Confirmed with Link: [SJS/COL] Matt Nieto and Ryan Merkley for Martin Kaut and Jacob MacDonald

[tigervixxxen]

I think he was only one today because Meier and Hertl were out and the Barracuda played today so they didn't want to bring up another forward. He's certainly pretty adventurous when he's on D though. It's like having a Hedman-size Karlsson without the skill.

Makes sense, I hadn’t been checking the lineup regularly so didn’t know. Yeah MacDonald loves his yolo moments, which is where the idea he could be a forward came from, to be fair he wasn’t bad at it in the AHL, but the yolo doesn’t lead to much actual offense. I think he’s signed for next year so should still be around for y’all.

 

[karltonian]

macdonald has been a pretty serviceable player for us which probably speaks to the low quality of our defense but it is at least partly because of his own value.

 

[hohosaregood]

Makes sense, I hadn’t been checking the lineup regularly so didn’t know. Yeah MacDonald loves his yolo moments, which is where the idea he could be a forward came from, to be fair he wasn’t bad at it in the AHL, but the yolo doesn’t lead to much actual offense. I think he’s signed for next year so should still be around for y’all.

I'm generally entertained by him so I'll take it. How's Merkley doing so far?

 

[karltonian]

He was faster than I thought he would be. There was one play where he was backchecking and accelerated really quickly for a guy his size.

he kept up with gregor which is no minor thing

 

[tigervixxxen]

I'm generally entertained by him so I'll take it. How's Merkley doing so far?

He scored his first goal this year! A work in progress as y’all know. He’s fit in fine on the Eagles but will take some time, probably won’t really know until next year as I expect him to be brought back.

 

[themelkman]

If he's in the org next season and earns a spot, there will be room.

Hes going to be 24, needs a new deal and is an AHL player more than likely. Greater than zero chance he heads home to the euros and makes more money.

 

[Jargon]

Hes going to be 24, needs a new deal and is an AHL player more than likely. Greater than zero chance he heads home to the euros and makes more money.

I can see him getting a 1 year prove it NHL deal. I mean who is his competition?

 

[Alaskanice]

I can see him getting a 1 year prove it NHL deal. I mean who is his competition?

I believe he will be given a chance to succeed here. I think he’ll be up the rest of the season.

 

[Jargon]

I believe he will be given a chance to succeed here. I think he’ll be up the rest of the season.

Yeah, especially with Labanc going to be missing some games soon and Meier likely traded

 

[themelkman]

I can see him getting a 1 year prove it NHL deal. I mean who is his competition?

Depends who resigns. Eyysimont, Svech, Lindblom, Kunin, Lornetz, Gregor, Gadjovich are all fighting for those bottom six winger slots assuming Quinn actually allows rookies to play next year.

 

[STL Shark]

Depends who resigns. Eyysimont, Svech, Lindblom, Kunin, Lornetz, Gregor, Gadjovich are all fighting for those bottom six winger slots assuming Quinn actually allows rookies to play next year.

Lorentz (trade), Gregor (trade) and Gadjovich (non-tender) are unlikely to be around next year and Eklund and maybe Bordeleau are the only two rookies that have a reasonable argument for playing in the NHL next year from the Cuda (so only 1 winger).

I'd also expect Labanc and Barabanov to be moved as well. Leaves Eklund, Lindblom, Eyssimont, Svech, and Kaut as virtual lineup locks with Kunin probably lagging behind a bit given how aggressive a 9-10 month recovery from ACL surgery is (especially a contract year). Kaut has a very good shot at getting the rest of this season and starting camp as the favorite for an NHL job next season assuming we don't go crazy in the UFA/Trade market adding wingers.

 

[Pinkfloyd]

Lorentz (trade), Gregor (trade) and Gadjovich (non-tender) are unlikely to be around next year and Eklund and maybe Bordeleau are the only two rookies that have a reasonable argument for playing in the NHL next year from the Cuda (so only 1 winger).

I'd also expect Labanc and Barabanov to be moved as well. Leaves Eklund, Lindblom, Eyssimont, Svech, and Kaut as virtual lineup locks with Kunin probably lagging behind a bit given how aggressive a 9-10 month recovery from ACL surgery is (especially a contract year). Kaut has a very good shot at getting the rest of this season and starting camp as the favorite for an NHL job next season assuming we don't go crazy in the UFA/Trade market adding wingers.

I don't mind Gadjovich being around as an extra forward. I also don't mind Lorentz since he can be a solid 4C and contribute to the PK but if Gregor goes, I'm not at all concerned. If Eklund and Kaut graduate to the NHL for next season, there's enough flexibility to make that happen. I hope they keep Barabanov until the deadline next year. I enjoy watching him play. Labanc, I still think gets bought out this summer. They're pretty okay in terms of bodies up front. They need to revamp the blue line and I think graduate Makiniemi to the backup role and let Kahkonen be our tank commander before letting him walk since no one will trade for him. lol

 

[STL Shark]

I don't mind Gadjovich being around as an extra forward. I also don't mind Lorentz since he can be a solid 4C and contribute to the PK but if Gregor goes, I'm not at all concerned. If Eklund and Kaut graduate to the NHL for next season, there's enough flexibility to make that happen. I hope they keep Barabanov until the deadline next year. I enjoy watching him play. Labanc, I still think gets bought out this summer. They're pretty okay in terms of bodies up front. They need to revamp the blue line and I think graduate Makiniemi to the backup role and let Kahkonen be our tank commander before letting him walk since no one will trade for him. lol

My ideal plan is Gregor to Tampa (rumored by Seravalli I believe on his pod yesterday as a player they could be in on to add speed to their bottom 6 for cheap).

