Confirmed Signing with Link: [WPG] Dmitry Kulikov (3 years, $4.33M AAV)

[Constable]

Mason was a steal but this is a bit pricey

 

[Rebels57]

Awful cap hit

 

[RustyCat]

The notoriously cautious Chevy & Co. went out and made moves to fill the teams glaring holes. Incumbents for the holes were well below average and specific needs were desired to replace them. Chevy got two above average players, not all-stars but good players, to fill those spots and make us competitive. It is what any fan has wanted. The Jets management is screwed if they do, screwed if they don't.

 

[tacogeoff]

Too much avv. Hopefully he can rebound to Florida form

 

[broinwhyteridge]

Mason is the 24th highest paid goalie in the NHL.

Can you name 23 goalies who are better than Mason? If not, how come you feel he's overpaid?

And before you start that list of 23 goalies, check out how Mason's numbers since he left Columbus rank league wide.

That sounds like a lot of work! Much easier to just slide in troll commentary from the sidelines.

 

[broinwhyteridge]

It's only a 3 year deal at $4.3m. Hardly an anchor contract. I'm surprised so many people are getting bent out of shape about it.

And someone is suggesting the Jets should "blow it up"? That's unreal. Haha. The Jets had 4 of the top 20 even strength scorers in the league last year; an 18 year old, a 20 year old, a 23 year old and a 30 year old. In addition to Scheifele, Laine, and Ehlers, they have loads of other young talent like Trouba, Morrissey, Connor, Roslovic, Lowry, Armia, Hellebuyck, Comrie, Vesalainen, Dano, etc. I'm not seeing the need to "blow it up".

People are just being idiot trolls. Either hate for the specific players or the Jets or both, or a need inside their insecurity ridden hearts to try and prop up their own team by diminishing another.

 

[Nithoniniel]

Too much avv. Hopefully he can rebound to Florida form

Let's hope so. As I see it, best case scenario is that last year was largely due to health reasons and he'll rebound to what he was in the prior years. Thing is, even in that scenario this is not a good contract. If he instead really has fallen off a cliff as badly as it seems, this is an utterly abysmal contract.

Like Mason for you guys though. Think he was the right guy to aim for, and I'd guess he'll help you into the playoffs, unless you run into an even worse injury situation than last year.

 

[BB88]

Let's hope so. As I see it, best case scenario is that last year was largely due to health reasons and he'll rebound to what he was in the prior years. Thing is, even in that scenario this is not a good contract. If he instead really has fallen off a cliff as badly as it seems, this is an utterly abysmal contract.

Like Mason for you guys though. Think he was the right guy to aim for, and I'd guess he'll help you into the playoffs, unless you run into an even worse injury situation than last year.

How is it a bad contract if he returns to Florida form?

 

[Nithoniniel]

How is it a bad contract if he returns to Florida form?

Not a good contract is not the same as a bad one. And I wasn't really a fan of him even then, and from what I've seen the analytics back that up.

Jets have good defenders for a top 4. They needed depth. They could have gone for serviceable depth guys instead of giving second pairing money to someone for playing bottom pairing, who also comes with tons of risk.

 

[BB88]

Not a good contract is not the same as a bad one. And I wasn't really a fan of him even then, and from what I've seen the analytics back that up.

Jets have good defenders for a top 4. They needed depth. They could have gone for serviceable depth guys instead of giving second pairing money to someone for playing bottom pairing, who also comes with tons of risk.

I believe Florida was a garbage stats team under Gallant?
I've watched ton of games from them over the last few years and saw Kulikov as definite top4.

If you can sign a 26y top4 from the market at 3x4 you got a good deal.
3 years buys some safety with Enstrom having one year left(may get 1 year extension) and Myers 2 years left. They also run into nightmare amount of injuries on defense last year.

 

[Nithoniniel]

I believe Florida was a garbage stats team under Gallant?
I've watched ton of games from them over the last few years and saw Kulikov as definite top4.

