Speculation: Armchair GM Thread - Looking to the offseason

[Porter Stoutheart]

I would stay far far away from J.T. Miller. 29 years old and the new contract extension is just about to kick in next season. That's another buyout-proof long-term deal on a guy that has been very much in that Joey/Duchene axis of "good but not great", and getting older, and still with $56M owed him? No thanks. I would not take him for free right now. There are very good reasons why the Canucks have been unable to trade him so far. Somebody will eventually fall into the trap. Let it not be us.

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

Does anybody here think Glass has the potential to be an elite 1c? I think you would see that by the age of 23, but he has had setbacks with injury and Covid. He has the draft pedigree and seems to be getting better every game.

No, "elite" is something that would have shown before this, even considering all the injuries and setbacks he has had. We can just hope he reaches a level sort of like Johansen.

And if he has good chemistry with Duchene, and one of our other young wingers, he can put up some points at times. I would see him normally as a 50-60pt center eventually, if all continues to go well for him.

Would really like to see some consistent lines for a change once FF9 and Parssinen are back.

Forsberg-Parssinen-X
Y-Glass-Duchene
Sherwood-Novak-Trenin
Asplund-Sissons-Smith

... but with Novak on PP and I don't know which X and Y out of Tomasino and Evangelista fits best where yet.

 

[nine_inch_fang]

No, "elite" is something that would have shown before this, even considering all the injuries and setbacks he has had. We can just hope he reaches a level sort of like Johansen.

And if he has good chemistry with Duchene, and one of our other young wingers, he can put up some points at times. I would see him normally as a 50-60pt center eventually, if all continues to go well for him.

Would really like to see some consistent lines for a change once FF9 and Parssinen are back.

Forsberg-Parssinen-X
Y-Glass-Duchene
Sherwood-Novak-Trenin
Asplund-Sissons-Smith

... but with Novak on PP and I don't know which X and Y out of Tomasino and Evangelista fits best where yet.

Tomasino could give that top line some speed. Almost a jofa 2.0

Evangelista seems to fit with the passing game of Glass and Duchene.

 

[GeauxPreds1]

The moves may not happen every year but there's talk of RFA players being shopped all the time when there's a tough contract negotiation. Just because it's not common doesn't mean it's impossible. It'd be a more straight forward way of giving an offer sheet but instead of dealing with the player you make a sign and trade deal with the team.

Yeah, definitely not talking about signing a UFA to an over priced contract.

I think if Vancouver keeps going the direction they are going Pettersson is gonna want out. I’d even go as far as offering them a lot at this draft. Both of 1st would just be the start of the offer He is the young 1c that we been looking for. I’d offer a lot to Vancouver to get him on the Preds

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

Tomasino could give that top line some speed. Almost a jofa 2.0

Evangelista seems to fit with the passing game of Glass and Duchene.

That is exactly what I would lean towards.

 

[herzausstein]

I think glass tops out around where joey settled. 60ish points so not an elite player but still quite useful

 

[Predation]

"Elite" is a very high bar, and unfortunately I think if he could reach that level we'd have seen it by now. I think he could be among the top 30% of 1Cs in the league if he continues to progress at his current rate, but Trotz's statement implies that he thinks having a game-changer at 1C as a necessity to win the cup, so Glass might top out as a 2C here (which would be a good thing, IMO)

Yes that makes sense. I’ll be happy with top third in the league.

 

[BigFatCat999]

When do we say this is 'Trotz's team!' After the Nashville draft?

 

[ShagDaddy]

When do we say this is 'Trotz's team!' After the Nashville draft?

July 1st

 

[BigFatCat999]

July 1st

I meant when we say "OK, NOW THIS IS TROTZ'S TEAM."

 

[ShagDaddy]

I meant when we say "OK, NOW THIS IS TROTZ'S TEAM."

As soon as the puck drops for the 23-24 season. Trotz will have filled the roster with his UFA signings and made his off-season moves to form the roster most re to his vision

 

[cool beans]

When do we say this is 'Trotz's team!' After the Nashville draft?

