Confirmed with Link: Marcus Kruger Acquired for 2018 5th Round Pick

[Roboturner913]

Before things get all elitist here, remember that about 2/3rds of the people on this board threw a hissy fit when we re-signed Derek Ryan.

 

[Finlandia WOAT]

I've been throwing a hissy fit for months in anticipation of re-signing Derek Ryan.

Get on my level.

 

[Lempo]

I've been throwing a hissy fit for months in anticipation of re-signing Derek Ryan.

Get on my level.

Dude goes into pieces all of the sudden in middle of pavement, and shrieks out: "Dereeeek!"



"Meth?"
"Canes."

 

[PatrikBerglund]

He will take the hardest match-ups and get the most time among forwards on the PK - which will help 1-3rd lines out tremendously since they don't have to go up against the Crosbys, McDavids and Matthews of this league.

I think production will see a boost because of this.

 

[bleedgreen]

You'd think we got Crosby. We got a fourth line center. Who makes ridiculous money for the role. He's a good player at what he does, but I'm not gonna throw a party over it. Of course we got him for a 5th round pick. We're definitely not getting a top six center, which to be fair it seemed unlikely we were getting one anyhow. I should be happy, I've wanted us to embrace the Nashville, Columbus approach of a team of B forwards instead of a couple of A's and a bunch of C's. Easier to replace guys, fits our budget better. Allows us to keep a strong d core, and hopefully be consistent threats to make the dance. So I am glad we are going that way, but I'm still not sharing some of y'alls enthusiasm about this acquisition - least not to that level.

 

[canesman9]

First of all, I´d like to say hello to all of you, canes fans. I come from Slovakia, where this team is not especially popular, but from my early childhood, one year after relocation from Hartford, I have always been a caniac ... what a difference to a local slovak guys who were fans of that time traditional teams like colorado, new jersey, detroit .... I am extremely pleased, that there exists such a community of canes fans .... like all of you, i am excited for the new season, as i finally see our beloved team having a real chance to do some damage .... so just let´s hope that RF keeps his job doing ... let´s go canes ... whatever it costs

 

[MinJaBen]

First of all, I�d like to say hello to all of you, canes fans. I come from Slovakia, where this team is not especially popular, but from my early childhood, one year after relocation from Hartford, I have always been a caniac ... what a difference to a local slovak guys who were fans of that time traditional teams like colorado, new jersey, detroit .... I am extremely pleased, that there exists such a community of canes fans .... like all of you, i am excited for the new season, as i finally see our beloved team having a real chance to do some damage .... so just let�s hope that RF keeps his job doing ... let�s go canes ... whatever it costs

Welcome! Do you watch any games on tape delay or do you stay up to ridiculous hours at night to watch?

 

[dogbazinho]

We should be able to flip him for more than a 5th when the time comes so there is that.

 

[DougieSmash]

Welcome! Do you watch any games on tape delay or do you stay up to ridiculous hours at night to watch?

I'm from Bulgaria and honestly i watch almost every our game in the last 8-10 years... In our time zone when the game starts (let's say 7 PM in USA), we are in the middle of the night (2:00 in Bulgaria).

 

[Roboturner913]

We should be able to flip him for more than a 5th when the time comes so there is that.

For reals. If somehow we are still not in the playoffs in 2019, some Cup favorite will happily give up a 2nd or 3rd to have a defense matchup center like him.

 

[Breakdowns]

First of all, I´d like to say hello to all of you, canes fans. I come from Slovakia, where this team is not especially popular, but from my early childhood, one year after relocation from Hartford, I have always been a caniac ... what a difference to a local slovak guys who were fans of that time traditional teams like colorado, new jersey, detroit .... I am extremely pleased, that there exists such a community of canes fans .... like all of you, i am excited for the new season, as i finally see our beloved team having a real chance to do some damage .... so just let´s hope that RF keeps his job doing ... let´s go canes ... whatever it costs

another European, welcome!

OrioleWay - are you actually from Bulgaria? Show off your flag if you are living there, I am sure that there are not many hockey fans over there.

 

[Vagrant]

Before things get all elitist here, remember that about 2/3rds of the people on this board threw a hissy fit when we re-signed Derek Ryan.

