2025 26 Roster…too Soon

[Toews2Bickell]

Florida is an interesting case study in team building but even they've acquired quite a few former top picks in Tkachuk, Bennett, Reinhart, Jones and had a few in Ekblad and Barkov, same with Vegas with Eichel and Pietrangelo, Hanifin etc... whatever direction you decide to go you need to get a lot of quality first round picks onto your team unless you hit on a lot of lotto tickets in the draft like TB, so if you want to do it like KD has by just acquiring a ton of 1sts or you can try to do it via UFA and trade market, they each have their merits

 

[Hawkaholic]

Florida is an interesting case study in team building but even they've acquired quite a few former top picks in Tkachuk, Bennett, Reinhart, Jones and had a few in Ekblad and Barkov, same with Vegas with Eichel and Pietrangelo, Hanifin etc... whatever direction you decide to go you need to get a lot of quality first round picks onto your team unless you hit on a lot of lotto tickets in the draft like TB, so if you want to do it like KD has by just acquiring a ton of 1sts or you can try to do it via UFA and trade market, they each have their merits

Those teams were already well established when they made those trades. If we were consistently competitive in the playoffs, no one would have an issue signing certain UFAs, or.trading futures for older players.

 

[Toews2Bickell]

Those teams were already well established when they made those trades. If we were consistently competitive in the playoffs, no one would have an issue signing certain UFAs, or.trading futures for older players.

I think tanking is the way to go given where this team started out, and I would like them to continue that for at least another year...maybe not outright tank but go with the youth and competitively lose a lot of close games to be in the mix for McKenna

 

[ColbyChaos]

Islanders could be a good example, from 2008-2014 had a 1st overall 3 5th overall 1 4th overall 1 9 overall and 1 15th overall with not much to show for it. There are definitely examples across NHL of losing cultures.

They also had one of the worst gms in recent history and if Garth Snow didn’t have Peter Chiarelli and Stan Bowman to constantly embarrass in trades he would get talked about more for his horrible tenure.

Rick DiPietro is still getting paid every July 1st until 2029, he was bought out over 10 years ago.

 

[Toews2Bickell]

With KD adding the Weber contract that gives a little bit more confidence in his ability to avoid the stupid July 1 contract but there is still the Danny not liking the 80% drop in TV ratings at play where he says hey lets speed this up risk

 

[ColbyChaos]

With KD adding the Weber contract that gives a little bit more confidence in his ability to avoid the stupid July 1 contract but there is still the Danny not liking the 80% drop in TV ratings at play where he says hey lets speed this up risk

If he is actually upset about TV ratings being in the dumps maybe he should have done more to partner with carriers instead of making a vast majority of people pay $30 a month to watch 3 shitty teams

 

[TheFridge]

With KD adding the Weber contract that gives a little bit more confidence in his ability to avoid the stupid July 1 contract but there is still the Danny not liking the 80% drop in TV ratings at play where he says hey lets speed this up risk

Pretty sure they understand that was a business issue, not an on-ice issue.

 

[Drumman44]

Danny not liking the 80% drop in TV ratings at play where he says hey lets speed this up risk

Fine I’ll switch from radio to TV

 

[Beukeboom Fan]

I don’t disagree but this team isn’t close. At all. Watching the playoffs shows just how much this team is lacking.

Even if you got Marner, Ekblad, Ehlers, Bennett, and a real coach, I’m not sure this is a wild card team

Call me a Homer, bit I was pretty excited how the team looked after the college kids made the show. Obviously not conference final good, but add 2 legit top 6 Fs with development from the kids along with a consistent Knight and a wildcard spot isn't that crazy.

After writing that, I realize that's a lot to expect to go right. Just feel that after the dead weight was jettisonned the kids played with a lot more jump.

 

[Drumman44]

Call me a Homer, bit I was pretty excited how the team looked after the college kids made the show. Obviously not conference final good, but add 2 legit top 6 Fs with development from the kids along with a consistent Knight and a wildcard spot isn't that crazy.

After writing that, I realize that's a lot to expect to go right. Just feel that after the dead weight was jettisonned the kids played with a lot more jump.

Maybe I was too harsh. The team isn’t close to hanging with Edmonton or Dallas. They could grab a wildcard spot with some UFA signings and a lot of development going right, but we should be building for long term success

 

[Beukeboom Fan]

Maybe I was too harsh. The team isn’t close to hanging with Edmonton or Dallas. They could grab a wildcard spot with some UFA signings and a lot of development going right, but we should be building for long term success

100% agree, just feel that a comparison to a Conference finalist shouldn't be the measuring stick at this point. I'd be happy with some baby steps where they're competitive most nights.

