GDT: Free Agent Frenzy

[Axel Sandy Pelikan]

Likewise, the amount of people who see SY make a move and determine the sky is falling is so strange to me.

People are willing to declare the off-season over and a bust on July 2. Hell, a bunch were willing to say that on July 1 at 12:30 p.m.

Frankly, I just don't like seeing a day that started with hopes of Stamkos or Trouba or something more material to end with an okay 38 year old goalie, a goalie I don't want at all, three guys I had to look up whether they were real people, and a sidegrade on defense.

I don't think it's a bust... but I'm just at the point where I have to see a pulse of something happening before I just assume it's going to happen now.

 

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

All the long-term deals made, for the oldest players at contract ends:

G Juuse Saros, 30-year old, 8-year extension, 7.74M. 37-year old at end of the deal.

RD Chris Tanev, 34-year old, 6-years, 4.5M. 40-year old at end of the deal.
LD Jaccob Slavin, 31-year old, 8-years, 6.5M. 38-year old at end of the deal.
RD Brandon Montour, 30-year old, 7-years, 7.0M. 37-year old at end of the deal.
LD Brady Skjei, 30-year old, 7-years, 7.0M. 37-year old at end of the deal.
RD Matt Roy, 29-year old, 7-years, 5.75M. 36-year old at end of the deal.
RD Brett Pesce, 29-year old, 6-years, 5.5M. 35-year old at end of the deal.
LD Nikita Zadorov, 29-year old, 6-years, 5.0M. 35-year old at end of the deal.

C Chandler Stephenson, 30-year old, 7-years, 6.25M. 37-year old at end of the deal.
C Elias Lindholm, 29-year old. 7-years, 7.75M, 36-year old at end of the deal.
C Sean Monahan, 29-year old. 5-years, 5.5M, 34-year old at end of the deal.

RW Jonathan Marchessault, 33-year old. 5-years, 5.5M, 38-year old at end of the deal.
F Steven Stamkos, 34-year old. 4-years, 8.0M, 38-year old at end of the deal.
RW Sam Reinhart, 28-year old. 8-years, 8.625M, 36-year old at end of the deal.
LW Jake Guentzel, 30-year old. 7-years, 9.0M, 36-year old at end of the deal.
RW Tyler Toffoli, 32-year old. 4-years, 6.0M, 36-year old at end of the deal.
LW Jake DeBrusk, 27-year old. 7-years, 5.5M. 34-year old at end of the deal.

Also not sure if that earlier Mark Scheifele deal is any more smarter than these free agency deals.

C Mark Scheifele, 31-year old. 7-years, 8.5M, 38-year old at end of the deal.

I know people are shocked at the age and numbers, but if the cap raises 3 mil per season, then few of these will be crippling.

 

[Frk It]

But you can’t jump in every offseason.

Nope, but when you don’t you run the risk you didn’t improve your team any from last year.

We’ll see what happens.

 

[Axel Sandy Pelikan]

This is my only hope for the season because if not then this team looks as exciting as the 21-22 team.

That was my problem back in 13-14. That's when I realized in just how deep of shit the Wings were. When they pushed Chicago so hard and came back and then couldn't make any add to that D core and the rest of the team was ancient. It was like "Oh shit, we're gonna be bad for a while."

 

[RedHawkDown]

It is just crazy to me that people have such a long leash for Yzerman simply because he was a legendary player here. If Holland was making these moves (or lack thereof) people would be losing it.

I am judging the guy independent of what he’s done for this city and for Detroit sports. I’m also not going to just assume some 4D chess moves are coming before they actually happen, given that he has made exactly 0 such moves in Detroit since arriving as the GM. Yzerman the player is a legend in my eyes. Yzerman the GM has not been that great apart from solid 1st round drafting, and I am worried about the direction he has for this team. To some people it seems that opinion translates to “I’m freaking out and the sky is falling!!!!”, and I’m not sure why.

 

[Axel Sandy Pelikan]

I know people are shocked at the age and numbers, but if the cap raises 3 mil per season, then few of these will be crippling.

And that's really the point. Everyone (including agents and GMs) are assuming that the cap is shooting up. That's why the contracts were so bonkers.

Now maybe it doesn't go up as crazy as everyone thinks and Yzerman's in the catbird's seat in 26-27 or something. Or it goes gangbusters and all the teams that signed these "huge" deals will end up with bargains.

 

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

Why are people acting like the offseason's over?

