Around the League Thread | Holiday Season!

[Mr. Canucklehead]

Some more interesting insight into the tire fire in New York. If I'm reading this right, the team does not permit their Social Media/PR group to travel with the team anymore (or at least not in the same hotels) after an "incident" where a player and an employee went for dinner last spring?

(there's more screenshots from the article in the replies)

 

[valkynax]

Some more interesting insight into the tire fire in New York. If I'm reading this right, the team does not permit their Social Media/PR group to travel with the team anymore (or at least not in the same hotels) after an "incident" where a player and an employee went for dinner last spring?

(there's more screenshots from the article in the replies)

As the tweet said: what, the f***??????

Was this Drury's doing? Has he lost his goddamn mind because he tried to summon an Outer God and went insane?

 

[timw33]

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6006850/2024/12/19/predators-disappointment-barry-trotz/

“It’s not a rebuild,” Preds general manager Barry Trotz told The Athletic on Thursday. “I’m not in the business of not winning. I’m in the business of trying to win. We’re not selling off. We are resetting. We know where we are. It’s not where we thought we would be."


“I had tried to get Justin from the Canadiens last year,” Trotz said. “I just felt that we needed a right-shot who was age-appropriate."

“I want to set myself up for the summer,” Trotz said. “We will look at the free-agent market.


Shades of Benning.

 

[thecupismine]

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6006850/2024/12/19/predators-disappointment-barry-trotz/

“It’s not a rebuild,” Preds general manager Barry Trotz told The Athletic on Thursday. “I’m not in the business of not winning. I’m in the business of trying to win. We’re not selling off. We are resetting. We know where we are. It’s not where we thought we would be."


“I had tried to get Justin from the Canadiens last year,” Trotz said. “I just felt that we needed a right-shot who was age-appropriate."

“I want to set myself up for the summer,” Trotz said. “We will look at the free-agent market.


Shades of Benning.

This guy is 100% Benning 2.0, everything from the first year over-achieving with a bunch of older guys, to refusing to rebuild and signing a bunch of horrific free agent deals. Not to mention the “age appropriate” thing.

Alvin needs this guy on speed dial. We need that karma for giving up Forsling, McCann, etc. for absolutely nothing.

 

[Nuckles]

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6006850/2024/12/19/predators-disappointment-barry-trotz/

“It’s not a rebuild,” Preds general manager Barry Trotz told The Athletic on Thursday. “I’m not in the business of not winning. I’m in the business of trying to win. We’re not selling off. We are resetting. We know where we are. It’s not where we thought we would be."


“I had tried to get Justin from the Canadiens last year,” Trotz said. “I just felt that we needed a right-shot who was age-appropriate."

“I want to set myself up for the summer,” Trotz said. “We will look at the free-agent market.


Shades of Benning.

Reminds me of another coach turned GM

 

[wonton15]

A team would be wise to try hard and extract Parssinen/Novak from Nashville in return for older vets who can still play.

 

[Diversification]

anyone who watched more than 5 minutes of him in bu knew he was going to be a special player offensively. he might end up a 4th forward style defender who needs to be sheltered and may not be a great player because of it but he'll always produce points

I’ve watched him for more than 5 minutes and he strikes me as a guy who will have a Mike Green sort of career trajectory (I’m aware that they have very different styles).

 

[MS]

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6006850/2024/12/19/predators-disappointment-barry-trotz/

“It’s not a rebuild,” Preds general manager Barry Trotz told The Athletic on Thursday. “I’m not in the business of not winning. I’m in the business of trying to win. We’re not selling off. We are resetting. We know where we are. It’s not where we thought we would be."


“I had tried to get Justin from the Canadiens last year,” Trotz said. “I just felt that we needed a right-shot who was age-appropriate."

“I want to set myself up for the summer,” Trotz said. “We will look at the free-agent market.


Shades of Benning.

People here probably know I’m about the biggest anti-tanking guy there is.

Nashville is cooked. They’re done. There is no way to fix things there. They have literally zero average-or-better position players between the age of 20 and 30. They have no choice but a full teardown.


I made a post a few years ago showing the most money owed to age 30+ players 3+ years out and they were screwed then - I think they had more owing than the 2nd and 3rd place teams combined.

Poile in his last year made a few prudent moves and Trotz’ first year wasn’t bad and they managed to extend their ‘playoff team’ window a bit, but this past offseason took a flamethrower to that. They’re done. They’re the 2016 Canucks. Their main priority should be trading Saros/Josi/Forsberg for maximum returns.

 

[StreetHawk]

Poile in his last year made a few prudent moves and Trotz’ first year wasn’t bad and they managed to extend their ‘playoff team’ window a bit, but this past offseason took a flamethrower to that. They’re done. They’re the 2016 Canucks. Their main priority should be trading Saros/Josi/Forsberg for maximum returns.

