Speculation: 2023-24 Free Agency/Trade Thread II

[Firequacker]

Any discussion of "too much smoke" has to deal with the existence of the Gibson precedent, not to mention the zero smoke whatsoever around Drysdale. It doesn't mean a trade won't happen, but "smoke" has a history of being utterly irrelevant for this team.

I don't think Verbeek owes the media any more than he's given them just because they desperately want to keep the click train coming. For all we know, "refused to comment" could be something along the lines of "oh ffs I'm not having this discussion again". I do think he owes Zegras some reassurance about it, which all indications are hasn't happened. Letting his players twist in the wind while he alone takes comfort in The Plan is kind of a Verbeek thing. But I still don't think expecting him to jump to deny every time Seravalli runs his mouth is realistic.

 

[tomd]

We get it, you keep saying this. But so far, the only actual smoke has been either made up, or heavy speculation.

I'll stipulate in advance that very few trade rumors actually end up happening. Such is the nature of smoke and speculation. But this board lives on smoke and speculation.

The Zegras to Montreal rumors could lead to nothing. But the rumors have been persistent and started back in January/February. Were they real then? Do a search and decide for yourself but they were broad based and appear to have had some basis in fact IMO. Now we are hearing that talks have re-engaged. Clickbait? Maybe. But I think it is a fair topic of discussion. No one is saying with certainty that he is going to be traded to Montreal but speculating about it seems like a very normal thing to do in a trade rumors thread.

 

[Zegs2sendhelp]

I'll stipulate in advance that very few trade rumors actually end up happening. Such is the nature of smoke and speculation. But this board lives on smoke and speculation.

The Zegras to Montreal rumors could lead to nothing. But the rumors have been persistent and started back in January/February. Were they real then? Do a search and decide for yourself but they were broad based and appear to have had some basis in fact IMO. Now we are hearing that talks have re-engaged. Clickbait? Maybe. But I think it is a fair topic of discussion. No one is saying with certainty that he is going to be traded to Montreal but speculating about it seems like a very normal thing to do in a trade rumors thread.

Ya I don’t see any issues discussing the possibilities….

There is smoke there, and maybe it’s click bait/speculation

 

[Static]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1799838716426596720

Here is our cap sheet:

Thank You - CapFriendly - NHL Salary Caps

Thank you for the amazing 9 years

www.capfriendly.com

I don't think our in-house RFAs cover the $11 million needed to hit the floor.

 

[Hey234]

Friedman, on his podcast, regularly refers to PV as a vault. He says that Verbeek keeps things quiet more than most. Not responding or addressing questions from the media has been a clearly established pattern. For anyone, including LeBrun, to interpret and form an opinion from a lack of response from PV is pointless. This is a standard response from PV and not indicative of anything.

The only reason "insiders" and other journalists keep bringing up Zegras's name is because people click on his articles. He gets lots of online engagement and that's why every market has their "trade for Zegras" article. Zegras can always be traded if the right offer comes along, but he's clearly not being pushed out.

 

[Ducks DVM]

Friedman, on his podcast, regularly refers to PV as a vault. He says that Verbeek keeps things quiet more than most. Not responding or addressing questions from the media has been a clearly established pattern. For anyone, including LeBrun, to interpret and form an opinion from a lack of response from PV is pointless. This is a standard response from PV and not indicative of anything.

The only reason "insiders" and other journalists keep bringing up Zegras's name is because people click on his articles. He gets lots of online engagement and that's why every market has their "trade for Zegras" article. Zegras can always be traded if the right offer comes along, but he's clearly not being pushed out.

At least with Lebrun that was clearly his own conjecture/analysis.

 

[The Mighty Duck Man]

At least with Lebrun that was clearly his own conjecture/analysis.

LeBrun didn’t really try and analyze anything Verbeek said about Zegras, he just said he declined to comment. He also reported that multiple league sources confirmed the team was listening on Zegras, which was, at least to me, the much bigger takeaway. It’s one thing with Seravalli when most of what he’s saying sounds speculative, but LeBrun is about as reliable as it gets and he wasn’t speculating.

