GDT: Stars General Thread '23-24

[Johno]

Stank’s 65 paper trips to Cedar Park paying off

 

[RefalancheStillLose]

Stank’s 65 paper trips to Cedar Park paying off

Jokes on you, he was flying back and forth, like a human yoyo

 

[oconnor9sean]

They say everyone is the best in the world at something, and I fully believe Jim Nill's thing is managing the salary cap.

 

[RefalancheStillLose]

They say everyone is the best in the world at something, and I fully believe Jim Nill's thing is managing the salary cap.

It's most definitely not, If anyone deserves credit for it, it would be Janko, but overall we're pretty shitty at managing the cap

 

[oconnor9sean]

It's most definitely not.

Your commitment to your anti-Nill bit is awe-inspiring.

 

[RefalancheStillLose]

Your commitment to your anti-Nill bit is awe-inspiring.

Janko is the cap guru, has nothing to do with Nill, the fact that we're shit at managing the cap, means nobody should be praised for it

 

[Johno]

Your commitment to your anti-Nill bit is awe-inspiring.

Yeah, in this case it’s 100% true. Janko is the cap guy. But I would argue he is doing a better job at it than 90% of the league at least.

 

[Troy McClure]

I don't think the Stars are bad at cap management. The only true bad mistake I can think of is when they wrongly assumed they'd be able to find a trade partner for Khudobin after signing Holtby a couple of seasons ago and ended up stuck with too many goalies because it turned out no one wanted Khudobin.

They've also had a strange couple of seasons where they've had amazingly few injuries. It's kept the roster far more clogged up than most teams deal with.

 

[Johno]

All the big contracts line up with all the new ones, so it’s pretty great. There really isn’t an issue in the horizon with giving raises to the guys that deserve it.
For example Wyatt’s next contract kicks in the summer Benn’s/Faksa’s contracts end. Mush’s 4,5mil comes off when Robo needs a raise. Lindell/Suter contracts end the summer Otter needs a raise etc.

It’s all rather well thought out.

 

[RefalancheStillLose]

All the big contracts line up with all the new ones, so it’s pretty great. There really isn’t an issue in the horizon with giving raises to the guys that deserve it.
For example Wyatt’s next contract kicks in the summer Benn’s/Faksa’s contracts end. Mush’s 4,5mil comes off when Robo needs a raise. Lindell/Suter contracts end the summer Otter needs a raise etc.

It’s all rather well thought out.

If you look at it in the context of by the time Johnston needs a raise X is expiring, then it looks good, and they've done a great job staggering those raises.
When you look at the seasons themselves, and see we had so little space that we couldn't call up player a because of how little space we had until after a certain date (thankfully we had no injuries), even though it was painfully obvious player a would have made the roster better from day 1. Or the amount of cap-space we're pissing away on payers like Faksa and Suter It's a failure.

 

[LT]

If you look at it in the context of by the time Johnston needs a raise X is expiring, then it looks good, and they've done a great job staggering those raises.
When you look at the seasons themselves, and see we had so little space that we couldn't call up player a because of how little space we had until after a certain date (thankfully we had no injuries), even though it was painfully obvious player a would have made the roster better from day 1. Or the amount of cap-space we're pissing away on payers like Faksa and Suter It's a failure.

And yet if we had too much cap space, you'd probably be whining about how we aren't properly utilizing the resources available to us and are squandering the opportunity of having the space to make the team better.

Why does it also have to be black and white, success or failure? There are aspects that can be improved, sure, but for the most part Nill and co. have handled the cap masterfully.

This just seems like complaining for the sake of complaining. Expecting perfection, demanding zero mistakes, only ever leads to disappointment.

 

[Elysian]

If you look at it in the context of by the time Johnston needs a raise X is expiring, then it looks good, and they've done a great job staggering those raises.
When you look at the seasons themselves, and see we had so little space that we couldn't call up player a because of how little space we had until after a certain date (thankfully we had no injuries), even though it was painfully obvious player a would have made the roster better from day 1. Or the amount of cap-space we're pissing away on payers like Faksa and Suter It's a failure.

Hard to consider any of it a failure given we have a shot at #1 in the league.

