2020 Roster and Fantasy GM Thread II

[Burke's Evil Spirit]

S
My target would be Joel Edmundson on 4yr deal and let Toffoli and Tanev walk. If we can get him for 4.2 or under we can fit him in with a Sutter buy out (if we cant trade) and Baertschi and Eriksson in Utica and Toffoli and Tanev unsigned.

Edmundson is left-handed shot...the pressing need is on the right side for a Tanev replacement. There aren't a lot of options available ... Demelo would be a nice fit if he's interested in coming west, Jan Rutta might be a decent stop-gap on a 1- or 2-year deal. Past that, crickets.

Canucks are better off dangling Pearson for a D, IMO. Adam Larsson or David Savard make decent targets.

 

[sting101]

Edmundson is left-handed shot...the pressing need is on the right side for a Tanev replacement. There aren't a lot of options available ... Demelo would be a nice fit if he's interested in coming west, Jan Rutta might be a decent stop-gap on a 1- or 2-year deal. Past that, crickets.

Canucks are better off dangling Pearson for a D, IMO. Adam Larsson or David Savard make decent targets.

Edmundson played primarily on the right side in Carolina and has before in St.Louis.
He can replace Edlers minutes as he ages.
Tanev Edler both need to be replaced soon. We need a couple solutions and he would be a solid one without losing assets.

 

[sandwichbird2023]

Eric Cernak would be an awesome add if TB can't re-sign him. Big RHD that is reliable defensively, and young. TB has Cirelli and Sergachev to re-up, they are already tight against the cap to begin with. They will have to dump one of Palat, Gourde, Johnson or Killorn just to sign those 2, would they be able to make enough room for Cernak too? Also with expansion draft coming after next season, will they be able to protect Cernak? Hedman and Sergachev for sure are protected, would they leave McDonagh expose during their cup contending years?
Would you guys trade another 1st to TB, this time for Cernak?

 

[Just A Bit Outside]

Eric Cernak would be an awesome add if TB can't re-sign him. Big RHD that is reliable defensively, and young. TB has Cirelli and Sergachev to re-up, they are already tight against the cap to begin with. They will have to dump one of Palat, Gourde, Johnson or Killorn just to sign those 2, would they be able to make enough room for Cernak too? Also with expansion draft coming after next season, will they be able to protect Cernak? Hedman and Sergachev for sure are protected, would they leave McDonagh expose during their cup contending years?
Would you guys trade another 1st to TB, this time for Cernak?

f*** no.

 

[Hoghandler]

Cernak is a good target. Wouldn’t want to move another 1st though.

Scott Mayfield on Long Island is another guy worth looking at. Virtanen might get their attention. Maybe a package with Stecher involved. Would make for a good partner for Rathbone.

 

[Blue and Green]

Eric Cernak would be an awesome add if TB can't re-sign him. Big RHD that is reliable defensively, and young. TB has Cirelli and Sergachev to re-up, they are already tight against the cap to begin with. They will have to dump one of Palat, Gourde, Johnson or Killorn just to sign those 2, would they be able to make enough room for Cernak too? Also with expansion draft coming after next season, will they be able to protect Cernak? Hedman and Sergachev for sure are protected, would they leave McDonagh expose during their cup contending years?
Would you guys trade another 1st to TB, this time for Cernak?

All four of those guys have full NTC's in effect.

They will pretty much have to leave McDonagh unprotected.

Cernak would be a good addition but no way would I give up a 1st for him.

Tampa's in a worse cap bind now than last summer. Trading Kucherov before his NMC kicks in for next season has to seriously be on the table.

 

[tradervik]

Virtanen to Florida for Mackenzie Weegar.

 

[Burke's Evil Spirit]

Edmundson played primarily on the right side in Carolina and has before in St.Louis.
He can replace Edlers minutes as he ages.
Tanev Edler both need to be replaced soon. We need a couple solutions and he would be a solid one without losing assets.

Fair point, but Green seems pretty married to keeping left shots on the left side. Jordie Benn is a left-shot who is much better playing the right side but Green wouldn't even use thim there.

 

[sandwichbird2023]

All four of those guys have full NTC's in effect.

