GDT: Free agency madness, brought to you by the letter G - PART 2

[Sweatred]

I expect to see

Chabot Zub
Sandy Hamonic
Holden Zaitsev
Brannstrom

Brannstrom will platoon in for Holden or Zaitsev.. with Holden playing RD when needed.

Love to have someone like Tanev or Weegar in there and push Hamonic Down. We started with Chabot Zub last year and they looked really good but had to change to create more balance. We added Hamonic late so that could be a positive in being able to keep them together. Lets hope we don't have to shuffle that again.

Holden didn’t sign a one year deal to push Brann out of playing time. Brann will likely make more $$$ than Holden. We’ve seen DJ use of Branny and Holden’s getting slower … not faster.

Holden will more likely support Sanderson than the relatively experienced Brannstrom.

 

[Cosmix]

Right now I'd run Chabot with Zub and Sanderson with Hamonic.

Bottom pair I'd go with Brannstrom and Holden playing his off side unless Zaitsev has somehow taken a big step forward.

Ideally I'd love to add another right side D, someone who can play top pair or really be a driving force on a sound pair, but I think we can get by with what we have.

I don't think we can get by if "get by" means making the playoffs.

 

[Hale The Villain]

If we can get Chychrun with Formenton as the main forward piece instead of Greig, I wouldn't be opposed to taking on Bailey from the Isles and getting a 2nd or more for our trouble.

Assuming Formenton gets around 2.5M on his next deal, we'd only be spending an extra 1M on Bailey given his 3.5M salary for each of the next 2 years, after which point Greig will be almost certainly be ready for a top 9 role.

 

[bert]

I expect to see

Chabot Zub
Sandy Hamonic
Holden Zaitsev
Brannstrom

Brannstrom will platoon in for Holden or Zaitsev.. with Holden playing RD when needed.

Love to have someone like Tanev or Weegar in there and push Hamonic Down. We started with Chabot Zub last year and they looked really good but had to change to create more balance. We added Hamonic late so that could be a positive in being able to keep them together. Lets hope we don't have to shuffle that again.

God that would be disappointing to see Zaitsev in the top 6. He isnt even in the top 9 best D men in the organization. With what happened in Boston this week and how good the rest of the east is, this is not the season to go for it. Lets just see how this group progresses.

If it was me this is what my top 6 D core looks like.

Chabot Thomson/Hamonic
Sanderson Zub
Holden Hamonic/Thomson
Brannstrom Zaitsev

Basically the only way Zaitsev gets into the lineup is if this group gets decimated by injuries.

If we can get Chychrun with Formenton as the main forward piece instead of Greig, I wouldn't be opposed to taking on Bailey from the Isles and getting a 2nd or more for our trouble.

Assuming Formenton gets around 2.5M on his next deal, we'd only be spending an extra 1M on Bailey given his 3.5M salary for each of the next 2 years, after which point Greig will be almost certainly be ready for a top 9 role.

This just isnt the year to be going for it, need to see how all these new players gel before making any more major moves. Grieg needs to play in the AHL and develop his offensive game, Norris talked about how good it was for him. It was clearly really good for Batherson. Everyone just needs to let these players develop and push for a playoff spot before going all in. The east is too good and this team isnt close.

 

[Hale The Villain]

This just isnt the year to be going for it, need to see how all these new players gel before making any more major moves. Grieg needs to play in the AHL and develop his offensive game, Norris talked about how good it was for him. It was clearly really good for Batherson. Everyone just needs to let these players develop and push for a playoff spot before going all in. The east is too good and this team isnt close.

That would be part of the reasoning for acquiring Bailey if Formenton is moved in a deal for a top 4 D.

Would be a great stop gap on the 3rd line and ensure Greig isn't rushed into the league.

We have a 2 year window before Sanderson is going to get a 6-7M bridge deal or a 8M+ long-term deal. After adding Giroux and DeBrincat now is absolutely the time to go all-in, as long as the price for a top 4 D like Chychrun isn't insanely high.

 

[Micklebot]

I don't think we can get by if "get by" means making the playoffs.

I think people underestimate how much the D has already improved from last year.

- Chabot will likely not be injured as much, so add 15 to 20 games form him.

- Sanderson imo will step in as a legit 2nd pair option. He might take a dozen games to adapt but will be at the very least a solid bottom pair guy, so estimate 70 games where he's upgrading our top 4

- Brannstrom at the very least is an upgrade over the 37 games Mete played for us.

- Hamonic is a massive upgrade over J.Brown, so there's 46 games where we have an upgraded bottom pair RHD, and imo he's decent upgrade on Zaitsev as a middle pair guy, so you could argue he upgrades the 62 games we got out of Zaitsev while pushing Zaitsev down to the bottom pair or playing Holden on the right side upgrades J.Brown.

