My realistic Off season game plan
-Lucic traded for Eriksson
-Sign Donskoi 4x4
(Lets face it none of the big ticket free agent is comming here unless for a monster overpayment)
-Trade Benning for whatever
-Trade Rieder for whatever
-Gagner and Manning to the AHL
-Acquire Connor Brown for a 3rd rounder
-Trade Pulju for Jost
-Resign Chiasson for 1 year
Draisailt-McDavid-Brown
Khaira-RNH-Donskoi
Eriksson-Jost/Marody-Chiasson
Benson-Brodz/Cave-Kassian
Klefbom-Larsson
Nurse-Russel
Sekera-Bouchard
That isn't too far from what I was thinking up, hard to make what looks like a winning roster out of what we have now and staying realistic, IMO we likely need 2 off-seasons to fix Chia's damage enough to be a playoff team again so I'm not doing any buy-outs at all, just stomach the bad contracts we have.
My signings:
- Juhjar Khaira- 2 years at $900K
- Kevin Gravel- 1 year at $725K
- Joonas Donskoi- 4 years at $4.25M (If SJ is serious about re-signing Pavelski & Karlsson likely not realistic he stays there)
- Keith Kinkaid - 1 year at $1M (based on his numbers seems like a cheap option that could bounce back /w goalies though you never know, also has some experience of running with the starting role if Koski stumbles, hoping between him, Stolarz, and Starrett we have one decent back-up)
- Mikhail Grigorenko- 1 year at $2.75M (Wants another kick at the NHL and his preference is apparently a Canadian team, seems like a decent fit and adds some more skill to the line-up)
*Pulju is qualified only told to go find employment in Europe for 2 years and we'll take a 2nd big run at an NHL career after that.*
**Rieder isn't qualified he gets to be a unrestricted free agent again**
Trades:
To PHI: Darnell Nurse
To EDM: Shayne Gostisbehere
Reasoning-
Philly wants to get tougher (more broad street bully like) and Ghost has had a poor season relative to expectations with Nurse surging in offense and actually having more points than him this season, though if you look at Ghost's career points per game numbers it's almost exactly twice that of Nurse, I'd be fine betting he's the better offensive player in the long run and while Nurse has a reputation of being the better defensive player, I'm not sure I buy it, he's just bigger and more physical and tends to only look good playing man-man defense and then is completely lost when playing zone defense. I consider Nurse a must trade, he's at peak value and should be cashed in and the warts he exudes don't look like quick fixes to me.
To NYR: 3rd rd pick + Brandon Manning
To EDM: Vladislav Namestnikov
Reasoning- I've got a bit of a soft spot for Namestnikov reminds me a bit of a poor man's RNH, he got a big pay-day that he isn't worth so his value is quite low, plus he isn't really producing, though his defensive game is better than many give him credit for and has a pretty decent wrist shot. Namestnikov has shown the ability to get carried by superior talents in the past, if he can light things up with Stamkos and Kucherov, I'm hoping he can do the same with McDavid and Drai. For NYR I think they just want to be rid of him, they are rebuilding so they likely want the pick and since they aren't contending can likely take some deadweight like Manning back.
Other trades- Zach Kassian and Matt Benning for mid to low picks (just offloading cap), two guys acquired with very low picks or future considerations (Brendan Gaunce & Dimitrij Jaskin- both passed through waivers this year so I'd assume they'd be dirt cheap to acquire)
Roster:
Namestnikov- McDavid- Drai
Khaira- RNH- Donskoi
Lucic- Grigorenko- Gagner
Gaunce - Brodziak - Jaskin
ex: Cave/ P. Russell /Rattie
Klefbom - Larsson
Gostisbehere - Russell
Sekera - Bouchard
ex: Gravel
Koskinen
Kinkaid
Roster wise I'd expect Marody and Yamamoto to fight for Gagner's spot, the third line is a soft minutes line. Gaunce hasn't been good enough to stick in the NHL, but he has a specific skill set of being a very good defensive player and that's a tool I'd like to give to our coaching staff, even if he is offensively limited (our PK is so bad I'd take a PK specialist who does nothing else well like what Lennart Petrell used to be), though it does look like he might of taken a step forward with his offensive game this year in the AHL, I like Jaskin cause he always tends to have good possession numbers despite the offense not being great, likely not a 4th line to write home about, but it provides some utility. I expect more offense out of our top 3 lines and our d-core than what we got this year, obviously the roster isn't without question marks, but we're going to have to take some gambles just for a chance at being semi-decent. Sekera can play either side on D, so I'm willing to gamble that one of Jones, Bear, or Bouchard is ready for full-time duty and if one stumbles the fact we got 3 who are kind of right on the line to being NHL ready I'm betting on one stepping up (plus Gravel as insurance), this team badly needs better puck moving so I'm also willing to live through some youthful mistakes.
Cap-wise that roster is super tight against it, assuming an $83M cap, that 22 man roster is at roughly $82.85M, runs the possibly of cap-overage the following season if Bouchard or Yamo hit some bonuses, but I'm fine with that, Gagner and Namestnikov come off the books when the cap overage would hit us and I'd be looking to unload Lucic (with compensation) to Seattle in the expansion draft.