 

[Ducks DVM]

LeBrun didn’t really try and analyze anything Verbeek said about Zegras, he just said he declined to comment. He also reported that multiple league sources confirmed the team was listening on Zegras, which was, at least to me, the much bigger takeaway. It’s one thing with Seravalli when most of what he’s saying sounds speculative, but LeBrun is about as reliable as it gets and he wasn’t speculating.

I was referring to “ They’re obviously deeper up front, which is why they could afford to move him.“”.

Edit - he also said “other league sources are reporting”, which they are. Seravelli, then everyone who is parroting Seravelli. He hasn’t talked to them. I’d put more credence towards it if he used a word like “confirmed”, and named names and/or positions.

 

[Leonardo87]

LeBrun didn’t add anything when it came to Zegras. Said there was trade chatter but feel that was just BS circling around like from Seravalli.

No one is untouchable, of course GM’s will listen on everyone, it’s their job. I also don’t get a sense that Zegras wants out. Some folks use the “Well they traded his best friend” as adding fuel to the trade chatter. This is a business, give me a break, they can still be friends, lol.

Listen, Z gets traded not going to stop watching the Ducks, far from it, but the trade return must be something that helps us now, and not down the road. Do not want futures. It also has to be at least another Top line player of that age range, or a Top pairing D coming back. Not getting another teams scraps.

 

[Static]

Capitals reach agreement to purchase CapFriendly website

It won’t happen until July, but according to multiple sources, the Washington Capitals have reached an agreement to purchase the outstanding CapFriendly website.

www.sportsnet.ca

Well that really sucks. Hopefully someone steps up and creates a new, publicly available resource.

 

[The Mighty Duck Man]

I was referring to “ They’re obviously deeper up front, which is why they could afford to move him.“”.

Edit - he also said “other league sources are reporting”, which they are. Seravelli, then everyone who is parroting Seravelli. He hasn’t talked to them. I’d put more credence towards it if he used a word like “confirmed”, and named names and/or positions.

He didn’t say other league sources are reporting, he said they’re suggesting. He isn’t talking about Seravalli, he’s talking about his own sources that he’s talked to. You can take it as you want, it’s clearly not super strong intel, but the copium towards this stuff has always been lame to me. That’s less directed at you but people have got to stop accusing a guy like LeBrun of clickbaiting only to trust him in literally every other instance.

 

[The Mighty Duck Man]

LeBrun didn’t add anything when it came to Zegras. Said there was trade chatter but feel that was just BS circling around like from Seravalli.

No one is untouchable, of course GM’s will listen on everyone, it’s their job. I also don’t get a sense that Zegras wants out. Some folks use the “Well they traded his best friend” as adding fuel to the trade chatter. This is a business, give me a break, they can still be friends, lol.

Listen, Z gets traded not going to stop watching the Ducks, far from it, but the trade return must be something that helps us now, and not down the road. Do not want futures. It also has to be at least another Top line player of that age range, or a Top pairing D coming back. Not getting another teams scraps.

Plenty of guys are untouchable, I’ll bet there’s at least four or five players on this team who are, and no I don’t think GMs listen in on everyone. There’s a reason there’s no talk of Verbeek listening to offers on Mason McTavish.

 

[Ducks DVM]

He didn’t say other league sources are reporting, he said they’re suggesting. He isn’t talking about Seravalli, he’s talking about his own sources that he’s talked to. You can take it as you want, it’s clearly not super strong intel, but the copium towards this stuff has always been lame to me. That’s less directed at you but people have got to stop accusing a guy like LeBrun of clickbaiting only to trust him in literally every other instance.

“ And finally, Trevor Zegras trade chatter has resurfaced. Verbeek would not comment on that, but other league sources suggest the Ducks are listening on him and would consider moving him in the right deal. They’re obviously deeper up front, which is why they could afford to move him.

Listening to trade offers and deciding to pull the trigger are two different things. I would say TBD on that one …”

The whole quote in the Athletic. No sourcing whatsoever, if you’ve got a different source please let me know, I’d love to have more documented info on the topic rather than what I consider muckraking.