Well, you see, that's because it was a terrible hockey transaction. I would imagine that move was incredibly well-received by the Facebook crowd. NewChar should be on a two-way contract.

As far as this move is concerned, it didn't really click for me until I started looking further into his advanced stats. I always knew he was that guy in Chicago that took a lot of tough assignments, but the numbers make it painfully obvious how much of an impact this player has on the game. This is a move cosigned by our analytic guys through and through. The deployment percentages I posted earlier are just .....absurd. There's really no other way to say it. I don't know if there is another center in the league that has been this specifically deployed and simultaneously effective. For example, some people have brought up McClement's name while talking about this transaction. Carolina deployed McClement in a defensive zone start approximately 60% of his shifts during his time here and his Corsi has been, understandably to a degree, -8.8 over his tenure. Kruger was deployed 71% of the time last season in the defensive zone and was only -0.2 CF% rel. The year before he was deployed 81.3% (!!!) in the defensive zone and his CF% rel was only -3.4. This is very likely the best 4th line center in the game and if hockey awarded the Selke trophy meritoriously as opposed to it being "best defensive forward who also scores a **** ton of points," then Kruger would be perennially at the top of the heap.

When you add Kruger to our penalty kill, the expectations are just absurd. We were good last year even with McClement being on the downswing of his effectiveness. When you add potentially the best defensive specialist in the game up the middle and shore up the goaltending behind the rest of the unit, you're talking about a PK that should be almost impossible to exploit with how well coached this unit has become. This is an exciting, exciting move if you're a fan of the Hurricanes not being scored on. Don't let the subtlety of the move detract from the potential impact it could have.

 

[Roboturner913]

I love the idea of putting Kruger-Staal-Lindholm-Slavin-Pesce out there with a one goal lead near the end of a game. Good luck with that, other teams.

 

[MinJaBen]

I'm from Bulgaria and honestly i watch almost every our game in the last 8-10 years... In our time zone when the game starts (let's say 7 PM in USA), we are in the middle of the night (2:00 in Bulgaria).

Dedicated...I like that! Honestly, I'd fall asleep or be a wreck the next day.

 

[MinJaBen]

Well, you see, that's because it was a terrible hockey transaction. I would imagine that move was incredibly well-received by the Facebook crowd. NewChar should be on a two-way contract.

As far as this move is concerned, it didn't really click for me until I started looking further into his advanced stats. I always knew he was that guy in Chicago that took a lot of tough assignments, but the numbers make it painfully obvious how much of an impact this player has on the game. This is a move cosigned by our analytic guys through and through. The deployment percentages I posted earlier are just .....absurd. There's really no other way to say it. I don't know if there is another center in the league that has been this specifically deployed and simultaneously effective. For example, some people have brought up McClement's name while talking about this transaction. Carolina deployed McClement in a defensive zone start approximately 60% of his shifts during his time here and his Corsi has been, understandably to a degree, -8.8 over his tenure. Kruger was deployed 71% of the time last season in the defensive zone and was only -0.2 CF% rel. The year before he was deployed 81.3% (!!!) in the defensive zone and his CF% rel was only -3.4. This is very likely the best 4th line center in the game and if hockey awarded the Selke trophy meritoriously as opposed to it being "best defensive forward who also scores a **** ton of points," then Kruger would be perennially at the top of the heap.

When you add Kruger to our penalty kill, the expectations are just absurd. We were good last year even with McClement being on the downswing of his effectiveness. When you add potentially the best defensive specialist in the game up the middle and shore up the goaltending behind the rest of the unit, you're talking about a PK that should be almost impossible to exploit with how well coached this unit has become. This is an exciting, exciting move if you're a fan of the Hurricanes not being scored on. Don't let the subtlety of the move detract from the potential impact it could have.

Yep. And this will have an effect on our scoring as well. Jordan's line or PK unit will play less in a defensive roll, freeing up that line/unit for more offensive shifts. Let's not forget, when Jordan starts a shift in his own zone, Aho and Lindholm also start their shifts there as well. I for one would much rather they start in the neutral zone or the offensive zone to maximize their offensive potential. I was hoping we could get him in a cap casualty transaction this year, but when I saw the Vegas/Hawks transaction reported, I thought it wouldn't happen. Now to have it happen anyway, I'm thrilled.

