Speculation: Armchair GM Thread

[AtlantaWhaler]

I don't see much difference between the two other than Nyquist can hit an empty netter to boost his stats.

Think he adds a much better scoring boost to the 3rd/4th lines. He'll never touch his totals from last season, but is still a steady 0.5 PPG player. Sissons has dropped off a cliff. Again...this is assuming NyQuil takes a 1-2 year deal sub-$3.5ish

 

[Flgatorguy87]

We should be trading both Sissons and Nyquist this year. It's probably 2 of our better deadline assets that should be relatively easy to move.

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

If we can find a way to ditch Novak, then send Svechkov, ZLH and Evangelista back to Milwaukee… then it’s problem solved!

 

[AtlantaWhaler]

I'd be open to trading any of Nyquist, Schenn, Lauzon, Sissons, among others. I'd also be happy retaining Nyquist at a cheap/short term. The rest can be shot out of a cannon.

 

[predhead1]

With the play of Statsney and Wilsby, Lauzon should be the first asset Trotz puts on the trading block. Schenn should be up there as well, even with our self-inflicted deficiency on RHD.

 

[herzausstein]

With the play of Statsney and Wilsby, Lauzon should be the first asset Trotz puts on the trading block. Schenn should be up there as well, even with our self-inflicted deficiency on RHD.

100% wilsby, stastney and even to an extent Blankenburg and Barron have made Lauzon extremely expendable.

Blankenburg seemingly pairs well with Skjei. Wilsby pairs well with Josi and Barron pairs well enough with Josi if necessary.

Stastney or hell even MDG pairs better with Schenn (who id also be fine with trading but #leadership).

Lauzon doesnt need to be extended here especially when you consider Molendyk comin up the pipeline and Chistyakov in the KHL should we manage to get him to come over. Get a good return while you can and let him go

 

[glenngineer]

While I'm all for transforming our D corps, I'd be very careful what we wish for. Jettisoning Schenn and Lauzon leaves Skjei as our heaviest (210) and tallest (6'3") dman. I don't necessarily want to keep the other two but they provide some size to the lineup, it would be great if it was a good use of it.

Go look at Vegas's d-corp - all 6'2" and only one under 200. While it's nice to have mobile d, it's also nice to have guys that will wear teams out during the playoffs. This has been a big reason for their success over the years. Florida last year had the size. If all our guys were mobile, great with the puck and never got hit while keeping the puck away from the other team, that would be great. We've got to have some sort of balance on the blue line.

As far as who to move on from, you move Nyquist, Sissons and ROR from your forward group before the TDL and get assets for the 2026 draft, unless you can find a team who owns a top 5ish pick this year from another team in a deal. The big problem with unloading all three is we've depleted the depth of our forwards this year and will end up playing a bunch of plugs the rest of the year up front with very little youth thrown in.

I'd even take a look at moving Saros if you can get an acceptable return and start the rebuild process full on. If the vets want out, good bye, it's probably a blessing in disguise. Maybe be bad for a few years, get those high picks and actually build a perennial winner who has a shot at the cup.

 

[Flgatorguy87]

While I'm all for transforming our D corps, I'd be very careful what we wish for. Jettisoning Schenn and Lauzon leaves Skjei as our heaviest (210) and tallest (6'3") dman. I don't necessarily want to keep the other two but they provide some size to the lineup, it would be great if it was a good use of it.

Go look at Vegas's d-corp - all 6'2" and only one under 200. While it's nice to have mobile d, it's also nice to have guys that will wear teams out during the playoffs. This has been a big reason for their success over the years. Florida last year had the size. If all our guys were mobile, great with the puck and never got hit while keeping the puck away from the other team, that would be great. We've got to have some sort of balance on the blue line.

As far as who to move on from, you move Nyquist, Sissons and ROR from your forward group before the TDL and get assets for the 2026 draft, unless you can find a team who owns a top 5ish pick this year from another team in a deal. The big problem with unloading all three is we've depleted the depth of our forwards this year and will end up playing a bunch of plugs the rest of the year up front with very little youth thrown in.