Marner, Necas, Pinto, Faulk, Theodore, Zegras, Buchnevich, Ekblad, etc. are still out there... and those are just some of the guys that have already been rumored to be on the move.

We know Yzerman was looking to add via trade with Trouba. Almost all of the contracts handed out yesterday didn't make sense for the Wings.

They cost assets. 2025 will be a solid draft and outside of Buchnevich or Pinto I’m not interested in any of these names. Maybe Faulk?

 

[PelagicJoe]

I can tell you.

In the year of 2054...

...Columbus Blue Jackets GM, Ken Holland's son Brad Holland has signed Daniel Clary's son to be the scouting director and Kienan Draper to be the Assistant GM.

I can tell you despite having never been to the future, that Columbus is in last place as usual.

All jokes aside, due to the lack of major signings, I have to assume one or two kids are making the roster this year. Berggren and who?

 

[Ed Ned and Leddy]

Likewise, the amount of people who see SY make a move and determine the sky is falling is so strange to me.

People are willing to declare the off-season over and a bust on July 2. Hell, a bunch were willing to say that on July 1 at 12:30 p.m.

I hear you. I agree that a lotta the board is unrealistic about how much maneuvering you can do in any given offseason and underestimates the difficulty of building a competitive team. But I’m not a believer in never criticizing someone just because their job is hard. I think Yzerman is the best candidate for the job. I like the work he’s done in the first round of the draft, and I think that’s the most important factor for our future success. I don’t think he’s done great work with roster transactions.

 

[Axel Sandy Pelikan]

It is just crazy to me that people have such a long leash for Yzerman simply because he was a legendary player here. If Holland was making these moves (or lack thereof) people would be losing it.

I am judging the guy independent of what he’s done for this city and for Detroit sports. Yzerman the player is a legend in my eyes. Yzerman the GM has not been that great apart from solid 1st round drafting, and I am worried about the direction he has for this team. To some people it seems that opinion translates to “I’m freaking out and the sky is falling!!!!”, and I’m not sure why.

I'm not losing it, per se, but I'm finally at the point where it's you gotta make a move for me to continue to go to bat for you. Like I get that the $s were crazy yesterday and each individual contract would have been insane. But for parts of it, that's the price of doing business. You can't be pissed that all of a sudden steel costs 50% more if you're an auto company. You still have to produce cars. While you don't have to work with every supplier that comes to your door, at some point, you've gotta have the material and it's either a little bit more expensive than you'd like now or a lot a bit more expensive in the future.

 

[SoupNazi]

I hear you. I agree that a lotta the board is unrealistic about how much maneuvering you can do in any given offseason and underestimates the difficulty of building a competitive team. But I’m not a believer in never criticism someone just because their job is hard. I think Yzerman is the best candidate for the job. I like the work he’s done in the first round of the draft, and I think that’s the most important factor for our future success. I don’t think he’s done great work with roster transactions.

I agree with this, and don't get me wrong - I'm not saying SY is above criticism. I just feel like the overreactions on both sides of the coin are a little outrageous.

Also, let's face it: half the people losing their shit over us not signing Stamkos or any of the other names would be losing their shit over SY giving those contracts out.

 

[RedHawkDown]

I'm not losing it, per se, but I'm finally at the point where it's you gotta make a move for me to continue to go to bat for you. Like I get that the $s were crazy yesterday and each individual contract would have been insane. But for parts of it, that's the price of doing business. You can't be pissed that all of a sudden steel costs 50% more if you're an auto company. You still have to produce cars. While you don't have to work with every supplier that comes to your door, at some point, you've gotta have the material and it's either a little bit more expensive than you'd like now or a lot a bit more expensive in the future.

100% agreed.

 

[Run the Jewels]

I just don't think there were many deals to be had given the outlay of term and AAV. I would have liked Stamkos, obviuously, but not at 4 years and $8m AAV. I would have loved Matt Roy at that AAV but not for 7 years. I think the dollar amount for Skinner was perfect, but tough to compete with playing with McDavid and Draisaitl where he will probably get close to 50 goals and turn that into one more big contract.

I do believe in 3-5 years when our core is in place and we are obviously an acendant team we will be able to get guys to come here to fill a specific role and free agency will be more intriguing. We're just not there yet.

I'm also OK with a roster that features lots of prospects. For the roster I compiled yesterday, I had Danielson, Kasper, Mazur, AlJo, Ed, and Söderblom on the roster. I have assumed we will move Berggren but I honestly have nothing against him.

