Proposal: You're the new GM of the Florida Panthers, what do you do?

[TheImpatientPanther]

The Panthers are currently interviewing for their new GM in over a decade, you somehow stumble yourself into the role.
We should be getting some news on the GM update soon, just figured it'd be fun for you take a turn at running this team.​

1) Do you burn it to the ground and go full re-build, trading at least 2 of Barkov, Ekblad and Huberdeau?
You do need some money on the ledger to reach the floor so trading all 3 seems a bit much but if you can make it work, go ahead.
Who of the main 3 would you not want to trade?

OR

2) Do you make 2-3 moves whether through trade/free agency and continue with the core they currently have?
Trading some 1sts or some of the prospects to bring players in now?
Do you re-sign Hoffman or Dadonov or let both walk?
Trying to ship some out of the defense to alter the look?
We did spend the most on defense and it was bottom 5.

FORWARDS:


DEFENSE AND GOALIES:


FOWARD PROSPECTS:


DEFENSE PROSPECTS:


CAP SPACE:


Try to be somewhat realistic if you do trade whether option 1 or 2.
Feel free to find a middle ground of both options if possible?​

Click to read more...

 

[Ryuji Yamazaki]

Option 1 easily. Huberdeau gone for sure, and either Barkov or Ekblad for the second one, depending on the return.

Tallon did a pathetic job with this team. It’s honestly a shame that he couldn’t come up with ONE playoff series win in 10 f***ing years.

 

[pantherbot]

Depends.... How much support do we get from owners? What's the budget? Do we need to make the playoffs or the team moves? I think what the owners want will dictate a lot of our next moves for better or worse.

 

[Dnigly13]

Assuming you have the budget you trade yandle and maybe Math. Use the cap space and some picks to trade for a 2C, a scorer, and a second line D.
Huby-Barkov-Tippett
Scorer from trade -2C from trade -Connelly
Vetrano-wallmark-Hunt
Seerla-Accari-Sceviour

try to get Denny up for second half and push Connelly down to 3rd line.

weeger-ekblad
Trade/math - stralman/stillman
Stralman/stillman -keeper/brown/prospect

 

[Mogo]

Only thing I know for sure. You blow up that defense and keep Ekblad, Weegar and Stillman

Up front I want to see half of it change. The personal with no interest in playing actual hockey gone. I'm not even against trading Barkov. I'd keep Huberdeau, Acciari, Tippett, Denisenko the rest are scrubs. Vatrano could fetch something with his contract. I like the kid but so inconsistant in his play style. Connelly looks and moves like a 50 year old. Wallmark, Hunt, Sceviour, Saarela are a dime in a dozen.

 

[letsgrowcactus]

Re-stock my alcohol cabinet.
Look at team roster, past results, team cap.
Open item 1 from alcohol cabinet.

...

Otherwise, option 3. Let's face it, Huberdeau's not re-signing so trade him; then pray Barkov's loyal enough and keep him. Keep Ekblad too. Try to get rid of Matheson. See what are the options around moving Yandle, Strallman. Restructure middle 6. Sacrifice some small animals and hope Good!Bob shows up next year.

 

[Mogo]

Re-stock my alcohol cabinet.
Look at team roster, past results, team cap.
Open item 1 from alcohol cabinet.

...

Otherwise, option 3. Let's face it, Huberdeau's not re-signing so trade him; then pray Barkov's loyal enough and keep him. Keep Ekblad too. Try to get rid of Matheson. See what are the options around moving Yandle, Strallman. Restructure middle 6. Sacrifice some small animals and hope Good!Bob shows up next year.

Huberdeau has 3 years left and Barkov 2

 

[Pigge]

I'd build on the existing core. There's no rush to win, so the season can be spent with a focus on learning to win more consistently and looking for external opportunities to present themselves along the way.

1. Re-sign all the RFA.
2. Let Dadonov and Pysyk walk.
3. Try to keep Hoffman for less than $6.5M.
4. Try to keep Haula for less than $3M.
5. Try to sign Janmark from Dallas (they can't afford to keep him, right?) for less than $3.5M.
6. Hope that all the young players develop a bit.

I'm a bit more optimistic than most, but I think there is a lot of untapped potential in the team. Q just needs to make it work. One thing that I think the team needs is to separate Huberdeau and Barkov successfully. They are both good at making the players around them better, and I think there's more potential when they each do it separately. Unfortunately they have struggled to succeed on their own at the same time so far. E.g. when Huberdeau turned Acciari into a scoring machine, Barkov and Dadonov disappeared.