They will pretty much have to leave McDonagh unprotected.

Cernak would be a good addition but no way would I give up a 1st for him.

Tampa's in a worse cap bind now than last summer. Trading Kucherov before his NMC kicks in for next season has to seriously be on the table.

Well they are going to have to figure out a way to trade at least one of the 4 guys mentioned, otherwise I don't know how they can fit in their RFA's.
If they are exposing McDonagh than I guess Cernak won't be available.
Seems like a solid no from our end for trading a 1st for Cernak, guess we'll have to go bargain hunting elsewhere then. I just can't see Cernak being moved for anything less than a 1st, but we'll see.
I really doubt they move Kucherov for cap reason. Teams don't trade their best player to get under the cap (at least not up to this point, the flat cap might make things a little different going forward). Contenders like TB will trade 1st rounders to dump NTCs way before they consider trading Kucherov, IMO.

 

[Burke's Evil Spirit]

Virtanen to Florida for Mackenzie Weegar.

Florida's going to be cutting salary, per Elliote Friedman, so I wonder if Virtanen for Brett Connolly might be on the table. That's one of their few long-term contracts that's not to a core player (Huberdeau, Barkov, Ekblad) or an anchor (Matheson, Bobrovsky, Yandle, Stralman).

I wanted Connolly over Ferland last summer (they ended up getting the same contract). Adding Connolly could free up Pearson to be moved in a trade for a defender.

 

[Blue and Green]

Well they are going to have to figure out a way to trade at least one of the 4 guys mentioned, otherwise I don't know how they can fit in their RFA's.
If they are exposing McDonagh than I guess Cernak won't be available.
Seems like a solid no from our end for trading a 1st for Cernak, guess we'll have to go bargain hunting elsewhere then. I just can't see Cernak being moved for anything less than a 1st, but we'll see.
I really doubt they move Kucherov for cap reason. Teams don't trade their best player to get under the cap (at least not up to this point, the flat cap might make things a little different going forward). Contenders like TB will trade 1st rounders to dump NTCs way before they consider trading Kucherov, IMO.

They can't force any of those four guys to accept a trade. They could ask, but that's all. I don't see what incentive any of them would have to accept. And trading one of them doesn't open up enough space to deal with all of Sergachev, Cirelli and Cernak. The two $9.5M cap hits that can be traded are Kucherov and Vasilevsky; they have lots of forward talent so I think the choice is fairly obvious between those two if it comes to that. The problem then, of course, is that not many teams can absorb the cap hit. So they might be looking at having to dump one or two of the young RFA's.

Nice problem to have, really-- too many good players to fit within the cap, including talented young guys deserving solid raises.

 

[Burke's Evil Spirit]

Regarding the defense, I'm not willing to invest more in the left-side beyond stop-gap 1- or 2-year deals that will be easy to bury if Rathbone or Juolevi earn a spot in the next season or two.

Derek Forbort, Jon Merril, Erik Gustafsson, Dan Hamhuis are all candidates here. At the higher end, maybe Brenden Dillon comes here on the cheap, but I doubt it.

We could also swap a problem forward contract for one on the back end. Eg, one of Baertschi or Sutter straight up for Marc Staal, or Brendan Smith, or Kris Russel. All those guys are overpaid but all perfectly capable of holding down a bottom-pair D spot.

Carson Soucy is a Group VI UFA out of Minnesota that intrigues me - he's got good size and mobility, but had trouble cracking a deep Wild blueline.

 

[sandwichbird2023]

They can't force any of those four guys to accept a trade. They could ask, but that's all. I don't see what incentive any of them would have to accept. And trading one of them doesn't open up enough space to deal with all of Sergachev, Cirelli and Cernak. The two $9.5M cap hits that can be traded are Kucherov and Vasilevsky; they have lots of forward talent so I think the choice is fairly obvious between those two if it comes to that. The problem then, of course, is that not many teams can absorb the cap hit. So they might be looking at having to dump one or two of the young RFA's.

Nice problem to have, really-- too many good players to fit within the cap, including talented young guys deserving solid raises.

