Salary Cap: '24-'25 Salary Thread: Crosbicles Volume MMXXVI: Sid is Still Goat

[Ulf5]

-Buyout Jarry and Hayes
-Re-sign Glass ($2 million), Tomasino ($2 million), Hallander ($1 million), Ponomarev ($900k) and POJ ($1 million)

Rakell-Crosby-Rust
Bunting-Malkin-XXXX
Heinen-Glass-Tomasino
Hallander-Lizotte-Acciari
Ponomarev-Hayes

XXXX-Karlsson
POJ-Letang
Koly-Desharnais
Graves

Nedjelkovic-Blomqvist

You have $20 million in cap space with a $95.5 million cap if you do this, and I'd probably try to see if I can move Hayes by retaining another 50% on him for a draft pick to open up another $1.8 million. That's definitely enough money for Marner and probably enough money for Marner and Chychrun combined.

Except that 3rd line and bottom 4 suck ass.
Tomasino and Glass worth about league minimum each.

 

[SEALBound]

Jesus, with $20mil and only needing a top4 LD and Top 6 wing, assuming it won't be McGroarty or another WBS kid, that give us a TON of wiggle room.

I wonder if Dubas couldn't pull off a Marleau-like trade were we take on a bad contract for a 1st and then buy the person out. I don't see us needing to buy anyone out really except Graves and Jarry but I don't know if we even would?

 

[Turin]

I wonder if you could make Rakell a permanent 2C. Opens up more options.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Except that 3rd line and bottom 4 suck ass.
Tomasino and Glass worth about league minimum each.

The point of going into next year with those lines is that it leaves obvious spots for young guys to take if they perform well. That is especially true with that 3rd line, you want guys like Broz and McGroarty to perform well enough to push Heinen and Glass out. If you go out and acquire clearly better guys, you’re just blocking the young guys from getting a chance.

The point of entering the year with that lineup is to have the 3rd line be McGroarty-Broz-Tomasino and the 2nd pair be Pickering-Letang by the deadline. You’re filling the major roles you don’t have prospects in the system to fill (top pair LD and top line RW with Chychrun and Marner) and then filling out the rest of the roster with easily replaceable vets that the young guys can jump over down the line.

 

[IcedCapp]

Tomasino and Glass worth about league minimum each.

I think you're undervaluing Tomasino

 

[Empoleon8771]

I think you're undervaluing Tomasino

I also don't agree with Glass. There has been a guy uploading analytics charts for all teams so far this year and this was his bottom-6 chart for the Penguins:

I'm not taking these values as gospel, because I'm not sure why Glass has a 90th percentile EV assists, but his defensive metrics are very good both here and on NST. Speaking of NST, his +5.11 xGF%rel is the best of any regular Penguins forward this year, even better than Crosby's +4.92%.

Considering he's at 53% at faceoffs, is very strong defensively and at least appears to be a solid playmaker, I don't really see the issue with him. He's definitely more of a fringe 3C/4C that is ideally on your 4th line, but I don't see an issue with him as a stopgap 3C if you're playing him with offensively talented linemates. Or otherwise you can play him at L4 and have 2/3 of what should be a good 4th line (assuming no Nieto or Acciari on it).

For reference, here's the chart that has their top-6 plus a few others:

 

[Ulf5]

I think you're undervaluing Tomasino

Am I? Barely out producing Beauvillier by the slimmest of margins in gpg and apg. With more atoi and 1:49 of pp time/game vs. 0:11 pp time/game. Yet only has 4 non pp goals vs. Beauvillier's 12. And Beauvillier had to settle for a 1 year $1.25 million contract. He's at least scored 20 goals.
Tomasino's play away from the puck has seemed to improve since his healthy scratches. But I don't think it's anything head and shoulders above Beauvillier.

 

[Jag68Sid87]

-Buyout Jarry and Hayes
-Re-sign Glass ($2 million), Tomasino ($2 million), Hallander ($1 million), Ponomarev ($900k) and POJ ($1 million)

Rakell-Crosby-Rust
Bunting-Malkin-XXXX
Heinen-Glass-Tomasino
Hallander-Lizotte-Acciari
Ponomarev-Hayes

XXXX-Karlsson
POJ-Letang
Koly-Desharnais
Graves

Nedjelkovic-Blomqvist

You have $20 million in cap space with a $95.5 million cap if you do this, and I'd probably try to see if I can move Hayes by retaining another 50% on him for a draft pick to open up another $1.8 million. That's definitely enough money for Marner and probably enough money for Marner and Chychrun combined.