 

[Johno]

If you look at it in the context of by the time Johnston needs a raise X is expiring, then it looks good, and they've done a great job staggering those raises.
When you look at the seasons themselves, and see we had so little space that we couldn't call up player a because of how little space we had until after a certain date (thankfully we had no injuries), even though it was painfully obvious player a would have made the roster better from day 1. Or the amount of cap-space we're pissing away on payers like Faksa and Suter It's a failure.

Sure it was tight along this season, but I’m in the minority that was happy about it. Not taking anything away from Stank, but realistically it was not a sure thing he would produce in the professionals. As much as we all wanted him to, it was never a sure thing, a very good likelihood, but never a sure thing. I’m happy with the Dadonov and Duchene signings. They made the team better and provided a safety net for the youngsters. And they worked with what they had to bring the young guys up as they deserved to.

 

[RefalancheStillLose]

Sure it was tight along this season, but I’m in the minority that was happy about it. Not taking anything away from Stank, but realistically it was not a sure thing he would produce in the professionals. As much as we all wanted him to, it was never a sure thing, a very good likelihood, but never a sure thing. I’m happy with the Dadonov and Duchene signings. They made the team better and provided a safety net for the youngsters. And they worked with what they had to bring the young guys up as they deserved to.

Everyone is thinking this is solely in context to Stankoven and this year.
It's not, it's just the latest example of it. This has been the trend for years, where better players are getting blocked for nothing but the cap is so f***ed that we can't fit them.
It's better than the years where we could have claimed a player on re-entry waivers but we had to trade for them a day later because we needed 100% of the cap instead of 50%

We are literally 2 seasons removed from putting our very obvious #1 goalie from the previous season in the AHL for his backup(aka the #3) and a UFA pickup.

The problem isn't the Duchene or Dadonov signings. It's keeping the Faksa, Dellandrea, Smith, Gurianov, Cogliano and Steel (who has been a surprising great UFA pickup in the context of the typical Nill depth quality signings) types around who are obviously behind in terms of talent. But because no cap space and none of them are exempt from waivers we get them nightly.
It's the having so little cap space from supposedly "masterful" cap gurus that if we'd a had 2 injuries we couldn't have recalled enough bodies for about half the season.
Vegas and Tampa are examples of masterful cap work.

We stagger our contacts will, which is great and sure they get and deserve credit for that.


The context of Stankoven, guy has been very obviously NHL ready for 2yrs. The "he's small" justification the FO floated was complete bullshit.

 

[RefalancheStillLose]

Hard to consider any of it a failure given we have a shot at #1 in the league.

In the context of this one season sure. You're right

 

[Troy McClure]

Everyone is thinking this is solely in context to Stankoven and this year.
It's not, it's just the latest example of it. This has been the trend for years, where better players are getting blocked for nothing but the cap is so f***ed that we can't fit them.
It's better than the years where we could have claimed a player on re-entry waivers but we had to trade for them a day later because we needed 100% of the cap instead of 50%

We are literally 2 seasons removed from putting our very obvious #1 goalie from the previous season in the AHL for his backup(aka the #3) and a UFA pickup.

The problem isn't the Duchene or Dadonov signings. It's keeping the Faksa, Dellandrea, Smith, Gurianov, Cogliano and Steel (who has been a surprising great UFA pickup in the context of the typical Nill depth quality signings) types around who are obviously behind in terms of talent. But because no cap space and none of them are exempt from waivers we get them nightly.
It's the having so little cap space from supposedly "masterful" cap gurus that if we'd a had 2 injuries we couldn't have recalled enough bodies for about half the season.
Vegas and Tampa are examples of masterful cap work.

We stagger our contacts will, which is great and sure they get and deserve credit for that.


The context of Stankoven, guy has been very obviously NHL ready for 2yrs. The "he's small" justification the FO floated was complete bullshit.

To be fair about Stankoven, he had no shot last season because Gaglardi wanted him for the Calder Cup run.

And the Khudobin misjudgement kept Oettinger in the AHL for a month, but it wasn't a big deal. It took a few weeks longer to clean up than they expected. I see it more of a player value error than a cap problem because they thought a team would want Khudobin.

 

[RefalancheStillLose]

To be fair about Stankoven, he had no shot last season because Gaglardi wanted him for the Calder Cup run.

