News Article: Stempniak Wanted to Return, Jets Chose Youth Movement

[StronGeer]

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/free-agent-stempniak-wanted-to-remain-a-jet/
http://www.thescore.com/nhl/news/813378

Interesting to note he mentions he wants to be in a winning environment this late in his career, and thinks that Winnipeg is that environment

Click to read more...

 

[CorgisPer60]

That's a mistake. Stempniak is a great depth winger. We finally get one that wants to come back and Chevy opts to gift an NHL job to a rookie.

 

[allan5oh]

I think it is a mistake as well, but not that big of a deal. There may be other factors at play here. I wish Lee the best of luck.

 

[Howard Chuck]

That's a mistake. Stempniak is a great depth winger. We finally get one that wants to come back and Chevy opts to gift an NHL job to a rookie.

I'm personally ecstatic to hear that the Jets are going to go with the youth movement! I really hope that it's true. We have the veteran depth to bring along a good number of rookies, especially the quality of rookies in our cupboard.

We may struggle a bit at the beginning, but any of Ehlers/Petan/Armia/Burmi even Copp, could certainly be an upgrade to Stempniak, as much as I am a fan of his.

 

[SLAYER]

That's a mistake. Stempniak is a great depth winger. We finally get one that wants to come back and Chevy opts to gift an NHL job to a rookie.

And you don't feel that any rookie could possibly replace / out-produce his production this coming season?

Also, I was a big fan of Stemp on the team and loved what he brought to the table. It was nice to hear such good things from him.

 

[fmrdh]

Peluso > Stempniak?

 

[StronGeer]

And you don't feel that any rookie could possibly replace / out-produce his production this coming season?

I think it's the whole Devil-you-know thing. We know Stemp is an above average 4th line possession guy, who knows what the guy who replaces him is like.

That said, I like the idea behind seeing what the young guys have in camp and then reassess later.

 

[mcpw]

It's only a mistake if we don't actually go for the youth movement.
If one of Halischuk, Peluso, Cormier, or Fraser is in the lineup on a regular basis, it's a mistake.
If not, it's not a mistake.

 

[SLAYER]

I think it's the whole Devil-you-know thing. We know Stemp is an above average 4th line possession guy, who knows what the guy who replaces him is like.

That said, I like the idea behind seeing what the young guys have in camp and then reassess later.

This is true, I'm on the youth movement side of things.

Also, fmrdh has a good point... I would much rather have signed Stemp over Scoreburn / Peluso. I want spots for the rookies, but I feel like Stemp would have have been a MUCH better choice than some of the depth guys we have now.

 

[heilongjetsfan]

Peluso > Stempniak?

That was the first thing that crossed my mind, too. Fraser, Halischuk, and Thorburn came to up pretty quickly also.

That said, heck yes I wanna see a youth movement!

I like Lee a lot. Was pretty thrilled to see him get picked up, and I wish him the best, but this seems to be for exactly the right reasons, so I'll live.

 

[cbcwpg]

Fine... you want to try a rookie instead of a vet that wants to play here... OK.

But when Stempniak is a BILLION ( OK... maybe a small exaggeration.. its only a million ) times better than either Thorburn or Peluso and you keep those slugs???

 

[Gump Hasek]

Fine... you want to try a rookie instead of a vet that wants to play here... OK.

But when Stempniak is a BILLION ( OK... maybe a small exaggeration.. its only a million ) times better than either Thorburn or Peluso and you keep those slugs???

Thorburn and Peluso are 4th-line energy plugs; Peluso will likely spend a good portion of the year in the press box. It isn't an apt comparison; if Stempniak was signed it wouldn't be to fill those roles. It isn't an either/or choice between those players in other words.

 

[CaptainChef]

I think it is a mistake as well, but not that big of a deal. There may be other factors at play here. I wish Lee the best of luck.

Mistake for sure. Can sign this guy for whatever amount (presumably 1.0 plus change would more than do it) and for whatever term we want (lets make it 1 year to be ideal).

Instead Chevy signs Stafford (who I consider to be a better offensive player but much worse defensively) and he signs him for two years at 4.0 plus change! Terrible decision in my books.

To be clear, going youth movement - 100% approve. Resigning Stafford, Peluso & Hali and letting Stemp & Tlusty walk when they could be had for next to nothing - ridiculous.

 

[surixon]

Doesn't this contradict what was said earlier this summer by his agent?

On one hand bring a proven solid player like Stempniak back would have helped the team, but on the other hand I'm fine with giving some of our kids a chance to play.

 

[StronGeer]

Mistake for sure. Can sign this guy for whatever amount (presumably 1.0 plus change would more than do it) and for whatever term we want (lets make it 1 year to be ideal).

Instead Chevy signs Stafford (who I consider to be a better offensive player but much worse defensively) and he signs him for two years at 4.0 plus change! Terrible decision in my books.

