Speculation: Roster Building Thread: Part LVI

[GoAwayPanarin]

Marcus Johansson has been traded to the Wild...possibly for Eric Staal

lmao what the f***?

can we send Marc there now?

 

[Krams]

We need a poll, will Henrik Lundqvist pull a:

- Chris Drury / Buy-out and Retire
- Markus Naslund / Retire and leave money on the table
- Kevin Shattenkirk / Buy-out and play elsewhere for reduced salary

(I vote Drury)

If it's between Drury and Naslund (which it is) then I vote Naslund. Go out gracefully, his number gets retired and guaranteed to land a job with the organization in some capacity for as long as he wants. Kids get to finish out their schooling in NY.

 

[Brooklyn Rangers Fan]

So while TECHNICALLY allowed to re-sign a player you bought-out (ignore the rules on compliance buy-outs since that provision is expired), the NHL had to sign-off on the Michael Stone situation.

Calgary was able to show that their reasoning behind signing Stone wasn't cap circumvention (Valimaki blew out his ACL in Sept, a month after they bought out Stone) but a last minute replacement. Also if my memory serves correctly, Stone's agent also confirmed to the league that there weren't other offers for Michael Stone.

Ah, important context.

 

[nsvoyageurs]

 

[Brooklyn Rangers Fan]

Straight up deal.

I don't get the thinking.

 

[UnSandvich]

Yeah, i don't get that trade at all. Staal's the better player, and on a cheaper contract too

 

[TheDirtyH]

Some thoughts of mine if people want to entertain some discussion:

Assuming a Lundqvist buyout, the consensus on this board seems to be that our glaring holes are at LD and C after Zibanejad. None of us know what kind of number Strome or DeAngelo come in at, but assuming at least that we keep DeAngelo, it seems like the writing is on the wall for Fast.

I'm in the minority maybe but I like @Ola 's idea of offer sheeting Sergachev. I think he's proven he's a player still on the rise, and the one-dimensional criticisms laid on him are slowly peeling away. He's going to be a stud, two-way defenseman, which, whether he's in your long-term plans or not, at his age, is a tremendous asset to have.

Leaving that aside too, I'm thinking that I'd actually prefer to see management invest whatever cap space they can find in filling out the bottom half of the forward corps. There's some intriguing UFAs: to my mind, Nosek, Larsson, Leivo, Soderberg, C. Smith, Athanasiou, Haula, Janmark, Lewis, Nieto, Clifford, and Girgensons are the standouts (as far as bottom 6 goes). And some other posters have mentioned equally interesting ideas: Joseph out of TB, Bennet/Jankowski from CGY, and my own idea of Jared McCann from Pittsburgh are all potential low cost trade targets.

My thought is that I actually don't mind the idea of Chytil as the de-facto second line center on this team. With the amount of scoring talent in our top six (and especially from our blueline assuming we retain DeAngelo), I'm not worried about finding goals or production without a proven 2nd line center.

What I'm curious about is 1) how will this free agent market play out? What kinds of price tags/years will these types of UFAs be getting in their offers? If you can nab three quality bottom six veterans for cheap, short deals (if that's how it looks to shape out), I'd be much more inclined to focus this off-season's spending on shoring up the depth. Give the young players competetion in the bottom lines, give Quinn reliable players to ease the minute load off of Zibanejad and Panarin and take important minutes on the penalty kill that the kids might not be ready for, insulate your young players and address team defense at the same time. And off that, 2) what the impact could be of having a bottom six filled (mostly) with capable, veteran players. Would our defense improve as a team more by adding a stud shutdown LD like Brodin more than if we added players like Nosek, Leivo, and Nieto who kill penalties and drive play in weaker minutes... probably, but given the timing of our build and the cost to attain such a player (as Brodin), this strikes me a a potential way to both protect ourselves against overwhelming our young, skilled forwards with responsibilities they can't handle yet and to improve our overall team defense without investing money or term that we may want down the line.

Lots of words to make a simple point, but I'm curious if anyone is thinking similarly or disagrees strongly and why.

 

[Clark Kellogg]

Braden Holtby 2 years @ 1.8 million

Fits in to my Race to the Bottom Theory for future UFAs & RFAs.

 

[Brooklyn Rangers Fan]

Yeah, i don't get that trade at all. Staal's the better player, and on a cheaper contract too

He's older, I suppose. But it does seem very much like shuffling deck chairs.

Certainly doesn't improve MIN's center situation at all, which I thought was the focus.

 

[bobbop]

Catching up a few loose ends from the last thread...

Houston almost got the Coyotes two years ago. They have a building, a very wealthy owner (Tillman Fertitia) and a large market. Houston also has some very good hockey history as well as a built in rivalry with Dallas.

re: Lundqvist, I have heard the retirement talk from a couple of my hockey friends but I didn’t post it as fact because it sounded more like educated conjecture to me. I do think there is something going on here and I am sure Don Meehan (his agent) has looked around to see who might have interest, if there is none, I do expect he will retire. Which would tremendously change the dynamic of the Rangers off season..

re: Trading or keeping Georgiev, keep this in mind...if the Rangers trade Georgiev and sign a veteran backup (Cam Talbot ) they could offer that backup a two year contract and an expansion protection spot. That might be a lot more attractive than taking a one year deal somewhere or a two year deal where they could not be protected.

 

[SA16]

Braden Holtby 2 years @ 1.8 million

Fits in to my Race to the Bottom Theory for future UFAs & RFAs.

No. No Holtby.

 

[TheDirtyH]

He's older, I suppose. But it does seem very much like shuffling deck chairs.

Certainly doesn't improve MIN's center situation at all, which I thought was the focus.

Didn't they already acquire Bjustad for that? Keep up.

 

[Brooklyn Rangers Fan]

Didn't they already acquire Bjustad for that? Keep up.

Oh, right. My bad.

 

[SA16]

I really do not understand why Lundqvist would retire prior to being bought out when he can just wait a couple of weeks and collect 3M with no extra work on his part.

 

[Fitzy]

I’d love to see cambot back as a backup. I get that he has been up and down in his career but damn that kid is good when he’s on.

 

[rangers1314]

Jim Montgomery has been hired as an assistant with St. Louis

 

[Tawnos]

I really do not understand why Lundqvist would retire prior to being bought out when he can just wait a couple of weeks and collect 3M with no extra work on his part.

Pride would be the only reason. It’s easy for those of us without having earned millions to say “bullshit” on that, but we’re not really talking about a big chunk of money for him.

 

[Oscar Lindberg]

Staal got MarJo looks like a salary swap

 

[Edge]

I really do not understand why Lundqvist would retire prior to being bought out when he can just wait a couple of weeks and collect 3M with no extra work on his part.

As strange as it is to say, for some players it is a pride/personal ethics things.

 

[Gospel of Prospal]

How much do we save if Henrik retires?

 

[DanielBrassard]

What the hell is Minnesota thinking? Terrible trade for them.

 

[Krams]

I really do not understand why Lundqvist would retire prior to being bought out when he can just wait a couple of weeks and collect 3M with no extra work on his part.

He has made over $100m in his playing career. Is it that far fetched to believe he might value ending his legacy as a Ranger on a more harmonious note than the $3m? He will net far more than that as an executive with the team over the rest of his professional career.

 

[Thirty One]

I’d love to see cambot back as a backup. I get that he has been up and down in his career but damn that kid is good when he’s on.

He's not a kid, he's my age.

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

How long before we see Hajek for Greenway?

 

[Fitzy]

He's not a kid, he's my age.

anything younger than me is a kid and I will die on this hill.