If you can sign a 26y top4 from the market at 3x4 you got a good deal.
3 years buys some safety with Enstrom having one year left(may get 1 year extension) and Myers 2 years left. They also run into nightmare amount of injuries on defense last year.

Sure, and Kulikov still managed to be a relative negative to that. But I don't want to discourage your opinion. Say you are right, and he's a top 4. Jets are still in that case signing a sixth top 4 D-man for term and money, who is coming off a season where he was arguably the worst player in the league relative to his role, and the main thing they achieve is getting depth.

To clarify what I said earlier, I'd say the best case scenario is an overkill. Getting someone like Pens did with Hunwick would have been ideal. Quality depth, no downside, manageable contract. The further you get from your position to mine, the more problematic the signing is. And then you have the risk that he continues where he left of this season, in which case you have a player with a $4M+ contract for three years who should be working his way out of the league.

In short, I see it as low reward, high risk that won't be used to good effect. At least two good D-men, still arguing from your case that Kulikov is, or can be, a good player, will be under-utilized. You didn't need 6 top 4 D-men, you needed extra depth on defense that you can rely on to be able to step in. I don't think you can say that about Kulikov.

 

[BB88]

Sure, and Kulikov still managed to be a relative negative to that. But I don't want to discourage your opinion. Say you are right, and he's a top 4. Jets are still in that case signing a sixth top 4 D-man for term and money, who is coming off a season where he was arguably the worst player in the league relative to his role, and the main thing they achieve is getting depth.

To clarify what I said earlier, I'd say the best case scenario is an overkill. Getting someone like Pens did with Hunwick would have been ideal. Quality depth, no downside, manageable contract. The further you get from your position to mine, the more problematic the signing is. And then you have the risk that he continues where he left of this season, in which case you have a player with a $4M+ contract for three years who should be working his way out of the league.

In short, I see it as low reward, high risk that won't be used to good effect. At least two good D-men, still arguing from your case that Kulikov is, or can be, a good player, will be under-utilized. You didn't need 6 top 4 D-men, you needed extra depth on defense that you can rely on to be able to step in. I don't think you can say that about Kulikov.

I guess we have to just disagree, I see the high potential on this, the risk as well.

Again because,
a) Jets were among the league leaders in injuries. Myers missed 71 games, Enstrom had a down year& missed 22 games, Trouba missed time outside of his hold out and their 3rd pair was a liability.

B) Enstrom has 1 year left, Myers has 2 years left, Jets D-prospect pool isn't the greatest at the moment, Niku/Stanley aren't NHL ready prospects.

I believe it was important to calm down the defense and get someone who can play top4 when the injuries happen and jump over Enstrom if he continues to decline and if they decide to let him go.

C) If there's 1 thing Chevy has done a great job it's cap and how contracts are running off the books.
https://www.capfriendly.com/teams/jets

They have 10.6 M cap space with a full roster. Matthias 2.125, Enstrom 5.750M are off the books after next year. Myers 5.5, Mason 4.1M+ Chiarot 1.4M are off the books in 2 years, as well as Stuart buy out.

Jets can afford to spent on quality short term and I believe it was important for them to again make that defense calmer& add quality and start playing to their potential.
So I don't feel just a max 3rd pair depth guy was going to be enough.

 

[Uncle Scrooge]

To clarify what I said earlier, I'd say the best case scenario is an overkill. Getting someone like Pens did with Hunwick would have been ideal. Quality depth, no downside, manageable contract.

The reason i like Kulikov more than players like Hunwick is that over the years he's shown the ability to play a top 4 role, and there's no question he's got skill. We need that from our back-end to support our forwards because that's where our strengths lie. And with the injuries we've had, you almost have to assume someone from the top 4 goes down and we need someone to step up. Let's not forget Kulikov averaged 21 mins per game for a Florida team that won the Atlantic just 2 years ago. He really focused on his defensive game the last couple of years in Florida.

But the reason he was drafted 14th overall was for his skating and offensive skills. According to him that side of his game has kind of been forgotten and i feel like we can bring it out in him in Winnipeg.

