GDT: Free Agent Frenzy

[EdJovanovski]

Buffalo is way too high. Ottawa way too low.

Buffalo is my second lowest American team And Ottawa is politics-land, same reason I don't have Washington higher even though Washington is my 2nd favorite NHL team. Ontario is also overpriced and sucks

 

[FIRE DRURY]

Which suburb are your referring to?

Scarsdale? Greenwich? Various parts of NY, NJ, and CT? There are literally too many to list.

My dream home is somewhere in Colorado. I love cold weather. Mountains. Insane views. But also diversity too.

You can play for the Avalanche w/o living 20min from their practice facility.

Again — I imagine most vets with families that have tenure live in a sweet f***ing suburb that’s 30~ min away from their arena vs a rental property that’s 10-15 min away.

 

[Avery16]

I doubt Carp has any real info here, but can someone with an athletic account do us a solid and confirm?

 

[gravey9]

such a bitter sack of shit lol

Well, in fairness, it's really hard to find an I Heart NY t-shirt. Especially, if you don't go into any stores in NYC or online or literally anywhere.

 

[Minmonster]

Buffalo is my second lowest American team And Ottawa is politics-land, same reason I don't have Washington higher even though Washington is my 2nd favorite NHL team. Ontario is also overpriced and sucks

Ottawa has an awesome canal in the center of the city. I brought my kids there one January and we skated for hours and had beaver tails which I believe is fried dough. I ran a marathon there another time and the entire city supported the event. So many yankee fans. Beautiful, clean city but the restaurants are fair at best.

 

[Beer League Sniper]

I doubt Carp has any real info here, but can someone with an athletic account do us a solid and confirm?

Long story short: ELC bonuses from all our youngsters.

I don’t buy it, but that’s his take. ELC bonuses, outside of some small ones, are pretty hard to trigger.

 

[smoneil]

I doubt Carp has any real info here, but can someone with an athletic account do us a solid and confirm?

No insider info or anything, but he walks through an analysis of the Rangers' cap, bonus money problem, and remaining RFAs to sign, and presents some compelling math. He ultimately blames both the loss of Fast AND the buyout of Lundqvist on the Shattenkirk fiasco (because of the 6 million in dead cap this year from that contract alone).

 

[FIRE DRURY]

c. Smart practice would still be to bring Fast back on a good contract and sort it out later.

Sort it out later?? LMAO —— how? You can’t modify contracts in the NHL after they’ve been signed. Duuuuuhhhhhh.....

Bro - just start a new account. Seriously. You keep trying to make the team look bad because you’re purposely ignoring rules that prevent you from doing what you think or want the team to do.

Why not spend 5-10min of your free time and study the current CBA? You won’t make ASININE suggestions like you knew wtf you were talking about.

If you study the current CBA, you’d probably realize how stupid your “smart” suggestions sound.

 

[Glen Sathers Cigar]

I get the feeling that there just wasn't a great deal of interest from the Rangers even if there was an offer.

Considering what he signed for this has to be the only realistic reason for why he left. The Rangers most likely never tabled a serious offer.

I would've signed Fast to this deal to be the 3RW staple for a contending window in a millisecond but I guess Gorton and JD figured the glut of prospects/young players could fill his role. We do have tons of forwards so I guess they want to just turn the page and give these guys shots.

 

[Harbour Dog]

Is the Rangers PR guy that dude who would always be standing right next to Torts during interviews?

It's much rarer to catch a glimpse of that guy nowadays

 

[dccuse]

Like another example...I'd rather live In the middle of the woods ina log cabin like a God damn hermit than live in Las Vegas. I visited it a few years ago and just hated it... Absolutely hated it. I was so happy to leave.

I’ll bring the gill net

 

[Savant]

I get the feeling that there just wasn't a great deal of interest from the Rangers even if there was an offer.

Same. Something isn’t adding up

 

[Matt Rentfree]

Here would be my order of teams to play for, I'd definitely want to play for the Rangers at some point in my career but I wouldn't want to settle down in New York. Too hustle & bustle. I do like big cities but I prefer more spread out ones like LA where you're surrounded by green, the beach, mountains, etc. Dallas would be a nice destination too. Wouldn't want to play in Canada or the dump that is Seattle.

1. Los Angeles
2. Anaheim
3. Vegas
4. Dallas
5. NY Rangers
6. Tampa Bay
7. Florida
8. Arizona
9. Nashville
10. Carolina
11. St Louis
12. Colorado
13. San Jose
14. Washington
15. Columbus
16. Boston
17. Pittsburgh
18. NY Islanders
19. New Jersey
20. Philadelphia
21. Minnesota
22. Chicago
23. Detroit
24. Buffalo
25. Calgary
26. Edmonton
27. Vancouver
28. Montreal
29. Winnipeg
30. Ottawa
31. Toronto
32. Seattle

Fun game! I'll play!

