The 2019-2020 Off season thread

[Pirate Deadpool]

Ok this year GMGM and Mr Foley have some tough decisions.

Sadly we won't be able to bring back everyone and we'll likely lose 2 to 3 forwards, but with Glass, Gusev, and Zykov looking ready to make a contribution to the team, there shouldn't be a drop-off. But if we lose Eakin and Haula, I for one will be sad to see them go as Haula lost nearly the whole season to a gruesome injury and he surely was missed on the PP and Eakin went from one of last seasons weakest players to one of the better players on this year's team and if he's gone then he went out in the worst way imaginable with a call that no one will forget.

Hopefully we'll see some additions to shore up some weaknesses in the D corps as well as adding some scoring while keeping as many guys as possible.

I really hope that this stolen series pushes everyone harder in the off season. It should have never have come down to a game 7 with the way we dominated game 6 but had zero puck luck.

The good news is no matter what moves happen, the window should be open for awhile. And after next season, we have tons of cap space and players want to come here. I don't want to have to depend on free agency to build a team, but being a great destination for free agents is never a bad thing. Let's hope that several prospects and future draft picks can play at a high level and keep the playoff party going for many many years to come.

Click to read more...

 

[mundyc3]

Out: Bellemare, Miller, Clarkson, Carpenter, Pirri, Engelland (retirement) and maybe Haula or Eakin

In: Gusev, Glass, and some mix of Bischoff, Whitecloud, Hague, and Schuldt

 

[The Duck Knight]

The single biggest need is a top 4 dman to take Engelland's place. Not even really debatable.

The forwards are pretty cut and dry I think.

We're going to have a top 9 that looks like this when healthy-

WildCat Line
Patches-Stas-Stone
Gusev-Haula-Tuch


Slot in one of Hague/Whitecloud with Merrill. Miller and Eakin + Holden/Reaves are cap dumps. If Belle prices himself out find a cheap 4th line center that can win draws and kill penalties. See if there is an upgrade on Subban we can afford.

 

[LadyStanley]

I can see Engelland staying with organization, but in off ice position.

Vegas Golden Knights - CapFriendly - NHL Salary Caps

RFAs from NHL roster: Karlsson, Nosek, Gusev; Schuldt; Subban (+4 from AHL)
UFAs from NHL roster: Bellmare, Pirri, Carpenter (+6 from AHL)

 

[Pirate Deadpool]

Out: Bellemare, Miller, Clarkson, Carpenter, Pirri, Engelland (retirement) and maybe Haula or Eakin

In: Gusev, Glass, and some mix of Bischoff, Whitecloud, Hague, and Schuldt

I think your prediction will come close to what can be expected. Trading Miller and letting Engelland walk is tough as that means we are down 2 regulars in our lineup regardless of how bad they can be. Miller has some value has a right handed dman with a massive clapper and if he played like last season, we'd try to keep him instead of Merrill who took a big step forward in being a solid bottom line pairing guy. If Engelland feels that he wants to play another season and we don't offer him a 1 year extension at the same amount of money he will likely take playing over being moved into some position with the VGK Foundation and fans won't like it. I'm ok with him being our 7th dman, but if we can't find someone to take Holden, then forcing rookies into the lineup could hurt the team throughout the season and possibly the playoffs.

Trading Eakin and or Haula should get us a 2nd line dman right? I'd like to think that that's what they would get in return. I'm not too interested in settling for another year of a terrible bottom line pairing. But realistically, I think only 1 rookie dman will make the roster too. Having 2 seems like asking for trouble. Breaking 1 in seems much more reasonable. I remember Theodore's horrible game vs the caps in the finals where he made 2 or was it 3 pinches that lead to goals and I don't want to lean on more than 1 rookie if possible.

I think we'll be ok with Gusev and maybe Glass cracking the roster. Zykov might turn out to be a solid 3rd line forward when inserted in the lineup/healthy scratch type of depth player.

2020-2021 is free agentpalooza or trading for a really good player where needed. I haven't seen much of Doughty, but if he's still playing at a high level and the kings are in a rebuild, we could take on an elite dman. NM his cap hit is $11M. I think we could find someone younger and better in a trade.

While getting a better back up goalie would be nice, I think extending Subban wouldn't be the worst thing to do unless the team doesn't feel that the goalie of the future is in the organization and needs to acquire someone that could potentially start in the playoffs if Fleury shows real decline.

 

[HanSolo]

FWIW: we have the 17th overall pick in the draft. Unless Colorado I believe makes it to the conference finals, then I think they drop down to the last four spots and we move up one.

