Speculation: Does Jarmo move a RHD at the draft...who if so?

[Cowumbus]

I still question whether Boqvist is a fit long term - an offense only D isn't worth much on a team that has D that can do everything.

But he's probably going to keep improving this year, and if he gets consistent PP time (I would take him on the PP over Werenski 9/10) his trade value is going to get a lot higher. We'll see. I would be listening to offers for him this summer, but not in a hurry to move him.

I’d move him for 26OA if Musty is there

 

[Viqsi]

I’d move him for 26OA if Musty is there

Huh. I decided to take another look-see at this guy to see if I could get the joke and that's how I discovered that EP put out their draft guide at the start of this week and I somehow totally missed it. Oops.

(They have him at #12.)

 

[Cowumbus]

Huh. I decided to take another look-see at this guy to see if I could get the joke and that's how I discovered that EP put out their draft guide at the start of this week and I somehow totally missed it. Oops.

(They have him at #12.)

12!? Wtf, I though he was going to be a sleeper…

 

[CBJx614]

I still question whether Boqvist is a fit long term - an offense only D isn't worth much on a team that has D that can do everything.

But he's probably going to keep improving this year, and if he gets consistent PP time (I would take him on the PP over Werenski 9/10) his trade value is going to get a lot higher. We'll see. I would be listening to offers for him this summer, but not in a hurry to move him.

Exactly, with how many unknowns we have between Boqvist, Bean, Blankenberg, Peeke, plus the guys in Cleveland. It's too hard to make any accurate predictions, these guys will figure it out in camp. Like Jarmo said, they've now bred an environment where all of those guys are now competing for a spot starting the moment we traded for Provorov and puts even more pressure on them after the Severson trade.

 

[majormajor]

Exactly, with how many unknowns we have between Boqvist, Bean, Blankenberg, Peeke, plus the guys in Cleveland. It's too hard to make any accurate predictions, these guys will figure it out in camp. Like Jarmo said, they've now bred an environment where all of those guys are now competing for a spot starting the moment we traded for Provorov and puts even more pressure on them after the Severson trade.

I think you might be better off moving one of those guys this summer - I'm not sure. Someone is either going to have to be traded this summer or in camp, I don't know if it's easy to move a D in camp.

 

[tunnelvision]

I don't want him in a situation where he becomes a risk averse player to avoid getting in trouble in the NHL, we want him playing aggressively. Being the best player on his team in the AHL would be fantastic for his development.

I'd also like to give him more time in the AHL to improve his stamina/conditioning. It seemed like his overall play cooled off towards the end of season, and he suffered an injury in an innocent-looking play in a pre-WC game last month. His body might not adapted yet to the grind of long AHL/NHL season, even if skills-wise he was getting more close to being NHL-ready.

I still question whether Boqvist is a fit long term - an offense only D isn't worth much on a team that has D that can do everything.

But he's probably going to keep improving this year, and if he gets consistent PP time (I would take him on the PP over Werenski 9/10) his trade value is going to get a lot higher. We'll see. I would be listening to offers for him this summer, but not in a hurry to move him.

Exactly, with how many unknowns we have between Boqvist, Bean, Blankenberg, Peeke, plus the guys in Cleveland. It's too hard to make any accurate predictions, these guys will figure it out in camp. Like Jarmo said, they've now bred an environment where all of those guys are now competing for a spot starting the moment we traded for Provorov and puts even more pressure on them after the Severson trade.

I think I'd keep Bean and Blankenburg and for the summer and then re-evaluate their game in camp. They're more of two-way type defensemen than all-offense Boqvist and all-defense Peeke, which in my mind makes them more useful and versatile pieces to fix some possible holes in the top-6, namely 3LD and 2RD positions.

Werenski-Severson
Provorov-Bean/Blanks/???
Bean/Blanks/???-Gudbranson

The situation with Boqvist and Peeke is kind of tricky. On one hand you'd want to give them another look because they're fairly young, have shown some potential and their value is low after a dumpster fire of a season, but on the other hand if you don't trade them now, one or both of them could be lost for nothing in the waivers later in the preseason.