I'd even take a look at moving Saros if you can get an acceptable return and start the rebuild process full on. If the vets want out, good bye, it's probably a blessing in disguise. Maybe be bad for a few years, get those high picks and actually build a perennial winner who has a shot at the cup.

I mean having guys who are tall hasn't really benefited us, so keeping them just so we can keep the roster average up doesn't really interest me.

 

[AtlantaWhaler]

I mean having guys who are tall hasn't really benefited us, so keeping them just so we can keep the roster average up doesn't really interest me.

Agreed, here. It's nice to have mass, but if those players suck, who cares how big they are.

 

[glenngineer]

I mean having guys who are tall hasn't really benefited us, so keeping them just so we can keep the roster average up doesn't really interest me.

Maybe I didn't explain myself, while I'm all for getting rid of Schenn and Lauzon, replacing them with the rest of the d we currently have is not a solution either as they'll get beat up if we ever see the playoffs again. A d-corp needs balance and in recent years, size. If Skjei is going to be our largest defender, that's not a recipe for success. Have balanced pairs, guys that can move the puck and others that are more stay at home types. Some of the newer guys we've seen on the roster can play D but they're relatively small by NHL standards. Hope that helps.

 

[Flgatorguy87]

Maybe I didn't explain myself, while I'm all for getting rid of Schenn and Lauzon, replacing them with the rest of the d we currently have is not a solution either as they'll get beat up if we ever see the playoffs again. A d-corp needs balance and in recent years, size. If Skjei is going to be our largest defender, that's not a recipe for success. Have balanced pairs, guys that can move the puck and others that are more stay at home types. Some of the newer guys we've seen on the roster can play D but they're relatively small by NHL standards. Hope that helps.

Yeah, I'll agree there. We are a long way off from ideal. I'd rather run a line of halflings who can skate and halfway defend at this point, so I say shoot Lauzon and Schenn to the moon.

 

[herzausstein]

My 2 cents:

Lauzon is an example of size that doesnt matter unless you just love the hit stat.

Schenn uses his body more effectively around the crease/boards but is showing his age and slowing. How much longer he can be effective is questionable but you can keep him around as a 6/7D if the return isnt worth it.

Gibson is likely still a couple seasons away and defense is a position we should use our later 1st or if Misa/Hagens are gone our early 1st on but keeping those two around just for size when the team is buns with them instead of getting a decent return isnt going to help the team long term.

 

[weeze]

They're not going to play anyone young. Someone is just enjoying some psychedelics apparently.

GM and HC are not going to go the young route. Trotz has traded/waived several already. His comment looking for a couple with some term should tell you everything you need to know about him. Why a young player would want to come to Nashville and if you get to play it will be under 10 min, then get to watch all of the older dudes play and lose. We keep hoping Trotz will change, I don't think he will. Get used to the old players team.

 

[Predsanddead24]

I honestly just don't see a path to success for this team in the near term. Best case scenario we can probably get ourselves back into the mushy middle, but I really just wish we would embrace the rebuild at this point. Otherwise, we're just going to kick the can down the road another few years where we look back and wish we'd started actually rebuilding sooner. I think we after the deadline in 2023 we had a chance to pull off a quick retool like we did after 2012 but unfortunately I think that window has passed. I hope I'm wrong but I feel we're about to enter the only fate worse than our previous mushy middle state and that's being mushy middle but not even good enough to make the playoffs.

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

Where we are right now, we just need to prioritize maximizing asset value everywhere. We’ve been doing the exact opposite in recent years, throwing away guys on waivers, buying out Duchene, selling low.

We don’t have the luxury to try to draw up the perfect lineup right now. We need to trade guys like Schenn, Lauzon, O’Reilly while they still have value, not wait until the tank is empty. We need to play our young guys who have proven they are ready for the NHL. It doesn’t matter if they are long-term fits for an ideal Cup contender. If Wilsby, Stastney, Blankenbirg, Molendyk are too small for an ideal D corps, who cares. Play the heck out of them meanwhile to crank up their value. Run Novak out there 18mins and on PP2, and Vange, get their numbers as high as possible.

When it finally comes time to contend… which won’t be soon… we want all our assets at peak or cashed out at peak along the way. We can’t keep squandering our capital.