I also think that the problems on defense are primarily caused by the forwards. A couple defensemen are obviously more skilled on offense, but they are not the problem. The forward lines need to be more balanced so they can perform in all three zones.

So, my pretty modest dream would look like this:
Janmark-Barkov-Connolly
Huberdeau-Haula-Acciari/Tippett
Hoffman-Wallmark-Vatrano
Hunt-Toninato-Sceviour/Acciari

Weegar-Ekblad
Matheson/Stillman-Stralman
Yandle-Brown

Obviously Saarela could fit in somewhere, as well as Denisenko and one or two of the guys going home to Finland. I would also like Abols to push for 4th line C at some point.

 

[SimbaThePanther]

I would likely hold onto our top core guys in Barkov, Huberdeau and Ekblad and build around that. Sign Hoffman at most to 6.5 maybe 7, both he and Dadonov are streaky players but I feel Hoff offers more up front in the end. We don't have much in terms of trades on this team to be honest unless we rid ourselves of all those three big guys and start over from scratch. I would likely get Yandle off the team if at all possible to add someone on the forward side. We desperately need someone else that can play a good two way game. Not sure giving Wallmark second line and I'm still unsure if Borgström can do the job as well. If we can keep Haula would be OK with that for the short term. Don't think we can move Matheson and I would never want to retain on that many years. And to be really honest, during the regular season he did alright, his biggest downside is he can have these crazy bad games from time to time (see the play-in series as example) which will lower his value on the market even more. Yandle at least offers more production, just his contract will bring down his value.

If you can fit Saarela in, good, but I think he would be wasted on the 4th line. As long as you can move things around so you don't end up with a line of Vatrano-Saarela-Connolly! Got to move up Tippett for either 1st line or 2nd line. I just think trading Ekblad would be dumb as he is finally starting to live up to his potential, a lot more solid on the back and and puts up points. He will likely only get better. Barkov is our best C by a mile and trading him away we would not only need a new 1C but likely still need a proper 2C, can't see that happeing with players currently on the team. The only one that could be up for sale is Huberdeau, but we would need to fetch something really good for me to trade him away as he is our best playmaker by a mile! At the very least a proper 2C, wing playmaker and top 4 Dman it would have to be for sure. Trading 2 or 3 of those guys likely means a clean slate and a new complete re-build. I rather want a re-tool, but with that you do NOT trade your top 3 players.

 

[TheImpatientPanther]

Depends.... How much support do we get from owners? What's the budget? Do we need to make the playoffs or the team moves? I think what the owners want will dictate a lot of our next moves for better or worse.

They give you a 3 year deal and carte blanche to do as you see fit for the best avenue to success for the franchise

 

[16Skippy]

Option 2 or 3 depending on what happens with Hoffman and Dadanov. If we go Option 1 the team probably relocates.

 

[pantherbot]

They give you a 3 year deal and carte blanche to do as you see fit for the best avenue to success for the franchise

Ok 3-year deal I'm assuming I need to have some playoff success. I won't go through exact trades since it's always hard to tell what we can get back.

Trade Yandle. There's an argument to be made he has some value...I'll assume we don't need to give up anything to trade him and have to retain $1M.

Keep Matheson until free agency. If someone is available, like Dillon or Tanev, I jump all over that and eject Matheson. I think Dillon/Tanev get a similar salary to Matheson in the $5M range, and we retain $1M for Matheson.

Re-sign Weegs at $3.5M/year, which I think is fair given his performance and injury history combo.

Don't sign Hoff or Dads and use the money to sign Hall for $10M/year. Hall is good enough to run his own line, which helps us with the problem of no legit second line center.

The rest of the spots get filled with the kids. Tippet and Denisenko get top-2 line duties. I'd open the competition up, so maybe Borg/Hepo can get the chance to prove something. Saarela gets a spot on 2nd line with Hall. Hunt finally gets rewarded with big league minutes. Bring in Wallmark/Eetu see what they've got. I'm thinking the infusion of kids should help change the dynamic, our core guys are old enough now to be the veterans, time to bring some excitement to the roster.

Cap hit is just over $77M, so there's another $4M to plug any holes or if we have to pay up more for Hall/Dillon. Maybe bring back Haula in the 2C role, but I'd personally rather keep the cap space in case we can use it later. Having Hall also gives us an option if/when Huber leaves us. Shouldn't be a problem for re-signing Barkov as Stralman contract done by then and cap should go up. Based on the projection, we'd have $49.5M used cap space in 2022/23, if the cap goes up by then to say...$85-90M, that gives us a lot of room to maneuver. Also no problems for the expansion draft that I can see.