Barabanov attached with Meier somewhere to increase that return more (get 2 valuable prospects rather than 1 good prospect and 1 depth body that might make it as a bottom 6 or 3rd pairing player - we have enough of those). That or I'd love to see him shipped to Washington for Mantha and a 1st or top end prospect for taking on a big salary on a player fallen out of favor.

On Lorentz, I just sort of assume he carries more value now with 2 playoff runs for someone looking for 4th line help as opposed to 1 next summer/TDL and he doesn't do much to move the needle for the current roster. Seems to be part of all the EK65 to Edmonton

Labanc won't be bought out imo. He's one that could be dealt for a Mantha, Vrana, etc. type where all parties need a fresh start and are making too much money. His production isn't terrible and his underlying numbers are still good enough that he should be able to be dealt in a hockey trade. If not, they'll just ride the cap hit 1 more year instead of putting a buyout penalty on the books when we have cap space to burn and aren't trying to win.

Even if we don't trade Karlsson, Gregor, Barabanov, or Lorentz and simply fill out the lineup by signing our RFAs (along with some ELC players like Eklund, Bordeleau, Meier trade chips, etc.) it puts us at ~$11M in cap space with a full lineup (sans second goalie). That includes Karlsson, Vlasic, Labanc, and Simek. No reason to incur a buyout penalty in 2024-25 of almost $2M for Labanc when you won't approach the top of the cap next year.

 

[Pinkfloyd]

My ideal plan is Gregor to Tampa (rumored by Seravalli I believe on his pod yesterday as a player they could be in on to add speed to their bottom 6 for cheap).

Barabanov attached with Meier somewhere to increase that return more (get 2 valuable prospects rather than 1 good prospect and 1 depth body that might make it as a bottom 6 or 3rd pairing player - we have enough of those). That or I'd love to see him shipped to Washington for Mantha and a 1st or top end prospect for taking on a big salary on a player fallen out of favor.

On Lorentz, I just sort of assume he carries more value now with 2 playoff runs for someone looking for 4th line help as opposed to 1 next summer/TDL and he doesn't do much to move the needle for the current roster. Seems to be part of all the EK65 to Edmonton

Labanc won't be bought out imo. He's one that could be dealt for a Mantha, Vrana, etc. type where all parties need a fresh start and are making too much money. His production isn't terrible and his underlying numbers are still good enough that he should be able to be dealt in a hockey trade. If not, they'll just ride the cap hit 1 more year instead of putting a buyout penalty on the books when we have cap space to burn and aren't trying to win.

Even if we don't trade Karlsson, Gregor, Barabanov, or Lorentz and simply fill out the lineup by signing our RFAs (along with some ELC players like Eklund, Bordeleau, Meier trade chips, etc.) it puts us at ~$11M in cap space with a full lineup (sans second goalie). That includes Karlsson, Vlasic, Labanc, and Simek. No reason to incur a buyout penalty in 2024-25 of almost $2M for Labanc when you won't approach the top of the cap next year.

If Gregor stays or goes, I don't mind either way. A lot of these guys are at least bodies to have while the rebuild moves forward. If you can get value out of any of them and replace them without asking too much of a prospect still developing then go for it.

I don't mind those moves for Barabanov but I'd prefer to watch him for another part of a season before seeing him go. Granted, that's completely out of personal bias but I'm about pick maximization more than prospects at this stage. I think even the youngest of prospects that are available through trade are too old to be where we'd want them to be by the time the team is competitive once more.

Lorentz I'm okay with keeping as a 4C through most of next season but if you can get pick value out of him, no problem seeing him go and finding a replacement in the free agent market. The important thing with these filler types that we have plenty of is to make sure that we still have filler so we're not asking Bordeleau or Robins or someone who is maybe borderline on being an NHL'er to fill a 4th line gap when it's only so useful to them as developing players.

With Labanc, they'll need to do something there. I don't agree with them benching Labanc like they have but now that they have, it's in everyone's best interest to move on. Whether that's a trade or a buyout, I don't really mind. I would be fine trading Labanc for Zaitsev if we end up dealing Karlsson. I also wouldn't mind those trades for Vrana or Mantha but buying him out has no real impact on the rebuild. I don't think the buyout penalty for Labanc is a sufficient enough reason to hang on to him for another year if no viable trades are available at the draft. We're already dealing with dead money for another two years with Burns and Jones and possibly Karlsson if a deal is made in the offseason anyway so we're pretty much accepting that the rebuild will go through then at a minimum.

Vlasic and Simek can remain for another season since they have pretty much no internal options for the blue line for the foreseeable future. At least no one to justify doing anything with them to make a spot available. Cicek is filler and nobody else is even remotely ready. But this situation is exactly why their next couple drafts need to be pretty blue line heavy to get some youth there when the contracts like Vlasic, Ferraro, and Benning are set to expire. Even still, they probably won't be ready by then but they'll be a hell of a lot closer to doing so as opposed to holding off on refilling the prospect cupboard on defense. If there are prospects to trade for with any of these guys, it ought to be blue liners to help fill the gap as well but again, I'm more about pick maximization at this stage since I don't see it as likely to compete anytime soon.