News: Poile on the Preds: "Some players aren't going to be brought back. ... We're not satisfied."

[Savant]

Yuck. Seems like a waste of an asset to the Rangers for a guy who only has 1 more year left before being a UFA. I think he would be a good fit but that doesn't match our timeline at all.

It’s a rental. Upgrades team next year without having to protect in expansion draft. Can’t just have kids. Get a cup winner in the locker room and see what happens. If it works bring him back. Pretty low risk, and would see if they could do better first; but it’s not a deal I have a problem with as a baseline.

 

[Bruce Granville]

When was the last time Poile made a good decision?

Maybe when he traded for Forsberg? Or drafted Rinne?
It all went downhill with Jones for RJ, although I understand why he did it.

 

[Fireonk]

It’s a rental. Upgrades team next year without having to protect in expansion draft. Can’t just have kids. Get a cup winner in the locker room and see what happens. If it works bring him back. Pretty low risk, and would see if they could do better first; but it’s not a deal I have a problem with as a baseline.

Alternatively, lose an asset that is exempt from the expansion draft for potentially nothing.

Happy to use that pick for a veteran who is going to be here for a bit since I agree it can't all be kids. But to me, this just isn't the year for a rental. Get past the expansion draft and get past Henrik, Smith, and Staals last years. Then we can start going to work in my opinion.

 

[Savant]

Alternatively, lose an asset that is exempt from the expansion draft for potentially nothing.

Happy to use that pick for a veteran who is going to be here for a bit since I agree it can't all be kids. But to me, this just isn't the year for a rental. Get past the expansion draft and get past Henrik, Smith, and Staals last years. Then we can start going to work in my opinion.

I disagree. The team isn’t really rebuilding anymore, and there isn’t a need to rush anyone. I think it’s a good year for a rental. Worst case scenario is that it’s more cap off the books next summer when the rest of the dead weight is off too.

 

[Fireonk]

I disagree. The team isn’t really rebuilding anymore, and there isn’t a need to rush anyone. I think it’s a good year for a rental. Worst case scenario is that it’s more cap off the books next summer when the rest of the dead weight is off too.

By not trading the pick you also don't have that salary on the books so I'm not sure that's a selling point here. If the Rangers were going to bring in someone who is a UFA after this season I would be willing to do it, but not quite for that level of asset. 2nd Rounder, sure, why not.

 

[biturbo19]

I mean, you can let Granlund and Smith walk. But that's not exactly going to "fix" the problems. What else is there to really do, or "not bring back"?

Turris' deal is basically unmoveable. You can't shuffle that Duchene contract off on anybody else right now. Maybe you can dump Bonino's salary for a year somewhere to clear up a little bit of space, but not going to really get anything for it. The rest of the roster up front, is actually on really good value deals for the most part.

On the blueline...you've got three strong defenders on reasonable contracts, and a fourth guy on an ELC value deal.

Not much seems likely to move on the goaltending front, unless someone bites on Rinne for a year as a stopgap, or they decided that Saaros isn't the solution and move on from him.


So where is the big movement really gonna come from? Especially in a year where everyone is going to be really struggling to maneuver around a flat cap?

 

[16thOverallSaveUs]

I think they would’ve been fine going forward if they had hired a guy like Gallant. The Hynes hiring was just a shot in the foot. They’re not going to be good for the next couple of years even though this roster on paper is a top 10 team. I think Saros is a fine starting goalie, but they don’t have a prime Pekka Rinne stealing them 5 or so games a year. That hurts.

 

[BB88]

Again, Johansen is most definitely a #1C. He may not be a sexy name but he gets the job done.

And those players get them to the playoffs despite the bad contracts.



Point taken.

Not as a quarantee.

There’s plenty of teams giving a fight to them.

 

[Soundgarden]

I mean, you can let Granlund and Smith walk. But that's not exactly going to "fix" the problems. What else is there to really do, or "not bring back"?

Turris' deal is basically unmoveable. You can't shuffle that Duchene contract off on anybody else right now. Maybe you can dump Bonino's salary for a year somewhere to clear up a little bit of space, but not going to really get anything for it. The rest of the roster up front, is actually on really good value deals for the most part.

On the blueline...you've got three strong defenders on reasonable contracts, and a fourth guy on an ELC value deal.

Not much seems likely to move on the goaltending front, unless someone bites on Rinne for a year as a stopgap, or they decided that Saaros isn't the solution and move on from him.


So where is the big movement really gonna come from? Especially in a year where everyone is going to be really struggling to maneuver around a flat cap?

Turris' deal is far from immovable, especially if we retain or take a bad contract back. He can still be a 50 point 2nd line center, although not an ideal one.