 

[CalUK]

You'd think we got Crosby. We got a fourth line center. Who makes ridiculous money for the role. He's a good player at what he does, but I'm not gonna throw a party over it. Of course we got him for a 5th round pick. We're definitely not getting a top six center, which to be fair it seemed unlikely we were getting one anyhow. I should be happy, I've wanted us to embrace the Nashville, Columbus approach of a team of B forwards instead of a couple of A's and a bunch of C's. Easier to replace guys, fits our budget better. Allows us to keep a strong d core, and hopefully be consistent threats to make the dance. So I am glad we are going that way, but I'm still not sharing some of y'alls enthusiasm about this acquisition - least not to that level.

I agree with you on the Nashville/Columbus thing. Unless we draft a superstar F, using B level top6 guys is the way to go. I do have high hopes for Neca's tho.

Kruger will fit in nicely at 4C and get us comfortably above the cap floor. I think he'll be a good fit, and with the other ex-Blackhawks players in, it should be easier for him to adapt to the new team.

 

[PatrikBerglund]

You'd think we got Crosby. We got a fourth line center. Who makes ridiculous money for the role. He's a good player at what he does, but I'm not gonna throw a party over it. Of course we got him for a 5th round pick. We're definitely not getting a top six center, which to be fair it seemed unlikely we were getting one anyhow. I should be happy, I've wanted us to embrace the Nashville, Columbus approach of a team of B forwards instead of a couple of A's and a bunch of C's. Easier to replace guys, fits our budget better. Allows us to keep a strong d core, and hopefully be consistent threats to make the dance. So I am glad we are going that way, but I'm still not sharing some of y'alls enthusiasm about this acquisition - least not to that level.

The thing is, that he will push ever other center down a peg in the sense that they and their lines will get to face lesser match-ups (at least at home). This is really important.

 

[bleedgreen]

Oh I get the concept. Time will tell whether or not the addition of this fourth line center will have the effect everyone hopes for. I don't doubt the guys ability at all. I just don't agree with his pay scale and with our budget as low as it is with already being a good defensive team with our gm admitting our most obvious deficiencies are on offense I'm not super pumped with the little money pk will allow to be spent being spent on better defense on the offense as well as the recent addition of leadership and character but not much actual offense. I agree whole heartedly that these two will have a positive effect on the team. It's just leadership and character going into the offseason weren't even mentioned as an issue as compared to the need of more scoring from a top 6 center and a 20 goal winger. We all love Williams so we're gonna give him the benefit of the doubt about production instead of just assuming it was the caps. Francis couldn't pry Duchene away from the avs, when maybe he thought earlier it was close to getting there so he went in a drastically different direction. Or maybe like a lot of people he mistakenly thought more players would be available. I don't think he would've told us a top 6 guy was on the list unless he had one lined up.

I'm happy we made moves because we needed them. Kruger is a great addition to any team, I've just never thought he was a luxury we could afford. To me he's similar to jstaal that way. If this acquisition is the key to jstaal offense, and not his general refusal to take the puck to the net then I'll be as happy as anyone else.

 

[Anton Babchuk]

he's making $1.475M this year and $2.3M next (chicago already paid his $2M bonus for tihs season). 1.8775M/yr. not sure how that's so ridiculous. we were paying stalberg 1.5M last year to play mostly on the fourth line and nobody had a problem with that.

 

[MinJaBen]

I just don't agree with his pay scale and with our budget as low as it is with already being a good defensive team with our gm admitting our most obvious deficiencies are on offense I'm not supper pumped with the little money pk will allow to be spent being spent on better defense on the offense as well as the recent addition of leadership and character but not much actual offense.

I really don't think the amount we are paying players is a function of PK being a tightwad. I think this is strictly on the shoulders of Francis. I've heard both PK and Ron say that if Ron wants to spend the money to make the team better, PK is fine with that. So at this point, if the money is not being spent, it is Ron Francis that is not spending it, not Peter Karmanos. I think Ron wanted to get more offensively talented players, thus probably more expensive, but the market just wasn't there. Plus, Ron has said it many times that he is planning for the the point in time when the young core comes off their ELCs and will need to be paid more, so the moves he is making all make sense to me. I don't think adding or not adding Kruger is going to have any meaningful effect on our budget or be the limiting factor between us picking up an available high end offensive talent or not.

