Salary Cap: 24-25 Salary Thread Crosbicles Volume MXVI: End of season wrap up

[Zirakzigil]

New thread for the end of season wrap up.

 

[Zirakzigil]

Dubas:

-Goaltending has good depth, will have a robust competition in camp and Murashov and Blomqvist will challenge Jarry and Nedjelkovic for NHL roles next year
-Forward group looking good, need to continue adding to the higher end through drafting and trade opportunities
-Defense is an area of "major concern" on both the NHL and prospect pool. Mentions Pickering and St. Ivany but everyone else is a "ways away"

 

[Empoleon8771]

Some other comments:

• No timeline for making the team back to a contender, not trying to do a patch it up fix just to get the team back to the playoffs. Thinking long-term, trying to get back to the playoffs and contend and not just squeak into the playoffs.
• Expects both Jarry and Nedjelkovic back next year, although he prefaces that with "both are under contract". Performance needs to be better. Proud of how they finished the year, but they need to keep up their end of season performance with extra pressure from Blomqvist and Murashov in the minors.
• Thinks the team put Malkin in a bad position with his constant rotating cast of wingers, they need to do a better job at making his support more consistent.
• St. Ivany, Pickering, Brunicke mentioned as guys who could push for NHL minutes next year on defense. Tristan Broz added as another guy at forward who can push for minutes, they didn't want his first games being the end of season games this year.
• Pickering: "He needs to come in and not just settle in a 12 or 13 minute a night role. He needs to keep pushing his way to get more and more responsibility"
• Reiterated that they're trying to emulate the Capitals rebuild. "You can hold hope in one hand and shit in the other, see which one fills up first" in terms of hoping to win the draft lottery. The thing that separates Washington is drafting well with guys like Ferehvary, McMichael, Protas and such.

 

[Gurglesons]

Whole lotta contradictory statements if he continues to employee Sullivan then.

 

[JackFr]

Some other comments:

• No timeline for making the team back to a contender, not trying to do a patch it up fix just to get the team back to the playoffs. Thinking long-term, trying to get back to the playoffs and contend and not just squeak into the playoffs.
• Expects both Jarry and Nedjelkovic back next year, although he prefaces that with "both are under contract". Performance needs to be better. Proud of how they finished the year, but they need to keep up their end of season performance with extra pressure from Blomqvist and Murashov in the minors.
• Thinks the team put Malkin in a bad position with his constant rotating cast of wingers, they need to do a better job at making his support more consistent.
• St. Ivany, Pickering, Brunicke mentioned as guys who could push for NHL minutes next year on defense. Tristan Broz added as another guy at forward who can push for minutes, they didn't want his first games being the end of season games this year.
• Pickering: "He needs to come in and not just settle in a 12 or 13 minute a night role. He needs to keep pushing his way to get more and more responsibility"
• Reiterated that they're trying to emulate the Capitals rebuild. "You can hold hope in one hand and shit in the other, see which one fills quicker" in terms of hoping to win the draft lottery.

This is all good news in my books. Add in a Karlsson trade and hopefully a Rakell trade (and pray that "consistent wingers" for Malkin = a mix of Koivunen, McGroarty, and a filler UFA signing like Brandon Saad) and we should be in a good spot to draft high next year - hopefully #1 but at least get a star prospect.

Wait a second, did he actually say that last thing?

 

[Empoleon8771]

This is all good news in my books. Add in a Karlsson trade and hopefully a Rakell trade (and pray that "consistent wingers" for Malkin = a mix of Koivunen, McGroarty, and a filler UFA signing like Brandon Saad) and we should be in a good spot to draft high next year - hopefully #1 but at least get a star prospect.

Wait a second, did he actually say that last thing?

Yes, that was an actual quote about the "hope in one hand, shit in the other". Basically saying he doesn't want a full blown nuking of the team and just hoping they can luck their way into some draft lotteries to rebuild the team.

 

[JackFr]

Yes, that was an actual quote about the "hope in one hand, shit in the other". Basically saying he doesn't want a full blown nuking of the team and just hoping they can luck their way into some draft lotteries to rebuild the team.

That lines up with what we've seen, I think. Based on those quotes I do think they are genuinely shooting to finish higher in the draft than they did (presumably) this year, though.

 

[ThosePuckingPenguins]

Yes, that was an actual quote about the "hope in one hand, shit in the other". Basically saying he doesn't want a full blown nuking of the team and just hoping they can luck their way into some draft lotteries to rebuild the team.

The ‘tear it down to the studs’ approach hasn’t exactly worked out for some teams recently i.e. Blackhawks, Red Wings, Sabres a million times over, etc.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Dubas made a great quote regarding complacency, he keeps being told in exit meetings that the guys love playing in Pittsburgh but "we've missed the playoffs 3 years in a row". Getting these comments makes him anxious that there's a feeling of complacency being developed here that he will need to address.

Dubas basically also just said "if Karlsson wants to win a cup, he needs to be better" when asked about it. Exact quote was "his actions have to match his ambitions", said that Karlsson has a higher level he should be performing at that he showed at times this year (like at the 4 Nations tourney).

 

[Jared Grayden]

The ‘tear it down to the studs’ approach hasn’t exactly worked out for some teams recently i.e. Blackhawks, Red Wings, Sabres a million times over, etc.

Blackhawks and Red Wings tried to re-tool. Then they ended up rebuilding when the re-tool failed.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Dubas basically just evaded a question asking if there are going to be any changes to the coaching staff. Super interesting.