Poile on NHL network yesterday basically said he was done after the trade deadline. Scouts mostly do the drafting but he’ll have given full control to Trotz by then I’m assuming. Trade deadline was poiles last stamp on this team.

 

[BigFatCat999]

Poile on NHL network yesterday basically said he was done after the trade deadline. Scouts mostly do the drafting but he’ll have given full control to Trotz by then I’m assuming. Trade deadline was poiles last stamp on this team.

and it was a Pretty god damned but stamp. Like a forever stamp

 

[LCPreds]

Do you guys think Trotz will be a potential advantage when trying to lure free agents?

 

[cool beans]

Do you guys think Trotz will be a potential advantage when trying to lure free agents?

I don’t know about him specifically but I’d bet more players will be open to this team after seeing changes are made, fresh starts and all that kinda stuff lol. Atleast I hope so

 

[PredsV82]

I don’t know about him specifically but I’d bet more players will be open to this team after seeing changes are made, fresh starts and all that kinda stuff lol. Atleast I hope so

Nashville is now a desirable destination for families. I dont think we will have any problem getting UFA if we want to go that route, I just dont see any Duchene like signing any time soon. I think if we dip into that market it will be for a 3rd pair D or 2nd line winger at the most

 

[Scoresberg]

To the Glass discussion:

I don't see Glass as a 1C in the NHL.

What I do see is a decent middle-six center, either low-end 2C or high-end 3C but he needs to learn to use his size more. I think with his injury history he's playing a bit cautious but when he can shake that off of his game, look out.

He has the tools, the speed, the playmaking ability, the vision, the IQ but he needs to learn to take a more commanding presence on the ice. This, I hope will come through time and experience. And oh, he needs to work on his shot. It's sort of accurate right now but completely muffin.

 

[triggrman]

I think he’s could be a more skill more productive Sissons

 

[wmupreds]

To the Glass discussion:

I don't see Glass as a 1C in the NHL.

What I do see is a decent middle-six center, either low-end 2C or high-end 3C but he needs to learn to use his size more. I think with his injury history he's playing a bit cautious but when he can shake that off of his game, look out.

He has the tools, the speed, the playmaking ability, the vision, the IQ but he needs to learn to take a more commanding presence on the ice. This, I hope will come through time and experience. And oh, he needs to work on his shot. It's sort of accurate right now but completely muffin.

I think the confidence was the only thing really holding him back and he's looked a lot more assertive lately.

 

[BigFatCat999]

This is a 2-5 yr look. 2 LW coming in; L'Heureux, Schaefer, 1 center; Svechkov, 2 RW; Tomassino, Kemell. Draft a high C next year and that's 2 full forward lines. If you could manipulate the draft I would love: 1 superstar center, a ton of D, 1 prospect goalie Bunch of forward flyers.

 

[herzausstein]

This is a 2-5 yr look. 2 LW coming in; L'Heureux, Schaefer, 1 center; Svechkov, 2 RW; Tomassino, Kemell. Draft a high C next year and that's 2 full forward lines. If you could manipulate the draft I would love: 1 superstar center, a ton of D, 1 prospect goalie Bunch of forward flyers.

Evangelista as well for RW.

Might want another high skill LW as well but we still got forsberg . High end 1C and D would be my focus on the early rounds then best available in the later

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

Do you guys think Trotz will be a potential advantage when trying to lure free agents?

I feel like I wouldn’t really want to sit across the table from him in a contract negotiation anyway? He might hurt my feelings!

Whereas Poile was generous… almost to a fault?

 

[101st_fan]

The Preds cleared $9.675 mil in cap space for the remainder of this season (Nino, Jeannot, Granlund, Ekholm out ... Barrie, Foote, Asplund in). For next season there is an additional $10.5mil in cap space (Nino, Granlund, Ekholm continuing hits out ... Barrie in) ... about $10mil in saved salary with the bump in Barrie's take home in the final year of his deal.

From there is a pay raise for Glass and Carrier ... then decisions on Asplund, Foote, Sherwood, Jankowski, Leonard and a few players currently in Milwaukee when it comes to possible extensions.

