Rate the 2019 offseason

[Rzombo4 prez]

I agree with a lot of what you say here, and I didn't ask you to come up with a grade for the draft.

I just think that as a re-building team, whether each off-season is a success/failure is mostly going to come down to drafting well or not.

2017 off-season will come down to what we get out of Rasmussen/Lindstrom
2018 off-season will come down to what we get out of Zadina/Veleno/McIsaac/etc
2019 off-season will come down to what we get out of Seider/Tuomisto/others

Long term you are correct, the draft has the single biggest impact on our future success. Sweeney is also correct in that we won't really know what we have from this class for a couple of more years regardless of earlier signs of success or failure.

 

[Alex Thrasher]

I liked the offseason, Seider is really growing on me but more importantly I'm glad we didn't go for any splash signings or trades. (I still think Trouba might hit free agency next year so). Don't get me wrong adding a player like Panarin would be awesome but he turns 28 this year and just signed for seven years. And I would imagine Trouba will also want a long-term deal. I don't think adding Panarin alone makes this team a contender and when I look at the Wings roster and prospects there are so many unknowns still besides Larkin:

- You have three guys in Mantha, Athanasiou and Bertuzzi who all have potential to be top line players but also may end up being better suited for bottom 6 roles or secondary scoring roles.
- You have older guys with terrible contracts like Abby, Ericsson, Helm, Neilsen who should stay for that veteran presence and then once their contracts are done, you let them walk and the kids will be more suited to step into those roles.
- You have so many unknowns like Hronek, Cholowksi, Zadina, Hirose, Seider, Svechnikov, Veleno, McIsaac, Berggren, Rasmussen, Kaski, Lindstrom who could end up being complete busts or stars (Hronek I think will be a star but I have no idea about anyone else)
- You have all the other kids in the system who may never see the NHL but there will definitely be a few who come through and become really strong role players or potential stars (Albin Grewe, Alec Regula, all the others)

In my mind we will know better in 3/4 years what we have with these kids and it will make Free Agency easier to attack. For example what if we traded for Trouba and then signed him to a long-term deal, and then Hronek, Cholowski, Seider, McIsaac all pan out but our forwards end up busting or not being who we thought they were? We end up losing our young kids because we can't afford them and we still have holes up front because those guys didn't pan out. I'd much rather wait and see what the holes are 3-4 years from now and then fill those holes in free agency or through trades. The entire roster right now is full of unknowns and I'd rather see who pans out and who doesn't and then react accordingly.

 

[Lil Sebastian Cossa]

I agree with a lot of what you say here, and I didn't ask you to come up with a grade for the draft.

I just think that as a re-building team, whether each off-season is a success/failure is mostly going to come down to drafting well or not.

2017 off-season will come down to what we get out of Rasmussen/Lindstrom
2018 off-season will come down to what we get out of Zadina/Veleno/McIsaac/etc
2019 off-season will come down to what we get out of Seider/Tuomisto/others

I mean, certainly, but this isn’t asking how the grading will eventually turn out. This topic is how did we do in 2019, with the knowledge we have as of July 4, 2019.

And for that, we had a completely average offseason. We seem to have drafted okay. We didn’t bundle ourselves up with immovable money deals or restrictive clauses.

In a broad sense, yeah, you’re right. The team will flop hard if their drafts flame out no matter how good FA goes. But that wasn’t the question that was posed.

 

[Frk It]

In a broad sense, yeah, you’re right. The team will flop hard if their drafts flame out no matter how good FA goes. But that wasn’t the question that was posed.

The draft isn't part of the off-season? I mean the OP listed Seider as one of the pro's of the off-season.

 

[Bandito]

I'd give it a B- or C. Uninspiring to miss out of Trouba/Subban and with that missing out on the hope that it'd be a quick turnaround. Signed some stop-gaps to shore up the roster in case the prospects aren't ready while avoiding albatross deals.

I liked the draft picks and what they represent, insofar as patching some organizational holes. You can't wonder why you never develop stud defensemen if you never spend the quality draft capital on them. They just feel very boom/bust to me. I guess that's just the nature of drafting d-men, and especially drafting from the less-seen Euro leagues. I just felt more confident saying last year projecting Zadina and Veleno than i do this year projecting Seider and Tuomisto.

