Proposal: Bring James Neal back

[Porter Stoutheart]

Jarnkrok is fine. His main standout characteristic might be his contract. Teams won't go out of their way to trade for him, they have their own utility players, or will feel like they can pick one up when needed without making a trade. I don't think anybody sees either upside or any special sought-after trait in Jarnkrok. And again, that's ok. He fits our team and is close with some of the other players, and we also happen to need an affordable utility guy like him on the roster. So it's all good. I wouldn't trade him, and I wouldn't expect other teams to come calling for him.

Vegas in particular picked up a fair number of similar-ish utility players in their expansion draft, so I don't think they'd entertain trading him for Neal.

 

[NSH615]

Jarnkrok is fine. His main standout characteristic might be his contract. Teams won't go out of their way to trade for him, they have their own utility players, or will feel like they can pick one up when needed without making a trade. I don't think anybody sees either upside or any special sought-after trait in Jarnkrok. And again, that's ok. He fits our team and is close with some of the other players, and we also happen to need an affordable utility guy like him on the roster. So it's all good. I wouldn't trade him, and I wouldn't expect other teams to come calling for him.

Vegas in particular picked up a fair number of similar-ish utility players in their expansion draft, so I don't think they'd entertain trading him for Neal.

What is so special about the contract. It's a typical RFA middle 6'er deal and there is nothing special about it other than maybe 1 or 2 extra years. Those extra years were driven by Forsberg.

 

[Mortiest Morty]

Middle 6 is 2nd or 3rd line. I don't know what universe you're living in where legit 2nd/3rd liners, even RFAs, get 6 year 2 million per deals, but I'd love to visit sometime. Jarnkrok isnt a middle 6 guy, he's a bottom 6, but that's another discussion.

That said, it's still a good contract, certainly not amazing, but Haula was a pretty comparable player and just got 3 years 2.75 that takes him straight to UFA.

 

[Scoresberg]

Jarny could really benefit offensively if moved to the wing. He has the speed, the forecheck, the IQ and actually a pretty good shot. Defensively really sound as well. Would be a nice 3RW @ $2M.

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

What is so special about the contract. It's a typical RFA middle 6'er deal and there is nothing special about it other than maybe 1 or 2 extra years. Those extra years were driven by Forsberg.

Is it "typical"? The average NHL salary is about $3M now; he's significantly below the average. I wonder how many players that far below the average have a term that is that far above the average? It's not a typical contract.

When it was first signed, it was probably a little more "hyped" for value than it is now, when we've fully tempered our expectations for his upside, and settled on him as being a versatile utility guy. So it's not that the contract makes him magically more or less valuable. But it's still not "typical". Since the rest of his traits don't stand out either, the contract is really the only thing that does. That's neither an endorsement nor criticism. I'm satisfied with Jarnkrok, on the ice and on the payroll.

 

[token grinder]

That's nonsense. No one held a gun to his head and made him trade Forsberg. Hell, they've already made a trade with Vegas this year. If every GM held a crazy grudge every time they lost a trade or had a disagreement with another GM, there would be zero trades in this league. McPhee will take the best return, if there are two deals on the table that are incredibly similar he might trade him to someone else other than Poile, but he won't be employed long in this league if he gives up assets out of spite.

Agreed. Otherwise Poile wouldn't trade with Toronto ever again after Franson. GMs make bad deals all the time.

 

[LCPreds]

I'll be interested in seeing how Craig Smith and James Neal track against one another going forward. If you throw out the first week of the season then they've been basically the same guy goals/points wise and Smith is doing it with 2-3 minutes per game less TOI. And now he has Turris.

 

[Scoresberg]

Needless to say, we don't want to take penalties against this team. Don't want to lose the momentum, either.

 

[Scoresberg]

60 minutes, boys. 60 minutes..

 

[Scoresberg]

McLeod had an easy breakout..

 

[Scoresberg]

Wrong thread.. go me.

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

I'll be interested in seeing how Craig Smith and James Neal track against one another going forward. If you throw out the first week of the season then they've been basically the same guy goals/points wise and Smith is doing it with 2-3 minutes per game less TOI. And now he has Turris.

It's kind of convenient timing for optimism, but if Fiala and Smith can keep showing solid production like that on the wings, then I don't think we have to look at a rental winger at all. Maybe Turris kills two birds with one stone.

Might want to pick one up just for insurance purposes, but it could become more of a bargain-hunting expedition at the deadline instead of entering into a bidding war for the top targets. Keeping our 1st would be a nice surprise.

 

[GeauxPreds1]

Jarny could really benefit offensively if moved to the wing. He has the speed, the forecheck, the IQ and actually a pretty good shot. Defensively really sound as well. Would be a nice 3RW @ $2M.

I think jarnkrok plays alot better at wing. The last 2 games after the hartnell injury he looks like a different player. I was the one who started the thread and now im wanting to see what he can do playing on the wing with bones and solamoki. Man but that smith turris and Fiala line looked awesome last night.

 

[DarrylshutzSydor]

There is an intangible in hockey in having well liked players who are great contributers on your team that bring success. Bring Neal back......

 

[jlsg]

The other intangible in hockey is if it ain't broke, don't fix it....

 

[izi]

I would have some faith in your most recent draftpick. Tolvanen is tearing up the khl as a 18 year old. He will probebly fill out your sniperspot next season.

 

[101st_fan]

We lose Neal's expiring contract in the expansion draft by electing to protect Jarnkrok's low cost, long-term deal. We then bring in Turris through 2023-24, Boninio through 2020-21 ... contract stability across our top nine for a few years with five of our current top six signed through 2019-2020, and the one not signed being a restricted free agent currently on his entry-level deal.