 

[BB88]

I think the biggest + with this is that he helps the more offensively gifted players to play more in offensive roles and that way help to increase the teams goal scoring numbers.
Maybe more than Duchene addition, due to the value difference/having to play different guys in heavy D-zone situations.

 

[bleedgreen]

Well my concern is that we've spent the available "extra" money already by adding six million or so with these two players. RF and pk already have a really good idea about how much the rfa's to be are going to add to the budget. I think the money spent on these two could really be the "extra" cash pk is allowing for RF to make moves "to make the team better". These players do make the team better, just not in the way initially intended. This team didn't need less defensive starts for the offensive lines as much as it needed the offense lines to play better offense. I'm not convinced the two are as tied as directly as I'm being lead to believe.

I do think Rask can be better than he was. I don't think his drop off had anything to do with defensive starts. I feel maganement identified Rask and Jstaals offense as not good enough. I actually didn't totally agree. I felt with a rebound from Rask and adding a legitimately offensive third line center while flogging jstaal to play more intense offensively would get us better offense. We have the growth of Aho and Lindy, if the centers bring their a game we will have better offense. Based on what RF said, it seemed they really wanted to get aggressive offensively. I don't think we're getting Neal. I think we may have what we're getting now. Of course I hope I'm wrong and maybe there's something else.

 

[Roboturner913]

I just dont see the point of criticizing RF this offseason when hes clearly doing everything he can to address weaknesses and done so very effectively without being stupid. Adding guys like Kruger and Williams makes this team better right now and has no impact on the long-term contract structure. We're not talking about throwing 20 million at a Patrick Marleau here just to patch a hole. Nor are we signing the Trevor Letowskis of the world and pretending they're capable of much more than they've ever been (and spare me the hand-wringing over Ryan, his production is perfectly fine for a 3C) These are players who fit in exactly with the team philosophy and how they want to play. I think RF has done a damn brilliant job of making this team playoff-worthy without sacrificing any of the long-term future.

 

[MinJaBen]

Well my concern is that we've spent the available "extra" money already by adding six million or so with these two players. RF and pk already have a really good idea about how much the rfa's to be are going to add to the budget. I think the money spent on these two could really be the "extra" cash pk is allowing for RF to make moves "to make the team better". These players do make the team better, just not in the way initially intended. This team didn't need less defensive starts for the offensive lines as much as it needed the offense lines to play better offense. I'm not convinced the two are as tied as directly as I'm being lead to believe.

I do think Rask can be better than he was. I don't think his drop off had anything to do with defensive starts. I feel maganement identified Rask and Jstaals offense as not good enough. I actually didn't totally agree. I felt with a rebound from Rask and adding a legitimately offensive third line center while flogging jstaal to play more intense offensively would get us better offense. We have the growth of Aho and Lindy, if the centers bring their a game we will have better offense. Based on what RF said, it seemed they really wanted to get aggressive offensively. I don't think we're getting Neal. I think we may have what we're getting now. Of course I hope I'm wrong and maybe there's something else.

Do they? I am not so sure about this. On interesting line of thought I've heard several commentators speak about is how the McDavid contract has the potential to change the landscape of RFA deals going forward. They are wondering that if he gets his "true value" contract like everyone is expecting, that it may have a domino effect on the rest of the league. And if it does, what is the value of Slavin? While he doesn't have the name recognition and draft pedigree of most superstars, his defensive stats put him in the top 10 of a lot of defensive metrics in the league. Will his agent insist he get paid at that rate?

 

[bleedgreen]

I'm actually not criticizing RF. I'm just pointing out the other side of this coin. I get why RF is doing it, I'm just sad the possible moment to make the team more exciting is passing and we're actually just as unable to acquire it as we always have been. RF hasn't failed, the market wasn't there. I'm just struggling with the overhyping of the silver linings. This summer is turning into a classic jr bargain bin summer, though in a good way. Not being able or not wanting to afford a top goalie so taking a chance on a underutilized back up and signing him to be our number one? JR. Taking advantage of the situation to get TVR? JR. He loved guys like that. Recycling Williams? Duh JR. I think even Kruger is. It's funny to see RF go that route and to also see how they both had the same limitations and did the best they could. Obviously JR would never rebuild and RF jumped all in there so there are also obvious huge differences.