Observations IV

[Roman Yoshi]

There will be some interesting conversations at the casino night tonight.

I am going for the first time tonight in years. What is like the protocol? Is anyone else attending? I would love to meet some folks.


After thinking about the trade more, I love it. Yes, it was a lot to give up, but we significantly improved our team today. Yes, the defensive end of it is confusing, but if Franson comes in and plays lights out, Ellis or Jones because expendable for a #1 center during the offseason. This is a win win.

That being said, I think DP is done. The only other thing I could see us adding is a big winger for some extra ummph in the postseason.

 

[Enoch]

To be fair, there was mutual interest in Forsberg sticking around, but the injuries and the fire sale precluded such a thing from happening.

That said, if they can resign Franson...I'm all for it. He's better now than Ellis, and Ellis could be a valuable trade chip over the summer.

This is a definite possibility.

 

[101st_fan]

Re: Re-signing RFAs being "Easy enough"

What else are they going to do? I don't see why they'd hold out. We have the cap space to not lowball them, so I don't see us doing anything dumb. Wilson and Smith should get ok raises, but nothing too big at all. I'd guess somewhere around 4.0 AAV for Wilson and 3.5 AAV for Smith, depending on term. Fisher and Ribs: 5 AAV or so each, short-term deals. Beck, Bourque, Jarnkrok, etc. will be cheap (under 2.0 for sure). Santo...who knows, we'll have to see how he fits.

We have a huge need on this team for young centers. Ribiero, Fisher, and Gaustad are all old. Jarnkrok is a nice piece, but he's just one. Watson and co. in Milwaukee don't project to top 6 roles. Kamenev is a nice prospect, but he's a 2nd rounder, who knows how he'll end up. We have some guys that could play C but now play W (Smith, Wilson, Forsberg, etc.) but I like them at wing. We could really use another guy or two like Jarnkrok. Maybe that's part of why we got Santorelli.

Lowball is a very subjective term. Both Wilson and Smith should be arbitration eligible this summer if the talks don't go as they hope ... and they hold a lot of power in those talks. Smith on pace to enter negotiations coming of two consecutive 20+ goal seasons, Wilson finally healthy and performing at a better than .7 ppg pace this season and among the top 40 in goals. A good playoff from either (hopefully both) gives them even more power in negotiations. Ribs was a 5 mil cap hit player before his buyout and is once again performing ... what he'll want on the open market is pure speculation. Maybe that check from the Yotes helps keep his current salary down, maybe not. Guys like Beck, Bourque, and Jarnkrok don't have much leverage based on their performance to date.

Then there's Forsberg who is on pace to qualify for the performance bonuses in his contract this year ... and for one hell of a pay raise if he keeps things up through next season.

Franson will want a pay raise if he sticks around. Santorelli probably remains relatively inexpensive if he sticks ... but still a raise there too. I wouldn't be surprised to see a buyout of Stalberg if Poile can't move that contract via the trade market ... so there is some dead space and real money.

 

[Montross]

This is a definite possibility.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/franson-open-to-returning-to-maple-leafs/


Franson is going to go to the highest bidder be it Toronto or whoever. He will be a rental here and nothing more.

 

[PredsV82]

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/franson-open-to-returning-to-maple-leafs/


Franson is going to go to the highest bidder be it Toronto or whoever. He will be a rental here and nothing more.

well, thats a pretty standard answer... you don't want to crap on your former team even if you have no intention of going back

 

[PerdFan]

well, thats a pretty standard answer... you don't want to crap on your former team even if you have no intention of going back

I noticed he was real careful in saying "if that situation exists then" and "if Toronto comes calling I will listen". Maybe I'm reading what I want to see, but seems he may be leaving the door more open to signing in Nashville than I initially believed he would.

 

[Predsboro]

A little surprised at how some are losing their freaking minds that we moved Leipsic ... but would be ok with moving Jones???

 

[PredsV82]

I noticed he was real careful in saying "if that situation exists then" and "if Toronto comes calling I will listen". Maybe I'm reading what I want to see, but seems he may be leaving the door more open to signing in Nashville than I initially believed he would.

the standard answer in this situation is to not rule anything out or in... nothing to be gained by tipping your hand..

 

[PerdFan]

A little surprised at how some are losing their freaking minds that we moved Leipsic ... but would be ok with moving Jones???

It's silly season where some cry over every lost prospect and some want to trade stupidly just to say "WE MADE A TRADE...LOOK!!!"

