Your Summer Wishlist

[raynman]

Supposedly the winds of change might be a blowin' through Raleigh this summer. As of now Muller hasn't been canned, JR is still the GM, and it isn't 100% confirmed that Ronnie Francis will be the new GM. So let's take this ship over for a while. What do you want to see accomplished this summer? Who would you draft/trade/sign in order to realistically get the Canes back to the promised land next April and beyond?

Click to read more...

 

[What the Faulk]

Another legitimate top four defenseman. Maybe take a PTO flyer on Pitkanen if he's healthy enough to suit up.

Sekera // XX
Hainsey // Faulk
Pitkanen // Liles
Bellemore
Harrison
Murphy

 

[WhiteTrashAmerican]

Quality depth in our bottom 6, and a healthy Pitkanen or another top four D. Drayson Bowman not being on the team.

What I expect:

 

[tomdundo]

-Let go of players who do suck
-Draft a player who doesn't suck
-Sign some FAs who don't suck (top 4 dman, forward depth)

 

[nobuddy]

Ryan Callahan or Radim Vrbata.

Jake Virtanen, Nick Ritchie, or Brendan Perlini.

A healthy Pitkanen.

 

[What the Faulk]

Actually, I would consider trading Murphy for another quality forward too.

 

[WhiteTrashAmerican]

Actually, I would consider trading Murphy for another quality forward too.

I wouldn't be totally against that, but I really think we should give Murphy a big time shot. None of this bumping up and down from here to Charlotte or line shuffling, PP time and all. I still think he is a special player.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

IMO, Murphy should have been in Charlotte for most of this year. He has all the tools, but need to work on the toolbox. Obviously, he needs work in the defensive end, but he also needs it offensively. He is excellent at skating the puck up the ice, but not good at using his team-mates when he does that so it usually ends up in eventually turning the puck over or dumping it in but not being able to control it since nobody else is in the zone. He has a great shot, but wasn't very effective at getting it off / getting it through and his passing was just OK at best.

I don't think he'll ever be great defensively (but can learn to be adequate), but he has to figure out how to use his team-mates better when he has the puck or he'll struggle to even be a specialist IMO.

If he can't do that, then throw him on a wing with Skinner and Lindholm.

 

[Finlandia WOAT]

Considering what Vanek got in a trade and the sheer amount of free agents on the market this summer, it would not be difficult to find depth.

Michalek, Hemsky, Setoguchi, Bolland in free agency. Or do a trade for something minor.

Replace Bowman, Dvorak and Dwyer with two good depth players from FA/trade + promoting Boychuk.

I would take a flier on Pitkanen...but I seriously doubt he is coming back. His injury was nasty.

 

[TheBigKahuna]

-JR retires

-New GM not currently employed by the club, someone not part of the club and not afraid to call a spade a spade. Clean slate.

-Staal 12 for Kesler and ______

-Healthy Pitkanen

-top 6 capable tough winger, bigger than 6-1", 210 , or a big tough as nails 3rd or 4th liner guy

-Another center not named Nash, like to see Malhotra signed.

-Veteran replacement for Bowman, or at least one of the top Checkers, Dvorak gone and replaced by talent or size/toughness.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Michalek, Hemsky, Setoguchi, Bolland in free agency. Or do a trade for something minor.

Replace Bowman, Dvorak and Dwyer with two good depth players from FA/trade + promoting Boychuk.

I'd be all for getting rid of Bowman and Dvorak, but I'm ok with keeping Dwyer. He's exactly what you need for the bottom six. Cheap, defensively responsible, and not a complete black hole when it comes to offense.

Depending who Carolina drafts / trades / signs, there just may not be room for Boychuk yet again in the top 9.

 

[rocky7]

I don't have a problem with keeping Dwyer actually. the problem is him playing on the second line. play him where he should be playing. you're not going to find a better fourth liner who can also move up a bit during injuries.

edit: ^^^ yep.

and Pitkanen is done IMO.

 

[Anton Dubinchuk]

Ryan Callahan or Radim Vrbata.

Jake Virtanen, Nick Ritchie, or Brendan Perlini.

A healthy Pitkanen.

