GDT: 2021 NHL Free Agency & Offseason Thread

[Pierce Hawthorne]

I think there are a few ways outside of Newhook to ale it work, but it will hurt to make that trade.

They probably hurt even more though.


Realistically Newhook's top end potential here is that of a 2C. I think if we are looking to bring in a legit 2C, especially a youngish one it makes sense to use Newhook as the big bargaining chip at this point.


Especially considering if the play is Zibanejad or Hertl, we could easily re-sign either guy using Kadri's money.


I like the idea of trading for Hertl then signing him to a 6 year, ~42M sort of extension.

 

[S E P H]

There are a lot of bad deals majority of the time during UFA, but that doesn't mean there aren't good deals too!

If I had the power (not considering the cap atm)...

- Sign Mattias Janmark to that deal
- Sign Phillip Danault to that deal
- Sign Pius Suter to that deal

- Trade Nazem Kadri this offseason for Damon Severson
- Trade JT Compher for draft picks

Landeskog - MacKinnon - Rantanen
Newhook - Danault - Nichushkin
Suter - Janmark - Burakovsky
O'Connor - Jost - Maltsev
Kaut/MacDermid

Toews - Makar
Girard - Severson
Byram - Johnson
McNorris

Kuemper
Francouz

 

[S E P H]

Holy hell there are some terrible deals out there, like good god what were they thinking?

- Ceci to something that's more than one year?
- Ullmark getting 5 million per year?
- Brad Malone, dafaq Pittsburgh you needed your annual Tanev deal?
- Mrazek getting a deal with the Leafs, who's actually worse than Andersen?
- Martin Jones in Philly as a reliable back up for Hart? This has to be a joke right?
- Wennberg getting that contract? Are you freakin' serious
- McCabe making 4 million per year, in what way?
- Hyman, just what is Holland doing?
- Bergvin doing what he does best and that's absolutely nothing concerning that Hoffman deal...
- Blake Coleman getting paid like he's a top 6 player, unbelievable...

 

[RoyIsALegend]

I think of all the deals today, Ceci was the most baffling to me.

13 million dollars and 4 years for that train wreck.

 

[Foppa2118]

I just saw Belly signed with Tampa for $1M x 2.

Would have been totally fine with him for that. Would have given the Avs more depth, some face-off and PK ability, and a good locker room presence at a cheap price.

 

[dahrougem2]

Ken Holland going with 50% of the Toronto Maple Leafs' top-4 defensemen from 18-19 is hilarious. Barrie and Ceci on the right side top two pairings? A 38 year old Duncan Keith on the left side? A 39 year old Mike Smith starting?

What could POSSIBLY go wrong in Edmonton.

 

[Freudian]

So all that remains is to sign Jost, one of Saad/Foligno and some slightly used second hand depth for cheap?

 

[S E P H]

I think of all the deals today, Ceci was the most baffling to me.

13 million dollars and 4 years for that train wreck.

I gotta say Hyman is by far the worst, NTC like the first 5 years as well lol. Ceci is top three, the one that doesn't make any sense is Martin Jones being a reliable and veteran back up to help/teach Hart. That's like putting a burger flipper in charge of an appendectomy.

 

[forsbergavs32]

So all that remains is to sign Jost, one of Saad/Foligno and some slightly used second hand depth for cheap?

Unless I’m mistaken, Foligno signed with Boston

 

[dahrougem2]

I gotta say Hyman is by far the worst, NTC like the first 5 years as well lol. Ceci is top three, the one that doesn't make any sense is Martin Jones being a reliable and veteran back up to help/teach Hart. That's like putting a burger flipper in charge of an appendectomy.

At least with Hyman you're going to be getting 40-55 points from playing with McDavid alone, on top of everything else he brings.

Ken Holland is serious about Cody Ceci playing 20-22 minutes to start the season. It's hilarious. I will say, though, the Oilers' forward corps isn't looking bad at all:

Foegele - McDavid - Hyman
RNH - Draisaitl - Puljujarvi
Yamamoto - Ryan - Kassian
Shore - McLeod - Archibald

 

[Freudian]

Last year Oilers fans complained that Holland had no cap room to do anything. This year Oilers fans complain Holland had cap room to do something.

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

So all that remains is to sign Jost, one of Saad/Foligno and some slightly used second hand depth for cheap?

Already signed in Boston.



I dunno, maybe I'm thinking too crazy here. But IMO we still haven't gotten our classic "Out of left field" unexpected Joe Sakic trade during free agency time. Last year it was the Toews trade and really the Saad trade. Two years ago it was the Kadri trade. Three years ago it was the Grubauer trade.


