2014 Exit Meetings: On to the Off-season

[RogerRoger]

Campbell - Robidas
Olsen - Gudbranson
Gilbert - Ekblad (I'd prefer a more defensive dman to pair with Ekblad)
Jovo

I think this would be an interesting defense. An average defense, but it would allow for a lot of money to throw at some forward free agents. In my scenario Kulikov is traded for a winger.

 

[Dr Beinfest]

This FA pool of defensemen is old anyways.

My bet is Tallon plans on trading some assets for some decent defenders. Picks, players. Drew Shore packaged with Fleischmann could fetch something nice.

 

[flapanthersfan]

Niskanen at $6mil would become the worst free agent contract in NHL history. and I'm well aware of Clarkson and Jeff Finger.

At this point, I'd be more inclined to give a short term, but heavily paid contract to one of the old farts. Something like 1-2 years for $7-7.5mil per for Andrei Markov (or Boyle for $6mil or Zidlicky for $5mil...Markov would be my first choice though. He's Brian Campbell, but better defensively. Blocks a ton of shots.). The key is to keep the term SHORT. overpay them for a year or two and let them go.

Then hopefully try and get another solid top-4 through trade. The defensmen this season are incredibly bad. Unless Matt Greene or Anrej Meszaros would sign under $4mil, but I doubt it with this group being so bad.

We CANNOT afford to give a, expensive 5-6 year long-term deal to a mediocre defensman like Niskanen or Orpik just because they're in their "prime". Even if they're 27-31 years old, they're still mediocre at best. we have good d-men in the system...we don't need an overpaid turn clogging up roster spots for them when they're ready in 2 years.

 

[gudzilla]

i dont think markov is better defensively than campbell anymore, he looked really slow last year. havent seen enough this year

however, i like the idea of a 1-2 year contract for mass bucks

 

[Dr Beinfest]

I'd take Markov on short terms. I imagine having him here would be pretty cool for Kulikov seeing as that's who Kulikov had been compared to so much when he was drafted. Would help Kuli out in some form of mentoring.

 

[flapanthersfan]

i dont think markov is better defensively than campbell anymore, he looked really slow last year. havent seen enough this year

however, i like the idea of a 1-2 year contract for mass bucks

believe it or not, Andrei Markov was #2 in the NHL in blocked shots this season. not the guy you'd expect to be there in that stat, but he was. He's soft as butter but does his job, especially on the PK. He's solid.

http://espn.go.com/nhl/statistics/player/_/stat/defensive/sort/blockedShots

 

[Dr Beinfest]

Not to make any claim on Markov but... I genuinely think that the blocked shots category is a rather meaningless stat. It tells USA couple of things... what kind of defender someone is (something you can infer from watching them) and how successful their positioning is on the ice. Unfortunately blocking a lot of shots doesn't necessarily come with a disclaimer as to why shots were being fired in the first place. PK? Getting pinned in your own zone? Passive defending? Likes to play goalie? Is just really big? Slides in the shooting lane and sacrifices every functioning body part?

There's a million questions attached. I give Markov the benefit because he's got a great career and he's incredibly talented. I love statistics as much as the next person though, I'm not making some "intangibles" argument. It's just important to make a qualitative assessment of a quantitative result. If you don't, you just end up with the +\- system :p