The fourth line looks about right, although I have a feeling Imama will also be in the mix. I think he has been a positive. No. 13 or 14 forward in all likelihood but suddenly Sullivan seems to want a tough guy in his lineup (where has this been?).

I don't understand the logic in buying out Hayes to give Glass his roster spot. Hayes is better than Glass. Glass is not going to magically pan out now. He is Colin White. Colin White was here for a bit, he was everywhere for a bit. Now he is an AHLer. He got a shot earlier this season with the worst team in the league, and is now back in the minors. That is Glass if we fast forward to next season. $2 million for Glass is a brutal take.

I am not spending big money on Karlsson's partner. We have Owen Pickering. He has looked good on the left side. Why are we suddenly burying him in the AHL for another season like we do for every goddamn prospect in this organization. You have to see what we have in this kid, who at 20 is miles more advanced than most prospects. Is he the right partner for Karlsson? I don't know. I prefer him with Letang, personally. But we have the Graves issue that is not going away. Graves was signed to be either Karlsson's partner or Letang's partner. If he can't be that, then that is one expensive No. 7 D. So until we solve the Graves question, we cannot double down and add more expensive LD contracts.

AND, I think that is what Dubas is thinking because his actions suggest this:

- recalling Pickering earlier this season.
- reacquiring Joseph for future considerations (i.e. nothing).
- claiming Kolyachonok off waivers.

I suspect these three and Graves are the LDs next season. They love Shea (Sullivan does anyway), so I suspect he will be re-signed too. We now have the RD depth so that we don't have to rush Brunicke, but Pickering wouldn't be rushed if he is in the NHL next season. The question is who replaces Pettersson next to Karlsson. That is the key to everything, and what to do with Graves. I suspect nothing is the answer, so he remains the No. 6-7 D until further notice.

Also, we have to move on from one of Heinen or Bunting, preferably the latter because I believe he holds way more current trade value. We need to open up a spot for one of the young wingers to earn in camp. If they are battling each other, that is good. If there is a veteran in front of them, nothing they do in camp will matter. We need to avoid that scenario.

I am also not buying out Jarry. Trade Ned now if there is a market for him. Blomqvist needs to be in the NHL next season, and Murashov needs to be in the AHL. If we keep Ned, he is the starter. If we go back to Jarry, Blomqvist has a much greater opportunity.

So other than the expiring contracts, the two guys I would try to trade before this deadline are Ned and Bunting. Because that gets us more future assets AND it also helps the likes of Koivunen, McGroarty and Blomqvist, specifically, and others as well.

Keeping our best prospects in the AHL another season does nothing for us. They need to develop under this head coach or else it is an epic failure.


Rakell-Crosby-Marner
*Ponomarev-Malkin-Rust
Heinen-Hayes-Tomasino**
Hallander-Lizotte-Acciari
Imama

Pickering-Karlsson
Joseph-Letang
Kolyachonok-Desharnais
Graves

Blomqvist
Jarry

*- or McGroarty
**-or Koivunen

 

[Khelandros]

Am I? Barely out producing Beauvillier by the slimmest of margins in gpg and apg. With more atoi and 1:49 of pp time/game vs. 0:11 pp time/game. Yet only has 4 non pp goals vs. Beauvillier's 12. And Beauvillier had to settle for a 1 year $1.25 million contract. He's at least scored 20 goals.
Tomasino's play away from the puck has seemed to improve since his healthy scratches. But I don't think it's anything head and shoulders above Beauvillier.

You have to look at linemates.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Tomasino has been underwhelming at 5v5, but he makes up for it by being an absolute force on the powerplay. You keep him and play him on L3 more as a PP specialist that is fine at 5v5.

 

[Ulf5]

Tomasino has been underwhelming at 5v5, but he makes up for it by being an absolute force on the powerplay. You keep him and play him on L3 more as a PP specialist that is fine at 5v5.

I didn't say to dump him. Said he's not worth $2 million. He's done nothing to prove that he is. I certainly feel there's more potential there. Does he need top 6 and or pp time to reach that full potential?
As Iced's list shows, his goals have come with the top players on the team other than the assist from DOC. Can he not produce with bottom 6ers?

 

[Ulf5]

The fourth line looks about right, although I have a feeling Imama will also be in the mix. I think he has been a positive. No. 13 or 14 forward in all likelihood but suddenly Sullivan seems to want a tough guy in his lineup (where has this been?).

