2014 CBJ Offseason Thread

[NotWendell]

In my mind, we only three pieces away from being a Cup contender. That's a lot closer than I thought we were at the beginning of the season.

1.) Veteran, top six, right winger with good shooting percentage. Iginla would be ideal. Even Jagr would help as a bridge solution until the youth is ready.
2.) Veteran, top four physical defensive defenseman. This is going to be the toughest improvement to make.
3.) Better backup goaltender. Brodeur if he doesn't retire or re-sign in NJ. JS Giguere if he does.

Note that we also need a greater veteran presence on the team - especially if Umberger gets bought out.

Moves to watch for in the offseason:
1.) Does Umberger get bought out? That's a lot of money for a long term for a 3rd-4th line guy with declining foot speed.
2.) Does Jared Boll get packaged with a defensive prospect (Erixon, Golobef) and maybe even a draft pick for some help?
3.) Will MacKenzie, Comeau, Tropp and Skille be re-signed? My personal preference is: yes, no, no, possibly.

 

[Fro]

the gf said we should trade for Hiller...i just looked at her and said, that's a great idea!

 

[pete goegan]

And we have HORTON, Rychel, Wennberg, Dano, and some others in the pipeline. Defense wins championships. You can't just think, oh we need to replace our grind line with scorers. It doesn't work that way in the playoffs, you should see that now with Crosby and Malkin completely ineffective and Boone, Dubi, Calvert, Dmac excelling. We have a foundation in Johnson, Savard and Murray. Now we need to add a power play QB, and 2 mean, shutdown D that pound people in front. That's the way to win a championship, not just stacking more and more offense and try to outshoot everyone, because that may work in the regular season, but doesn't in the playoffs.

Rychel, Wennberg, and Bjordstand (sp?) were mentioned by JD as impressive, young, offensive players not too far away. He noted that Wennberg has really grown since being drafted. Said that he looked like a kid, then, but he's now 6'2", 195 lbs and looks like a man!

Skill and scoring? Isn't that what he just removed the roster at the trade deadline?

JD is comfortable and engaging in front of a mic, but he gave some mixed signals on Gabby. When talking about attracting free agents or trades, the Horton deal came up and it was also mentioned that Gaborik waived his NTC to come here. Davidson said that Gabby really liked it here and wanted to stay, but that the FO decided to move him to ensure a return, rather than have him leave and get nothing. If he wanted to stay, why worry about that? He also said that they felt LA to be a good situation for him and that he deserved that consideration. All in all, I felt that was the least convincing part of the interview. Otherwise, he really painted a bright picture of Columbus and the future of the Jackets.

 

[IHeartZherdev*]

In my mind, we only three pieces away from being a Cup contender. That's a lot closer than I thought we were at the beginning of the season.

1.) Veteran, top six, right winger with good shooting percentage. Iginla would be ideal. Even Jagr would help as a bridge solution until the youth is ready.
2.) Veteran, top four physical defensive defenseman. This is going to be the toughest improvement to make.
3.) Better backup goaltender. Brodeur if he doesn't retire or re-sign in NJ. JS Giguere if he does.

Dear lord. That last thing a young team needs to do is add 40+ year olds with huge egos who demand to play huge minutes and constantly complain about their roles in the media. That would be a disaster - it's the whole reason they let Vinny walk in the first place.

Also - Jagr is sooooo slow. He couldn't skate with Benn which is why he failed in Dallas, and there's no way he could skate on our top 2 lines. He's fine grazing the pastures with Patrik Elias but the idea of him in Columbus at age 43 is pretty horrible.

Marty whined all year behind Schnieder...Bob is the clearcut starter here, so whoever we bring in has to be OK with being the backup.

I agree with Fro's ladyfriend that Hiller would be great, but I have the feeling he's going to want to start and probably get the chance at it when the some desperate team (the Islanders) gives him starter money.

 

[EspenK]

In my mind, we only three pieces away from being a Cup contender. That's a lot closer than I thought we were at the beginning of the season.

1.) Veteran, top six, right winger with good shooting percentage. Iginla would be ideal. Even Jagr would help as a bridge solution until the youth is ready.
2.) Veteran, top four physical defensive defenseman. This is going to be the toughest improvement to make.
3.) Better backup goaltender. Brodeur if he doesn't retire or re-sign in NJ. JS Giguere if he does.

