Rumors/Speculation/Trade Talk - 2021-22 Pt. II - Expansion Draft Edition

[PK Cronin]

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Does Isles has 18.5 m including JB LTIR & if they go ahead and buy out Hickey, they will have 21M available?

Say projected for this summer:
Pelech - 5M aav (likely will ask matching contract to Pulock but the term could be longer)
Beau - 4M or 4.5 M aav(3 year or longer), he can either bet on himself or prefer security
Sorokin - 3M or 3.5M aav 3 year or longer? (a bit tough to guess as not sure how much he got paid in KHL before, but right now he will be signed for back up money unless Lou is confident that he will play as starter next year on)
Cizikas - 3M or 3.5M aav (if longer term, may be less aav)

earmark for 2022 summer:
Pulock - 2.5M or 3M increase long term (depend on his production), as UFA he will get a raise
Dobson - 3M bridge or 4M increase longer term (depend on role & production)

earmark for 2023 summer:
Barzal - 3M or 3.5M increase long term (if produce or win trophy, he will get close to what Marner gets now)
Wahlstrom - 4M increase bridge or 4.5M or higher long term (depend on production, ice time)

this point to a minimum of 27.5M increase will required to be available by 2023 summer just to keep the young core players without any significant upgrade, unless they strike gold in the 2021,2022, and 2023 draft or UFA college signing. They will have saving from 3 players let go - 7.5M (2022 summer Clutterbuck, Komarov, and Johnston), plus Panik 1.4M. this means that they need to find 20M available cap which come real close to what they have today without trading out both Eberle and Bails. If one of them get moved, then they will have that money set aside this year to sign most likely Palms plus a cheap UFA LHD replacement to play in Leddy's spot. If they can somehow get Seattle to take Ebs, resign Bellows cheap (or trade him in a package) this year and then move Bailey's contract next summer, then they should be ok with the cap over next 3 years.

Signing Landeskog or any other rumored high profiled UFA this year for big money long term can hamper them again down the road again, unless they are not planning on keeping Beau long term, just using him as a gap until a new prospect develops in 3 years.

Possible replacement on experiencing contracts:
- Mayfield with a RHD prospect (summer 2023) or a cheap older UFA. I do not see him taking a discount to stay as his RFA contract is very cheap and he would likely want to make up on his next contract. If Wilde works out, he can be an ideal replacement or Lou will look for a similar player in this year's draft to prime him for possible replacement
- Clutterbuck, this should not be too hard (maybe a prospect who can PK and eager to make the lineup) or another cheap UFA 4th line player

Of course things may somehow not work out either better or worse for particular reasons. Players may request trades due to personal circumstances, refuse to return as UFA, or Isles may come across opportunity to either claim/trade for a late booming prospect, get real lucky in the draft, or maybe an UFA who loves to play with Isles will take discount to play with this team down the road.

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[The Winter Soldier]

There is a smorgasbord of UFA's available this year. Black Friday shopping list.

Here are some fwds that particularly intrigued me besides are own Cizikas and Palmieri.

Ovie
Parise
Krejci
Getzlaf
Bozak
Hyman
Coleman
Bonino
Armia
F Gaudreau

 

[The Winter Soldier]

3 UFA Dmen that stand out to me.

Oleksiak
Chara
Suter.

Any of these 3 would be good partners to Dobson or Mayfield.

 

[xECK29x]

3 UFA Dmen that stand out to me.

Oleksiak
Chara
Suter.

Any of these 3 would be good partners to Dobson or Mayfield.

Some are worried about the aging curve of Landeskog but let’s bring on a 46 year old Chara to replace a top 4 D.

 

[CupHolders]

3 UFA Dmen that stand out to me.

Oleksiak
Chara
Suter.

Any of these 3 would be good partners to Dobson or Mayfield.

Mike Reilly

 

[The Wahligator]

I’m incredibly confident that Suter will be joining Parise here on July 28.

 

[Thrasymachus]

3 UFA Dmen that stand out to me.

Oleksiak
Chara
Suter.

Any of these 3 would be good partners to Dobson or Mayfield.

I would prefer not turning to Chara at his age. Good as he has been historically, my gut tells me we should go with Suter.

 

[Thrasymachus]

I’m incredibly confident that Suter will be joining Parise here on July 28.

I feel weirdly confident about this as well.