I don't understand the logic in buying out Hayes to give Glass his roster spot. Hayes is better than Glass. Glass is not going to magically pan out now. He is Colin White. Colin White was here for a bit, he was everywhere for a bit. Now he is an AHLer. He got a shot earlier this season with the worst team in the league, and is now back in the minors. That is Glass if we fast forward to next season. $2 million for Glass is a brutal take.

I am not spending big money on Karlsson's partner. We have Owen Pickering. He has looked good on the left side. Why are we suddenly burying him in the AHL for another season like we do for every goddamn prospect in this organization. You have to see what we have in this kid, who at 20 is miles more advanced than most prospects. Is he the right partner for Karlsson? I don't know. I prefer him with Letang, personally. But we have the Graves issue that is not going away. Graves was signed to be either Karlsson's partner or Letang's partner. If he can't be that, then that is one expensive No. 7 D. So until we solve the Graves question, we cannot double down and add more expensive LD contracts.

AND, I think that is what Dubas is thinking because his actions suggest this:

- recalling Pickering earlier this season.
- reacquiring Joseph for future considerations (i.e. nothing).
- claiming Kolyachonok off waivers.

I suspect these three and Graves are the LDs next season. They love Shea (Sullivan does anyway), so I suspect he will be re-signed too. We now have the RD depth so that we don't have to rush Brunicke, but Pickering wouldn't be rushed if he is in the NHL next season. The question is who replaces Pettersson next to Karlsson. That is the key to everything, and what to do with Graves. I suspect nothing is the answer, so he remains the No. 6-7 D until further notice.

Also, we have to move on from one of Heinen or Bunting, preferably the latter because I believe he holds way more current trade value. We need to open up a spot for one of the young wingers to earn in camp. If they are battling each other, that is good. If there is a veteran in front of them, nothing they do in camp will matter. We need to avoid that scenario.

I am also not buying out Jarry. Trade Ned now if there is a market for him. Blomqvist needs to be in the NHL next season, and Murashov needs to be in the AHL. If we keep Ned, he is the starter. If we go back to Jarry, Blomqvist has a much greater opportunity.

So other than the expiring contracts, the two guys I would try to trade before this deadline are Ned and Bunting. Because that gets us more future assets AND it also helps the likes of Koivunen, McGroarty and Blomqvist, specifically, and others as well.

Keeping our best prospects in the AHL another season does nothing for us. They need to develop under this head coach or else it is an epic failure.


Rakell-Crosby-Marner
*Ponomarev-Malkin-Rust
Heinen-Hayes-Tomasino**
Hallander-Lizotte-Acciari
Imama

Pickering-Karlsson
Joseph-Letang
Kolyachonok-Desharnais
Graves

Blomqvist
Jarry

*- or McGroarty
**-or Koivunen

The reason I mentioned trading Bunting and Heinen if possible is Dubas' comments which have been reiterated on separate occasions.
He has said he wants to get back to being competitive asap. Whether that's Marner or someone else, big bucks. Toronto can afford Marner and Tavares so it's up to Marner to decide to leave.
Also I'd try for someone like Chychrun.
A top 4 of:
Chycrun- EK
Pickering- Letang
looks solid even with Letang's drop in play.
Dubas has also mentioned multiple times about using picks and or prospects to bring in young players further along in their development. I fully expect this to happen.
This player most likely will be around 22-23 meaning his cap will be a bit higher. I'm expecting someone a few tiers above the Glasses and Tomasinos.
So if you were to get a Marner and a Chychrun, that'd be most of your $23 million expected space. The other young player tbd. Which is where moving Bunting and Heinen's cap comes in.

 

[Andy99]

Koivunen, Broz and McG should all get an extended look in the top 9 playing a lot of minutes in offensive situations either after the TDL or early next season…we should be nurturing and developing their offensive instincts and finishing, because that’s what we suck at most…finding players who can play defensive minutes in the bottom six is much much easier…

Spoiler alert: won’t happen under the current coach

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

Still think the best course of action is to ride out Sully and Jarry to a hopefully top 4 pick this year, fire Sully the moment the season's over, collect your Schaefer/Hagens/Martone/Misa, trade Rust and EK this summer, go into next year with a good chunk of the roster WBS dudes, settle in for a race to McKenna and Dupont the next two seasons.

