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The ****ing Offseason Thread 2018

MindzEye

Wayward Ditch Pig
I'm getting sick of doing these in April.

Okay, the big questions going into the off season:

- The right side of the blueline just isn't good enough
- What are we doing with that #3 centre slot
- Does management remain patient with the kiddy movement
- What do you do with Jake Gardiner? (fire him out of a regular sized cannon, or a really big cannon?)


Forward:

I think we're more or less set, especially with Kappy and Johnsson proving that they're ready for top 9 duty. In most cases, the loss of a 30 goal winger is pretty crippling, but I don't see it in this case. My preference is that Bozak is brought back on a short term deal so Willy can stay on the Matthews wing for a few more years before he transitions to centre full time, it's easy to lose track of just how young these kids are. Moving Willy to centre at 24-25 years old is still plenty young. We need a longer term answer at 4C though, and I don't care how we do it. I'd task Dubas with finding some gud pros that are possession positive players and can

Hyman-Matthews-Nylander
Marleau-Kadri-Marner
Kapanen-Bozak-Brown
Leivo-XXXXX-Kapanen

I don't see a lot of changes here, or the need for a lot of changes.

Defence

We need changes here. Preferably something of a major remake. Gardiner can go, he almost single handedly torpedoed us in this Bruins series with terrible decision making with and without the puck. Zaitsev is a grenade chucker extraordinaire, but his bounce back in the series was encouraging after a tough season. Polak is a solid gud pro that I wouldn't hate as a #7, but I think the glaring upgrades are #1 RHD, and #2 LHD. I'm cool with moving Dermott into that #2 LHD role, and giving Borgman his slot, and pushing Hainsey and Zaitsev back a slot

Rielly-XXXXX
Dermott-Hainsey
Borgman-Zaitsev

Depending on who that XXXXX is, we could be pretty seriously upgraded here. I've already stated my case for Carlson, but if we can land someone for Jake + stuff that is in the same tier or better, sign me up.


Goaltending

Freddy was bad in this series overall, the numbers just don't lie. No, the team wasn't great defensively in front of him, but you can't make a handful of great saves in a game, then let in 2 softies and call it even. The job is to stop pucks at 92% or better. Teams give up chances, all teams do. Even the defensively elite Bruins gave up a big pile of high end chances in the series, it's just what happens in a hockey game.

With that said, I don't see a way to upgrade on a fringe top 10 goalie without rolling the dice in a hard way (goalie performance can be so goofy from year to year) and paying out the ass. So Freddy it is. But...and this is a big but, as good as McBackup was this season, I think you need to give Sparks a legit shot at playing his way into the #1B role. We need someone who can push Freddy for starts, that we can trust to play 25-30+ times a season, if for no other reason than to give Freddy legit rest during the year. At best, who knows, maybe he turns into a legit top flight starter. His AHL track record is looking like it's a possibility.

Freddy
Sparks


Our trade chips are pretty simple when I look at that lineup. Gardiner is an obvious one, and we probably have one too many top 9 forwards. I dig Connor Brown and he was a legit gud pro this series, but if we had to package him up with Gardiner to get that XXXXX on the blueline, so be it. Kappy and Johnsson are better hockey players imo.

Good season that ended too soon, and the future is still bright as ****. If this was the Mitch Marner break out party in the 2nd half of the season (and into the playoffs), next year is going to be awesome.
 
Give Sparks a shot at Freddy's job next season. #1 priority going into October.

Unload Jake. Too bad he was so obviously bad ... his trade value will be shit.
 
I'm not sure how much they can do.

Maybe we can get on the good end of a trade for a change with a Minnesota or St. Louis who might be looking to shake things up.
 
Need a RS defenseman that isn't trash. Would love Carlson myself. Zaitsev and Gards need to be improved on as well if possible.
 
Yeah, I'm really not busted up about this year. You can see the potential is there for a breakout next year.
Andersen needs to play no more than 55-60 games. And forget about playing him so he can get some team record or whatever. We could use a dependable backup that can play 15-20 games and win about 10 of them.
Gardiner needs to go yesterday. Freddie was shit tonight but Gardiner could have saved us 1-2 goals with better mind-work.
This is kinda more annoying than upsetting because the playoff seedings kinda ****ed us over. On the other hand, we play Pittsburgh with the other seeding so...easier to digest I guess.
Ah well.
 
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Need a RS defenseman that isn't trash. Would love Carlson myself. Zaitsev and Gards need to be improved on as well if possible.

Yeah, Carlson is my pick here. Watched Washington in the 1st round and he was a stud. His statistical profile is as good as Jake's, in slightly harder usage, and his hockey IQ is a ****ing mile better. He can do most of what good Jake can do, without the stunning stupidity of bad Jake.

We could then possibly trade Jake for a C, or failing that a really good winger, and slot Willy in at that sheltered 3C position and let Bozak walk.
 
even though we got plenty of points from our defence this year, one thing I'd also love to see is a guy who is a legit threat from the point. we rely too heavily on the slap pass/deflection on goal/intentional wide shot type of stuff and it seemed to become a bit predictable at times. would be great if we had a cannon shot from back there
 
gHl80gE.gif


Carlson was hitting 96 mph in junior, and has touched 100 mph. He's got a legit bomb.

