Speculation: Armchair GM - Offseason Thread (Summer Edition)

[Double-Shift Lasse]

I’m totally cool with Berni fighting for a 7-8 spot in the roster, so I don’t think that he has no value to us. And he’s still younger than you’d expect, so there’s he a chance he turns into a permanent NHL player eventually. I wonder where he thinks he’ll have more opportunity than he had last year, and if there is somewhere else, couldn’t he just hope for waivers and revisit this then.

He’s progressing fine and is getting chances so i’m not sure what the rush is. Or maybe he’s just getting a low contract offer and this is an all negotiating tactic.

He received his RFA qualifying offer from CBJ. Perhaps he expected more on the heels of last season, where he was called on much more than anyone would have anticipated and was mostly acceptable given expectations.

More power to him I guess. He is using tools available to him given the system - don’t sign QO, hold out, perhaps request a trade. But I’m with those who wonder where and for what? No offense to him but from a roster perspective he’s just a guy.

 

[Dr. Fire]

Was watching "Top Shelf Hockey" last night on YouTube, and the guy says that there are rumors that the Leafs are looking for a tough right hand shot defenseman, and one of them that they are interested in is Andrew Peeke.

Not sure how legit this is but TSH is usually pretty reliable when it comes to trade rumors. Would help with our glut of D-men, and I would think that JK would at least see what the Leafs were willing to offer for Peeke.

Thoughts?

 

[CBJx614]

I'm sure they are interested. But I don't think Jarmo has an appetite to move anyone until after the season starts unless he absolutely has to. He's preached time and time again it's better to have too many D than not enough, and after last season I think he'd rather carry too many with the expectations that injuries will happen. I personally don't think Peeke is going anywhere especially after Babs specifically calling him out by name a few times. We don't have anyone else like him on the roster.

 

[stevo61]

Was watching "Top Shelf Hockey" last night on YouTube, and the guy says that there are rumors that the Leafs are looking for a tough right hand shot defenseman, and one of them that they are interested in is Andrew Peeke.

Not sure how legit this is but TSH is usually pretty reliable when it comes to trade rumors. Would help with our glut of D-men, and I would think that JK would at least see what the Leafs were willing to offer for Peeke.

Thoughts?

Hes not reliable or unreliable, he just makes a video on every rumor he see's online. Toronto has to move cap to take on players and they dont have much in that range that is value to us. They also have no 2nds. I think they keep everyone until Babcock sorts out pairs and players he likes

 

[traffic cone]

Agreed. He moves no needles and does minimal for overall roster depth.

Berni has no chance to land an NHL job next year. If he's looking for better opportunity, then his best bet is to sign in Cleveland and continue with his trade request. If not, then he should abandon his NHL dream for now and sign back home in hopes the CBJ trade his rights one day or a spot opens up for him.

Disagree. His best bet is to sign in a big role in a top league in Europe and play a good season there. Then try again.

No point in going to Cleveland or some other AHL team where the organization is preferring the top prospects ahead of him even if he played good.

And no, I’m not Tim Berni or his any of relatives.

 

[CBJWerenski8]

Disagree. His best bet is to sign in a big role in a top league in Europe and play a good season there. Then try again.

No point in going to Cleveland or some other AHL team where the organization is preferring the top prospects ahead of him even if he played good.

And no, I’m not Tim Berni or his any of relatives.

Best bet if he wants to stay in NA, which he says he does, as of this moment

 

[Johansen2Foligno]

Disagree. His best bet is to sign in a big role in a top league in Europe and play a good season there. Then try again.

No point in going to Cleveland or some other AHL team where the organization is preferring the top prospects ahead of him even if he played good.

And no, I’m not Tim Berni or his any of relatives.

The username 'traffic cone' is kind of a give-away

 

[traffic cone]

Best bet if he wants to stay in NA, which he says he does, as of this moment

Well if he just wants to stay in NA then of course going to Europe is not staying in NA. Then he’d probably rather be in ECHL than Europe too if that was the case.

But if he wants to up his value as a player I’d say Europe and a big role there > AHL. As I said AHL teams tend to be controlled by the NHL organization and the playing times and opportunities given there are heavily influenced on how the NHL team ranks it’s prospects.

 

[stevo61]

Well if he just wants to stay in NA then of course going to Europe is not staying in NA. Then he’d probably rather be in ECHL than Europe too if that was the case.

But if he wants to up his value as a player I’d say Europe and a big role there > AHL. As I said AHL teams tend to be controlled by the NHL organization and the playing times and opportunities given there are heavily influenced on how the NHL team ranks it’s prospects.

