Speculation: 2020 off season roster musings

[Vegan Knight]

Patches was better than I thought he would be before the break. He and Stone were great duo. But he never really found his form in the bubble.

He got injured in the camp before. He tried to come back too early from it and made it worse.

Not surprising some players would get injured after not playing for five months and having week or so to gear up.

 

[The Duck Knight]

31 Thoughts: Inside the tough, tense early days of NHL free agency - Sportsnet.ca

Couple of Vegas notes between this and Friedman's podcast.

-Teams tried to get Tuch to no avail. Vegas made Smith untouchable
-Vegas considered Stamkos and Hall. Supposedly offered Hall 5x1. Would have traded Pacioretty to make room for Stamkos. Also mentioned the possibility of Nashville being interested in Marchie.
-Guys like Marchie/Martinez/Fleury/Schmidt were not happy with the way management has handled things.
-Foley thinks a 2/1 start is more realistic. Says Tmobile needs 40% capacity.

 

[theslatcher]

31 Thoughts: Inside the tough, tense early days of NHL free agency - Sportsnet.ca

Couple of Vegas notes between this and Friedman's podcast.

-Teams tried to get Tuch to no avail. Vegas made Smith untouchable
-Vegas considered Stamkos and Hall. Supposedly offered Hall 5x1. Would have traded Pacioretty to make room for Stamkos. Also mentioned the possibility of Nashville being interested in Marchie.
-Guys like Marchie/Martinez/Fleury/Schmidt were not happy with the way management has handled things.
-Foley thinks a 2/1 start is more realistic. Says Tmobile needs 40% capacity.

As he should be.

 

[Super Cake]

 

[theslatcher]

Isles did the same with Toronto, & Tavares, btw.

 

[Vegan Knight]

31 Thoughts: Inside the tough, tense early days of NHL free agency - Sportsnet.ca

Couple of Vegas notes between this and Friedman's podcast.

-Teams tried to get Tuch to no avail. Vegas made Smith untouchable
-Vegas considered Stamkos and Hall. Supposedly offered Hall 5x1. Would have traded Pacioretty to make room for Stamkos. Also mentioned the possibility of Nashville being interested in Marchie.
-Guys like Marchie/Martinez/Fleury/Schmidt were not happy with the way management has handled things.
-Foley thinks a 2/1 start is more realistic. Says Tmobile needs 40% capacity.

Any player in trade rumors will be unhappy about it.

Chris Johnston said he didn't think any big negative reputation for Vegas was going around the league, they do what they have to do to win and they give guys contract security, big money and term, even if they're moved.

He said he's heard there have been some guys unsettled but it's because nobody wants to leave Vegas so of course they won't like the possibility they may have to.

 

[willy702]

31 Thoughts: Inside the tough, tense early days of NHL free agency - Sportsnet.ca

Couple of Vegas notes between this and Friedman's podcast.

-Teams tried to get Tuch to no avail. Vegas made Smith untouchable
-Vegas considered Stamkos and Hall. Supposedly offered Hall 5x1. Would have traded Pacioretty to make room for Stamkos. Also mentioned the possibility of Nashville being interested in Marchie.
-Guys like Marchie/Martinez/Fleury/Schmidt were not happy with the way management has handled things.
-Foley thinks a 2/1 start is more realistic. Says Tmobile needs 40% capacity.

Hall at $5m! Imagine how pissed the rest of the league, players and agents would have been if he signed that.

Stamkos sounds nice on paper but he really needs to play a full season and playoffs without long injury breaks to get anyone to believe he's worth money. Now that he got his Cup, I really can't imagine him being an elite player any longer.

 

[Vegan Knight]

Hall at $5m! Imagine how pissed the rest of the league, players and agents would have been if he signed that.

Stamkos sounds nice on paper but he really needs to play a full season and playoffs without long injury breaks to get anyone to believe he's worth money. Now that he got his Cup, I really can't imagine him being an elite player any longer.

So many people are saying he didn't do anything to get the cup that I imagine he should still be motivated.

 

[Vegan Knight]

I know this offseason has been a struggle for us but I'm pretty sure we will find a way to have some room going into next offseason and McCrimmon better not forget how GMs were to him in a bind when it comes to our expansion draft exemption.

 

[WeWentBlues]

Blues fan coming in peace. Any rumblings on what moves Vegas is looking to make to get under the cap?

 

[Vegan Knight]

Blues fan coming in peace. Any rumblings on what moves Vegas is looking to make to get under the cap?

No word I've seen. In fact, Foley said he thought we were done but I don't see how. We have to make some kind of move to get under the cap and have at least a 21 man roster. I would think they still look to move Fleury to open up that space, even retaining it should be enough, but Marchessault, McNabb, Martinez, Pacioretty were names out there earlier. Could be as little as moving Holden but I think something still needs to be done.

 

[LadyStanley]

Any player in trade rumors will be unhappy about it.

I think a big part of the perceived problem (from those of us on the outside) is that the management did not give the players a headsup and explain the situation and warn them their names might/would come up in trade speculation.

Blues fan coming in peace. Any rumblings on what moves Vegas is looking to make to get under the cap?

They are under the cap with roster of 20. They may be able to deal with situation internally and not have to make any moves.

(Now, long term that seems untenable. Ideally, they have a roster of 23 under the cap. It could be there will be some vets who clear waivers and get assigned to AHL.)




Long term, this is reputation making. The team seems to be perceived as "going for it" and willing to move (or at least talk about moving) "key" players. More treated like a commodity than a person (with feelings) by not given respect of letting them know a move might happen or even be considered.

This could reduce the loyalty that existing players have. They may choose to "move on" on their own terms or demand "market value" rather than taking a "home town discount" to stay with the team.

