Armchair GM III

[PredsV82]

Silly season kicks into high gear tomorrow at noon.

Click to read more...

 

[Bringer of Jollity]

Does Nashville have a roster to beat 8 teams in the west? Seattle yes. Who else?

First...seriously? It's July 27.

Second...if the team picks up where they left off last season then Colorado and Vegas are the teams that are very clearly a cut above us, with a couple more that are probably a bit above us (but not out of the ballpark) in Edmonton, Minnesota, and St. Louis. Everybody else is fair game IMO.

 

[nine_inch_fang]

Silly season kicks into high gear tomorrow at noon.

Was wondering when someone would start a new thread. At least we got through that one conversation first.

 

[Bringer of Jollity]

Well, nothing on Granlund or Haula. Going to be an interesting next couple of days (I hope).

 

[PredsV82]

Well, nothing on Granlund or Haula. Going to be an interesting next couple of days (I hope).

There is no way Granlund wasnt going to at least see what he could get on the open market. He signed 1 year with us last time because hed had a crap year and couldnt command money and term. This time it's different and hes not going to miss his chance to maximize his contract. I think hes gone because someone will give him 5x5 or more.

Haula is probably also looking for some term and I'm not sure Poile is willing to give it.

 

[GoldOnGold]

My brain says "Awful decision" but my heart wants to sign Neal.

 

[Armourboy]

Neal is done, well done.

 

[Gh24]

There is no way Granlund wasnt going to at least see what he could get on the open market. He signed 1 year with us last time because hed had a crap year and couldnt command money and term. This time it's different and hes not going to miss his chance to maximize his contract. I think hes gone because someone will give him 5x5 or more.

Haula is probably also looking for some term and I'm not sure Poile is willing to give it.

Granlund knows we have kids coming and challenging him for the ice time. That itself isn't an issue and could just drive him forward, but the team is probably hesitant to pay him top6 money long term knowing that too.

 

[Scoresberg]

Winnipeg's loading up, they look a lot stronger than before.

Chicago's making a big push.

Minnesota will have some big changes and they were on the upswing last year.

St. Louis is re-tooling nicely.

Dallas when healthy are still a dangerous team.

Colorado's Colorado. They will win the Division.

I'm not sure what we will do in Free Agency, but if neither Granlund or Haula are back, then I think we will be looking at a couple of transition years. Which might be a blessing in disguise considering the strong draft classes in 2022 and 2023.

I wouldn't mind bringing in a Getzlaf for depth, but other than that let's just play the kids and let them develop. Bring in Brossoit for backup, cheap, young backup who's not a threat to Saros.

 

[King Weber]

Winnipeg's loading up, they look a lot stronger than before.

Chicago's making a big push.

Minnesota will have some big changes and they were on the upswing last year.

St. Louis is re-tooling nicely.

Dallas when healthy are still a dangerous team.

Colorado's Colorado. They will win the Division.

I'm not sure what we will do in Free Agency, but if neither Granlund or Haula are back, then I think we will be looking at a couple of transition years. Which might be a blessing in disguise considering the strong draft classes in 2022 and 2023.

I wouldn't mind bringing in a Getzlaf for depth, but other than that let's just play the kids and let them develop. Bring in Brossoit for backup, cheap, young backup who's not a threat to Saros.

bring on Wright/Savoie/Lambert and/or Bedard/Michkov.

 

[Seth Lake]

A couple of guys I’d take a look at if Granlund and/or Haula aren’t signed would be Alexander Wennberg from Florida and Danton Heinen from Anaheim.

Not the sexiest picks, but young, hungry, and guys who have something to prove who have had success in the League before.

As for goalies, my preference would be Halak, but I could see a guy like David Rittich or Linus Ullmark if they want to go with someone younger than Carter Hutton.

I understand the sentiment to “get younger and play the kids,” but still believe in veteran depth at all positions where “the kids” haven’t proved themselves yet.

Ultimately, I think the Preds need 2 forwards and a backup goalie. I wouldn’t be surprised either to see some contracts handed out to fill out depth in Milwaukee as well as they come back into the AHL this season.

 

[Armourboy]

Thing to keep in mind with some of these teams looking better, it's basically a 1 or 2 year hail mary and then they will be so hard up against the cap they basically gotta unravel things a bit. See Minnesota and Chicago for example.

