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

[Ugene Magic]

To what end? Winning the Cup next year?

Every contender with cap space is going to be knocking Bennett's door down.

So is the case with Marner, and yet everyone is swinging his name around.

I'd rather discus adding winners and not losers.

 

[SomeDude]

I’m convinced the people who want to sign actual decent UFAs this summer are the same ones that start retirement planning at age 55.

The time to plan for the future is now by going through the discomfort of sucking for the next few years.

Teams that try to slap bandaids on aged out rosters end up eating a steady diet of government cheese and living in a van down by the river as they finish in 14th place for a decade.

 

[Jared Grayden]

To what end? Winning the Cup next year?

Every contender with cap space is going to be knocking Bennett's door down.

Graves has gone so well it's time to triple down.

 

[Andy99]

hey Bo, you want to play 25 minutes a night carrying the corpse of Kris Letang around with you?

FIFY lol…

 

[Jacob]

It's pretty sweet that this team still has the ghost of Jack f***ing Johnson haunting it's goddamned payroll.

Also noteworthy is that since the buy-out he's played on 4 different teams and has won 1 Cup.

We should've just paid him as the #6 that he is instead of the #4 we hoped he could revert back to.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

Also noteworthy is that since the buy-out he's played on 4 different teams and has won 1 Cup.

We should've just paid him as the #6 that he is instead of the #4 we hoped he could revert back to.

They shouldn't have messed with him at all.

If he thought he was worth anything close to that money/role they should have just shook his hand and said "best of luck." Though I suspect it was a coordinated effort to "get him back on his feet" and place him in a plumb situation in Pittsburgh with his buddies. Admirable but stupid.

We had just spent years watching this team turnstile the guy every night and then go out and sign him long term to a lucrative deal? Madness.

Couldn't have come at a worse time in their window, either. Really set the team back in a lot of ways.

 

[GilbertSeinfeld]

They shouldn't have messed with him at all.

If he thought he was worth anything close to that money/role they should have just shook his hand and said "best of luck." Though I suspect it was a coordinated effort to "get him back on his feet" and place him in a plumb situation in Pittsburgh with his buddies. Admirable but stupid.

We had just spent years watching this team turnstile the guy every night and then go out and sign him long term to a lucrative deal? Madness.

Couldn't have come at a worse time in their window, either. Really set the team back in a lot of ways.

The 2025-26 season is Johnson's final year on the team's payroll.

*sigh*

 

[CheckingLineCenter]

Amazes me how obsessed JR became with bringing in former 1st rounders with the idea they would play better here

Sheahan
JJ
McCann
Bjugstad
Oleksiak
Kapanen
Matheson

Some did. But def a theme.

 

[JackFr]

Since everyone is posting PuckGM rosters, here's my go at a plausible one. Not necessarily what I would do, but what I could see us doing.

 

[SomeDude]

Since everyone is posting PuckGM rosters, here's my go at a plausible one. Not necessarily what I would do, but what I could see us doing.

View attachment 1039972

I have a feeling Saad may finally end up here this summer too to fill a hole if Rakell or Rust is moved. He’s cooked so I don’t think any decent team will want him, but he’s a name and can be a placeholder until the deadline when we move him.

 

[Tasty Biscuits]

Full tank if that's how it ended up.

 

[Empoleon8771]

I still don't think Rust or Rakell get moved this off-season. I feel like their forward group will most likely only have small additions while they make larger moves on defense, including trading EK.

Even if they don't go crazy and go after someone like Byram, I do really hope they bring in at least 2 legit NHL LD and try to target some young players with upside. I like the suggestion of Kleven from Ottawa, but I'm not sure they'd be too inclined to move him.

If they don't trade Karlsson this off-season, I'd want to see D pairs of something like:

Hague-Letang
Kleven-Karlsson
Graves-Timmins

It's still not a good defensemen group, but the cost for these additions will be way lower than trading for someone like Byram and I think Kleven offers upside as a top-4 DFD with size.

 

[SEALBound]

Utah won what? Another opportunity to never pick first overall? The NHL f***ed them several times when it was Arizona, lol.

Meanwhile the Hawks in the last 4 drafts, 7th, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. Utah/Arizona has never picked higher than 3rd and the lottery is definitely rigged and a joke to begin with.

They missed the playoffs, finished 14th and got to move up to 4th ov to get an impact player. Their odds were low but so were the NYI. Both "won" the lottery. The point of my post was saying that "just because were aren't last in the league doesn't mean we can't get McKenna".

Also @SEALBound - Mate would it be cool if the Pens improved next season but also still miss and get the first overall? f*** yeah.

