Around the NHL 2019 - 2020

[Montross]

Holy Moly there are some seriously salty Habs fans out there. Some of the stuff I'm reading after it was confirmed Carolina would match on Aho is crazy.

You would think it was Carolina that stole a player just based on the thread. We may get a bit crazy around here, but that's just pathetic.

I still have memories of what Flyers fans, heck lots of NHL fans were saying about the Preds when they matched Weber's deal. I can relate.

 

[King Weber]

Holy Moly there are some seriously salty Habs fans out there. Some of the stuff I'm reading after it was confirmed Carolina would match on Aho is crazy.

You would think it was Carolina that stole a player just based on the thread. We may get a bit crazy around here, but that's just pathetic.

Montreal typical.

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

It's kind of startling how quickly things seemed to shut down after all the July 1st signings. There are still some players out there, but if nothing is happening today, and everybody shuts down for an extra-long weekend... seems like a fair number of players could be left hanging...?

 

[PredsV82]

It's kind of startling how quickly things seemed to shut down after all the July 1st signings. There are still some players out there, but if nothing is happening today, and everybody shuts down for an extra-long weekend... seems like a fair number of players could be left hanging...?

The RFAs are clogging things up now. I'm sure once some of them sign then the cap dump trades will follow and then the remaining role player UFAs (like Boyle) will find spots.

The problem is the process may drag out q long time. Someone like Boyle may not want to wait a long time to try to get max money or preferred location and might take the first good offer that comes along.

I'd love to bring BriBrows back but we are overloaded at center already.

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

The RFAs are clogging things up now. I'm sure once some of them sign then the cap dump trades will follow and then the remaining role player UFAs (like Boyle) will find spots.

The problem is the process may drag out q long time. Someone like Boyle may not want to wait a long time to try to get max money or preferred location and might take the first good offer that comes along.

I'd love to bring BriBrows back but we are overloaded at center already.

Sounds like some of those RFAs might drag out a la Nylander though. Somebody should send some of those UFAs the link to CapFriendly... it doesn't take a lot of math to see that there aren't too many spots left. If they wait around much longer to try to nab a preferred location it might cost them an awful lot of money.

I think when Boyle tweeted yesterday about which "new" city he'd be moving to, it was pretty much a statement that he's not coming back to Nashville. Alas. But he was kind of a luxury anyway, of course. Center or not, I think his biggest role with us was probably leadership, and anything he did or any position he played on the ice was going to be gravy.

 

[Scoresberg]

What the f*** is that Labanc contract?

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

What the **** is that Labanc contract?

That is Labanc seriously taking one for the team. Wow. Good on him I guess. Thornton and Marleau better treat him right, because he's a better player than they are at this point. But this is 100% Wilson telling the young guy he needs to take this so that they can sign those two, and him being the humble "rookie" and letting the team and his mentors have their way. Very selfless... and rare in this day and age. $4M on a bridge wouldn't have been out of the question for his production thus far.

They better treat him right when the time comes. If the player is gonna take one for the team like this, it would really suck if they hardballed him next year or something.

 

[Legionnaire11]

California teams benefiting from no income tax again...

 

[Soundgarden]

I'm loving that Chicago-Buffalo trade. I really hope Nylander busts now. Trading Jokiharju after passing on Byram? Ok.

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

Someone please offer sheet Marner

Those RFAs that turned down offer sheets probably got it wrong. They should have taken Aho's approach. Point and Marner do want to stay in TB and Toronto - but they should know signing the offer sheet is only going to get them the contracts they want out of those teams, not put them at any risk of leaving town.

Now with most teams capped out past the point of being able to offer sheet them, they might have missed the boat.

I wonder how many prominent RFAs aren't playing when puck drops in October? Rantanen and Connor/Laine I guess are the only ones in our division? Not probably the most likely to sit out - or if Laine does, it's doubtful how much that even hurts the Jets.

 

[Armourboy]

I'd be honest, if you were a RFA and didn't go get an offersheet that had the numbers you were looking for you are either stupid or you need a new agent.

Now maybe they couldn't get them from a place they minded playing so they didn't want to take that risk. That I understand, they have a chance to really dictate their terms and money though so I think its foolish.

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

I'd be honest, if you were a RFA and didn't go get an offersheet that had the numbers you were looking for you are either stupid or you need a new agent.

Now maybe they couldn't get them from a place they minded playing so they didn't want to take that risk. That I understand, they have a chance to really dictate their terms and money though so I think its foolish.

Since we hardly ever hear of "proposed" offer sheets - only the ones that actually get filed - it's hard to dig too deep. But it sounds like Montreal might have tried with Brayden Point, as one example. Like Aho, apparently some of these guys want to limit themselves to 4- or 5-year deals so that they hit free agency at a time when everybody dreams the Cap is going to skyrocket with a new TV deal or something. They don't want to be locked into 8-year deals - that's what the teams want.

Aho played it perfectly - he got the term and amount he wanted with some nice loading from the Montreal offer sheet, and there really was no danger Carolina wouldn't match. Point and Marner (or their agents) have to be nuts if they think Toronto and Tampa won't match. They'll match. It's practically a blank check. They don't have to fear they'll actually end up in Columbus or Montreal or wherever it is that's so undesirable to them. Especially at the $10.5M threshold of "only" two 1sts, 2nd, 3rd compensation. Aho went a notch lower than that. But I bet he could have gotten away with the next tier, just like Point and Marner could.

And that's just at the top end. There are RFAs at all kinds of tiers who could have played the game better chasing some of these things. A $4.2M player is only a 2nd round pick in compensation. Teams would match before losing players for just that.

But now it's probably too late. An awful lot of teams are capped out, alas.