 

[Vegan Knight]

I think your prediction will come close to what can be expected. Trading Miller and letting Engelland walk is tough as that means we are down 2 regulars in our lineup regardless of how bad they can be. Miller has some value has a right handed dman with a massive clapper and if he played like last season, we'd try to keep him instead of Merrill who took a big step forward in being a solid bottom line pairing guy. If Engelland feels that he wants to play another season and we don't offer him a 1 year extension at the same amount of money he will likely take playing over being moved into some position with the VGK Foundation and fans won't like it. I'm ok with him being our 7th dman, but if we can't find someone to take Holden, then forcing rookies into the lineup could hurt the team throughout the season and possibly the playoffs.

Trading Eakin and or Haula should get us a 2nd line dman right? I'd like to think that that's what they would get in return. I'm not too interested in settling for another year of a terrible bottom line pairing. But realistically, I think only 1 rookie dman will make the roster too. Having 2 seems like asking for trouble. Breaking 1 in seems much more reasonable. I remember Theodore's horrible game vs the caps in the finals where he made 2 or was it 3 pinches that lead to goals and I don't want to lean on more than 1 rookie if possible.

I think we'll be ok with Gusev and maybe Glass cracking the roster. Zykov might turn out to be a solid 3rd line forward when inserted in the lineup/healthy scratch type of depth player.

2020-2021 is free agentpalooza or trading for a really good player where needed. I haven't seen much of Doughty, but if he's still playing at a high level and the kings are in a rebuild, we could take on an elite dman. NM his cap hit is $11M. I think we could find someone younger and better in a trade.

While getting a better back up goalie would be nice, I think extending Subban wouldn't be the worst thing to do unless the team doesn't feel that the goalie of the future is in the organization and needs to acquire someone that could potentially start in the playoffs if Fleury shows real decline.

Putting Miller with Schmidt and putting them on their normal sides of the ice could make a good top 4 pairing and bring out the best in Miller. McNabb and Theodore could be another top 4 and Schuldt and Whitecloud could be a bottom pair defense with Engelland as a seventh defense and Hague and Bischoff getting AHL to start the year and see if they can earn call ups.

You could also easily have eight defensemen on the roster and keep sending down a waiver exempt forward as needed.

They probably stick with Fleury and Subban and the top two lines we have. The third line probably is where Gusev and Glass get their opportunities and a cheap fourth line is what they need and extra forwards.

So, Eakin, Haula, Reaves, Bellemare, Merrill and Holden out and trading Clarkson.

Gusev, Glass, Zykov, Mikheyev, Schuldt, Whitecloud, maybe Hague in.

 

[Vegan Knight]

FWIW: we have the 17th overall pick in the draft. Unless Colorado I believe makes it to the conference finals, then I think they drop down to the last four spots and we move up one.

I thought it went by round eliminated and we got 16th and 47th.

 

[HanSolo]

I thought it went by round eliminated and we got 16th and 47th.

Maybe I'm thinking of ancient rules. All I know for sure is that the Finalists pick 30th and 31st.

Idk. Tankathon has us at 17th overall.

 

[The Duck Knight]

Putting Miller with Schmidt and putting them on their normal sides of the ice could make a good top 4 pairing and bring out the best in Miller. McNabb and Theodore could be another top 4 and Schuldt and Whitecloud could be a bottom pair defense with Engelland as a seventh defense and Hague and Bischoff getting AHL to start the year and see if they can earn call ups.

You could also easily have eight defensemen on the roster and keep sending down a waiver exempt forward as needed.

They probably stick with Fleury and Subban and the top two lines we have. The third line probably is where Gusev and Glass get their opportunities and a cheap fourth line is what they need and extra forwards.

So, Eakin, Haula, Reaves, Bellemare, Merrill and Holden out and trading Clarkson.

Gusev, Glass, Zykov, Mikheyev, Schuldt, Whitecloud, maybe Hague in.

Injecting that much youth to replace proven vets is just asking for trouble. Not too mention thinking Miller going from getting the most sheltered matchups on a nightly basis to being on the shutdown pair is going to suddenly make him a better player. I think Gusev will be on the 3rd line and one of the kids will be on the 3rd pair with Merrill. Glass would have to force his way on the squad. Zykov will be one of the extra forwards who can play up and down the lineup. They just need to find vets to fill the 4c and 2RD spots. I have no idea where they go for such a defensemen though. Too pissed to really dive deep into numbers at the moment, but I think they're gonna need to allocate 3-4m for the type of dman we need.

