off really significant injuries or are hurt very frequently in Backstrom, Oshie and Wilson. I doubt those three all play 82 games. Plus if they fall out of the playoffs hunt, they'll probably try to retain 50% on Mantha and move him by the deadline. Add to things Love being there as an assistant, and Washington is probably his best chance to get NHL games in this season