I would rather offer Orpik nothing than offer Orpik something.
I agree. I would like to trade him NOW. Give him the holidays, give him a couple of weeks afterwards to show he's healthy, and then trade him as soon as we get a good offer and/or take the best offer we can get at the deadline. He's not part of the plan going forward, so let's turn the page and give the guys who are the opportunity.
I don't agree with you / like this plan. I think it's stupid to pay 3.5M for a third pairing defensmen and it will push back the development of our prospects.
I also don't think Dumoulin or Harrington should/will be on our top pair in 2015-16.
Well, before this season, no one ever would have suggested Maatta would even make the team, let alone play on our "top pair' (whatever that has been this season). If you're right and our prospects don't develop, then we could simply hold on to Nisky or Scuderi instead of trading them. But the likelihood of ONE of those guys (Despres/Dumo/Harry) NOT being a capable partner for Letang? Very close to zero by that time. And if so, worst case, we just play him with Maatta or one of the veterans again until they are. But these guys are developing rapidly. And in truth, our "top pair" at times this year has been Orpik--Martin and not necessarily "whoever"--Letang. I think our top-4 is our top-4 and may very well be a 1a and 1b situation, and we can develop a big, tough, physical & responsible "shut down" or 2-way pair with Bortuzzo and someone. So I'm not hung up on "$x is too much for a 3rd pairing guy". Each of our pairs can bring great balance and their own strength, and a couple of key guys (i.e. Letang, Martin, Niskanen) may be leaned on a little more heavily in certain situations depending on the need of the game at that time.
I have been as big a fan and proponent of a guy like Harry as much as anyone. But the downside of keeping him in the AHL for an extra year or two is very insignificant in the long run. It will not hinder his development. It's very simple: Despres makes the team full time next year (due to waivers and expected merit), Dumo makes the team the year after for the same reason, and then Harry makes the team after his 3rd year of junior at the latest, when he would be waiver-ineligible. Plus, there's likely to be injuries and chances along the way for these guys to get a taste. They would develop PERFECTLY fine in this scenario.
Or, we trade Niskanen AND Orpik right now. But I don't think that will happen, because it's too ballsy and bordering on not smart. It is prudent to keeping at least one of them for this year's playoffs. So considering Nisky is at his peak and will only get better, he's the guy to keep over Orpik, who is only going to be on the downswing of his career.
And like I said: even with a doubling of Sutters salary, a doubling of Nisky's salary (he would take that in a heartbeat), and Letang's + Malkin's raises, we will have more than $2 million for next year alone, with no one else to re-sign, and another significant salary bump after that. You are honestly telling me we can't afford this?
And should we find a great winger who wants to sign with us? Then I would easily trade Niskanen or Scuderi at that time (and honestly, I think Nisky is a more valuable commodity going forward). But I don't want to let Nisky AND Orpik leave for nothing, just because we have an outside shot at signing....I don't know, Vanek or Setoguchi? I'd rather not count my chickens before they hatch. I'd rather re-sign Nisky, and then move out one of our Dmen to give us cap space if we need it, because we may lose out on those sweepstakes. Remember what happened with Suter and Parise?
I think Shero will re-sign Martin this summer. And at similar money. That should be the top priority.
Let Orpik move on. Take a look at the available forwards. And if there's money left over to sign Nisky, great.
Agree with the first part wholeheartedly. But we have the ability to re-sign Niskanen NOW. Nisky would give us some nice security just in case we didn't re-sign Martin, and even if we did, having both of those guys in the fold give us more trade options going forward.
But like I said above, until we had a forward in hand, why risk losing a Dman for nothing? Sign the Dmen now and trade one of them later if you need to create space. And heck: if we traded Orpik (or Orpik+) this season (say for a good young winger), we may not even need to sign one as a UFA.
Cap going up in a big way, he's a 27 year-old RH two-way defenseman, former first rounder, and he's having a breakout season.
If he hits free agency I have no doubt that someone would throw stupid money at him. He's having a great season and all, but I just don't see him re-signing given just how big of a raise he could get.
But he likes this team. If we can get him at a bit of a discount, I have zero problem signing him as long as it's the standard "8 teams you won't accept a trade to" clause. Nisky strikes me as a guy who would take the chance to be here. He likes it here, and I think it's worth testing those waters. And if he has ZERO interest in re-signing here, then we should trade him BEFORE the deadline, when everyone is healthy. But Nisky doesn't strike me as that player who won't show his cards. I think if we make him a fair offer, he'll take it. And if we can afford it, we should do it. Like I said, he's a hedge against losing Martin, and even if we can keep both, he'll be more valuable than Scuderi going forward.