I guess I'm undecided on Peeke, but leaning towards trading Boqvist this summer, especially if we could get return that would be worth of a 2nd round pick or better. We should have relatively good amount of puck-moving ability on the blueline with Werenski, Provorov, Severson and Bean/Blankenburg which is where Boqvist excels, but not that much of support in the defensive side of things where he's been another liability.

 

[traffic cone]

Don’t give up on Boqvist. It can come back to bite you.

 

[BB88]

Don’t give up on Boqvist. It can come back to bite you.

With Jiricek it’s hard to see a longterm spot for Boqvist

 

[traffic cone]

With Jiricek it’s hard to see a longterm spot for Boqvist

He could very well be better than Severson in couple years.

 

[Xoggz22]

It's truly great to see the discusion we have to have now and there is still another wave of young defensemen coming... CBJ very high on Mateychuk, Richard, Ceulemans, Makarov, Knazko and Svozil (much closer). That's heavy on the LHD side but at least 2 of them are likely to hit. They are very deep in the prospect pool and could add more with the 34 too.

 

[BB88]

He could very well be better than Severson in couple years.

They fill different needs

Without Jiricek maybe Boqvist could have had a future as 2nd pair pp spesialist

 

[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

Do we NEED to trade a dman? i.e. Are there financial issues? We can't afford them all or it would be bad asset management if we kept them all? I admit I haven't paid close attention to these factors.

Because if not and it's just an on-ice issue I'd be inclined to keep as many as possible. It feels odd to create depth only to turn around and potentially deplete that depth especially with this team's cursed history.

 

[cbjthrowaway]

Do we NEED to trade a dman? i.e. Are there financial issues? We can't afford them all or it would be bad asset management if we kept them all? I admit I haven't paid close attention to these factors.

Because if not and it's just an on-ice issue I'd be inclined to keep as many as possible. It feels odd to create depth only to turn around and potentially deplete that depth especially with this team's cursed history.

in theory they could carry 8 defensemen and send jiricek down.

in reality, jiricek will likely be, at minimum, one of their best five defensemen (and more likely one of their best four). they also have a logjam at forward and would likely want to carry two extras.

also doesn't make much sense to carry someone like peeke (who has trade value but is still growing as a player) as a spare defenseman.

 

[Xoggz22]

Do we NEED to trade a dman? i.e. Are there financial issues? We can't afford them all or it would be bad asset management if we kept them all? I admit I haven't paid close attention to these factors.

Because if not and it's just an on-ice issue I'd be inclined to keep as many as possible. It feels odd to create depth only to turn around and potentially deplete that depth especially with this team's cursed history.

That's a good question. I don't think we NEED to trade one and after listening to several pods and hearing old quotes from Torts (He used to say you'll use at least 9 d-men in a year), having the depth is a good thing. I think the odd man out is Blankenburg at the moment. he's waiver exempt as I understand it and while I know many like his game I don't think his injury history, size and RHDness is going to play into his favor. Harder for him to earn a spot I think. That said...

Werenski, Provorov, Severson, Boqvist, Bean, Gudbranson, Peeke and Blankenburg all are on 1-way deals but Blanks is waiver exempt (17 more games). Blanks is the only RHD that appeared comfortable on his off side but you also have Jiricek pushing and I believe they still like Bean. I also think Berni played really well as a 3rd pair on the LHD side and remains an option as a 7/8 guy.

I don't think you need to trade one but if there was a really good offer, I think CBJ would strongly consider it given they have Svozil, Jiricek, Christiansen, Sweezy and maybe Bjork (if re-signed) to come up in a pinch. I don't think you'll see Ceulemans with any NHL games next year. Either way, they have some depth and could also still sign a vet to sit in the press box too, but I don't konw that they would do that.

