Nashville Predators talk - The Offseason
- Thread starter triggrman
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Marner has six straight seasons above a point-per-game and has done it three times in the playoffs, yet we have people here trying to talk themselves out of it and comparing him to Kyle Turris???
Free agency:
He is essentially a 3 year younger of RoR in terms of production. Their career production rates are basically identical. Bad thing is he probably is the top center in free agency so he will likely more than he deserves.
Next would be Chandler who has been a 50-65 point player over the past 3 seasons on a loaded Vegas team. Then Monohan who has lots of durability questions and isn't good defensively.
Trades:
1Cs don't get traded unless they are aging badly and the selling team is rebuilding OR there are other issues with them (See Dubois/RyJo - questionable work ethic, Eichel/Hertl - health, etc). Zegras is supposedly available. Flaws in his defensive game and takes alot of minor penalties.
Draft:
Unless we get lucky, you typically find them in the top 10 of the 1st round. A few notable exceptions but we almost never draft in that area and it'll take years for them to become a 1C unless we draft 1st overall in a great year.
Just not sure what people want to do here. We won't let the team get bad enough to draft one unless we strike mid to late 1st round gold. The available via trade all have some warts or clear stay away signs like PLD. Offersheeting is very risky and requires luck for a team not to match. UFAs are always going to have bloated contracts
We are not getting a legit 1C without incurring a great deal of pain. Either we have to be bad enough on the ice to get an early 1st round pick, or we have to overpay with cash and/or other assets.
Bringer of Jollity
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LeBrun reporting $8M+. f*** that noise. At $6M so we could basically run a younger ROR along with ROR? Sure. $8M+ is just Johansen again.
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Yeah 8+M is pretty dang rich for my taste. He has had 2 seasons near a point per game but paying him more than Forsberg shouldn't be a thing.
if Anaheim is willing to part ways with Zegras, I’d hope Trotz would be all over that trade. 23 years old with significant offensive upside. Taped to the O’Reilly school of work ethic and life habits, he could grow into a solid 1C in the next couple of years
Probably won’t cost the farm to get either.
My concern is that he turns out to be a winger and that in the end it doesn't solve our center issue. At the end of the day, he would still be a good winger though. Just needs to tone down the constant penalty taking. That could partially be because Anaheim sucks
Zegras is far from perfect, but I don't think there's a player available this off-season that has a better chance of being a true #1C than him. Far from a guarantee, but he's the best bet we've got.
My biggest fear with Zegras is Bruno doesn't "like his style" and he's sent to the dog house a la Tomasino (differently caliber of player, but the point remains). If we want to bring in a smaller, skipped, defensively-iffy player, Bruno has to sign off that Zegras can be Zegras.
Bringer of Jollity
Registered User
Take it through my shitty talent evaluation lens, but I watch nearly every Ducks game. Zegras is an NHL winger, not a center, similar to Duchene, Necas, etc... He will be best in a role where he can do the freewheeling offensive stuff without having the two-way responsibilities you need from a center at this level. Whether he'll accept that or not is an entirely different issue.
glenngineer
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If there was one young center that we could bring in, who would you want?
I’m not asking who’s available or what the price tag might be, who would you target?
I’m not asking who’s available or what the price tag might be, who would you target?
Porter Stoutheart
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I thought people were comparing LINDHOLM to Turris? Not Marner.
I'm fine with adding Marner (all previous caveats noted). He would be like our next Paul Kariya, IMO. Except for a much longer time (assuming we extended him). That's worth adding. But... even still, it's not a "franchise altering" level of addition? It's a great player who will go down in our local lore. But won't actually raise us to any additional level of achievement? So to me, the price I pay for that addition to the lore book only does have its limits.
Bringer of Jollity
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Porter Stoutheart
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Zegras is a "fun" player, but I agree wholeheartedly on the acquisition cost for him. Tomasino is basically "Zegras lite"... remember when we hoped Tomasino would be a center? Well, Zegras isn't either, and he's the same kind of personality, only a tad more skilled with the puck on his stick. But the Ducks have enough invested in him that his acquisition cost hasn't sunk to its lowest value yet, and as such you'd be paying a lot to pick up that player today. And then you'd be the one holding onto him when his asset value actually did bottom out. You have to wait and pick a guy like him up when he really has bottomed out and hit "reclamation" level, as opposed to now.
Beniers, Lundell, Sillinger, Pinto, Savoie, W. Smith, and Cowan are all interesting really young players.
Norris is interesting as well if you think his last season down numbers are a result of not feeling great about his shoulder and that he will fully recover and get back to form. Possible buy low - medium/high risk - medium/high reward.
IMO. he has the skill and the talent and with the tutelage of O’Reilly, he could still become a really good Center.
I also like Shane Pinto.
I know my thoughts are completely out of sync with the majority of the people on this board but those two have the potential to be this organization’s number 1 center for a long time.
Bringer of Jollity
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I think if you're going with Zegras as a center he really only works as a #2 in the mold of a Turris. Offensive zone starts and sheltered matchups.
Porter Stoutheart
Seen Stamkos?
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I'd bring in Draisatl as a UFA signing next summer. He'll be 29 and turning 30 after the season starts in 2025-26. 7x$16M contract. He knows he'll score about 4 points/game here in Nashville.
It is far more likely than not that Draisaitl never hits free agency, at least not till the twilight of his career. If we continue to wait till the unicorn superstar UFA comes around, we will probably be waiting a long time- and then you have to actually sign him while a whole bunch of other teams are trying too.I'd bring in Draisatl as a UFA signing next summer. He'll be 29 and turning 30 after the season starts in 2025-26. 7x$16M contract. He knows he'll score about 4 points/game here in Nashville.
Porter Stoutheart
Seen Stamkos?
- Jun 14, 2017
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Hence the smilie.
But think about it. Draisatl already has 850 points. With 7 seasons here, that should be over 500 more games. So that's 2,000 more points. Gretzky had 2,857. Coming here is his best shot at going down in history as the NHL all-time leading scorer. How could he say no to us? He won't get that chance anywhere else. We have the magic water.
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This is another example of my opinion of a player being drastically different than people on this board. You and I have completely different assessments of Zegras.
Bringer of Jollity
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Turris and sheltering are a bit (unintentionally) harsh. I don't see him as a center you can send out there consistently against other team's top line centers and ultimately be successful. Doesn't mean I don't think he's a great player or won't be a productive, successful player.
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