Just said they go through their reviews at the end of the season, and if he wants to make any changes, they'll make them then. Was then asked directly about Sullivan and Dubas said "he's under contract" as the first thing, but more or less leaving it up to Sullivan if he wants to stay here.

 

[CheckingLineCenter]

He’s right about not fully tearing things down to studs IMO but why move EK and not Rust/Rakell?

You can get better return for one of the wingers, and they’re easier to replace.

I guess time will tell.

 

[JackFr]

He’s right about not fully tearing things down to studs IMO but why move EK and not Rust/Rakell?

You can get better return for one of the wingers, and they’re easier to replace.

I guess time will tell.

If everything he's saying about "complacency" and not creating a culture like that is true, I would imagine Karlsson's approach to defence is probably not something he wants hanging around for the next three years.

 

[CheckingLineCenter]

If everything he's saying about "complacency" and not creating a culture like that is true, I would imagine Karlsson's approach to defence is probably not something he wants hanging around for the next three years.

Yeah I’m not inside the room. He may be right and thus that may be correct decision.

 

[Empoleon8771]

He’s right about not fully tearing things down to studs IMO but why move EK and not Rust/Rakell?

You can get better return for one of the wingers, and they’re easier to replace.

I guess time will tell.

He was actually asked about this directly. Rakell and Rust both had great seasons both offensively and defensively and both guys are locker room leaders. Mentions Rust specifically as a guy that young guys look up to in the locker room, with mentioning that a lot of young/new guys are in "reverence" of Sid and Rust is another guy that young guys look to for how to be a professional. That said, if there are moves that make sense with them, they'll look at moving them.

I think the major difference between EK and Rust/Rakell is that Rust/Rakell seem like leaders in the lockerroom and set examples for young guys for how they want them to hold themselves, while Karlsson is absolutely not that. Not saying that to mean Karlsson is a bad leader, but they very likely don't want Karlsson's play style influencing young guys coming up.

Basically what @JackFr just said. Rakell and Rust play and carry themselves like guys they want influencing young guys while Karlsson doesn't.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Dubas mentioned their LD is a major problem. Dubas doesn't think Pickering is ready to step into one of those roles, he really doesn't sound all that high on Pickering from this press conference. He thinks Pickering should be able to push for a NHL role, but he doesn't think he's ready to be a regular on defense yet. He's said 2 or 3 things about Pickering that are basically "he needs to push to be more in the NHL".

He mentioned they're really pushing Shea to develop into something, but they're going to need to add externally to address the LD group.

 

[BrookswasHere44]

Dubas basically just evaded a question asking if there are going to be any changes to the coaching staff. Super interesting.

Just said they go through their reviews at the end of the season, and if he wants to make any changes, they'll make them then. Was then asked directly about Sullivan and Dubas said "he's under contract" as the first thing, but more or less leaving it up to Sullivan if he wants to stay here.

If I'm the Sullivan family I'm not entirely sure we'll still be here much longer. No completely thinking he'll be fired but I feel it's much much more likely a mutual parting can happen as soon as this year.

I hate reading into things too much but that's my feeling after that presser

 

[PamBallam]

Dubas mentioned their LD is a major problem. Dubas doesn't think Pickering is ready to step into one of those roles, he really doesn't sound all that high on Pickering from this press conference.

He mentioned they're really pushing Shea to develop into something, but they're going to need to add externally to address the LD group.

Imagine being high on Ryan freaking Shea. This team is beyond cooked

 

[Empoleon8771]

If I'm the Sullivan family I'm not entirely sure we'll still be here much longer. No completely thinking he'll be fired but I feel it's much much more likely a mutual parting can happen as soon as this year.

I hate reading into things too much but that's my feeling after that presser

I get the same vibe. It really feels like it's "Sullivan is here as long as he wants to be here, but I'm not trying to convince him to stay if he wants to leave".

Would also make sense why we've heard his names in coaching rumors so much in the past few years. Dubas doesn't want to "fire" him but he doesn't want to keep him, either.

Imagine being high on Ryan freaking Shea. This team is beyond cooked

I think it's more that the other options are so shitty that they're high on Shea just as the best of that group.

 

[Gurglesons]

I think it's more that the other options are so shitty that they're high on Shea just as the best of that group.

That’s bad player evaluation.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Dubas mentioned the rising cap will allow them to target RFAs that other teams won't be able to afford and give them long-term deals. That's the more likely route for them to be spending money this off-season.

 

[Guins71]

The media is awful in this town. Can’t believe not one question was geared towards forcing him to answer in his thoughts between balancing a solid finish to the end of the season and by doing so losing out on the opportunity to draft from a top 5 position in a draft that is said to have limited top end talent. Would have loved to hear his perspective on it.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Dubas just used the "what young players did anything somewhere else after Sullivan didn't give them a chance?" argument when someone asked him about Sullivan's handling of young players.

Basically saying it's his job to give Sullivan young guys worthy of playing, rather than just scraping the bottom of the barrel to play any young guys just to play young guys.

 

[Turin]

I remember Dubas also made a comment about Pickering struggling when I didn’t think he was. Kind of weird. But I agree he shouldn’t just be handed a spot, he’s still pretty green.

 

[Zirakzigil]

Dubas basically just evaded a question asking if there are going to be any changes to the coaching staff. Super interesting.

Very confident Dubas wanted Sully gone last year but ownership said no. Dubas then went and canned Sullys assistants over his objections in a small hope he would quit.

Sadly this free agency is probably the worst one to try and revamp our left side defense.