 

[odin1981]

I'll say a C for the moment. I'm no scout so it will be the next 2-3 years to grade the draft.

I liked that we signed cheap ufa deals. But wish fil was a 1 year deal. We didn't waste cap yet and don't need too until are window is much closer to opening.

I would like to see a trade or two before off-season is over but that might not happen until the trade deadline. Have to have a willing partner to make one.

If a miracle where to happen I would want Neilsen moved at 50% retained.

 

[Realgud]

B (Above average)

+ I like the draft a lot (Seider, Mastrosimone and Tuomisto are all players I wanted)
+ No bad contracts
+ Nemeth
+ Free asset in Kaski
+ Steve Y in town

- I would have liked to trade for Collin Miller to replace Ericsson/Kronwall
- Filppula seems like a pointless signing, but whatever, not a big deal
- Calvin Pickard seems like a pointless signing, but whatever, not a big deal

 

[Henkka]

+ Free asset in Kaski

- Filppula seems like a pointless signing, but whatever, not a big deal
- Calvin Pickard seems like a pointless signing, but whatever, not a big deal

If Filppula and Pickard are pointless signings, why aren't Kaski?

Or, if Kaski is a free asset, why aren't Pickard or Filppula?

 

[TheClap]

Jeff Gorton is such a great GM. Adding Kaako, Trouba, and Panarin in one offseason is ridiculous. And it's not even the 1st time he's done it. He brought in Chara, Marchand, Kessel and Rask for Boston in the span of a couple months.

The Rangers are a franchise that has gone after the biggest names in free agency and in trades for the past 30 years. It's worked out for them once with Messier, and to a lesser extent with Martin St. Louis. They almost always overpay for them as well, and they almost never live up to expectations.

Brad Richards, Scott Gomez, Bobby Holik, Rick Nash, Wade Redden, Theo Fleury, most recently Shattenkirk. I foresee the same thing happening with Panarin and Trouba.

 

[Ricelund]

B+

- Filppula/Nemeth deals are depth moves that will have no negative long-term impact on the rebuild.
- I was a fan of the draft. I'm very bullish on Seider.
- I think we were all hoping for the big splash that we hadn't seen for years under Holland (like trading for Trouba) but I can't fault Yzerman for not making a move like that in his first three months on the job.
- It's also important to note that this offseason isn't over yet.

 

[Realgud]

If Filppula and Pickard are pointless signings, why aren't Kaski?

Or, if Kaski is a free asset, why aren't Pickard or Filppula?

Because Kaski is young. Pickard isn't good (and we have 3 goalies now?). Filp, because we have enough veterans already.

But like I said, no big deal, I can see why they fit, in a way.

 

[Lil Sebastian Cossa]

The draft isn't part of the off-season? I mean the OP listed Seider as one of the pro's of the off-season.

It certainly is. It's also something that you've got no prayer of assigning anything resembling a fantastic value to it. I mean, I like the Seider pick and a couple of the other guys... but they're multiple years away from being ANYTHING let alone huge positives. Had we won the lottery and gotten Hughes or Kakko who will certainly be playing in the league this next year, sure, I'm giddy about the draft. Had we found a way to draft a guy like Tuomisto at 6 (aka, a huge **** up), I would have eviscerated it. The way it stands, it seems like they did a good job in the draft, not super awesome but also not bad.

 

[ricky0034]

If Filppula and Pickard are pointless signings, why aren't Kaski?

Or, if Kaski is a free asset, why aren't Pickard or Filppula?

you really don't see the difference between a 23 year old defenseman that's yet to play in north america and a 35 year old forward with upwards of 1100 NHL games played(counting Playoffs as well)? okay then

as for Pickard he's proven himself to be AHL depth at best so he's pretty irrelevant as far as the NHL roster goes both short and long term

 

[Gniwder]

as for Pickard he's proven himself to be AHL depth at best so he's pretty irrelevant as far as the NHL roster goes both short and long term

He's not irrelevant if Howie gets traded at the deadline. Stevie might be planning ahead on this one.

 

[Run the Jewels]

I grade it as a C.

I'm glad Yzerman didn't pull a Holland and sign Nyquist to an awful contract. His free agency signings allow us to ice a team without relying too much on our prospects and the cost and term were quite reasonable.

I'm happy we finally used a top 10 pick on a position of need and didn't draft yet another winger.