So, maybe no trade but one that includes Peeke or even Boqvist as a part of something bigger with our forward depth needing thinned could be possible for sure, just maybe not as much as I thought just last week.

 

[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

That's a good question. I don't think we NEED to trade one and after listening to several pods and hearing old quotes from Torts (He used to say you'll use at least 9 d-men in a year), having the depth is a good thing. I think the odd man out is Blankenburg at the moment. he's waiver exempt as I understand it and while I know many like his game I don't think his injury history, size and RHDness is going to play into his favor. Harder for him to earn a spot I think. That said...

Werenski, Provorov, Severson, Boqvist, Bean, Gudbranson, Peeke and Blankenburg all are on 1-way deals but Blanks is waiver exempt (17 more games). Blanks is the only RHD that appeared comfortable on his off side but you also have Jiricek pushing and I believe they still like Bean. I also think Berni played really well as a 3rd pair on the LHD side and remains an option as a 7/8 guy.

I don't think you need to trade one but if there was a really good offer, I think CBJ would strongly consider it given they have Svozil, Jiricek, Christiansen, Sweezy and maybe Bjork (if re-signed) to come up in a pinch. I don't think you'll see Ceulemans with any NHL games next year. Either way, they have some depth and could also still sign a vet to sit in the press box too, but I don't konw that they would do that.

So, maybe no trade but one that includes Peeke or even Boqvist as a part of something bigger with our forward depth needing thinned could be possible for sure, just maybe not as much as I thought just last week.

Let's add Jiricek to that group of 8. Gives us 9 guys. Maybe you trade one, we're down to 8. An injury, now 7. One of them can't cut it, now 6 and the Cleveland shuttle is getting a lot of miles pretty quick.

I understand the logic of maybe using one of those guys to address a need elsewhere. That's the gambles you take and the roster Jenga you gotta play.

But I'm not sure I like the prospect of a trade just to move an NHL guy who might not play regularly. I don't mind having spare NHL caliber players.

 

[cbjthrowaway]

Let's add Jiricek to that group of 8. Gives us 9 guys. Maybe you trade one, we're down to 8. An injury, now 7. One of them can't cut it, now 6 and the Cleveland shuttle is getting a lot of miles pretty quick.

i'd be shocked if jiricek isn't one of the four best guys in that group of nine. if the goal of these moves is ostensibly to improve the team, putting one of your four best defensemen in the AHL wouldn't seem to be aligned with that approach.

to your point about injuries – that's something that every team will run into, and no teams are going to carry eight NHL level defensemen to prepare for that eventuality. the jackets have and entire AHL defensive group (svozil, berni, christiansen, bjork, knazko, ceulemans) of guys who would look just fine in a call-up role.

the jackets got out ahead of the market with their recent moves, now they're in a great position to cash in on their depth. orlov is the only good UFA out there and wants $8m. peeke/boqvist's contracts will end up being far cheaper (while bringing more upside + RFA expiry status) than the guys left on the market (dumba, soucy, graves).

it's a seller's market. the opportunity cost of not striking while the iron is hot outweighs the benefit of keeping them and carrying 8 defensemen on a team that's playing with house money this year anyway.

 

[Double-Shift Lasse]

Speculation: - Armchair GM - 2023 Off-Season Thread

forums.hfboards.com

This was my take on this in the Armchair GM thread.

Copied here:

Thinking about this in light of Jarmo’s interview on the Severson signing and I’m wondering about their intention/expectation for Jiricek. The club has eight d-men it could deploy before Jiricek, if it wants to. And with Boquist at only 22 and entering year 2 or a 3-year contract, maybe DJ hangs in Cleveland save for some cups of coffee?

Werenski-Severson
Provorov-Boquist
Bean-Gudbranson
Peeke-Blankenberg

Maybe even Christiansen

Tim Berni and Gavin Bayreuther are floating around out there too.

Adding a comment here that I agree with throwaway's point that any of that list of Cleveland D would be reasonable in a call-up.

