Confirmed with Link: Derek Stepan: 1year, $1.35 million

[Bub]

Suddenly I feel much better about this deal.

Beat me to it.

Also, I'll repeat what I said in the Brendan Smith thread as it still applies: Dan Girardi or gtfo!

 

[TheOllieC]

Colored me un-impressed

If this is a bottom-6 signing, no reason to be upset at it.

If this is our top-6 filling, answer to the missing piece of the pie, then yes, bad.

 

[Chrispy]

I don’t know which hole this fills.

4C, Lorentz to wing, Leivo to press box?

That makes the most sense to me. Also probably another PK forward after losing McGinn and Foegele.

I am surprised by the number of players they are signing, because I don't think any are planning on being in Chicago. Makes me wonder if the league has hinted the taxi squad will continue in 21-22.

Svech-Aho-TT
Nino-Trocheck-Necas
Martinook-Staal-Fast
Lorentz-Stepan-Leivo

Smith, Letunov, Meletic are on 2-way deals and likely in Chicago.

Clearly there's a need to upgrade 2LW, shift Nino down, and shift Martinook to the 4th line. But that only further adds to the number of 1-way deals on the roster.

 

[Tryamw]

So what are we now, the home of wayward former Rangers?

I mean, fine, I guess. He's cheap.

Ex Broadway South? 4C improvement.. I guess.

 

[Highest Boss]

I’m sure we can find a less stellar goalie that played for the Rangers.

 

[Roboturner913]

Right shot, can play all forward positions. Putting him on Staal's wing makes sense, he can kill penalties and you can throw him out there for right-handed faceoffs. Think of all the times last season we had Tro and Staal both out on the ice at the same time in that exact scenario.

I read this as a replacement for McGinn, not a try to get a top-6er on the cheap.

 

[TheReelChuckFletcher]

This reads, at least to me, like Carolina wanting Jack Drury to have a full AHL season and wanting a veteran 4C to mentor Lorentz, not a cheapskate top-9 move. I could be wrong, of course, but I'm keeping them at their word that they want a cap ceiling team.

 

[cptjeff]

Pierre McGuire was a fixture on Ottawa radio in the mornings before getting his new gig.

Last year he was adamant that Stepan was cooked and had lost a step big time.

I don't see how this fits into the Canes skate em into the ground philosophy

He used to be really fast, maybe we're banking on Burniston being able to turn him around with the new explosiveness training he used with Jordan?

Don't know about this one, though.

 

[Navin R Slavin]

It's a long off season, plenty of time for big moves yet, but every time I see one of these weird fringe moves I just get a little shpilkes going on.

 

[TheReelChuckFletcher]

It's a long off season, plenty of time for big moves yet, but every time I see one of these weird fringe moves I just get a little shpilkes going on.

It seems like just a minor 4th line tweak. They clearly would rather have Drury up when deemed truly NHL-ready instead of being rushed into the league.

 

[Big Daddy Cane]

I was hoping that we'd get an E. Staal signing tweet for this role, but for sentimental reasons.

To me, the Bottom 6 is a weird mishmash at this point. I'm not sure what they're going for. It's not a noticeably physical group overall. It's not all that good offensively. Save for Staal, it's not known for defense either.

If this is it, the positive thing about this group is half of them are not under contract for 22-23.

 

[AD Skinner]

Did his play deteriorate once we went to Arizona or was he just playing on a worse team? Dude was consistently hitting 50+ points for years in New York. He barely played for Ottawa before getting hurt, maybe the time off will have helped? Don't know. This is not the impact forward we need to be swinging for but he could be a good pickup if he returns to form some. Great bald and beard thing going on

 

[TheReelChuckFletcher]

I was hoping that we'd get an E. Staal signing tweet for this role, but for sentimental reasons.

To me, the Bottom 6 is a weird mishmash at this point. I'm not sure what they're going for. It's not a noticeably physical group overall. It's not all that good offensively. Save for Staal, it's not known for defense either.

