Speculation: 2018 Off-season Thread

[Puck possession wins]

Have to keep any players like Perlini to ourselves. Young, big shots and can score. Can just give them away, considering we are a budget team.

No to trading POJ as well. He's the Gogo/Hjalmarsson replacement when we move on from them. He's going to be a stud.

Would rather keep the core intact as is and hope to win one of the lotteries and take Svech/Zadina. If not, Wahlstrom at 6. Potential to be like Keller.

 

[TheLegend]

Darcy Kuemper was selected to play for Team Canada at the World Championships.

 

[Bonsai Tree]

I think that some people here have the wrong idea about roster building. It's not who we give up on, but who we can afford to give up in order to get what we need - top 6 right wings in their late 20's and a top 4 RHD.

 

[rt]

I think that some people here have the wrong idea about roster building. It's not who we give up on, but who we can afford to give up in order to get what we need - top 6 right wings in their late 20's and a top 4 RHD.

Wait a year.

 

[YotesFan47]

Wait a year.

I'm pretty good with that mentality given what Strome showed at the end of the year. If we show great strides next year then I'm still willing to sit on my hands baring a deal you'd be foolish to pass up.

 

[Mosby]

Darcy Kuemper was selected to play for Team Canada at the World Championships.

Good. He needs some reps.

 

[ParisSaintGermain]

Wait a year.

In theory I agree, however not every year/summer offers the same quality of opportunities. It feels this coming summer could be one with a rare chance of getting a real difference maker and I would be ok with that.

 

[Jakey53]

I am ok with Perlini's progression so far. To me, the biggest next step for him is to learn/develop how to create his own chances rather than just waiting/hoping for someone else to do the hard work and him just to convert. I would like him to be more involved in plays and also to be significantly more consistent through 82 games.

At this point I am not 100% sure if he can progress to these wishes but I certainly would not give up on him (ie trade him) before finding out more about his development in the first place

Yup, it's called development and experience. RT said Perlini has to get better on the boards, and he did, but like most young players with limited NHL experience, he has to develop that consistency.

 

[Jakey53]

I think that some people here have the wrong idea about roster building. It's not who we give up on, but who we can afford to give up in order to get what we need - top 6 right wings in their late 20's and a top 4 RHD.

True, but we have to know what we are giving up first. A Panik,Richardson, Martinook are what they are, but a Perlini, Strome or DVo let's at least give them a chance. I would have no problem trading a Perlini, Strome or DVO for a similar aged player but that is real risky. There will be changes, no doubt, but I would look at the vets to trade first.

 

[Grimes]

Problem is what vets have enough value to return anything significant?
Goose has a NMC
Demers was really clicking and seems like a great teammate
Hammer is an option but we would need to replace him
Marty or Cousins do not have much value
Panik maybe worth a 2nd (debatable) but also looked great at the end of the year
Stepan would require us to need to get another C

That pretty much leaves it to Domi, who is entering his 4th season. Not really a vet but we are starting to see who he is, good for 40+ points a season but could he be a consistant 50+ guy?

 

[hbk]

Not sure who caught Tochets interview but here’s what I heard:

Needs they are actively trying to still address in off season:

1) top 4 RD; maybe top 2 - start rumours on Hamilton and or Barrie?
2) Center - I don’t get sense they want to risk the season by not ensuring they have upgraded their C depth.
3) we have enough wingers. What does mean to draft strategy and our willingness to move the puck to solve issues 1/2? I didn’t get a sense from Chayka that this pick would be in play but maybe he’s better at poker than I thought.

 

[rt]

Not sure who caught Tochets interview but here’s what I heard:

Needs they are actively trying to still address in off season:

1) top 4 RD; maybe top 2 - start rumours on Hamilton and or Barrie?
2) Center - I don’t get sense they want to risk the season by not ensuring they have upgraded their C depth.
3) we have enough wingers. What does mean to draft strategy and our willingness to move the puck to solve issues 1/2? I didn’t get a sense from Chayka that this pick would be in play but maybe he’s better at poker than I thought.

Which interview?

 

[Grimes]

Im becoming a little more comfortable with moving the pick if it is the 5th or 6th, as long as we dont move any meaningful roster players with it. We have a ton of prospects still, granted not top end ones. POJ, Cappo, Wood, Murphy and Dineen all have a shot at becoming NHL'ers and Chychrun is still very young amd within their age range (unreal). If two out of those five can become an NHL regular we are still in a good spot to replace Hammer and Goligoski once needed. We are already bursting at the seams with wingers, Crouse could be a special player and if Merkely stays healthy we have potential 3rd line wingers waiting in the wing . Steenberg and Burke both have top 9 potential. Our center depth is still bleak, but that wouldnt be answered in the top 10 this year. At some point our own kids will start pushing out our roster players, or we will need to move excelling players for cap/budget reasons. Thats when we can reload our picks and prospects. Ducks have used this model for years (Ryan trade is a perfect example). We build around Keller, OEL and hopefully Chychrun and Strome. With good scouting we wont always have to rely on a top ten pick.

