2023 Free Agency/UFA Targets

[jkutswings]

So it's official, we'll be adding a new goalie this year.

A young buy low candidate in the mold of the Ned and Husso acquisitions is Mackenzie Blackwood. Injuries have kept him from keeping his job in NJ, but he's flashed a lot of talent in the past. If you're looking for a "steal" that could outplay his contract, that's the guy I target. But he could just as easily continue to struggle and have nagging soft tissue injuries.

Otherwise there's the journeyman goalie roulette! Not too many appealing names, to be honest. I'd imagine many of the ones who played well this year get retained by their current teams.

I had thought Boston had no money to keep Swayman. But I guess it depends on where Detroit has funds allocated - if a significant investment in net works right now, or if they plan to chase bigger fish up front in a trade(s) and stay cheap between the pipes for now.

 

[jaster]

Did Blackwood ever get vax'd?

*runs and hides*

 

[norrisnick]

I would guess he would fall in the “can play on the power play in a pinch” mold and not someone that would block Rasmussen or Elmer if everyone is healthy. If I’m remembering correctly he only got power play opportunities last year after Rasmussen would get hurt.

I think it is mostly a depth move for a guy with some versatility.

Ras and Soda weren't getting any PP time this year. In his short stint Chiasson had more PP TOI than the other two combined.

 

[Frk It]

Ras and Soda weren't getting any PP time this year. In his short stint Chiasson had more PP TOI than the other two combined.

Hmm, I thought Rasmussen played more minutes per game this year than he actually did. Seemed like he had a bigger role. I was wrong on that one.

I still don't know that Chiasson is getting power play minutes on this team when everyone is healthy. I do think the stretch where he got PP ice time was the same time frame where Rasmsusen was hurt.

So it's official, we'll be adding a new goalie this year.

A young buy low candidate in the mold of the Ned and Husso acquisitions is Mackenzie Blackwood. Injuries have kept him from keeping his job in NJ, but he's flashed a lot of talent in the past. If you're looking for a "steal" that could outplay his contract, that's the guy I target. But he could just as easily continue to struggle and have nagging soft tissue injuries.

Otherwise there's the journeyman goalie roulette! Not too many appealing names, to be honest. I'd imagine many of the ones who played well this year get retained by their current teams.

I would think we would go for someone more proven for the #2 to run with Husso, but not 100% sure on that. Don't know if we have a great list of options.

 

[jaster]

I still don't know that Chiasson is getting power play minutes on this team when everyone is healthy. I do think the stretch where he got PP ice time was the same time frame where Rasmsusen was hurt.

Rasmussen and some others as well. Chiasson got a massive opportunity, therefor logged a lot of minutes, and ran with it. I doubt it's enough to move him up the depth chart an appreciable amount though. He was still useless outside of the PP.

 

[Axel Sandy Pelikan]

So it's official, we'll be adding a new goalie this year.

A young buy low candidate in the mold of the Ned and Husso acquisitions is Mackenzie Blackwood. Injuries have kept him from keeping his job in NJ, but he's flashed a lot of talent in the past. If you're looking for a "steal" that could outplay his contract, that's the guy I target. But he could just as easily continue to struggle and have nagging soft tissue injuries.

Otherwise there's the journeyman goalie roulette! Not too many appealing names, to be honest. I'd imagine many of the ones who played well this year get retained by their current teams.

What’s Vesa Toskala up to?

 

[SantosHalper]

What’s Vesa Toskala up to?

Making commercials for Veikkaus and apparently truck driving.

 

[Voodoo Glow Skulls]

Did Blackwood ever get vax'd?

*runs and hides*

No, but he's been wearing a flea and tick collar.

 

[Detroit Knights]

In what way was that a dirty hit? Barbashev had the puck. Gudas stupidly led with his face while trying to poke a puck and going straight into a guy. Never mind that Gudas absolutely deserved that, Barbashev was well within his right to reverse hit a guy coming straight at him, especially Gudas. It's not Barbashev's fault that Gudas sabotaged himself.


Chiasson is a bit of a surprise, but I guess he checks the box of good, cheap depth. The rest all make perfect sense.

I said it because the replay shows barbashev point of contact is head. Yes, Gudas leads with the head a bit, but Barbashev also extended in an upward motion. So, even if Gudas didn't lead with the head, he still would have been hit in an upward motion, which isn't a legal hit because of the extension. If he would have hit straight through him, then it's cleaner.

 

[Bench]

I would think we would go for someone more proven for the #2 to run with Husso, but not 100% sure on that. Don't know if we have a great list of options.

It's going to be a slim market. It's easy to say, "oh hey we'll just sign Hill" but those guys always have plenty of offers to sort through especially if you're not overpaying.

For better or worse, barring a significant trade, Husso is our 1A next year.