Not my preferred route, as I'd rather go full re-build, and I don't think Hall/Dillon would come here...but this team would be fun to watch.

 

[violaswallet]

Ooh, nice idea (as I let code run).

With our current players/prospects:

(1) Huberdeau-Barkov-?
(2)Connolly-?-Tippett
(3) Vatrano-Wallmark-Denisenko/Saarela
(4) ?-Acciari-Scevs

I'm not sure if Deni is ready, but I'm excited for him

(1) Ekblad-Weegs
(2) Stralman-Stillman
(3) Yandle-?

(1) Bob
(2) Dreidger

I assume Weegs is re-signed for 4 years X 4.5.

I see four main moves I'd make (based on trade board):

1. MAtheson for Turris (plus extras) [Total cap hit=+1.25M]
2. Puju for Borgstrom+3rd (conditional 2nd if Puju scores 15 goals) [Cap equal]
3. Hjalmarsson for 2020 2nd+Colorado 3rd [Note that his contract is up at end of year so we don't need to protect]
4. Re-sign Pysyk for 1.5M

We then have:

(1) Huberdeau-Barkov-Tippett
(2)Connolly-Turris-Saarela
(3) Vatrano-Wallmark-Puju
(4) Pysyk-Acciari-Scevs
Toni re-signed for 13th player
(1) Ekblad-Weegs
(2) Stralman-Hjalmarsson
(3) Yandle-Stillman
Brown/Priskie as 7th

Why no Denisenko? I want to give him time to develop, but he would be the next man up. I think the Vatrano-Wallmark-Puljarvi line would be tough to defend against.

No Hoffman? I like him a lot, but I'm not sure if we can afford him. Here is the roster:

​

 

[ShootIt]

I didn't see the option for coke and strippers so I guess quit.

Option 2 for me. This team can't survive another rebuild, or a GM that thinks his prospects/picks are worth their weight in gold.
Be aggressive, but not stupid, and try a shot at getting this team into the playoffs at the very least before the core 2nd contracts expire.

I felt Tallon was really bad in free agency. Targeting older players and giving too long of deals.
I know Florida isn't the hockey mecca, so players aren't dying to play here but he was stupid with money.

I would try to build the team via trades. If you got to dangle a top 10 prospect to get proven guys(cap casualties or team retooling) you do it with maybe 1 or 2 exceptions.

 

[KW]

Sit down with Q, make sure he understands that he needs to stop being a friendly grandpa and to give it his all.

Talk to Barkov, make sure he understands that he needs to get more physical, train to get faster, to shoot more and to be a more vocal leader who doesn’t settle for second best. He’s got 2 years to prove it.

Talk to Hubie and Ek, almost the same talk. The carrot to all three is that there will be changes and the team will get better.

Talk to Bob, give him the carrot first, that defense will improve, and then the requirement that he can’t have a single year like the past one.

Look to re-sign Hoffman. Look to have Tippett and Denisenko in the lineup.

With the core done, work to trade or let go of (as applicable) the following. Yandle. Matheson*. Stralman. Brown. Connolly. Scevior. Boyle. Haula. Toninato. Pysyk. Montembeault. Get skill, speed and some muscle.

If need to make trades happen, willing to also trade Vatrano, Walmark, Hunt, Borgstrom.

Look to bring up young, fast, skilled, hockey-IQ players, and draft the same.

 

[Mogo]

Ooh, nice idea (as I let code run).

With our current players/prospects:

(1) Huberdeau-Barkov-?
(2)Connolly-?-Tippett
(3) Vatrano-Wallmark-Denisenko/Saarela
(4) ?-Acciari-Scevs

I'm not sure if Deni is ready, but I'm excited for him

(1) Ekblad-Weegs
(2) Stralman-Stillman
(3) Yandle-?

(1) Bob
(2) Dreidger

I assume Weegs is re-signed for 4 years X 4.5.