Note that we also need a greater veteran presence on the team - especially if Umberger gets bought out.

Moves to watch for in the offseason:
1.) Does Umberger get bought out? That's a lot of money for a long term for a 3rd-4th line guy with declining foot speed.
2.) Does Jared Boll get packaged with a defensive prospect (Erixon, Golobef) and maybe even a draft pick for some help?
3.) Will MacKenzie, Comeau, Tropp and Skille be re-signed? My personal preference is: yes, no, no, possibly.

The more I think about it Iginla on a 2 yr deal for a boatload of whatever it takes would be #1 priority

What would YOU give for Boll/Golobuef and a pick (even a 1) - my guess is not much.

I like your re-signs. Although if a guy like Mason Raymond could be had for say 2 mill instead of Skille's 800k I'd be much in favor

 

[blahblah]

In my mind, we only three pieces away from being a Cup contender. That's a lot closer than I thought we were at the beginning of the season.

1.) Veteran, top six, right winger with good shooting percentage. Iginla would be ideal. Even Jagr would help as a bridge solution until the youth is ready.

Wouldn't hold my breath. We let Prospal go to give ice time to younger players. They don't see interested in these type of stop-gaps. Well not yet at least.

As I said before I don't think we need the help on defense that you mentioned. Organic growth with what we have should be fine.

I don't think our backup goal-tending was all that bad; but it should be reviewed. McBackup might be adequate until our farm system catches up. I'd rather spend large cap dollars elsewhere and good backups can somewhat pricey. We seem fully vested in Bob, it's not longer a competition issue of Bob fails and I think McBackup can hold the fort for 5 or 10 games for an injury. With starting goaltenders salaries going through the roof, you are going to see a lot of teams run the risk and go with cheap farm system backups that have potential.

 

[blahblah]

The more I think about it Iginla on a 2 yr deal for a boatload of whatever it takes would be #1 priority

He seems content to go to contenders, I don't think salary is his issue at this point in his career. At may change if he wins the Cup this year. But if he doesn't maybe he goes to the Hawks for like 500k, lol.

 

[RBarRegular]

1. Kyle Quincey in free agency. In my opinion, would greatly bolster the back end.
2. Sign Skille! 2 years, $3 million, 1 way deal.
3. Sign DMac, 2 years, $2.2 million.

Offseason complete.

 

[EspenK]

1. Kyle Quincey in free agency. In my opinion, would greatly bolster the back end.
2. Sign Skille! 2 years, $3 million, 1 way deal.
3. Sign DMac, 2 years, $2.2 million.

Offseason complete.

You been at the R Bar since it opened?

 

[Nanabijou]

In my mind, we only three pieces away from being a Cup contender. That's a lot closer than I thought we were at the beginning of the season.

1.) Veteran, top six, right winger with good shooting percentage. Iginla would be ideal. Even Jagr would help as a bridge solution until the youth is ready.
2.) Veteran, top four physical defensive defenseman. This is going to be the toughest improvement to make.
3.) Better backup goaltender. Brodeur if he doesn't retire or re-sign in NJ. JS Giguere if he does.

Note that we also need a greater veteran presence on the team - especially if Umberger gets bought out.

Your list is good regarding the general needs, but no thanks on Jagr or Brodeur. Also, Giguere has already announced his retirement after this season.

 

[cslebn]

2.) Veteran, top four physical defensive defenseman. This is going to be the toughest improvement to make.
.

This. I think this is the single most important thing. There are times our D has been absolutely exposed for their inability to clear the crease and it has cost us lots of goals (especially in the playoffs).

The problem is who? Ideally this is what we want Prout to be, but he's not there yet I guess. We need someone faster so they aren't a liability with the system and the current top tier teams in the league (like how Orpik and Scuderi are considered). UFA pool is eh. You could run at an older guy like Greene but he likely fails the speed criteria and has questions marks about injury now.

I guess I wouldn't mind looking at Fayne. I don't really think Quincey fits the criteria. Really bare looking. This will likely need to be a shred trade or let Prout grow.