 

[BigFatCat999]

I think Ottawa made a good deal with CHicago. But the Hawks improve their PK.

 

[Scoresberg]

That trade is for pure cap reasons for the Hawks, they had very little space and only had like 8 forwards under contract. That trade at least gives them a chance to re-sign someone.

They lost on the ice, though for sure. Anisimov was a decent player, I think an ideal 3C. Seemed like every time we played them he was a thorn in our side.

 

[Gh24]

Aho played it perfectly - he got the term and amount he wanted with some nice loading from the Montreal offer sheet, and there really was no danger Carolina wouldn't match. Point and Marner (or their agents) have to be nuts if they think Toronto and Tampa won't match. They'll match.

They currently don't have cap space to do so. Sure they can figure it out, but at what cost?

 

[OldFan]

A thought on this. No franchise wants to make Toronto mad. No agent wants to either. When they want to Toronto runs the NHL. Always has. Its ok to defeat them even in the playoffs. But do not embarrass them publicly. They’ll get you someday. Just a thought; shows my bias. If I were a GM, which thankfully I’m not, I’d think about this long and hard.

 

[Armourboy]

My job as a GM is to make my team as good as possible. I don't offersheet a Toronto player because I don't want to tick them off. My team then misses the playoffs and I lose my job. Yeah that's real smart.

 

[Legionnaire11]

My job as a GM is to make my team as good as possible. I don't offersheet a Toronto player because I don't want to tick them off. My team then misses the playoffs and I lose my job. Yeah that's real smart.

If your team isn't a playoff team because of one player, you're better off keeping those draft picks anyway. Offer sheets only make sense for serious cup contenders because those picks are so low. On the other hand, those teams probably don't have the cap space to make a solid offer sheet. This is one of the biggest flaws with them.

Not that I mind, I hate them anyway and I'm glad they don't work.

 

[OldFan]

My job as a GM is to make my team as good as possible. I don't offersheet a Toronto player because I don't want to tick them off. My team then misses the playoffs and I lose my job. Yeah that's real smart.

Oh, I know. But thats a stretch; lots of “ifs”. I was just giving my “Toronto Rules” speech.

 

[Armourboy]

If your team isn't a playoff team because of one player, you're better off keeping those draft picks anyway. Offer sheets only make sense for serious cup contenders because those picks are so low. On the other hand, those teams probably don't have the cap space to make a solid offer sheet. This is one of the biggest flaws with them.

Not that I mind, I hate them anyway and I'm glad they don't work.

Are you? What's the odds that any of those picks turn into a player the caliber of a Aho, Marner, etc?

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

Are you? What's the odds that any of those picks turn into a player the caliber of a Aho, Marner, etc?

Yeah, as long as I wasn't like Ottawa-bad I wouldn't be afraid of the 1st picks. It's also a question of immediacy - you get an established star player onto the roster NOW, ready to roll, and as GM - well who knows if you'll even be around in 3 or 4 years to make the last picks, let alone in 8 years or whenever those players eventually make the league. As a middle of the pack team in the modern age of parity, I'd like to think a couple moves and one superstar added NOW could make me a contender. And it's all about trying to win.

The problem is, to make those teams actually not match the offer sheet... you'd have to stack the deal so badly that it hurts you more than helps you - like a $12M AAV on a 5-year term that takes the player to UFA, say. A contract like that PLUS losing 4 1sts... that's a tall order to give up. But that's about the only way you even have a chance of getting one of the big RFAs right?

So to me, it's not so much about the teams on either side of the equation. Teams who own the player will match, and teams making offer sheets can't quite stomach making the magnitude of offer it would take for the other team to not match. Instead, it's a mechanism the PLAYER should take more advantage of, just like the Aho situation. Marner or Point could have easily signed offer sheets for $10.4M AAV and 5-year term at 1st+1st+2nd+3rd compensation. And their teams will match. And they'll get the contracts they want and get to stay with the teams they want to stay on.

Sounds like Laine should go that route now, because maybe there is at least a hint that he and Winnipeg aren't quite so closely bound as some of these other players are with their teams?

 

[AdmiralsFan24]

Two sides to every story and everything but this is damning against Fenton.

My favorite parts were Fenton considering Dean Evason one of the best coaches outside the NHL and Poile stringing Evason along about Fiala and Fenton's staff having to convince Fenton not to trade more or retain salary in the Granlund/Fiala trade.

The downfall of Paul Fenton: Inside the GM's turbulent 14...

 

[PredsV82]

Two sides to every story and everything but this is damning against Fenton.

My favorite parts were Fenton considering Dean Evason one of the best coaches outside the NHL and Poile stringing Evason along about Fiala and Fenton's staff having to convince Fenton not to trade more or retain salary in the Granlund/Fiala trade.

The downfall of Paul Fenton: Inside the GM's turbulent 14...

Blah. I get it that Fenton must have been a better scout than he was a manager, but Leipold isnt some mastermind either.

 

[Predsanddead24]

Blah. I get it that Fenton must have been a better scout than he was a manager, but Leipold isnt some mastermind either.

Yeah a lot of those issues seemed like a fight for control between Fenton and Leipold. Realistically Fenton shouldn't have taken that job and Leilold shouldn't have hired him if they couldn't even agree on something as basic as coaching. It also seemed as if Russo had a personal bone to pick with Fenton for trying to stop the leaks which Russo depends on for his relevancy. Fenton made a lot of questionable decisions but I also don't put too much stock in a one sided hit piece with sources that seemed to be primarily Leipold loyalists. I especially cracked up at the bit talking about Leipold's great character.

 

[AdmiralsFan24]

I do find it ironic that Fenton is criticized for going after players he was familiar with but Leipold did the exact same thing hiring Fenton.