Kukan went back to Europe and if he had stayed there would have been all the ice time in the world for him. Sometimes when you are that tier of player you just have to grind it out, going to Europe wont change much of anything with his NHL value. Maybe he wants to go to a bad team like San Jose for an easier route to the league but that doesnt always work out how the player expects

 

[cbjthrowaway]

It's obviously in Berni's best interest to get a trade, I don't think we need to call him a sulking baby or anything. A trade is his best chance at getting an NHL job. The injury crisis was just bad enough for him to get a callup last year (the 4th or 5th D we called up). If he goes back to Cleveland his chances of getting another callup are slim.

He's not waiver exempt but probably not established enough to get claimed, and so his trade value is probably zilch. Maybe we could get a 6th rounder.

didn't say he was a sulking baby or that he's necessarily wrong – the 'funny' part was a mix of the roster math + history of blue jackets having guys randomly go back to europe.

berni looked like a fine NHL depth player (low-end #7 or solid call-up) last year, but he might not even be a top six guy in cleveland this year.

LHD	RHD
christiansen svozil berni knazko	jiricek bjork ceulemans sweezey

christiansen was a high-end AHL player last year, svozil is a top five prospect and knazko has better AHL stats + was a (much) higher pick. berni may legitimately be their #7 defenseman in the AHL. i'd request a trade, too!

for his own sake, i hope that some other team believes in him as a 6/7 type or even a #1 AHL defenseman, i just don't think there's much of an appetite out there for that.

what's interesting is figuring out the cbj perspective on this. given the injuries last year, they'd probably prefer him staying here as an AHL guy + call-up option. but if they view him as a viable long-term prospect, playing big minutes in europe may be better for him in the long run.

 

[squashmaple]

Last year was such a perfect storm for the organization. Not a lot of depth available for Cleveland, multiple players overseas who will be here this coming year, several young prospects stuck in juniors or college when perfect world with no agreements with other leagues they would've already been in the AHL like Jiricek, and the NHL club was decimated by injuries. There are just SO many more bodies available to start this coming season than we had this time last year. Hopefully we can look back in a few years and talk about how worth it the suffering of 22-23 was the way Avs fans talk about 16-17.

 

[stevo61]

Last year was such a perfect storm for the organization. Not a lot of depth available for Cleveland, multiple players overseas who will be here this coming year, several young prospects stuck in juniors or college when perfect world with no agreements with other leagues they would've already been in the AHL like Jiricek, and the NHL club was decimated by injuries. There are just SO many more bodies available to start this coming season than we had this time last year. Hopefully we can look back in a few years and talk about how worth it the suffering of 22-23 was the way Avs fans talk about 16-17.

The fact it actually happened in a year where a legit high end center prospect was available at 3 is very nice. I know development changes things over time but to get a guy like Fantilli 3rd is pretty crazy. I dont know how close to contenders we'll be in the next few years but Im excited to follow the development of the kids

 

[majormajor]

didn't say he was a sulking baby or that he's necessarily wrong – the 'funny' part was a mix of the roster math + history of blue jackets having guys randomly go back to europe.

berni looked like a fine NHL depth player (low-end #7 or solid call-up) last year, but he might not even be a top six guy in cleveland this year.

LHD	RHD
christiansen svozil berni knazko	jiricek bjork ceulemans sweezey

christiansen was a high-end AHL player last year, svozil is a top five prospect and knazko has better AHL stats + was a (much) higher pick. berni may legitimately be their #7 defenseman in the AHL. i'd request a trade, too!

for his own sake, i hope that some other team believes in him as a 6/7 type or even a #1 AHL defenseman, i just don't think there's much of an appetite out there for that.

what's interesting is figuring out the cbj perspective on this. given the injuries last year, they'd probably prefer him staying here as an AHL guy + call-up option. but if they view him as a viable long-term prospect, playing big minutes in europe may be better for him in the long run.

Players that don't score aren't #1s at any level, but if you want one thing from an NHL 6/7 it is the ability to get pucks out of trouble, and that's what Berni is good at. I do think he has a much better chance of making it with a team that has a thinner D lineup (they do exist) but not so great a chance that they'd trade us a pick for him. I can see him heading for Switzerland in a few weeks if we don't see a trade, which we likely won't.

On minor points I don't think Knazko is nearly as good and I don't like his chances of becoming an NHLer, but they're obviously going to give him a chance. I don't think Berni is viewed as a prospect who will be given time for the sake of development, perhaps rightly because he doesn't have a high ceiling.

 

[CBJWerenski8]

 

[CoachWithNoTeam]

Sounds about right. Dell has played 7, 12, and 4 games a the NHL level the last three years. Seems appropriate for a veteran 3/4 option to work with Greaves.

 

[majormajor]

Sounds about right. Dell has played 7, 12, and 4 games a the NHL level the last three years. Seems appropriate for a veteran 3/4 option to work with Greaves.

He might end up our #1 or #2.

 

[CBJ goalie]

Aaron Dell runs really hot, or cold. But he'll be serviceable as a vet for the Monsters and a call up to the CBJ.

*note: the goalie geek in me though is going to love seeing his CBJ set up - he has one of the best set ups by far.