 

[IHeartZherdev*]

1. Kyle Quincey in free agency. In my opinion, would greatly bolster the back end.
2. Sign Skille! 2 years, $3 million, 1 way deal.
3. Sign DMac, 2 years, $2.2 million.

Offseason complete.

Oof.

That'd be crazy money for D-Mac and Skille, and Kyle Quincy is turrrrrible.

 

[EdwardG]

delete

 

[thebus2288*]

We need to get rid of Umberger and Wiz. Buyout, trade, whatever. Both have been passed by guys on the depth chart who are better, younger, and cheaper. Leadership and experience go out the window when your a key reason for losing games over and over again. Savard and Murray are both better than Wiz right now. The points he gets might just maybe be enough to get something decent back in a trade though. Tyutin also didn't look very good this year if you ask me. We need a real legit defensive defensemen back there. JJ, Schultz, and Prout are not the guys.

 

[punk_o_holic]

If Columbus goes after any of the bigger UFA's. I hope, after these playoffs, they will tell themselves, "I might be the missing link" and goes on to sign with them.

 

[Jyrki]

Obvious moves:

a) Let Comeau walk. Guy has talent and can skate, but he's dumb as a rock. Momentum killing penalties is his calling card, so we shouldn't use it.

b) Buyout Umberger. The heart and the willingness to take a beating is there, but what the hell happened to this guy? Is it the Campbell having a late effect on him? He's like Ryan Smyth except he's not supposed to be that old already. Always a moment or two late to read plays, leading to terrible turnovers and a chronic inability to handle passes. Not worth the money at all.

c) Keep Skille, DMac, Nikitin. A bit of a WIP, but I liked what I've seen from him. Not only he has that one-shot ability, but he's bought into the nose-to-the-grindstone system. Shouldn't cost more than $1M to keep him around and he should be a good bottom 6 mainstay. DMac needs to be retained for obvious reasons, and will likely get a deal at the 1.5M range, and Nikitin should be able to be retained at 2-2.3M, good deal as a #5 D-man.

d) Upgrade on McBackup. For Bob to truly arrive, we really need a steadier backup. We know Bob can be a workhorse, so a veteran could suffice. We might need a trade here though, the only good suitor would be Elliot and he might get paid too much; guys like Gustavsson and Greiss might not be an upgrade on DMac.

Not-so-obvious moves:

a) Upgrade on Wisniewski. This guy is as hot and cold as it gets. One day he'll find his passing touch and keep the puck moving, other days he'll skate on quicksand and be an easy target for forecheckers. With his salary, he just doesn't provide enough consistently to warrant his cap hit; he should ideally be a bottom-pairing D-man playing the PP. We either need someone who deserves Wiz money, or who can offer a similar skillset for less. Teams who could use Wiz might include NJ, Ottawa and Calgary while teams that could offer D-men in return might include Vancouver and Montreal.

b) Acquire a Top 6 veteran forward. This might be addressed from within or simply Horton impressing next season, but we could use an extra scoring touch up front. Like, the... er, G-man? Let's leave it at the fact his skills would've been very helpful, and we could have some of that in the next season.

c) Upgrade on Tyutin. Not as high of a priority as replacing Wiz, but man I can definitively see this guy declining. He was noticeable tonight, but overall he struggled mightily at the end of the season and the playoffs. Was it just a bad streak, or will speedy wingers turning Toots inside out be a common sight next season? Thankfully, any of JJ, Murray and Nikitin can munch his minutes.


I honestly don't know a whole lot about our non-NHL'ers so I'm not sure how they'll fit into the Jackets' off-season plans. Hopefully some of them will step to the plate like Jenner and Murray did.

 

[MFRONE]

Nikitin is gone. No way is Jarmo giving him a raise after he got scratched down the stretch.

 

[Fred Glover]

I think we will find a reshaping of the roster, trying to shed salary in Umby and perhaps Wiz (trade?) while allowing younger players to continue to grow. I think we see Boone in a bigger role next year, along with Murray, perhaps Exrison gets a shot on the blue line. Mc Backup will prolly be back as a reward to keeping us in the playoff race when Bob was down

 

[Zarathustra]

We need to get rid of Umberger and Wiz. Buyout, trade, whatever. Both have been passed by guys on the depth chart who are better, younger, and cheaper. Leadership and experience go out the window when your a key reason for losing games over and over again. Savard and Murray are both better than Wiz right now. The points he gets might just maybe be enough to get something decent back in a trade though. Tyutin also didn't look very good this year if you ask me. We need a real legit defensive defensemen back there. JJ, Schultz, and Prout are not the guys.

