Speculation: 2024-25 - Free Agency/Trade Thread

[LePerilsofPerreault]

and that doesn't mean that he didn't try to land a top 6 forward and top 4 d-man but got denied. of course he's going to say something optimistic to the fanbase. was he supposed to say "i'm going to try and sign a couple big name FAs but will likely get turned down because our team isn't very good and i can't afford to pay what other teams will"?

No he should've gave a generic hockey gm answer about qualities he's looking to add instead of specifying exactly what he wants twice. If he was choosing between like 4 guys total that he was willing to sign, then even less reason give false optimism saying that it will help us be in contention for a playoff spot this year. Is the fan reaction not an obvious outcome? But like I said he shouldn't care about criticism but he should be expecting it after calling his shot.

To the second part of my original comment ... he absolutely can afford to pay more than what other teams will and it really wouldn't affect signing our young players.

edit: and to be fair to him, he brought up trades as being a possible avenue but said free agency would be the easiest avenue.

 

[Terry Yake]

No he should've gave a generic hockey gm answer about qualities he's looking to add instead of specifying exactly what he wants twice. If he was choosing between like 4 guys total that he was willing to sign, then even less reason give false optimism saying that it will help us be in contention for a playoff spot this year. Is the fan reaction not an obvious outcome? But like I said he shouldn't care about criticism but he should be expecting it after calling his shot.

To the second part of my original comment ... he absolutely can afford to pay more than what other teams will and it really wouldn't affect signing our young players.

edit: and to be fair to him, he brought up trades as being a possible avenue but said free agency would be the easiest avenue.

is ownership willing to pay up though? or maybe the ducks did offer certain guys more $ than what they signed for and simply got turned down?

i could see them offering marchessault around the same AAV he got, but if its between going to a team in the basement and a playoff team going all in for a cup, is there really even anything to consider?

 

[LePerilsofPerreault]

is ownership willing to pay up though? or maybe the ducks did offer certain guys more $ than what they signed for and simply got turned down?

i could see them offering marchessault around the same AAV he got, but if its between going to a team in the basement and a playoff team going all in for a cup, is there really even anything to consider?

Not denying that players want to win, just that criticism will obviously follow him calling his shot (but a little extra $$$ currently being used on nothing wouldn't hurt if they were serious about acquiring those positions on this shitty team).
The part you bolded is just in response to the hypothetical that we couldn't match or exceed what others paid. Whether or not the Samueli's want to pay free agents to help in the short term we have no way to know, but I would find it seriously depressing that a team below the cap floor wouldn't.

I have to imagine some sort of trade is coming that will use a similar amount of money minus a couple mil while giving up some sort of value we otherwise wouldn't have had to part ways with. Or smaller signings that won't move the needle like he hoped.

 

[Masch78]

It is very telling, that we are not able to sign a good free agent. And this creates quite of a problem imho. There are holes in the team we aimed for to fill with quality and veteran leadership. There are just two ways to do this. Going free agency and getting a risky contract or via trade. The latter is on the cost of the future. So to get a top 4 RHD and a top 6 forward we have to offer a lot. And those players will, most likely, not be signed for mid term.

 

[MMC]

Too many excuses are being made for the failure to improve today.

I think most people just realize there's still over 3 months before the season starts. If they made 3 big trades tomorrow would you still feel this way? No one will be happy if the team doesn't improve at all, but if they do before camp why does it matter if it was done today or not?

 

[ducknuts]

Carlsson, McT, Gauthier, Zellweger, Dostal, Mintyukov.......quite a few young players due extensions in the next couple of seasons.

Vatrano is also a pending UFA who we might potentially want to extend.

Most will get bridge contracts. Also, Gibson, Killorn, and Strome are off the books in three years, and Fowler and Gudas are off in two.

 

[LePerilsofPerreault]

I think most people just realize there's still over 3 months before the season starts. If they made 3 big trades tomorrow would you still feel this way? No one will be happy if the team doesn't improve at all, but if they do before camp why does it matter if it was done today or not?

Depends on what the trades are but he missed on the part where picks and prospects aren't included. I'd take Tarasenko still so they can be around another cup champ.

 

[GermanRocket7]

Look, let's not kid ourselves: we should see significant progress this upcoming season, especially if the players can stay healthy for once. But we're not going to be a contender anyway until, roughly, 2026.

Looking at potentially upcoming FAs next season, we would be better off throwing money at them then. If the Oilers don't win the Cup in 2025, I am pretty sure Draisaitl is going to the market, for example.

We'll be one year closer to being competitive and know about some of the major contracts we will supposedly have to hand out. There's lots of cap space and picks as well as prospects in our war chest, and we will weaponize it at one point. It just appears not to be the case right now already.

