Speculation: Free Agent Frenzy Part II - Who is left?

[Graves94]

I'll be very interested to see if/where EK signs a long term deal with. I believe he would want to be in a traditional hockey market and I don't think Vegas screams that. The list he provided, with the teams he'd be willing to accept to go to, are for a trade, during the length of his contract, which is probably updated yearly, not necessarily to sign a new, long term contract with. I'm sure all teams would want to trade for him and sign him long term, but I don't think he'd want to sign for 80% of those teams.
Ottawa could be offered the stars, moon and maybe even a chunk of the sun, but if EK won't sign long term, so what...

 

[NYR Viper]

One would assume Ottawa would be interested in Malcolm Subban as a piece coming back as Anderson has asked out

 

[RGY]

In other words, any beat writer or source that says something you don't want to hear, they aren't trustworthy. Got it.

They arent great beat writers. Theyre pretty bad. Brooks has sources. John Shannon has more sources. But now Carp and Rotter (who only repeated what Carp said) are more credible.

Cmon now

 

[Lion Hound]

Looking at the Leafs, even after they ink Nylander they still have a decent amount of cap space. Horton still on the LTIR. Next year they are going to have to get creative. Likely try to move Marleau i guess next year in the off season.

JT and Matthews long term....Thats quite the 1-2 down the middle.

 

[GAGLine]

Because of Karlsson ^^

Karlsson was the most important part of that team, but don't fool yourself into thinking he did it all on his own. Adding Karlsson to our current group (minus whatever we would have to give up) doesn't get us to the conference finals. Not even close. And Ottawa still fell well short of the ultimate goal. The goal is to win a cup, not just a couple rounds in the playoffs.

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

They arent great beat writers. Theyre pretty bad. Brooks has sources. John Shannon has more sources. But now Carp and Rotter (who only repeated what Carp said) are more credible.

Cmon now

Neither Brooks or Shannon have said that the Rangers are in on him though.

This was just speculation we ran with because Brooks broke that EK's agents have been allowed to speak with other teams about a contract. Some assumed that the leak came from the Rangers, but it could have been provided by his agent (or another team) too.

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

Looking at the Leafs, even after they ink Nylander they still have a decent amount of cap space. Horton still on the LTIR. Next year they are going to have to get creative. Likely try to move Marleau i guess next year in the off season.

JT and Matthews long term....Thats quite the 1-2 down the middle.

For Toronto, it seems to be more a financial issue than a cap space issue.

 

[Fvital92]

Well, that was disappointing. I'd like to at least take Ryan's contract to get more assets, we have to use our cap space for something good for a change.

 

[I Eat Crow]

Carpaniello's credibility in breaking rumors and news was dubious before he started writing for The Athletic. What exactly changed?

That being said, Carp's report that the Rangers aren't in it is likely posturing by the Rangers. Trying to get Ottawa to drop their price. I've maintained that the Rangers will only take Karlsson and Ryan along with him if the price to acquire them made sense. Gorton isn't going to give up any of his new guys or core pieces.

 

[TheTakedown]

Step 1: Sign Ryan Spooner to a 4 year $18.5 mil contract structured like this:

Year 1 - 7 Million (6 million in signing bonus immediately due paid by NYR)
Year 2 - 4.55 million
Year 3 - 3.5 million
Year 4 - 3.5 Million

This contract meets both the 35% year to year rule and the 50% High year and low year requirements for the CBA and gives the team a $4.6 million cap hit for 4 years and only having to lay out 12.55 million in actual cash over those 4 years after the signing bonus is paid.

Step 2:

Trade Spooner, Hayes and Smith to Ottawa for EK65 and Ryan - NYR may have to add a pick or prospect, but that would be the heart of the deal.

Step 3: Profit

This gets Ottawa to the cap floor and they get rid of the Ryan contract while getting 3 NHL players in return.

This, this is the trade right here. I like it

 

[offdacrossbar]

not only do i want no part of a sometimes healthy EK, i dont believe this organization can back track and add him while moving assets and still save face. it goes against everything we are doing now.

we arent gonna give what it will take to get him. period

hes a heck of a player for sure, but we need to develop our own guys and stick to the plan.

we are not one EK away from challenging for a cup.

let it go...

 

[GAGLine]

Well, that was disappointing. I'd like to at least take Ryan's contract to get more assets, we have to use our cap space for something good for a change.

There are other possibilities to take on cap dumps that don't have 4 years left. Spezza, Horton, Martin, Hossa.

 

[TheTakedown]

Yakupov going to SKA in the KHL.

Good bye dude, you were a total bust.

What a f***ing failure. That's gotta be one of the biggest busts in the history of the league... 1st overall!

 

[Idlerlee]

Looking at the Leafs, even after they ink Nylander they still have a decent amount of cap space. Horton still on the LTIR. Next year they are going to have to get creative. Likely try to move Marleau i guess next year in the off season.

JT and Matthews long term....Thats quite the 1-2 down the middle.

It's not too far fetched to compare that 1-2 to the Penguins 1-2 punch in Crosby and Malkin. Granted Crosby was/is 2 steps farther up the ladder than everyone else, but it makes for a fair comparison.

