Rumor: 2019 Free Agent Tranquility Part III

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Richard88

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Is there any chance Sakic might try to sign college free agent RHD Chase Priskie?

I hadn't heard of him before until I saw the thread in the trade boards (link here: Highly sought after Quinnipiac defender Chase Priskie will not sign w/ Caps; will become UFA Aug. 15), but I got curious and looked up some articles and scouting reports on him and it sounds like his style of play would be a great fit on our team.

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"Priskie's strength is his ability to push the pace, join the rush and jump into the offense. His straight line speed isn't something that will blow an observer away, but he has good mobility and lateral agility."

"Chase had a great year. He's been dominant. The way he plays is how we want our 'D' to play. We want to get our 'D' in the rush. We want to create that second wave, that third wave of attack. If there's no opportunity offensively, they've created good gap. They're up in the play and now the gap is going the other way," Pecknold explained.

Priskie's play in his own zone continued to develop as the season progressed, but there's little doubt his best asset will always be on the offensive side of the puck."


"He's a great hockey player, a great kid, and a straight A student," said Pecknold of his team's Rookie of the Year." (Source)

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Priskie, 6’-0”, 185 pounds, was a 6th round draft pick of the Capitals in 2016 (#177 overall)

[Note: Another source says Priskie is 5′-11, and 192 lbs.]

"He’s a good two-way defenseman that can skate and quarterback a powerplay."

"(...) Priskie’s strength on the power play began to emerge in 2016-2017, where he led the team with 15 power play assists and 20 power play points."

"Priskie also shined on Quinnipiac’s power play last season. Of Priskie’s 11 goals during 2017-2018, eight came on the power play, which not only led the Bobcats, but was ranked first in the nation among NCAA Division I defensemen during the regular season, and placed him 11th among all skaters."
(Source)

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"Currently he is up to 39 points in 34 games as he has exploded past his previous three seasons of 25, 26 and 26 points. Priskie is playing so well that if he does not sign with the Caps he will be highly sought after when he because a freeagent." (Source)

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Anyone else think Sakic might try to pull a Kerfoot here? We could use a RHD after all, and this kid sounds like a good fit.

From Priskie's perspective he might be a bit wary of the fact we have Meloche and Timmins coming through. I wouldn't think that Connauton/Barberio would be much concern though given that they're unlikely to be here beyond this season, and Cole is a bit of a question mark at this stage.

Realistically we will start the season with the lineup below, and Priskie might fancy his chances against Graves/Barberio/Rosén, particularly given that none of them are RHS's.

Girard -------- Makar
Zadorov ------ Johnson
Connauton --- Graves/Barberio/Rosén

That all said, he'll probably try to find a team where he'll get a big role right off the bat (eg. Anaheim) to get himself an easy route to the NHL. However, it must surely be very tempting for him to join a team that suits his game perfectly and looks like becoming the next powerhouse in the next few years.



 
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flyfysher

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Mar 21, 2012
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Is there any chance Sakic might try to sign college free agent RHD Chase Priskie?

I hadn't heard of him before until I saw the thread in the trade boards (link here: Highly sought after Quinnipiac defender Chase Priskie will not sign w/ Caps; will become UFA Aug. 15), but I got curious and looked up some articles and scouting reports on him and it sounds like his style of play would be a great fit on our team.

-------

"Priskie's strength is his ability to push the pace, join the rush and jump into the offense. His straight line speed isn't something that will blow an observer away, but he has good mobility and lateral agility."

"Chase had a great year. He's been dominant. The way he plays is how we want our 'D' to play. We want to get our 'D' in the rush. We want to create that second wave, that third wave of attack. If there's no opportunity offensively, they've created good gap. They're up in the play and now the gap is going the other way," Pecknold explained.

Priskie's play in his own zone continued to develop as the season progressed, but there's little doubt his best asset will always be on the offensive side of the puck."

"He's a great hockey player, a great kid, and a straight A student," said Pecknold of his team's Rookie of the Year." (Source)

-----

Priskie, 6’-0”, 185 pounds, was a 6th round draft pick of the Capitals in 2016 (#177 overall)

[Note: Another source says Priskie is 5′-11, and 192 lbs.]

"He’s a good two-way defenseman that can skate and quarterback a powerplay."

"(...) Priskie’s strength on the power play began to emerge in 2016-2017, where he led the team with 15 power play assists and 20 power play points."

"Priskie also shined on Quinnipiac’s power play last season. Of Priskie’s 11 goals during 2017-2018, eight came on the power play, which not only led the Bobcats, but was ranked first in the nation among NCAA Division I defensemen during the regular season, and placed him 11th among all skaters." (Source)

---------

"Currently he is up to 39 points in 34 games as he has exploded past his previous three seasons of 25, 26 and 26 points. Priskie is playing so well that if he does not sign with the Caps he will be highly sought after when he because a freeagent." (Source)

------

Anyone else think Sakic might try to pull a Kerfoot here? We could use a RHD after all, and this kid sounds like a good fit.

