Speculation: Official Rumours/Fantasy Trade Offers/Armchair GM Thread: 2020-21 edition, Part II

[letsgrowcactus]

Probably: I think Bennett might eventually be transitioned to wing again sometime, especially if Lundell is 2C quality. That’s how I interpreted Q’s interview.

Wennberg for another season would be great; he might take an offer for a year if he wants to wait for a larger offer once the cap rises a bit

I wonder what Bennett's contract situation will look like going forward? It's great for us that his past few years in Calgary sucked because that should help keep the price reasonable. At the same time, you wonder how many years we give him/how many he'll accept?
If he signs for 2-3 years (giving us 1-2 UFA years), he might leave afterwards for his "last big deal" at 27-28... meanwhile, it'd give Lundell time to grow into the 2C role without being rushed. Although given all that he brings to the table, if he keeps performing closer to his stay with us than with Calgary, you might want to keep Bennnett long-term... Really curious how Zito handles this in the offseason.

 

[violaswallet]

I wonder what Bennett's contract situation will look like going forward? It's great for us that his past few years in Calgary sucked because that should help keep the price reasonable. At the same time, you wonder how many years we give him/how many he'll accept?
If he signs for 2-3 years (giving us 1-2 UFA years), he might leave afterwards for his "last big deal" at 27-28... meanwhile, it'd give Lundell time to grow into the 2C role without being rushed. Although given all that he brings to the table, if he keeps performing closer to his stay with us than with Calgary, you might want to keep Bennnett long-term... Really curious how Zito handles this in the offseason.

I’m guessing Zito gives him a Weegar esque contract given CBUS roots

I like Bennett a lot; I don’t expect him to continue this dominance and id prioritize other guys in the core (Weegs, Huby) right now.

agree on taking Lundell as he develops; I just see a world where Bennett could be his winger or 3C. A major thing we need is optionality: centers who can play winger are valuable and visa versa

 

[letsgrowcactus]

I’m guessing Zito gives him a Weegar esque contract given CBUS roots

I like Bennett a lot; I don’t expect him to continue this dominance and id prioritize other guys in the core (Weegs, Huby) right now.

agree on taking Lundell as he develops; I just see a world where Bennett could be his winger or 3C. A major thing we need is optionality: centers who can play winger are valuable and visa versa

A Weegar-like contract is IMO exactly what we should try for with him; seems to me it's either that or a one-year prove-it deal, and that could get expensive fast. A three year contract would be an acceptable risk with a lot of benefits for both sides.

 

[RogerRoger]

A Weegar-like contract is IMO exactly what we should try for with him; seems to me it's either that or a one-year prove-it deal, and that could get expensive fast. A three year contract would be an acceptable risk with a lot of benefits for both sides.

If we sign him for one year, I'm pretty sure he'd be a UFA at the end of it and that would not be a judicious use of assets.

 

[Pigge]

A Weegar-like contract is IMO exactly what we should try for with him; seems to me it's either that or a one-year prove-it deal, and that could get expensive fast. A three year contract would be an acceptable risk with a lot of benefits for both sides.

It could be tricky to get more than that one-year prove-it deal. Bennett will want to get paid as if he is the player he has been in Florida, while Zito has to consider the small sample size compared to the player he was in Calgary. It would make most sense to take a full season in Florida to figure it out.

 

[Gentle Man]

Sam Bennett has been great in Florida. But contracts dont get negotiated over just the good portion of your year. Calgary still happened. Whether he likes it or not, he has 25 points in 47 games this year and 12 points in 52 last year. That doesnt give you long-term or a high amount, plus he is an RFA.

The ball is still in Zito's court. He is currently at 2.55M. If he gets to 30 or close to it, he may get maybe 2 years at 3. But it wont go much higher than that. Hell, it might be lower than that.

 

[Jean Luc Discard]

Sam Bennett has been great in Florida. But contracts dont get negotiated over just the good portion of your year. Calgary still happened. Whether he likes it or not, he has 25 points in 47 games this year and 12 points in 52 last year. That doesnt give you long-term or a high amount, plus he is an RFA.

The ball is still in Zito's court. He is currently at 2.55M. If he gets to 30 or close to it, he may get maybe 2 years at 3. But it wont go much higher than that. Hell, it might be lower than that.

I'd reckon $4milx2.

 

[Chaos2k7]

Zito didnt give up 2 2nds to not sign him longer than a year

 

[rt]

Hey Cats fans! I hope you guys win the Cup. I’m a Yotes fan, so your team is highly aspirational for us.

I figured I’d drop-in with a hair-brained, whakadoo proposal since you’re all probably riding a high that will prevent you from getting too offended by my stupidity.