 

[Vegan Knight]

Injecting that much youth to replace proven vets is just asking for trouble. Not too mention thinking Miller going from getting the most sheltered matchups on a nightly basis to being on the shutdown pair is going to suddenly make him a better player. I think Gusev will be on the 3rd line and one of the kids will be on the 3rd pair with Merrill. Glass would have to force his way on the squad. Zykov will be one of the extra forwards who can play up and down the lineup. They just need to find vets to fill the 4c and 2RD spots. I have no idea where they go for such a defensemen though. Too pissed to really dive deep into numbers at the moment, but I think they're gonna need to allocate 3-4m for the type of dman we need.

I think Miller got some hard matchups this series and performed admirably with Merrill. I was often surprised who they were out there against.

I think the benching lit a fire under him because he seemed to be more defensively responsible and I would count as one of the players who most showed up in the playoffs.

Letting Schmidt watch out for him defensively as he provides offense could be something to try since we are already paying him 4M. And he would be trying to replace Engelland who had his own defensive lapses and doesn't have the puck moving skills to somewhat lessen the effects of those mistakes.

 

[HanSolo]

Injecting that much youth to replace proven vets is just asking for trouble. Not too mention thinking Miller going from getting the most sheltered matchups on a nightly basis to being on the shutdown pair is going to suddenly make him a better player. I think Gusev will be on the 3rd line and one of the kids will be on the 3rd pair with Merrill. Glass would have to force his way on the squad. Zykov will be one of the extra forwards who can play up and down the lineup. They just need to find vets to fill the 4c and 2RD spots. I have no idea where they go for such a defensemen though. Too pissed to really dive deep into numbers at the moment, but I think they're gonna need to allocate 3-4m for the type of dman we need.

As pissed as I've been at Miller throughout the year, he was solid in this series. He made some tremendous defensive plays up and down the whole thing. I mean hell, I did defenseman power rankings all year, might as well do one last one.

Theodore (2OT aside, and I still think he thought the incoming shot would be stoppable, he was our best defenseman and I think it showed in his deployment and performance in this OT. Best puck moving defenseman, if not puck moving player (Stone is up there) and was in my view the most reliable at suppressing oncoming chances)

Miller (I mean what can I say, the dude was steady, he didn't many make many glaring mistakes. His passing in transition left something to be desired at times, but that's in gauging him against Theodore which isn't really fair.)

McNabb (stupid penalties and a few defensive mistakes here and there he had a handful of really terrific defensive plays. He saved at least two goals by sacrificing the body)

Schmidt (This might seem like blasphemy but I was actually kind of disappointed in him. He wasn't atrocious but he got beat to the outside and ended up chasing a lot more than usual, he made some bad pinches, his passing wasn't great. He had his steady moments but I expected a lot more out of him.)

Merrill (had many stretches of truly solid defensive play but of the defensive mistakes...well Engelland had the most, but two of Merrill's were absolutely the worst. The one where he just stood to Fleury's right wing as San Jose scored was maddening. He wasn't defending anything in that moment and made no effort to get in position. Also the goal SJ scored with him parking his back right in Fleury's face is an image I can't get out of my head.)

Engelland (also, had some stretches here and there of very competent defensive play but he had the most costly defensive errors and most led to goals against. Say what you will about not rushing the kids in, Engo needs to hang em up. Another five months is only gonna make him slower, and it's time.)

Holden (only played one game, but my god was he terrible. How long is he still contracted for again?)

 

[cheech70]

UM did I miss something? Was it a crosscheck to the upper body and ref thought it was to the head?

 

[The Duck Knight]

UM did I miss something? Was it a crosscheck to the upper body and ref thought it was to the head?

Nope you got the gist of it. So congrats you're more qualified to officiate NHL hockey games than most of the guys that get paid to currently.

 

[hangman005]

As pissed as I've been at Miller throughout the year, he was solid in this series. He made some tremendous defensive plays up and down the whole thing. I mean hell, I did defenseman power rankings all year, might as well do one last one.

Theodore (2OT aside, and I still think he thought the incoming shot would be stoppable, he was our best defenseman and I think it showed in his deployment and performance in this OT. Best puck moving defenseman, if not puck moving player (Stone is up there) and was in my view the most reliable at suppressing oncoming chances)

Miller (I mean what can I say, the dude was steady, he didn't many make many glaring mistakes. His passing in transition left something to be desired at times, but that's in gauging him against Theodore which isn't really fair.)