From Priskie's perspective he might be a bit wary of the fact we have Meloche and Timmins coming through. I wouldn't think that Connauton/Barberio would be much concern though given that they're unlikely to be here beyond this season, and Cole is a bit of a question mark at this stage.

Realistically we will start the season with the lineup below, and Priskie might fancy his chances against Graves/Barberio/Rosén, particularly given that none of them are RHS's.

Girard -------- Makar
Zadorov ------ Johnson
Connauton --- Graves/Barberio/Rosén

That all said, he'll probably try to find a team where he'll get a big role right off the bat (eg. Anaheim) to get himself an easy route to the NHL. However, it must surely be very tempting for him to join a team that suits his game perfectly and looks like becoming the next powerhouse in the next few years.

It's a tailor made position to step into as the team will be looking to replace Cole and EJ.
 
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Richard88

John 3:16
Jun 29, 2019
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It's a tailor made position to step into as the team will be looking to replace Cole and EJ.
Replacing EJ will take at least 2 years at the earliest though, and even then it would probably be a scenario requiring him to waive his NMC in the ED (not to mention Seattle actually wanting to pick him). Cole also has a contract for two more years, but that's less of a concern as he wouldn't be too difficult to move as a pending UFA if needed.

Byram ---- Makar
Girard ---- Timmins
Zadorov -- Priskie
Rosén --- Meloche

I'd be pretty happy about that (if Priskie is indeed as described in some of the articles I linked earlier). That's got the perfect balance of LHS/RHS, as well as a nice mix of puck movers and more physical guys.
 
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flyfysher

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Replacing EJ will take at least 2 years at the earliest though, and even then it would probably be a scenario requiring him to waive his NMC in the ED (not to mention Seattle actually wanting to pick him). Cole also has a contract for two more years, but that's less of a concern as he wouldn't be too difficult to move as a pending UFA if needed.

Byram ---- Makar
Girard ---- Timmins
Zadorov -- Priskie
Rosén --- Meloche

I'd be pretty happy about that (if Priskie is indeed as described in some of the articles I linked earlier). That's got the perfect balance of LHS/RHS, as well as a nice mix of puck movers and more physical guys.

Priskie has to know the team is primed for an extended SC run. With a little patience he'll get his starting spot on the roster.
 
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Foppa2118

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Johnson as a 3rd pairing RHD taking heavy defensive and PK minutes would be a perfect scenario if we could somehow find a 2nd pairing RHD to bump him down in the next 1-2 years, either via trade or with Timmins/Meloche.

We could also afford to have him in that role due to how many defensemen will be on ELC's.

I think it could potentially play out that way, especially if Timmins reaches his potential.

But I also don't subscribe to the idea that EJ will for sure become a bottom pairing D man soon. I don't think there's any way to know that, and I think there's a chance he could be a solid #4 for the duration of his contract.

He's been played like a #1D for the last 9 years in Colorado. Including all of last year until the end of the season when he was injured.

Av fans have never seen EJ play in a reduced role before.
 

Richard88

John 3:16
Jun 29, 2019
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I think it could potentially play out that way, especially if Timmins reaches his potential.

But I also don't subscribe to the idea that EJ will for sure become a bottom pairing D man soon. I don't think there's any way to know that, and I think there's a chance he could be a solid #4 for the duration of his contract.

He's been played like a #1D for the last 9 years in Colorado. Including all of last year until the end of the season when he was injured.

Av fans have never seen EJ play in a reduced role before.
I agree that he could still be useful for a couple more years.

That said, how much will his role realistically reduce? For years he's been doing the bulk of heavier minutes with Barrie getting most of the OZ starts, and that wouldn't change too much this season with Makar effectively replacing Barrie in the lineup. Granted, Makar is probably going to be better than Barrie defensively, but Johnson will still be in the 'shutdown' role, so in that regard not much will change for him.
 

Foppa2118

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I agree that he could still be useful for a couple more years.

That said, how much will his role realistically reduce? For years he's been doing the bulk of heavier minutes with Barrie getting most of the OZ starts, and that wouldn't change too much this season with Makar effectively replacing Barrie in the lineup. Granted, Makar is probably going to be better than Barrie defensively, but Johnson will still be in the 'shutdown' role, so in that regard not much will change for him.

EJ's minutes will go down with less PP time, and even though he'll be used for some matchups, I think at a certain point they'll be comfortable with Makar playing against anyone in the regular season. They're going to want to put him out there as much as possible. He'll be their horse capable of logging huge minutes at a young age with his elite athleticism.