Guys in their 30's with multiple years left are very difficult to move. Saros hasn't even started his new contract and he's one of the smaller goalies. think they end up riding it out with him.

Forsberg, 5 more years after this one. He is currently 30 this year.
Josi has 3 more years. currently 34. Probably the 1 guy they would get value on. He can still play well.
Skjei is from the same draft as Forberg and his deal is through 2031, so 6 more years after this one.

Nash can try to recoup some assets but some of the vets are going to be out of luck on a bad team til the end of their contracts.

These guys will at some point go into the "retirement" portion of their contracts where the cap hit doesn't match up to the production. So a team is only getting like 2 good years and 2-3 dropoff years. Not enough value to offset the dropoff ones.

So really, Josi is an asset. Most of the others who have that kind of term aren't going to return a tonne of futures.

 

[SeawaterOnIce]

People here probably know I’m about the biggest anti-tanking guy there is.

Nashville is cooked. They’re done. There is no way to fix things there. They have literally zero average-or-better position players between the age of 20 and 30. They have no choice but a full teardown.


I made a post a few years ago showing the most money owed to age 30+ players 3+ years out and they were screwed then - I think they had more owing than the 2nd and 3rd place teams combined.

Poile in his last year made a few prudent moves and Trotz’ first year wasn’t bad and they managed to extend their ‘playoff team’ window a bit, but this past offseason took a flamethrower to that. They’re done. They’re the 2016 Canucks. Their main priority should be trading Saros/Josi/Forsberg for maximum returns.

I'm pretty sure Trotz will double down and sign Tyler Johnson now.

 

[MS]

Guys in their 30's with multiple years left are very difficult to move. Saros hasn't even started his new contract and he's one of the smaller goalies. think they end up riding it out with him.

Forsberg, 5 more years after this one. He is currently 30 this year.
Josi has 3 more years. currently 34. Probably the 1 guy they would get value on. He can still play well.
Skjei is from the same draft as Forberg and his deal is through 2031, so 6 more years after this one.

Nash can try to recoup some assets but some of the vets are going to be out of luck on a bad team til the end of their contracts.

These guys will at some point go into the "retirement" portion of their contracts where the cap hit doesn't match up to the production. So a team is only getting like 2 good years and 2-3 dropoff years. Not enough value to offset the dropoff ones.

So really, Josi is an asset. Most of the others who have that kind of term aren't going to return a tonne of futures.

They would have zero problem moving any of Forsberg/Josi/Skjei or probably Saros for value. In some cases they might have to take a bad contract back but if you’re in a rebuild who cares.

 

[Bojack Horvatman]

People here probably know I’m about the biggest anti-tanking guy there is.

Nashville is cooked. They’re done. There is no way to fix things there. They have literally zero average-or-better position players between the age of 20 and 30. They have no choice but a full teardown.


I made a post a few years ago showing the most money owed to age 30+ players 3+ years out and they were screwed then - I think they had more owing than the 2nd and 3rd place teams combined.

Poile in his last year made a few prudent moves and Trotz’ first year wasn’t bad and they managed to extend their ‘playoff team’ window a bit, but this past offseason took a flamethrower to that. They’re done. They’re the 2016 Canucks. Their main priority should be trading Saros/Josi/Forsberg for maximum returns.

The thing is though, they can't even do a full tear down rebuild unless Forsberg/Josi/Saros want out like Erik Karlsson. They are kind of forced to stay the course. The best they can do is the Benning in try to build a winning team but finish near the bottom anyway.

Oh man. I knew they were going to end up like what San Jose was 5 years ago with the amount of money spent on 30+ contracts. I thought they would get another year or 2 out of this core though. Another lesson on not building a team by free agency

 

[MS]

The thing is though, they can't even do a full tear down rebuild unless Forsberg/Josi/Saros want out like Erik Karlsson. They are kind of forced to stay the course. The best they can do is the Benning in try to build a winning team but finish near the bottom anyway.

Oh man. I knew they were going to end up like what San Jose was 5 years ago with the amount of money spent on 30+ contracts. I thought they would get another year or 2 out of this core though. Another lesson on not building a team by free agency

I mean, I’m pretty sure all of those guys would waive their NTCs/NMCs to go to a contender.

 

[Szechwan]

There are a lot of teams that would line up for Saros. Who cares if his deal is long, you're buying him to compete now. By the time the deal sucks you'll be out of your window anyways.

 

[Bojack Horvatman]

I mean, I’m pretty sure all of those guys would waive their NTCs/NMCs to go to a contender.