The last sentence is 100% conjecture. The one before it is conjecture based on personal analysis.

I have not accused Lebrun of click baiting, or of in any way, shape, or form said that I trust what he says implicitly. I said that at least he identifies what he knows and what he’s guessing about.

 

[All Mighty]

Capitals reach agreement to purchase CapFriendly website

It won’t happen until July, but according to multiple sources, the Washington Capitals have reached an agreement to purchase the outstanding CapFriendly website.

www.sportsnet.ca

Well that really sucks. Hopefully someone steps up and creates a new, publicly available resource.

PuckPedia is very good.

 

[The Mighty Duck Man]

“ And finally, Trevor Zegras trade chatter has resurfaced. Verbeek would not comment on that, but other league sources suggest the Ducks are listening on him and would consider moving him in the right deal. They’re obviously deeper up front, which is why they could afford to move him.

Listening to trade offers and deciding to pull the trigger are two different things. I would say TBD on that one …”

The whole quote in the Athletic. No sourcing whatsoever, if you’ve got a different source please let me know, I’d love to have more documented info on the topic rather than what I consider muckraking.

The last sentence is 100% conjecture. The one before it is conjecture based on personal analysis.

I have not accused Lebrun of click baiting, or of in any way, shape, or form said that I trust what he says implicitly. I said that at least he identifies what he knows and what he’s guessing about.

I was re-reading it as I typed my post. Nothing you’ve added refutes anything I said. The bolded is the key part, you can call it muckraking but it seems pretty clear to me. Like I said, it’s not super strong intel, but it’s a very trusted reporter saying what he’s heard. I have no reason to doubt it.

 

[Ducks DVM]

I was re-reading it as I typed my post. Nothing you’ve added refutes anything I said. The bolded is the key part, you can call it muckraking but it seems pretty clear to me. Like I said, it’s not super strong intel, but it’s a very trusted reporter saying what he’s heard. I have no reason to doubt it.

Nothing refutes that the sources aren’t Seravelli and the people who have quoted Seravelli, because he provided no insight into whether the sources were part of teams that had spoken with Verbeek, team sources that had heard from other teams that they’d spoken to Verbeek, or Seravelli and all his parrots who were also just after clicks and misstating what Seravelli said - which is the part I consider muckraking.

Lebrun, critically read, to me pretty clearly said “I have no actual firsthand knowledge of this topic, don’t trust the sources well enough to come down with a strong statement on it, can see how it COULD happen, but am somewhat skeptical that it will”.

 

[Reveille1984]

How are we deeper up front? We can barely score goals as it is and our best potential offensive players are still kids.

The only players on this team I would consider "untouchable" are Leo, Minty, and Cutter in PVB's mind. Anyone else I think he would consider moving to improve the NHL club. Zegras could very well not be a Verbeek favorite, but there's probably not much opportunity out there to upgrade the NHL roster by moving him. If he actually does want to start getting closer to competing as he's said, moving Zegras for picks/prospects makes no sense.

 

[DavidBL]

I was re-reading it as I typed my post. Nothing you’ve added refutes anything I said. The bolded is the key part, you can call it muckraking but it seems pretty clear to me. Like I said, it’s not super strong intel, but it’s a very trusted reporter saying what he’s heard. I have no reason to doubt it.

To me that's just acknowledging the rumors. He's not identifying it as his sources. Imo that could just as easily be other reporters talking about it. I also don't see his refusal to talk about it as confirmation. He spoke about the Gibby situation, what's different for Z? Maybe he feels he's already responded to the rumors(which he has) and feels he doesn't need to keep repeating himself.

I also find it odd that PV talks about wanting to add to the offense but then its suggested that we have offense depth to move Z. How does that make sense to anyone?

 

[The Mighty Duck Man]

Nothing refutes that the sources aren’t Seravelli and the people who have quoted Seravelli, because he provided no insight into whether the sources were part of teams that had spoken with Verbeek, team sources that had heard from other teams that they’d spoken to Verbeek, or Seravelli and all his parrots who were also just after clicks and misstating what Seravelli said - which is the part I consider muckraking.