No thank you. Based on what he didn't accept from NYR, he's in for a payday that he's just not worth, IMO.

Everything else I agree with.

 

[Anton Dubinchuk]

As far as UFA dmen go, how about a guy like Quincey? Not the sexiest signing, but let's be honest, we're not exactly a hot destination-type franchise right now.

Otherwise, maybe an Orpik/Mitchell-type. Gritty veteran has been made fun of to death here, and for good reason, but it's pretty clear at this point that we have zero of them.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Since it's going to be tough to get a quality defenseman via ufa, maybe there is another "Sekera" type trade out there. Which teams might be looking to move some guys either because of Cap reasons, or as in Buffalo's case, rebuilding?

 

[daikan]

Some quality defensemen I wouldn't mind Francis getting, either filling a top 4 role or improving depth:

Matt Niskanen, Stephen Robidas, Mark Fayne, Anton Strålman, Tom Gilbert, Raphael Diaz.

I think those are all UFA. But I'm not sure on their respective situations—perhaps some of them have already signed for their current teams, or will want too much money. Thoughts?

 

[rocky7]

I think Niskanen will probably resign in Pittsburgh but if not he'll likely want to go to a contender and he has earned a big deal.

 

[Brock Anton]

Yeah, Niskanen's gonna get paid. Especially after seeing what MacDonald got....

 

[Anton Dubinchuk]

As far as my list goes:

- A legitimate 4th line. I mean this in all sincerity. Been thinking a lot about what Vagrant said awhile ago, about Adams-Adams-Larose knowing their role and not just being a bad 3rd line, but actually bringing energy and grit and being pests if not more. I think we've potentially got 2/3rds of this with Malhotra and Dwyer. For the other guy, I say look to the league minimum FAs. D'Agostini stands out on the list, to me at least. Glass, Thornton, Asham. As for callups if one of our 4th liners gets hurt, maybe give Blanchard a shot. Our 4th line has looked good (comparatively), to me at least, in the past when it had those type of guys on there. While we weren't huge fans at the time, I'd much rather have Tim Wallace flying around hitting everything that moves and Adam Hall coming up and playing a solid two-way game than what we decided we'd rather have, which is Bowman occasionally scoring a goal when it doesn't matter and Westgarth doing literally nothing.

- A top 6/9 winger. Obviously easier said than done. I say take a chance on someone that'll be cheap, maybe on a low-risk high-reward contract. Say what you will about his production this year, but Dany Heatley won't be making a ton, will be looking for a fresh start somewhere, probably will prefer a 1-year deal, and still has it on the powerplay. Not saying it definitively, "go after Heatley," but that kind of move is what we need to be looking for. Depth scoring. We don't need to pay another guy $7 like Gaborik, Vanek, or probably even Moulson (won't make $7mil but WILL be overpaid). Also possibilities here with a player we get back for Ward.

- Trade Ward for picks. This is the toughest on this list, IMO. Trade Ward, no retained salary, receiving no salary back. Probably impossible. Lots of different possibilities on this front, which will obviously change things like our potential FA signings. For the purposes of this one route, I'll say we end up keeping him.

- A new coach in Charlotte. Looking at you Scott Walker. Let's get someone that will actually maximize our players' talent. There's enough empirical evidence at this point that suggests to me that Daniels has run his course here.

- 2nd pairing D. 1st pairing D won't come easy. But a 2nd pair guy that can play good minutes behind Faulk/Sekera would be huge. I don't think that's Pitkanen, but if it is, yes, him. Otherwise, looking at guys like Ranger, Niskanen, Greene, etc. I don't think Hainsey will be back, even if he is I think we need to take a hard look at our D and see if he's a fit. In the end, D wasn't the issue this year (numbers-wise anyway), so this is further down the list.

- Draft the best player for this franchise, not the best one next year. Pretty self-explanatory. I think that as muech as we would love for it to happen, this team probably isn't going to be great next year, no matter how we do in the offseason. Expecting someone to come in and be good right away, at the expense of getting the best guy for the future, is not the right pick. Yeah, right now I think Ritchie's the best fit.