Yea Tampa has a tough summer ahead of them for sure. Maybe you can convince one of the 4 to get traded, and then bridge the 3 RFA's? I just can't see them trading Kuch, who won the MVP 13 months ago, locked into a long term contract that is reasonable, for cap reason. Especially since they are trying to win the cup now. I'm also guessing guys like Gourde would be open to moving to another team that can give him more consistent top 6 minutes, especially seeing how Miller exploded after getting more ice time and bigger role.

As to our defense, I think maybe we just bite the bullet for next season and wait until just before the expansion draft to add a piece. I think a few teams might have too many D needing protection and therefore willing to trade one at a discounted price. TB is one, Carolina is another. I'm not familiar with the other teams but looks like Columbus, St Louis, Nashville, Buffalo has some tough decisions to make. Next season, if it even happens, could be a shortened season anyways, best time to take the short term pain for a bit of a bargain.

 

[Diamonddog01]

Some interesting targets listed...

LD

Toews
Edmundson

RD

Mayfield
Weegar
Savard
Cernak

Lot of variables for next season but I think that 1) Edler probably has one decent season left (and his contract expires at the end of next year) and 2) I'm hoping that one of Rathbone or Juolevi can make the team in a #6 capacity. I'm fine with re-signing Tanev on a shorter deal (3 years or less). This would give us

Hughes - Tanev
Edler - Myers
One of Rathbone / Juolevi - Either Stecher or Benn

It's that bottom pairing RD that needs addressing imo, I've never been a Stecher fan and would happily replace him with one of Mayfield or Cernak (less so Weegar).

That being said the priority this offseason has to be to clear out some of the junk, it's at the end of the following season where the defense needs to be addressed. We'll have Edler coming off the books, a slim chance Myers in taken in the expansion draft, and a better understanding of which, if either, Juolevi or Rathbone are able to contribute to the team in a regular capacity.

 

[Blue and Green]

Yea Tampa has a tough summer ahead of them for sure. Maybe you can convince one of the 4 to get traded, and then bridge the 3 RFA's? I just can't see them trading Kuch, who won the MVP 13 months ago, locked into a long term contract that is reasonable, for cap reason. Especially since they are trying to win the cup now. I'm also guessing guys like Gourde would be open to moving to another team that can give him more consistent top 6 minutes, especially seeing how Miller exploded after getting more ice time and bigger role.

As to our defense, I think maybe we just bite the bullet for next season and wait until just before the expansion draft to add a piece. I think a few teams might have too many D needing protection and therefore willing to trade one at a discounted price. TB is one, Carolina is another. I'm not familiar with the other teams but looks like Columbus, St Louis, Nashville, Buffalo has some tough decisions to make. Next season, if it even happens, could be a shortened season anyways, best time to take the short term pain for a bit of a bargain.

I double-checked and Killorn's NTC turns into a modified NTC next season so there's the guy that they can trade. But even there, it's only $4.45M. The others still have full NTC's for next season. Gourde has five years left on his contract and will be 33 when it expires; don't see a couple of extra minutes being incentive for him to give up being on a stacked franchise in sunny & low-tax Florida. At least one of Sergachev, Cirelli or Cernak seems bound to go if Killorn is the only trade from the higher echelon. I'd like to get Cernak here but not for a 1st.

Canucks should definitely upgrade their defence assets before the expansion draft. There's really not much to protect at this point; they might as well try to improve their major area of weakness and also make the most of the optimal 7-3-1 protection option.

 

[Burke's Evil Spirit]

Cernak isn't going anywhere. He's Tampa's best right shot defenseman, and the depth behind him is spotty. Tampa will move Kucherov before they move Cernak.

 

[sting101]

Fair point, but Green seems pretty married to keeping left shots on the left side. Jordie Benn is a left-shot who is much better playing the right side but Green wouldn't even use thim there.

May have been because Stecher Tanev and Myers missed 1 game between them all year.

 

[vancityluongo]

Regarding the defense, I'm not willing to invest more in the left-side beyond stop-gap 1- or 2-year deals that will be easy to bury if Rathbone or Juolevi earn a spot in the next season or two.

Derek Forbort, Jon Merril, Erik Gustafsson, Dan Hamhuis are all candidates here. At the higher end, maybe Brenden Dillon comes here on the cheap, but I doubt it.

