Speculation: 2024 Off-Season Thread

[Outl4w]

If we are shipping out core pieces Kucherov, Hedman, Vasi , and Hagel should be the only guys off limits. I prefer we just dump the trash that isn't worth the salary such as Jeannot and Sheary. If we use that almost 5-7 million dollars we can easily grab a top 4 defenseman if we don't resign Dehann, Fleury, or Dumba.

Kucherov Point Howard/Gonglaves
STamkos Cirelli Hagel
Dukes/Gonglaves Glenndenning Paul
Watson/Gonglaves Essymont Motte/Chaffee
14 Forwards
Hedman Cernak
Sergachev Top 4 Signing/trade
Raddysh Perbix/Lilliberg
7D
Vasi
Back up
Inject some youth and hustle in the line up.

 

[Sky04]

If the plan is to inject 3 mediocre prospects into the lineup and hope they become impact players we're toast.

 

[Rschmitz]

Lets move away from the goaltender talk for a sec and hypothetically lets say instead of Sergachev we have McDonagh and Ruuta, how much more balanced and effective does that make our top-4 now in front of Vasy? Another reason we aren't do well with the current make-up is that a 1-2 punch of Hedman-Sergachev is just not consistent, especially defensively.

For all the grief JBB deservedly gets over the Jeannot trade the decision to break up McDonagh-Cernak and give Sergachev 8.5 AAV I classify as the worst decision he's made. Dumping a mountain of picks and prospects in an effort to overload for a cup push but abandoning our most effective defensive tandom in order to sign a guy who's never shown the ability to carry a pairing?

Brutal, that's like pumping the gas and the breaks at the same time. Even if McDonagh starts to lose his edge, which he hasn't yet, it would be outside of our cup window. What makes the decision even more agregious is that we already had Hedman as one of the best PP1 defenders in the league, Sergachev was a pure luxury. You can get purely offensive defensemen on the scrap heap every offseason.

This doesn't even include the fact that we got nothing back for McDonagh, Sergachev's trade value at the time as a potential #1 defenseman to a desperate team that needed one would have brought in a ton of ammunition to solidify our team with good cheap prospects and depth until we were ready for a real rebuild.

 

[Stammertime91]

For all the grief JBB deservedly gets over the Jeannot trade the decision to break up McDonagh-Cernak and give Sergachev 8.5 AAV I classify as the worst decision he's made. Dumping a mountain of picks and prospects in an effort to overload for a cup push but abandoning our most effective defensive tandom in order to sign a guy who's never shown the ability to carry a pairing?

Brutal, that's like pumping the gas and the breaks at the same time. Even if McDonagh starts to lose his edge, which he hasn't yet, it would be outside of our cup window. What makes the decision even more agregious is that we already had Hedman as one of the best PP1 defenders in the league, Sergachev was a pure luxury. You can get purely offensive defensemen on the scrap heap every offseason.

This doesn't even include the fact that we got nothing back for McDonagh, Sergachev's trade value at the time as a potential #1 defenseman to a desperate team that needed one would have brought in a ton of ammunition to solidify our team with good cheap prospects and depth until we were ready for a real rebuild.

Agreed. That was a mishmash of a trade.

 

[DFC]

For all the grief JBB deservedly gets over the Jeannot trade the decision to break up McDonagh-Cernak and give Sergachev 8.5 AAV I classify as the worst decision he's made. Dumping a mountain of picks and prospects in an effort to overload for a cup push but abandoning our most effective defensive tandom in order to sign a guy who's never shown the ability to carry a pairing?

Brutal, that's like pumping the gas and the breaks at the same time. Even if McDonagh starts to lose his edge, which he hasn't yet, it would be outside of our cup window. What makes the decision even more agregious is that we already had Hedman as one of the best PP1 defenders in the league, Sergachev was a pure luxury. You can get purely offensive defensemen on the scrap heap every offseason.

This doesn't even include the fact that we got nothing back for McDonagh, Sergachev's trade value at the time as a potential #1 defenseman to a desperate team that needed one would have brought in a ton of ammunition to solidify our team with good cheap prospects and depth until we were ready for a real rebuild.

Yeah, the McDonagh trade probably closed the window.

 

[JTBF81]

Yeah, the McDonagh trade probably closed the window.

