Speculation: Roster Building Thread Part XII: The Great Sell-off of 2018

[UAGoalieGuy]

Buyout isn't bad for Smith dollars wise but man that's a long time. 6 years. The 20-21 season is pretty high but cap will be much higher then.

 

[haohmaru]

They won't buyout Smith. I'm not sure if his modified NTC prevents him from being waived, etc... but they certainly have the money to just bury him in Hartford without taking on those precious cap hits/buyout dollars. Maybe he'll turn it around. Hard to judge with this sad sack team that's been gutted up the middle. Defense starts from there.

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

I don't think Andersson was a reach either. Correct.

We agree on that then. In my opinion, neither was a reach but Chytil was definitely a bit of a surprise pick. Not that I didn't expect him to go that high, I just didn't expect the Rangers to go with that type of player.

 

[Drew4u]

What's the logic in buying out Smith, if this team is going to rebuild. They won't need the cap space if they trade guys like Mcdounagh and Zuccarello away.

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

Buyout isn't bad for Smith dollars wise but man that's a long time. 6 years. The 20-21 season is pretty high but cap will be much higher then.

A buy-out, 1 year after signing him. Man, that's bad.

 

[ManUtdTobbe]

Stop overreacting on Smith, he's been bad this year on a bad team, give him a chance to bounce back next season and if he doesn't you start looking at options then.

 

[haohmaru]

We agree on that then. In my opinion, neither was a reach but Chytil was definitely a bit of a surprise pick. Not that I didn't expect him to go that high, I just didn't expect the Rangers to go with that type of player.

A good player?

 

[Ola]

Moves

Trade Michael Grabner for a 1st. If we want to sign him this summer, nothing would be stopping us. A 1st is a 1st.

Trade Rich Nash, try to get the Hanzal return (Like 1st and delayed 2nd or equal prospects)

Trade Kevin Shattenkirk at the draft for a Keith Yandle type of return (or does his NMC turn into a NTC on July 1?, anyway trade him ASAP)

Trade Brandon Smith for anything you can get. from some perspective I think he would have been an OK keep, but the fact that he was scratched after the bye week is just proof that this was an awful awful signing. He didn't take care of himself this summer, was it a one time thing? Well he gets a week off in January to get into perfect shape going into the end part of the season -- which we surely required from him even if we can't formally request it due to the CBA. Did he live in the gym for a week? There is a reason we scratched him for the 1st game, bet we where extremely disappointed with how he spent that week.

Seriously pursue trades offering and listen to offers on :
Ryan McDonagh - Due to his upcoming contract and value around the league
JT Miller - JT is close to very good for us, but he isn't inconsistent. He is consistently underperforming when we need him the most. When the competition get tougher. 1 goal in his last 40+ PO games. Might possibly fetch a good return.
Brady Skjei - Could he fetch us a top offensive talent? I think LD is the easiest position to fill a vacancy at and we are somewhat deep there.
Zucc - The kid will need support. But we shouldn't give him away.

Targets
I would be very interested in getting 2-3 more 1st round picks -- AND with the other moves, try to get at least a shot at another core building block. I.e. not trading McD/JT/Skjei/Zucc for multiple younger assets, best we can get, but see if we can get someone that we really really like the potential of and that we think can become a core building block.

 

[UAGoalieGuy]

A buy-out, 1 year after signing him. Man, that's bad.

I doubt they would. I don't think any team has bought out a player the summer after signing him to a decent term deal.

I think no matter what they will keep him next year. May be he rebounds and with 2 years left a team makes a move for him.

They are going to need NHL defensemen if McD is traded.

 

[UAGoalieGuy]

Just spitballing but thought just popped into my head. Would they trade Skjei for Domi? Both players have been struggling this year.

I think this would be a move if they acquired a Sergechev type Dman in a McD trade. Draft one of the top Dmen in this draft.

Just a thought. Really don't want to trade him.

 

[haohmaru]

Skjei for Domi? NO THANK YOU. Keep Skjei.

 

[Gardner McKay]

So... here’s the Main Boards thread from when we signed Smith:

http://hfboards.mandatory.com/threads/nyr-rangers-re-sign-brendan-smith-4-years-4-35m-aav.2364327/

PLEASE go look at 99% of our regular posters defending the signing vehemently while EVERY other team in the leagues fans laughs at us. Also, here’s my post from that thread:



A lot of the people vehemently defending Smith in that thread also like to tell posters how wrong and out of touch they are on certain player evaluations all the time on these boards. Everyone makes mistakes and I witnessed Smith play well for his short stretch along with everyone else so I get it, but perhaps we should all be a little less snide and short with one another and realize we aren’t the experts we fancy ourselves. Some pretty embarrassing posts in there, including a lot of “I’m fine with anything under 4.5M for Smith”. No bueno.

Do you know why Smith was better in the playoffs than he is right now? Two reasons. 1. AV let Smith play the game that Smith wanted to play. AV wasn't worried about his stupid ass system like he is this year. 2. Smith was in much better shape. The former is on the coach. The latter is on the player. I want to see Smith a full year after coming into camp in shape and with a new coach. If next year he is equally as bad with at least one of those two things being fixed then we can say it was a bad signing.