I see four main moves I'd make (based on trade board):

1. MAtheson for Turris (plus extras) [Total cap hit=+1.25M]
2. Puju for Borgstrom+3rd (conditional 2nd if Puju scores 15 goals) [Cap equal]
3. Hjalmarsson for 2020 2nd+Colorado 3rd [Note that his contract is up at end of year so we don't need to protect]
4. Re-sign Pysyk for 1.5M

We then have:

(1) Huberdeau-Barkov-Tippett
(2)Connolly-Turris-Saarela
(3) Vatrano-Wallmark-Puju
(4) Pysyk-Acciari-Scevs
Toni re-signed for 13th player
(1) Ekblad-Weegs
(2) Stralman-Hjalmarsson
(3) Yandle-Stillman
Brown/Priskie as 7th

Why no Denisenko? I want to give him time to develop, but he would be the next man up. I think the Vatrano-Wallmark-Puljarvi line would be tough to defend against.

No Hoffman? I like him a lot, but I'm not sure if we can afford him. Here is the roster:
View attachment 364558​

That's a horrible lineup. Turris is done. Juho Lammikko outplayed Puljujärvi on the same team in Finland last season

 

[FrolikFan67]

Key goals: moving Yandle and/or matheson

In moving those bad contracts some salary will need to be taken back, do so and build a more physically imposing bottom-6 (Acciari is the only must keep) or potentially acquire an overpaid 2nd line center

if he can return a legit top pairing LD, then I would trade Huberdeau for that (assuming age is within reason).

Re-sign Weegar to a 3-5yr deal (depending on aav) and sign a defensively reliable D to pair with him on the 2nd.

re-sign Barkov after next season

draft Quinn or Mercer if available at 12, or trade it if I can acquire that 2nd pairing D mentioned earlier.

In short, move out Yandle and matheson are priorities number one and two. Rebuild the D by moving those guys and trying to acquire a legit top pairing partner for Ekblad. Add more muscle and grit to the bottom-6. Keep Barkov and build winger depth through the draft (already have Tippett and Denisenko and could potentially add someone like Quinn). Lay-off dumb longer term signings for the top-6 if they’re not a good fit and get by with a good but overpaid player on a shorter deal, say for that 2nd line role

 

[Rowlet]

Can you guys just pay Pietrangelo 11 million a year please? That'll really speed up the rebuild

 

[KW]

Can you guys just pay Pietrangelo 11 million a year please? That'll really speed up the rebuild

LOL.

 

[Pigge]

Talk to Barkov, make sure he understands that he needs to get more physical, train to get faster, to shoot more and to be a more vocal leader who doesn’t settle for second best. He’s got 2 years to prove it.

I think this old-school M.O. is a way for bad teams to stay bad. The more modern management is not to force a player to be something he is not, but to maximize his value by understanding what he is and which areas he can and wants to develop. Jagr was a wonderful role-model for these kids. He worked his butt off to be the best lumbering dangler and that worked out pretty well for him and his teams.

Key goals: moving Yandle and/or matheson

It's rare that roster moves on the Panthers are made because someone lower in the depth chart is earning more ice-time, but because the higher ones earn less. This is part of why I don't want to immediately boot these guys, because I want the younger players to have to push them out rather than just sit around and wait for their turn when a spot opens.

 

[Jean Luc Discard]

It's rare that roster moves on the Panthers are made because someone lower in the depth chart is earning more ice-time, but because the higher ones earn less. This is part of why I don't want to immediately boot these guys, because I want the younger players to have to push them out rather than just sit around and wait for their turn when a spot opens.

The mgmt probably didn't envision that these guys would fall from the face of the earth in regards to the level of commitment they showed by signing to their respective contracts. Thus they didn't, alongside of not drafting well enough, invest into any insurance policy by drafting promising LDs. Yandle and Matheson are playing themselves out of the lineup. Here's a neat little exercise: how does one come to the conclusion that e.g. Yandle is a $6.35mil dman if you didn't know a single thing about him? Like, if the mgmt just bought this unknown guy from the FA market with a try-out contract and he had to prove his worth on the ice for Q instead of basing the judgement on his track record. The answer would be that he's some AHL-level player who's probably the least physically engaged dman in the league and he makes glaring mistakes like he finds himself constantly on the wrong side of the puck. Q would have to conclude that there's no way this team is going to win games with this guy on the roster and thus there's no way he couldn't get a contract he has right now. Yandle is relic who wasn't even a good dman in the past, he just was able to take advantage of lesser competition in the Yotes org and drive up his individual stats by getting fed PP minutes. Matheson is kinda similar, he's got the tools to be a good dman but he just makes too many mistakes.

 

[Prominence Problem]

Quickly resign and look for another job.

 

[I am not exposed]

Get the KGB to take out Bob.

 

[I am not exposed]

Get someone to push Q in front of a horse at the race tracks.

 

[I am not exposed]

Properly install skynet into Barkov.