- Re-sign Tlusty for less than $2mil. Really glad JR didn't pay up after last season. That being said, Tlusty is a pretty good 3rd liner, and that depth scoring is needed. Assuming the "real" Tlusty is somewhere between last year's and this year's, I don't think 20 goals is out of the question, especially if they decide he works best with EStaal after all.

Potential lines next year:

Heatley - Staal - Loktionov
Tlusty - Staal - Semin
Skinner - Lindholm - Gerbe
Thornton - Malhotra - Dwyer

Faulk - Sekera
Hainsey - Liles
Harrison - Murphy
Bellemore

Khudobin
Ward

D's not any better, but we need to score more goals, and that top 9 has some pretty good potential with some nice line combo possibilities.

 

[tomdundo]

I think Mark Fayne is probably the best option presented in this thread. Solid, underrated guy who probably won't cost a ton because he isn't overly flashy.


EDIT: The problem with Heatley is that he's slow as molasses now. I'm not sure that's the type of guy we'd want, even if he might help contribute to the PP.

 

[Finlandia WOAT]

I'd be all for getting rid of Bowman and Dvorak, but I'm ok with keeping Dwyer. He's exactly what you need for the bottom six. Cheap, defensively responsible, and not a complete black hole when it comes to offense.

I'm fine with him on the 4th line.

Not on the 3rd. I think a 3rd line that can score reliably would benefit this team more than any other possible offseason plan. Getting a depth scorer in FA (say, Setoguchi, who had a career low last year while playing on the Jets' 3rd line, and still outproduced everyone in our bottom 6) and elevating Boychuk may create this. Or a trade- are we still in on Backlund?

Depending who Carolina drafts / trades / signs, there just may not be room for Boychuk yet again in the top 9.

I hope so. Given Boychuk's offensive year in the AHL and the cavalcade of warm bodies that patrolled our 3rd (and 2nd) line this year, it will mean that Francis has remedied our lack of forward depth.

 

[RodTheBawd]

My personal bias aside, other than some armchair GMs here who think "depth" means 50 point guys on every single line, I don't know why anyone would not want Dwyer on their team. You can't vilify a guy for coaching decisions. I'll have more to add later, but had to defend my mancrush.

 

[Finlandia WOAT]

My personal bias aside, other than some armchair GMs here who think "depth" means 50 point guys on every single line, I don't know why anyone would not want Dwyer on their team. You can't vilify a guy for coaching decisions. I'll have more to add later, but had to defend my mancrush.

The only above average NHL ability Dwyer possesses is his skating.

Everything else is sub-par.

This includes defense, btw: I think Dwyer is merely 'ok' at defense, but is helped a great deal by his skating ability, playing with players who are much better than he is at that role, and by the natural non-demanding nature of the winger position.

I look at Dwyer playing with Jordan Staal and Gerbe and think "Wow....we could be doing better than this".

 

[Ole Gil]

People talking getting rid of Dwyer are crazy. He's our #1 PK guy by far, and a top notch shutdown guy.

Gerbe/xxx/Dwyer as a shutdown line was great all year. Just a matter of finding someone who isn't Jordan who can do the job. Malholtra was close, but tailed off at the end of the year.

Tlusty/Jordan/Semin
xxx/Eric/xxx
Skinner/(Nash or Lotki)/Lindholm
Gerbe/Malholtra/Dwyer

No idea what to do with Eric, perhaps those could be the holes that get filled in this summer. Some lower end 2-way top 6 guys like Tlusty that can give the whole roster a bit of flexibility.

 

[daikan]

Some quality defensemen I wouldn't mind Francis getting, either filling a top 4 role or improving depth:

Matt Niskanen, Stephen Robidas, Mark Fayne, Anton Strålman, Tom Gilbert, Raphael Diaz.

I think those are all UFA. But I'm not sure on their respective situations—perhaps some of them have already signed for their current teams, or will want too much money. Thoughts?

Just to add to this, some forwards to consider:

Dustin Penner, Lee Stempniak, Blake Comeau, Peter Regin, David Moss, Benoit Pouliot, Nikolai Kulemin ...

Some of these guys will surely be re-signed before they reach free agency. Pouliot, for instance, is, I believe, close to re-signing with the Rangers.