So does OEL for that matter, if Zona is going to pull the pin and move on this summer if they're unable to get him extended.
 
I think both those guys are staying with their teams.

Washington would have to do some significant shuffling of salary to pay him.

I'm sure they want to keep him, but I think they're in danger of not being able to afford him.

As for OEL, I have serious doubts that he's staying in Zona. They might be able to pay him, but then he's likely to be stuck on the rebuilding treadmill for the majority of his career. They still aren't ready to do shit there, and won't be for a few more years.
 
I'm not sure how much they can do.

Maybe we can get on the good end of a trade for a change with a Minnesota or St. Louis who might be looking to shake things up.
Minnesota could be an interesting trade partner. If they decide to blow things up, then there won't be much point in keeping Eric Staal around on an expiring contract. That would be one way to fill our hole at #3C behind Matthews & Kadri.

I don't think they could help out on defense, though. Most of their guys are young enough that they'd probably keep them either way.
 
Also, we haven't touched on probably the central question of this off-season: what do you do with the big-3 contract-wise?

Nylander needs a contract, as he's an RFA. Marner & Matthews can be signed to extensions, but still have a year left on their deals.

For Nylander, I think I'd only sign him long-term if he's willing to take the Nik Ehlers 7-year/$6M AAV contract. Matthews, honestly, I think I'd wait on. I doubt he'll be willing to sign to any kind of discounted deal. So if he wants something between an Eichel/McDavid extension, then let him go out there next year and earn it. Prove he's one of the best players in the league, and that he can stay healthy. Prove that he can continue to be the team's best player in a deep playoff run.

As for Mitchy, just figure it out. Get him locked up to an eight-year extension this summer.
 
I think you sign all three long term this summer.

Mitch and Willy to Ehlers/Pastrnak deals. Matthews to his $9m to $10m deal.

Let’s face it, we’re not trading any of them. They’re the cornerstones. You just have to hope they get better and better.
 
Minnesota could be an interesting trade partner. If they decide to blow things up, then there won't be much point in keeping Eric Staal around on an expiring contract. That would be one way to fill our hole at #3C behind Matthews & Kadri.

I don't think they could help out on defense, though. Most of their guys are young enough that they'd probably keep them either way.

Staal would be an excellent addition, monster addition. But because of how cheap that contract is, and the season he's coming off of, wow would that be a pricey 1 year addition.
 
Also, we haven't touched on probably the central question of this off-season: what do you do with the big-3 contract-wise?

Nylander needs a contract, as he's an RFA. Marner & Matthews can be signed to extensions, but still have a year left on their deals.

For Nylander, I think I'd only sign him long-term if he's willing to take the Nik Ehlers 7-year/$6M AAV contract. Matthews, honestly, I think I'd wait on. I doubt he'll be willing to sign to any kind of discounted deal. So if he wants something between an Eichel/McDavid extension, then let him go out there next year and earn it. Prove he's one of the best players in the league, and that he can stay healthy. Prove that he can continue to be the team's best player in a deep playoff run.

As for Mitchy, just figure it out. Get him locked up to an eight-year extension this summer.

I think Willy bet on himself this year hoping that if he had a good enough year, he'd be looking at Draisaitl money instead of Ehlers/Pasta money. That didn't happen, so now the smart play for Willy, however confident he is in his abilities, to just take the 7-8 x 6.5ish deal.

Marner is going to come in around the same range, I don't think he'll be hard to get extended in that price range.

Matthews is going to require Eichel money imo. I guess there's a chance he could try to argue for McDavid money, but he just didn't have that kind of season, and just flopped in the playoffs.

I think we get all 3 inked, and on those neighbourhoods, cap wise. Willy & Mitch in the 6.5-7 million range. Matthews in the 10 million range.
 
The obvious #1 need is a top pairing right dman. With Karlsson and Carlson potentially on the move, and maybe even Doughty, you have to go hard after one of those guys.

Outside of that its just sticking to the plan. Stick with the young players we are building around. We have a ton of cap space, and should use it on short term deals. It would be a missed opportunity to not use it. Whether its on an old UFA like Nash, Kovy, Thornton, Stastny, or trading for a potential rental player like OEL, Duchene, Eberle, Edler. There should be some decent opportunities out there.

Then obviously we need to address the center position as they need 2 centers. Nylander or Bozak are the easisest options to fill the #3 slot. I would try to bring Plekanec back as the #4, but he will likely go back to Montreal.

Kovy/Eberele/Nash-Matthews-Hyman
Marleau-Kadri-Marner
Johnsson-Nylander-Brown
Leivo-XXX-Kapanen

Rielly-Carlson/Karlsson/OEL
Gardiner-Hainsey
Dermott-Zaitsev
Borgman-Carrick

Andersen
Sparks
 
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