And the Khudobin misjudgement kept Oettinger in the AHL for a month, but it wasn't a big deal. It took a few weeks longer to clean up than they expected. I see it more of a player value error than a cap problem because they thought a team would want Khudobin.

Yeah forgot about that.

That's a fair way to look at it, but I can't believe they could have really thought Khudobin had value to anyone.

 

[Troy McClure]

Yeah forgot about that.

That's a fair way to look at it, but I can't believe they could have really thought Khudobin had value to anyone.

Oh, I agree. Khudobin was a wonderful story during the bubble run, but I think the rest of the league knew better.

 

[FirstRowUpperDeck]

Everyone is thinking this is solely in context to Stankoven and this year.
It's not, it's just the latest example of it. This has been the trend for years, where better players are getting blocked for nothing but the cap is so f***ed that we can't fit them.
It's better than the years where we could have claimed a player on re-entry waivers but we had to trade for them a day later because we needed 100% of the cap instead of 50%

We are literally 2 seasons removed from putting our very obvious #1 goalie from the previous season in the AHL for his backup(aka the #3) and a UFA pickup.

The problem isn't the Duchene or Dadonov signings. It's keeping the Faksa, Dellandrea, Smith, Gurianov, Cogliano and Steel (who has been a surprising great UFA pickup in the context of the typical Nill depth quality signings) types around who are obviously behind in terms of talent. But because no cap space and none of them are exempt from waivers we get them nightly.
It's the having so little cap space from supposedly "masterful" cap gurus that if we'd a had 2 injuries we couldn't have recalled enough bodies for about half the season.
Vegas and Tampa are examples of masterful cap work.

We stagger our contacts will, which is great and sure they get and deserve credit for that.


The context of Stankoven, guy has been very obviously NHL ready for 2yrs. The "he's small" justification the FO floated was complete bullshit.

Conventional wisdom is to go with vets "in your window." 90% of GM's would do the same. Nill balances the now and the future quite well. Could he have brought up one more AHL guy last year (probably Stank)? Maybe, but 20-20 hindsight is easy. There really is a rookie learning curve (not as much as in the past, but still true) All it takes is one key mistake at the wrong time and it can cost a game or series. I know, I know, last year against LGV, it was Suter's lazy pass and Benn's meltdown that cost us. Statistically, it would be more likely to be a less experienced player.

With fans, no one is more popular than the exciting prospect we don't know that well. BTW, while Stank is now NHL ready, and it is great he has contributed as much as he has, I notice his initial hot streak has cooled off, but our expectations haven't. He still will get better.

I am sure all of us amateur GM's could put down our hotdog, go from stands to press box, and do 100% better than the GM who was considered by his peers as the GM of the year. He had us in the SC finals in 2020, the WC Finals last year, and primed to go deep this year. Oh, but not 110% of his moves have turned out perfect, so he's just a bum. Some of us are just too black and white in our fandom.

We hope they go deep....who will they emulate? Rangers PO performance where they took off, or the Boys, who always disappoint in the PO? Either way, Nill keeps them in a position to win, and it's on the players to do so.

 

[Sports2]

Disappointed to see the below. Not big on an environment that would enable some dummy to make no effort whatsoever to cover up that dumbass tattoo on the clock- not a big ask to see that everyone feels comfortable at work.

 

[Elysian]

Disappointed to see the below. Not big on an environment that would enable some dummy to make no effort whatsoever to cover up that dumbass tattoo on the clock- not a big ask to see that everyone feels comfortable at work.

View attachment 850864

Is that a 3% tattoo?

 

[Spotty 2 Hotty]

Is that a 3% tattoo?

Yeah. Is that a player or staff? I think I've seen Duchene usually in the stall between Robertson and Marchment, but it's obviously not him since he's in the picture.

 

[serp]

I think thats probably some equipment guy or training staff considering how he's dressed compared to the players.

 

[Zrhutch]

Don’t know the context but I know one of the training or equipment staff guys is ex military, so probably him


Edit: just looked it up. As Dale Hansen once said, I don't understand his world but I do understand that he's part of mine

 

[MrHeiskanen]

Yeah it is that new-ish guy who was a marine, there was a video feature on him recently. What is this 3% thing? Some weirdo group of military folks who think they can overthrow the government if needed or something? USA is so weird.