Tier 1 - YES! I'll take a team friendly discount!

1. NY Rangers (Born and raised here)
2. Nashville (Currently live here and like it)
3. Chicago (Lived here for 7 years - really fun town, weather sucks)
4. Seattle (It’s not for everyone, but I like this town a lot)
5. Colorado (Mom’s side of the family lives in Denver. Been here quite a few times and like it a lot)
6. San Jose (Fantastic weather and even better Tex-Mex - haven’t been here a ton, but enjoyed the time I spent here)
7. Montreal (Say what you will about Habs fans, but MTL is a great city)
8. Carolina (Almost moved here when I left NYC - ended up in Nashville)

Tier 2 - Sure, I'll play for you.

9. Vegas (I’d have to live FAR from the strip, cuz 3 days on the strip is about my limit)
10. Washington (This might make the 1st tier if people would talk about something other than politics)
11. St Louis
12. Arizona
13. Columbus
14. Pittsburgh (This would be in the 1st tier… except it’s the Penguins - Pittsburgh is a cool town though)
15. Vancouver (It’s the Los Angeles of Canada, but thankfully it's not ACTUALLY Los Angeles)
16. Ottawa
17. Toronto (New York without litter, graffiti, or fun)
18. Detroit

Tier 3 - TOO COLD! Bring large trucks full of money!

19. Winnipeg
20. Edmonton
21. Minnesota
22. Buffalo
23. Calgary

Tier 4 - I will never play for you

24. Los Angeles (maybe it’s because I have a lot of friends in the entertainment industry, but whenever I’m there, I feel like everyone is talking about what they’re going to do and no one is actually DOING anything)
25. Anaheim
26. Dallas (Had to spend 3 months here for work once - buncha racist rednecks)
27. Tampa Bay (I object to the entire state of Florida - we should cast it into the ocean)
28. Florida (see above)
29. Boston (Like Dallas but not rednecks)
30. NY Islanders (needs no explanation)
31. New Jersey (needs no explanation)
32. Philadelphia (needs no explanation, plus, someone stole a duffel bag full of my completed grad school applications out of my friend’s car when I was checking out Temple University - **** that place.)

 

[n8]

huh, i thought Jesper under $3M would have been a good value. 3 years at $2AAV? Feels like Gorton missed the bus on this one.

 

[Thirty One]

Long story short: ELC bonuses from all our youngsters.

I don’t buy it, but that’s his take. ELC bonuses, outside of some small ones, are pretty hard to trigger.

Which is why there’s a bonus cushion. But the issue is the bonuses are going to exceed the bonus cushion.

 

[EdJovanovski]

Ottawa has an awesome canal in the center of the city. I brought my kids there one January and we skated for hours and had beaver tails which I believe is fried dough. I ran a marathon there another time and the entire city supported the event. So many yankee fans. Beautiful, clean city but the restaurants are fair at best.

I’m happy to hear you like it, the cost of living is ridiculous however! And the weather ugh! And hahaha yes that’s what beaver tails are, some American friends I have thought I meant I ate literal beaver tales

 

[Richter35]

No insider info or anything, but he walks through an analysis of the Rangers' cap, bonus money problem, and remaining RFAs to sign, and presents some compelling math. He ultimately blames both the loss of Fast AND the buyout of Lundqvist on the Shattenkirk fiasco (because of the 6 million in dead cap this year from that contract alone).

Yeah. Honestly trouba has not been some revelation or anything. In retrospect I would’ve stuck it out with shatty and skipped the troubs deal period. Jeff shit himself to get jake and then backfilled the shatty decision it seemed like.

 

[EdJovanovski]

Fun game! I'll play!

Tier 1 - YES! I'll take a team friendly discount!

1. NY Rangers (Born and raised here)
2. Nashville (Currently live here and like it)
3. Chicago (Lived here for 7 years - really fun town, weather sucks)
4. Seattle (It’s not for everyone, but I like this town a lot)
5. Colorado (Mom’s side of the family lives in Denver. Been here quite a few times and like it a lot)
6. San Jose (Fantastic weather and even better Tex-Mex - haven’t been here a ton, but enjoyed the time I spent here)
7. Montreal (Say what you will about Habs fans, but MTL is a great city)
8. Carolina (Almost moved here when I left NYC - ended up in Nashville)

Tier 2 - Sure, I'll play for you.

