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2016 NHL Free Agency Thread

HeyKurtz said:
I would love to see Okposo here, but I fear that he is going to get a number of ridiculous offers, putting him out of our reach. I hope I'm wrong.
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I guess we're the only wearing Canes Glasses of True seeing today. Since when were the Canes front and center for UFA signings? Ever?
 
Every club is going to balk at that# (6 mil over 4 years). Plus, he's not a big ticket piece like Okposo or Stamkos. Really have a better chance at landing him, and probably for exceptionally less than he's asking for. I expect Frans to land a contract somewhere between 3.8 million(4 years)-4.5 million(3 years). Those number are far more respectable. And if we have to land him at 3 years, at 4.5, unless he completely stinks it up - he'll be 31 and we could still foreseeably resign him or trade him when his contract expires.

He'd be 35 :)
 
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Ah think i mixed him up with Foligno.
That gives more leverage then. He may think he deservs a big payout but to me i would only give him 4mil a season/ 2 years.
 
How come Jimmy Vesey is listed here? Doesn't Buffalo hold his rights via a trade with Nashville?
Thanks HK there are a few wingers out there who appeal to me.
I am hoping a big trade will happen and we can add something down the middle.
I really find there's too much expectation for Aho et all. I would much rather the org play these guys all down in Charlotte so they can get some chemistry together for one season and fill the parent club up with patchwork affordable parts in the mean time. We'll probably see something in between though.
Aho is smaller than Kuokkanen by two inches but at the same weight sounds like hes slightly more solid. Anyway who knows.
Maybe he(the Finns?) gets some chemistry and makes the team:)
 
I guess we're the only wearing Canes Glasses of True seeing today. Since when were the Canes front and center for UFA signings? Ever?
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Other than the Ron Francis signing and the Semin dabble, never. But the thing is the Canes have a glaring need for a first line center and some veteran talent. I do love that we are giving all of these kids opportunities, but its a stretch for me to see our current forward mix scoring enough goals to get us to the playoffs. Also considering we are just a bit above the salary cap floor, unless we are planning a season of austerity to stem the financial losses, the Canes have money to spend.

I do doubt that anyone we would really be excited about as a UFA will end up signing here. Ronnie will be forced to find a trade to get what we need in terms of vet offensive contributions.
 
cmaleski2 said:
Other than the Ron Francis signing and the Semin dabble, never. But the thing is the Canes have a glaring need for a first line center and some veteran talent. I do love that we are giving all of these kids opportunities, but its a stretch for me to see our current forward mix scoring enough goals to get us to the playoffs. Also considering we are just a bit above the salary cap floor, unless we are planning a season of austerity to stem the financial losses, the Canes have money to spend.

I do doubt that anyone we would really be excited about as a UFA will end up signing here. Ronnie will be forced to find a trade to get what we need in terms of vet offensive contributions.
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First line centers are almost impossible to find via the UFA route without backing in the Brinks truck, and especially for a team like the Canes that has to watch the money being spent. I'm just curious CMal...who are you thinking this summer in terms of a first line center acquisition that makes sense for the Canes?
 
JamesNorthern said:
How come Jimmy Vesey is listed here? Doesn't Buffalo hold his rights via a trade with Nashville?
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Vesey becomes a UFA on August 1st, his rights belong to Buffalo until that time. If he makes it to August 1st, he is essentially a UFA and can sign with anyone.
 
I'm just curious CMal...who are you thinking this summer in terms of a first line center acquisition that makes sense for the Canes?
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In the UFA market? There isn't really a first line center out there that fits the bill. Okposo would be a nice talent addition to our first line, but he's a RW, not a center. Backes wouldn't be a bad signing, but only for a couple of seasons at no more than $5 million per (which is obviously short of what he will get somewhere else).

Really a trade is the only way to go to really fix the hole at #1 center. Nugent-Hopkins to me would be a good add, but not for Justin Faulk. Would need to be a package involving something like Lindholm and Slavin ++ going the other way. We are not going to find a #1 center cheaply. I think because of that Ronnie is going to grab the best UFA forward he can convince to come to Raleigh and we are just going to hope that our kids all playing together suddenly find a way to score about 30 more goals than last year's team did. That will be a very tall order of course but unfortunately I think we are going to spend this season hoping that all of this talented speedy/flashy youth will be able to score and will leave the #1 center issue for another season. We could very well end up not signing ANYONE from the UFA pool and call the Teravainen/Bickell trade our big lineup shakeup for the offseason. I'm plenty worried the current lineup is still going to struggle to score goals, we would be putting a huge amount of faith in kids rapidly developing (Aho, Teravainen, Lindholm, DiGuiseppe) if we leave things as we currently sit now.

Let's look at the forwards in detail. Last season our forwards scored 158 goals. I'm saying we need 30 more goals total than we scored last year (that would put us just above the league average for goals scored). That might be higher than we need to be but lets shoot for that. Assume the D scores the same 38 goals they did last year. I'll take a shot at what I think could be max possible from the current roster:

Skinner-Rask-DiGuiseppe - 30-25-15 = 70
Nordstrom-Staal-McGinn - 15-20-15 = 50
Teravainen-Lindholm-Aho 15-20-15 = 50
Bickell-McClement-Nestrasil = 5-5-10 = 20

190 goals....which would get us there.

BUT, most of those numbers above are very optimistic. I have 7 of our 12 forwards posting career highs in goals and Aho scoring 15 as a rookie. Adding Nash somewhere into that mix won't make it all that much better (he does provide much more than McClement does, I can't argue with that). Is Ronnie really going to bank on the above being possible and not make any kind of big move for a high end forward via either UFA or Trade? If so we are putting a lot of faith in a lot of sub-25 year old players.
 
