Around the League Part 9: The Post-Tavareslyptic Hellscape

[NotOpie]

I would fall over if we got Ferland signed for 4 million. I think if he was going to sign for that he’d be wearing a Flames Jersey this year. They’ve said they were trading him due to his ufa status and 4 million wouldn’t have hurt them.

I just don't see it the same way Bleed, Wilson's contract notwithstanding. To me the two key figures are 15 and 40. If he puts up 15 goals and 40 points, then he just might be worth $4 million or slightly more....but I'd still hold my nose at that one. Yes, I absolutely understand he brings good skating, physicality, AND a good shot. But production has to count for something. Plus, we can't look at this in only a Ferland vacuum. We've got key players to sign, specifically Aho, Teravainen (or his replacement), and McGinn. We've got to sign/pay our Skinner replacement too. There are going to be some very tough contract negotiations next year even if a youngster or two surfaces. We've got 11 guys under contract for next year and about $36.5 million to fill out the rest of the roster. The aforementioned Aho, Tuevo, McGinn group is going to eat up around $16 million of that cap space. We're going to pay another scorer a significant salary. We won't have a lot of room to throw around another couple of $4 million+ contracts.

It's a tough place to be, but we won't be "forced" to re-sign Ferland because we're worried we'd lose the trade. Fox is the insurance against that.

 

[spockBokk]

It's a tough place to be, but we won't be "forced" to re-sign Ferland because we're worried we'd lose the trade. Fox is the insurance against that.

Agree, I wouldn’t base whether or not we lose the trade based on Ferland signing. If he puts up 20g again, he’s going to get paid though. If he does hit 20 again, I’d say we’re in a very good position as far as potentially getting back into the playoffs. It’s really completely up to Ferland though. If he comes in, hits everything that moves, pots 15g while on Necas’/Aho’s wing and is good in the room, I don’t have any issues with handing him a deal around $4-4.5M per. I don’t think that sinks us cap-wise. We’re never going to be a team up against the cap anyway. You could always move TVR or Rask for some extra breathing room.

Fox is the true swing-vote on winning the trade. A potential blue line of Slavin-Hamilton, Bean-Pesce and de Haan-Fox in 2 years is drool-worthy.

 

[My Special Purpose]

@garnetpalmetto wish you hadn't locked that 10 team NTC thread on the MB. Outside of a few posts, it was pretty good. I thought it was interesting/hilarious that the only posters that had Carolina listed were all Canadian, and those with comments attributed it to cheap ownership. The narrative is strong up there.

Tbh I felt kind of gratified that most lists didn’t include us, considering we’re a small nontraditional market with a decade long streak of failure and an owner seems to trigger everybody. It says a lot that most people still don’t see us as a toxic place to play.

Agreed that I’m pleasantly surprised from a fan perspective, but I think we’ve had enough evidence from a player perspective that we aren’t generally blacklisted. Two years in a row we’ve signed free agents that have spoken very highly of the team and the situation (Williams, de Haan), big enough FAs that they very easily could’ve gone elsewhere.

Then there’s articles like this that put us in a pretty good spot to begin with: NHL rebuild rankings: Which teams are closest to contending?

That said, it’s surprising fans think the same, we’re an easy target and online people usually love those.

This would be my list.

1. Montreal. Just couldn't do it, way too much of a fishbowl and some of the most demanding fans on planet earth. It's not surprising to me PK Subban is a lot happier in Nashville. Patrick Roy in Colorado was certainly happy when he left. We will see if Gaulenchuk is the same way in Arizona.

2. Ottawa. Eugene Melynk, enough said. Get rid of him and we will talk.

3. Edmonton. Self explanatory.

4. Vancouver. I'm sure it's a beautiful city but that franchise is in shambles right now. And while they are not as bad as Montreal, their fanbase isn't exactly one of patience either.

That's it. That's the list. Winnipeg and Toronto would have been on this list 2 years ago but right now is a good time to play for either. As for Calgary, I like their roster at the moment so that's enticing. I'm of the opinion that they have the most relaxed and easy going fanbase of the Canadian clubs.

I'd play anywhere in the States. Less stress.

Not a bad list, but I'd add the Isles. You want to talk about a franchise in shambles...

My 10 team:

1: Canada: I count this as 1 team, and it’s Canada.
2: New York including the suburb of New Jersey: Nope.
Minnesota: Cold
California: Taxes
Florida: eh


So really:
Denver, Nashville, Tampa, Arizona, Dallas, Vegas

The Islanders were actually the one American team I was thinking about putting on here for their current situation, but man they've got a hell of an appreciative fanbase. Kind of reminds me of people in Green Bay and the relationship that town has with the Packers. I really hope that franchise gets their arena situation taken care before it's too late.

Buffalo and Arizona are honorable mentions but I'm of the opinion that both are about to take a turn for the better, latter still in doubt regarding their future in the desert but Phoenix is a cool city with lots of beautiful women (hello Arizona State!)

And no matter how bad things may get in South Florida, how can one say no to spending a day on the beach with bikini models walking about before heading off to the rink?

I honestly don't think the players think about the stuff we think they think about when it comes to no-trade lists. I think the two biggest things are a) maximizing the bottom line, and b) where they'll live. Players love Vegas, Dallas, Nashville and both Florida teams because of no state income tax. It's a huge selling point for those markets, and hurts all Canadian markets. Players also love New York, Toronto and Los Angeles for off-ice opportunities (for themselves or significant others).

Of course, they love the opportunity to win and play in front of a rabid fan base, but those are more of a natural result of attracting the best talent. I think there may also be personal reasons involved, in terms of coaches a player doesn't want to play for and/or players on a team they don't want to play with.