Window's not closed imo, as the core is still young enougn and more than capable for another run as long as better ancillary pieces are brought in over the next couple seasons and/or at least a couple of F prospects are able to contribute. The team had 98 points this yeat without Vasy for two months, and then with a Vasy not close to 100% for likely at least a few more weeks.

While keeping McD would've been great, JBB wasn't keeping a 33 year old McD(who had just had a terrible '22 playoffs, over a 25 year old Serg. Yes, Serg was ovrpaid on his deal, but he was never getting traded for futures in order to keep.a close to mid 30's McD. JBB was/is trying to keep enough younger core pieces as.well so that the team has a chance longer.term, and McD's play that last season, especially towards the end, made it a clear choice imo. Sure, on a stronger defensive team like Nashville he's still been mostly fine, but having McD wasn't winning them.the series this season, and unless he could play G, he wasn't some missing piece to beating Toronto.laat year either.

 

[DFC]

Window's not closed imo, as the core is still young enougn and more than capable for another run as long as better ancillary pieces are brought in over the next couple seasons and/or at least a couple of F prospects are able to contribute. The team had 98 points this yeat without Vasy for two months, and then with a Vasy not close to 100% for likely at least a few more weeks.

While keeping McD would've been great, JBB wasn't keeping a 33 year old McD(who had just had a terrible '22 playoffs, over a 25 year old Serg. Yes, Serg was ovrpaid on his deal, but he was never getting traded for futures in order to keep.a close to mid 30's McD. JBB was/is trying to keep enough younger core pieces as.well so that the team has a chance longer.term, and McD's play that last season, especially towards the end, made it a clear choice imo. Sure, on a stronger defensive team like Nashville he's still been mostly fine, but having McD wasn't winning them.the series this season, and unless he could play G, he wasn't some missing piece to beating Toronto.laat year either.

Right, but then we got destroyed by a true contender in the playoffs.

I agree on the core. I just dont think it's possible, barring a miracle, to surround them with enough talent to be a true cup threat. We have no real assets. That said, I think we are obligated to try for a couple of years.

 

[JTBF81]

Right, but then we got destroyed by a true contender in the playoffs.

I agree on the core. I just dont think it's possible, barring a miracle, to surround them with enough talent to be a true cup threat. We have no real assets. That said, I think we are obligated to try for a couple of years.

It's up to JBB to find the right pieces in ufa. There were several better options than Sheary that could've been signed, same with De Haan. Not keeping Colton in favor of Jeannot, etc. Luckily, he.can salvage some of it by doing what it takes to get rid of Sheary and Jeannit(Perbix as well maybe) and have enough room to make a couple of decent adds(1 F and 1 RD ideally) to actually improve the team. If the roster has all 3 of those guys mentioned above to start the season, and poor assistants continuing to employ atrocious defensive strategies, then I will have very little confidence in this team and GM.for next season.

 

[PaulGG]

After the season it is natural to debate what could have been changed to go deeper in the playoffs or win the cup. In our case we have two recent cups and came damn close to three had Point not gotten injured. There are many teams that mortgage their futures like we did and don't come close to the cup. Outside of signing Stammer there is not much we can do now that is going to make us that much better. We do have some young guys who we hope will turn out better than they are now at 24-25. With no draft picks, significant cap space and guys with NTC we don't have much we can do.

 

[Hockeyville USA]

After the season it is natural to debate what could have been changed to go deeper in the playoffs or win the cup. In our case we have two recent cups and came damn close to three had Point not gotten injured. There are many teams that mortgage their futures like we did and don't come close to the cup. Outside of signing Stammer there is not much we can do now that is going to make us that much better. We do have some young guys who we hope will turn out better than they are now at 24-25. With no draft picks, significant cap space and guys with NTC we don't have much we can do.

Healthy Point in the Final against the Avalanche, yes, but my unpopular/rarer opinion is they played better without Point in the Panthers & Rangers series because they dug in defensively to limit chances because they knew they weren't going to score as much.

Everything plays out differently if Point doesn't get hurt, including potentially that Game 7 in Toronto.

 

[PaulGG]

Window's not closed imo, as the core is still young enougn and more than capable for another run as long as better ancillary pieces are brought in over the next couple seasons and/or at least a couple of F prospects are able to contribute. The team had 98 points this yeat without Vasy for two months, and then with a Vasy not close to 100% for likely at least a few more weeks.

