Speculation: Predicting where the top 50 free agents land

[Ledge And Dairy]

why would you highly expect the Avs to resign a JAG like Namestnikov? And be focused on a guy likE Byram, who hasn’t even played an nhl game yet and you’re already doing his next deal. Maybe the Avs should just skip the next few years and fast forward to 2024.

So the Avs miss out on all the interesting UFAs, don’t use a lot of 2020-2021 cap space and just resign a 4th liner?

4th liner? Hes played 2C while Kadri is out and has done fairly well in Colorado. I dont really understand why you are getting so agressive over my point of view though. The team the Sakic has built is what i would consider a dynasty team, like Pittsburgh or Boston. A team that will be cup contenders for 7+ years. Yoy dont throw that away for 1 contract that backfires 3 years down the road and puts you in a situation like Tampa.

 

[Scintillating10]

Trading Petry to make room for Krug is counterintuitive. He’s the only good mobile defender the Habs have and better than Krug.

He's also fetch us a big return

 

[KaprizovEntitlelist]

Galchenyuk as a 2c on wild was good before the season came to a halt. Wild will resign him

 

[BeLeafing]

Brodie seems like a very possible target for Toronto. Was the main piece coming back in the reported nixed Kadri to Flames deal, and could be a well rounded partner for Rielly. From Ontario as well.

Rielly-Brodie
Muzzin-Holl
Sandin-Lehtonen/Dermott

It's a respectable group. Pretty confident Johnsson is moved, as well as Dermott potentially. Kerfoot would also have to be moved with a cheaper 3C either coming back in the deal or dealt for separately.

 

[Dache]

Trade Nylander, Dermott, and Johnsson for futures (or players on ELC's), and roll with the roster below.

View attachment 352144

Those 3rd and 4th lines are getting quite thin, not to mention any bonuses owed on elcs would be a nightmare the next year, and that’s without giving anyone a raise till the cap starts going up again. Tough to justify signing AP just to be in that situation no?

 

[mrinsane]

Khubodin, Edmundson,Hoffman and maybe Kovalchuk in Mtl

 

[FerrisRox]

Petry produces similar offence, on a far worse offensive team while not being force fed 65%+ OZS. Yeah it’s pretty clear that Petry is better.

The Habs certainly don’t become better by getting rid of Petry for Krug.

He's also six inches taller. I'd take Petry over Krug if given the choice.

 

[odishabs]

Pietrangelo - St. Louis
Hall - Calgary
Krug - Boston
Markstrom - Vancouver
Byfuglien - Retired
Lehner - Carolina
Hoffman - Arizona
Dadonov - Florida
Toffoli - Vancouver
Barrie - Anaheim
Haula - Florida
Holtby - Buffalo
Brodie - Detroit
Vatanen - Calgary
Shattenkirk - Las Vegas
Dillon - Buffalo
Tanev - Vancouver
Gustafson - Washington
Braun - Philly
Hamonic - Winnipeg
Edmudson - Winnipeg
Crawford - Chicago

 

[Captain Mountain]

Khubodin, Edmundson,Hoffman and maybe Kovalchuk in Mtl

The inverse is much more logical, given that the expectation, based on reports from Montreal beat writers, is that Kovalchuk will sign in Montreal and the rest seem pretty unlikely for a number of reasons.

 

[Jets]

This year won't be like other years for so many reasons, COVID aside.

There's like 5-6 teams with any real cap space and realistically can maybe sign 1 top tier guy or 2 guys in the $5M range after taking care of their own. Cap dumps wise - You're dreaming if you think anyone is taking on a $5M+ player for anything but free this offseason.

The flat cap is going to mean a lot of quality free agents take lower salaries or don't sign in the NHL at all and end up in Europe. The entire mid tier of FAs might be in trouble - looking at you Matt Hoffman. Guys like Pietro will get a few decent offers but once they eat up the little bit of cap space, every team is going to be bargain bin shopping.

 

[Gaylord Q Tinkledink]

Montreal will probably sign Crawford to be the backup and continue the farce of the backup position

 

[blankall]

Glad others are seeing Hall to Calgary as a real possibility and not just a fantasy.

Not so sure Vatanen makes sense though. The Flames group of young defenceman in Kylington, Andersson, and Valimaki already covers Vatanen's skill set. The Flames would be better off targeting a #4/5 that brings a physical game. Is that just Hamonic? Maybe keep him and Hanifin apart.

 

[2Pair]

Galchenyuk as a 2c on wild was good before the season came to a halt. Wild will resign him

No he wasn't. Guerin better not.

 

[blankall]

I'm really curious what kind of 7 year contract Calgary can offer Hall that will beat the 8 year offer from Arizona?

Leaving that 8th year on the table is no sure bet, especially as the league has gotten younger and faster.

By that logic no big name UFA would ever leave.

Hall grew up in Calgary and was a Flames fan growing up. It's a bit of a Tavares to Toronto situation. When you are making X amount of dollars per year, eventually money isn't the only thing you look at. Assuming Hall totally falls off that 8th year, and is unable to get another contract, then he becomes that anchor on the team nobody wants there. These are guys with a lot of pride. They don't always want to be forced to hang around that extra year. Conversely, Hall will have far more opportunity for local sponsorship deals, if the extra money really is the deciding factor.

The organization also showed a lot of interest in Hall when NJ was trading him, but didn't want to give up the futures required.