But then there’s the possibility of what if they Spencer Carbery it up, that would definitely put an end to that chance unless Sullivan does his usual shit and the Rangers are trash and land the first overall for the Pens, lol.

I would actually love for that scenario to happen.

Pens slide in at 8th, lose in the first or second round, Pens pick is middle of the pack. Rangers fail because Sully is gonna Sully and then win the lottery draft because of how incompetent Sullivan is as a coach.

Mate, I'm slightly aroused at the idea of this.

One of my more intrusive thoughts is surfing the HFRangers boards after their 1st next years wins the draft and gifts us McKenna.

I think Chicago will go super aggressively after Marner, but their rebuild is looking in pretty ugly shape right now so I'm not sure Marner would really want to go there. Bedard, Vlassic, Nazar and Knight are the only young players worth anything on their team, they need so much before they're ready to be good again. Sure they have a good prospect pool, but they've shown to be pretty awful at developing their young players in the NHL and AHL in the past few years.

I still think Utah and Anaheim make the most sense. Both teams have a lot of quality young talent, cap space to pay Marner, a generally low pressure environment and a huge need for a talent like Marner.

Armstrong is going to go hard after Marner. They want that big splash. They want players they can market. Like Chicago, they have a ton of cap space and their roster looks decent for next year. My brother is now a huge Utah fan and we were discussing how good they could be in a couple years. I told him they needed to take Martone. Adding Martone and Iginla to Crouse will give them a ton a grit, you add Marner to Keller, Hayton, Guenther, and Schmaltz and that's a solid forward group with others coming up (Martone, Iginla, But, Beaudoin...). Then they will eventually add Simashev to Sergachev, Marino, Durzi, and Kesselring. They will have a solid group once they "mature" (but boy when have we heard that before?).

 

[CheckingLineCenter]

Jarry gonna go All Star mode from Thanksgiving to the TDL and ruin the tank

 

[Empoleon8771]

Jarry gonna go All Star mode from Thanksgiving to the TDL and ruin the tank

Tbh I don't even see this as a bad thing. If Jarry's playing well, you can probably trade him and get out of his deal.

Even with how shitty the team is, they're still realistically too good to be competing for the #1 pick anyway. They're going to need a lucky lottery win while sitting at like #6 in the draft to actually get a #1 pick, at least as long as Crosby is here.

 

[SEALBound]

I have a feeling Saad may finally end up here this summer too to fill a hole if Rakell or Rust is moved. He’s cooked so I don’t think any decent team will want him, but he’s a name and can be a placeholder until the deadline when we move him.

Yeah, we can offer him a placeholder slot next to two guys that will still help him put up points and then get pushed to a contender at the TDL. Beauvillier 2.0. That would be a pretty basic move for Dubas.

I wonder what the new coach will want to do with Koivunen and McGroarty? I see a lot of penciling in for the top 6 which I'm not opposed to, but are they really going to put those two kids in the top 6 for a full 82 schedule? Or rather, build out the team in the off-season with that in mind? I love those two but I am skeptical.

Rakell-Sid-Rust
Saad-Malkin-Tomasino
McG-Novak-Koivunen
Hallander-Lizotte-Acciari
Heinen-Hayes

And then you can do spot duty with McG and Koivunen in the top 6 with the goal to be something like:

McG-Sid-Rakell
Koivunen-Malkin-Rust
Saad-Novak-Tomasino

Still though, we have too many NHL roster forwards. Part of Dubas's job this summer needs to be ousting two of Acciari, Heinen, and Hayes.

 

[CheckingLineCenter]

Tbh I don't even see this as a bad thing. If Jarry's playing well, you can probably trade him and get out of his deal.

Even with how shitty the team is, they're still realistically too good to be competing for the #1 pick anyway. They're going to need a lucky lottery win while sitting at like #6 in the draft to actually get a #1 pick, at least as long as Crosby is here.

I’m not overly concerned with getting 1OA as much as I am concerned with drafting top 3-5.

If Jarry and not massive growth from youth is the reason we draft 12th and not 4th, yeah that’s a bad thing imo. We don’t need his cap space and it’s not like you’re getting value.

 

[Empoleon8771]

I can definitely see Saad as the Beauvillier type addition for this year, with him being top-9 insurance for Koivunen, McGroarty and Hallander and eventually flipping him for value at the deadline. That said, I think I would prefer to trade for someone younger like Maccelli to be that over signing Saad. I'm really skeptical Saad has any sort of notable value as a rental, I know Beauvillier got a 2nd this year but I'm really doubtful there is a market like that again in the future.

