Speculation: 2024-25 - Free Agency/Trade Thread

[Zegs2sendhelp]

Just like Fowler gets too much TOI, he also gets too much TIT (Time In Thread).

John

Meh only thing we really got to discuss right now until rookie tournament

 

[MMC]

Anyone want Hoffman or JVR?

 

[ScarTroy]

Anyone want Hoffman or JVR?

I wouldn’t mind JVR, he had a decent enough season last year.

 

[JAHV]

I would take JVR. I wish he was a right shot instead of left, but he'd be a good veteran presence on the 3rd line.

 

[All Mighty]

Yeah I love how the constant GET RID OF FOWLER bitching turns into oh I just meant only play him 22 minutes a night when confronted with how stupid it is.

Oh good, a completely made up reason to hate him.

I certainly wouldn’t hate him for wanting out (same goes for Gibson if that’s the case for him). He’s had to deal with a lot of crap here (just look at this thread) and has been stuck on a terrible team for awhile now. I’d probably want to leave, too.

 

[ZegrassyKnoll]

Anyone want Hoffman or JVR?

Do either of them PK? At this point I'd only bring in a "maybe over the hill, maybe something still in the tank" vet if they can PK. Otherwise I feel like we're just clogging up the roster and possibly stifling some of our young guys.

 

[DavidBL]

Do either of them PK? At this point I'd only bring in a "maybe over the hill, maybe something still in the tank" vet if they can PK. Otherwise I feel like we're just clogging up the roster and possibly stifling some of our young guys.

This. Unless the player is a legit top 6 upgrade that pushes guys down they need to be a PK upgrade. Who ever we add would be pushing Fabri down so that's the bar IMO.
Carlsson, Zegras, McTavish, Gauthier, Terry, Vatrano, Killorn, Strome. Is 8 guys we'd expect to in the line up every night. That's not even including Colangelo.

 

[dracom]

Anyone want Hoffman or JVR?

where do they slot in even? i feel like our 12 forwards are pretty covered aren't they?

 

[HanSolo]

where do they slot in even? i feel like our 12 forwards are pretty covered aren't they?

A little more depth wouldn't kill this team.

Gauthier-Carlsson-Killorn
Stroke-McTavish-Vatrano
JVR-Zegras-Terry
Fabbri-Lundestrom-Leason

I don't feel like we lose much playing Fabbri on the fourth line. And it's one more body when there are inevitable injuries.

 

[ScarTroy]

where do they slot in even? i feel like our 12 forwards are pretty covered aren't they?

JVR would have been 7th on our team in scoring, we can make room.

 

[dracom]

A little more depth wouldn't kill this team.

Gauthier-Carlsson-Killorn
Stroke-McTavish-Vatrano
JVR-Zegras-Terry
Fabbri-Lundestrom-Leason

I don't feel like we lose much playing Fabbri on the fourth line. And it's one more body when there are inevitable injuries.

I dont know how I feel about Fabbri on the 4th line, but i could see him and JVR swapping spots on occasion.

JVR would have been 7th on our team in scoring, we can make room.

huh, i honestly didn't think JVR hit 38 points last season. would have guessed like low teens.

 

[AngelDuck]

We need defensive forwards who hound pucks

 

[DavidBL]

JVR would have been 7th on our team in scoring, we can make room.

Is that based on ppg?

 

[Static]

Anyone want Hoffman or JVR?

Neither can skate, so, no.

Two guys who would do well in an insulated environment, which we cannot provide.

 

[Sean Garrity]

No they won't. Having a full year of zellweger and myntikov offsets fowler

Literally everyone has essentially said balance out the mins

Having Cam on the ice for 24 minutes isnt the boost some of yall think is is, nor would Gudas be tasked with 24 minutes. You literally just spread it out between the million LDH we have.

As someone who wanted to trade Cam Fowler for Tyler Myers years ago (the breaking point for me was when Fowler avoided a hit in the playoffs instead of taking the hit and getting/keeping the puck, I don’t remember exactly), I now think that would have been a mistake.

Cam Fowler isn't a physical defenseman, but he's underrated with us fans, much like how Lindholm was underrated league-wide.

If the young defensemen were better than they currently are, they would be taking minutes away from Fowler.

He’s still playing way too many minutes, and I agree that they should distribute ice time more evenly to bring his down to a more reasonable level.

However, losing him would make our already subpar defense look even worse. Much worse.

Cutting his power play minutes to a minimum is another story, I'd do that in a heartbeat. A bottom-tier team has almost nothing to lose by giving more power play time to a "youth movement".

The bolded is the answer to everyone’s bitching. Also, a vast majority of us , as Smokey pointed out, have been saying “even out the minutes” for YEARS. The fact is that hasn’t happened, and based on history it likely won’t happen. I’ll be the first to tell you to get Cam off the PP entirely(yes, I know his stats but I still think the young and more offensively gifted players need those minutes in addition to taking those minutes off of Cam) and put him on PK2 only if necessary, but coaches (who just MIGHT be smarter than keyboard warriors) continue to put him in that spot.