 

[RedHawkDown]

I agree with this, and don't get me wrong - I'm not saying SY is above criticism. I just feel like the overreactions on both sides of the coin are a little outrageous.

Also, let's face it: half the people losing their shit over us not signing Stamkos or any of the other names would be losing their shit over SY giving those contracts out.

I don’t see what these assumptions are based on. Nobody lost their mind at the DBC contract. Stamkos and some others signed yesterday are top flight offensive players. We were upset at scrubs like Copp being signed to 5.5M. Signing someone like Teravainen who actually has skill to a similar contract is not the same thing.

 

[Axel Sandy Pelikan]

I hear you. I agree that a lotta the board is unrealistic about how much maneuvering you can do in any given offseason and underestimates the difficulty of building a competitive team. But I’m not a believer in never criticism someone just because their job is hard. I think Yzerman is the best candidate for the job. I like the work he’s done in the first round of the draft, and I think that’s the most important factor for our future success. I don’t think he’s done great work with roster transactions.

It calls to mind the 2013 and 2014 offseasons with the D core. I got not doing any of the indiviudal transactions. Like the money Niskanen wanted then was kinda nuts. The money to Boyle was stretching it. If Calgary wanted Nyquist and Tatar for Bouwmeester, etc. etc. But coming back to it... you know you're losing huge pieces, you have to replace those pieces. Sometimes that means taking a risk on not absolutely smashing a deal.

 

[Ricelund]

They cost assets. 2025 will be a solid draft and outside of Buchnevich or Pinto I’m not interested in any of these names. Maybe Faulk?

Cool, cap space is an asset too. Which of the offers would you have wanted Yzerman to sign yesterday?

 

[SoupNazi]

I don’t see what these assumptions are based on.

10 years of moderating this place, not being able to have an ignore list, and reading every post on the forum each summer.

 

[RedHawkDown]

I just don't think there were many deals to be had given the outlay of term and AAV. I would have liked Stamkos, obviuously, but not at 4 years and $8m AAV. I would have loved Matt Roy at that AAV but not for 7 years. I think the dollar amount for Skinner was perfect, but tough to compete with playing with McDavid and Draisaitl where he will probably get close to 50 goals and turn that into one more big contract.

I do believe in 3-5 years when our core is in place and we are obviously an acendant team we will be able to get guys to come here to fill a specific role and free agency will be more intriguing. We're just not there yet.

I'm also OK with a roster that features lots of prospects. For the roster I compiled yesterday, I had Danielson, Kasper, Mazur, AlJo, Ed, and Söderblom on the roster. I have assumed we will move Berggren but I honestly have nothing against him.

Roy was signed for 6 years. Pesce was a very good deal too. At some point the onus has to be on the GM and not just “well nobody wanted to come here oh well!!”. We never gave Holland that excuse as an out for never signing anybody good, why should we do it for Yzerman?

 

[Axel Sandy Pelikan]

Cool, cap space is an asset too. Which of the offers would you have wanted Yzerman to sign yesterday?

Stammer at 8.5 x 4. Totally honest, I wanted Stamkos in Detroit pretty bad. I understand not starting there, but I definitely would have been bid up by Trotz.

Edit: I mean, look at the NFL with the booming salary cap.

Everyone dookied the massivest of shooters when Matt Stafford got 28M per year. Now, Daniel Jones is making 40M. Trevor Lawrence, Jared Goff, and Joe Burrow are all making 53-55M and teams are happy to pay it.

Pretty soon, a 40 goal scorer like Stammer is gonna be 13M in FA. A contract value reset is coming and sooner than you might think. Break the 10m psychological barrier with contracts and it'll start zooming.

 

[norrisnick]

It is just crazy to me that people have such a long leash for Yzerman simply because he was a legendary player here. If Holland was making these moves (or lack thereof) people would be losing it.

I am judging the guy independent of what he’s done for this city and for Detroit sports. Yzerman the player is a legend in my eyes. I’m also not going to just assume some 4D chess moves are coming before they actually happen, given that he has made exactly 0 such moves in Detroit since arriving as the GM. Yzerman the GM has not been that great apart from solid 1st round drafting, and I am worried about the direction he has for this team. To some people it seems that opinion translates to “I’m freaking out and the sky is falling!!!!”, and I’m not sure why.

The leash has nothing to do with the player. There is no 4D chess. Yzerman has often stated there is no Yzerplan. Nothing is secret. Draft as well as you can. Develop the players. Try to make the team better. It's on you if you don't believe him when he's telling you exactly what he's doing. If some are upset that he didn't have some magic method of building a winner without ridiculous draft luck, then... that's on them.

