Sign me up for Derek Dorsett. His game is the missing piece for the McMillan/Vitale line.
I understand the thinking behind Semin, but even if the Hurricanes offered maximum retention, I’d pass. His reputation for enigmatic, listless play is everything that’s wrong with this team. That on top of his salary seems way too much of a risk. Let Carolina deal with that contract.
Although I doubt it happens, I don’t mind the idea of moving Boedker. Sort of hitting the reset button in the sense that we’ve taken him as far as we can. Flyers HFers want a scoring winger. Maybe a deal for Brayden Schenn makes sense. Boedker and Schenn should be making similar dollars next season as well. I’d try something similar with Lucas Lessio. Give him full-time NHL minutes once we start clearing out some bodies. If he doesn’t show much after 40 games, move him for a similar aged prospect at a similar career point.
I think Foligno will re-sign in Columbus and Marc Staal will re-sign with the NYR. I’m crossing my fingers on Boychuk having interested in Arizona. If we’re lucky enough to land McDavid, maybe we see an immediate attraction from UFAs, like Pittsburgh did after the lotto balls gave them Crosby.
I’d give Mike Smith one more year behind a competent defense before going the buyout route. If he still can’t get it done, then you look at your options. We could lose Dubnyk over it, but there are always a handful of useful backups available for about $1M.
My attempt:
CAPGEEK.COM ARMCHAIR GM ROSTER
CapGeek Armchair GM Roster
Mikkel Boedker ($4.500m) / Connor McDavid ($3.775m) / Sam Gagner ($3.200m)
Max Domi ($0.894m) / Riley Sheahan ($0.950m) / Tomas Jurco ($0.925m)
Tobias Rieder ($0.853m) / Martin Hanzal ($3.100m) / Henrik Samuelsson ($0.894m)
Brandon McMillan ($0.700m) / Joe Vitale ($1.117m) / Derek Dorsett ($2.500m)
Jordan Szwarz ($0.630m) /
Oliver Ekman-Larsson ($5.500m) / Johnny Boychuk ($5.500m)
Brandon Gormley ($1.100m) / Michael Stone ($1.150m)
Marc Methot ($5.000m) / Connor Murphy ($0.863m)
Chris Summers ($0.600m) /
Mike Smith ($5.667m)
Devan Dubnyk ($1.200m)
BUYOUTS
Mike Ribeiro ($1.444m)
BONUS OVERAGE
$0
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CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter)
(estimations for 2015-16)
SALARY CAP: $69,000,000; CAP PAYROLL: $52,062,778; BONUSES: $996,667
CAP SPACE (22-man roster): $16,937,222
A few notes:
I’ve moved out Vermette, Michalek, and Erat for picks. Hopefully a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd for the three. We need to do what it takes to dump Chipchura and Korpikoski. Get rid of their future salary by taking on cap dumps this year. Moss, Crombeen, Hodgman, and Schlemko all hit UFA.
I left out Doan mostly because I couldn’t figure out where he fit in the lineup, and I suppose there is still a possibility, albeit very small, that he’s traded. I’ve also traded Yandle to Detroit. They have an impressive group of young, cost-controlled talent and can afford to move two of those players plus their 1st for Yandle. In this case, I picked Sheahan and Jurco as both bring size, speed, and skill, but considering Detroit’s collection of young forwards, any combination should work, plus that 1st rounder. Also of note, McDavid’s (or Eichel’s) salary is a carbon copy of MacKinnon’s in that it includes his bonuses.
Overall, it's a young group, perhaps too young, although that changes if Doan stays. I think this group kills off the uninspiring, same-old, same-old play we've seen over the last few seasons. Overall, I think it's an energetic, exciting, and skillful group.