Given Hellberg and Neddy are not being offered new deals, there must be some expectation from Yzerman he believes he can secure an upgrade to split games.

Yzerman was aggressive in obtaining Bishop even with Vasi in the pipeline. So I don't think Cossa would stop him from proactively trading for a starting goalie. But the goalies discussed in the trade speculation are all pretty young. And still volatile in their own way. There's few slam dunk candidates, obviously, otherwise they would just be retained by said team.

This is a long-winded way of shrugging and saying, "f*** if I know."

The only thing I can say for certain now is Yzerman has something cooking at goalie and we'll have a fresh face to scapegoat next year.

 

[Bench]

What’s Vesa Toskala up to?

I was thinking we could finally make Nabokov happen!

 

[Detroit Knights]

No, but he's been wearing a flea and tick collar.

About the same if you think about it.

It's going to be a slim market. It's easy to say, "oh hey we'll just sign Hill" but those guys always have plenty of offers to sort through especially if you're not overpaying.

For better or worse, barring a significant trade, Husso is our 1A next year.

Given Hellberg and Neddy are not being offered new deals, there must be some expectation from Yzerman he believes he can secure an upgrade to split games.

Yzerman was aggressive in obtaining Bishop even with Vasi in the pipeline. So I don't think Cossa would stop him from proactively trading for a starting goalie. But the goalies discussed in the trade speculation are all pretty young. And still volatile in their own way. There's few slam dunk candidates, obviously, otherwise they would just be retained by said team.

This is a long-winded way of shrugging and saying, "f*** if I know."

The only thing I can say for certain now is Yzerman has something cooking at goalie and we'll have a fresh face to scapegoat next year.

I am honestly surprised that he wouldn't at least give a contract to Ned that was a two-way or something (if that is possible). I thought he was doing okay in GR?

 

[ricky0034]

I was thinking we could finally make Nabokov happen!

a Vezina win in his 50s would get Osgood that HOF spot some people here keep asking for

 

[jaster]

I said it because the replay shows barbashev point of contact is head. Yes, Gudas leads with the head a bit, but Barbashev also extended in an upward motion. So, even if Gudas didn't lead with the head, he still would have been hit in an upward motion, which isn't a legal hit because of the extension. If he would have hit straight through him, then it's cleaner.

Principle point of contact being the head is allowed in some cases, depending on circumstances. I'm sure there is some interpretation, or grotesque twisting, of a stated rule that demonstrates it might have been an illegal hit to the head, but just from a hockey standpoint it's completely fine. I mean, if you're going head first at a puck carrier's body and he dishes the puck just in time to reverse hit you, and the principle point of contact is the head, well..... that's 100% your own fault, and luckily the NHL agrees based on recent precedent.

He hit him level. The upward motion happened after contact was made, but even if it didn't, it doesn't matter. He didn't leave his feet before (or even after in this case) contact. He can have as much upward motion as he wants. This goes back to the Kronwall days, when people complained about his "upward motion." It didn't matter then and it doesn't matter now.

Man, if there's one guy in the league who should know better than leading with his face, it's Radko freaking Gudas. Guess the hockey gods were watching.

 

[Henkka]

I don't think he can outscored Larkin on this team. He'd be dependent on Larkin for his chances.

Yep. And Debrincat scoring has been way higher when playing with Patrick Kane.

Debrincat has played most minutes with Patty Kane on last 3 seasons, of ALL NHL players. And he has been 40-goal scorer with Kane.

But he has been under 30 goal scorer without Kane. You don't pay premium 9-10 million deals for that.

Debrincat is a 6M guy.

 

[Holden Caufield]

This has me nervous. Anybody who ponies up a legit bounty for DeBrincat is going to be making a mistake.

 

[JediOrderPizza]

Why does he have to outscore Larkin tho? We need scoring, he's going to add goals to the team.

The cost is an entirely different thing tho, I'd only be comfortable if the biggest piece going is pick 17.

 

[ricky0034]

I find it a little odd how the same people that think Larkin would magically be a 100 point guy with better Wingers also simultaneously don't want DeBrincat because they think he needs a guy like that to produce

so then.....what's the problem?

 

[norrisnick]

Why does he have to outscore Larkin tho? We need scoring, he's going to add goals to the team.

The cost is an entirely different thing tho, I'd only be comfortable if the biggest piece going is pick 17.

It's not a matter of he has to outscored Larkin. It's a matter of it was suggested that he would.

The cap hit is almost more concerning than the trade pieces. A tiny pure offense winger is not someone to invest 10% of your cap.

 

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

I find it a little odd how the same people that think Larkin would magically be a 100 point guy with better Wingers also simultaneously don't want DeBrincat because they think he needs a guy like that to produce

so then.....what's the problem?