There really isn't a sensible way to have sped up the process. The years the Wings were bad, they got no luck in the lottery, but made out as good as could be hoped anyway. You can't just stay bad and let Mo and Ray and whoever else is coming up get caved in. You need to be somewhat respectable for them to develop.

Take a look at the Cup Finalists. When were the core players drafted? For the most part, 8-10+ years ago. Mo was drafted 5 years ago. Ray 4 years ago. Ed and Cossa 3 years ago. It takes time.

 

[Konnan511]

I really really hope we improve this team before the season starts. It's depressing as hell to have a team fairly worse than last season. A good GM can free up cap space to get the players he wants, saying "we don't have the room" on July 2nd is wild.

 

[RedHawkDown]

Cool, cap space is an asset too. Which of the offers would you have wanted Yzerman to sign yesterday?

Roy
Pesce
DeBrusk
Marchessault
Teravainen
Duclair
Skinner

Not saying all of them. But at least one of these would have been fine.

The leash has nothing to do with the player. There is no 4D chess. Yzerman has often stated there is no Yzerplan. Nothing is secret. Draft as well as you can. Develop the players. Try to make the team better. It's on you if you don't believe him when he's telling you exactly what he's doing. If some are upset that he didn't have some magic method of building a winner without ridiculous draft luck, then... that's on them.

There really isn't a sensible way to have sped up the process. The years the Wings were bad, they got no luck in the lottery, but made out as good as could be hoped anyway. You can't just stay bad and let Mo and Ray and whoever else is coming up get caved in. You need to be somewhat respectable for them to develop.

Take a look at the Cup Finalists. When were the core players drafted? For the most part, 8-10+ years ago. Mo was drafted 5 years ago. Ray 4 years ago. Ed and Cossa 3 years ago. It takes time.

I mean, I agree with you. Six years is not an unreasonable amount of time to expect playoffs. Regression this year is the wrong direction. That’s it.

 

[Run the Jewels]

Roy was signed for 6 years. Pesce was a very good deal too. At some point the onus has to be on the GM and not just “well nobody wanted to come here oh well!!”. We never gave Holland that excuse as an out for never signing anybody good, why should we do it for Yzerman?

Good call on Roy. For the record, I would have made that trade for Chychrun, that seems like a good stop gap measure until our defense is rebuilt. So yeah, we missed out on some deals that look reasonable to me, I'm not going to pretend otherwise.

 

[Axel Sandy Pelikan]

I really really hope we improve this team before the season starts. It's depressing as hell to have a team fairly worse than last season. A good GM can free up cap space to get the players he wants, saying "we don't have the room" on July 2nd is wild.

Wait, who's saying we don't have room? Most of the argument has been that the players simply aren't worth those contracts... not that we literally couldn't sign them. So much has been "we need optimal management so a million extra or a year extra is tantamount to a fireable offense".

The argument against Stammer is that 8x4 is a lot for the player he is now.. not that we didn't have 8 million or more we could have given him.

Edit: And if I have a problem... that's it. Yzerman chose that any and all of those deals were not ones that made financial sense. He was right... but that doesn't excuse you not improving your team. Now, if he thinks all the rookies coming up will improve the team, put your job on the line and say so. Don't spin a yarn about how expensive it was to buy the 3.4M in cap space so you could then sit on it and sign Jack f***ing Campbell.

 

[Ed Ned and Leddy]

I agree with this, and don't get me wrong - I'm not saying SY is above criticism. I just feel like the overreactions on both sides of the coin are a little outrageous.

Also, let's face it: half the people losing their shit over us not signing Stamkos or any of the other names would be losing their shit over SY giving those contracts out.

I definitely agree with you that a lot of people will never be satisfied.

I can only speak for myself. To me it’s a blue line construction issue. Seider should not be going into his fourth year without a legitimate top 4 LHD who complements his game. Ideally, Edvinsson should be supported by a stable RHD to give a little forgiveness in his rookie year. I’d be comfortable playing Edvinsson with Petry on the third pair to start, if we had two competent pairings above them, which I don’t think we do.

I also don’t love the half-measures at the goaltending position. Ned didn’t really work out. Husso didn’t really work out. I’m not sky high on a Talbot Lyon tandem. But I can live with this.

I’d like to bring in another top six forward to take some of the scoring pressure off of our top guys, but I can make peace with not doing so if we improve the blue line.