It's still a dream for Calgary at this point. I really hope they try to hang onto Gaudreau giving a top 6 of:

Gaudreau-Monahan-Hall
Tkachuk-Lindholm-Mangiapane

Also bumps Backlund to line 3, which solves a lot of the problems in the bottom 6.

 

[jgimp]

Jets don't have the cap space for Pietrangelo, without trading away a significant contract.......which is counter productive. Can't see Winnipeg being interested in him.

Growing consensus is that Little retires. That said, don’t want to pay what it would cost for Pietro to come this way. Best to resign DeMelo for a fraction of the cost.

 

[Flyer lurker]

Glad others are seeing Hall to Calgary as a real possibility and not just a fantasy.

Not so sure Vatanen makes sense though. The Flames group of young defenceman in Kylington, Andersson, and Valimaki already covers Vatanen's skill set. The Flames would be better off targeting a #4/5 that brings a physical game. Is that just Hamonic? Maybe keep him and Hanifin apart.

Hall just makes a lot of sense to Calgary. Yes you will have to move an expensive piece off roster to fit in. And maybe to get in Hall you get the assets you can now for Johnny Hockey. We shall see.

I would spend $ on goalie before Vatanen but opinion will vary on Rittich.

 

[Hunter368]

Growing consensus is that Little retires. That said, don’t want to pay what it would cost for Pietro to come this way. Best to resign DeMelo for a fraction of the cost.

Growing consensus is a loaded term, there is no facts or confirmed facts to conclude this at this point. Will he retire? Maybe, maybe not.......but he is under contract and until something official comes out I see no reason to believe it will happen......of course people can think or hope whatever they like.....but there’s no confirmed evidence of this happening. IMO assume Little will play and if he doesn’t then it’s a windfall of cap we can spend on find a good 2C via trade or OS.......

Totally agree on DeMelo.

 

[blankall]

Hall just makes a lot of sense to Calgary. Yes you will have to move an expensive piece off roster to fit in. And maybe to get in Hall you get the assets you can now for Johnny Hockey. We shall see.

I would spend $ on goalie before Vatanen but opinion will vary on Rittich.

Rittich is obviously not a sure thing, but how many goalies are? Even goalies like Price seem to be all over the place these days. The only goalies that are sure things are not easily acquired. I mean it would be great if we could get a clear upgrade, but I don't see many coming our way. The Flames would be looking at taking a chance on a lesser young goalie or acquiring an aging vet.

 

[TheDoldrums]

Those 3rd and 4th lines are getting quite thin, not to mention any bonuses owed on elcs would be a nightmare the next year, and that’s without giving anyone a raise till the cap starts going up again. Tough to justify signing AP just to be in that situation no?

Not that I think it would happen, but Lehtonen, Sandin and Roberston purposefully don't have bonuses for that reason. Toronto sold them on forgoing them for faster callups.

 

[jgimp]

Growing consensus is a loaded term, there is no facts or confirmed facts to conclude this at this point. Will he retire? Maybe, maybe not.......but he is under contract and until something official comes out I see no reason to believe it will happen......of course people can think or hope whatever they like.....but there’s no confirmed evidence of this happening. IMO assume Little will play and if he doesn’t then it’s a windfall of cap we can spend on find a good 2C via trade or OS.......

Totally agree on DeMelo.

I know what your saying but as of yet, I have seen zero evidence he’s even remotely close to coming back. More tests and more tests and when he does come back, will have been well over a year off ice and a year older. If I’m his age and faced as many injuries as he has the last 3 years, my wife is telling me I’m done lol.
I do agree though, he’s not retired yet and is still on the books. My guess is late summer after much reflection he announces a front office gig.

 

[Hunter368]

I know what your saying but as of yet, I have seen zero evidence he’s even remotely close to coming back. More tests and more tests and when he does come back, will have been well over a year off ice and a year older. If I’m his age and faced as many injuries as he has the last 3 years, my wife is telling me I’m done lol.
I do agree though, he’s not retired yet and is still on the books. My guess is late summer after much reflection he announces a front office gig.

Like I said it’s possible.......but just as likely he doesn’t want to walk away from 15+ million

 

[Tasteless Beaver]

Like I said it’s possible.......but just as likely he doesn’t want to walk away from 15+ million

If your life is in serious danger, yeah, you walk away. He suffered major trauma inside his head and the next hit could be fatal. He has a long history of injuries and there is a point where you have to put your family above the game, he's got to be close to that point.

I'm sure he's close to Buff, they've been teammates for a long time. I doubt Buff will talk him out of walking away from $15 million because of injuries.

 

[Hunter368]

If your life is in serious danger, yeah, you walk away. He suffered major trauma inside his head and the next hit could be fatal. He has a long history of injuries and there is a point where you have to put your family above the game, he's got to be close to that point.

Do you have a link saying the next hit could be fatal or pure speculation/hypothetical?

 

[Dache]

Not that I think it would happen, but Lehtonen, Sandin and Roberston purposefully don't have bonuses for that reason. Toronto sold them on forgoing them for faster callups.

Oh ok. I didn’t know this. That could be very useful for them.

 

[jgimp]

If your life is in serious danger, yeah, you walk away. He suffered major trauma inside his head and the next hit could be fatal. He has a long history of injuries and there is a point where you have to put your family above the game, he's got to be close to that point.

I'm sure he's close to Buff, they've been teammates for a long time. I doubt Buff will talk him out of walking away from $15 million because of injuries.

Or he goes on LTIR and still gets paid.