Speculation: EK next offseason

Steve Yzerlland

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Not sure if this was already posted. Hopefully Zetterberg can go visit him in SJ with his free time and start recruiting for us.
 

Pavels Dog

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I think if Tampa can clear space they could be interesting, but I am not sure they really can.
Imo the moment the signed McDonagh their EK opportunity (long-term) went out the window. The cap space that Karlsson/Hedman/McDonagh/Vasilievsky/Stamkos/Kucherov/Point would eat up would leave the rest of their roster as close to league minimum players.
 
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InjuredChoker

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Keep believing Babcock is a coach players are dying to play for LOL.

i think it was time for both wings and babs to move on but there's a difference between dying to play for babcock and (suter/parise) not signing with us bc of babcock. especially when we haven't signed biggest FA fishes in a longtime andWhich coach would you most like to play for? babcocks team just signed the best FA in recent NHL history.

babcock was also #4 coach in NHLPA poll ''which coach would you most like to play for?'', behind Q, cooper and gallant.
 
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obey86

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I think if Tampa can clear space they could be interesting, but I am not sure they really can.

The Wings will offer him a big contract and term while selling him on the new arena and my guess is Zetterberg is heavily involved in their pitch. That he committed to staying in Detroit today also shouldn't be dismissed in terms of this hopeful summer pursuit. But he does have to make it to UFA status and until that day arrives we cannot really count on it. But it is interesting, I expect us to pursue Karlsson hard if he makes it there and again we absolutely should be doing that.

Tampa has plenty of appealing contracts/players to move if they wanted to make space, problem is that most of them have NTC attached. Who would waive their NTC to leave a cup contender thats’ acquiring arguably the best damn in the game? Oh, and if they waive it to be traded they are likely taking a pay cut due to the no income tax in Florida.
 

The Zetterberg Era

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Tampa has plenty of appealing contracts/players to move if they wanted to make space, problem is that most of them have NTC attached. Who would waive their NTC to leave a cup contender thats’ acquiring arguably the best damn in the game? Oh, and if they waive it to be traded they are likely taking a pay cut due to the no income tax in Florida.

They are already going to need to do that to get some of the remaining guys under contract. I mean ditching Johnson and Callahan to get there is how you make the money happen perhaps. But you're going to still need money for a few of the guys to come up. It would be an interesting experiment to run with 8 guys making all the money and a whole bunch of cheap league minimum deals outside of that. I am not sure it is actually in Tampa's best interest though. For a decent portion of the game you have league minimum guys out there, Vasy might save you or you might just get destroyed for 10 minutes a game or whatever and wind up not being able to advance deep enough as other teams depth players crush your cheap depth players. Think of this as the years the top heavy Penguins couldn't find a way out for a little while until their depth improved.

Also for as often as Johnson is the guy you feel like they would need to move his NTC has kicked in now. He also has been one of their better playoff guys in a few runs. I don't look at him as a nothing loss. Yes Karlsson upgrades your blueline but the Lightning have a winning group to me. It's a gamble and once you lock in all these guys with NTC and all that they also might not be too interested in leaving Florida, after all as you pointed out some of them were only willing to do that contract in that state. So what if the only options you will allow them to trade you to is Nashville, Vegas or Dallas?
 
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Run the Jewels

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Getting back on track here, our biggest carrot to Karlsson would be offering him the maximum dollar amount on his last big contract. So giving him a 7 year max deal puts you in a good position IF he's interested in making the most money. There are some ancillary things like players enjoy living in Birmingham, new arena, etc.

Trying to position us as an up and coming team would be challenging although it becomes more credible if Steve Yzerman is the GM offering him a contract and we've just drafted Jack Hughes. That's the best case scenario and I think gives us some small shot. He's also going to be able to log a ton of time and if that's something that interests him then we're a really good option.

If he's motivated to take a pay cut to play for a winner we have no chance at all. We're closer to Ottawa than Tampa. He also may look at our current blueline and be a little uncomfortable with how little talent we have. On the one hand he could feast with all of those minutes available; on the other he may not want to have so little support. He just went through that in Ottawa.
 

The Zetterberg Era

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Getting back on track here, our biggest carrot to Karlsson would be offering him the maximum dollar amount on his last big contract. So giving him a 7 year max deal puts you in a good position IF he's interested in making the most money. There are some ancillary things like players enjoy living in Birmingham, new arena, etc.

Trying to position us as an up and coming team would be challenging although it becomes more credible if Steve Yzerman is the GM offering him a contract and we've just drafted Jack Hughes. That's the best case scenario and I think gives us some small shot. He's also going to be able to log a ton of time and if that's something that interests him then we're a really good option.

If he's motivated to take a pay cut to play for a winner we have no chance at all. We're closer to Ottawa than Tampa. He also may look at our current blueline and be a little uncomfortable with how little talent we have. On the one hand he could feast with all of those minutes available; on the other he may not want to have so little support. He just went through that in Ottawa.

I know you and I don't always see eye to eye on particular players and other things, but I could not agree more with every part of this post.
 
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The Zetterberg Era

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Am I the only one that wants nothing to do with him?

Having to get his ankle bone shaved is scary, but I think Karlsson is just too good to pass up.

We probably will get to know a ton about what happened last year, but to say he had a difficult year personally is a pretty big understatement. Sorry he cannot carry the Senators everywhere and it seems understandably he just didn't have it with everything else swirling while coming off of injury. But if Karlsson struggles in San Jose teams will have to think long and hard about how high the number they can give coming off two poor seasons relative to what he has been.