 

[doublechili]

Right now our 2nd pairing LHD is Andy Greene. Behind him are Hickey/Aho for the 3rd pair. Bolduc and Salo haven't played in the NHL, and when they finally do it will be sheltered part-time minutes on the 3rd pairing. And that's pretty much it for LHD in the organization.

I know we're thinking Suter may come here, but what if he doesn't? We need to upgrade on Leddy on the 2nd pair. So as much as I like guys like Chara, they're not the answer.

 

[Jester9881]

Sign Suter/Parise as a package in a 3 yr deal and call it an offseason. If Seattle takes Bailey or Eberle (hope it's Eberle), sign Palmieri to replace him.

 

[The Winter Soldier]

Some are worried about the aging curve of Landeskog but let’s bring on a 46 year old Chara to replace a top 4 D.

I would prefer not turning to Chara at his age. Good as he has been historically, my gut tells me we should go with Suter.

I would only bring him in on a limited role. But if Suter does not fall through I would have him as a contingency while spotting Salo and or Bolduc. Suter is 36 also, when you add this to Greene at 39, we would be leaning hard on the vet side. I kind of like Oleksiak. He is 28 in his prime for a D man. I can see Trotz turning him into what Mayfield turned out to be, and how Pelech and Pulock developed. He is a player of length, and I could only imagine being a fwd playing against Mayfield and Oleksiak for a 7 game series, Not fun. He had a terrific bubble playoff, +11 If my memory is correct and playing 20+ mins during the playoffs when Dallas went deep. He may be the sweet spot. But give me any of the 3, Not going to complain if we land any of these guys.

 

[doublechili]

We're very focused on Parise/Suter, Tarasenko, Landeskog, etc.. Maybe those are the guys, but who knows what Lou is really doing? For example, AZ is supposedly actively shopping Garland (broken by Pagnotta, who has Isles' connections BTW). Maybe the Ladd deal was the pre-ED cap-clearing portion of a bigger deal....

The next week or two are going to be very interesting.

 

[CupHolders]

Right now our 2nd pairing LHD is Andy Greene. Behind him are Hickey/Aho for the 3rd pair. Bolduc and Salo haven't played in the NHL, and when they finally do it will be sheltered part-time minutes on the 3rd pairing. And that's pretty much it for LHD in the organization.

I know we're thinking Suter may come here, but what if he doesn't? We need to upgrade on Leddy on the 2nd pair. So as much as I like guys like Chara, they're not the answer.

Upgrade can be qualified in a number of ways… a better player than Leddy OR a better fit than Leddy.

Suter is the only clear cut LHD better then Leddy available as an UFA. Failing at him, I suggest a more under-the-radar signing that while not necessarily better than Leddy could be a better fit.

I see Mike Reilly as a possibility that can pair up well with Mayfield.

Unfortunately, that also puts more onus on Dobson carrying the point on the PP.

 

[The Winter Soldier]

Mike Reilly

I don't like him for this team. Just being honest. I think the Isles ID is hard to play against. D core are players with length. We may not be the most mobile but we use our sticks to Swiss like proficiency and get in shooting lanes better than almost any D.

This is why I really like Oleksiak. He is 6'7, he has the wing span of a Condor. He is also a physical presence that is proven in the playoffs. Had 5 goals for Dallas in their cup run and he is only 28.

In the hands of Trotz, I can only imagine the tip of the iceberg for him.

 

[duster19]

3 UFA Dmen that stand out to me.

Oleksiak
Chara
Suter.

Any of these 3 would be good partners to Dobson or Mayfield.

I feel like Chara and mayfield would be very difficult to play against.

 

[The Winter Soldier]

I feel like Chara and mayfield would be very difficult to play against.

Footspeed would be the issue there, I would put Chara with Dobson, and Mayfield with Greene. But we are going to need a D man to fill some of Leddy's mins. Suter would be nice, I don't think age matters if you take care of yourself. Look at Tom Brady, plays a sport that has a shorter lifespan. If you have the brain, you can do it. Also I would like to see Salo and Bolduc get some Dobson rookie mins. We have to develop depth in this position. Lucky last season we were injury free. This is not going to always be the case. Need Depth at D.

 

[doublechili]

I don't like him for this team. Just being honest. I think the Isles ID is hard to play against. D core are players with length. We may not be the most mobile but we use our sticks to Swiss like proficiency and get in shooting lanes better than almost any D.

