Took notes on the fly, apologies for any typos.
Tryouts - BM to change over the group as we go, trying to have a productive 4th line, needed in NHL.
I guess this explains the Rowney and Gibbons signings, but for my money I'd still have preferred the Rowney contract going to Grant or Letestu. I suppose Murray intends for Carlyle to use one of Rowney/Gibbons as the 4c unless they feel Kossila is ready. Honestly our center situation is a mess without Kesler but at least Rowney looks like he is good on the dot for a 4c.
Contract situations - need to be strong down the middle.
Kesler situation “up in the air”
His hands are tied with the uncertainty of Kesler's health and I get that, but it's silly to make a point of needing to be strong down the middle while building a roster with a massive hole at 3c if Kesler is going to be in and out of the lineup. I see Carlyle being forced to use Rakell at center if/when Kesler is out. Otherwise we are going to be seeing 2 of Gibbons, Rowney, Kossila as our 3c and 4c. Steel will undoubtedly get a long look to start the season if Kesler can't play.
Trying to deal with Silfverberg and Gibson Silfverberg puts you in position of losing him for nothing if not signed.
Wants to tie Gibson up for a bunch of years like Hellybuck.
I don't like the idea of extending Silfverberg this offseason unless it is for a medium term and for pretty much the same salary. I think I would rather we keep him until the deadline and see where we are at in the standings and where he is at as an offensive contributor. If we are out of the playoff picture and his offensive numbers are on par with or better than what he has been doing lately, he may be more valuable to us as a trade chip. Re-signing him just adds one more player to have to try to protect in an expansion draft and I can't see us fitting in another 4-5 million dollar forward without some sort of trade or buyout involving Perry.
As for Gibson, the Hellebuyck contract is probably a decent comparable. I'd prefer to keep him under 6 million per season though so we can still afford the luxury of having a backup capable of playing lengthy stretches if need be. I'm not betting on that being possible though.
Montour - will go to arbitration and get 2 year deal.
Montour's deal is pretty decent. The term is just right for a bridge deal and although it is probably about half a million more per year than I expected, I could say that same thing for most contracts handed out each year so it's probably pretty fair. Hopefully he takes the next step and makes that contract look like a steal for the next two years.
Kase - real good year. Ritchie “hasn’t come into his own at all”. Have leverage with both and will use it, may go into September/October like with Lindholm and Rakell.
Agree with both points but I am still pretty high on Ritchie taking the next step this year. This will be his make or break season IMO. I have no idea what to expect in terms of contracts for either but I'm hoping Murray gets Ritchie to sign a 2 year cheap bridge deal. I'd be happy to give more term to Kase but I'm wary of the salary range due to our cap situation and the fact that he seems to be an injury/concussion risk.
D corps - one of young Swedes will be here. Fowler healthy and playing golf daily. Schenn has experience, only 28, gives team an edge which is still needed. Sustr comes from a team that plays fast, need to play fast. Rowney brought on for same reason.
So Larsson and Pettersson will duke it out for the 3rd pairing LD position, and Schenn and Sustr will swap in and out of the lineup at 3rd pairing RD most likely. Schenn drawing in for games that are more physical, and Sustr drawing in for games against speedier opponents. On paper it makes sense but I think it's fair to question the logic of bringing in players from teams that play fast based solely on that reason. I am skeptical of Sustr and Rowney being everyday players. I do like the move to being Schenn in as our 6/7 D though. I just have a feeling Carlyle is going to try to repeatedly partner him with Fowler on our second pairing. I am kind of interested in seeing how that would work because I think Schenn is a better player than his recent history would suggest but I don't want to see the experiment drag on if it looks like another Bieksa anchor situation.
Any player not willing to play fast will be put on press box, coaches told that.
This should have been the mentality for years regardless of status and salary. Maybe not the 'play fast' mentality but certainly the idea that players should be giving 100% each game or they sit the next one. It could be a train wreck watching this team and Carlyle try to transition from playing a heavy plodding style of game to a lighter faster game but I at least think we have the personnel to do it outside of maybe a couple guys who will likely struggle.
Terry, Steele, Roy not far off. Time for a changeover, when they are ready players will be moved to make room.
Not exactly a vote of confidence in your current roster when you are publicly stating you will be moving guys out when one or more of your top forward prospects are ready. I appreciate Murray's candidness but this is essentially him saying guys like Gibbons, Rowney, Perry, Ritchie (and possibly Silfverberg if unsigned) are placeholders right now until these young guys are ready. Like other posters, it is curious to me that he mentions Roy above guys like Jones, Blandisi, Kosilla. I don't really see how we pencil Roy into the lineup though at LW and I doubt he gets on the team as a center. Our lineup is quite a mystery to me right now actually.