I would not fault Holland (potentially Yzerman) from going hard after Karlsson. He has been a tremendous difference maker at our biggest position of need. He also suits our transition talent up front.
 

Voodoo Glow Skulls

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Am I the only one that wants nothing to do with him?

Kinda torn to be honest.

On one hand he's exactly what Detroit needs.

On the other hand, I don't want to see the Wings sign him to the contract he deserves and will get.

That's a lot of money tied up in a player that isn't getting any younger.
 
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Run the Jewels

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Am I the only one that wants nothing to do with him?

No idea, but he's an elite player and we currently have zero of those. You would also be offering for what would likely be the entirety of his prime as a 7 year deal would end when he's 35 or 36.

He'd likely be a 50 point guy every single year with loads of PP time. He'd be exciting to watch. I'm less interested in acquiring a centerman via UFA but we are so bad at drafting/acquiring PMDmen that I think this is a very reasonable risk. Yes he may not be the same player after the ankle fracture but we'll have a real good idea of how he looks this year on a talented roster. I think he's going to easily eclipse 50 points.

We don't have a single dman now in our roster or in our prospect pool who projects to be a 50 point dman. At best we have a bunch of 30 point guys tops.
 
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The Zetterberg Era

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No idea, but he's an elite player and we currently have zero of those. You would also be offering for what would likely be the entirety of his prime as a 7 year deal would end when he's 35 or 36.

He'd likely be a 50 point guy every single year with loads of PP time. He'd be exciting to watch. I'm less interested in acquiring a centerman via UFA but we are so bad at drafting/acquiring PMDmen that I think this is a very reasonable risk. Yes he may not be the same player after the ankle fracture but we'll have a real good idea of how he looks this year on a talented roster. I think he's going to easily eclipse 50 points.

We don't have a single dman now in our roster or in our prospect pool who projects to be a 50 point dman. At best we have a bunch of 30 point guys tops.

I think Cholowski and Hronek can be closer to that 40 point area, but I agree in terms of easily projected point production.

Bobrovsky (I understand those that might disagree with a goalie pursuit), Trouba and Karlsson should all be pursued in my opinion if they make it to free agency. They are elite level talents in my opinion. Trouba hasn't accomplished as much but I include him in the potential UFA guys that I absolutely believe we should be very interested in.
 

Lazlo Hollyfeld

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Am I the only one that wants nothing to do with him?
No, you're not.

I may eat these words but I don't know that Karlsson is the right move for the Wings to build a Cup competing team. Don't get me wrong he would instantly make the defense lightyears better than it is now. But I'm guessing he's going to have a stellar year in San Jose as a final contract year and the bidding war will be fierce. At 28 he's not old for a D-man, but his elite play relies so much on his offensive prowess . The simple truth is that diminishes with age even for the best players. Then add the achilles and ankle injuries. I don't think he'll have a back half of his career like Lidstrom because Lids greatest asset was hockey IQ. It was also stickwork and positioning. Those still work pretty well when you lose a step. End to end rushes, not so much.

Basically I'm saying that 5 or 6 years down the road when these kids are hopefully playing great, EK will be 34 years old and likely still pretty great, but great enough for the massive cap hit it will take to sign him?

Overall something about the timing of it doesn't feel quite right for the Wings rebuilding. But I may be laughing at this post in a few years so who knows.
 

Lazlo Hollyfeld

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Assuming Karlsson has a bounceback season in San Jose, any guesses what it would take to sign him?
 

obey86

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Get Gator, Helm, Ericsson and Kronwall off the cap

No need. The Red Wings have at least 18 million in cap space next offseason, + whatever they would get from LTIR relief for Franzen and Zetterberg.
 

joe89

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Assuming Karlsson has a bounceback season in San Jose, any guesses what it would take to sign him?

I know what you mean but what's a bounceback after a 62p in 71 games season? That's a 71 point full season for a defenseman..

Would kinda shock me if he didn't sign with the Sharks long term now. Then again he certainly doesn't owe them anything and he didn't personally sign up for the trade.
 

Pavels Dog

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I know what you mean but what's a bounceback after a 62p in 71 games season? That's a 71 point full season for a defenseman..

Would kinda shock me if he didn't sign with the Sharks long term now. Then again he certainly doesn't owe them anything and he didn't personally sign up for the trade.
Their cap situtation isn't great. They also have a barren prospect pool with their best players being on the wrong side of 30. I really hope he doesn't sign long-term because they are all-in this season and will NOT be a top contender going forward.
 

Bench

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Basically I'm saying that 5 or 6 years down the road when these kids are hopefully playing great, EK will be 34 years old and likely still pretty great, but great enough for the massive cap hit it will take to sign him?

Six years is way too long for the rebuild. Wings should be looking to compete in 2 years and be poised in 4 years.

Zadina should be a big time producer by 22, if he is the real deal, and that's 4 seasons away. By that point the other guys like Ras and Larkin are primed too. Our window isn't 6 years out and beyond, it's when our top prospects are at or before 25.

If you miss that window, odds are your prospect core was a miss (could still be close) and you'll need to retool again (because they'll also be looking at big raises). We're going into season 3 of the earnest rebuild. Tacking another 6 years would be a brutal timeframe, in my opinion.
 
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