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

Well I'm sold. Some doubt last update about whether Evangelista could stick, but, uh, yeah. Safe to put that to rest.

Asplund hasn't done anything to make me interested in keeping him in the plans. Foote... not in my top-6, but I can accept spending the first part of the year still hoping to rehabilitate him as the #7D.... if it doesn't work out, we can find another spare D or call up Gravel/McKeown again.

I'd keep Sherwood around ahead of all the other "spare parts" minor league guys. Jankowksi and Afanaseyev could compete for a spot, but it wouldn't hurt to have them on-call in Milwaukee instead.

I don't really care how you mix and match the top-9 or which lines you arbitrarily call "1 - 2 - 3"... all 3 lines can score however you do it. I just like so far what I've seen of the "duos" mostly, with Glass and Duchene/Tomasino, and Novak/Evangelista and Forsberg/Parssinen. But if you like something different, I'm not arguing... regardless of such matters of taste, I'm comfortable we have a nice top-9 to work with.

Sherwood's speed/energy looks good to me right now, but if he drops back and can't stick, or if he just doesn't want to sign with us, maybe push Afanaseyev up in that spot? If Johansen can't bounce back from his injury, well, that would truly create a hole we aren't quite ready to fill yet. But we will have the Cap space to pursue such things if it turns out to be necessary. Or elevate Trenin and backfill somebody else onto the checking line.

And you can call Herd 3.0 the 4th line, but they'll get lots of icetime and shutdown roles and PK ice as well, some nights more than some of the top-9.

Could just sleep through the Free Agent Frenzy with this lineup if they get everybody signed IMO. That would actually be my default plan, unless there are leftover bargain contracts on good players available that are just too good to pass up (which there could be, with other teams squeezed on the Cap). If the bargains are good enough, we could certainly sign 1 or 2 players on 1-year deals and shuffle an Afanaseyev/Jankowski or Foote/Gross back to the minors. (NOT Tomasino/Evangelista/Parssinen even though they'll be waiver exempt!). Then any such bargain UFAs could become Trade Deadline capital, a la Niederreiter, if the season doesn't go so great. We'll have room to do that if any such targets of opportunity arise, even though I wouldn't go into Free Agency actively seeking anybody. Unless we do have to replace Sherwood or Johansen.

That we can even be thinking of "standing pat" after this year's Deadline selloff is an incredible feat, btw. Very nicely done Misters Poile and Trotz.


2023-24
Duchene ($8M) - Glass (?RFA - $2.5M?) - Tomasino ($0.863333M)
Sherwood (?UFA - $0.775M?) - Novak ($0.800M) - Evangelista ($0.7975)
Forsberg ($8.5M) - Parssinen ($0.850833M) - Johansen ($8M)
Smith ($0.775M) - Sissons ($2.857M) - Trenin ($1.7M)
Afanaseyev ($0.789167M) / Jankowski ($0.775M)

Josi ($9.059M) - Fabbro ($2.5M)
McDonagh ($6.75M) - Barrie ($4.5M)
Lauzon ($2M) - Carrier (?RFA - $3.2M?)
Foote (?RFA - $1M?) / Gross ($0.775M)

Saros ($5M)
Lankinen ($2M)

Buyouts: Turris ($2M)
Retained: Ekholm ($0.250M)

Total: $76.23M

If we assume the cap is $83.5M like capfriendly does then:
Remaining Cap Space: $7.27M

 

[PredsV82]

If we fire Hynes and hire someone else you would think they would be here a minimum of 2 to 3 years before they might get fired(and hopefully we would do well enough to not have to fire them) so expecting Taylor to hang around in Milwaukee through another head coachs tenure here is probably unrealistic. A better scenario, if we are firing Hynes and not giving Taylor the HC spot is to convince whoever we do hire to accept Taylor as an assistant coach.

But I'd rather just let Taylor take over as HC. Hes obviously proven he can get a lot out of the guys who will be the core of the team going forward.