9. Vegas (I’d have to live FAR from the strip, cuz 3 days on the strip is about my limit)
10. Washington (This might make the 1st tier if people would talk about something other than politics)
11. St Louis
12. Arizona
13. Columbus
14. Pittsburgh (This would be in the 1st tier… except it’s the Penguins - Pittsburgh is a cool town though)
15. Vancouver (It’s the Los Angeles of Canada, but thankfully it's not ACTUALLY Los Angeles)
16. Ottawa
17. Toronto (New York without litter, graffiti, or fun)
18. Detroit

Tier 3 - TOO COLD! Bring large trucks full of money!

19. Winnipeg
20. Edmonton
21. Minnesota
22. Buffalo
23. Calgary

Tier 4 - I will never play for you

24. Los Angeles (maybe it’s because I have a lot of friends in the entertainment industry, but whenever I’m there, I feel like everyone is talking about what they’re going to do and no one is actually DOING anything)
25. Anaheim
26. Dallas (Had to spend 3 months here for work once - buncha racist rednecks)
27. Tampa Bay (I object to the entire state of Florida - we should cast it into the ocean)
28. Florida (see above)
29. Boston (Like Dallas but not rednecks)
30. NY Islanders (needs no explanation)
31. New Jersey (needs no explanation)
32. Philadelphia (needs no explanation, plus, someone stole a duffel bag full of my completed grad school applications out of my friend’s car when I was checking out Temple University - **** that place.)

I found that entertaining, I’ll edit my post & add my reasons too LOL
But LA at 24

 

[Paulie Walnutz]

Since we’re gonna go down this road and have some fun with it I’ll give my list of cities of where I would wanna play based on where I’ve traveled and seen Rangers games. Here’s my 17 cities ranked 1-17, Hopefully the mods are cool with us going a little off topic

1) Vegas: Great city to do things, entertainment, great weather, fun, lively

2) Montreal: amazing city, atmosphere, culture, history.

3) NY: I didn’t wanna look biased. NY is a great organization to play for with endless resources but the city is turning to shit(don’t wanna make it political) high cost of living/taxes etc. Sure you can find great places just outside too.

4) Boston: huge hockey town, great history, lots of pubs and restaurants.

5) Dallas: big market team without the big market pressure. Warmer climate, lots to see and do. Texas isn’t for everyone but it’s a great place.

6) LA: my next 3 will be the Cali teams. SOCAL has one of the best weather climates in the world, how can you not love it? However, the Cali teams would be higher on the list but they’re not due to deteriorating conditions around LA and SF. Again don’t wanna go further into details. Plus nobody cares about sports in LA so you can totally play stress free.

7) San Jose: great fan base, again great weather, if you live outside SF you’re set, but it’s expensive.

8) Anaheim: See LA

9) Toronto: mixed feelings about Toronto. Great sports city, passionate fans, but you’re always fighting the media. The history and opportunity to end their drought would tempt me.

10) DC: playing in the nation’s capital would definitely peak my interest. I’d get lost at the countless museums on non game days.

11) Philadelphia: passionate blue collar fans, and you can find a nice home just outside of Philly in PA or NJ

12) Pittsburgh: here’s where we start to go into my meh whatever cities. Nothing special about the city, just ok.

13) NJ: being a local I wouldn’t want to play here. Small market feel, literally in NYC’s shadow, shitty fan base. Yeah you can find good homes and commute, but not at NJ’s taxes.

14) Detroit: heard the new arena is state of the art, the history of the team speaks for itself. Detroit itself is still trying to recover from economic hardships. Michigan itself is a great place to live though and very passionate about hockey.

15) Brooklyn/Queens/wherever the f*** they’re gonna move to. Brooklyn sucks, nightmare to drive to, outside of some good Italian restaurants I avoid it.

16) Buffalo: they would have been dead last had it not have been for their passionate fans. The city itself is a dump, even the locals will tell you go see the Canadian side of Niagara Falls.

17) Ottawa: where do I start? The arena is 30 minutes outside of downtown in the middle of nowhere. The building is always empty, terrible owner; and the city itself is disappointing. Depressing.

 

[NASTY]

Since we're doing this I'll do my top 10

1. Rangers (Love NYC and just would love to wear that sweater and play at the garden, original 6 team)

2. Lightning (Always liked Florida and feel like Tampa is a nice spot)

3. Stars (Love Dallas and Texas)

4. Carolina (Have family there, been there once and like it a lot)

5. Colorado (Love the state always hear great things about it and great team)

6. Arizona (Like the state)

7. Vegas (Cool place to play)

8. Boston (East coast, close to home and great sports city, original 6 team)

9. Chicago (Fun city, original 6 team)

10. Panthers (Same reason as lightning just don't have a big fan base)

 

[Glen Sathers Cigar]

I haven't been on here too much the past couple days, do we have any inside info about what the front office is thinking that I've missed?

