I just have to say, and this is going to be hyperbole, but reading through some of the threads recently relating to how we're going to allocate cap space and build our roster for next season, you'd think the sky was falling and that every contract on our books is as bad as the 7x$4.25M Abdelkader deluxe. It seems like a lot of the members of this board would essentially run this organization as if we were a poverty expansion franchise with shaky owners, struggling to hit the cap floor due to extreme conservative spending and fielding a roster flooded with teens being rushed into the NHL.
With that being said, I also dislike the Copp, Holl, and Chiarot contracts. I generally really like Yzerman's moves but he is human, he has his vices. I'm thinking of Holl and Chiarot specifically because I personally would have never signed the players just based on the principle of "they aren't very good and make bad plays too often." But Yzerman historically does like big dumb defenseman. Who remembers Coburn's Lightning days? Thank goodness we are drafting enough talented D to eventually push these guys out.
I have a lot of the same ideas as others here. I think trading away Fabbri and Maatta is realistic because I think the term and cap hit relative to player is very manageable and we may even get positive value in the right scenario moving those guys out. They're both fine players but making a bit too much relative to their role on the team currently. I think once the dust settles in the second week of July we could find takers, teams who have swung and missed on FAs of similar calibre the week prior who want to shore up depth.
Steve's big summer project is convincing San Jose or Chicago that Justin Holl is worth rostering for the next two seasons. Hopefully that type of move doesn't need anything too rich attached to make it happen.
I would take back Perron and Fischer on short term deals, 1 or max 2 years each and maybe a slight raise for Fischer and a pretty big reduction on Perron. something like ~$2.5M for Perron and ~$1.2M for Fischer.
See if you can find a deal to give Husso a fresh start elsewhere. I don't think it is mandatory like some others and would be fine running with Lyon and Husso for a year, but if we could trade him for some slight positive value and sign a comparable goalie for ~1/2 the cost, that makes a lot of sense to me.
Give Berggren and Johansson good opportunities to make the team as they will face waivers if they don't.
I also have to say I'm a little shocked to see the univeral opinion on this board be that Raymond and Seider are for sure going to have cap hits in the $8M range or higher. There have been a few instances where Steve's spending has shocked me when it comes to extending or re-signing guys we already have in-house (thinking of Fabbri's contracts here) but I think back to his Tampa days and he really played hardball there with Stamkos and a few other players over his years managing that team. Seider and Raymond are very significant young players, but they are coming off their ELCs and have as little leverage as they'll ever have in terms of pointing to an NHL resume. With that being said, their limited resumes are very impressive. But I am tempering my expectations compared to most/ all on here, I think. We'll see pretty shortly I guess.
DeBrincat - Larkin - Raymond
x - Compher - Berggren
Rasmussen - Copp - Fischer
x - Veleno - Perron
Walman - Seider
Edvinsson - x
Chiarot - Petry
Johansson
Lyon
Husso
I think Lalonde may have to look at breaking up Larkin and Raymond at even strength for roster balance, but it depends on who Detroit has filling those openings. Lots of options in the UFA pool for a top/ middle 6 winger. I really like Arvidsson and I don't think he'd break the bank. But again there are a lot of names and I'd be fine with most of them. The other open roster spot will be there for competition for guys like Danielson, Kasper, Mazur, Soderblom, etc. to compete for. We can just sign a guy for a million bucks and call it a day if none of them are ready.
For the second pair RD spot, my preference is Matt Roy. Michigan guy and about the right age to bridge the gap. Petry will be gone after this year and I think eventually Walman and Chiarot will lose their spots to Johansson, Wallinder, Buium, or some other kids who are further away from the NHL but who are going to make strides quicker than we think. Roy can hang around for multiple years eating hard minutes and opening up Seider for more offensive opportunities. Pushing Petry down into a #6/7 role is crucial. I don't know if Tuomisto will ever be an impact NHLer but I think the need is great enough for a top 4 right shot guy like Roy that you can make a decent splash on him and sleep easy, even if it is something in the ballpark of ~5x5 or 6x6 for a guy who only puts up about 25 points a season.
Interested to see what Steve does in the next few months.