This is why I really like Oleksiak. He is 6'7, he has the wing span of a Condor. He is also a physical presence that is proven in the playoffs. Had 5 goals for Dallas in their cup run and he is only 28.

In the hands of Trotz, I can only imagine the tip of the iceberg for him.

Oleksiak is interesting, but for a Leddy replacement we'd need to cover LHD for the PP. I'm thinking he's not the guy for that?

 

[The Winter Soldier]

Oleksiak is interesting, but for a Leddy replacement we'd need to cover LHD for the PP. I'm thinking he's not the guy for that?

This is the year for Dobson to take over QB'ing the PP. Also this may be a surprise, I may be tempted to try Pelech there also, offsetting Pulock at times. He's got some sneaky good offfence. I was not always on board with the Leddy Mayfield pairing to be honest. They had a good playoff or more specifically Mayfield did. I would love to see Suter or Oleksiak with Mayfield. Chara as a back up plan. There may be other names on that list. Cupholders mentioned Reilly. But for me, these 3 are good fits on this team.

Let's go with this.

Suter is the choice with his connection to Trotz. Hopefully this tips the scales.
If not let's make sure we have Oleksiak's agent's ear as the chips fall.

 

[dlawong]

I don't like him for this team. Just being honest. I think the Isles ID is hard to play against. D core are players with length. We may not be the most mobile but we use our sticks to Swiss like proficiency and get in shooting lanes better than almost any D.

This is why I really like Oleksiak. He is 6'7, he has the wing span of a Condor. He is also a physical presence that is proven in the playoffs. Had 5 goals for Dallas in their cup run and he is only 28.

In the hands of Trotz, I can only imagine the tip of the iceberg for him.

Also came from a family with strong athletic genes, his sister won gold swimming competition medals for Canada at last Olympic. Yes I too was impressed with his plays during the SC run one year ago.

 

[doublechili]

his sister won gold swimming competition medals for Canada at last Olympic

Is she friends with, or enemy of, Katie Ledecky? That could tip the scales one way or the other.

 

[The Winter Soldier]

Also came from a family with strong athletic genes, his sister won gold swimming competition medals for Canada at last Olympic. Yes I too was impressed with his plays during the SC run one year ago.

If only we were scouts for the Islanders, this is what I would be telling Lou and Barry. Let's hope they have contingencies if one player does not work out. Well we know is not sleeping with the moves he has made thus far, betting is he has. Hopefully Oleksiak is a player he has targetted just in case.

 

[Osakahaus]

There is a smorgasbord of UFA's available this year. Black Friday shopping list.

Here are some fwds that particularly intrigued me besides are own Cizikas and Palmieri.

Ovie
Parise
Krejci
Getzlaf
Bozak
Hyman
Coleman
Bonino
Armia
F Gaudreau

If we are gonna be smart, i'd probably be fine with taking in Armia and Coleman to already help a physical team. Parise makes sense for the cheap end though, but Coleman is much better. Hell, i'd argue he's a fit in this teams system with the way he plays. Getzlaf is a maybe but thats only if the isles do not keep around Cizikas (now unlikely)

 

[Osakahaus]

I’m incredibly confident that Suter will be joining Parise here on July 28.

And somehow i would be fine with this despite both being older. They're good players to have around helping you win. In a way, it's possible closure for someone like Parise, who ends his career on the same team as his father was on

 

[The Winter Soldier]

If we are gonna be smart, i'd probably be fine with taking in Armia and Coleman to already help a physical team. Parise makes sense for the cheap end though, but Coleman is much better. Hell, i'd argue he's a fit in this teams system with the way he plays. Getzlaf is a maybe but thats only if the isles do not keep around Cizikas (now unlikely)

Some of those names were back up names if Cizikas doesn't come back, Bonino plays similar for instance. I was impressed with Gaudreau last year against us. He is a small potatoes hidden gem perhaps? Coleman has already helped the Isles with his pass to Beau in the game 6 OT winner.

 

[SI90]

3 UFA Dmen that stand out to me.

Oleksiak
Chara
Suter.

Any of these 3 would be good partners to Dobson or Mayfield.

I’d love to get both Suter AND Oleksiak depending on the price.

Greene as the 7th defenseman.


Pelech- Pulock
Suter - Mayfield/Dobson
Oleksiak- Mayfield Dobson
Greene