 

[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

Speculation: - Armchair GM - 2023 Off-Season Thread

forums.hfboards.com

This was my take on this in the Armchair GM thread.

Copied here:

Thinking about this in light of Jarmo’s interview on the Severson signing and I’m wondering about their intention/expectation for Jiricek. The club has eight d-men it could deploy before Jiricek, if it wants to. And with Boquist at only 22 and entering year 2 or a 3-year contract, maybe DJ hangs in Cleveland save for some cups of coffee?

Werenski-Severson
Provorov-Boquist
Bean-Gudbranson
Peeke-Blankenberg

Maybe even Christiansen

Tim Berni and Gavin Bayreuther are floating around out there too.

Adding a comment here that I agree with throwaway's point that any of that list of Cleveland D would be reasonable in a call-up.

I know every player is different and I get that Jiricek is at a higher level than most prospects, but I feel like we've had a lot more disappointment than excitement from playing the "this young player is ready!" game over the years.

If he is, awesome. Too many good dmen is a problem I am willing to deal with.

If he isn't, it'd be nice to not have to force him to be.

 

[EspenK]

If we keep 8 D then we can only keep 13 F. Same problem although probably more questionable guys at F than D but some could probably say the exact opposite.

 

[CoachWithNoTeam]

I don’t know if I can absolutely look at it like a group of 8 anymore. I think maybe that’s how it was intended to be, but a lot of the bottom half of that group didn’t stand out among the countless depth call ups last year.

So to me it’s the new top three: Werenski, Severson, and Provorov. With Jiricek, as the future centerpiece, who could potentially grow into something more valuable than the other three.

Then there is the rest. Gudbranson has his role for the next 3 years and is unmovable for at least this year. So let’s leave that there.

There is the group that we have tried to build around for the last couple of years in Boqvist, Peeke, Bean, and Blankenburg. None of them have grown into a role that is irreplaceable so far, but all are on short term, cheapish deals in their early-mid 20s.

Now that we are getting into 9-deep with clear NHL-level guys, there is also Berni, Bjork, Christiansen, Svozil, and Sweezey that saw time last year in varying capacities and looked capable of being used in a #6-8 role. Bottom line is that I don’t think the previous group has separated themselves from this group enough to make me concerned that moving one of them for value would be compromising the depth in a way that would be hard to fix.

 

[stevo61]

I just feel like its too easy to trade Peeke and send Jiricek/Blankenberg to Cleveland. Its no secret we have guys that have injury concerns so this move gives us multiple callup options. Bayreuther can fill the old Harrington role if they want a guy in the pressbox on the road

 

[majormajor]

There is the group that we have tried to build around for the last couple of years in Boqvist, Peeke, Bean, and Blankenburg. None of them have grown into a role that is irreplaceable so far, but all are on short term, cheapish deals in their early-mid 20s.

I'd say Blankenburg is not quite in that group. Even though he's a bit older, he's only played 43 career games, and he's on a near-league-minimum deal, and he's waiver exempt. So the plan with him should just be to keep him around. I suppose you could debate whether he should be kept as a spare or sent to the minors. I think with his playstyle and high chance of injury, it might work better just to use him as a #7 that you throw in every now and then to provide a spark. He's good for a jolt.

With Bean, Boq, and Peeke, all three of them were given decent size multi-year contracts very quickly, it was an odd waste I think. It makes moving them harder. But if you don't have a plan to give them regular ice time this year then you should trade that player (if the return is okay).

Seravalli has a good feel for trade returns and he put Peeke on his trade board. When he was asked why Boqvist wasn't on the board he said that Boqvist could be traded too but the market for offensive D like him is lower. Boqvist was better than Peeke last year but this makes sense to me. I think there's more need for players like Peeke than for players like Boqvist.