That's 7 D right there, add JBD and Thomson as our first two callups instead of going to the well on guys like MDZ or Heatherington.

Now, we were in the middle the pack in goals against, only allowing 14 more goals than a team like NSH, and 13 more than the wild.

Beyond that, upgrading the forward group should help with our overall defensive play, adding Giroux and DeBrincat along with getting a full season out of Pinto and hopefully a healthier year from Batherson and Norris should mean playing less in our own end. We also upgraded our goaltending tandem so we should see a little more balance in that respect.

I'm not saying our D is an elite group, but I do think we're going to see a pretty big step forward already.

It also helps that abunch of top teams in the east got worse imo.

 

[Burrowsaurus]

To upgrade J.Brown and have a competent bottom 4 RHD after Zub.

I thought it was top 4. Now we’re aiming for a bottom 4?

Now sure why we were in such a rush to improve on our 6th d man

 

[Golden_Jet]

If we can get Chychrun with Formenton as the main forward piece instead of Greig, I wouldn't be opposed to taking on Bailey from the Isles and getting a 2nd or more for our trouble.

Assuming Formenton gets around 2.5M on his next deal, we'd only be spending an extra 1M on Bailey given his 3.5M salary for each of the next 2 years, after which point Greig will be almost certainly be ready for a top 9 role.

We don’t need a 5 million cap hit on third line at best for Bailey.

 

[Micklebot]

I thought it was top 4. Now we’re aiming for a bottom 4?

Now sure why we were in such a rush to improve on our 6th d man

It was second pair really, and by getting a 2nd pair guy we pushed Brown out.

We needed to upgrade the D, we did it for pretty cheap (though given the circumstances in Vancouver we probably should have been able to do it for cheaper).

In reality, we needed to upgrade everyone on the right side not named Zub, I don't see why we'd complain when we take a step in the right direction. Right now he's our 2nd best RHD. If he gets pushed to the 3rd pair, that's fine as it means we have good depth.

 

[Hale The Villain]

We don’t need a 5 million cap hit on third line at best for Bailey.

3.5M in real salary which is more important for a budget team like us that doesn't spend to the cap.

He's not worth 5M to teams that spend to the cap, but he might be worth 3.5M to us, especially if the Isles are willing to attach a 2nd round pick or possibly even more to dump his cap to open up the space to sign Kadri.

 

[Micklebot]

3.5M in real salary which is more important for a budget team like us that doesn't spend to the cap.

He's not worth 5M to teams that spend to the cap, but he might be worth 3.5M to us, especially if the Isles are willing to attach a 2nd round pick or possibly even more to dump his cap to open up the space to sign Kadri.

We're ~8 mil from the cap right now, if we add 5 mil in Bailey and 4.6 in Chychrun, not to mention re-sign Brannstrom and add a 13th forward, we'll need to shed 4+ mil. Depending on how much Brannstrom costs, moving out Zaitsev might not leave enough room.

 

[Golden_Jet]

3.5M in real salary which is more important for a budget team like us that doesn't spend to the cap.

He's not worth 5M to teams that spend to the cap, but he might be worth 3.5M to us, especially if the Isles are willing to attach a 2nd round pick or possibly even more to dump his cap to open up the space to sign Kadri.

Well Sens have 7.9 million in cap room, Branny and Formy to sign, means don’t have room for a 5 million cap hit, plus he’s declining, plus that totally removes any chance at a D man.
Looks like Zaitsev is staying, probably nixed an Arizona trade.

 

[Hale The Villain]

We're ~8 mil from the cap right now, if we add 5 mil in Bailey and 4.6 in Chychrun, not to mention re-sign Brannstrom and add a 13th forward, we'll need to shed 4+ mil. Depending on how much Brannstrom costs, moving out Zaitsev might not leave enough room.

If Formenton gets a similar but slightly smaller contract as Joseph, losing him and Zaitsev in the Chychrun deal would free up around 7-7.5M.

I wouldn't add Bailey if Formenton is being re-signed. Would be no room for him in the top 9 otherwise.

 

[GCK]

If DJ continues to tout and use Zaitsev as a top 4 D, then we have a coaching problem that needs to be addressed too.

Zaitsev was 6th among D in TOI / G and 7th in ES TOI / G. I get that you don’t like DJ but did you watch the games last year ?

If we can get Chychrun with Formenton as the main forward piece instead of Greig, I wouldn't be opposed to taking on Bailey from the Isles and getting a 2nd or more for our trouble.