While keeping McD would've been great, JBB wasn't keeping a 33 year old McD(who had just had a terrible '22 playoffs, over a 25 year old Serg. Yes, Serg was ovrpaid on his deal, but he was never getting traded for futures in order to keep.a close to mid 30's McD. JBB was/is trying to keep enough younger core pieces as.well so that the team has a chance longer.term, and McD's play that last season, especially towards the end, made it a clear choice imo. Sure, on a stronger defensive team like Nashville he's still been mostly fine, but having McD wasn't winning them.the series this season, and unless he could play G, he wasn't some missing piece to beating Toronto.laat year either.

We are good enough to be in the playoffs and that is about all and there is no magic bullet to change it for next season. Florida played like they could have been a man down the whole series and still beat us.

 

[JTBF81]

We are good enough to be in the playoffs and that is about all and there is no magic bullet to change it for next season. Florida played like they could have been a man down the whole series and still beat us.

Bob played very well and some of Tampa's better players struggled early on. At least two of the 4 losses were definitwly games Tampa had a decent chance to take, as Vasy and even sone of the defense kept them in it, but certain offensive weapons couldn't execute in some key moments.. Florida was a better team this year, but it doesn't mean that Tampa is no longer a contender. There are moves to be made that can actually improve the team and create space, so there is that in their favor. There are also several prospects that could certainly, at the very least, be helpful contributors in a supporting role in the next couple of seasons. A team that, had they been healthy most of the year, likely would have had around 110 points at least and maybe won the division is far from just good enough to make the playoffs. If JBB makes the necessary moves and adds a couple of better depth options(both ufa and if 1-2 Syracuse players working out), this team is still a contender for a few seasons.

 

[CupsOverCash]

We had a pretty strong second half of the season and we found something that worked. Fl was a bad match up for us. I think we move to 2nd round if we played either Leafs or bruins. It wasn't like fl destroyed us as bad as score of the series indicated. Couple things go our way it's a closer series than it looked.

Gotta look at what we were able to do well and what isn't and do your best within the limits we got to copy that recipe we know so well. A lot of it is momentum and getting hot at the right time. Obviously need that right mix but we have decent things to build off of.

You could do small rebuild if you really think you can't get it at the moment. Get some draft choices and wait for better moment to get it but it's not easy to tell your team that's the direction you are going. You certainly don't tell pending ufa Steven stamkos that so that probably isn't a option. There's worse cores to build around. Ours won 2 cups and made it to a 3rd final in a row. Clearly we know something.

Gotta get to bottom of what works and doesn't and maybe be aggressive if rebuilding isn't the best option. I get it we aren't the team we were a few years ago where guys could line up to play here. It's still attractive. Maybe they can hold onto some old times and success and convince some helpful guys to come cheap. Put that sales cap on JBB!

 

[Hoek]

I think we were on to something with the Hanifin idea if we were going to do something drastic, unfortunately that ship sailed but if we could get a similar top defenseman it'd be worth resetting our cap structure and moving a big salary to do it. I just don't see anyone else like that being out there.

 

[Outl4w]

If the plan is to inject 3 mediocre prospects into the lineup and hope they become impact players we're toast.

WE gave more for a 4th line plug then vegas sent for their best defenseman this playoffs. There is no way to polish the turd trade and asset management. Jeannot isn't even top 9 material based on his production and 5v5 numbers. Watson, glendenning, ans essymont out performed him and they all cost no assets .

 

[Stelio Kontos]

We had a pretty strong second half of the season and we found something that worked. Fl was a bad match up for us. I think we move to 2nd round if we played either Leafs or bruins. It wasn't like fl destroyed us as bad as score of the series indicated. Couple things go our way it's a closer series than it looked.

this series wasn’t close at all. Watch the games again. Only reason it was close was because of Vasi. Team got completely outplayed and shut down outside of Stamkos and Florida was missing their best winger (2nd best)?

 

[Hockeyville USA]

this series wasn’t close at all. Watch the games again. Only reason it was close was because of Vasi. Team got completely outplayed and shut down outside of Stamkos and Florida was missing their best winger (2nd best)?

The scoreboard was close, but the Panthers controlled possession and drove play for the most part. Lightning were terrible getting it out of their own zone.

 

[Sky04]

Yeah those first 2 games should've been blowouts. It wasn't close.

 

[DMB06]

The scoreboard was close, but the Panthers controlled possession and drove play for the most part. Lightning were terrible getting it out of their own zone.