Maybe, maybe not. Forsberg and Josi have been in Nashville for over a decade and have families. For some players staying where they have built a home is more important than winning.

 

[bandwagonesque]

Josi would get a haul, his contract has only 3 years left after this one and is around 7.5M real cash per season. The predators are actually in a very good position to rebuild considering what their priorities have been of late. They'll likely have their own top 5-8 pick in 2025, two later 1sts, and a ton of cap space basically forever. They have one retention slot left, which I would hope they'd use trying fit Josi into a contending team right now.

 

[MS]

Maybe, maybe not. Forsberg and Josi have been in Nashville for over a decade and have families. For some players staying where they have built a home is more important than winning.

Maybe, but most players are usually quite happy to get out of dodge if they’re facing a rebuild that will basically last the rest of their careers.

 

[LemonSauceD]

Sucks Trotz will tarnish his otherwise good reputation as a coach to being probably one of the worst GM’s of this decade when it’s all said and done.

 

[thecupismine]

People here probably know I’m about the biggest anti-tanking guy there is.

Nashville is cooked. They’re done. There is no way to fix things there. They have literally zero average-or-better position players between the age of 20 and 30. They have no choice but a full teardown.


I made a post a few years ago showing the most money owed to age 30+ players 3+ years out and they were screwed then - I think they had more owing than the 2nd and 3rd place teams combined.

Poile in his last year made a few prudent moves and Trotz’ first year wasn’t bad and they managed to extend their ‘playoff team’ window a bit, but this past offseason took a flamethrower to that. They’re done. They’re the 2016 Canucks. Their main priority should be trading Saros/Josi/Forsberg for maximum returns.

They’re in a decent spot to do it too with 3 firsts already this year. Unlike Vancouver where a lot of guys were coming off bad years, Forberg/Saros/Josi were at the top of their game last year.

Maybe you’re forced to hold onto Saros because of the new contract, but the other two would absolutely get you a haul of prospects and young players. The older players on bad contracts could easily stick around to make sure guys maintain decent practice habits so they don’t run into a perpetual Buffalo situation as well.

If they hit on their top 5 picks, there’s a world where they could be back competing for the playoffs in 2-3 years. However, my bet is Trotz messes this up and it ends up taking 5+ years to fix instead, and he won’t be the guy to see it through.

 

[StreetHawk]

They’re in a decent spot to do it too with 3 firsts already this year. Unlike Vancouver where a lot of guys were coming off bad years, Forberg/Saros/Josi were at the top of their game last year.

Maybe you’re forced to hold onto Saros because of the new contract, but the other two would absolutely get you a haul of prospects and young players. The older players on bad contracts could easily stick around to make sure guys maintain decent practice habits so they don’t run into a perpetual Buffalo situation as well.

If they hit on their top 5 picks, there’s a world where they could be back competing for the playoffs in 2-3 years. However, my bet is Trotz messes this up and it ends up taking 5+ years to fix instead, and he won’t be the guy to see it through.

Low chance that many picks hit. For the drafts in 2017, 2018, 2019, 14 of the 30 top 10 picks have changed teams. Pretty much all that got moved were not franchise altering guys. So, no guarantee that their top pick makes it or is a core guy. Plus, what has Nash done in the draft over the past 5 seasons?
Their TB and LV picks will at least be where they have drafted over the past few seasons. Surin, Wood, Kemell, Svechkov, L'Hereaux were their last few 1st round picks from like 15 to 27 range.

 

[valkynax]

Ilya "Stone hands" Mikheyev got his 5th goal of the season!

Dude's on a TEAR, good GOD!

EDIT: Bro just got another! Jesus Christ when was the last time he scored 2 goals in a game????

 

[I am toxic]

Sucks Trotz will tarnish his otherwise good reputation as a coach to being probably one of the worst GM’s of this decade when it’s all said and done.

Sadly, he seems to be taking all the pages out of the Jim Benning "How2Gm" colouring book.

 

[Jerry the great]

Ilya "Stone hands" Mikheyev got his 5th goal of the season!

Dude's on a TEAR, good GOD!

EDIT: Bro just got another! Jesus Christ when was the last time he scored 2 goals in a game????

speed is coming back. not all the way there, but a lot better than last year.

 

[Svencouver]

So Boston clearly let go of the wrong goalie, right?

 

[bandwagonesque]

So Boston clearly let go of the wrong goalie, right?

If Boston had any notion of what Swayman would demand, then yeah -- it probably would have been a better idea to trade him.

Ulmark has been far worse in the playoffs but I'm not fond of using small playoff samples to try to prove anything. I don't think the playoffs changes the quality of the chances goaltenders face and nor do I think the added pressure affects an NHL goaltender, who has been facing intense pressure his entire career, as much as it does a skater.