Observations XXXI

[LCPreds]

Suter signed a 13 year deal on July 4
Weber shows as signed his 14 year deal on July 24 but I'm not sure if that's when he signed Philly's offer sheet or when we matched. Either way, Suter signed first.

I’ve got 8 years on my mind for some reason. Thanks.

 

[PredsV82]

Didn’t Suter sign his 8 year before Shea?

And let’s not kid ourselves. Suter was really good. We definitely missed him.

Thirteen year deal. And yes they signed first then Weber two weeks later. What a summer 2012 was....

Edit... I see it's been coveted

 

[nine_inch_fang]

Minnesota definitely got their money's worth out of Suter. He was in the conversation for the Norris Trophy for a few years and as could be expected has declined over the years but is still a very serviceable middle defenseman on a contending team or a top pair defenseman on a crap team.
If it wasn't for the expansion draft I doubt he would be getting axed. Parise on the other hand has been a disaster for them.
We've seen a lot of long term contracts not work out but Suter and Weber are probably best case scenario for those contracts that were handed out 9-10 years ago.

 

[Viqsi]

Didn't he sign with Minnesota originally largely because his wife wanted the closer proximity to her family in Wisconsin, or something like that? In that vein I'd think he signs with Chicago, Detroit, St. Louis, Columbus, or... (LOL) us. Doubt their priorities have changed that much since then.

Also a big LOL for Loliarpold and his $200M and NMCs. Atta boy Craig!

Suter's the one from Wisconsin; IIRC his wife is from Minnesota. That said, I'd be tempted to put my money on Chicago - Bowman could be thinking a quick bounceback on defense between him and a Seth Jones trade.

 

[Flgatorguy87]

Sounds like we are planning to sign Haula, hopefully after expansion to a cheap deal.

 

[Bringer of Jollity]

Sounds like we are planning to sign Haula, hopefully after expansion to a cheap deal.

I'm good with that. Once he got in a rhythm he was one of our better forwards and seems like a high character player.

 

[Flgatorguy87]

Is this Poile giving himself a plan if he is able to get rid of a center or 2? I think Haula could realistically play 2nd line minutes if he had to...albeit not overly productively, but we've probably iced worse 2nd line centers.

 

[PredsV82]

I just dont see us as a better team if we lose Joey and Duchene and only replace them with Granlund and Haula. That will not be a playoff team unless one or more of the youngsters takes a huge step forward

 

[LCPreds]

Is this Poile giving himself a plan if he is able to get rid of a center or 2? I think Haula could realistically play 2nd line minutes if he had to...albeit not overly productively, but we've probably iced worse 2nd line centers.

Go back to most any point pre-Joey and you will find rosters with amazingly terrible Center depth.

 

[jumb0]

I just dont see us as a better team if we lose Joey and Duchene and only replace them with Granlund and Haula. That will not be a playoff team unless one or more of the youngsters takes a huge step forward

I don't see us losing both. If we're lucky we lose Duchene

 

[101st_fan]

I don't see us losing both. If we're lucky we lose Duchene

At most we lose one via the expansion draft. We could possibly trade one or both ... that isn't really losing them. It is making a deal.

 

[Predsanddead24]

You can make a pretty good case that Haula and Granlund were the two best centers on our team last season. They aren't what you want as your top two C's on a contending team but I don't see much of a dropoff between having them as our top 2 C's versus Duchene and Johansen at least going on recent performance. Either way though I like bringing Haula back as a 3C at a minimum because he's probably still going to be relatively cheap and seems to fit Hynes philosophy very well.

 

[triggrman]

Haula was completely invisible the first half of the season

 

[Armourboy]

Haula was completely invisible the first half of the season

I'd give him a little slack for that considering the situation. New team, New coach, and covid limiting time with the team. That said I only bring him back if it's cheap and the term is short, specifically something I can flip if things go south.

 

[triggrman]

I'd give him a little slack for that considering the situation. New team, New coach, and covid limiting time with the team. That said I only bring him back if it's cheap and the term is short, specifically something I can flip if things go south.

Fair enough but he was not our 2nd best center

 

[Armourboy]

Fair enough but he was not our 2nd best center

Won't argue with that, but he did play pretty well down the stretch and if one of either Jarnkrok or Sissons goes he gives you a bit of added depth. Like I said though he needs to be cheap and on a short term.

 

[101st_fan]

 

[nine_inch_fang]

 

[predhead1]

Poile certainly not standing pat

 

[PredsV82]

I suppose it's pretty obvious but these moves mean we're married to Hynes and his system for at least the next couple of years

 

[nine_inch_fang]

I suppose it's pretty obvious but these moves mean we're married to Hynes and his system for at least the next couple of years

I think Hynes will be around for a few years but these moves aren't the reason I think that. There are a lot more coaches that run systems similar to Hynes than there are similar to Laviolette. Younger and bigger players that have talent are always good idea in a retool situation.

 

[PredsV82]

I think Hynes will be around for a few years but these moves aren't the reason I think that. There are a lot more coaches that run systems similar to Hynes than there are similar to Laviolette. Younger and bigger players that have talent are always good idea in a retool situation.

Yeah, however you want to frame it the die is cast.

I am glad we rallied last year but one little corner of my mind wonders what Poile would have done had we stunk it up all year and finished in the bottom 5 of the league. Would he have thought that maybe he made a mistake and try to go back to a Lavy style coach/system? Or (more likely) have started the rebuild at the trade deadline and continued on this summer to build a team more capable of playing Hynes system?

 

[nine_inch_fang]

Agreed that the die is cast. Where I disagree is the thought that this is coach centric. Sure, Hynes wants a bigger heavier team that's going to play solid defense and try to set up scoring opportunities by relentlessly hunting the puck in offensive end.
How many coaches want that out of their team and how many coaches use the concepts Lavi has for his teams.

Poile is building a team he thinks can win under a system that the majority of coaches build around.

 

[Armourboy]

Oh yeah he definitely would have started at the deadline. I think Poile sticking with it may have been as much about giving guys a chance to show something. However you look at who has been moved, both injury prone and neither played that well.

 

[nine_inch_fang]

Wasn't Ellis still on IR at the trade deadline?