In the playoffs though, I'd expect EJ's minutes to go up if he's healthy, as they usually do for big physical defensive guys, and for them to play the matchup game a bit more.
 
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Balthazar

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To be fair, their hand included a recent Vezina winner, a stud No.1 defenseman, a No.1 C (admittedly more like a 1B center), and a superstar winger.

With a group like that you always stand a chance, and with the parity in the league anything can happen, as we saw when they swept Tampa. Had they met Carolina or NYI in the 2nd round instead of Boston they may well have made at least another round.

That's a decent core for a multiple shots window but a bad one for a single shot. Heck, there's not one team in the cap world where it would make sense to push all-in for a single shot at the cup. Not one. Tampa had the best team of the cap era last year...imagine the disaster if all their star players were on one-year contracts. They need multiple shots and might finally win it, like the Caps.

As for CBJ, they didn't even secure a playoff spot until the last couple of games (if not the last game) and no one thought they were beating Tampa so they actually did more than expected and still didn't come close to the cup. Pretty similar to what the Avs did actually.
 
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Foppa2118

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That's what happens when you push all your chips with a bad hand.

They were kind of damned if they did and damned if they didn't though. Columbus has a hell of a time drawing UFA talent and keeping their own. They could either go all in last season when they had a lot of good pieces, or wait and hope to have another opportunity like that down the line.

They chose the former and now they have to live with the consequences. That's just part of the business, and teams like Columbus unfortunately are at a disadvantage in terms of team building.

They essentially have to do it all through the draft and trade, which is hard to do for any team, but Columbus has very little margin for error. They have to keep hitting on most of their drafts and trades, because they're likely to lose the guys they brought in to UFA.
 
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Balthazar

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They were kind of damned if they did and damned if they didn't though. Columbus has a hell of a time drawing UFA talent and keeping their own. They could either go all in last season when they had a lot of good pieces, or wait and hope to have another opportunity like that down the line.

They chose the former and now they have to live with the consequences. That's just part of the business, and teams like Columbus unfortunately are at a disadvantage in terms of team building.

They essentially have to do it all through the draft and trade, which is hard to do for any team, but Columbus has very little margin for error. They have to keep hitting on most of their drafts and trades, because they're likely to lose the guys they brought in to UFA.

The "traditional" way of doing things was to trade Bob + Panarin for building blocks to go around PLD and Jones (both are still young) and keep what they gave to the Sens.

It doesn't take that long to rebuild a team these days if done properly. It takes a lot longer when you try to cut corners and/or go for instant gratification though. Now instead of being 2-3 years away from being competitive again with a young team, they are 5+ years away.
 
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PAZ

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The "traditional" way of doing things was to trade Bob + Panarin for building blocks to go around PLD and Jones (both are still young) and keep what they gave to the Sens.

It doesn't take that long to rebuild a team these days if done properly. It takes a lot longer when you try to cut corners and/or go for instant gratification though. Now instead of being 2-3 years away from being competitive again with a young team, they are 5+ years away.

The free agent market was pretty damn saturated. Panarin would've got a similar return to Stone - a promising young prospect/1st, B prospect/tweener, 2nd. When that's the type of return, (potentially less since there were so many options), it makes sense Columbus decided to just go all-in.
 

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The "traditional" way of doing things was to trade Bob + Panarin for building blocks to go around PLD and Jones (both are still young) and keep what they gave to the Sens.

It doesn't take that long to rebuild a team these days if done properly. It takes a lot longer when you try to cut corners and/or go for instant gratification though. Now instead of being 2-3 years away from being competitive again with a young team, they are 5+ years away.


No, they aren't.


They still have a #1C, a #1D, a great overall Defense, and some quality forward depth. It'll take maybe 1-2 more years for them to build back up to what they were, but certainly not 5+ years.


And they had all the makings of a cup winning team last year and had a couple bounces went differently in that Boston series they probably would have been in the Cup final. It was a good risky bet by Kekalainen that unfortunately didn't quite pan out.
 
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tucker3434

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No, they aren't.


They still have a #1C, a #1D, a great overall Defense, and some quality forward depth. It'll take maybe 1-2 more years for them to build back up to what they were, but certainly not 5+ years.


And they had all the makings of a cup winning team last year and had a couple bounces went differently in that Boston series they probably would have been in the Cup final. It was a good risky bet by Kekalainen that unfortunately didn't quite pan out.

They aren’t 1-2 years away from replacing Bobrovsky, Panarin, and Duchene that they lost off of that contending team. They could be back in the playoffs somewhat quickly, but they are a ways off from having a team as competitive as last year’s second round exit team.
 

