GDT: Let the Free Agency Madness begin

[Big Daddy Cane]

The finishing piece for this team is a top line forward. A Tatar-type Middle 6er serves little purpose on the roster.

I’ll guess that being content with the forward group, at least publicly, is a function of the market not offering the former. Or should I say the right top line forward.

Because of retention and/or ordinary cap space banking, carrying 8D and keeping Skjei/Pesce won’t stop them from pursuing that piece in season.

 

[Nikishin Go Boom]

The finishing piece for this team is a top line forward. A Tatar-type Middle 6er serves little purpose on the roster.

I’ll guess that being content with the forward group, at least publicly, is a function of the market not offering the former. Or should I say the right top line forward.

Because of retention and/or ordinary cap space banking, carrying 8D and keeping Skjei/Pesce won’t stop them from pursuing that piece in season.

Looking at the likely selling teams:

Signing: Kane, if healthy, he will come here and if we can make it work. A lot ifs though
Cheaper rental: zucker
Expensive top 6 with another year on their contract: Ehlers, Konecny, Buchnevich

Crazy names: Keller, Connor or Schmaltz if any player is ready to get out of their losing franchises.

 

[AhosDatsyukian]

To be fair it sounds like Orlov just kinda happened. I don’t think he was the plan it sounds like he just kinda fell into our lap.

Yeah Donny said he/his agent reached out to the team not the other way around. I think it was a great opportunity to take advantage of like we did but was never the plan. It gives us a lot of options in terms of building out the rest of the roster -- we can keep this outrageously elite and deep D group, we can trade Skjei and/or Pesce without missing a beat and we can do that either for futures or for an immediate forward upgrade.

Without the Orlov signing (even with Jones and TDA), I wouldn't feel comfortable moving Skjei or Pesce unless it did result in a big forward upgrade to make up for the D drop off, but now with Orlov I'm really quite comfortable with any of those options, even including keeping Skjei and Pesce and letting both walk in a year... In that scenario Orlov gives us at least a bridge to Nikishin, Morrow and even a potential option past the 2 years if we decide to play someone on their off side or in the horror scenario of Slavin not sticking here long term (highly highly doubt that ever comes close to happening, but it is a scenario the team should be preparing for to some degree).

 

[AhosDatsyukian]

The finishing piece for this team is a top line forward. A Tatar-type Middle 6er serves little purpose on the roster.

I’ll guess that being content with the forward group, at least publicly, is a function of the market not offering the former. Or should I say the right top line forward.

Because of retention and/or ordinary cap space banking, carrying 8D and keeping Skjei/Pesce won’t stop them from pursuing that piece in season.

Yeah 100%, we already have a lot of fringe middle 6/top 6 guys in Jarvis, Teravainen, Bunting, even Necas to a degree. Svech is the only 100% locked in top 6 winger and even he has more he could show to prove himself as a clear cut top line winger. Then we have Fast who is a solid middle 6 guy, and Noesen who looked the part of one last year too. We have plenty of these "mid" forwards, if we're going to target an add there it needs to be a legit obvious upgrade in the form of a legit top line winger or scoring 2C.

One of my top targets would still be Kyle Connor. A true elite goal scoring top 10-15 league wide winger who could potentially be available and has 3 years on his contract at a solid cap hit. It could require one of Pesce/Skjei and one of Jarvis/Necas going the other way but that could be worth it to me, as much as I still am high on those wingers, both still have serious question marks as to whether they can ever get to Connor's level and will be coming with larger deals of their own in a year.

 

[Big Daddy Cane]

Looking at the likely selling teams:

Signing: Kane, if healthy, he will come here and if we can make it work. A lot ifs though
Cheaper rental: zucker
Expensive top 6 with another year on their contract: Ehlers, Konecny, Buchnevich

Crazy names: Keller, Connor or Schmaltz if any player is ready to get out of their losing franchises.

What do Buchnevich’s fancy stats look like? His frame, production and contract certainly fit within the context of the roster.

Also, add Pettersson to the crazy names. I’m not going to stop wishcasting that one.

 

[Nikishin Go Boom]

What do Buchnevich’s fancy stats look like? His frame, production and contract certainly fit within the context of the roster.

Also, add Pettersson to the crazy names. I’m not going to stop wishcasting that one.

 

[Nikishin Go Boom]

Also, add Pettersson to the crazy names. I’m not going to stop wishcasting that one.

