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Armchair GM Thread

I took a deep dive on the roster. More than half the team is a free agent next year. If I counted right 11 of 23 have contracts next year. That’s it. So basically everybody from the second line down and the second pair down Are looking for new contracts.

Either:

A) they played their heart out and dragged the team to the playoffs

Or

B) they are gonna be prime free agents for trades at the trade deadline.
 
Well, there are 8 impending UFAs in next season's lineup anyway:

Bunting
Haula
Sissons
ColeSmith
McCarron
Lauzon
Blankenburg
Englund

Spencer Stastney could be a 9th if he doesn't hit 80 NHL games and qualifies for Group 6, but since he only needs what, 26 more? then hopefully he'll play enough that won't happen. And frankly if he doesn't play that many games, they will have probably waived him during the season anyway, so it's kind of a moot point.

But I think the return on that particular group of TDL options is decidedly NOT going to be "prime", right?

Maybe if we got REALLY lucky Bunting or Sissons could draw an early 2nd? I think we'll re-sign Lauzon and McCarron almost no matter what. And they'd be dumb not to extend with us, because where else are they going to be played as much or loved as much as here? We're talking 3rd-5th round picks for Haula or ColeSmith. And Blankenburg and Englund were waiver fodder.

Soooo... while I definitely would want to see as many of these guys liquidated as possible if we're out of it at the TDL... it's not like it will be any big windfall franchise-altering selloff. The biggest "win" we'd get out of it actually is just the addition-by-subtraction effect of opening up so many roster slots for youth.
 
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Sissons is probably the one guy that could get something decent if he has a good season. He's the type of center teams love to pick up, and he has plenty of playoff experience to boot. Just comes down to what he does this year.

Prices are going to feel low anyways as 2026 is seen as a deeper draft and I don't think borderline teams will be as easy to throw those picks away. Wouldn't shock me that we don't see some teams willing to give up more prospects than picks this year.
 
JD86 said:


Next year's our year guys, loading up for that cup run!
Click to expand...

This makes a lot more sense than taking "a step back". Not saying I agree with it but it I rather see us do SOMETHING to make the situation better rather than just standing pat - trying to make the playoffs is the next best thing after moving some older players and going into a rebuild.

Keep in mind, we have over 15 million in cap space. Marner's probably off the table for multiple reasons and the rest of the UFA class is not all that enticing. But still, I think we need to add a defenseman or two especially on the right side.

Forsberg - O'Reilly - Evangelista
Bunting - Stamkos - Marchessault
Haula - Svechkov - L'Heureux
Smith - McCarron - Sissons

Josi - X
Skjei - Blankenburg
Lauzon - Barron
Wilsby - Englund

I don't think that's a contender by any means but a Wild Card spot is certainly within reach. Andersson from Calgary would be quite the X to acquire. And I'm still beating the Nic Hague drum.

If the wheels fall off again and a coaching change won't change the course then move:

Haula
Sissons
Bunting
Lauzon
Englund

Maybe:

ROR
Marchy
Smith
McCarron

And the rest of the year roll with:

Forsberg - Stamkos/ROR - Evangelista
L'Heureux - Svechkov - Marchessault/Kemell
(Smith) - (McCarron) - Wood
X - X - Wiesblatt

Josi - X
Skjei - Blankenburg
Molendyk/Wilsby - Barron
 
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A "smart" move would be to aquire Matt Dumba from Dallas with future considerations so the acquisition costs you nothing and you help Dallas out of cap hell and have a moveable asset at the deadline on an expiring deal.

I'd then trade Lauzon and the defense is pretty much set:

Josi/Dumba
Skjei/Blankenburg
Wilsby/Barron
Englund

From there, I would expect Marchy traded for futures. Trotz will get someone like Andrew Mangiapane in free agency

Forsberg Stamkos Vange
Bunting O'Reilly Mangiapane
Haula Svechkov ZLH
Smith Sissons McCarron.

Not saying this is good) but this what I expect
 
Taking Dumba for something like a 2026 2nd would make sense in the context of rebuilding and taking a step back. But he really does suck, and I don't think Trotz is looking to stockpile draft picks, as we saw with the Haula trade.