You realize Wiz was second on our team in scoring and ended the regular season an even player?

Does he play too much? Probably. But one of the reasons why our powerplay was as good as it was this year, is because Wiz had a good year and stayed healthy. Hell, even on years where he wasn't healthy he still paced for a 40-50 points. Neither Savard nor Murray are better on the PP than Wiz. If he went to free agency today, he'd probably be one of the most sought after defensemen and probably sign for just as much as what he plays for here. Not to mention he has a great attitude and seems to fit the mold of the team.

He probably plays a little too much, but it's not like he ended up a -20 player, or even a -1 player. There's nothing available that will make it worth getting rid of Wisniewski. You're "reason to lose games over and over" I find to be quite hyperbolic. He makes boneheaded gaffes sometimes, and seems to be streaky as far as consistency goes, but like I said, he probably just plays too much.

I don't know where the Shultz comment came from, because he's probably not in the future plans, JJ was never a defensive D-man, but he led the playoffs in scoring and finally seems to be coming into his own, and is also entering his prime as a d-man. Tyutin is our most consistent defenders, and Murray, Prout and Savard are all very young who will probably be quite good, but by no means can take up the slack of losing some of our established veterans and team leaders. It's like saying we shouldn't have signed Horton, because we have Boone.

 

[XLJ]

Getting Johansen a top line winger is their biggest need. Add a skilled winger for Joey and a hopefully a healthy Horton to play with Dubi or Arty and they are pretty much set imo.

Maybe add a veteran puck moving defenseman that could help the powerplay. I don't think Johnson is great at running the pp.

Get rid of Umberger. He doesn't produce enough to warrant playing with Johansen. Plus, with Comeau, Foligno, Skille, Calvert, Mackenzie, Boll, Letestu, Tropp etc they already have a ton of bottom 6 forwards. His cap hit it way too high and he doesn't have a very important role on this team going forward.

 

[NotWendell]

If Columbus goes after any of the bigger UFA's. I hope, after these playoffs, they will tell themselves, "I might be the missing link" and goes on to sign with them.

After seeing this playoff series, what free agent WOULDN'T want to play here? Maybe a guy who needs to win the cup THIS year before he retires, but that's about the only limit for this franchise.

 

[DJA]

c) Keep Skille, DMac, Nikitin. A bit of a WIP, but I liked what I've seen from him. Not only he has that one-shot ability, but he's bought into the nose-to-the-grindstone system. Shouldn't cost more than $1M to keep him around and he should be a good bottom 6 mainstay. DMac needs to be retained for obvious reasons, and will likely get a deal at the 1.5M range, and Nikitin should be able to be retained at 2-2.3M, good deal as a #5 D-man.

Nikitin will probably get around $4 mil at least on the open market, which is obviously way too high for where he plays in our lineup and with the logjam of younger cheaper guys in the pipeline. He is almost a 100% lock to be gone.

 

[NotWendell]

Nikitin will probably get around $4 mil at least on the open market, which is obviously way too high for where he plays in our lineup and with the logjam of younger cheaper guys in the pipeline. He is almost a 100% lock to be gone.

He's this year's Ron Hainsey (without the six goals a game)

 

[SuperGenius]

Look, we all know Wiz was brutal in the playoffs, but we also know that he's not nearly that bad usually. There is no way that he's not injured. Some guys can play hurt, some can't. Every time I've ever seen wiz this bad was when he tried to play through an injury. It should be interesting what comes out. Until I know more, I'm just not ready to set the guy on fire.

 

[The Jones Zone]

I know it was mentioned earlier in the thread about Carolina and Columbus talking about Jeff Skinner in theory. What would you guys think of a deal for Skinner involving Anisimov and Atkinson? There would probably be more moving parts, but as a basis that seems like a move that might be beneficial to both squads.

God Please NO, NO and Hell No.

He reminds me of R*ck N*sh, cherrypicker, doesn't want to play defense.''

I'm in Raleigh and got to 6 games this year, Hell no on Jeff Skinner.