Lebrun, critically read, to me pretty clearly said “I have no actual firsthand knowledge of this topic, don’t trust the sources well enough to come down with a strong statement on it, can see how it COULD happen, but am somewhat skeptical that it will”.

You’re just misreading it. You keep talking about Seravalli but LeBrun clearly isn’t talking about him whatsoever. If he was he would attribute him but he obviously didn’t. The league sources he mentions are his own, it’s not even the only time in that one article he uses that phrase, that’s just how he talks.

To me that's just acknowledging the rumors. He's not identifying it as his sources. Imo that could just as easily be other reporters talking about it. I also don't see his refusal to talk about it as confirmation. He spoke about the Gibby situation, what's different for Z? Maybe he feels he's already responded to the rumors(which he has) and feels he doesn't need to keep repeating himself.

I also find it odd that PV talks about wanting to add to the offense but then it’s suggested that we have offense depth to move Z. How does that make sense to anyone?

If he was acknowledging another reporters work he would say so by name. These guys are big on crediting their peers, even if they work for rival outlets. “League sources” doesn’t mean other reporters, it means sources around the league.

 

[Ducks DVM]

You’re just misreading it. You keep talking about Seravalli but LeBrun clearly isn’t talking about him whatsoever. If he was he would attribute him but he obviously didn’t. The league sources he mentions are his own, it’s not even the only time in that one article he uses that phrase, that’s just how he talks.

No, there is an extremely vaguely written line, and you’ve chosen to interpret it in the fashion that you prefer. There’s absolutely nothing about that quote that’s definitive. I may not be right, but there’s zero in that quote to where you can tell me I’m wrong.

Agree to disagree

 

[The Mighty Duck Man]

No, there is an extremely vaguely written line, and you’ve chosen to interpret it in the fashion that you prefer. There’s absolutely nothing about that quote that’s definitive. I may not be right, but there’s zero in that quote to where you can tell me I’m wrong.

Agree to disagree

It’s only vague if you literally have never read anything he’s written before. In his prior rumblings blog there’s a great comparable, it’s about the Brady Tkachuk rumours. Does he say that league sources have suggested Brady could be on the move? Nope, he specifically says it came from Ryan Whitney. If you are interpreting his line as him referring to Frank Seravalli you are 100% wrong.

 

[Mr Quacksworth]

When do we start tendering RFAs or signing college FAs or anything WORTH talking about? JFC...

 

[The Mighty Duck Man]

When do we start tendering RFAs or signing college FAs or anything WORTH talking about? JFC...

The college FA ship has mostly sailed and RFAs don’t have to be qualified until the end of the month. It’s almost certainly going to be very dull until the cup gets handed out and even then most of the focus is going to be on the draft.

 

[tomd]

I personally think that if PV does trade Zegras he will get "fair" value in the same way that he got fair value for Drysdale. Time will tell.

 

[Dr Johnny Fever]

What comments from Zegras? Seriously asking because I'm not aware of any.

Ducks' Trevor Zegras, perhaps at a crossroads, reflects on a 'good 'ol battle of adversity'

After an injury-plagued season and endless trade speculation, it will be an interesting offseason for Zegras and the Ducks.

www.nytimes.com

If it wasn’t media outlets — including this one — looking at possible trade destinations, it was the countless proposals bandied about by hockey fans through social media. And it continues to this day. Speculation on a deal between the Ducks and Montreal Canadiens has almost taken on a life of its own.

“You see it,” Zegras said. “It’s hard not to see. Definitely sucks. I think you can always control what you can control. When there are certain teams that there are rumors to, obviously it goes in a different direction so to speak.”

The persistent trade talk has taken some of the fun that Zegras has enjoyed, as someone active on social media. He said he’s curtailed his presence but it has taken some of the fun out of being on a public platform. However, he added, “When you step away from that and just focus on coming to the rink, be where you are and control what you can control, it doesn’t really matter what people are saying.”