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TheBigKahuna said:
I'd still be OK with Ladd at a reasonable number, under $5 mill.
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Ladd made $4.4 per on this last contract. He has consistently scored 20 goals per season and gives you experience, leadership and is one of those warrior type players that we've long needed. That being said, you're looking at paying him his current contract and he's looking for more... If you're the GM, Ladd isn't looking your way:smilewinkgrin:
 
cmaleski2 said:
In the UFA market? There isn't really a first line center out there that fits the bill. Okposo would be a nice talent addition to our first line, but he's a RW, not a center. Backes wouldn't be a bad signing, but only for a couple of seasons at no more than $5 million per (which is obviously short of what he will get somewhere else).

Really a trade is the only way to go to really fix the hole at #1 center. Nugent-Hopkins to me would be a good add, but not for Justin Faulk. Would need to be a package involving something like Lindholm and Slavin ++ going the other way. We are not going to find a #1 center cheaply. I think because of that Ronnie is going to grab the best UFA forward he can convince to come to Raleigh and we are just going to hope that our kids all playing together suddenly find a way to score about 30 more goals than last year's team did. That will be a very tall order of course but unfortunately I think we are going to spend this season hoping that all of this talented speedy/flashy youth will be able to score and will leave the #1 center issue for another season. We could very well end up not signing ANYONE from the UFA pool and call the Teravainen/Bickell trade our big lineup shakeup for the offseason. I'm plenty worried the current lineup is still going to struggle to score goals, we would be putting a huge amount of faith in kids rapidly developing (Aho, Teravainen, Lindholm, DiGuiseppe) if we leave things as we currently sit now.

Let's look at the forwards in detail. Last season our forwards scored 158 goals. I'm saying we need 30 more goals total than we scored last year (that would put us just above the league average for goals scored). That might be higher than we need to be but lets shoot for that. Assume the D scores the same 38 goals they did last year. I'll take a shot at what I think could be max possible from the current roster:

Skinner-Rask-DiGuiseppe - 30-25-15 = 70
Nordstrom-Staal-McGinn - 15-20-15 = 50
Teravainen-Lindholm-Aho 15-20-15 = 50
Bickell-McClement-Nestrasil = 5-5-10 = 20

190 goals....which would get us there.

BUT, most of those numbers above are very optimistic. I have 7 of our 12 forwards posting career highs in goals and Aho scoring 15 as a rookie. Adding Nash somewhere into that mix won't make it all that much better (he does provide much more than McClement does, I can't argue with that). Is Ronnie really going to bank on the above being possible and not make any kind of big move for a high end forward via either UFA or Trade? If so we are putting a lot of faith in a lot of sub-25 year old players.
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I think you can reach that 190 goals with one more addition up front that could come in and score 25 goals. So like you said, it might not be a true #1 center to add, but you can certainly trade for or find a 25 goal guy out there if he is paired with the right forwards to make it work. If you look at what's out there in terms of the second tier UFA free agents, it's not that far fetched to hope for 25 goals from the likes of a Jiri Hudler, Mikkel Boedker, Andrew Ladd, David Backes or David Perron.

Some of those other projections you listed seem optimistic for some but not that far off...if Aho takes off he could easily score 20...and I think if Nesty is healthy he can be a 15 to 20 goal guy. Guys like Nordstrom and McGinn may be a stretch to score 15 if they are plugging away on a fourth line though. PDG seems like a guy with some offensive upside if he plays a full 80 game schedule.
 
Even with a successful rookie season it is a bit of a strecth to expect 20 from Aho, even if it is an idealistic kinda hope. The way I look at us acquiring one more veteran center/winger is that it will allow for more insulation of our rookies. It gives them more space and time to grow and less expectation on them to do it alone. It would be really nice to see a trade materialize where we get a dependable, system capable center, who at least can be a top tier pivot and crucial power play piece for us. If that is RNH well I dunno but of the top tier to elite talent out there, there aren't that many other names floating around. Faulk has to be excluded from any trades, and it would be a shame to lose Slavin, kid just has some nice sense about his game that you don't see in many defenders. Give him 2-3 more seasons and I think he could grow into a top level defender, maybe a great #2 paired with a stud. I digress - Slavin, Lindholm, Murphy and our 3rd in 2017 for RNH and Yakupov. I think that is actually a pretty good deal both ways. And part of me thinks that Murphy still has the potential to thrive in a finite role in the NHL. Is that the Oilers PP? Who knows.

From this years UFA pool... ugh not really much to pick from.

I wonder if we'll see any activity before July 1st or if things will start to move trade wise after the dust starts to settle in the days following July 1st?
 
JamesNorthern said:
I wonder if we'll see any activity before July 1st or if things will start to move trade wise after the dust starts to settle in the days following July 1st?
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If the Stamkos sign and trade rumors are true we should see some action on the biggest fish before Canada Day on Friday!

Another buy low option for the Canes from the UFA pile is Vanek...he was bought out and might be available for a reasonable price. That guy has the ability to still put the puck in the net.
 
CanadaCanes said:
If the Stamkos sign and trade rumors are true we should see some action on the biggest fish before Canada Day on Friday!

Another buy low option for the Canes from the UFA pile is Vanek...he was bought out and might be available for a reasonable price. That guy has the ability to still put the puck in the net.
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Have any links to latest chatter?
 
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