Besides Pettersson there isn’t much to be excited about this season, so I started thinking about next season, this would be my game plan:
Step 1: Fire Management, hire competent people.
Step 2: Fire coach, some very good coaches available that might not be later.
Step 3: Take out the garbage, we have a lot of B level prospects but they will never get a chance to showcase what they have unless we move out some bodies.
Step 4: Quality over quantity. Last year we sign Beagle, Roussel, Schaller. Year before we sign: Burmistrov, Gagner, Del Zotto, Vanek. Sign a great player, don’t sign a bunch of junk.
Step 5: Roster retool...
Goldobin-Pettersson- ?
Baertschi-Horvat-Boeser
Leivo-Gaudette-Virtanen
Roussel-Beagle-Motte
Eriksson
Out: Sutter, Granlund, Schaller, Gagner
In: (top line RW)
M. Stone, A. Panarin, J. Hughes, K. Kakko
Defence is a mess, needs to be completely turned over.
Gardiner - Stralman
Q. Hughes - Tanev
Hutton - Stecher
Juolevi - Woo
Out: Edler, Del Zotto, Pouliot, Gudbranson, Biega (Gudbranson’s contract will be difficult to move, just eat it and send him to the minors)
Goaltending: Nilsson is better than Markstrom, but they are both average at best. Keep Marky & Demko. See what you have in Demko and if it’s inadequate sign a solid starter the following year.
We desperately need new management with a clear vision and a solid plan.
Not bad but you still have us chasing 3 high-end UFAs next summer. No thanks.
My ideal next offseason would look something like:
Ship out Tanev, Sutter, and Gudbranson (yes, I believe there'd be a market for him).
Let Pouliot, Granlund, and Nilsson walk.
Waive Schaller, Gagner, and Eriksson. Try to get Eriksson to retire, no way he wants to spend 3 years riding the bus on the east coast with a young family having earned $27M of $36M on his contract.
Try and sign one of the young-ish, high-end free agent wingers Panarin or Stone to a 7-year deal. Failing that, see if Simmonds is can be had on a high-cap-hit, short-term deal. Something like 2 year, $14M. Failing that, try to find anyone being squeezed out on a cap team with more potential to give. Candidates are Brandon Saad, Kasperi Kapanen, Andre Burakovsky, Miles Wood (not all at the same level obviously). Sign a few bargain-basement UFA Fs for added depth.
Try and bring Tryamkin back, offer something like 3 years, $7.5M.
To replace Edler, MDZ, Pouliot, Tanev, and Gudbranson, once again look to teams in cap trouble to try and get some stopgap vets with 1- or 2- years remaining on their contracts. Candidates are Dmitry Kulikov, Brenden Dillon, David Savard, Andrew MacDonald. Leave one spot open for Hughes/Juolevi (it'll be Hughes). Sign Hutton to a 4-5 year deal for some stability on the left side.
So for example, maybe end up with something like:
UFA signings: Wayne Simmonds, Devante Smith-Pelly, Tom Pyatt (those last two guys should both be $1M or less)
Trades: Brenden Dillon, Dmitry Kulikov (don't think it would take much to get either)
Goldobin-Pettersson-Boeser
Baertschi-Horvat-Simmonds
Leivo-Gaudette-Virtanen
Roussel-Beagle-Motte
Hutton-Stecher
Kulikov-Tryamkin
Hughes-Dillon
Demko/Markstrom in net
Extras - Biega, Smith-Pelly, Pyatt
I'd also try and sign some AHL superstars to insulate the kids in Utica. Try to find linemates for MacEwen, Dahlen, Jasek, and Lockwood.
That team's gonna suck, but it'll be better than this years and it's gonna be entertaining to watch. If we draft one of Hughes, Kakko, or Dach (my top 3 choices) and Gaudette can go back to the AHL and be one of the first callups when injuries hit.