I would be surprised to see EP40 moved at the deadline

 

[Joe McGrath]

For all the bitching and moaning about scoring, the Canes scored 5 less goals than Vegas last year.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

And for all the bitching and moaning about the roster construction, it's only August.

 

[A Star is Burns]

And the team still gun be like real real gud.

 

[WreckingCrew]

For all the bitching and moaning about scoring, the Canes scored 5 less goals than Vegas last year.

...but it took almost 300 more shots...that's like 12% more SOG for less actual goals

 

[Nikishin Go Boom]

...but it took almost 300 more shots...that's like 12% more SOG for less actual goals

We did have 39 more xGs

 

[AhosDatsyukian]

...but it took almost 300 more shots...that's like 12% more SOG for less actual goals

Does that matter though? You don’t get penalized for taking more shots…

 

[chaz4hockey]

Jones

Carrying 8 makes sense to me for this season, if you look at it in the context of them not having ready-to-callup depth in the AHL. I do agree with the thought that there is yet a shoe to drop with them moving either Skjei or Pesce out prior to opening night.

What’s interesting is in addition to the 8/9 right now is that I believe Waddell was quoted recently that they expect Morrow to join after his season is over.

Put me in the camp that thinks there will be a trade forthcoming (despite what Waddell said yesterday).

 

[WreckingCrew]

Does that matter though? You don’t get penalized for taking more shots…

Yes. I know a lot of that is we choose to be volume shooters, so MAYBE our goal-scoring wouldn't have dropped much had we taken fewer shots but been more selective. But at the end of the day it absolutely matters, because if you rely on volume shooting then your shots get limited, you're going to score less goals if your goal-scoring doesn't improve. It affects mentality & confidence too, if you're putting up 40 shots against and scoring 1 against an AHL goalie it gets in your head that you're "getting goalied", so continue to lob desperate, low-quality, unscreened, non-one-timer muffin shots

 

[AhosDatsyukian]

Yes. I know a lot of that is we choose to be volume shooters, so MAYBE our goal-scoring wouldn't have dropped much had we taken fewer shots but been more selective. But at the end of the day it absolutely matters, because if you rely on volume shooting then your shots get limited, you're going to score less goals if your goal-scoring doesn't improve. It affects mentality & confidence too, if you're putting up 40 shots against and scoring 1 against an AHL goalie it gets in your head that you're "getting goalied", so continue to lob desperate, low-quality, unscreened, non-one-timer muffin shots

But our system makes it so that our shots don't get limited. Any team's mentality & confidence can be affected by a hot goalie, the Leafs had the same issue with Bob as we did -- sure they had less shots but if they have fewer shots but better opportunities getting robbed that gets in their head just as much. I just don't see how it matters how many shots you're taking to achieve the goals if the goals scored are the same (or extremely close in the case of Canes/Vegas last year).

Vegas performed way better in the playoffs than us goal scoring wise (they were about 1 goal per game more than us while we were basically even in the regular season) but I don't think their roster is any better built to win in the playoffs vs. regular season than our is. Some may argue that but frankly a lot of it is just timing/luck of how things/players are clicking at the right times. We were also missing Svech and had Patches taking up cap room while Vegas went well over the cap with their LTIR shenanigans.

 

[Svechhammer]

Can we just appreciate for a second that the top free agent on the market had his agent approach the Canes to play here rather than us having to convince him? And on top of that, he came here as a complete luxury add in an area that was already a strength for us knowing damn well he'd probably be playing 2nd line mins while he could have been playing top mins elsewhere?

Like, what the hell. That's some New England Patriots in prime Brady years shit right there.

 

[Lempo]

Can we just appreciate for a second that the top free agent on the market had his agent approach the Canes to play here rather than us having to convince him? And on top of that, he came here as a complete luxury add in an area that was already a strength for us knowing damn well he'd probably be playing 2nd line mins while he could have been playing top mins elsewhere?

Like, what the hell. That's some New England Patriots in prime Brady years shit right there.

Gotta admit I'm somewhat curious about the Tarasenko connection and whether there was any, but, yes.

 

[Sigurd]

Can we just appreciate for a second that the top free agent on the market had his agent approach the Canes to play here rather than us having to convince him? And on top of that, he came here as a complete luxury add in an area that was already a strength for us knowing damn well he'd probably be playing 2nd line mins while he could have been playing top mins elsewhere?

Like, what the hell. That's some New England Patriots in prime Brady years shit right there.