To FLA
Kessel (50% retained)

To ARI
Yandle (50% retained)
John Ludvig

FLA gets a guy who was on 30g per 82gp place on one of the NHLs most pathetic offensive teams this year.

ARI gets an old fan favorite and a really interesting prospect.

Thoughts? How bad is it?

 

[GrumpyKelly]

Hey Cats fans! I hope you guys win the Cup. I’m a Yotes fan, so your team is highly aspirational for us.

I figured I’d drop-in with a hair-brained, whakadoo proposal since you’re all probably riding a high that will prevent you from getting too offended by my stupidity.

To FLA
Kessel (50% retained)

To ARI
Yandle (50% retained)
John Ludvig

FLA gets a guy who was on 30g per 82gp place on one of the NHLs most pathetic offensive teams this year.

ARI gets an old fan favorite and a really interesting prospect.

Thoughts? How bad is it?

I see where you're coming from but Ludvig is too intriguing to give up right now. He plays exactly how we want and his offensive game seems to have come alive, which was the knock on him when drafted.

I'd counter with Yandle @ 5 million + 2nd for Kessel full price.

 

[Chessarmy]

Hey Cats fans! I hope you guys win the Cup. I’m a Yotes fan, so your team is highly aspirational for us.

I figured I’d drop-in with a hair-brained, whakadoo proposal since you’re all probably riding a high that will prevent you from getting too offended by my stupidity.

To FLA
Kessel (50% retained)

To ARI
Yandle (50% retained)
John Ludvig

FLA gets a guy who was on 30g per 82gp place on one of the NHLs most pathetic offensive teams this year.

ARI gets an old fan favorite and a really interesting prospect.

Thoughts? How bad is it?

Id do this deal in a heartbeat.

 

[KW]

Hey Cats fans! I hope you guys win the Cup. I’m a Yotes fan, so your team is highly aspirational for us.

I figured I’d drop-in with a hair-brained, whakadoo proposal since you’re all probably riding a high that will prevent you from getting too offended by my stupidity.

To FLA
Kessel (50% retained)

To ARI
Yandle (50% retained)
John Ludvig

FLA gets a guy who was on 30g per 82gp place on one of the NHLs most pathetic offensive teams this year.

ARI gets an old fan favorite and a really interesting prospect.

Thoughts? How bad is it?

Where do I sign?

 

[SoupyFIN]

I don't think Kessel fits this team, Q would get tired of his cherry picking quickly. 3-way trade maybe if Arizona needs to get rid of him?

Yandle 4M (2 years left and actual money about 3M per with retention)

Kessel 6.8M (1 year left around 5M)

Nielsen 5.25M (1 year left at 3M)
Retain 2.35M on Yandle (2 years left)

Arizona gets a familiar player for less money than Kessel, opens up room for other moves, avoids paying Kessel's signing bonus and Florida pays a part of Yandle's 3M signing bonus on his final year.

Detroit gets a fill-in guy for one season, SC winner experience for young guys, potentially trade Kessel at the TDL and dump Nielsen who doesn't look to be in their plans for next season.

Florida escapes Yandle's ironman streak, avoids a 5.3M buyout in 2022-23, either buyout Nielsen (4.25M 2021-22, 500k 2022-23) or loan him to Europe (4.35M for one year burying him in the minors).

 

[SoupyFIN]

I was looking through CapFriendly and realised Saad is an upcoming UFA, I bet Q is convincing Zito to sign him if he makes it to free agency.

I wouldn't mind it if it's a reasonable contract.

 

[KW]

I was looking through CapFriendly and realised Saad is an upcoming UFA, I bet Q is convincing Zito to sign him if he makes it to free agency.

I wouldn't mind it if it's a reasonable contract.

Yeah, if we have to go after another Swede, I’d rather Saad than Volvo.

(Warning: the above is an attempted joke.)

 

[Pigge]

I was looking through CapFriendly and realised Saad is an upcoming UFA, I bet Q is convincing Zito to sign him if he makes it to free agency.

I wouldn't mind it if it's a reasonable contract.

How resonable would you say that his current contract is? He signed it as a 22/23-year old scoring 52 points and winning the cup, but has he improved or regressed from then?

 

[SoupyFIN]

How resonable would you say that his current contract is? He signed it as a 22/23-year old scoring 52 points and winning the cup, but has he improved or regressed from then?

Columbus paid for potential, and I don't think he's ever reached it. He's a complementary top6/top9 (depending on the year) winger, I wouldn't go above 3.5M for 3-4 years.

 

[StreetHawk]

If we sign him for one year, I'm pretty sure he'd be a UFA at the end of it and that would not be a judicious use of assets.

Bennett has arbitration rights, so if he wants to hit UFA, he can file for it and get a 1 year deal. Players who are a year from UFA, the team is only able to pick a 1 year deal. If a player is more than a year from UFA, the team has the option to pick either a 1 or 2 year team for the arbitration case.