I don't really think Tomasino's prohibitively expensive even at $2M AAV. The cap's jumping, this team's gonna have a bunch of cap room (to hopefully weaponize by taking money off of teams trying to load up this summer). He's not good, but he's not terrible.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

Koivunen, Broz and McG should all get an extended look in the top 9 playing a lot of minutes in offensive situations either after the TDL or early next season…we should be nurturing and developing their offensive instincts and finishing, because that’s what we suck at most…finding players who can play defensive minutes in the bottom six is much much easier…

Spoiler alert: won’t happen under the current coach

Even as probably McG's biggest fan around here, you probably don't have any more than 3rd liners between those three. Or, at best, third wheel guys on a 2nd line with two fantastic players already.

Still, they should be given permanent spots in the lineup and allowed to play through growing pains. This is a development team now, or it should be. Let the vet leadership from Sid and Geno rub off on these guys and hopefully they're decent enough to be supporting cast depth for down the road when this team's landing genuine franchise building blocks.

 

[Andy99]

Even as probably McG's biggest fan around here, you probably don't have any more than 3rd liners between those three. Or, at best, third wheel guys on a 2nd line with two fantastic players already.

Still, they should be given permanent spots in the lineup and allowed to play through growing pains. This is a development team now, or it should be. Let the vet leadership from Sid and Geno rub off on these guys and hopefully they're decent enough to be supporting cast depth for down the road when this team's landing genuine franchise building blocks.

It doesn’t matter what they ultimately are at the NHL level…they should be given every opportunity to develop into top six scorers because we have a dearth of talent there and at least Koivunen and Broz have shown the ability to score at the AHL level…McG should be given the chance given his pedigree…I really hope he’s more than a bottom six plug, especially if Yager develops into a NHL center…

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

It doesn’t matter what they ultimately are at the NHL level…they should be given every opportunity to develop into top six scorers because we have a dearth of talent there and at least Koivunen and Broz have shown the ability to score at the AHL level…McG should be given the chance given his pedigree…I really hope he’s more than a bottom six plug, especially if Yager develops into a NHL center…

Neither McG or Yager are prospects worth giving much of a shit about imo.

 

[OtherThingsILike]

This is per Yohe on a local podcast but here's an interesting tidbit, I haven't seent his mentioned on here anywhere yet.

Apparently, if Sullivan decided he wanted the Devils job last summer it was his and the Penguins were not going to stand in his way of making that move. However, he chose to decline.

Not surprising. It was always baffling to me when people tried to insist that FSG doesn't want to fire Sullivan is because they don't want to pay him to not work for the team. The only way they'd have to pay out his entire contract is if he decides he doesn't want another job. If he wants one, he'd have one.

 

[OtherThingsILike]

Swap of minor leaguers. Not sure why. Both are on NHL deals, so they still count against 50-contract limit.

According to PuckPedia, Laferriere is a Center, whereas Andonovski is a Winger. I don't know if Laferriere was actually playing center in the Blues' system or if he was merely drafted as one.

 

[Jag68Sid87]

The reason I mentioned trading Bunting and Heinen if possible is Dubas' comments which have been reiterated on separate occasions.
He has said he wants to get back to being competitive asap. Whether that's Marner or someone else, big bucks. Toronto can afford Marner and Tavares so it's up to Marner to decide to leave.
Also I'd try for someone like Chychrun.
A top 4 of:
Chycrun- EK
Pickering- Letang
looks solid even with Letang's drop in play.
Dubas has also mentioned multiple times about using picks and or prospects to bring in young players further along in their development. I fully expect this to happen.
This player most likely will be around 22-23 meaning his cap will be a bit higher. I'm expecting someone a few tiers above the Glasses and Tomasinos.
So if you were to get a Marner and a Chychrun, that'd be most of your $23 million expected space. The other young player tbd. Which is where moving Bunting and Heinen's cap comes in.

I am with you on trading one of Bunting or Heinen, so not sure if it was me that you were mentioning that to or someone else. No matter.

I don't think Chychrun is the right D partner for Karlsson. Now, if you want to trade Karlsson (I don't, but others here do) then that is a different story. Chychrun and John Carlson don't play much together in D.C. I think they tried it but eventually Chychrun was placed with van Riemsdyk for the most part. I think he has also played more with Roy than with Carlson.

IF we are going to sign a left D to play with Karlsson because our internal options have been exhausted and nobody fits what we need, there are guys out there that I believe would be solid partners for Karlsson. A guy like Ryan Lindgren works, but he is likely to get overpaid this summer. Vladislav Gavrikov is really solid. I like him but again what is the price tag? Orlov is more talented but also more expensive. Provorov is more rounded and again will command bigger bucks.

At this point, we should definitely try Pickering, Kolyachonok and Joseph before the end of the season to see if there is a fit with any of them. And what about trying Graves again? Would be nice if we could actually get something out of that contract.

