GDT: 2018 Free Agency: Jay Beagle 4 x 3M, Antoine Roussel 4 x 3.25M, both w/ limited NTCs

[Buresflyingelbow]

beagle was a regular health scratch until he was 28
roussel didn't play an nhl game until he was 25
schaller became a regular at 25.

Obviously they all have one thing in common. A strong work ethic that hopefully rubs off onto our prospects.
Probably a huge reason they were targeted actually.

 

[Cupless44]

If we are banking on any of our top talent to ever play on the fourth line we are in trouble.
These guys should never see the fourth line other then the likes of a Lind or a Gadjovic who are three years away anyways.

So what is Zack MacEwen is ready for a 4th line role in another year? What then? Bury him in the AHL and play the 35 year old?

 

[PuckMunchkin]

That's fine - we don't have to agree - I think he is...........and that there are plenty of reasons (that I have covered extensively) to support this argument.......

Do we now agree? We Benningd the Free Agency.

 

[Buresflyingelbow]

No Toronto and Winnipeg are the way rebuilds should work.

And our prospect pool was last rated 7th. It is not top 3 even though we have been a bottom feeder for years now. More draft picks might help that, which is what "rebuilding teams" normally do

Are you serious?
Toronto? They were a bottom feeder for 10/15 years to get where they are even in a non cap era.
Winnipeg?
They were the Atlanta Thrashers who were terrible the whole time they were in the league for like 10 or more years.

So your point is to be bad for 10/15 year period ?

Got it

 

[timw33]

Obviously they all have one thing in common. A strong work ethic that hopefully rubs off onto our prospects.
Probably a huge reason they were targeted actually.

Yeah we need to spend $25MM on grinders to show our prospects that hard work pays off. If you have your absolute worst career year you can still get a $12MM contract with the Canucks.

 

[Cupless44]

Are you serious?
Toronto? They were a bottom feeder for 10/15 years to get where they are even in a non cap era.
Winnipeg?
They were the Atlanta Thrashers who were terrible the whole time they were in the league for like 10 or more years.

So your point is to be bad for 10/15 year period ?

Got it

Once Toronto hired good management under Brendan Shanahan they turned it around in 4 years and are a playoff team with the best prospect system. Follow hockey much recently?

 

[CanaFan]

If he was a Center I’d agree but being a winger not a chance.

Let’s chat after training camp then. I’ll be stunned if Leipsic is waived or traded away to make room for Gaudette/Dahlen.

 

[Buresflyingelbow]

So what is Zack MacEwen is ready for a 4th line role in another year? What then? Bury him in the AHL and play the 35 year old?

If he earns it play him! Despite what people think Sutter and Beagle are two premiere shut down Centers and if we get that top line Center with Horvat as our second line Center we are looking great.
I think if Pettersson becomes the Center we all hope he can,the way he also plays defense we could have the best Set of defensively responsible Centers in the league.

 

[CanaFan]

Are you serious?
Toronto? They were a bottom feeder for 10/15 years to get where they are even in a non cap era.
Winnipeg?
They were the Atlanta Thrashers who were terrible the whole time they were in the league for like 10 or more years.

So your point is to be bad for 10/15 year period ?

Got it

Toronto wasn’t rebuilding for 10-15 years. They were signing old, washed up UFAs to inflated contracts and trading draft picks for established NHLers.

 

[Cupless44]

If he earns it play him! Despite what people think Sutter and Beagle are two premiere shut down Centers and if we get that top line Center with Horvat as our second line Center we are looking great.
I think if Pettersson becomes the Center we all hope he can,the way he also plays defense we could have the best Set of defensively responsible Centers in the league.

How do you play MacEwen in the next 2 to 3 years with the bottom 6 taken up with overpaid old payers who this team will not sit no matter how poorly they play? MacEwen could be Gadjovich, Lind, Jasek, or countless other younger faster players.

 

[Zippgunn]

Leipsic is not going to be on the team clearly. He also isn’t better then any of the guys we just signed. That is the point of depth he now is in Utica to start the year just like he couldn’t crack Toronto or Vegas’s roster prior to coming here.
They built up their depth and deemed him expandable. Same with Gaunce and Pouliot with Leipsic and even borderline Virtanen even though he deserves one more season to work off his last 20 games.
5 years from now most of these guys will be in Europe

Remind me again what giant strides Virtanen made during his final 20 games of last year (where he scored a whopping 5 points)...

 

[Buresflyingelbow]

Once Toronto hired good management under Brendan Shanahan they turned it around in 4 years and are a playoff team with the best prospect system. Follow hockey much recently?

So a first overall pick that happened to be a franchise Center and fourth overall Marner with Reilly and Nylander had nothing to do with it?
Who did they bring in actually?
Anderson and Hainsey?
Kadri was also a top 10 pick.
They inherited a team 12 years into a rebuild and Benning inherited one with a bunch of long term no trade contracts.

 

[coastal_nuck]

Are you serious?
Toronto? They were a bottom feeder for 10/15 years to get where they are even in a non cap era.
Winnipeg?
They were the Atlanta Thrashers who were terrible the whole time they were in the league for like 10 or more years.

So your point is to be bad for 10/15 year period ?

Got it

Good god man. How are people like you so quick to classify the past with a broad brush without actually assessing the facts?