Bennett would be a UFA at age 26, which is just 1 year off the earliest a player can be a UFA, after 7 seasons as a professional. So, if he were to play well in FLA he would have a lot of prime years left when he hits the UFA market.

So, it's up to him if he wants to roll the dice on that, depending on the offer he gets from FLA. It's a small sample size with the Panthers. How much do the Panthers want to gamble on him? Seen many examples in recent years of players who made good money during their RFA years, not get anything when they hit UFA. Vesey dropped from $2.25 mill per down to under $1 million this past off-season. Ben Hutton went from $2.8 mill per down to $1 mill when he hit UFA 2 years ago. His play in Calgary would likely result in a drop in salary when he hit UFA. So, he has to factor that in.

 

[StreetHawk]

How resonable would you say that his current contract is? He signed it as a 22/23-year old scoring 52 points and winning the cup, but has he improved or regressed from then?

He's pretty much the same player production wise since his ELC. In 208 games he scored 126 points during he ELC which is 0.6 PPG so around 48/49 points over a full 82 game season.

On his 6 year deal, in 424 games he has 245 points, which is .58 PPG. He had a bad year upon his return to Chicago with just 35 points in 82 games.

So, he's pretty consistent with his production. Overpaid on his last deal at $6 mill. Probably $5 mill per would be more appropriate. I think CBS expected him to crack 60 points since he came off 47 and 52 in his final 2 ELC years. But, he never elevated his production.

Probably fair to expect him to score in the mid to high 40's over the next 3-4 seasons. He is 28 going on 29 this year. He should be expecting a paycut closer to $4.5 - $5 mill per season. He could get $5 mill on an average to below average team. He'd get less on a good team. But, he's the type of player that good teams have to move off to pay better players.

 

[NJRangers35]

Hey all big Rangers fan here. Pulling hard for you guys to comeback against Tampa, as I have always had a soft spot for the Panthers. Have followed them from afar and do pull for them whenever they aren't playing the Rangers and whenever they make the playoffs. Had a quick question for you all.

I always thought the two biggest mistakes the Rangers made during their stretch of 3 ECF appearances in 4 years were them letting Stralman walk and re-signing Dan Girardi and bringing in Dany Boyle and then extending Marc Staal and letting Keith Yandle walk. I loved when the two were brought together by the Panthers.

I am not going to lie, I did not follow much of the Panthers this season just due to life getting in the way of stuff and not having as much free time as in the past, but from afar it seems like things have not gone well with both Yandle and Stralman this year. I saw earlier in the year Stralman was waived. I also followed the pre-season story about the whole Yandle drama and then reading these boards this morning, it seemed like a lot of the blame has been thrown on Yandle.

How would you assess the two of them at this point in their careers, and were you all happy with them at any point since they joined Florida. Thanks in advance everyone and good luck the rest of the series.

 

[SoupyFIN]

He's pretty much the same player production wise since his ELC. In 208 games he scored 126 points during he ELC which is 0.6 PPG so around 48/49 points over a full 82 game season.

On his 6 year deal, in 424 games he has 245 points, which is .58 PPG. He had a bad year upon his return to Chicago with just 35 points in 82 games.

So, he's pretty consistent with his production. Overpaid on his last deal at $6 mill. Probably $5 mill per would be more appropriate. I think CBS expected him to crack 60 points since he came off 47 and 52 in his final 2 ELC years. But, he never elevated his production.

Probably fair to expect him to score in the mid to high 40's over the next 3-4 seasons. He is 28 going on 29 this year. He should be expecting a paycut closer to $4.5 - $5 mill per season. He could get $5 mill on an average to below average team. He'd get less on a good team. But, he's the type of player that good teams have to move off to pay better players.

If the last offseason was anything to go by, the time for secondary pieces getting paid is over, or at the very least they aren't getting those crazy 6-7 year deals anymore. Saad is a good complementary piece to have, but no contending team should be paying him 4-5M per.

 

[StreetHawk]

If the last offseason was anything to go by, the time for secondary pieces getting paid is over, or at the very least they aren't getting those crazy 6-7 year deals anymore. Saad is a good complementary piece to have, but no contending team should be paying him 4-5M per.

I agree. The secondary players, to get their money, have to go to average or below average teams, not to a contending team. Contenders can't afford that luxury to pay veteran secondary guys, not when their RFAs are due for new contracts.

 

[ProjectPanthers]

Hey all big Rangers fan here. Pulling hard for you guys to comeback against Tampa, as I have always had a soft spot for the Panthers. Have followed them from afar and do pull for them whenever they aren't playing the Rangers and whenever they make the playoffs. Had a quick question for you all.