 

[JESSEWENEEDTOCOOK]

1. Rangers
2. Ducks/Sharks
3. Canadiens
4. Canucks
5. Devils
6. Golden Knights
7. Kraken
8. Leafs

the rest would be on my no trade list

 

[bbny]

Long story short: ELC bonuses from all our youngsters.

I don’t buy it, but that’s his take. ELC bonuses, outside of some small ones, are pretty hard to trigger.

It's legit man. Anything over the 7.5% bonus cushion needs to be subtracted from their free cap space this year to ensure they will not exceed the cushion. The penalties for exceeding the cap + cushion are severe (huge fine, draft pick forfeiture, game forfeiture, suspensions, etc.). They are already $1.1M over that cushion, and it's going to be probably around another $4M of bonuses on top of that between Lafreniere's ELC and another 1-2 ELC (Miller, Barron). The Rangers pretty much need to prepare for the "worst case scenario" that all players will hit all of their bonuses, such that there is no way for them to exceed the cap + cushion.

While CapFriendly reports $19.7M free cap space, the Rangers need to shave that ~$5.1M in bonus cushion overages off of that. That leaves around $14.6M of free space. To Carpinello's point, the RFAs we have will cost right in that $14-15M range (guesstimating: Strome 5, DeAngelo 5, Lemieux 1.5, Georgiev 2.5). Now that I've seen and gone through the numbers, there really isn't any money to spare unless they move more money out. It certainly makes sense now why they haven't done much of anything.

On top of it, any portion of that 7.5% bonus cushion will roll over to next season's cap (maximum $6.1125M). Since it's doubtful all players will hit all of their bonuses, it'll probably be a more manageable portion, but it will eat into next year's cap.

 

[Boris Zubov]

Like another example...I'd rather live In the middle of the woods ina log cabin like a God damn hermit than live in Las Vegas. I visited it a few years ago and just hated it... Absolutely hated it. I was so happy to leave.

That's how I feel. Exit strategy is underway.

 

[Barnaby]

Here would be my order of teams to play for, I'd definitely want to play for the Rangers at some point in my career but I wouldn't want to settle down in New York. Too hustle & bustle. I do like big cities but I prefer more spread out ones like LA where you're surrounded by green, the beach, mountains, etc. Dallas would be a nice destination too. Wouldn't want to play in Canada or the dump that is Seattle.

1. Los Angeles (best city in the world, ideal climate, awesome entertainment, shopping, food, huge city but spread out and doesn’t seem overcrowded or too fast paced, beaches & mountains)
2. Anaheim (see above + DISNEYLAND)
3. Vegas (entertainment & shopping, bright lights, weather, and low taxes)
4. Dallas (best state in America, affordable & low taxes, great place to have a family)
5. NY Rangers (my favorite team)
6. Tampa Bay (weather, Disney World, low taxes, great franchise)
7. Florida (weather & low taxes)
8. Arizona (weather & I like coyotes & cactuses)
9. Nashville (low taxes, affordable, I kinda like country music)
10. Carolina (seems fine! cheap! Hate that team tho)
11. St Louis (seems alright! Maybe crime! But who knows!)
12. Colorado (too cold! But fine!)
13. San Jose (too close to those crazies in SF & Berkeley, but I still like Cali)
14. Washington (I like their goal horn, but too much politics)
15. Columbus (seems like a lowkey place nice small town)
16. Boston (seems okay)
17. Pittsburgh (I imagine this place as being cold maybe because their logo is a penguin)
18. NY Islanders (ew)
19. New Jersey (really ew)
20. Philadelphia (really really ew)
21. Minnesota (cold)
22. Chicago (cold & crime)
23. Detroit (dump)
24. Buffalo (middle of nowhere)
25. Calgary (low taxes & some freedom compared to rest of Canada, cowboys)
26. Edmonton (see above but colder)
27. Vancouver (my hometown, depressing hellhole full of drugs & crime)
28. Montreal (French pricks no offense Laf, also high taxes)
29. Winnipeg (this place gets colder than the surface of Mars, and crime)
30. Ottawa (politics except Canadian)
31. Toronto (worst city in Canada)
32. Seattle (this place seems like it’s gonna have a communist revolution & secede from the union)

LA isn’t overcrowded? Traffic is epically bad and the people suck. Maybe if you live in a suburb? We all have our opinions but I found it to be miserable.

Buffalo, Detroit, and NJ are too high for me.

Colorado, Nashville, and Boston too low.