Unless Neal is on the block at the deadline (possible but requires Vegas to stumble over the next couple months) ... with an extremely low asking price on the trade market (unlikely given his talent and what would lead Vegas to offer him up in the first place) ... bringing him back is a bad idea.

I'm more concerned with what we do to solidify the backend past next season with Ellis and Rinne reaching the end of their current deals in 2019 ... Josi's deal expiring at the end of 2019-2020.

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

We lose Neal's expiring contract in the expansion draft by electing to protect Jarnkrok's low cost, long-term deal. We then bring in Turris through 2023-24, Boninio through 2020-21 ... contract stability across our top nine for a few years with five of our current top six signed through 2019-2020, and the one not signed being a restricted free agent currently on his entry-level deal.

Unless Neal is on the block at the deadline (possible but requires Vegas to stumble over the next couple months) ... with an extremely low asking price on the trade market (unlikely given his talent and what would lead Vegas to offer him up in the first place) ... bringing him back is a bad idea.

I'm more concerned with what we do to solidify the backend past next season with Ellis and Rinne reaching the end of their current deals in 2019 ... Josi's deal expiring at the end of 2019-2020.

It's nice how the Turris acquisition and our 2nd line emergence has already made this thread feel obsolete. Here's hoping that stands up.

It would be nice if a young d-man got worked into the mix, either this season (Carrier) or next (Fabbro). We know our bottom pairing guys are just journeyman placeholders. We need a little contingency planning in that role instead... if we ever do lose Ellis or Josi (heaven forbid), having a ready-to-step-into-top-4 youngster at that time would be better than having to still take them through the bottom-6 learning curve. But at least on that front we have some hopes. Re-signing Ellis and/or Josi shouldn't be impossible either.

In goal... I'm more worried. Rinne has been fine this year, and Saros is still very young. So all is not lost there either. But if we do get to keep our 1st round pick at the deadline, I'd honestly think about investing it in goaltending futures. Now, there probably isn't a 1st-round rated goalie this year (so far). But you could trade down for two 2nds and double up on insurance policies. Etc. Obviously while still watching for a draft-falling mega-steal like Tolvanen. It's more of a "thought in the back of one's mind" than a roadmap which you'd absolutely have to follow no matter what.

This is also me not having a clue if the "killer V's" in our current prospect pool have any real hope or not. I don't know anything about Volkov, Vejmelka, or Vomacka aside from reading the stats lines. But until/unless Saros starts to stand out, I'll be a little worried. More worried than on D.

 

[TitansVolsPreds615]

Surely one of the V's will pan out into a decent NHL backup at a minimum. I am not sold on Saros but other people seem to think highly of him. He definitely seems to have cooled off this year but he is still young.

 

[GeauxPreds1]

I think w

Surely one of the V's will pan out into a decent NHL backup at a minimum. I am not sold on Saros but other people seem to think highly of him. He definitely seems to have cooled off this year but he is still young.

I think we should seriousy consider going after Keumper next year as our back up. Hes a solid goalie and has played behind dubnyk and quick and everytime he has been asked to feel in hes been pretty solid. Hes younger at 27 and i think he could take over when rinne hangs them up. Not trying to hang saros out to dry but Keumper in my opinion is a better fit goalie

 

[TitansVolsPreds615]

There is an unknown goalie that explodes onto the scene every year it seems like. I trust the organization to find one. We always seem to find someone who can fill in for a couple years (Mason, Ellis).

 

[Scoresberg]

Tons of decent option for goal if Saros doesn't pan out. Guys that have been backup for long but should do well in a starter position. Like Talbot/Darling situation.

Aaron Dell
Darcy Kuemper
Anders Nilsson
Joonas Korpisalo
Keith Kinkaid
Phillip Grubauer

 

[Nashvols]

Let me preface this by saying that I generally liked James Neal and liked what he brought to the team.


Before the Turris trade, my general opinion was that we should not bring James Neal back, unless he was going to be more than a rental.

After the Turris trade, however, I really don't think we have as much of a need for a $6 million streaky sniper.



This summer, we lost James Neal and Mike Fisher. Nick Bonino more or less replaced Fisher from a player/production standpoint. Scott Hartnell didn't replace Neal, but added offense. Jarnkrok, who was protected at the expense of Neal, was never going to replace Neal's numbers. It was just a good contract on a player that we didn't want to give up. We are a better faceoff team with Jarnkrok in the lineup.

The idea was that youngin's like Fiala and Aberg would pick up the production that Neal left behind. Fiala has....started to. Aberg, not so much.

Now with the addition of Turris, you replace Neal's point production (and then some) as well as elevate the play of people like Fiala and Smith (and whomever). There is no need for the addition of Neal anymore. Period. His production will be replaced, and probably be exceeded by having 2+ playmaking centers on our team.

Neal was a good player for us, but never the fulcrum of our offense. I think there has been a bit of Neal mythology built up during his time here.

 

[PredsV82]

Neals absence was much more acutely noticeable the first few games when nobody but Forsberg was scoring(and coincidentally Neal was off to a hot start). Now that Arvy and Smith are scoring and Fiala is beginning to get untracked, his absence is not as big a deal.

 

[JustaFinnishGuy]

Neals absence was much more acutely noticeable the first few games when nobody but Forsberg was scoring(and coincidentally Neal was off to a hot start). Now that Arvy and Smith are scoring and Fiala is beginning to get untracked, his absence is not as big a deal.

I've become to think that Neal has been replaced with Turris completely. Getting Smith and Fiala going is so much more valuable than having 1 player to be relied upon with scoring.