Rumor: Juuse Saros Signs 8 Year / $7.74 AAV Contract

[Porter Stoutheart]

I think Trotz and Saros have things all worked out nicely. Trotz was so desperate to get his top-5 draft pick last draft, I actually started to feel a little bad for the guy. He'd even have traded a goalie to get it if he could have. This made Saros nervous. So Saros and Trotz went out for lunch, and they figured it out:

The team is going to try to run and gun all year, and it's going to backfire spectacularly in their own zone. Saros will stand on his head and keep them in most games early on. So the youngsters don't get too badly blown out and discouraged and can still keep pushing for a while in games. Then Saros gradually takes his foot off the pedal as the game goes on and they lose. Trotz gets his top-5 draft pick. Saros's stats blow and he doesn't get traded. In fact on August 11th Saros gets handed a new team-friendly 8-year extension. Things go back to normal next season. Everybody wins.

 

[Softball99]

I think Trotz and Saros have things all worked out nicely. Trotz was so desperate to get his top-5 draft pick last draft, I actually started to feel a little bad for the guy. He'd even have traded a goalie to get it if he could have. This made Saros nervous. So Saros and Trotz went out for lunch, and they figured it out:

The team is going to try to run and gun all year, and it's going to backfire spectacularly in their own zone. Saros will stand on his head and keep them in most games early on. So the youngsters don't get too badly blown out and discouraged and can still keep pushing for a while in games. Then Saros gradually takes his foot off the pedal as the game goes on and they lose. Trotz gets his top-5 draft pick. Saros's stats blow and he doesn't get traded. In fact on August 11th Saros gets handed a new team-friendly 8-year extension. Things go back to normal next season. Everybody wins.

The fact that I thought almost the same thing is scarey considering how far apart we are on most things

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

The fact that I thought almost the same thing is scarey considering how far apart we are on most things

If it helps, I was totally joking.

 

[Softball99]

If it helps, I was totally joking.

I don't think he wants to be traded and willing to check out this season, maybe an injury if it gets worse, he saw what trotz did with everyone else lol

 

[beardawg]

I don't think Saros wants to leave and I don't think Trotz wants to trade him today, but I think it only makes sense by the deadline if Askarov keeps up his current play. Swap Juuse for assets and a stopfill goalie while bringing Askarov up to get some minutes at the end of the season and get ready to roll him for 30-ish games next season

 

[Predation]

I think I voted to keep Saros, but I’m starting to warm up to the idea of trading him. We are a lottery team without him, and I think we need to be a lottery team for a year or two (and hopefully not more). I know it doesn’t guarantee anything, but we gotta take a shot at some real elite talent.

 

[jumb0]

I think I voted to keep Saros, but I’m starting to warm up to the idea of trading him. We are a lottery team without him, and I think we need to be a lottery team for a year or two (and hopefully not more). I know it doesn’t guarantee anything, but we gotta take a shot at some real elite talent.

We're currently a top 4 pick team with him

 

[herzausstein]

We're currently a top 4 pick team with him

With some lottery luck we can get 1st overall and have a shot at a franchise C and still have Saros as protection from goalie oblivion

 

[Soundgarden]

We're currently a top 4 pick team with him

Right? We can easily get an impact player this year and re-sign Saros, he'll still be in his prime while everyone's coming up.

 

[ILikeItILoveIt]

Upside of trading Saros: Brings in assets and saves us $$ (goalie position will cost us $6MM less). We can take the difference and get a higher end FA down the road. So, trade assets + high-end FA purchased with saved $$ = deeper roster and better team long term.

Downside: Swapping proven elite goalie for unproven, potentially elite goalie.

While Saros has been a very good regular season goalie, his playoff record is ordinary. 3-7 2.63 .914. Spit the bed in 2020 (1-3 3.22 .895). Better in 2021 (2-4 2.78 .921). He's never won a playoff series.

Always a risk when exiting a proven goalie but the timing is right. Let Askarov start and let Lanky back him up and play more games.

This move cashes in on using the 1st round pick on Askarov while selling high on Saros for additional assets and delaying paying up for the goalie position by 5 years.

 

[Predation]

We're currently a top 4 pick team with him

Yes, but eventually he will start stealing us games we shouldn’t be winning.

 

[Scoresberg]

Yes, but eventually he will start stealing us games we shouldn’t be winning.

Yeah, we're not a good team but we're also not as bad as this season has so far indicated.

Saros will drag us to the 13th-15th pick eventually.

 

[Predation]

Yeah, we're not a good team but we're also not as bad as this season has so far indicated.

Saros will drag us to the 13th-15th pick eventually.

Exactly. We need to take some swings at top five picks over the next year or two. It’s the best way to really build a team that will compete for the cup. We have some decent young talent, but they will need time to develop in the NHL anyway. This might be a good year to finish in the cellar. I love Saros, but I think we need to take the risk that Askarov will live up to the projections.

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

Yeah, we're not a good team but we're also not as bad as this season has so far indicated.

Saros will drag us to the 13th-15th pick eventually.

I'll believe it when I see it at this point. We have a $68M playing roster, barely above the Cap floor, 2nd lowest in the league IIRC, and of the 3 teams lower than us in the standings, there is at least one which will undoubtedly rise above us (Edmonton)... our odds of getting a pick as high as 13th-15th are extremely low. Our odds of getting a #1-5 pick are much higher. We'll be in the cellar regardless.