Tornto are serious cup contenders.

Has any team without a super-elite or generational talent won the cup in the cap era?

 

[Fvital92]

There are other possibilities to take on cap dumps that don't have 4 years left. Spezza, Horton, Martin, Hossa.

The return won't be so great with these guys. I'll admit that I wanna see some action this free agency, it's been boring so far for us.

 

[I Eat Crow]

not only do i want no part of a sometimes healthy EK, i dont believe this organization can back track and add him while moving assets and still save face. it goes against everything we are doing now.

we arent gonna give what it will take to get him. period

hes a heck of a player for sure, but we need to develop our own guys and stick to the plan.

we are not one EK away from challenging for a cup.

let it go...

The Rangers might be in the next 3-4 years though. EK will be 31-32. Still will likely be an impact player.

 

[Edge]

I also have a feeling that whoever lands EK will be paying him for what he was more than what he is.

Even if he ages well, which isn't anywhere close to a given, the odds of him maintaining a 20 goal, 70-80 point pace for the bulk of his contract is not realistic.

Perhaps one could argue that he can do it for the next year or two, assuming he can bounce back. So the Rangers are getting his two best years when they aren't have their two best years.

So when the Rangers theoretically hit their stride, assuming they haven't traded away a good chunk of the depth they'll need to compete in the first place, the hope is that maybe there is enough overlap where EK is still close enough to his peak and the Rangers remaining young players are reaching theirs (again, assuming he hasn't already started drifting away from his peak.)

Right now, my biggest concern would be that the Rangers end up paying EK for what he did for Ottawa more than what he does for them.

 

[Ola]

Forget about trading for EK, that Ryan contract alone should be a deterrent.

1. Chris Kreider to Boston for Ryan Donato and Jake DeBrusk.

2. Zucc to Dallas for Spezza, Janmark and a 1st.

3. Hayes to Car for Justin Faulk

4. Spezza @50%, Hajak and Howden to Winnipeg for Jacob Trouba and Nic Petan

5. Justin Faulk, Brendan Smith and Jake DeBrusk to EDM for Jesse Puljujarvi, Milan Lucic @4m per (33% retained) and 19’ first

Long-term lineup:
Jarnmark-Ziba-Pulju
Petan-Chytil-Kravtsov
Donato-Lias-Namestnikov
Lucic-Petan-Fast
Skjei-Trouba
Miller-Pionk
Lindgren-TDA

Plus 3 first in 19’ again.

Deal Shatty for another 1st, in 20’?

 

[Gardner McKay]

Disappointing. Couldve got an elite defenseman.

Just my opinion but I don't think we were ever SERIOUS contenders for EK. Like a good GM I am sure JG inquired.

 

[Hire Sather]

I also have a feeling that whoever lands EK will be paying him for what he was more than what he is.

Even if he ages well, which isn't anywhere close to a given, the odds of him maintaining a 20 goal, 70-80 point pace for the bulk of his contract is not realistic.

Perhaps one could argue that he can do it for the next year or two, assuming he can bounce back. So the Rangers are getting his two best years when they aren't have their two best years.

So when the Rangers theoretically hit their stride, assuming they haven't traded away a good chunk of the depth they'll need to compete in the first place, the hope is that maybe there is enough overlap where EK is still close enough to his peak and the Rangers remaining young players are reaching theirs (again, assuming he hasn't already started drifting away from his peak.)

Right now, my biggest concern would be that the Rangers end up paying EK for what he did for Ottawa more than what he does for them.

Well said.

It's been hard for me to outright say no to Karlsson since the rumblings of him being traded began, but there is just too much risk.

The injury he had scares me too, even if he had a good year last season. 11 mill/8 years. Potential for a massive albatross there.

 

[GAGLine]

The return won't be so great with these guys. I'll admit that I wanna see some action this free agency, it's been boring so far for us.

But we also won't be killing our cap for the next 4-5 years. They will be off the cap by the time we are ready to compete, which trumps all other considerations. Getting a big return means nothing if we are saddled with bad contracts when we are trying to compete.

 

[Edge]

In general, I find reporters reputations are almost directly tied to whether they're telling us what we want to hear.

In most cases they report on what's out there. Sometimes its true, sometimes its a smokescreen, sometimes it changes.

But frankly, we seem to shit on all of them. Except for when they have us excited about something. Then we kinda, sorta believe again.

 

[Inferno]

Ek65 had like 60ish points after recovering from major surgery on a crap tastic team that plays defense first second and third while mourning the loss of his child and dealing with a stalker troll....I have zero reason to believe his game is gonna fall off a cliff any time soon .

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

Well, most of our beat reporters f***ing suck.

I wish we had an Arthur Staple covering the Rangers.

 

[Brooklyn Rangers Fan]

In general, I find reporters reputations are almost directly tied to whether they're telling us what we want to hear.

In most cases they report on what's out there. Sometimes its true, sometimes its a smokescreen, sometimes it changes.

But frankly, we seem to **** on all of them. Except for when they have us excited about something. Then we kinda, sorta believe again.

Yup. It's not like Carp is inventing his sources. Whether or not they are telling him the truth, or even know the truth, is another question. As is whether or not that truth might change.