DeBrincat is a good winger that needs a real playmaker to score. He doesn’t elevate the play of others around him. Fiala, Marner, Nylander, Robertson, Tkachuks, Gaudreau, Pastrnak, Marchand are all wingers that fall in that category. DeBrincat is more along the lines of guys like Evander Kane, Hyman, Boeser, Hall, Skinner.

Would he be better than what we have next to Larkin? Probably. Would he be the right fit? I personally don’t think so.

 

[norrisnick]

I find it a little odd how the same people that think Larkin would magically be a 100 point guy with better Wingers also simultaneously don't want DeBrincat because they think he needs a guy like that to produce

so then.....what's the problem?

Don't want him anywhere near $8-9M/yr.

He's a 5'5" shooter. He's a righthanded Hudler that started his career next to a HOFer rather than being buried in the lineup.

 

[Snuggs]

I find it a little odd how the same people that think Larkin would magically be a 100 point guy with better Wingers also simultaneously don't want DeBrincat because they think he needs a guy like that to produce

so then.....what's the problem?

Money. Detroit fans hate paying anyone.

 

[jkutswings]

I realize that hot takes generate clicks, but sometimes it gets tiring how often topics degenerate into binary theater.

Debrincat is neither the silver bullet for this roster nor a plague to be avoided at all costs. He's a tire to kick and see whether Ottawa can be taken advantage of to add a few goals, either short or long term.

If there's a good deal to be had and/or a good chance to rent him and then flip him for more than the initial payment, winner winner chicken dinner. If the Sens are too stubborn for their own good, then wait it out and they can either let somebody else overpay or lose him for nothing.

 

[Henkka]

I find it a little odd how the same people that think Larkin would magically be a 100 point guy with better Wingers also simultaneously don't want DeBrincat because they think he needs a guy like that to produce

so then.....what's the problem?

Many problems.

Debrincat inflated stats after years with Kane.

You have pay to get an overpaid player. That could kill team hierarchy with contract values. It's insanity.

It's like case Tavares at Toronto. You got him for 11M and what happens next is Matthews demanding the same when team-friendly extension (without Tavares as team-mate pulling the Matthews ask up) would have been 8.7M.

And when Matthews got his 11.6M figure then Marner is asking the same and not taking a team-frindly number either. You have to pay 10.9M for him too.

If we get overpaid Debrincat, Raymond is gonna ask a moon after that, because he could equal Debrincat's scoring. Then you have two overpaid guys and the next in line like Kasper is gonna ask same way.

It will close your Stanley Cup window, thanks to bad cap management. That's what happened for Toronto. You'll get your stars but there's no cap soace for bottom6/defence other areas, and separates you from the winners.

That's not happening at Detroit, because Yzerman already modelled that good cap structure way for all hockey world at Tampa. His vision with the math and contract structure will work.

He is not gonna touch this Debrincat situation at all, if the cap numbers aren't right. I don't say they couldn't be, but Debrincat extension has to be a bargain level of caphit if Yzerman ever will be interested.

 

[Frk It]

Many problems.

Debrincat inflated stats after years with Kane.

You have pay to get an overpaid player. That could kill team hierarchy with contract values. It's insanity.

It's like case Tavares at Toronto. You got him for 11M and what happens next is Matthews demanding the same when team-friendly extension (without Tavares as team-mate pulling the Matthews ask up) would have been 8.7M.

And when Matthews got his 11.6M figure then Marner is asking the same and not taking a team-frindly number either. You have to pay 10.9M for him too.

If we get overpaid Debrincat, Raymond is gonna ask a moon after that, because he could equal Debrincat's scoring. Then you have two overpaid guys and the next in line like Kasper is gonna ask same way.

It will close your Stanley Cup window, thanks to bad cap management. That's what happened for Toronto. You'll get your stars but there's no cap soace for bottom6/defence other areas, and separates you from the winners.

That's not happening at Detroit, because Yzerman already modelled that good cap structure way for all hockey world at Tampa. His vision with the math and contract structure will work.

He is not gonna touch this Debrincat situation at all, if the cap numbers aren't right. I don't say they couldn't be, but Debrincat extension has to be a bargain level of caphit if Yzerman ever will be interested.

Lol, there are far worse things to be than Toronto.

We are a bad team and you are worried about having too many overpaid good players.

That would be like a homeless person being worried when they get a house their garage won't be big enough for all their Ferraris.

Let's get some more good players first.

You can sit here and poke holes in players that are actually available that would actually make this team better. That's fine, we will just continue to be a shit team then. We are not going to get 100% of the pieces for this re-build from the draft. No team hits on that many of their picks.

And these hypothetical young star players we can acquire with no flaws in their game... those guy's don't actually become available.

It's like when Lidstrom retired and everyone poked holes on every UFA defenseman that hit he market and then we watched us sign no one and our blue line become absolute shit.