Viva la' Trade Deadline!

 

[glenngineer]

What does our lineup look like? Anybody want to guess?

Forsberg Ribs Neil
Wilson Fish Smith
Cullen Jarnkrok Santa
Nystrom Goose Beck

Josi Webs
Jones Franson
Ekholm Bartley

???? No idea honestly

Same lines as last night. Top 2 stay the same. Santa slides in on the third. Bump Beck to the fourth. Sit Nystrom.

Ribeiro/Wilson/Neal
Fisher/Cullen/Smith
Jarnkrok/Forsberg/Santa
Gaustad/Bourque/Beck

Weber/Josi
Ekholm/Franson
Jones/Bartley

 

[glenngineer]

A little surprised at how some are losing their freaking minds that we moved Leipsic ... but would be ok with moving Jones???

Thank you.

 

[Pred303]

sorry, I've been a little tied up these past two games, but will try to do better. a couple thoughts about this last one I haven't seen anyone mention;

..the pass from bartley to Wilson was an amazing one. easily the best I've ever seen bartley make.
..ribs sees the ice so well. it's amazing how much time and space other teams give him just because he doesn't shoot the puck often. huge mistake. you simply can't let him take his time and look around.
..have no idea whether the line set up is going to be beneficial or not yet. I guess we can say it worked last night. but honestly who knows at this point.
..bartley with his one stupid penalty per game of course. 2 penalties for us, both over the glass. sucked.
..don't know if I've ever seen us dominate a period zone time wise like we did the first. you knew after all that and it was just 1-0 zip we were asking for trouble.
..good to see Cullen finish one finally. he has been skating really well for past 6-7 games but had zilch to show for it. I still feel he has a little more in the tank. not much, but a little.
..the stickless save from rinne was awesome. awesome.
..if you could have picked two guys who need goals the worse, you would have picked smith and Cullen. it's been that type of year for us. you simply never know who's going to be the hero.
..another game proving how devastating our forecheck can be against teams with poor puck movers or breakout schemes. it's no accident we are some unbelievable 23-3 or something against non playoff teams. that's the main reason most of them are non-playoff teams.
..felt funny to actually get a two goal lead at home.
..mark howard and Peterson actually make it painful to listen to the post game show. can only imagine how bad the radio broadcast must hurt to listen to.
..to be where we are point wise doesn't seem real. i often call up the conference and league standings just to see them.
..love how one night it's the pp now, the next it's even strength. somehow we find a way to get those 3 goals.
..as dominating as rinne has been, it's stunning he doesn't have more shutouts. guarantee you he leads the league in games holding teams to 1 goal though.
..slowly we are creeping up the goals scored per game ranking, and getting close to yielding the fewest per game again, and climbing both the pp and pk rankings.
..all these wins and we still trail both STL and CHI in scoring differential. strange.

the schedule is never easy looking ahead. it's the flipping NHL. but this is our chance the rest of this month to gain more ground.

 

[BigFatCat999]

It's silly season where some cry over every lost prospect and some want to trade stupidly just to say "WE MADE A TRADE...LOOK!!!"

Viva la' Trade Deadline!

Guilty!

 

[Byrddog]

I think there will be a surprise with the line up. Now that Lavi has found the turd polish(Cullen) I would not at all be surprised to see them with Jarnkrok. FF9 with Ribs and Neal. Wilson Fish and Santo. This is what I would expect until he sees what Santo can do with this team.

 

[jwhouk]

..mark howard and Peterson actually make it painful to listen to the post game show. can only imagine how bad the radio broadcast must hurt to listen to.

It is horrible. Brent means well, and he's a nice guy, but the fumbles and stumbles hurt your ears. At least Willy is getting better at being a PBP guy - except for the "if they hurry" drinking game.

 

[bdub24]

I swear to god you, 303, are like the MMQB of the Predators and hockey in general. Love your write ups and ALWAYS learn something from them. Thank you.

 

[Top 6 Spaling]

A little surprised at how some are losing their freaking minds that we moved Leipsic ... but would be ok with moving Jones???

The difference is that we moved Leipsic+1st for a redundant (albiet good) defenseman and a mediocre forward. Jones could net us a true top line threat.

If we traded Jones for Franson+Santo, people would be losing their minds, and if we traded Leipsic as part of a package for a top line talent, no one would care.

 

[Infinite Jest]

The difference is that we moved Leipsic+1st for a redundant (albiet good) defenseman and a mediocre forward. Jones could net us a true top line threat.