Obviously, in the extreme case of Ottawa and the Islanders right now, players may object to trades to those clubs, but for the most part, I think the current status of an organization is very much secondary to the ability to make (and keep) a bunch of money and to be happy where you live.

I don't think the pressure of the market comes into play one bit. Subban is happier in Nashville than in Montreal because he's taking home a buttload more of his salary and the team is a lot better. If Nashville had Montreal's taxes and winning percentage, he'd be mostly miserable, even with significantly less coverage of his miserable-ness.

 

[HisIceness]

Is Montreal still owned by the Molson people? If so they did this once before and it led to angry fans in Edmonton, Winnipeg and QC shooting up their local Molson breweries so this probably is something they wish never got out to the public.

Holy shit is this for real? Damn that's some serious shit.

 

[NotOpie]

We’re never going to be a team up against the cap anyway. You could always move TVR or Rask for some extra breathing room.

To me, that's the type of Jim Rutherford-level shit that got us into trouble in the first place. You have to be selective about which players you hand those mid-level contracts out to. Sure we bitch about Eric Staal's and Cam Ward's contracts, but the real damage were the Ruutu and Gleason contracts. Having to trade picks and prospects to get rid of bad contracts is a recipe for rapid decline.

 

[geehaad]

the real damage were the Ruutu and Gleason contracts. Having to trade picks and prospects to get rid of bad contracts is a recipe for rapid decline.

Not sure where you're going with that...neither Ruutu nor Gleason were traded with picks/prospects. In fact, both trades saw picks and players returned to Carolina.

 

[Joe McGrath]

Not sure where you're going with that...neither Ruutu nor Gleason were traded with picks/prospects. In fact, both trades saw picks and players returned to Carolina.

Gleason returned Liles (a seemingly shitty contract itself) and Ruutu got some minimal pick. You are correct that they didn’t have to pay people to take them. Their salaries were boat anchors though because they were half the players they were when the signed the contracts in 2 years time.

 

[geehaad]

Gleason returned Liles...Ruutu got some minimal pick.

The other time he returned Jack Hillen and a 2015 4th-round pick, but I now see that was later, when he was signed to a much more team-friendly contract. Ruutu returned a 3rd-round pick (Morgan Geekie).

I'm definitely not disagreeing with the thought that their contracts were burdensome, only with the assertion that mid-level contracts require picks/prospects to shed. In fact, the only example I can think of is Bickell's.

 

[CandyCanes]

Didn’t we have to retain on both Gleason & Ruutu tho?

 

[Joe McGrath]

Didn’t we have to retain on both Gleason & Ruutu tho?

You’re right, they retained on Ruutu. I don’t think they did on Gleason though as I think it was an even money or close to it swap. Liles resurected his career here though and eventually turned into a 3rd and a 5th round pick.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

IIRC, it was Boucher and Stewart where JR threw in a pick/ prospect (Alt) to get rid of them. There were others involved in the 2 deals, but we paid someone to take those guys.

 

[Chrispy]

Holy **** is this for real? Damn that's some serious ****.

Most of the protest of the vote was a boycott of Molson, but there were violent issues as well. I found this article when I saw sabremike's post yesterday and wanted to read more about that era.

Throwback Thursday: How A Beer Boycott Caused the NHL and WHA Merger

 

[Anton Dubinchuk]

Good Lord you made my heart skip.

It’s the Bulls player that the Canes Justin Williams is “twins” with. Got traded to the Cardinals.

 

[NotOpie]

I'm definitely not disagreeing with the thought that their contracts were burdensome, only with the assertion that mid-level contracts require picks/prospects to shed. In fact, the only example I can think of is Bickell's.

That was exactly my point....you can't pay out inflated contracts for good but not great guys. My other comment was about how we exploited those types of contracts with other teams (Chicago, cough, cough) and didn't want the same thing to happen to us again. We did have a few of those that we did have to deal with (Anthony Stewart comes to mind).

 

[Highest Boss]

Good Lord you made my heart skip.

It’s the Bulls player that the Canes Justin Williams is “twins” with. Got traded to the Cardinals.

Just a joke I take it as a badge of honor I got moderated. For everyone late to the party, I said 'Justin Williams traded to St. Louis.' Which was true. It was just MLB not anything Canes related.

 

[CandyCanes]

 

[Joe McGrath]

This is exactly how I would picture Viktor Rask at a party. I can only assume it’s a white shirt party otherwise he’d be in all black.

 

[Unsustainable]

Wonder how his sister Fanny is doing.

 

[vorbis]

someone photoshop a mimosa into Rask's hand in that gif of him with the Checkers

 

[geehaad]

I could be shown that picture and told that there is something hilarious about it, yet could spend 10 hours studying it and never find a single humorous thing about it.

Even after reading the caption, I still can't.

 

[Incubajerks]

Wonder how his sister Fanny is doing.

if she is the one on his right....she's doing good. Look at those chiappe...

 

[Jerkob Slavin]

if she is the one on his right....she's doing good. Look at those chiappe...

So I had to google “chiappe.” They are indeed amazing.

 

[CandyCanes]

I could be shown that picture and told that there is something hilarious about it, yet could spend 10 hours studying it and never find a single humorous thing about it.

Even after reading the caption, I still can't.

It’s not that it’s humorous, its just that the photo looks so graceful... He’s in the midst of grabbing a slice of strawberry. While sipping on a mimosa. The whole tray of fruit belongs to him. There’s a party going on in the background, but Victor Rask can only think of one thing, and it’s food. This picture is beautiful, it’s art.... Enjoy its beauty

 

[Bunch of Jurcos]

So I had to google “chiappe.” They are indeed amazing.

10/10 would google again

 

[AD Skinner]

Loving the wayne campbell drainpipes