Now that we are getting into 9-deep with clear NHL-level guys, there is also Berni, Bjork, Christiansen, Svozil, and Sweezey that saw time last year in varying capacities and looked capable of being used in a #6-8 role. Bottom line is that I don’t think the previous group has separated themselves from this group enough to make me concerned that moving one of them for value would be compromising the depth in a way that would be hard to fix.

I agree that the next tier down isn't actually separable from Bean, Boq, and Peeke. Svozil might already be better!

I think Christiansen has improved and looked good last year. Berni was better than Bean, at least with Gudbranson.

Bjork was fine last year but I think in terms of his upside there isn't much need for him, it looks like he and Bayreuther might be gone. There are already at least 6 AHL D before counting them and they don't have contracts yet.

 

[stevo61]

I'd say Blankenburg is not quite in that group. Even though he's a bit older, he's only played 43 career games, and he's on a near-league-minimum deal, and he's waiver exempt. So the plan with him should just be to keep him around. I suppose you could debate whether he should be kept as a spare or sent to the minors. I think with his playstyle and high chance of injury, it might work better just to use him as a #7 that you throw in every now and then to provide a spark. He's good for a jolt.

With Bean, Boq, and Peeke, all three of them were given decent size multi-year contracts very quickly, it was an odd waste I think. It makes moving them harder. But if you don't have a plan to give them regular ice time this year then you should trade that player (if the return is okay).

Seravalli has a good feel for trade returns and he put Peeke on his trade board. When he was asked why Boqvist wasn't on the board he said that Boqvist could be traded too but the market for offensive D like him is lower. Boqvist was better than Peeke last year but this makes sense to me. I think there's more need for players like Peeke than for players like Boqvist.



I agree that the next tier down isn't actually separable from Bean, Boq, and Peeke. Svozil might already be better!

I think Christiansen has improved and looked good last year. Berni was better than Bean, at least with Gudbranson.

Bjork was fine last year but I think in terms of his upside there isn't much need for him, it looks like he and Bayreuther might be gone. There are already at least 6 AHL D before counting them and they don't have contracts yet.

Bean played with Gudbranson before Larsen changed his system allowing Gudbranson/Peeke to simply dump the puck, like most things last season its hard to judge.

Im as high on Svozil as anyone since day 1 but I dont know if Id be comfortable saying that yet. The upside extremely exciting but he needs that full big season in Cleveland and not just remembering the high of him playing meaningless games against teams barely competing at all

 

[tunnelvision]

I agree that the next tier down isn't actually separable from Bean, Boq, and Peeke. Svozil might already be better!

Im as high on Svozil as anyone since day 1 but I dont know if Id be comfortable saying that yet. The upside extremely exciting but he needs that full big season in Cleveland and not just remembering the high of him playing meaningless games against teams barely competing at all

Speaking of him...


At 1:30 mark Jarmo mentions that "one of our defensemen I just recently met" hasn't necessarily improved physically as much as they would have hoped as they compare player's current condition to the combine results. One could interpret that "if they're at some level at 18 and at 20 there aren't a lot of improvement" suggests he's talking about 2021 picks since Ceulemans, Svozil, Richard and Makarov were 18 then and 20 this year.

If it's one of that group of 4, it could very well be Svozil. But also Ceulemans or Richard. I doubt it's Makarov because his skating and strength looked pretty much pro-level to me at the Gagarin Cup.

 

[squashmaple]

Speaking of him...


At 1:30 mark Jarmo mentions that "one of our defensemen I just recently met" hasn't necessarily improved physically as much as they would have hoped as they compare player's current condition to the combine results. One could interpret that "if they're at some level at 18 and at 20 there aren't a lot of improvement" suggests he's talking about 2021 picks since Ceulemans, Svozil, Richard and Makarov were 18 then and 20 this year.

If it's one of that group of 4, it could very well be Svozil. But also Ceulemans or Richard. I doubt it's Makarov because his skating and strength looked pretty much pro-level to me at the Gagarin Cup.

That feels like a big leap, but of those four I would guess Ceulemans. They can't have been pleased with his lack of development at Wisonsin, either.