Assuming Formenton gets around 2.5M on his next deal, we'd only be spending an extra 1M on Bailey given his 3.5M salary for each of the next 2 years, after which point Greig will be almost certainly be ready for a top 9 role.

We can’t afford Bailey’s cap hit next year.

 

[BonHoonLayneCornell]

Well Sens have 7.9 million in cap room, Branny and Formy to sign, means don’t have room for a 5 million cap hit, plus he’s declining, plus that totally removes any chance at a D man.
Looks like Zaitsev is staying, probably nixed an Arizona trade.

Another TML cap dump's trade protection coming back to bite us. At least they took Murray off our hands.

 

[Hale The Villain]

We can’t afford Bailey’s cap hit next year.

We don't know that yet.

I'm still thinking DeBrincat is a long-shot to re-sign long-term.

 

[bert]

That would be part of the reasoning for acquiring Bailey if Formenton is moved in a deal for a top 4 D.

Would be a great stop gap on the 3rd line and ensure Greig isn't rushed into the league.

We have a 2 year window before Sanderson is going to get a 6-7M bridge deal or a 8M+ long-term deal. After adding Giroux and DeBrincat now is absolutely the time to go all-in, as long as the price for a top 4 D like Chychrun isn't insanely high.

Its not really a window when the entire teams best players are 24 and under, while players like Sanderson and Pinto are rookies. Just not the time to go all in, the east is also extremely stacked. Very low probability the sens even make the playoffs, they shouldn't be trading top prospects or picks until they prove they can compete for a spot.

 

[GCK]

We don't know that yet.

I'm still thinking DeBrincat is a long-shot to re-sign long-term.

Getting Bailey would remove any doubt about being able to re-sign Debrincat. We’d be out of cap space.

 

[benjiv1]

Hearing something could be happening this evening or tomorrow.

Not a lot of details as my source is officially off the clock for the night. Will keep you guys updated if it’s anything major, but for now just think something small.

 

[Micklebot]

If Formenton gets a similar but slightly smaller contract as Joseph, losing him and Zaitsev in the Chychrun deal would free up around 7-7.5M.

I wouldn't add Bailey if Formenton is being re-signed. Would be no room for him in the top 9 otherwise.

Signing Formenton then trading him doesn't free up anything, we currently allocate zero of the teams ~75 mil cap hit to him, you can't free up anything by trading off someone that we're currently committing zero to.

 

[Hale The Villain]

Signing Formenton then trading him doesn't free up anything, we currently allocate zero of the teams ~75 mil cap hit to him, you can't free up anything by trading off someone that we're currently committing zero to.

We have about 8M in cap space with Formenton and Brannstrom to re-sign.

If those two + Zaitsev are moved in a package for Chychrun, we'd still have about 8M in cap space this year.

More than enough room to add Bailey for this year. It gets tight next year if we manage to re-sign both DeBrincat and Zub, but it wouldn't be a problem this year at all.

 

[Micklebot]

We have about 8M in cap space with Formenton and Brannstrom to re-sign.

If those two + Zaitsev are moved in a package for Chychrun, we'd still have about 8M in cap space this year.

More than enough room to add Bailey for this year. It gets tight next year if we manage to re-sign both DeBrincat and Zub, but it wouldn't be a problem this year at all.

We need to fill out a roster, if you trade Zaitsev and apparently Brannstrom too now as well as Formenton were down to 18 players, you need to bring in two more d to fill the roster spots and two more forwards maybe three.

So 5 of the 8 on Bailey means 3 roster spots and 3 mil, that's getting tight, particularly if we don't want to risk overages from bonuses for next year which both Sanderson and Stützle are likely to get.

 

[GCK]

We have about 8M in cap space with Formenton and Brannstrom to re-sign.

If those two + Zaitsev are moved in a package for Chychrun, we'd still have about 8M in cap space this year.

More than enough room to add Bailey for this year. It gets tight next year if we manage to re-sign both DeBrincat and Zub, but it wouldn't be a problem this year at all.

It would also put us over the rumoured budget this year. Bailey is not worth the implications on our cap situation moving forward.

 

[Hale The Villain]

We need to fill out a roster, if you trade Zaitsev and apparently Brannstrom too now as well as Formenton were down to 18 players, you need to bring in two more d to fill the roster spots and two more forwards maybe three.

So 5 of the 8 on Bailey means 3 roster spots and 3 mil, that's getting tight, particularly if we don't want to risk overages from bonuses for next year which both Sanderson and Stützle are likely to get.

Good point on the bonus overages. Totally forgot about those and was just looking at cap hits after filling out the roster.

 

[armani]

Hearing something could be happening this evening or tomorrow.

Not a lot of details as my source is officially off the clock for the night. Will keep you guys updated if it’s anything major, but for now just think something small.