The bear minimum off-season I'd be good with is:

1. Trimming some of the fat like Hayes and Acciari from the roster
2. Adding 2 NHL LD, ideally both DFD with one legit top-4 guy and one young guy that can develop into top-4 caliber
3. Either trading for a young top-9 forward with upside (someone like Maccelli) or getting paid to take on an overpriced top-9 forward (someone like Kane)

Even if you want to keep all of EK, Rakell and Rust this off-season, this team desperately needs to add about 3-4 young players and some help on LD. They need something like this at minimum for me to be satisfied with the off-season:

McGroarty-Crosby-Rakell
Koivunen-Malkin-Rust
Kane/Maccelli-Novak-Tomasino
Hallander-Lizotte-Dewar
Ponomarev-Heinen

Hague-Letang
Kleven-Karlsson
Graves-Timmins
Shea

Jarry-Nedjelkovic

 

[JackFr]

Armstrong is going to go hard after Marner. They want that big splash. They want players they can market. Like Chicago, they have a ton of cap space and their roster looks decent for next year. My brother is now a huge Utah fan and we were discussing how good they could be in a couple years. I told him they needed to take Martone. Adding Martone and Iginla to Crouse will give them a ton a grit, you add Marner to Keller, Hayton, Guenther, and Schmaltz and that's a solid forward group with others coming up (Martone, Iginla, But, Beaudoin...). Then they will eventually add Simashev to Sergachev, Marino, Durzi, and Kesselring. They will have a solid group once they "mature" (but boy when have we heard that before?).

I actually don't see Marner as a guy they would pursue given already having a bunch of small playmakers.

 

[CheckingLineCenter]

Utah need a star, a 2C and a top 6 wing imo

Marner is a star and a top 6 wing. I think it’s plausible.

 

[Empoleon8771]

I actually don't see Marner as a guy they would pursue given already having a bunch of small playmakers.

I think you're correct that Utah has a bunch of small playmakers, but Schmaltz is probably leaving after next year and they really need a guy who can drive their 2nd line going forward.

I think a Keller-Cooley-Guenther L1 and Hayton-Marner as 2/3 of L2 makes a ton of sense for them to run with long-term.

 

[Buddy Bizarre]

Jarry gonna go All Star mode from Thanksgiving to the TDL and ruin the tank

I still think there will be teams calling on Jarry this summer. Lots of teams need help and he put on a good run to turn heads.

 

[eXile3]

I think you're correct that Utah has a bunch of small playmakers, but Schmaltz is probably leaving after next year and they really need a guy who can drive their 2nd line going forward.

I think a Keller-Cooley-Guenther L1 and Hayton-Marner as 2/3 of L2 makes a ton of sense for them to run with long-term.

I would have to imagine that’s a big lifestyle change from Toronto to Utah but given some of the issues he’s run into with the media and fans it might make sense.

 

[Peat]

I’m not overly concerned with getting 1OA as much as I am concerned with drafting top 3-5.

If Jarry and not massive growth from youth is the reason we draft 12th and not 4th, yeah that’s a bad thing imo. We don’t need his cap space and it’s not like you’re getting value.

I would argue that given Jarry's history, he's probably not having that sort of rebound unless the team plays a far better game in front of him than general, particularly in terms of keeping the net clear. His problem, beyond just probably not being a good pro in terms of staying focused and committed through the long grind, is he seems to struggle with a lot of traffic and scrambling and after a while his game breaks down as a result.

 

[KrisLetAngry]

Those two teams were just so bad. Idk. They need a lot more than Marner to turn things around even with the young crop of prospects they have.

Agree that Chicago has a pretty bad outlook though. Definitely like the look of San Jose's future more at this point.

I think 2 years from now a team with Marner and a top pairing UFA addition that team is scary as hell.

Looks like it, but they could be a hard sell. They roll their lines so evenly that Marner can be assured to play 2-3 fewer minutes than he's used to. I think that's a big reason why they couldn't keep Guentzel or Rantanen.

If he gets paid enough he might not care. Sounds like with Guentzel they were being cheap until it was too late.

Rantanen did not like the system at all.

I still don't think Rust or Rakell get moved this off-season. I feel like their forward group will most likely only have small additions while they make larger moves on defense, including trading EK.

Even if they don't go crazy and go after someone like Byram, I do really hope they bring in at least 2 legit NHL LD and try to target some young players with upside. I like the suggestion of Kleven from Ottawa, but I'm not sure they'd be too inclined to move him.

If they don't trade Karlsson this off-season, I'd want to see D pairs of something like:

Hague-Letang
Kleven-Karlsson
Graves-Timmins

It's still not a good defensemen group, but the cost for these additions will be way lower than trading for someone like Byram and I think Kleven offers upside as a top-4 DFD with size.

I wouldn't mind if Buffalo asked for Rust / Rakell (probably on NTC) + for Byram.