If this is it, the positive thing about this group is half of them are not under contract for 22-23.

Another potential thing that might be going on, on top of protecting Jack Drury in the AHL, is a bit of a DeAngelo whispering campaign: load the team with veteran voices that all came from the Rangers back when he had his most peaceful seasons in the NHL. I don't know if it's just a coincidence that all of these former Rangers are signing on just as DeAngelo has been brought in. It probably is, but it's a thing to consider.

 

[The Faulker 27]

I can't keep track of all the cheap marginal players and have no idea if we have any actual money left to spend or not.

No money left but plenty of Top Golf bucks.

 

[LakeLivin]

So what are we now, the home of wayward former Rangers?

I mean, fine, I guess. He's cheap.

acquire all rongos

For a while there it seemed like the opposite was true (McKegg, Gauthier, PDG).

 

[Big Daddy Cane]

Another potential thing that might be going on, on top of protecting Jack Drury in the AHL, is a bit of a DeAngelo whispering campaign: load the team with veteran voices that all came from the Rangers back when he had his most peaceful seasons in the NHL. I don't know if it's just a coincidence that all of these former Rangers are signing on just as DeAngelo has been brought in. It probably is, but it's a thing to consider.

Stepan never played with DeAngelo. He was traded for him. This particular move is unrelated to a narrative that is applicable to the Smith signing.

 

[TheReelChuckFletcher]

Stepan never played with DeAngelo. He was traded for him. This particular move is unrelated to a narrative that is applicable to the Smith signing.

Good point. So it might just be a thing about protecting Jack Drury.

 

[WreckingCrew]

Fine if he's a 4C upgrade and PKer, but I hope it's not our big splash/upgrade to our top scoring or anything... that'd be a huge disappointment. Of course that's kind and of been most of our me he's the past 2 weeks?

 

[Joe McGrath]

Very confused at the fit here. He’s not a 4th line center. He can slide into the top 9 with an injury though. Just weird for both player and team on opening night.

 

[Roboturner913]

To me, the Bottom 6 is a weird mishmash at this point. I'm not sure what they're going for. It's not a noticeably physical group overall. It's not all that good offensively. Save for Staal, it's not known for defense either.

Looks to me like they're going for a two-way third line for defensive matchups and a rangy, physical fourth that can cycle the puck.

Fast-Staal-Stepan
Martinook-Lorentz-Leivo

Makes a ton of sense to me, but I'm just some moron who's wrong about these things often

 

[Navin R Slavin]

I was hoping that we'd get an E. Staal signing tweet for this role, but for sentimental reasons.

It has never been clearer than this past week that we don't do that anymore. At all. Ever.

 

[A Star is Burns]

It has never been clearer than this past week that we don't do that anymore. At all. Ever.

I dunno. I shed a sentimental tear when we brought Freddy back.

 

[Joe McGrath]

It has never been clearer than this past week that we don't do that anymore. At all. Ever.

If Eric wanted t up come back here cheap to play on his brothers wing and we said.nah that would be infuriating.

 

[Roboturner913]

I dunno. I shed a sentimental tear when we brought Freddy back.

In the story, a father has two sons. The younger son asks for his portion of inheritance from his father, who grants his son's request. This son, however, is prodigal (i.e., wasteful and extravagant), thus squandering his fortune and eventually becoming destitute. As consequence, he now must return home empty-handed and intend to beg his father to accept him back as a servant. To the son's surprise, he is not scorned by his father but is welcomed back with celebration and a welcoming party. Envious, the older son refuses to participate in the festivities. The father tells the older son: "you are ever with me, and all that I have is yours, but thy younger brother was lost and now he is found."

 

[ndp]

Jesus, no wonder all the youngin's are asking for trades. Can this guy even skate anymore? I for sure thought the 4th line C spot was Drury's to loose. They're headed from being one of the fastest teams in the Metro to the slowest bottom six in the league.

Are we 100% sure ol' turtleneck isn't J.R. wearing a Donny Wads mask?