 

[Double-Shift Lasse]

Sounds about right. Dell has played 7, 12, and 4 games a the NHL level the last three years. Seems appropriate for a veteran 3/4 option to work with Greaves.

I saw a tweet about this saying that the CBJ had added two more PTO contracts. Are there others?

EDIT:
Must be this



I admit that given the organization's lower-end depth I didn't expect to see a lot of PTO this year. I know it's how teams do business and due diligence and all that but I figured we might not even need "camp bodies."

 

[Cowumbus]

Aaron Dell runs really hot, or cold. But he'll be serviceable as a vet for the Monsters and a call up to the CBJ.

*note: the goalie geek in me though is going to love seeing his CBJ set up - he has one of the best set ups by far.View attachment 738443View attachment 738444View attachment 738446View attachment 738447

Those are all nasty, sick setup.

 

[thebus88]

I admittedly have a penchant to go “against the grain”, but, I continue to feel that Greaves is being underestimated and that if given an actual fair shot (which I don’t necessarily expect) he could easily start the season as the #2. He’s probably literally a better goalie than Merzlikins and Tarasov.



Good positioning and movement/speed in the net/crease, rebound control, composure, etc. He passes the “eye test”, when the others really do not.

 

[stevo61]

I admittedly have a penchant to go “against the grain”, but, I continue to feel that Greaves is being underestimated and that if given an actual fair shot (which I don’t necessarily expect) he could easily start the season as the #2. He’s probably literally a better goalie than Merzlikins and Tarasov.



Good positioning and movement/speed in the net/crease, rebound control, composure, etc. He passes the “eye test”, when the others really do not.

I wont be sad if he succeed's obviously but the big question is can he do it on a nightly basis. He'll very likely get a shot at some point this year to show if he can or not. We've seen highs from Merzlikins and Tarasov but we've also had time to see the lows. Id like to see how Greaves would respomd to bad games and that kind of stuff

 

[Monstershockey]

I admittedly have a penchant to go “against the grain”, but, I continue to feel that Greaves is being underestimated and that if given an actual fair shot (which I don’t necessarily expect) he could easily start the season as the #2. He’s probably literally a better goalie than Merzlikins and Tarasov.



Good positioning and movement/speed in the net/crease, rebound control, composure, etc. He passes the “eye test”, when the others really do not.

It would be nice to see him behind a team that doesn't have the constant changes like last season. He has had two good seasons here. Seeing him behind a stronger team with a more consistent line up would be nice. I agree with your points on his play. He very rarely seems out of control in the crease.

 

[thebus88]

I wont be sad if he succeed's obviously but the big question is can he do it on a nightly basis. He'll very likely get a shot at some point this year to show if he can or not. We've seen highs from Merzlikins and Tarasov but we've also had time to see the lows. Id like to see how Greaves would respomd to bad games and that kind of stuff

It’s not even about a “nightly basis” for me. However, it’s also clear to me that Merzlikins can’t play well on a consistent basis (or at all imo) and Tarasov very well may not, either.

Again, as I’ve repeatedly said regarding the goalies and other subjects, I’m not even that focused on the “results”. There’s so many variables and both positive and negative factors that players have on things that happen, that aren’t shown in “statistics” or “the numbers”.

IMO you probably can’t find a single game highlight of Tarasov or Merzlikins showing that consistent level of “composure” and/or above average control of their body movements while making saves, in addition to his rebound control that’s also seemingly on another level. Sure, more time to see what’s really there is needed, I just hope he’s actually GIVEN the time.

 

[thebus88]

He very rarely seems out of control in the crease.

This is a HUGE thing for me. At the NHL level, especially in the “new NHL”, this might arguably be the most important factor when looking at the goalie position. There is also a clear correlation with rebound control and they are both things even the biggest Elvis Merzlikins fans cannot look at as acceptable or promising.

There’s not 1 team strategy or style of play or 1 style of goalie needed to win games, but, you need to be EXCEPTIONAL at the things or style you do bring, when attempting to execute or bring an “unconventional” style to the ice. Guys like Hasek and Irbe shouldn’t even be in the same conversation “stylistically”, since they were so much better at the foundational aspects of the position.

While Tarasov is clearly a more “controlled” goalie than Merzlikins, his overall speed/reactions and overall mobility, along with issues with angles and DEPTH in the crease (which is a HUGE issue for Elvis also) and overall rebound control, also leave MUCH to be desired.

IMO

Sincerely Uncle Korpisalo

 

[MAHJ71]

Aaron Dell runs really hot, or cold. But he'll be serviceable as a vet for the Monsters and a call up to the CBJ.

*note: the goalie geek in me though is going to love seeing his CBJ set up - he has one of the best set ups by far.View attachment 738443View attachment 738444View attachment 738446View attachment 738447

Maybe he can borrow Elvis's flashy pads if he ends up replacing him.