Thus, my only conclusion can be that the “smarter” folks than us think it’s more beneficial to play him in those situations over the youngsters, for whatever reason. I’m not saying I agree with it, but it is what it is and clearly no coach in the past 5 or so years has seen it the way us smarter fans see it.

 

[ScarTroy]

Is that based on ppg?

No just points. If it were PPG I believe he would have been 8th, but that was just at a quick glance.

 

[70sSanO]

A little more depth wouldn't kill this team.

Gauthier-Carlsson-Killorn
Stroke-McTavish-Vatrano
JVR-Zegras-Terry
Fabbri-Lundestrom-Leason

I don't feel like we lose much playing Fabbri on the fourth line. And it's one more body when there are inevitable injuries.

I’d rather have Colangelo somewhere in there.

John

 

[Hamilton Bulldogs]

We need defensive forwards who hound pucks

I don't know if there's a ton of those out there.

Could be more fruitful to try and train Lundy to be that guy. Whats Pahlsson doing? he looking for work?

 

[Zegs2sendhelp]

The bolded is the answer to everyone’s bitching. Also, a vast majority of us , as Smokey pointed out, have been saying “even out the minutes” for YEARS. The fact is that hasn’t happened, and based on history it likely won’t happen. I’ll be the first to tell you to get Cam off the PP entirely(yes, I know his stats but I still think the young and more offensively gifted players need those minutes in addition to taking those minutes off of Cam) and put him on PK2 only if necessary, but coaches (who just MIGHT be smarter than keyboard warriors) continue to put him in that spot.

Thus, my only conclusion can be that the “smarter” folks than us think it’s more beneficial to play him in those situations over the youngsters, for whatever reason. I’m not saying I agree with it, but it is what it is and clearly no coach in the past 5 or so years has seen it the way us smarter fans see it.

To be fair,

3 of those years the goal was to not be good
And the other years we had lindholm here.

Which means to me they felt fowler gave them the best chance at losing more….they were correct.

Fowler served his purpose, unless we’re aiming at 1 more high pick

 

[Ducks DVM]

To be fair,

3 of those years the goal was to not be good
And the other years we had lindholm here.

Which means to me they felt fowler gave them the best chance at losing more….they were correct.

Fowler served his purpose, unless we’re aiming at 1 more high pick

To be fair, outside of Gudas last year, name a single defenseman on the roster that belonged above the bottom pairing on a playoff team for that entire period who is not named Fowler?

 

[Zegs2sendhelp]

To be fair, outside of Gudas last year, name a single defenseman on the roster that belonged above the bottom pairing on a playoff team for that entire period who is not named Fowler?

fowler was the best of the misfit toys, I never disagree with that.


But the future is coming and he doesn’t fit much longer. This isn’t about if fowler is a capable top 4 dmen, it’s about fit and moving forward

 

[Gliff]

fowler was the best of the misfit toys, I never disagree with that.


But the future is coming and he doesn’t fit much longer. This isn’t about if fowler is a capable top 4 dmen, it’s about fit and moving forward

He only has 2 years left on his contract. He will be gone when it is at the point of him blocking guys who need to play. Mintyukov, Zellweger, and Lacombe have 160 NHL games combined. The future may be coming but it isn't here yet. Put Lacombe and Luneau in the AHL, trade Fowler at the deadline with retention for a big return.

Seems like an absolute no brainer.

 

[Zegs2sendhelp]

He only has 2 years left on his contract. He will be gone when it is at the point of him blocking guys who need to play. Mintyukov, Zellweger, and Lacombe have 160 NHL games combined. The future may be coming but it isn't here yet. Put Lacombe and Luneau in the AHL, trade Fowler at the deadline with retention for a big return.

Seems like an absolute no brainer.

I got no problem waiting until trade deadline to move him…. But I think the future is a lot closer than people think.

I think by the deadline you’ll have lacombe Mintyukov zellweger and luneau ready to play comfortable mins. Luneau I do think should start in ahl, but don’t expect him there long term…. Lacombe imo should be on nhl roster

I’m open to moving fowler now if there is a market also

 

[Gliff]

I got no problem waiting until trade deadline to move him…. But I think the future is a lot closer than people think.

I think by the deadline you’ll have lacombe Mintyukov zellweger and luneau ready to play comfortable mins. Luneau I do think should start in ahl, but don’t expect him there long term…. Lacombe imo should be on nhl roster

I’m open to moving fowler now if there is a market also

I would rather have Lacombe in the AHL playing top pairing minutes in every situation. Especially if Vaak plays like last season.

 

[Zegs2sendhelp]

I would rather have Lacombe in the AHL playing top pairing minutes in every situation. Especially if Vaak plays like last season.

Guess we’ll wait and see but lacombe was with big club all year last year and was asked to do a lot…. Don’t see a big chance he gets sent down, not opposed to it …. Just think it’s more unlikely.