Joe always tends to make a deal nobody really expected around this time of year. Especially with Arizona retaining 1M on Kuemper I think there's something still in the works. Otherwise we wouldn't have needed that salary retained and maybe the price would have been that little bit cheaper. But by retaining 1M, once Jost signs the Avs will still have potentially upwards of 5M in space to fill out the roster.


Maybe trying to bring back Saad is the play right now, I'd be ok with doing that. But I just have hunch/hopeful thinking that something else is in the works.

 

[Foppa2118]

This is kinda how I thought this would play out so far.

I didn't think Joe had some big masterplan B if he lost Landy or Grubauer. He just had a price in his mind that he wouldn't go above, and he would figure things out after that if he needed to.

The moves he would make to replace them are budgetary moves, because they're going to be for cheaper players.

 

[dahrougem2]

Last year Oilers fans complained that Holland had no cap room to do anything. This year Oilers fans complain Holland had cap room to do something.

Both valid complaints lol

 

[Foppa2118]

Interesting series of events.

Avs move on from Varly because he's injury prone. They replace him with Grubauer and Francouz who both become injury prone the following season while Varly stays healthy.

Then Grubauer stays healthy the next year, while Francouz misses the whole season and has hip surgery.

Then they let Grubauer go and bring in another injury prone goaltender in Kuemper coming off an injury plagued year, to play with their other injury prone goaltender Francouz, coming off hip surgery.

Not even going to try to figure out the thought process there. Not sure there is one.

 

[The Kingslayer]

Interesting series of events.

Avs move on from Varly because he's injury prone. They replace him with Grubauer and Francouz who both become injury prone the following season while Varly stays healthy.

Then Grubauer stays healthy the next year, while Francouz misses the whole season and has hip surgery.

Then they let Grubauer go and bring in another injury prone goaltender in Kuemper to play with their other injury prone goaltender Francouz.

Not even going to try to figure out the thought process there. Not sure there is one.

Good thing that 1st rounder is protected.

 

[Foppa2118]

Good thing that 1st rounder is protected.

Imagine if they manage to miss the playoffs somehow? I might have to just quit HF for a while. This place will turn into Lord of the Flies.

 

[Murzu]

Good thing that 1st rounder is protected.

I don't think it is.

 

[Avs44]

At least with Hyman you're going to be getting 40-55 points from playing with McDavid alone, on top of everything else he brings.

Ken Holland is serious about Cody Ceci playing 20-22 minutes to start the season. It's hilarious. I will say, though, the Oilers' forward corps isn't looking bad at all:

Foegele - McDavid - Hyman
RNH - Draisaitl - Puljujarvi
Yamamoto - Ryan - Kassian
Shore - McLeod - Archibald

Yeah, I actually really like what they’ve done there. Hyman was an overpay, but you have to overpay when you’re Edmonton. Foegele was a great get. They added some really nice speed and grit through their lineup, it’s exactly what they needed. There’s still questions about their bottom six, but it’s a much improved group.

They need a top goalie, though. That defence will surrender a lot of chances. I’m guessing Holland was bidding a lot for Kuemper.

 

[Foppa2118]

I don't think it is.

Yeah I think you're right. We heard at one point that it was protected, but now I'm reading that it's not.

 

[AvsFan29]

I just saw Belly signed with Tampa for $1M x 2.

Would have been totally fine with him for that. Would have given the Avs more depth, some face-off and PK ability, and a good locker room presence at a cheap price.

I think we’re going to see a lot of our eagles prospects play this season. We aren’t going to struggle to make the playoffs, and Sakic needs to see what we have in guys like Kaut, Bowers etc. We need ELCs to keep our cap low.

 

[UncleRisto]

We're definitely banking on the youth stepping up, but with a couple of good bargain bin finds the depth chart would look neat again. I'd love to get another steady defenseman, along with a forward.

Unfortunately, a lot of teams are probably looking at Hakanpää, so it's slim pickings. There's still a good number of decent forwards out there, but I don't like our chances with much. Still expecting something of a bit of significance though. Boy, I'd like to be rid of Compher right now.

 

[Murzu]

We need our prospects to progress. We're somewhat running out of excess trade capital and we need cheap depth.

 

[tucker3434]

So with Newhook in the lineup we've got about $8m to spend. Seems like that's going to be stretched pretty thin. Still several holes to fill. Maybe 3 ~$2m players and some league minimum guys to fill the healthy scratch spots? $2m just doesn't buy much these days.

EJ better be healthy this year. I know he won't play 100% of the games, but we need 80% out of him. With him out, that bottom pairing is rough.

 

[Richard88]

Neither… spend assets and get a guy with 3-4 years on a decent deal or under team control. Avs made a move that only ends positive in one way. Double down. Don’t half measure it now on a crappy ufa.

So, Copp then? What do we even have to trade for him with now with no 1st or 2nd or Timmins?