 

[herzausstein]

Yeah, we're not a good team but we're also not as bad as this season has so far indicated.

Saros will drag us to the 13th-15th pick eventually.

And if he doesnt, it kills his trade value and we arent any better off than if we did trade him. It may be time to consider trading him but the uncertainty of being in goaltending limbo like many other teams that have tanked (Buffalo, Edmonton, Ottawa, etc) keeps me from committing to the idea.

Id love to luck out with Celebrini this year but there are a couple real good Cs projecting to be near the top of the 2025 draft as well.

 

[wmupreds]

I've been ambivalent about trading Juice but honestly it's making more and more sense. There really is not that much point in trying to prop up a flawed roster with goaltending at this point.

One thing that hasn't been discussed that much is that it may piss off guys like Josi and Forsberg. But honestly, it's becoming questionable whether those guys will be in the age range to be core pieces when the team comes out of the rebuild/retool/whatever you want to call it.

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

I think people are still overlooking the fact that we wouldn't get very much for Saros even if we did trade him.

 

[hido]

If I had to put money down, I would bet on an extension for Saros and not on a trade. Unless there is a GM dumb enough to do something like Tampa did with Jeannot. Which I don't see happening.

 

[Bringer of Jollity]

I think people are still overlooking the fact that we wouldn't get very much for Saros even if we did trade him.

Oh come on bro, we could net something like Alexander Holtz and a 1st. Alexander Holtz!

I don't even know that most of those advocating trading him actually care about the return, it's all about bottoming out.

 

[Armourboy]

Oh come on bro, we could net something like Alexander Holtz and a 1st. Alexander Holtz!

I don't even know that most of those advocating trading him actually care about the return, it's all about bottoming out.

Which leaves you in a crap shoot of whether you end up more like Tampa/Chicago in years past or more like Edmonton/Detroit/Toronto/Buffalo. It's like people forget that there are teams sitting out there with elite talent who haven't done a damn thing since getting it.

Even if you tank you may not get elite talent. Freaking LA and Detroit tanked and don't really have that much to show for it.

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

Oh come on bro, we could net something like Alexander Holtz and a 1st. Alexander Holtz!

I don't even know that most of those advocating trading him actually care about the return, it's all about bottoming out.

Exactly. And with late 1sts we basically are going to get guys like Tomasino, Fabbro, Tolvanen, etc... if we are lucky... which as much as I love them all, are not exactly prime players. Which also is about what a Holtz is these days, if he's not just a Foudy/Fagemo instead. That's the kind of asset we get in a Saros trade, in case folks don't realize it.

And we're already bottoming out quite fine even with him. Get with the times, ye trade advocates!

 

[Bringer of Jollity]

Which leaves you in a crap shoot of whether you end up more like Tampa/Chicago in years past or more like Edmonton/Detroit/Toronto/Buffalo. It's like people forget that there are teams sitting out there with elite talent who haven't done a damn thing since getting it.

Even if you tank you may not get elite talent. Freaking LA and Detroit tanked and don't really have that much to show for it.

It's different if Saros approaches Trotz and alerts him he'll be exploring options at the end of his current contract, or if somebody offers just a stupid amount of assets in return. But proactively so we can maybe increase our odds of a better ping pong ball, or just to get something for him...meh, intentionally trying to lose sucks.

 

[Armourboy]

It's different if Saros approaches Trotz and alerts him he'll be exploring options at the end of his current contract, or if somebody offers just a stupid amount of assets in return. But proactively so we can maybe increase our odds of a better ping pong ball, or just to get something for him...meh, intentionally trying to lose sucks.

The problem is unless you catch someone desperate you aren't going to get much, just more of what he have loaded up in Milwaukee already.

Now yeah like you said, if he tells Trotz he isn't going to sign or he asks for something stupid like 11 million a season, then you get what you can and move on.

People can like it or not, but I don't see Trotz willing to go with an unknown or sub par goalie just for picks if he can help it.

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

The problem is unless you catch someone desperate you aren't going to get much, just more of what he have loaded up in Milwaukee already.

Indeed, I could have added Schaeffer, Svechkov, L'Heureux to my list of the kinds of guys we would get for Saros. And adding another 1 or even 2 of those guys isn't changing jack sh!t for our team.

Now yeah like you said, if he tells Trotz he isn't going to sign or he asks for something stupid like 11 million a season, then you get what you can and move on.

But I hope everybody knows he's not. Like, it would not even shock me if he took a different direction of "stupid" contract like 6x$7M. Extending him is going to be a walk in the park. He's a great goalie, but he also seems to have that Scandinavian low-key personality.

People can like it or not, but I don't see Trotz willing to go with an unknown or sub par goalie just for picks if he can help it.

Yeah, it just doesn't make sense. If we're not going to gain any competitive edge by doing so, then what's the point? To me, the whole idea is just an HF-fantasy circle jerk. It has no basis in a practical reality.

 

[Scoresberg]

From the Athletic:

Predators are not looking to trade Saros

"They see Saros at 28 as being part of the re-tool they’re doing and expect that when the team is ready to contend again, he’ll be front and center.

“I met with his agent, I’d like to re-sign him, I told them that’s our intention,” Predators GM Barry Trotz told The Athletic. “We’re obviously in a little bit of a re-tool type of situation and when we get reset here, I’d like him to be part of the backbone.

“I understand that there’s (trade) rumors out there. There’ll be rumors from the top teams, but that’s not our intention with Saros.”