He'll get a RD somewhere. I shudder to think of who that's going to be in this market. :help:
 
Roman Yoshi said:
A "smart" move would be to aquire Matt Dumba from Dallas with future considerations so the acquisition costs you nothing and you help Dallas out of cap hell and have a moveable asset at the deadline on an expiring deal.

I'd then trade Lauzon and the defense is pretty much set:

Josi/Dumba
Skjei/Blankenburg
Wilsby/Barron
Englund

From there, I would expect Marchy traded for futures. Trotz will get someone like Andrew Mangiapane in free agency

Forsberg Stamkos Vange
Bunting O'Reilly Mangiapane
Haula Svechkov ZLH
Smith Sissons McCarron.

Not saying this is good) but this what I expect
Click to expand...
Wow, there's three moves that would actually make the team worse instantly.

Dumba is cooked.

If we're not selling anyone else off, trading Marchy is stupid.

Mangiapane would just plug in one of the kids. He's also a smaller winger and soft.
 
Scoresberg said:
Wow, there's three moves that would actually make the team worse instantly.

Dumba is cooked.

If we're not selling anyone else off, trading Marchy is stupid.

Mangiapane would just plug in one of the kids. He's also a smaller winger and soft.
Click to expand...
I'd be prepared for a lot of stupid. I'd give Marchy being on the roster a less than 10% chance. He's going to get moved and the return isn't going to nearly as good as we would've wanted. Marchy is in control of his destination. The fraction between him and the org seems unrepairable.

Getting Dumba for free is better than Trotz going out and spending $10M a year on Ekblad given the state of the team. And at least with Dumba you could probably get an asset as a sweetener from Dallas as well. If not, you're looking at Ceci, Ruuta or Perbix as your best options.

Barring any of that, you are giving up assets for and man which I think is a poor choice.

As for forwards, Marner, Boeser, Ehlers, Marchand, Bennett and Giroux are all not coming here. So who is next up? Armia? Mantha? The options aren't really good.

Unless a miracle trade happens the Preds are pretty much locked in as is.
 
Scoresberg said:
Wow, there's three moves that would actually make the team worse instantly.

Dumba is cooked.

If we're not selling anyone else off, trading Marchy is stupid.

Mangiapane would just plug in one of the kids. He's also a smaller winger and soft.
Click to expand...
Dumba is cooked, but if Dallas gave me a 2026 2nd to take him, heck, him being cooked is not THAT much worse than Barron/Blankenburg/Englund.
:eek2:

I would trade Marchessault, but we have to get at least a 2026 1st. Ideally a little more. If that offer isn't out there, it's just stupid to jettison the player for (rightly) objecting to our dumb coach's dumb gameplans. And having the guts to say it out loud. You can't just throw away the asset because you are quadrupling-down on a bad coaching decision. :help:

I do agree that Mangiapane should be a total non-starter. He's not a player who can play on this team (nor on many others in the modern NHL). He lucked into a 35-goal season once in his life, because he does have some skill. But he's more like a Swiss league player who nobody should be chasing in the modern NHL.
 
Porter Stoutheart said:
Taking Dumba for something like a 2026 2nd would make sense in the context of rebuilding and taking a step back. But he really does suck, and I don't think Trotz is looking to stockpile draft picks, as we saw with the Haula trade.

He'll get a RD somewhere. I shudder to think of who that's going to be in this market. :help:
Click to expand...
Ekblad
 
BigFatCat999 said:
Ekblad
Click to expand...
I think we're safe from Ekblad because he'll be able to go to a better team. (Which is almost every team). Us paying him 7x$9-10M is probably the kind of thing Trotz would do. But he's lucky this year, because there are other teams out there who will also, given all the Cap space around the league. So we are likely saved from shooting that particular foot.

Instead, we'll sign some lesser sucky RD (Ceci, DeAngelo, Burns, Schmidt, Perbix, Klingberg, Rutta, Petry, Hamonic etc), but at least it won't be as big of a contract albatross.
 
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I truly believe that if Hagens is on the board at 5, Nashville trades the pick for Barzal or for Dobson in a package deal.

I can't think of a worse move but I've been hearing a lot of smoke around the pick being moved.
 
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