 

[MMC]

So most teams have their goalie duos set by the looks of it. How many teams do you guys think remain where Gibson still represents a clear need?

Calgary: Vladar/Wolf
Edmonton: Skinner/Pickard
LA: Kuemper/Rittich
Seattle: Grubauer/Daccord
San Jose: Blackwood/Vanecek
Vancouver: Demko/Silovs
Vegas: Hill/Samsonov

Chicago: Mrazek/Brossoit
Colorado: Georgiev/Annunen
Dallas: Oettinger/DeSmith
Minnesota: Fleury/Gustavsson
Nashville: Saros/Wedgewood
St. Louis: Binnington/Hofer
Utah: Vejmelka/Ingram
Winnipeg: Hellebuyck/Kahkonen

Boston: Swayman/Korpisalo
Buffalo: Pekka-Lukkonen/Levi
Detroit: Husso/Talbot
Florida: Bobrovsky/Knight
Montreal: Montembeault/Primeau
Ottawa: Ullmark/Forsberg
Tampa: Vasilevsky/Johansson
Toronto: Woll/Stolarz

Carolina: Andersen/Kochetkov
Columbus: Merzilikins/Tarasov
New Jersey: Markstrom/Allen
NY Islanders: Sorokin/Varlamov
NY Rangers: Shesterkin/Quick
Philadelphia: Ersson/Fedotov
Pittsburgh: Jarry/Nedeljkovic
Washington: Lindgren/Thompson

 

[Tony O]

So most teams have their goalie duos set by the looks of it. How many teams do you guys think remain where Gibson still represents a clear need?

Calgary: Vladar/Wolf
Edmonton: Skinner/Pickard
LA: Kuemper/Rittich
Seattle: Grubauer/Daccord
San Jose: Blackwood/Vanecek
Vancouver: Demko/Silovs
Vegas: Hill/Samsonov

Chicago: Mrazek/Brossoit
Colorado: Georgiev/Annunen
Dallas: Oettinger/DeSmith
Minnesota: Fleury/Gustavsson
Nashville: Saros/Wedgewood
St. Louis: Binnington/Hofer
Utah: Vejmelka/Ingram
Winnipeg: Hellebuyck/Kahkonen

Boston: Swayman/Korpisalo
Buffalo: Pekka-Lukkonen/Levi
Detroit: Husso/Talbot
Florida: Bobrovsky/Knight
Montreal: Montembeault/Primeau
Ottawa: Ullmark/Forsberg
Tampa: Vasilevsky/Johansson
Toronto: Woll/Stolarz

Carolina: Andersen/Kochetkov
Columbus: Merzilikins/Tarasov
New Jersey: Markstrom/Allen
NY Islanders: Sorokin/Varlamov
NY Rangers: Shesterkin/Quick
Philadelphia: Ersson/Fedotov
Pittsburgh: Jarry/Nedeljkovic
Washington: Lindgren/Thompson

Don't think Gibson is going anywhere until more years are burned off his contract, and even then the return will most likely be disappointing. Return on goalies is rarely what one would hope it to be.

 

[Giguere27]

Has anybody seen an official statement from Verbeek after day one?

 

[Lord Flashheart]

Look, let's not kid ourselves: we should see significant progress this upcoming season, especially if the players can stay healthy for once. But we're not going to be a contender anyway until, roughly, 2026.

Looking at potentially upcoming FAs next season, we would be better off throwing money at them then. If the Oilers don't win the Cup in 2025, I am pretty sure Draisaitl is going to the market, for example.

We'll be one year closer to being competitive and know about some of the major contracts we will supposedly have to hand out. There's lots of cap space and picks as well as prospects in our war chest, and we will weaponize it at one point. It just appears not to be the case right now already.

If by contenders you mean contenders for SC, then you should set your timeline to, rougly, 2030.

Barkov is in his 11th season, McDavid in 9th...

Sidney Crosby is the youngest captain in NHL history to win SC, and he was in his 4th season.

If you mean sneaking into playoffs, 2026 might be realistic, but maybe tad optimistic.

 

[Opak]

What’s left in the bottom of the UFA barrel? Tarasenko and a slightly used Nate Schmidt, just to reach the cap floor?

It’s tough to be excited for the next season right now. We have limited assets to make a trade with - we really don’t want to trade our most interesting prospects as they’re basically penciled into the NHL roster for next season, and we only have 2 picks in the first 3 rounds in next year’s draft. And we all know Beeker is not trading the 1st, at least not without protecting the pick.