 

[Ola]

I doubt they would. I don't think any team has bought out a player the summer after signing him to a decent term deal.

I think no matter what they will keep him next year. May be he rebounds and with 2 years left a team makes a move for him.

They are going to need NHL defensemen if McD is traded.

It shouldn't be an option, but it happened to Mike Riberio...

 

[wafflepadsave]

They can't just promote the Wolf pack.
They're gonna need bodies so they have to take some roster ready players back in some deals.
Possibly a cap dump of some sort as well depending..

Promoting the Wolfpack should get us a lottery pick.

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

A good player?

High risk, all skill. Who is the last player to fit that mold, that we drafted in the first round?

 

[wafflepadsave]

For those interested, the fourth period has their updated destinations for some of our guys.

 

[Beacon]

I know you wanna pat yourself on the back about the 1st season of Smith's new contract, where the Rangers as an organization have performed the worst they have since the lockout... but you said 3x3 and didn't want 4.5-5 x 5. Smith signed at 4.35 x 4. So that is exactly in the middle of years and below what you outlined as the amount you would be uncomfortable with.

To be fair to Ola, 3x3 would be ok for Smith. He'd have trade value now. Even at 3.75x4 (midpoint on $ and term), he'd get picked up on waivers at least.

 

[Beacon]

To Beacon's point, I think the Rangers will do a little better this time around with drafting.

Drafting was not the problem. We had 6 second rounders in 2004 and 2005. Of them, 2 made it. That's 33%. The league average is 20%. All 3 firsts made it, though Montoya was underwhelming for a #8 IS.

The problem was that literally all the prospects we got became busts.

 

[Stasis]

I can't even begin to imagine what's going to come out of all this by the time the next season starts. It could be pretty damn amazing and it might be pretty damn disappointing.

Regardless, if you're expecting we become Leafs fun to watch within 2 years, I'd hold your optimism in check. This will probably take some time, people. And that's with Shesty stepping right in and being great, which I don't expect will be the case. We've got a few seasons of doodoo ahead. Hopefully with enough youngsters making progress so that it's kinda fun. I'm still fully on board, but I'd be keeping Kreider, Zib, Skjei, Buch, and Miller. Shattenkirk because we need one of those, even if DeAngelo does become one. Staal I guess we have no choice and he has his moments still.

Other than that I guess we see what Graves, DeAngelo, and maybe Pionk can do. Andersson. Chytil. The others haven't impressed much but will be getting a lot more time if we move everyone so who knows? Maybe someone breaks out.

 

[pld459666]

Smith is the perfect defender to have here during the rebuild. Decent player, and willing to stick up for the younger guys that teams may trying to take advantage of. Short term after this year for when the team is ready to really get after it.

Makes no sense to move him

 

[NYR Viper]

Smith should be kept. The guy has had a rough year. I am sure he would agree. The team won't be competing next season and if they retain on McDonagh, they will be admitting it to the league. He and Staal will form at least some semblance of a veteran duo on the back end. The guy should be playing LD from day 1 next season though on the left side of someone like ADA. He made $5m this year and he makes $4.525m next year. after that his real cap hit for the final two years of his deal are $3.9375m. That's not a bad contract for Smith if he can round out his game to his old self.

 

[Fitzy]

Haven't been this excited since 2014.

I'm excited at the prospect of getting some homegrown star players via development.

I'm much less excited that we're unsure what level Hank will be at after a possible 2 years of rebuild.

 

[Stasis]

Assuming we trade everyone mentioned, we're left with:

Zibanejad
Hayes
Andersson*
Chytil*
Fast
Buchnevich
Kreider

Shattenkirk
Staal
Smith
Skjei
DeAngelo*
Graves*

Lundqvist
Pavelec
Someone*

Where stars denote the obvious, but I'm guessing if we're that low on legit NHL'ers we have no choice. Even with guys coming back and some FA signings. Keeping Miller helps unless we can get an absolute great haul for him. Homegrown 24 year old who puts up good points and plays with an edge most nights... I know he's due an upgrade on salary but this doesn't feel like losing Cally or Dubi, this would feel like losing a lot more and I think we'd regret it. Anyway, proceeding without him... SO many holes to fill. And that D? With Skjei's raise that's a shitload we're paying for our S guys and still no top real top 2, assuming McD is gone. skjei - Shattenkirk top pairing? Like I said, I'm in for it but barring some real solid moves, I think a lot of people are going to be very disappointed for a few seasons.

 

[Crease]

I'm excited at the prospect of getting some homegrown star players via development.

I'm much less excited that we're unsure what level Hank will be at after a possible 2 years of rebuild.

I was thinking this morning that the Rangers should lessen Hank's workload the rest of this year, because why not.

But yeah, I think Shestyorkin is going to be in net the next time the Rangers make a Cup run.

 

[Jabroni]

I was thinking this morning that the Rangers should lessen Hank's workload the rest of this year, because why not.

But yeah, I think Shestyorkin is going to be in net the next time the Rangers make a Cup run.

That's a very sad thought, but it is the hard reality of the situation.