Toronto clearly was not rebuilding that long. When they actually committed to a rebuild instead of signing and trading for mediocre, aging talent, they were able to revamp their prospect pool within 3-4 years. What fans are calling for here is for this team to stop doing the former and rebuild properly. Is that really so hard to understand

 

[timw33]

Toronto? They were a bottom feeder for 10/15 years to get where they are even in a non cap era.

This is very untrue. They kept trying to compete and make the playoffs, signed bad vets, traded picks to get players, essentially did what Vancouver has done under Benning, and then finally committed to a rebuild plan under Shanahan that has been executed to perfection.

After languishing in the 13/14 season of being a not good but not bad team, they brought in Shanahan and committed fully to a traditional rebuild, were awful for back to back years and then showed massive improvements in the following two seasons, and will likely improve again this year with the addition of JT.

 

[bbud]

Overall decent signings the players fill a need and the mentor idea I don't think so important just guys who will play hard play the tough minutes can play physical and have experience and some leadership qualities.
The skill kids are the future bringing in a few veteran role players really does nothing to change that and the ones signed add some grit to make it easier.
The team today is harder to play against which was much needed that helps young skill kids gives them time to adjust and learn the game at the nhl level .

 

[Buresflyingelbow]

How do you play MacEwen in the next 2 to 3 years with the bottom 6 taken up with overpaid old payers who this team will not sit no matter how poorly they play? MacEwen could be Gadjovich, Lind, Jasek, or countless other younger faster players.

Sorry is this argument over a future lifetime 4th liner in Zack MacEwen?
According to HF they have no value so who even cares?

 

[rimshot]

So what is Zack MacEwen is ready for a 4th line role in another year? What then? Bury him in the AHL and play the 35 year old?

If he is ready then you trade Beagle at the TDL for picks or prospects or you keep him in the minors one more year to "overcook" him like Detroit did with their Grand Rapids prospects...in a worse case scenario you trade him the year after that.

 

[pgj98m3]

Toronto wasn’t rebuilding for 10-15 years. They were signing old, washed up UFAs to inflated contracts and trading draft picks for established NHLers.

Hmmmmmm....sounds familar.

 

[Buresflyingelbow]

Remind me again what giant strides Virtanen made during his final 20 games of last year (where he scored a whopping 5 points)...

Points mean nothing it’s what he brought every night and that was consistency.
He used his speed and the tools that can make him successful.
I also agree that he is a dime a dozen though.

 

[Cupless44]

Remind me again what giant strides Virtanen made during his final 20 games of last year (where he scored a whopping 5 points)...

C'mon were you watching the games? Virtanen's game made significant strides last year beyond points. Perfect example actually of a young player who should be getting lots of ice time this year over old stale veterans because he might be on the verge of better things. Invest in your 21 year old top 10 pick, not overpaid mediocre veterans with no upside.

 

[krutovsdonut]

Let’s chat after training camp then. I’ll be stunned if Leipsic is waived or traded away to make room for Gaudette/Dahlen.

i do not see leipsic on this team opening night unless there are injuries or trades.

if you assume the canucks move nobody, keep 8 dmen on the big roster and have no camp forward injuries, then for leispsic to make the opening night roster roster he will need to beat out all but one of the following players:

pettersson
goldobin
gaudette
dahlen
gaunce
motte
boucher
archibald
jasek
palmu
kero
lind

basically, leipsic is one of 13 guys who are fighting for 2 roster spots due to these 11 guys being in front of them

horvat
baertschi
sutter
erikkson
gagner
beagle
schaller
roussel
boesser
granlund
virtanen

 

[Buresflyingelbow]

Good god man. How are people like you so quick to classify the past with a broad brush without actually assessing the facts?

Toronto clearly was not rebuilding that long. When they actually committed to a rebuild instead of signing and trading for mediocre, aging talent, they were able to revamp their prospect pool within 3-4 years. What fans are calling for here is for this team to stop doing the former and rebuild properly. Is that really so hard to understand

They got some luck in the lottery and still posses a terrible defense

 

[Buresflyingelbow]

This is very untrue. They kept trying to compete and make the playoffs, signed bad vets, traded picks to get players, essentially did what Vancouver has done under Benning, and then finally committed to a rebuild plan under Shanahan that has been executed to perfection.

After languishing in the 13/14 season of being a not good but not bad team, they brought in Shanahan and committed fully to a traditional rebuild, were awful for back to back years and then showed massive improvements in the following two seasons, and will likely improve again this year with the addition of JT.

And now that Sedins are gone so will we.
The two classiest players to ever put on our Jersey was shown respect and we tried to ice a team around them.
We now are going after 4th liners with nearly 26+ million in cap space this year.

The rebuild is finally here and I’m just as excited as the next guy.

 

[Cupless44]

Sorry is this argument over a future lifetime 4th liner in Zack MacEwen?
According to HF they have no value so who even cares?

You don't know the ceiling of 20-23 year olds in Utica. We do know the ceiling of a 33 year old journeymen 7 goal scoring 4th line player who got this contract simply because his team went on a cup run.

 

[Buresflyingelbow]

C'mon were you watching the games? Virtanen's game made significant strides last year beyond points. Perfect example actually of a young player who should be getting lots of ice time this year over old stale veterans because he might be on the verge of better things. Invest in your 21 year old top 10 pick, not overpaid mediocre veterans with no upside.

If Virtanen is deployed on the fourth line he won’t succeed anyways so who even cares?
We signed three 4th liners so they will have zero impact on JV