 

[Scoresberg]

Ultimately, I think the Preds need 2 forwards and a backup goalie. I wouldn’t be surprised either to see some contracts handed out to fill out depth in Milwaukee as well as they come back into the AHL this season.

Yeah, I don't see us doing much. Fill that backup position and sign a middle-six forward or two. The defense is set.

I'm a little skeptic on leaving basically all the middle-six forward spots to younger guys, so I would like to add someone with experience there (of course, Granlund would be the prefered choice, followed by Haula).

Forsberg - Johansen - Duchene
Tomasino/Tolvanen - Granlund/Haula - Kunin
Cousins - Glass - Tomasino/Tolvanen
Trenin - Sissons - Jeannot
Pitlick, Grimaldi

 

[herzausstein]

There just aren't alot of players out there that i have much interest in.

UFAs:
I wouldn't mind Wennberg or Saad. Pius Suter wouldn't be a bad person to get and see if he can keep it up. The problem is I really don't want to give a contract more than 2 MAYBE 3 years. These guys are going to want term. I don't want to give it

Others:
Tarasenko - 2 years left on contract and shouldn't cost an arm and a leg. Big risk but I've always loved his game.
Laine - CBJ are going to want more than he's worth with his current performance.

 

[King Weber]

sign Vesey

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

We're definitely not in any desperate straits for forwards. Without Glass, Tomasino, or Pitlick we have basically 2 openings. But it's entirely viable for us to fill those 2 openings with 2 of those young players. The only spot where we truly have NEED is the backup goalie.

Forsberg ($6M) - Johansen ($8M) - Duchene ($8M)
Tolvanen (RFA - ?$2M?) - X1 - Kunin ($2.3M)
Trenin ($0.725M) - Sissons ($2.857M) - Jeannot (RFA - ?$1M?)
Cousins ($1.5M) - X2 - Grimaldi ($2M)
Olivier (RFA - ?0.750M?)

Josi ($9.059M) - Fabbro (RFA - ?$2M?)
Ekholm ($3.75M) - Carrier ($0.733M)
Harpur ($0.800M) - Myers ($2.55M)
Borowiecki ($2M) - Benning ($1M)

Saros (RFA - ?$4M?)
X3

Buyouts
Turris - $2M
Santini - $0.275M

TOTAL: $63.3M



Even Milwaukee is getting a little more complete than most years...

Richard - Pitlick - Afanaseyev
Harper - Novak - Schneider
Mismash - Parssinen - Smith
X - McClain - X
Solow

Farrance - Allard
Davies - Del Gaizo
Healey - Donovan
X

Ingram
Vomacka/Cooley

... I can see a few more signings to round things out in Milwaukee, but it's getting to the point that we have a lot of those spots filled just with internal options now too.

 

[Gh24]

I think it would be reasonable to hope for a bridge deal for Suter.

Wennberg is 26 and has had few low scoring seasons and a bust stamp in these boards for what I've seen. Had 40pts in 69 games in his second year with CBJ, then 59pts in 80 games. Few rougher years (25pts / 75gp and 22pts /57gp) and then 0.5ppg in Florida last season (29pts / 56gp). He could also come in on a prove me deal of two years.

For their careers it might be ideal to find a team that they can be almost locks for 2C role to boost their value for the next contract. Here they would be competing with Glass, which I think would benefit both Glass and Suter/Wennberg.

On the other hand we could try to sign a proven 3C like Nick Bonino who can play second line in a pinch and gamble that Glass has it in him to become our 2C as soon as next season. Plan B in this scenario would be to move Duchene back to center. I'm a big fan of Bonino, so I kind of hope we sign him and take this kind of an approach.

 

[beardawg]

If Granny walks, I fully expect us to push hard for Pius Suter

 

[King Weber]

McKenzie predicts David Rittich to sign with us as the backup

 

[Scoresberg]

Saad, Coleman, Danault, Foligno, Cizikas, Palmieri..

Shades of 2016.

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

Saad, Coleman, Danault, Foligno, Cizikas, Palmieri..

Shades of 2016.

I don't think I want any of those players... well not at the prices they are rumored to be commanding anyway...

I wouldn't mind 3yrs x $5M for Granlund, or 4x$4M, but I would not like any longer term or higher $ than that.