We have tons of cap space, but most of the interesting free agents went already. So Beeker’s options are A) overpay a couple of UFAs just to reach the floor, B) make a lackluster trade using whatever low level picks and prospects that we have, C) accept cap dumps from other teams for little to no compensation to reach the floor, or D) trade piece(s) from the roster for more expensive piece(s) to reach the floor.

Regardless of which option you pick, I have a hard time seeing how this team is supposed to significantly improve from last season. Right now it looks like we’re running it back with the same group that had a bottom 5 finish last season.

I think Beeker’s seat has to be warming up a bit here. He was talking publicly about how he’s going to do this and that to improve the roster. Barring an ace or two in his sleeve, I don’t see how he does it…

 

[mightyquack]

So most teams have their goalie duos set by the looks of it. How many teams do you guys think remain where Gibson still represents a clear need?

Calgary: Vladar/Wolf
Edmonton: Skinner/Pickard
LA: Kuemper/Rittich
Seattle: Grubauer/Daccord
San Jose: Blackwood/Vanecek
Vancouver: Demko/Silovs
Vegas: Hill/Samsonov

Chicago: Mrazek/Brossoit
Colorado: Georgiev/Annunen
Dallas: Oettinger/DeSmith
Minnesota: Fleury/Gustavsson
Nashville: Saros/Wedgewood
St. Louis: Binnington/Hofer
Utah: Vejmelka/Ingram
Winnipeg: Hellebuyck/Kahkonen

Boston: Swayman/Korpisalo
Buffalo: Pekka-Lukkonen/Levi
Detroit: Husso/Talbot
Florida: Bobrovsky/Knight
Montreal: Montembeault/Primeau
Ottawa: Ullmark/Forsberg
Tampa: Vasilevsky/Johansson
Toronto: Woll/Stolarz

Carolina: Andersen/Kochetkov
Columbus: Merzilikins/Tarasov
New Jersey: Markstrom/Allen
NY Islanders: Sorokin/Varlamov
NY Rangers: Shesterkin/Quick
Philadelphia: Ersson/Fedotov
Pittsburgh: Jarry/Nedeljkovic
Washington: Lindgren/Thompson

Doesn't matter if they have an opening, Gibson is a below average NHL goaltender at this point getting paid 6.4m a year. If he's the solution to a team's goaltending issues, they are tanking.

We'd have to pay to dump him, I doubt he'd even have a market at 50% retention to be honest.

 

[mightyquack]

What’s left in the bottom of the UFA barrel? Tarasenko and a slightly used Nate Schmidt, just to reach the cap floor?

It’s tough to be excited for the next season right now. We have limited assets to make a trade with - we really don’t want to trade our most interesting prospects as they’re basically penciled into the NHL roster for next season, and we only have 2 picks in the first 3 rounds in next year’s draft. And we all know Beeker is not trading the 1st, at least not without protecting the pick.

We have tons of cap space, but most of the interesting free agents went already. So Beeker’s options are A) overpay a couple of UFAs just to reach the floor, B) make a lackluster trade using whatever low level picks and prospects that we have, C) accept cap dumps from other teams for little to no compensation to reach the floor, or D) trade piece(s) from the roster for more expensive piece(s) to reach the floor.

Regardless of which option you pick, I have a hard time seeing how this team is supposed to significantly improve from last season. Right now it looks like we’re running it back with the same group that had a bottom 5 finish last season.

I think Beeker’s seat has to be warming up a bit here. He was talking publicly about how he’s going to do this and that to improve the roster. Barring an ace or two in his sleeve, I don’t see how he does it…

Given pretty much all our key players are young, it's pretty clear we are banking on them all taking big steps which isn't really unreasonable. Even if we signed a couple of FA's, whether this team takes a step or not is purely down to the young players developing.

If the young players don't take a step....well no amount of Stamkos/Marsh/Roy's would help us do anything.

 

[Hey234]

So most teams have their goalie duos set by the looks of it. How many teams do you guys think remain where Gibson still represents a clear need?