Foppberg

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They aren’t 1-2 years away from replacing Bobrovsky, Panarin, and Duchene that they lost off of that contending team. They could be back in the playoffs somewhat quickly, but they are a ways off from having a team as competitive as last year’s second round exit team.
True. But considering the history of that franchise I bet there was a feeling of "f*** it, this is the best team we'll have for awhile and have ever had, let's go for it." I don't blame them for doing it, takes balls to do it. But the only way it woulda been worth it is if they at least made it to the cup finals, if it wasn't for Boston I think they get there.
 
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henchman21

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Elvis is going to be 95% of Bob this season and as good going forward. The piece that hurts a lot to lose is Panarin. The just simply don't have that game breaker right now. The piece that nobody talks about, but who is going to be a high end player is Texier. He looks like a future top line player to me... he could be that guy but it will take a couple seasons. They should still be a playoff team, but if they don't, they will get their shot at a high end player in the draft... then rebound. Their core and base of a team is very good still.
 

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True. But considering the history of that franchise I bet there was a feeling of "**** it, this is the best team we'll have for awhile and have ever had, let's go for it." I don't blame them for doing it, takes balls to do it. But the only way it woulda been worth it is if they at least made it to the cup finals, if it wasn't for Boston I think they get there.

Yeah, I don’t really have a problem with the strategy. You gotta shoot your shot, but I think it’s clear they’re a much weaker team in the long run because if it. They aren’t a quick fix from jumping back to contender status.
 

henchman21

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Yeah, I don’t really have a problem with the strategy. You gotta shoot your shot, but I think it’s clear they’re a much weaker team in the long run because if it. They aren’t a quick fix from jumping back to contender status.

I think you're seriously underrating the talent on that team. Even trading all that they did... they still have Bemstrom and Texier as young talented forwards who could be top 6 guys real soon (Texier can be more). Foudy is a future high end #3C. They can move Savard and still have a top 10 level (maybe higher) top 4 defense that are all 25 and younger (with Gavrikov and Peeke coming up). They have 3 of the top 10 (and 2 of the top 5) goalie prospects in the world too. Elvis steps in this season and is a solid #1 from the start. Tarasov and Vehvilanen are damn good prospect too. And they have a #1C that is only 21. They will take a step back in talent from the team they ended the season with last year... but they are still a damn good team, and they won't have the constant distractions this year.
 

tucker3434

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I think you're seriously underrating the talent on that team. Even trading all that they did... they still have Bemstrom and Texier as young talented forwards who could be top 6 guys real soon (Texier can be more). Foudy is a future high end #3C. They can move Savard and still have a top 10 level (maybe higher) top 4 defense that are all 25 and younger (with Gavrikov and Peeke coming up). They have 3 of the top 10 (and 2 of the top 5) goalie prospects in the world too. Elvis steps in this season and is a solid #1 from the start. Tarasov and Vehvilanen are damn good prospect too. And they have a #1C that is only 21. They will take a step back in talent from the team they ended the season with last year... but they are still a damn good team, and they won't have the constant distractions this year.

Bob won two Vezinas there. Panarin is one of the very best wingers in the game. Those are huge shoes to fill. They have some solid prospects, but it’s completely unreasonable to expect any of them will be that level. And that’s really what they need to get back to where they were. Having a couple prospects develop into 2nd line wingers isn’t going to cut it. They need elite replacements.

Contending is the exception, not the rule. Most teams don’t make it there. I think they’ll need a lot of luck in the draft. Getting a Rantanen at 10 would help them immensely, because they’re too solid of a roster to be terrible.
 

henchman21

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Bob won two Vezinas there. Panarin is one of the very best wingers in the game. Those are huge shoes to fill. They have some solid prospects, but it’s completely unreasonable to expect any of them will be that level. And that’s really what they need to get back to where they were. Having a couple prospects develop into 2nd line wingers isn’t going to cut it. They need elite replacements.

Contending is the exception, not the rule. Most teams don’t make it there. I think they’ll need a lot of luck in the draft. Getting a Rantanen at 10 would help them immensely, because they’re too solid of a roster to be terrible.

They won despite Bob last year, and we've seen over and over again that you don't need an elite goalie to contend (Elvis is also going to be regarded as a top 15 goalie by the end of the season, he's real good). Panarin is a big loss, no doubt about it, and figuring out how to replace him is difficult. It isn't impossible though. They will still be in the hunt for the playoffs this upcoming season... they won't contend next year. If pieces fall right though, they could be back towards the top of the east in 20-21.

Texier is more of a center than a winger, and he has a lot more than 2nd line potential. To me, he's a better prospect than any Avs forward prospect by a decent margin.
 
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