Agreed.

At the same time, why can't we finally get an all-star tier forward be like that too (this is of course a rhetorical question)? By that I mean with him going out of his way to wanting to play for us. The Canes have chased them so much since last summer, and can't get any; well excluding Patches who played 5 games for us.

What do Buchnevich’s fancy stats look like? His frame, production and contract certainly fit within the context of the roster.

Also, add Pettersson to the crazy names. I’m not going to stop wishcasting that one.

I'm with you on that.

He hasn't extended yet while entering the last year of his contract, and he plays for a dumpster fire team. Hopefully he abandons the ship that sunk a while back ago, and wants to play for a cup contender instead of wasting more of his prime years.

 

[Finlandia WOAT]

Elias Pettersson fits perfectly with the Canes org. He has an early birthday in November, so functionally a 7 year contract starting in 2024 would cover his age 26-32 aged seasons. Gives the Canes an elite one-two punch.

That's one you open the hoard and start offering Nikishin/Jarvis/multiple 1st rounders.

 

[AhosDatsyukian]

Elias Pettersson fits perfectly with the Canes org. He has an early birthday in November, so functionally a 7 year contract starting in 2024 would cover his age 26-32 aged seasons. Gives the Canes an elite one-two punch.

That's one you open the hoard and start offering Nikishin/Jarvis/multiple 1st rounders.

I'd go Necas/Skjei/Morrow/pick(s) and keep Jarvis and Nikishin, IF Pete was forcing his way out (and that's the only way he's available) I think that would get it done.

 

[hblueridgegal]

Style of play…they like to score often and put up big #s…the ability to create? In RBA and DW’s talks on Sirius they openly speak about being a defense focused team.

Petey’s been on the wishlist forever. As an aside, he does the off-season vacay life the fun way.

Agreed.

At the same time, why can't we finally get an all-star tier forward be like that too (this is of course a rhetorical question)? By that I mean with him going out of his way to wanting to play for us. The Canes have chased them so much since last summer, and can't get any; well excluding Patches who played 5 games for us

 

[Finlandia WOAT]

I'd go Necas/Skjei/Morrow/pick(s) and keep Jarvis and Nikishin

I mean, of course we would do that. Skjei is an upcoming FA, Morrow has been decent but not amazing at UMass and subsequently been jumped in prospect lists/young players by guys like Jarvis, Drury, Ponomarev and Nikishin- which is why he's become our universal throw in. And Necas, the best piece, is himself coming up on a big payday in 2024 that Carolina may balk at, and will definitely skip if they acquire and pay Pettersson.

Could Carolina get Pettersson with that package? I don't know. A benefit Carolina has over others is they wouldn't need Vancouver to take a long term cap dump, they can take two of Carolina's upcoming FA's to make the salary work. I do think, right now, if we offered Vancouver fans that package it would start a good old fashioned trade board brawl.

Even if Pettersson is demanding out, you typically have to give up something that'll hurt even in a cap world. That's Nikishin/Jarvis for us.

 

[MinJaBen]

What’s interesting is in addition to the 8/9 right now is that I believe Waddell was quoted recently that they expect Morrow to join after his season is over.

 

[AhosDatsyukian]

I mean, of course we would do that. Skjei is an upcoming FA, Morrow has been decent but not amazing at UMass and subsequently been jumped in prospect lists/young players by guys like Jarvis, Drury, Ponomarev and Nikishin- which is why he's become our universal throw in. And Necas, the best piece, is himself coming up on a big payday in 2024 that Carolina may balk at, and will definitely skip if they acquire and pay Pettersson.

Could Carolina get Pettersson with that package? I don't know. A benefit Carolina has over others is they wouldn't need Vancouver to take a long term cap dump, they can take two of Carolina's upcoming FA's to make the salary work. I do think, right now, if we offered Vancouver fans that package it would start a good old fashioned trade board brawl.

Even if Pettersson is demanding out, you typically have to give up something that'll hurt even in a cap world. That's Nikishin/Jarvis for us.

I think Necas is a better asset than Jarvis personally and I think the Canucks would prefer him, but that’s just my opinion and I may be wrong. Nikishin is off limits in my view even in a Pete trade (unless it was just him and picks but that’s not realistic from Vancouver’s pov). I just think Boom has more value to us than in any realistic trade he could be included in and it wouldn’t be worth it for us to give him up. He seriously has the potential to be a top 3 D league wide.