I take Yzerman at his word that this will require patience and that he will build this the right away for a long run like Tampa is experiencing right now. He isn't trying to make the playoffs this year. I'm in wait and see mode with how he views our prospect pool. I am hopeful he will be able to make some trades to build the franchise in a way he believes will make us successful. We also probably have to wait for the god awful contracts to come off the books, but that shouldn't be too much of an issue given how bad we are right now.

I'm bumping this up to a B now that Yzerman has cleaned house with regard to our mediocre NA scouting department. Signing Seider is also a good sign that they feel like he's ready right now to be a NA pro.

I'm hopeful he'll trade some of the guys who are not good long term fits.

 

[HisNoodliness]

For people saying that they love Seider, did you feel that way before the draft or only after? Personally I hadn't seen him really at all before. Since then I've watched all of the video available-which is very little- and am happy with him even if 6 is too early IMO. Undoubtedly I'm influenced by the understanding that we already have him though.

Also I rated the offseason a C+ because I think it's supposed to be evaluating how Yzerman did, if getting Yzerman as GM is considered part of our moves, then it'd have to be an A+

 

[Run the Jewels]

For people saying that they love Seider, did you feel that way before the draft or only after? Personally I hadn't seen him really at all before. Since then I've watched all of the video available-which is very little- and am happy with him even if 6 is too early IMO. Undoubtedly I'm influenced by the understanding that we already have him though.

Also I rated the offseason a C+ because I think it's supposed to be evaluating how Yzerman did, if getting Yzerman as GM is considered part of our moves, then it'd have to be an A+

I honestly have no idea with regard to Seider. I just like that we finally drafted a d-man in the top 10 after drafting two wingers in the previous two drafts, one of which will probably be a middle 6 winger if everything goes right.

I also like the fact we let our best scout pick our early draft picks which really hadn't happened before. He's had a great track record with picks outside the top 50 so it makes sense to let him choose which players we draft with the picks that have the best odds at becoming quality NHL'ers.

Hronek is looking really solid and if Seider lives up to his draft spot we'll have finally begun to draft and develop quality d-men for the first time since Nik freaking Kronwall.

 

[deca guard]

i had a dream last night yzerman was trying to make a trade , i put it at D4 level

 

[lhsgolf19]

Not sure where to put this lol


Probably won’t happen this year but will have a legit chance for 20-21 season

 

[Retire91]

I'm happy to get through another off season without signing some scrub to a 5-7 year deal with NMC.

 

[beast from the east]

I'm glad they stayed put. If they're at least a year or two away from contending, why lock a big UFA up in a contract now? Wait until you're ready to contend, otherwise you're just going to be stuck with a declining asset during your competitive window.

 

[obey86]

I would try to sign Jake Gardiner now, if his demands have gone down (term wise) due to a cold market. If you could get him on like a 3 year deal it would be nice IMO. Could make good trade bait down the road.

 

[TheAngryHank]

B
Im content with the steady as she goes approach and didn't sign anyone with bad term to hobble the rebuild.
Looking forward to all these picks coming of age at the same time.

 

[MBH]

C+
Not a big fan of the draft.
I went into the draft with the idea that Stevie Y has a tendency of blowing his top 10 picks, but landing steals late in the draft. I believe that might be the case this year. I like most of the picks after Tuomisto, but I didn't like Seider or Tuomisto. Underwhelming. And you really can't afford to miss at 6 overall.
I wasn't expecting much from UFA. We filled two spots that needed to be filled with guys who won't hurt us with longterm deals.
I also think we missed an opportunity by failing to land PK Subban.

 

[Frk It]

I went into the draft with the idea that Stevie Y has a tendency of blowing his top 10 picks, but landing steals late in the draft. I believe that might be the case this year. I like most of the picks after Tuomisto, but I didn't like Seider or Tuomisto. Underwhelming. And you really can't afford to miss at 6 overall.

Yeah, that’s the fear in the back of my head. My gut reaction after this draft was... well, I can see why Tampa hit more in rounds 2-7 than their early picks.

Very interesting that a guy with some whiffs in round 1 didn’t just go with the consensus guy. For better or worse, Stevie definitely has some balls. I mean he walked up there and took Seider with literally 0 pause or hesitation. Hopefully it works out and kicks off his time here with a calculated gamble that pays off. It sounds like they put a ton of work in on the European players.