If we traded Jones for Franson+Santo, people would be losing their minds, and if we traded Leipsic as part of a package for a top line talent, no one would care.

Santorelli is not a mediocre forward, watch a Leafs game. Santo faces the toughest competition of all forwards on a bad team and is still on a 40+ point pace and sitting at a +7. If Santo is mediocre, so is Smith and I'd hate to think what that would make Jarnkrok.

 

[Pred303]

see where poile himself admitted there was no firm plan yet on how to integrate franson back in the pairings.. mentioned that both jones and ellis had played a little on the left side before and that he 'guessed' one of them would now. lol

to me, i'm thinking the true new pairs will wind up being;
josi-weber
jones-franson
eckholm-ellis

but until ellis is ready (maybe 3-4 more games?). we should see;
josi-weber
eckholm-franson
bartley-jones

so we have some sort of a puck mover guy on each line. really hope franson is far better defensively than he was with us his first two years. I expect him to be and far more physical.

still can't mentally work out who gets what time on the second unit pp between these 4 bottom two pair guys. pretty sure they aren't sure yet either.

reading poile it does now seem he's satisfied with the current roster and might not make any more moves. but we'll see.

 

[Armourboy]

I suspect as far as the PP goes they will probably just try different guys and see what happens. I suspect Ellis will be fairly protected at the start so I wouldn't be shocked to see him fairly limited until they know he is fine and back up to game speed.

After watching the interview, Weber seemed fairly pleased.

An advantage now as well is that we could let a couple of Vets get a night off and some rest if they need it. Santorelli not only can move around, but you can also move Beck and Bourque around as needed as well.

I'm excited and ready to see the rest of the reason and feel much better about having Volchenkov and Bartley as back up, rather than needing to depend on them.

 

[Pred303]

while I don't think santo is a 2nd line type guy at all, what he does give us is a much better option than jarnkrok at this point in his career as a 2nd line type center if ribs or fisher get hurt for awhile.

adding speed, depth and versatility is always a good thing.

 

[Armourboy]

Yup.

Like I said previously, someone always ends up injured, so versatile depth is great to have. Its the reason I like both moves even if there are some doubts.

So many people seem to think we didn't need another solid defenseman, I disagree with that completely. If nothing else this injury bug we've had should show that while we have a really nice starting D core, there wasn't much behind it.

 

[Enoch]

Putting Volchenkov and Bartley on the bench has a lot of value. Franson is much better than them. He will still make plenty of gaffes, but his positioning has never been his issue, just his speed. His hit totals are very good, indicating his physical game is there at times. I don't expect a stud d-man, but I look forward to his point shot and offensive zone instincts.

 

[Roman Yoshi]

Yup.

Like I said previously, someone always ends up injured, so versatile depth is great to have. Its the reason I like both moves even if there are some doubts.

So many people seem to think we didn't need another solid defenseman, I disagree with that completely. If nothing else this injury bug we've had should show that while we have a really nice starting D core, there wasn't much behind it.

I don't think the disagreement is we needed another defenseman, I think the disagreement is we needed another right handed, puck moving defenseman. Personally, I am stoked with the addition of Cody and expect good things from him on the PP and on the second pairing until Ellis is back. I talked with Weber for a little bit last night and he seemed really pumped to have Cody back in the fold. Said Franson was equally as happy. As I have said before, those two seem like very very good friends.

Ellis also said last night that he was close to coming back, maybe two weeks. Going to be awesome to have our blueline back together and healthy. All of our starters will be drafted by our organization. How boss is that?

Santo is the one I am less excited about, but we didn't get to see a lot of him before he was moved so who knows. I would've preferred a more physical presence or someone who is longer in the tooth (Jagr, Doan, Vermette etc) but Santo gives us options. Options are never a bad thing.

Who knows, maybe Franson will turn into Brent Burns and we can play him at forward

 

[Roman Yoshi]

Putting Volchenkov and Bartley on the bench has a lot of value. Franson is much better than them. He will still make plenty of gaffes, but his positioning has never been his issue, just his speed. His hit totals are very good, indicating his physical game is there at times. I don't expect a stud d-man, but I look forward to his point shot and offensive zone instincts.

I couldn't agree more. One thought I have been bouncing around with my brother is this is a tryout period for Cody. If he performs, that makes Ellis or Jones expendable over the summer for s forward. Again, it gives us options and that is never a bad thing.