My focus in terms of outside acquisitions is Marner. If we can't land a big fish like him, then not sure we need to do anything in free agency.

 

[Freeptop]

Back to trade speculation, but TFP is linking Grzelcyk to Tampa Bay, Winnipeg and Colorado.

Man, now I'm hoping that Tampa is interested in Grzelyck, and that they see him as the piece they need, the same way they saw Jeannot two years ago!

 

[Rudy Russo]

The fourth line looks about right, although I have a feeling Imama will also be in the mix. I think he has been a positive. No. 13 or 14 forward in all likelihood but suddenly Sullivan seems to want a tough guy in his lineup (where has this been?).

I don't understand the logic in buying out Hayes to give Glass his roster spot. Hayes is better than Glass. Glass is not going to magically pan out now. He is Colin White. Colin White was here for a bit, he was everywhere for a bit. Now he is an AHLer. He got a shot earlier this season with the worst team in the league, and is now back in the minors. That is Glass if we fast forward to next season. $2 million for Glass is a brutal take.

I am not spending big money on Karlsson's partner. We have Owen Pickering. He has looked good on the left side. Why are we suddenly burying him in the AHL for another season like we do for every goddamn prospect in this organization. You have to see what we have in this kid, who at 20 is miles more advanced than most prospects. Is he the right partner for Karlsson? I don't know. I prefer him with Letang, personally. But we have the Graves issue that is not going away. Graves was signed to be either Karlsson's partner or Letang's partner. If he can't be that, then that is one expensive No. 7 D. So until we solve the Graves question, we cannot double down and add more expensive LD contracts.

AND, I think that is what Dubas is thinking because his actions suggest this:

- recalling Pickering earlier this season.
- reacquiring Joseph for future considerations (i.e. nothing).
- claiming Kolyachonok off waivers.

I suspect these three and Graves are the LDs next season. They love Shea (Sullivan does anyway), so I suspect he will be re-signed too. We now have the RD depth so that we don't have to rush Brunicke, but Pickering wouldn't be rushed if he is in the NHL next season. The question is who replaces Pettersson next to Karlsson. That is the key to everything, and what to do with Graves. I suspect nothing is the answer, so he remains the No. 6-7 D until further notice.

Also, we have to move on from one of Heinen or Bunting, preferably the latter because I believe he holds way more current trade value. We need to open up a spot for one of the young wingers to earn in camp. If they are battling each other, that is good. If there is a veteran in front of them, nothing they do in camp will matter. We need to avoid that scenario.

I am also not buying out Jarry. Trade Ned now if there is a market for him. Blomqvist needs to be in the NHL next season, and Murashov needs to be in the AHL. If we keep Ned, he is the starter. If we go back to Jarry, Blomqvist has a much greater opportunity.

So other than the expiring contracts, the two guys I would try to trade before this deadline are Ned and Bunting. Because that gets us more future assets AND it also helps the likes of Koivunen, McGroarty and Blomqvist, specifically, and others as well.

Keeping our best prospects in the AHL another season does nothing for us. They need to develop under this head coach or else it is an epic failure.


Rakell-Crosby-Marner
*Ponomarev-Malkin-Rust
Heinen-Hayes-Tomasino**
Hallander-Lizotte-Acciari
Imama

Pickering-Karlsson
Joseph-Letang
Kolyachonok-Desharnais
Graves

Blomqvist
Jarry

*- or McGroarty
**-or Koivunen

Ponomarev isn't a top six forward, and I think Lizotte or Acciari will be dealt by the trade deadline.

 

[SEALBound]

I think a smart GM in need of a PMD RD would be working a deal with Dubas for EK. Man did he look good against Canada. I would venture the guess that there's more left in the tank than what we see in PIT.

Wish Dallas didn't pick up Ceci. That would be been a tremendous pickup. Florida maybe?

 

[Zirakzigil]

I think a smart GM in need of a PMD RD would be working a deal with Dubas for EK. Man did he look good against Canada. I would venture the guess that there's more left in the tank than what we see in PIT.

Wish Dallas didn't pick up Ceci. That would be been a tremendous pickup. Florida maybe?

Dallas is going after Jones apparently. I dont see EK as a Panther type player. Hes not an Ekblad replacement.

 

[OtherThingsILike]

According to PuckPedia, Laferriere is a Center, whereas Andonovski is a Winger. I don't know if Laferriere was actually playing center in the Blues' system or if he was merely drafted as one.

I asked on HFBlues, and a couple of people said Laferriere plays wing and not center. Shucks.