We could also swap a problem forward contract for one on the back end. Eg, one of Baertschi or Sutter straight up for Marc Staal, or Brendan Smith, or Kris Russel. All those guys are overpaid but all perfectly capable of holding down a bottom-pair D spot.

Carson Soucy is a Group VI UFA out of Minnesota that intrigues me - he's got good size and mobility, but had trouble cracking a deep Wild blueline.

Sutter for Russell would be an interesting "change of scenery" for players that the other team would have a better fit for. Both GMs probably (stupidly) regard both guys highly too.

 

[Hoghandler]

Florida's going to be cutting salary, per Elliote Friedman, so I wonder if Virtanen for Brett Connolly might be on the table. That's one of their few long-term contracts that's not to a core player (Huberdeau, Barkov, Ekblad) or an anchor (Matheson, Bobrovsky, Yandle, Stralman).

I wanted Connolly over Ferland last summer (they ended up getting the same contract). Adding Connolly could free up Pearson to be moved in a trade for a defender.

The Canucks are too deep on RW to lock into Connolly for 3 years. Good player, but a poor roster fit IMO.

I could see Florida look to unload Anton Stralman’s contract. $11mil over the next couple years is a lot of money for a cash strapped club. Could a Stralman for Sutter deal work? They shed money, while Stralman could play alongside Edler, or be a good veteran partner for Rathbone/Juolevi over the next couple years.

 

[Bojack Horvatman]

The Canucks are too deep on RW to lock into Connolly for 3 years. Good player, but a poor roster fit IMO.

I could see Florida look to unload Anton Stralman’s contract. $11mil over the next couple years is a lot of money for a cash strapped club. Could a Stralman for Sutter deal work? They shed money, while Stralman could play alongside Edler, or be a good veteran partner for Rathbone/Juolevi over the next couple years.

Terrible fit because of the extra year. That would give us 33.5m cap the following year with 9 players signed. That's not even counting The bonuses of Hughes and Pettersson, who will need new contracts.

 

[Hoghandler]

Terrible fit because of the extra year. That would give us 33.5m cap the following year with 9 players signed. That's not even counting The bonuses of Hughes and Pettersson, who will need new contracts.

If I had to guess, Seattle would be thrilled to pry Tyler Myers away from the Canucks.

That not only completely flips the cap picture on its head, it also makes Stralman a valuable addition.

 

[rypper]

If I had to guess, Seattle would be thrilled to pry Tyler Myers away from the Canucks.

That not only completely flips the cap picture on its head, it also makes Stralman a valuable addition.

I think they'd be even more thrilled to take Thatcher Demko.

 

[tyhee]

Or he doesn’t get signed.

Waits longer to tease potentially not signing at all and leaving eventually as a FA where everyone shits their pants.

Personally, I’d rather lick the kid in early than potentially wait too long.

The real issue is all the other garbage around him.

I'm all for burning a year when you need to. With Hughes there was no need.

There's just no way a kid who has two seasons to go before his university class graduates, who has played in the WHC for the United States and clearly thought he was ready for the NHL, is going to waste that time playing in the NCAA instead of signing for the following season in the NHL.

The time to burn a year for an NCAA player is when he has finished his senior year or, in some cases, perhaps his junior year.

If you don't burn a year for a senior, he can wait until August 15 and pick his destination. If you don't burn a season for a junior he might be willing to play one more college year, then pick his destination the following August 15.

 

[Hoghandler]

I think they'd be even more thrilled to take Thatcher Demko.

Which is why he should be packaged with a contract to Detroit this offseason.

Looking at the current depth chart, my money would be on Tyler Myers as the guy Seattle takes, if he’s left unprotected.

 

[rypper]

Which is why he should be packaged with a contract to Detroit this offseason.

Looking at the current depth chart, my money would be on Tyler Myers as the guy Seattle takes, if he’s left unprotected.

I bet Jim protects Myers. We don't have a lot of defensemen worth protecting currently, unless someone is signed on, with the given cap crunch is questionable.

Jim values veterans as well, if Tanev/Stecher go, Edler is unsigned, there's not much left of veteran depth.