We're not looking to shuffle Duchene's contract, we need actual top 6 players to play with him though. Getting Trenin and one of Pitlick, Tolvanen and Tomasino to show just a little bit of fight will be a hell of a lot easier than whatever the hell Granlund was doing here.

Even if we just move UFAs we're still getting rid of Weber and Hamhuis and replacing them with a better younger player.

Granlund, Smith, Turris(maybe), Weber, Hamhuis, and possibly Jarnkrok or someone similar is a ton of movement. That's the equivalent of moving an entire second line and bottom pairing. Just because we're not moving our best players doesn't mean we're not in for a lot of movement.

 

[Drew311]

Marner, Liljegren for Forsberg, Sissons and Fabbro.

 

[Soundgarden]

Marner, Liljegren for Forsberg, Sissons and Fabbro.

No

Not as a quarantee.

There’s plenty of teams giving a fight to them.

True, but that group isn't as bad as you think and they have the experience to get there.

 

[TopTenPlayz]

Didn't Poile say this last year as well??

 

[Richard88]

Wouldn't mind Bonino in Colorado as 3C for 1 year until Newhook/Bowers are ready. What would he cost in terms of futures/picks?

 

[Marky9er]

Red Wing's didn't have any complaints, that sounds like a hostile work environment.

 

[Soundgarden]

Didn't Poile say this last year as well??

And then he brought in Duchene and changed coaches after Laviolette's poor start.

Wouldn't mind Bonino in Colorado as 3C for 1 year until Newhook/Bowers are ready. What would he cost in terms of futures/picks?

Unless we can get a 1st or something equally outrageous I think we'd be better off keeping him. He's got playoff experience and will prevent us from having another Fredrick Gaudreau moment if Johansen or Duchene go down.

 

[BB88]

No



True, but that group isn't as bad as you think and they have the experience to get there.

I didn’t say they are bad, just that it wasn’t a core group that makes one go wow and ”quarantees” playoffs

 

[Soundgarden]

I didn’t say they are bad, just that it wasn’t a core group that makes one go wow and ”quarantees” playoffs

We've never really put up a "wow" core but we've only missed the playoffs thrice in the last 16 years, although it was looking like we weren't going to before the season stopped this year so I get your point.

 

[Richard88]

And then he brought in Duchene and changed coaches after Laviolette's poor start.



Unless we can get a 1st or something equally outrageous I think we'd be better off keeping him. He's got playoff experience and will prevent us from having another Fredrick Gaudreau moment if Johansen or Duchene go down.

If Poile is intent on re-tooling and struggles to move Turris then it would probably make sense to move Bonino instead of keeping him as 4C for $4m, especially considering that he's a pending UFA. That capspace could be put to good use further up the lineup.

 

[biturbo19]

Turris' deal is far from immovable, especially if we retain or take a bad contract back. He can still be a 50 point 2nd line center, although not an ideal one.

We're not looking to shuffle Duchene's contract, we need actual top 6 players to play with him though. Getting Trenin and one of Pitlick, Tolvanen and Tomasino to show just a little bit of fight will be a hell of a lot easier than whatever the hell Granlund was doing here.

Even if we just move UFAs we're still getting rid of Weber and Hamhuis and replacing them with a better younger player.

Granlund, Smith, Turris(maybe), Weber, Hamhuis, and possibly Jarnkrok or someone similar is a ton of movement. That's the equivalent of moving an entire second line and bottom pairing. Just because we're not moving our best players doesn't mean we're not in for a lot of movement.

4 more years at $6M for Turris? Sure...no contract is completely unmoveable in this day and age. But you said it yourself...you'd be swapping it for an equally bad anchor of a contract/player. The sort of...re-arranging deck chairs on the Titanic of trade types. Is that fixing things?

Getting young players contributing, certainly would make a huge difference. But that can happen, regardless. If they play well, they'll force their way into the Top-6.

Letting Granlund go, i get it. I agree. I don't think he's going to be worth what he may command as a UFA. He's not a player you really "build around". But at the same time...you still need more offensive support, and simply losing Granlund to FA and hoping a young player actually does something, isn't a real surefire plan. Finding that 50-60pt player isn't always so easy.


Same on the back-end. Like yeah, Weber has always been a useless bum, and Hamhuis is extremely old and has totally lost his legs that made him effective. So that's...two barely above minimum roster salaries out the door. Replacing and improving upon that is a step in the right direction. Maybe Carrier steps in to one of those bottom-pairing spots? But otherwise, you're probably talking about trade or free agency to build better depth into that blueline behind the Big-3ish.


It just seems like Nashville run into similar problems year after year. There's a great core there...but filling things out, just doesn't seem to work. Another revolving door of depth pieces and swapping a couple 50pt wingers for something else similar that teams will let go in FA for underperforming...it's gonna be tough to make really meaningful changes.