 

[Taze em]

People here have really built a mountain out of a mole hill re: making the playoffs. It’s not that hard to make the playoffs. Obviously, Half the league makes it. But we are comparing to the cup contenders when you should be comparing to the St Louis Blues who had one 80 point scorer and three other Teravainen level scores with no true impact defensemen. It’s really not that serious.

Just play some defense, get bedard and Nazar to pop, and Teravainen be Teravainen and they’ll be around the discussion before they do literally anything in. fA. Obviously you need some unexpected and unnatural defensive competency from some young guys for that to happen so it’s not SUPER likely but completely plausible. Someone saying Marner, Bennett, ekblad added wouldn’t be a wildcard team lol that would be like a top 10 offense in the league.

 

[LavalPhantom]

Question: should we be willing to trade our 2026 1st if top 10 protected? I’m sure no one wants to trade it unprotected, but it would still be a decent trade chip.

Likely to slide to 2027 (unprotected) when hopefully we’ll be out of the basement. But maybe it’s preferable to have a good young player now than a 2027 pick that will likely need another 2 years before being ready to contribute. That pick + could bring someone pretty decent.

 

[Crow]

Two years from now it'll be market value and the deals that Ehlers and Bennet get will be worse.

Bennett is going to be by far the worst one.

 

[Hawkaholic]

People here have really built a mountain out of a mole hill re: making the playoffs. It’s not that hard to make the playoffs. Obviously, Half the league makes it. But we are comparing to the cup contenders when you should be comparing to the St Louis Blues who had one 80 point scorer and three other Teravainen level scores with no true impact defensemen. It’s really not that serious.

Just play some defense, get bedard and Nazar to pop, and Teravainen be Teravainen and they’ll be around the discussion before they do literally anything in. fA. Obviously you need some unexpected and unnatural defensive competency from some young guys for that to happen so it’s not SUPER likely but completely plausible. Someone saying Marner, Bennett, ekblad added wouldn’t be a wildcard team lol that would be like a top 10 offense in the league.

No one wants to 'just make the playoffs' and lose in 4 games. They need to build a winner, a team that can compete in the playoffs. It's not a successful rebuild if they just barely squeeze in and get swept. I'd rather finish bottom 5 and get a good draft pick than do that.

 

[Taze em]

No one wants to 'just make the playoffs' and lose in 4 games. They need to build a winner, a team that can compete in the playoffs. It's not a successful rebuild if they just barely squeeze in and get swept. I'd rather finish bottom 5 and get a good draft pick than do that.

Correct. But that wasn’t the discussion being had.

 

[Toews2Bickell]

It honestly feels like the main discussion being had over the last bit...Being aggressive but running the risk of becoming too good but not good enough too quickly to the point you prematurely end the rebuild without the guys you need to be a true contender.

Like you said, it's easy to make the playoffs, half the league does, but the majority of the league also has a sliver of a real chance to win the cup each year and the real chances are concentrated among a select few teams and this has been the cycle during the salary cap era.

 

[Pertti]

Get players younger than 27/28 in a trade, and typically they make less money than a similar player who you are getting as a UFA.

Problem with this is that your whole team needs pay rise at the same time.

 

[Drumman44]

Buffalo looking to move on from Byram already? Would he look good next to Rinzel?

 

[Pertti]

exactly, Buffalo is the example of trying to 'speed it up'...they're paying 4.5m to Skinner next year as part of his buyout

Don't see that as biggest problem but traded assets they gave away to get him/them.

 

[Pertti]

Question: should we be willing to trade our 2026 1st if top 10 protected? I’m sure no one wants to trade it unprotected, but it would still be a decent trade chip.

Likely to slide to 2027 (unprotected) when hopefully we’ll be out of the basement. But maybe it’s preferable to have a good young player now than a 2027 pick that will likely need another 2 years before being ready to contribute. That pick + could bring someone pretty decent.

No, I choose FA until we are condenders.

 

[Pertti]

No one wants to 'just make the playoffs' and lose in 4 games. They need to build a winner, a team that can compete in the playoffs. It's not a successful rebuild if they just barely squeeze in and get swept. I'd rather finish bottom 5 and get a good draft pick than do that.

What is bare minimum to be successful in rebuild? Top 4 for 5 times?

 

[x Tame Impala]

Korchinski for Byram?

I think Buffalo would prefer NHL ready talent so i'm not sure if we're good trade partners

 

[Toews2Bickell]

what would a deal around Byram and Peterka look like

 

[Toews2Bickell]

Don't see that as biggest problem but traded assets they gave away to get him/them.

wasn't Skinner a massive UFA deal for them? Like 9m AAV at max term