Why would either player waive? If you buy him out he becomes a free agent and can sign wherever he likes. Why waive and risk ending up in Vegas?
Speculation: Your 2016 Lightning offseason predictions
- Thread starter Todd1a
- Start date
Why would either player waive? If you buy him out he becomes a free agent and can sign wherever he likes. Why waive and risk ending up in Vegas?
To your first paragraph he'll give Hedman eight if that's what Hedman wants.
To your second, first of all "another strong year" implies that Sustr has had one in the first place. "Decent" is about the best you can say about him. It is incredibly unlikely that Sustr will establish himself as a top 4 defenseman, and considering Stralman was out for most of the postseason and clearly nowhere near 100% when he came back I don't see how anyone could hold that against him. If Stralman can't return to form AND Sustr shocks us all by becoming a legitimate top 4 defenseman then we'd probably protect the giraffe, but that's a pretty big "if".
Todd1a
Kucherov or prospect
Hedman is getting 8 years there is no replacement we can let Stamkos walk but no way we can let hedman walk.
Can I ask what you have to do to be an established top 4 defender? Sustr finished 3rd amongst defenseman in points and was averaging similar ice time to Coburn, just below Garrison, the 2nd half of the year.
Who knows who Vegas will target as we have no idea of the exposure list. But I wouldn't have a problem exposing Stralman. He'll have 2 years left on his deal and he'll be 33 going into the season we'd have to resign him for. Can't see him being around then if DeAngelo, Blujus and Sustr look like NHL defenders. I guess we can trade him before we lose him in an expansion draft, I'm just saying that Stralman along with Garrison and Coburn are just place holders right now. Stralman a bit more important to the team right now but can see him slipping the next few years. I don't have an attachment to him and wouldn't care if he stayed or went.
Todd1a
Kucherov or prospect
If Vegas picks stralman that does us a favor with the salary cap! I'd protect hedman, koekkoek and deangelo
Volodya Krutov
Lost Cosmonaut
- Jan 18, 2012
- 8,135
- 1,036
DeAngelo doesn't need to be protected. It'll come down to Stralman, the clear better player, or Sustr who's younger with some potential and a cheaper contract.
Might as well just sign Stamkos if you want to sign Eriksson. The reason we are letting Stamkos walk is his contract, Erikkson won't be as expensive but still too expensive for us. The only free agents in can see are a Matt Martin type 4th liner and a reclamation cheap 3rd liner like Stempniak was last year.
Todd1a
Kucherov or prospect
Volodya Krutov
Lost Cosmonaut
- Jan 18, 2012
- 8,135
- 1,036
What ? Eriksson is going to be something like $4M-$5M per year less expensive on a way shorter length than Stamkos and that would drastically improve our scoring depth. That's a bold prediction I admit, but still, re-signing Stamkos or getting Eriksson are two very different things salary cap-wise.
The expansion draft will be prior to July 1st when the new season kicks in. So he will technically not have played 2 full seasons, 2 seasons accumulated not physically played which will have happened. Guys like Blujus, Dotchin and Koekkoek will need to be since they'll be finishing their 3rd seasons.
It was reported that he wanted 6x6 from Boston. He'll be 31 soon you can't give that kind of term, he's not taking less than 5mil anyway. If we could jettison Callahan I'd bring him in but we don't need a top 6 wing anyway.
Todd1a
Kucherov or prospect
If he needs to be protected players like McDavid and Eichel will too, which I know for a fact they won't be. Someone like Nylander who played in the SHL over 10 games in the AHL then all this season will need to be protected. DeAngelo will be exempt.
That's because he was usually paired with Garrison in order to avoid the dumpster fire that is Carle-Sustr. Rather than put our two weakest defensemen together on the third line we chose to split them up so that each of them could be covered for by a better player. Sustr was at best fifth on our depth chart.
Wrong and wrong. DeAngelo will not require protection and unless Stralman falls off the cliff next season the older defensemen we will leave exposed will be Garrison and Coburn (assuming neither is moved before that point.)
When he got away from Carle he looked much better. It wasn't like Garrison had to carry him, he held his own and didn't look out place in the top 4. He played a lot on the PK and got not PP time, compared to Garrison and yet he outscored him significantly. The way he played toward the end of the year compared to everyone else I can see him being our 3rd best defender next year.
He is one of our better offensive defensemen (which isn't saying much) but he still has far too many brainfarts in his own zone. I no longer hate having him on the ice most of the time but there's no way I'd even think of losing Stralman for him unless Strals has a massive decline next season.
MMC
Global Moderator
Ducks fan here, what do you think Brayden Point's potential is and when do you think he makes the team?
LTIR Trickery
Plz stop pucks
LTIR Trickery
Plz stop pucks
Sustr? No. He looked a lot better because of the mess he was paired with, but his decision making is still really suspect. If he's our third best next year, we're in a heap of ****.
LightningStrikes
Champa Bay Lightning
- Nov 24, 2009
- 26,235
- 10,087
I agree. I mean of course there is still room for him to improve and looking at how much better he got compared to 2014-15 there's still a lot of hope and maybe potential. That said, we should view him as a solid enough 3rd pairing defenseman able to temporarily fill in on the 2nd pairing, not more. For now.
Maybe there's somebody out there, kinda like Brett Clark back in the days, a veteran with a decent cap hit, solid enough to fill the gap between the 2nd and 3rd pairing and able to take guys like Sustr or Koekkoek a bit under his wing.