 

[Soundgarden]

If Poile is intent on re-tooling and struggles to move Turris then it would probably make sense to move Bonino instead of keeping him as 4C for $4m, especially considering that he's a pending UFA. That capspace could be put to good use further up the lineup.

Depends on what we can get for him I guess and if Turris goes or not.

If we aren't in the playoff picture by next deadline I could see him moved though. Like you said he's a UFA after next season, then Sissons can take his spot at 3C long term.

 

[Breakers]

NOPE, Johansen isn't a #1 center. 100% NO
He was 19th on his own damn roster in goals above replacement
underwhelming player to say the least

 

[Soundgarden]

4 more years at $6M for Turris? Sure...no contract is completely unmoveable in this day and age. But you said it yourself...you'd be swapping it for an equally bad anchor of a contract/player. The sort of...re-arranging deck chairs on the Titanic of trade types. Is that fixing things?

Getting young players contributing, certainly would make a huge difference. But that can happen, regardless. If they play well, they'll force their way into the Top-6.

Letting Granlund go, i get it. I agree. I don't think he's going to be worth what he may command as a UFA. He's not a player you really "build around". But at the same time...you still need more offensive support, and simply losing Granlund to FA and hoping a young player actually does something, isn't a real surefire plan. Finding that 50-60pt player isn't always so easy.


Same on the back-end. Like yeah, Weber has always been a useless bum, and Hamhuis is extremely old and has totally lost his legs that made him effective. So that's...two barely above minimum roster salaries out the door. Replacing and improving upon that is a step in the right direction. Maybe Carrier steps in to one of those bottom-pairing spots? But otherwise, you're probably talking about trade or free agency to build better depth into that blueline behind the Big-3ish.


It just seems like Nashville run into similar problems year after year. There's a great core there...but filling things out, just doesn't seem to work. Another revolving door of depth pieces and swapping a couple 50pt wingers for something else similar that teams will let go in FA for underperforming...it's gonna be tough to make really meaningful changes.

As long as that bad contract actually contributes more than a tweener like Turris then it'd be considered an improvement rather than rearranging the decks on the Titanic like you said. If Minnesota wants to move Zuccerello's NMC before the expansion draft and we add a small sweetener than that's addition by subtraction.

That's what we're hoping on with our young players, we're one of the oldest teams in the league, let the young guys show what they can do because odds are they are going to play better and with more fight than any Turris and Granlund even with growing pains.

Granlund isn't even close to a 50-60 point player, at least he wasn't when he was here. He was in no way a 2nd line player with us, he was an AHLer that floated to 30 points with us because he was attached to Duchene this year and he had a goal and two assists in 10 playoff games with us total. Yakov Trenin will be better than him just based on how much he hustles. You're right, finding a 50-60 point player isn't easy, but Granlund was not that player either.

Except these are our biggest needs, we need a competent 3rd pairing that doesn't lose the game with a simple mistake because our top pairings play 50 minutes a game. Improving those little unimportant spots is our biggest issue after retooling the 2nd line.
Losing the game because of stupid mistakes by our 3rd pairing has been a huge issue for us the past three seasons. If we can get stability there it's a meaningful change because of how often we lose because of it.

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

I mean, you can let Granlund and Smith walk. But that's not exactly going to "fix" the problems. What else is there to really do, or "not bring back"?

Yeah, I think it's mostly a hope that letting these guys walks results in two things:
1) a bit of a wakeup call to the others
2) hope that hungry kids like Tolvanen and Trenin step in and push the veterans

They've gone a while with very few young players, and the comfy feeling that they are a "contender" (in their own minds) and that the GM will always reach out and bring in known names like Granlund and Duchene to supposedly keep them going. This time, he lets players walks and brings up prospects? Does that make the core look in the mirror and suddenly realize they're going to have get the job done themselves.

Well, I don't think it will really work, but that's about all it will be.

 

[VanJack]

Poile is living on 'best before date'. Trades and free agent signings have bordered on disastrous, and the Preds aren't mining the gems in the draft that they used to.

By losing their 'play-in series', Nashville officially missed the playoffs in the 2019-20 season. And they'll miss them again next year and the year after unless organizational changes are made. And the biggest change needs to be at the top.

 

[LeighDx59]

I think they would’ve been fine going forward if they had hired a guy like Gallant. The Hynes hiring was just a shot in the foot. They’re not going to be good for the next couple of years even though this roster on paper is a top 10 team. I think Saros is a fine starting goalie, but they don’t have a prime Pekka Rinne stealing them 5 or so games a year. That hurts.

Nashville got bad luck with that because they fired Lavi/hired Hynes RIGHT before Gallant was available. Im sure if Gallant was let go sooner, thats who Poile wouldve went for and signed.