McNabb (stupid penalties and a few defensive mistakes here and there he had a handful of really terrific defensive plays. He saved at least two goals by sacrificing the body)

Schmidt (This might seem like blasphemy but I was actually kind of disappointed in him. He wasn't atrocious but he got beat to the outside and ended up chasing a lot more than usual, he made some bad pinches, his passing wasn't great. He had his steady moments but I expected a lot more out of him.)

Merrill (had many stretches of truly solid defensive play but of the defensive mistakes...well Engelland had the most, but two of Merrill's were absolutely the worst. The one where he just stood to Fleury's right wing as San Jose scored was maddening. He wasn't defending anything in that moment and made no effort to get in position. Also the goal SJ scored with him parking his back right in Fleury's face is an image I can't get out of my head.)

Engelland (also, had some stretches here and there of very competent defensive play but he had the most costly defensive errors and most led to goals against. Say what you will about not rushing the kids in, Engo needs to hang em up. Another five months is only gonna make him slower, and it's time.)

Holden (only played one game, but my god was he terrible. How long is he still contracted for again?)

I've said it a few times, but I wouldn't have qualms about bringing Engo back as a 7th D. I wouldn't want him playing regularly, if D suffered a long term injury, he'd be sharing the load with whomever we call up. But if he does hang them up, I think he'll contribute lots of the ice aswell.

 

[The Duck Knight]

I've said it a few times, but I wouldn't have qualms about bringing Engo back as a 7th D. I wouldn't want him playing regularly, if D suffered a long term injury, he'd be sharing the load with whomever we call up. But if he does hang them up, I think he'll contribute lots of the ice aswell.

Engelland as the 7 would be fine, but I've yet to see any indication they view him as that type of player. All I have to go off is his usage which was clearly above his abilities last year and monumentally worse this year.

 

[Vegan Knight]

I've said it a few times, but I wouldn't have qualms about bringing Engo back as a 7th D. I wouldn't want him playing regularly, if D suffered a long term injury, he'd be sharing the load with whomever we call up. But if he does hang them up, I think he'll contribute lots of the ice aswell.

It might be sentimental but we would surely have plenty of waiver exempt forwards and defensemen to be able to carry eight defensemen and he could be valuable for a veteran, well rested presence if injuries while being a solid enough bottom pair replacement for less gamesgame resting players.

And he could be a bit of an extra coach in practice.

 

[hangman005]

Engelland as the 7 would be fine, but I've yet to see any indication they view him as that type of player. All I have to go off is his usage which was clearly above his abilities last year and monumentally worse this year.

Ideally if we could suck the youth out of a Holden (or someone even younger), and inject it into Engo, I think that'd be Ideal.

 

[The Duck Knight]

Ideally if we could suck the youth out of a Holden (or someone even younger), and inject it into Engo, I think that'd be Ideal.

I'm 27, take my youth. That game rose my blood pressure to dangerously high levels anyways. I won't survive another screwjob like that. I can handle playoff heartbreaks when I see them coming a mile away *coughDuckscough*.

 

[hangman005]

I'm 27, take my youth. That game rose my blood pressure to dangerously high levels anyways. I won't survive another screwjob like that. I can handle playoff heartbreaks when I see them coming a mile away *coughDuckscough*.

I used to be a Flames fan, so I'm used to going out in the first round.... but not like this.

 

[The Duck Knight]

I used to be a Flames fan, so I'm used to going out in the first round.... but not like this.

And now I suddenly feel bad for your misfortune given that I'm a Ducks fan.

 

[hangman005]

And now I suddenly feel bad for your misfortune given that I'm a Ducks fan.

Damn the Honda center lol

 

[HanSolo]

And now I suddenly feel bad for your misfortune given that I'm a Ducks fan.

I mean. We did get our f***ing asses handed to us by the Sharks in four last year.

I went into that series pretty much without hope but I didn't think it would be that bad of a whopping. That was as clear a sign as any about what kind of year the Carlyle Ducks would have. Though it seemed pretty obvious to me from the way Gibson was dragging that overachieving team into the playoffs.

 

[The Duck Knight]

Damn the Honda center lol

At least it's nice and cheap.

For one Knights game I could go to 5 at the Ponda.

 

[LadyStanley]

I thought it went by round eliminated and we got 16th and 47th.

1-15 picks (excluding impact of lottery which only is for first round) are reverse order of finish for the season.

The rest of the order is set based on finish in RS and/or playoff finish. Division RS winners are nominally higher/later than non-division winners.

But IIRC, the last four spots are reserved for conference finalists, SCF loser, SCF winner, respectively. (So in 2018, VGK picked 30th overall as the SCF loser)