They did play better, but we had three goals called back (goalie interference x2 and Hagel being offsides by a few inches) that would've gone in regardless of the "infraction". We also had Dumba miss a nearly wide open net from five feet away. Those four goals had the potential to dramatically change the series. For example if Dumba scores that goal in game 2 the series could've been tied 1-1. Florida going up 3-0 in the series means they never really felt pressure, a 1-1 series would've changed that. Teams can play completely different based on the circumstances, it's why that blown goal by Dumba ended up being so huge in that game and potentially the series.

 

[Rschmitz]

The big difference for me was that their first line just completely outmatched ours 5v5. We had no answers to Barkov, Verhaege, Tkachuk. None. No matter who we iced against them they were in our zone. I mean Stamkos, Cirelli, Hagel was our most effective matchup and they were -5, -6, -5 respectively. Duclair got relegated to the third line in favor of Essyimont because of the lack of open ice and his inability to play 2/3 of the rink.

That and their defensemen. That may be the best D corp in the league, and we were icing AHL fodder and a half broken Sergachev.


We got completely manhandled but the games were still close IMO because we were more "opportunistic". The outcome shouldn't be surprising, we did pretty well considering the talent gap and like others have pointed out it's not like we couldn't have won one of those games.

 

[CupsOverCash]

this series wasn’t close at all. Watch the games again. Only reason it was close was because of Vasi. Team got completely outplayed and shut down outside of Stamkos and Florida was missing their best winger (2nd best)?

Vasi kept it close like 9.5 mil goalie should. He's done it before in playoff situations and we won games. Obviously we lack what we had then.

 

[Sky04]

Vasi kept it close like 9.5 mil goalie should. He's done it before in playoff situations and we won games. Obviously we lack what we had then.

His play slipped after the first 2 games, he was brutal in the final 3. A 9.5M goalie doesn't have a 3.22 GAA and .897 save %, those were worst than his RS numbers.

 

[Stelio Kontos]

The scoreboard was close, but the Panthers controlled possession and drove play for the most part. Lightning were terrible getting it out of their own zone.

Agreed. Just have a hard time agreeing with the “Leaf Talk” that gets thrown around. “They were a bad match up” “we didn’t get the bounces” when in reality I have a hard time agreeing that this team would of beaten anybody the way they played. They looked like a lifeless dog chasing their tail around in the d zone. If Blashill isn’t fired after whatever the f*** we just watched in round 1 than I don’t know what we are doing seriously.

 

[LightningStrikes]

Agreed. Just have a hard time agreeing with the “Leaf Talk” that gets thrown around. “They were a bad match up” “we didn’t get the bounces” when in reality I have a hard time agreeing that this team would have beaten anybody the way they played. They looked like a lifeless dog chasing their tail around in the d zone. If Blashill isn’t fired after whatever the f*** we just watched in round 1 than I don’t know what we are doing seriously.

I’m on the fence here. Given the personnel we had maybe this was the best defensive scheme available. Beyond Hedman we had over-the-hill Dumba, I-cannot-carry-the-right-side-alone Cernak, Mr. sophomore-slump Perbix and a bunch of rookies. Plus Sergachev at 50% tops for two games, Raddysh got hurt after 2.5 games, CDH played in one game for 10 minutes and Fleury was out injured.

 

[Stelio Kontos]

I’m on the fence here. Given the personnel we had maybe this was the best defensive scheme available. Beyond Hedman we had over-the-hill Dumba, I-cannot-carry-the-right-side-alone Cernak, Mr. sophomore-slump Perbix and a bunch of rookies. Plus Sergachev at 50% tops for two games, Raddysh got hurt after 2.5 games, CDH played in one game for 10 minutes and Fleury was out injured.

Very Valid. As a team it just looked like everyone was apprehensive, unsure and making the wrong decisions. I mean how many times did we see blind passes in our zone to no one, players just puck watching.. leaving guys wide open in front of Vasy. Florida is a really good team credit to them but we did not play well at all.

Why force a system you can’t execute if you know you have a lack of talent? We saw all year even before the serg injury that the “system” wasn’t working.. and instead of changing anything we stuck too it and almost got swept.

When Sergachev Cernak and Hedman and our best veteran forwards ( Hagel, Cirelli, Paul) are playing that way in the D zone I just have to question what they’re being told to do.