Does the 5th or 6th OA get you Hamilton? Calgary will probably want to make up for moving their first this year, especially if it is a lotto winner.

OEL-Demers
Goose-Hamilton
Chychrun- Hammer
Schenn

Hoo-boy that is spicy!

Then just sign a top 9 RW ufa and call it an offseason, maybe make a trade for a Richardson upgrade and call it an offseason.

 

[SpaceCoyote]

Based on Chayka's exit interview, we were tied for second in even strength defensive scoring. I don't see the need for another offensive minded D man in Hamilton or Barrie. Sounds like we just wanted to build defensive depth for some injury insurance on the blueline other than that... "The majority of the bulk of our work is probably up front. We need to add some higher end players up front" -Chayka

 

[hbk]

Which interview?

98.7. It's available on podcast.

 

[hbk]

Based on Chayka's exit interview, we were tied for second in even strength defensive scoring. I don't see the need for another offensive minded D man in Hamilton or Barrie. Sounds like we just wanted to build defensive depth for some injury insurance on the blueline other than that... "The majority of the bulk of our work is probably up front. We need to add some higher end players up front" -Chayka

The words Tocchet used were top end blueliner.

 

[Grimes]

Just started listening. Tocch's first thing he says is "I came in here and tried to fix everything". How bad was the culture in the organization when he came in. The country club mentality was hanging around clearly.

 

[SniperHF]

Just started listening. Tocch's first thing he says is "I came in here and tried to fix everything". How bad was the culture in the organization when he came in.

Tocchet has kind of a bizarre career arch. The type of player he was completely fits with that type of drive/thinking.
But his days under Wayne? Maybe it was just his foot in the door of NHL coaching and just had to put his time in, but he didn't really shine all that much on a dumpy coaching staff here. I never got that sense of drive to winning from him back then. And then there was the whole gambling scandal, his field promotion taking over in Tampa didn't go all that well. He just struck me as a guy floating around going through the motions for awhile. Maybe being part of a winning staff in Pittsburgh recharged him.

Next year is make or break for his head coaching career.

 

[hbk]

Just started listening. Tocch's first thing he says is "I came in here and tried to fix everything". How bad was the culture in the organization when he came in. The country club mentality was hanging around clearly.

Hopefully I articulated his comments accurately. Feel free to give your interpretation.

 

[Grimes]

Hopefully I articulated his comments accurately. Feel free to give your interpretation.

Another insightful interview. Sounds like OEL was really struggling with the system, or maybe even Tocchs personality at first. He has only had Tipp as a coach so that makes sense. RT hinted at some personal or internal struggles with him too, maybe it was not getting the C or something else that was distracting him. But it sounds like they are on the same page now and moving forward.

Stressed having a strong defense and said they would like to add another really good defenseman.

Stressed the center position and that wingers are not as crucial.
Gambo thinks we should sign Taveres...

I looked at other teams that may want a 5th or 6th that may be in a re-tool or build or need cap relief. No one really stood out in the age range we would be looking for besides Stone. Maybe ROR for the pick, or that "really good defenseman" is the way to go.

 

[BUX7PHX]

Just started listening. Tocch's first thing he says is "I came in here and tried to fix everything". How bad was the culture in the organization when he came in. The country club mentality was hanging around clearly.

I don't know how much that takes shape - that's similar to saying, "I didn't know what needed fixing first, so I tried to fix a little bit of everything right from the start." Could have been that conditioning was good relative to other teams, but Tocchet wants conditioning to be #1 on his list. Especially true considering this was an overall change from the system and as a result, the number of things that needed changing were quite overwhelming.

Sometimes people have that mentality of once one thing is getting fixed, it translates into three other fixes that all stem from that one fix. That would very easily explain our struggles early in the year - instead of focusing on this one fix and making sure we did this one fix right, we went into the next few games thinking that the fix was understood and now we can fix more things, when in actuality, if players still weren't as comfortable as they could be with the original fix, it drives more confusion and more disarray. Especially with the lack of practice time that has been mentioned - maybe these fixes were mentioned but not clearly demonstrated. Only after we had some significant time to practice these things did we start to see the team play more evenly, which in turn, was causal to the better record over the second half of the season.

 

[TheLegend]

^^^

OEL admitted that not getting the C bothered him after Chayka had said he’d probably be named the new captain. Then Tocchet comes in and wants to audition several players.

That... and the differences in how he and Tocchet communicate (OEL admitted to being more laid back) led to those problems early on. But they did eventually get through it.

 

[Mosby]

I could def see Calgary being interested in our pick, even more so if their own pick ends up high after the lotto.

 

[Grimes]

I could def see Calgary being interested in our pick, even more so if their own pick ends up high after the lotto.

We also have Dougies brother held captive. Hopefully he had good things to say about AZ.

Was Chayka on staff during the 2015 draft?

 

[hbk]

We also have Dougies brother held captive. Hopefully he had good things to say about AZ.

Was Chayka on staff during the 2015 draft?

Hired summer of 2015. He would have just started if he was. Strome was a Maloney decision.