Lundestrom similar to Rakell in how he sees the game, not as prolific, very fit.
Seems like a typical Murray pick, with a high floor but maybe not the highest of ceilings. We develop Swedes pretty well so I'm gonna assume he will be a middle six forward for us for years to come and that's a solid investment with a late 1st.
More confident that Eaves will play than Kesler but Kesler says he’s doing fine.
If Kesler is healthy we are a playoff team no doubt about it. If he misses significant time or is the same level he was at last season when playing, we are going to need another 2C/3C option to be a playoff team IMO. The fact that we know so little about his situation is frustrating. Hopefully Eaves is back to 100% and can spend time with Getzlaf, but even if not, he should still be a quality 3rd line winger who can play some PP minutes.
Silfverberg May be moved to left wing, space will be made for Kase.
If all RW are healthy “it gives me a chip to use, let’s just put it that way”
I don't understand these comments really. I like the idea of moving Silf to his off wing and obviously want space to be made for Kase in the top six. I just don't understand who is going to play with who yet. Assuming Kesler is healthy:
Rakell-Getzlaf-Perry
Silf-Henrique-Kase
Cogs-Kesler-Eaves
Ritchie-Rowney-Rodin/Gibbons
There are no RW 'chips to use' here. Gibbons is listed as a C but plays LW, and Rodin may not even make the team, so if Silf is moved to LW we are actually short a natural RW. Plus Rakell, Silf, Cogs, and Eaves can all play LW/RW pretty effectively. We have a surplus of right-handed shots but not exactly a logjam at RW. Out of that surplus, I don't see him moving Eaves or Kase, so Perry and Silf are the only ones I could see moved and he specifically mentions trying Silf at LW. So this just reads as a bluff that he'll move Perry at some point if he sucks, but Perry has a NMC clause and very little trade value, so it's not exactly a 'chip to use' IMO.
If ridin doesn’t make team he doesn’t want to play on gulls and will go back to Sweden - no risk.
Does anyone have a guess as to the chances of Rodin making it? I am pulling for him to do so, since he is a left-handed shot and seems to be a good skater (two things we need).
Jones was doing drills in riding players into boards, got thumb caught, bent it backwards, and broke his scapula (while pointing at the thumb?) out 3 months.
The scaphoid is one of several small bones that make up your wrist. That is undoubtedly what he is referring to. It is located between the radius (arm bone on the thumb side of your arm) and the metacarpal of your thumb. Jones basically broke his wrist on the play.
1 year deals signed to make sure players hungry and so as not to block young guys.
Rowney is a three year commitment so I guess he won't need to be very 'hungry' ??? Murray can dress this up all he wants but as far as I'm concerned, if guys like Schenn, Sustr, Gibbons, Rowney, or Rodin end up being outplayed in camp and early in the season by a prospect but then given a spot anyway because of their experience then these depth signings he made will in fact be blocking the young guys. Not saying that will happen, but I could see it happening.
Fan asked team to address OT and shootouts. BM said 3v3 needs to be addressed right off the bat and had already been discussed.
Better late than never I guess. I wonder if they copy another team's approach or if they are discussing something new altogether. The 3v3 alone may be a reason to keep a guy like Rodin or Roy on the team just to give another speedy option with the open ice.
Perry - is he doing anything to work on speed? “I sure hope so”. He hopes and thinks Perry has realized he’s an age where he needs to work on offseason. Coaches have been mandated every player has to play the right way or be Becker. Everybody.
Has Perry ever had much of an offseason workout regimen? I can't recall ever seeing or hearing much about him training. Gotta believe this was talked about in the end of the season meetings if Murray is saying he thinks Perry has realized he needs to do more in the offseason.
PP - needs movement. Couldn’t be much worse.
It needs more than just movement. It needs a cannon on the point to keep the PKers honest and an accurate one-timer from the faceoff circle area. I like the idea of using Getzlaf behind the net that others have stated on this thread. Maybe they are working with some of the stronger guys like Manson and Ritchie to get them heavier, more accurate slappers this offseason.
Schedule - better than last year. Better start with way eastern trip scheduling.
Has anyone looked at the back to back schedule yet, as in how many times we are facing a team that is on the first game of a back to back with LA or SJ or someone on the next night, vs how many times we get them on the second night?
