Majority of mock drafts I've seen have one of Grigorenko, Soderberg, or Andrighetto taken which are all fine.
Majority of mock drafts I've seen have one of Grigorenko, Soderberg, or Andrighetto taken which are all fine.
The hate for Picks is surprisingly amusing. You guys realize his numbers this year were better than Varly's, right?
This year, he had just over double the games (and starts) that Varly did. But he won well more than double the games, lost less than double. He gave up less than double the goals, and had better save percentage. Double the shutouts as well.
Yes, he had a crap season. But it was still better than Varly's. Just like last year. And the year before. So the injury excuse is null...Varly has not been injured for 3 years straight. If he has, then that is part of what folks need to factor into his evaluation. Mainly because surgery in not that likely to be a permanent fix...at some point, that groin is going to shred again.
Picks was not good, and he surely part of the reason for the horrible season. But to blindly believe that Varly would have been better, despite the available evidence is asinine. I sincerely hope that next year, Varly proves me wrong...but until then, I will remain skeptical.
That said, protecting Varly is the right move...surgery or no, he is much more likely to be taken over one of our crap forwards due to trade value.
I don't think it's hate, I think it's just the truth. We can't go into next season with Pickard as our #1 and he made it a relatively easy decision to protect Varly. Picks still has potential, but he isn't a #1 goalie yet and we'd be in trouble if he was our starter next season when we're not a great team to begin with.
I would not be chill losing ghetto especially if next season is another throw away. Losing Grigs or Soda I'm fine with. I rather it be Blake Como.
We have plenty of forwards under contract to expose.
If they buyout Beauchemin, they can go the 7F 3D route and protect Ghetto, Nieto, and two other forwards.
Sakic alluded to being in a position to make some moves before the draft. They could acquire some assets by taking a couple forwards that need to be protected.
Not at all expecting a Beauchemin buy out
Not at all expecting a Beauchemin buy out
I wasn't either but the more I think about it, the more it makes way too much sense, that they'd be stupid not to.
First they pay $3M over two years with a buyout, instead of $4M over one, so they save $1.5M. That means if they replace him with someone like Bigras in the lineup, they still save $600k+. So the Kroenke's won't object to this financially.
Also, there's no cap hit savings since he was 35+, so the cap hit doesn't extend past next year either. The $4m falls off at the same time as if they keep him.
So it comes down to whether they'd rather keep an aging Beauchemin who's probably not even good enough for a bottom pairing role, just out of respect, and also lose one of Nieto or Andrighetto?
Or do they want to be able to keep both Nieto and Ghetto, trade for two other forwards under contract, and either get cheap prices on good players, or gain assets on top of them from a team that absolutely have to move them.
It really should be a no brainer, but you're right. We'll have to see whether Sakic can make a no brainer decision like that.
Hadn't thought about them actually saving 1.5M, especially because when you buy him out on CF it just gives you a 4.5M cap hit for next season. How sure are you about that being split over a couple of years?
I wrote $4M, but I meant $4.5M. It's a $1.5M savings, because buyouts are 2/3 the total cost spread out over twice the remaining length. So they only pay him $3M total ($1.5m twice).
Just like Stuart though, the cap hit is the same $4.5M next year, and then it falls off.
https://www.capfriendly.com/buyout_calculator/francois-beauchemin