Calgary: Vladar/Wolf
Edmonton: Skinner/Pickard
LA: Kuemper/Rittich
Seattle: Grubauer/Daccord
San Jose: Blackwood/Vanecek
Vancouver: Demko/Silovs
Vegas: Hill/Samsonov

Chicago: Mrazek/Brossoit
Colorado: Georgiev/Annunen
Dallas: Oettinger/DeSmith
Minnesota: Fleury/Gustavsson
Nashville: Saros/Wedgewood
St. Louis: Binnington/Hofer
Utah: Vejmelka/Ingram
Winnipeg: Hellebuyck/Kahkonen

Boston: Swayman/Korpisalo
Buffalo: Pekka-Lukkonen/Levi
Detroit: Husso/Talbot
Florida: Bobrovsky/Knight
Montreal: Montembeault/Primeau
Ottawa: Ullmark/Forsberg
Tampa: Vasilevsky/Johansson
Toronto: Woll/Stolarz

Carolina: Andersen/Kochetkov
Columbus: Merzilikins/Tarasov
New Jersey: Markstrom/Allen
NY Islanders: Sorokin/Varlamov
NY Rangers: Shesterkin/Quick
Philadelphia: Ersson/Fedotov
Pittsburgh: Jarry/Nedeljkovic
Washington: Lindgren/Thompson

I honestly don't think any. iMO, the market is closed. My guess is that if Gibson has a strong 1st half to the season, he'll be traded at the deadline to a playoff team that is struggling with their goalie. But I think the ship has passed for this summer.

 

[gilfaizon]

Why does everyone still want to trade Gibson? If you want this team to take a step, you'll need him to give us 30-40 starts. The other options are terrible.

 

[Zegs2sendhelp]

Why does everyone still want to trade Gibson? If you want this team to take a step, you'll need him to give us 30-40 starts. The other options are terrible.

No point now we need gibson to be at cap floor

But saying other options are terrible, and ignoring the fact that gibson himself is terrible isn’t exactly a good argument.


It’s like the if we get rid of fowler the team will be bad…. When the team is a complete shit show with fowler on the ice

 

[gilfaizon]

No point now we need gibson to be at cap floor

But saying other options are terrible, and ignoring the fact that gibson himself is terrible isn’t exactly a good argument.


It’s like the if we get rid of fowler the team will be bad…. When the team is a complete shit show with fowler on the ice

I'd personally rather have Gibson than Raanta/Reimer/Jones/Lankinen, but maybe that's just me.

 

[NWWisconsinDuck]

Today didn't nor was it ever going to decide our place in the standings. That will come down to the kind of progression we get from Z/Leo/McT/Minty/Zell/etc. If the kids take big leaps we'll be better. If they don't we won't. Signing Roy and Marchessault would not have changed that.

This.

We all seem to forget that this is a team on the rise. We see the standings and assume it won’t get better. The kids (should) only continue to improve and that’s part of the reason Cronin was the hire. Additionally, there were signs of life shown at the end of last year that I I think are important. A full year, another training camp, etc in a new system, etc. not to mention (hopefully) a full year of a healthy Z

If you think Verbeek is gonna go from offering Stamkos and Marchesssault to standing pat I think you’re got another thing coming

 

[Zegs2sendhelp]

I'd personally rather have Gibson than Raanta/Reimer/Jones/Lankinen, but maybe that's just me.

I havnt really seen many suggest signing a goalie…. More than likely the back up goalie would have come as part of the package coming back for gibson

 

[gilfaizon]

I havnt really seen many suggest signing a goalie…. More than likely the back up goalie would have come as part of the package coming back for gibson

Well there are realistically no other landing spots for Gibson after day 1 of FA. If we're paying to dump him as some had suggested, my whole point was to hang onto him because the alternatives are just as bad, and mostly worse.

 

[Zegs2sendhelp]

Well there are realistically no other landing spots for Gibson after day 1 of FA. If we're paying to dump him as some had suggested, my whole point was to hang onto him because the alternatives are just as bad, and mostly worse.

Ya I mean now that all the landing spots are gone, and the landing were kinda in a cap situation where we almost need to keep his cap i agree, but I didn’t mind exploring potential trade options yesterday and at the draft…. Nothing came up, no point moving on from gibson now

 

[Hey234]

21-22 Season: 56 games, 26 goals, 30 assists, 56 points
22-23 Season: 55 games, 22 goals, 30 assists, 52 points
23-24 Season: 18 games, 6 goals, 3 assists, 9 points

If Laine is healthy and plays most of the season, it seems vey reasonable to assume he should hit 30 goals and 30 assists for 60 points. IMO, his numbers indicate it should be more than that, but 60 points seems very achievable.

If the Ducks trade for him without retention, it shouldn't cost very much at all. His most successful years came with playmaking centers of which the Ducks have plenty. The Ducks also need to add salary and his 2 years fit perfectly for when many young players need new contracts. Just makes sense.

 

[Hey234]

I also wouldn't be surprised if the Ducks trade for TVR. Washington needs to shed cap and I bet a 3rd would be more than enough. Plays PK and should be good for 18-20 minutes a night. Not very physically but would be a reasonable stop gap.

Fowler-LaCombe
Mintyukov-TVR
Zellweger-Gudas