To be clear, going youth movement - 100% approve. Resigning Stafford, Peluso & Hali and letting Stemp & Tlusty walk when they could be had for next to nothing - ridiculous.

We don't know that Stemp would take a 1 year deal. He mentioned moving his family and stuff like that, I'm sure he'd push for more term.

Also, 29 other GMs have yet to sign him as well.

 

[ellismate]

I wonder what he was asking for that they opted not to sign him. And yeah, scoreburns and peluso should have went long before stemp. Only logic I could see is the price tag difference that stemp was asking. Maybe they took inti account the possibility of the double expansion draft.

 

[StronGeer]

Ok, so we moved out one top 6 guy (Frolik) and 3 bottom 6 guys (Slater, Stemp, Tlusty). Who fills the gaps?

Ehlers
Burmistrov
Copp
Petan/Armia?

 

[YWGinYYZ]

No mention by Stempniak of what sort of term he was looking for. At this stage of his career, I could see wanting some security. A 1 year deal doesn't really block too many prospects, but a 2-3 year deal could. Might very well be a case of the Jets wanting short term, and Stemp wanting longer term. If this is the case, then yes: the Jets are probably looking for spots for their up and comers over the next 2-3 years.

Just my take - there's a side to this story that isn't being told.

 

[mcpw]

Ok, so we moved out one top 6 guy (Frolik) and 3 bottom 6 guys (Slater, Stemp, Tlusty). Who fills the gaps?

Ehlers
Burmistrov
Copp
Petan/Armia?

Ladd-Little-Wheeler
Perreault-Scheifele-Ehlers/Stafford
Burmistrov-Lowry-Ehlers/Stafford
Thorburn-Copp-Armia

That's what I expect as the opening lineup.
Best AHL player will be first callup (Petan or Kosmachuk or Lipon).

Over the next two seasons we should insert Ehlers, Petan, Burmistrov, Armia, Copp, and Morrissey into the lineup, possibly Connor if he has a Larkin-type season. That's six or seven players. If we don't want to insert them all at once, we better get started. Furthermore, in two years we will know whether Kosmachuk, Lipon, and Kichton are NHL players or not.

No mention by Stempniak of what sort of term he was looking for. At this stage of his career, I could see wanting some security. A 1 year deal doesn't really block too many prospects, but a 2-3 year deal could. Might very well be a case of the Jets wanting short term, and Stemp wanting longer term. If this is the case, then yes: the Jets are probably looking for spots for their up and comers over the next 2-3 years.

Just my take - there's a side to this story that isn't being told.

I thought about this as well. We don't know whether he wants to sign a one-year contract - we might know this later if he signs one with another team.

 

[Board Bard]

No mention by Stempniak of what sort of term he was looking for. At this stage of his career, I could see wanting some security. A 1 year deal doesn't really block too many prospects, but a 2-3 year deal could. Might very well be a case of the Jets wanting short term, and Stemp wanting longer term. If this is the case, then yes: the Jets are probably looking for spots for their up and comers over the next 2-3 years.

Just my take - there's a side to this story that isn't being told.

Last year he signed a one-year contract in July.

Now we're almost done with August and he hasn't signed. There are probably more serviceable FAs floating around this year than there were last year at this time, and there's been lots of press about good players likely having to sign PTOs in training camps just to get a foot in the door. I kinda doubt in that buyer's market that Stemp or just about any other decent unsigned FA (Franson being a possible exception) is going to play hardball over term.

 

[CaptainChef]

No mention by Stempniak of what sort of term he was looking for. At this stage of his career, I could see wanting some security. A 1 year deal doesn't really block too many prospects, but a 2-3 year deal could. Might very well be a case of the Jets wanting short term, and Stemp wanting longer term. If this is the case, then yes: the Jets are probably looking for spots for their up and comers over the next 2-3 years.

Just my take - there's a side to this story that isn't being told.

So he asks for 2-3 years at $1.5-2.0. Not a big deal; insert him where you want & he'll do fine; if not trade him at the TD & give one more rookie a spot.

But, someone explain how you justify Stafford's $4.35 X two years versus that. Peluso & Hali (heck those were depth signings; unless coach is determined to get them in the lineup vs letting rookies develop, I have no problem with those signings).

 

[Ducky10]

Next, enough of the stop gaps, let the young guys play.

 

[jetsforever]

Kind of annoying that when we finally find someone who wants to stay and is good, we let him walk. Not the end of the world though, Ehlers etc. should be good .

 

[Aavco Cup]

If he remains unsigned the Jets should offer him a PTO to attend training camp.

 

[GJF]

If he remains unsigned the Jets should offer him a PTO to attend training camp.

but then again, if they are sure to not want to re-sign him because they have his spot reserved for upcoming players, why should they? What benefit do they get from PTOing him?