The "all of us together against the world" mentality of the 2017-18 season is eroding/gone.

Now, it's a machine feeding off the fabulous Las Vegas fan base shooting for a championship.

Identity is changing. And that might rub some players (inside and outside the organization) and fans the wrong way. It may also bering a few more onto the bandwagon.

 

[Vegan Knight]

I think a big part of the perceived problem (from those of us on the outside) is that the management did not give the players a headsup and explain the situation and warn them their names might/would come up in trade speculation.



They are under the cap with roster of 20. They may be able to deal with situation internally and not have to make any moves.

(Now, long term that seems untenable. Ideally, they have a roster of 23 under the cap. It could be there will be some vets who clear waivers and get assigned to AHL.)




Long term, this is reputation making. The team seems to be perceived as "going for it" and willing to move (or at least talk about moving) "key" players. More treated like a commodity than a person (with feelings) by not given respect of letting them know a move might happen or even be considered.

This could reduce the loyalty that existing players have. They may choose to "move on" on their own terms or demand "market value" rather than taking a "home town discount" to stay with the team.

The "all of us together against the world" mentality of the 2017-18 season is eroding/gone.

Now, it's a machine feeding off the fabulous Las Vegas fan base shooting for a championship.

Identity is changing. And that might rub some players (inside and outside the organization) and fans the wrong way. It may also bering a few more onto the bandwagon.

Eh, I think they can work on communication but this is way overplayed in my opinion. And Chris Johnston on Dangle's podcast pretty much said the same thing. Every team moves players every season, Vegas hasn't done it much more or more at all than league average every season.

Fleury didn't take a discount, and would probably be said to have taken an overpayment that everyone knew was too much at the time. Stone took no discount. Whatever that team loyalty reputation was in this misguided argument, it wasn't helping us do anything.

Boston, Tampa, New York and St. Louis were making moves this season that twitter would scream about as unloyal to players. Other teams did it last season, other teams will do it next season. This is the league, every team.

I would further argue our core was safe and knew they were safe, it's just some players may have convinced themselves they were part of that core when they weren't.

Theodore, Stone, Karlsson, Smith were all free from any real rumors and Tuch was even a player I believe they were said as unwilling to let go without being backed into a corner. Reaves has been free from mention. Stephenson and Lehner would feel safe getting new contracts.

You don't have ten players in your core, no one does. Everyone else, especially the higher earners who are contributing pieces, is movable. For every contender. The high earners are the ones who make a dent when moving salary and the players who still contribute positively are the ones you can move, so they get moved. That's where Stastny, Marchessault, Pacioretty, Martinez and sadly Schmidt found themselves.

They'll find no more loyalty anywhere in the league, just ask the other thirty teams who are going to be "mistreating" players all over the place with regard to the expansion draft for the second time pretty soon.

You don't get the opportunity to add a core piece in free agency very often, a top ten right handed defenseman, and you do what's needed when that rare instance arises, especially in a strange season where every team is having to crunch money they wouldn't normally.

This is just some of the Vegas hate making mountains of molehills.

 

[Super Cake]

In 2 years, the Knights should go after Barkov and finally get a true #1 center.

Not to say that Barkov would actually leave Florida, but who knows.

We should have enough cap space by then. The cap will also most likely rise by then.

Smith, Reaves, Mcnabb, Holden and Fleury will all be off the books by then. Although i could see this team re-signing Smith and McNabb.

In all seriousness though, I really think this team needs to fix its center depth somehow. I know the plan is just going to be to slot Glass into the lineup and hope he plays well. I think we should have kept Suzuki.

 

[willy702]

In 2 years, the Knights should go after Barkov and finally get a true #1 center.

Not to say that Barkov would actually leave Florida, but who knows.

We should have enough cap space by then. The cap will also most likely rise by then.

Smith, Reaves, Mcnabb, Holden and Fleury will all be off the books by then. Although i could see this team re-signing Smith and McNabb.

In all seriousness though, I really think this team needs to fix its center depth somehow. I know the plan is just going to be to slot Glass into the lineup and hope he plays well. I think we should have kept Suzuki.

I hear people on that, but what is a team supposed to do? Draft a guy at #6 and then say don't depend on him until he's like 26? It literally is a one player short situation and Glass may be a top six quality center soon. We won't know for a bit but I don't blame them for trying. If they could have afforded Stastny then sure it's a nice transition after this year, but I think most could understand that trade-off. The rest of the center depth isn't great, but it's bottom six players and you don't need that much from them. Nosek is perfectly acceptable on fourth line, Stephenson should be just fine at third line center and if need be they can use him on second line if Glass is a bust. Yes there are teams with better center situations but every team has weak spots in a capped environment.

 

[Vegan Knight]

The Draft next season is going to be such a cluster, I am totally okay with trading the 1st rounder to get rid of as much of Fleury's contract as we can. I think we draft late and no one will have very reliable lists. We have a likely early second from New Jersey anyway.

Retain 2.1 and give a 1st to Detroit who retains 2.45 and gets an additional 3rd from Edmonton or Carolina. Carolina or Edmonton get a starter for 2.45.

Vegas gets enough cap space to sign a backup or roll with Dansk and add Haula and have breathing room for 21-22 man rosters. And Vegas doesn't have to just buy him out next season for 2.83 and the 2.13 penalty the season after when we would need money even more.

We will have to give a 1st in a season anyway to avoid that so just do everything to try to do it now. A crap shoot lottery ticket at a possible third liner in four seasons isn't worth the headache.

 

[LadyStanley]

Paywall.

 

[LadyStanley]

Paywall

 

[LadyStanley]

Golden Knights trade value tiers: Ranking every player by trade market value

Paywall. Granger ranks the team in tiers. Who are the untouchables, to those playing above their contract, to those not playing up to the contract $$s.