Speculation: How VGK might take advantage of Seattle expansion draft squeeze

[LadyStanley]

Paywall

Granger has 5 goalies that might be added.

Canucks Thatcher Demko
Penguins Matt Murray
Coyotes Antti Raanta
Maple Leafs Frederick Andersen
Avalanche Pavel Francouz

Would you as armchair GM add any of these goalies? How about players at other positions?

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[willy702]

I think goalie is the easiest to take advantage of, but they might get in 2-3 moves tilted in their favor. Rantaa would be a nice add, might help transition away from MAF, but probably costs too much. Francouz might make sense, but I don't know if the Avs would actually let him go easily. They have a tough choice to make with him and Grubauer. Murray never impressed me as much, I think he was a beneficiary of good timing but not worth a top 10 contract. Andersen is in same spot as Rantaa, potential future #1 but at those costs you might as well figure out how to make Lehner work and will still be dealing with consequences of paying MAF too much for too long. Demko is probably only real opportunity and have to get past the division rival aspect, but if they can make it work that's the right age, experience and talent to fill a hole in the pipeline with.

 

[LadyStanley]

Paywall. Part the second

 

[willy702]

Not impressed by the second article. Sure Bean makes a lot of sense, but not sure where he fits into the VGK lineup. Perhaps by next year if the Canes are still willing to trade him he can be ready to take over Martinez role which is good, but further clogs up the young D development efforts. The other guys sound too much like what the team already has, gritty effort guys who just don't have scoring touch all in the name of getting younger.

Further his passing on the Lightning makes no sense because those guys are studs. I just think about if they could get Killorn and trade Marchy. Imagine the utter hell other teams would have facing a forecheck of Karlsson, Smith and Killorn, all great 200-foot players with good scoring touch. Marchy's contract is decent enough there should be a good market for him elsewhere so can be part of a 3-way deal or two separate transactions since Tampa can't really take on an expansion eligible forward. Bonus, he has a slightly higher cap hit than Killorn so VGK saves a little extra space. Not sure how any of these get done, but hopefully the GMs are thinking big here.

 

[CupInSIX]

I don't think any of those goalies will be available except for Raaanta. Andersen will probably work out a contract with the Leafs, Avalanche will have better options available to Seattle and Penguins will be stuck with Murray (for better or worse). Vancouver should work out a deal for Seattle to take Eriksson/Roussel.

I think they'll take Quick, Stalock and Jarry.

 

[CupInSIX]

Now that we have a good idea of the players that will be exposed to Seattle, that leaves VGK in a position to make offers on some of them.

The only problem being, they're around 4m under the cap in spending for next season (so far). And yet, some of the players that will be exposed are fairly good ones on ELCs and capfriendly bridge contracts. Teams might be willing to part with them rather than lose them for nothing (or bribing Seattle not to take them).

Caleb Jones
Vitek Vanecek
Trevor Van Riemsdyk (remember him?)
Yakov Trenin

and some RFAs due modest raises like Logan Stanley, Aiden Hill, Nathan Bastian, Dillon Dube and Dylan Gambrell.

 

[willy702]

Meh, they needed to take advantage of this before TDL but alas having two goalies and an overpaid name defenseman was more important. Plus they gave up some draft assets to get Janmark which could have been used to get these guys.

Plus on the goalie front the mad scientists turned MAF into the third rail. Imagine they go get a third goalie before trading MAF, the uproar it will cause. His good ole agent must have another artist rendering ready for that one.

 

[Randy Butternubs]

Pens fan here. HFPens fans are iffy on spending a protection slot on Marcus Pettersson as he's not really the best fit with John Marino. Matheson likely isn't worth protecting because of his contract, Ceci is UFA, and the other D (not named Letang or Dumoulin) shouldn't be protected.

Any interest in swapping Pettersson for McNabb? Pettersson is younger, signed for more years, but is more expensive.

Thanks in advance!

 

[IceNeophyte]

Pens fan here. HFPens fans are iffy on spending a protection slot on Marcus Pettersson as he's not really the best fit with John Marino. Matheson likely isn't worth protecting because of his contract, Ceci is UFA, and the other D (not named Letang or Dumoulin) shouldn't be protected.

Any interest in swapping Pettersson for McNabb? Pettersson is younger, signed for more years, but is more expensive.

Thanks in advance!

When he does something stupid, I'm interested. When he lays wood on an opponent to knock him off the puck, I'm not.