There's no getting around it, last year was tough for him. But a large part of that was a back injury he suffered in pre-season, and he played through it all year long. And honestly, last year's Buffalo was just a terrible fit for him IMO. Defense couldn't play any kind of transition game.

Kulikov is just 26 yrs old. If everything works out well and he fits in like i think he can and he starts the year healthy, i think he can play his best seasons here in Winnipeg.

And if it doesn't work out, the 3-year term makes it so that it won't screw us over. We're going to be fine with the cap for the next couple of years, and 3 years from now when Laine needs a new deal, we can always buy out Kulikov when he only has 1 yr left.

I've never been a big fan of Kulikov per se, but im kind of excited because of how the team have shaped up the last couple of years. I just think he's a good fit here.

But we'll see what happens.

 

[CanadianPantherFan]

Kulikov has a total brainfart game every 7-8 games or so. In saying that, if he limits his mistakes even further moving forward, be solid depth guy ..high as #4 guy with injury or two. You'll always want him to give more on PP2 unit or five on five, but not his game. If he keeps his above avg skating for next 2-3 seasons and is healthier than he was last season, decent signing.

Always have liked and defended Kuli when he was on my team. It took him a long time to mature into the hockey player he is now.

 

[HogtownSabresfan]

Kulikov has a total brainfart game every 7-8 games or so. In saying that, if he limits his mistakes even further moving forward, be solid depth guy ..high as #4 guy with injury or two. You'll always want him to give more on PP2 unit or five on five, but not his game. If he keeps his above avg skating for next 2-3 seasons and is healthier than he was last season, decent signing.

Always have liked and defended Kuli when he was on my team. It took him a long time to mature into the hockey player he is now.

The contract is a steal if he's healthy. There's no question about it. There's very little out there about his back? What is the status?

 

[BB88]

The contract is a steal if he's healthy. There's no question about it. There's very little out there about his back? What is the status?

Wheeler has been skating with him in Florida and Chevy said they had talks with Buffalos doctors.
So I guess they feel it's 100%.

 

[Daximus]

Wheeler has been skating with him in Florida and Chevy said they had talks with Buffalos doctors.
So I guess they feel it's 100%.

Scheifele made a comment about him looking better to didn't he? If those two think he is in good form and want him on the team then I'm all for it.

 

[Dubi Doo]

Risky signing. Kulikov looked great early on in Buffalo. He was a legit top-4 defenseman. Unfortunately injuries derailed his season, and he was terrible after returning from injury. If he plays like he did the first 15 or so games in Buffalo, then this is a solid singing.

 

[Hank Chinaski]

4.33 per seems terrible, much like 4.1 for Mason. Do the Jets have to pay that much more to get FAs to go there?

Fourth most highly taxed jurisdiction in the NHL after Ontario, Montreal and California. So...yes?

Kulikov at 4.33 is an overpayment, no question. Mason at 4.1? Nah.

 

[Redline]

Kulikov needs a big bounce back season. He was awful last season but could get back to where he was a few years ago in his early Panthers days. If not he's defensive depth.

 

[Beerz]

I think Kuli will be alright... I firmly believe his issues were back related last year.

 

[howkie]

I think Kuli will be alright... I firmly believe his issues were back related last year.

You can get him back if we get your new coach

I believe Bylsma plus back made his season very bad. I wounder if Bylsma will coach anytime soon??? (as head coach)

 

[I am not exposed]

Too much avv. Hopefully he can rebound to Florida form

If he plays like he did in his last couple of years in Florida, you'll have a good player at a good caphit. If he plays like he did in Buffalo, well good luck!

 

[Gabe Kupari]

Doesnt hurt that he trains with Wheeler and Scheifs. Its little things like that that make his transition easier. We will see what happens but.. As a Jets fan.. I like this trade. Hes better than chiarot and seems to be an ideal partner for Big Buff b

 

[Eyeseeing]

I think Kuli will be alright... I firmly believe his issues were back related last year.

And..... look who he is replacing .
That's why most Jets fans are ok with this