Haula I wouldn't mind at something like 2x$2.5M but I do understand that he will probably think he can have a bigger role and better contract somewhere else.

A guy like Bonino as a backup plan, I would limit it to 1yr. Something like 1x$2.5M.

Whatever backup goalie we get I would also limit to 1yr at $2M or less.

I mean, we have tons of cap space, but I still don't think our needs are so acute that we need to pay top dollar on the UFA market for anybody, we can wait in the weeds a little bit and get better value deals. Maybe I'm just being cheap, but I don't really want to see us overpaying role players when we are getting close to being able to promote players into those spots from within. We aren't quite conclusively there yet for all our spots. But we will be soon... and I'd rather not feel beholden to pricey UFA contracts when it comes time for our emerging youngsters to bump out incumbents.

 

[Legionnaire11]

A couple of guys I’d take a look at if Granlund and/or Haula aren’t signed would be Alexander Wennberg from Florida and Danton Heinen from Anaheim.

Not the sexiest picks, but young, hungry, and guys who have something to prove who have had success in the League before.

As for goalies, my preference would be Halak, but I could see a guy like David Rittich or Linus Ullmark if they want to go with someone younger than Carter Hutton.

I understand the sentiment to “get younger and play the kids,” but still believe in veteran depth at all positions where “the kids” haven’t proved themselves yet.

Ultimately, I think the Preds need 2 forwards and a backup goalie. I wouldn’t be surprised either to see some contracts handed out to fill out depth in Milwaukee as well as they come back into the AHL this season.

I'm a big fan of Heinen, he was very good in Boston, a quick two-way forward who hounds the puck and is very smart in decision making. Obviously took a dip in Anaheim, but the team was a trainwreck while he was there. He should be a solid third-liner, ended up doing some first line duty in Anaheim because of injuries. I think a fresh start on a decent team would be great for him.

 

[Kat Predator]

Winnipeg's loading up, they look a lot stronger than before.

Chicago's making a big push.

Minnesota will have some big changes and they were on the upswing last year.

St. Louis is re-tooling nicely.

Dallas when healthy are still a dangerous team.

Colorado's Colorado. They will win the Division.

I'm not sure what we will do in Free Agency, but if neither Granlund or Haula are back, then I think we will be looking at a couple of transition years. Which might be a blessing in disguise considering the strong draft classes in 2022 and 2023.

I wouldn't mind bringing in a Getzlaf for depth, but other than that let's just play the kids and let them develop. Bring in Brossoit for backup, cheap, young backup who's not a threat to Saros.

I'd caution that it is a little hard to gauge the teams that played in the make shift West Division last year. It was the polar opposite from the make shift Central in terms of the strength of the teams overall. And, since each division was a league unto its own right up to the semi-finals in the playoffs, some teams had to win the games.

Colorado has a lot of talent, but their goaltender situation looks like it may be a complete reset. Was Minnesota really improving on was it more they were just a bit better than the competition they faced? They didn't match up well against Vegas or Colorado, but they dominated the 3 bad California teams. And St. Louis seems to be regressing into the land of the mediocre.

 

[herzausstein]

Saad, Coleman, Danault, Foligno, Cizikas, Palmieri..

Shades of 2016.

Danault & Palmieri are going to want too much for too long
Foligno is a hard pass
Cizikas doesn't really add anything that we don't have
Coleman is going to get stupid money and someone is going to regret that
Saad i'd love to have on a 2 year contract with a reasonable $ amount. He's 28 so that'd take him to 30 but that's also why he'll probably be looking for 1 more long term contract and I really don't want to go beyond 2 years. If it lowers the caphit, I could be talked into 3 years but not more.

 

[Seth Lake]

I'm a big fan of Heinen, he was very good in Boston, a quick two-way forward who hounds the puck and is very smart in decision making. Obviously took a dip in Anaheim, but the team was a trainwreck while he was there. He should be a solid third-liner, ended up doing some first line duty in Anaheim because of injuries. I think a fresh start on a decent team would be great for him.

Agreed. I think he could bounce back strongly from a down year on a bad team and being non-tendered.

Has good height (6’1”), but not that stocky. Quick, knows how to get open, and has a good release on his shot. Two-way, gritty style of player who can play both special teams.