I always thought the two biggest mistakes the Rangers made during their stretch of 3 ECF appearances in 4 years were them letting Stralman walk and re-signing Dan Girardi and bringing in Dany Boyle and then extending Marc Staal and letting Keith Yandle walk. I loved when the two were brought together by the Panthers.

I am not going to lie, I did not follow much of the Panthers this season just due to life getting in the way of stuff and not having as much free time as in the past, but from afar it seems like things have not gone well with both Yandle and Stralman this year. I saw earlier in the year Stralman was waived. I also followed the pre-season story about the whole Yandle drama and then reading these boards this morning, it seemed like a lot of the blame has been thrown on Yandle.

How would you assess the two of them at this point in their careers, and were you all happy with them at any point since they joined Florida. Thanks in advance everyone and good luck the rest of the series.

Thanks for the well wishes, we need all the help we can get at this point.

As far as Stralman and Yandle? Yandle was pretty decent his first couple years here. He's always struggled defensively but he's maintained a pretty consistent spot in the top-10 for defenseman in powerplay assists every year, hence why he still gets so much powerplay time.

But as time has gone on Yandle has worn out his welcome multiple times at this point. To say he is a defensive liability is an understatement. There has been serious chatter on these boards for quite some time that his "Ironman Streak" is a farce as he is the least physical defenseman in the league (statistically factual) and a simple eye test will show you just how unwilling he is to do the dirty work to make the play.

I would say the majority of fans want Yandle gone yesterday.

Stralman, well his contract was criticized from the beginning. Just way too much money for such an unknown. He struggled last season to find his footing, never really got comfortable out there and struggled for large portions of the year.

This year he started really well, looked like the old Stralman. He had a couple of games where he was the team's best defenseman, but then he fell off a cliff sharply. He was injured for about 10 days in early March and ever since coming back he looks like he's borderline done as an NHLer. He had 8 points in his first 20 games to start the season, he finished the year with 1 goals and 0 assists in his last 18 games.

Whether or not it's an injury that is lingering, it might be too late for Stralman to find his game again at this level. He's two months away from turning 35 and with his injury history I can't say I have high hopes for him.

 

[NJRangers35]

Thanks for the well wishes, we need all the help we can get at this point.

As far as Stralman and Yandle? Yandle was pretty decent his first couple years here. He's always struggled defensively but he's maintained a pretty consistent spot in the top-10 for defenseman in powerplay assists every year, hence why he still gets so much powerplay time.

But as time has gone on Yandle has worn out his welcome multiple times at this point. To say he is a defensive liability is an understatement. There has been serious chatter on these boards for quite some time that his "Ironman Streak" is a farce as he is the least physical defenseman in the league (statistically factual) and a simple eye test will show you just how unwilling he is to do the dirty work to make the play.

I would say the majority of fans want Yandle gone yesterday.

Stralman, well his contract was criticized from the beginning. Just way too much money for such an unknown. He struggled last season to find his footing, never really got comfortable out there and struggled for large portions of the year.

This year he started really well, looked like the old Stralman. He had a couple of games where he was the team's best defenseman, but then he fell off a cliff sharply. He was injured for about 10 days in early March and ever since coming back he looks like he's borderline done as an NHLer. He had 8 points in his first 20 games to start the season, he finished the year with 1 goals and 0 assists in his last 18 games.

Whether or not it's an injury that is lingering, it might be too late for Stralman to find his game again at this level. He's two months away from turning 35 and with his injury history I can't say I have high hopes for him.

thank you so much for your response. that is unfortunate to hear as I am a huge fan of both guys. yandle was a always a liability defensively and allergic to a hit, but he was an elite puck mover and could run a power play. if he is not doing that anymore he is basically useless.

stralman on the other hand was such a solid stay at home defender. I still argue he was the 2nd best defenseman on the team behind mcdonagh. I know his offense picked up a little with Tampa bay, but he provided zero offense for the rangers, which was fine. figured once his skating start to slow down he would be out of the league soon after. he had a hell of career going from a player try out with the rangers backs in 11-12.

 

[Pigge]

thank you so much for your response. that is unfortunate to hear as I am a huge fan of both guys. yandle was a always a liability defensively and allergic to a hit, but he was an elite puck mover and could run a power play. if he is not doing that anymore he is basically useless.

stralman on the other hand was such a solid stay at home defender. I still argue he was the 2nd best defenseman on the team behind mcdonagh. I know his offense picked up a little with Tampa bay, but he provided zero offense for the rangers, which was fine. figured once his skating start to slow down he would be out of the league soon after. he had a hell of career going from a player try out with the rangers backs in 11-12.

There is far from consensus regarding Yandle. There are still plenty of fans that appreciate his contributions.