Nashville Predators talk - The offseason.

[Porter Stoutheart]

If he could stay healthy, Laine would be a huge addition. Problem is past 3 seasons, it hasn't happened. If we miss out on the nice UFAs, it would still be worth considering though if the price is alright. We have tons of capspace next season and season after. UFAs after next season are Saros, Fabbro, and Nyquist but RyJos 4 million retention falls off which would cover atleast Saros raise.

I think that's the key. *IF* we miss out on all the better/more reliable options... then I'd rather take a gamble on Laine than sit on unused Cap space again. I have no idea what the team's financial approach will be, however... I'm not entirely sure why they sat on the empty space this past season, so it's possible they have an internal constraint in place for the coming one as well, who knows.

 

[beardawg]

Just crossed my mind - I remember watching the 2013 draft, and as soon as MacKinnon was picked, I practically jumped for joy because I was so certain that Drouin and Jones were going to be the next 2 picks, and Barkov was falling to #4. Imagine where we'd be right now

 

[originalpredfan]

Just crossed my mind - I remember watching the 2013 draft, and as soon as MacKinnon was picked, I practically jumped for joy because I was so certain that Drouin and Jones were going to be the next 2 picks, and Barkov was falling to #4. Imagine where we'd be right now

I had the exact same reaction at the time.

 

[Viqsi]

Just crossed my mind - I remember watching the 2013 draft, and as soon as MacKinnon was picked, I practically jumped for joy because I was so certain that Drouin and Jones were going to be the next 2 picks, and Barkov was falling to #4. Imagine where we'd be right now

Hey, we did ultimately trade Jones for that #1C that took us to the Cup finals, amirite?

It's all in how you look at things. The power of Stubborn Self-Delusion is incredible and indispensible.

 

[Flgatorguy87]

I had the exact same reaction at the time.

Barkov and Lindholm were my hopes that year...when Jones fell I sort of felt like we had to take him instead of Lindholm...but I wish it would've gone differently now.

 

[PredsV82]

Is the risk/reward with Laine worth making him the highest paid forward in franchise history? That is what Trotz has to assess.

Nope.

Barkov and Lindholm were my hopes that year...when Jones fell I sort of felt like we had to take him instead of Lindholm...but I wish it would've gone differently now.

Poile made it clear he was taking Jones no matter what, and was even going to trade with Florida for the 2nd pick to get him. As it turns out, Jones was probably the best we could do, and he did get us Joey who was good for the cup run.

But man, how different would this franchise be if we had got Barkov like we thought we might?

 

[beardawg]

Nope.


Poile made it clear he was taking Jones no matter what, and was even going to trade with Florida for the 2nd pick to get him. As it turns out, Jones was probably the best we could do, and he did get us Joey who was good for the cup run.

But man, how different would this franchise be if we had got Barkov like we thought we might?

Hindsight 20/20 blah blah...

But it truly would've been franchise altering. Barkov/Forsberg/Weber/Josi/Rinne/Saros...perennial cup contenders

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

Just crossed my mind - I remember watching the 2013 draft, and as soon as MacKinnon was picked, I practically jumped for joy because I was so certain that Drouin and Jones were going to be the next 2 picks, and Barkov was falling to #4. Imagine where we'd be right now

The other hindsight caveat in that draft is how we beat Colorado the final stages of that season. We could have had the #1 pick ourselves and had MacKinnon. On April 2nd, we were trailing Colorado 1-0 in the 3rd period. (Duchene scored for them, fwiw). Then Horny tied it up in the 3rd. Then Legwand won it with a minute left. Gaustad got an EN goal to seal it. But if we had just lost that game instead, a different bounce, they score on the EN... we get MacKinnon.

Perhaps we should just tell ourselves that if we drafted MacKinnon or Barkov, they would have busted!

 

[PredsV82]

The other hindsight caveat in that draft is how we beat Colorado the final stages of that season. We could have had the #1 pick ourselves and had MacKinnon. On April 2nd, we were trailing Colorado 1-0 in the 3rd period. (Duchene scored for them, fwiw). Then Horny tied it up in the 3rd. Then Legwand won it with a minute left. Gaustad got an EN goal to seal it. But if we had just lost that game instead, a different bounce, they score on the EN... we get MacKinnon.

Perhaps we should just tell ourselves that if we drafted MacKinnon or Barkov, they would have busted!

My point was, even if we had the 1st OA, Poile would have picked Jones. And would have gone down in history with the GM who picked Sam Bowie instead of Michael Jordan

 

[beardawg]

My point was, even if we had the 1st OA, Poile would have picked Jones. And would have gone down in history with the GM who picked Sam Bowie instead of Michael Jordan

Sad but accurate. I still remember how ecstatic Poile was that he fell to 4th.

And not to knock on Jones at all either. He had the potential and pedigree and is still a top 5 pick if you do a 2013 redraft IMO. Just needed a real center for 25 years and counting...

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

My point was, even if we had the 1st OA, Poile would have picked Jones. And would have gone down in history with the GM who picked Sam Bowie instead of Michael Jordan

Wow, that is sad indeed. (Although I would tend to caveat GM reactions somewhat --- there are many historic cases of GMs pumping the tires on the guy they got at the time, which don't really make sense).

 

[Predsanddead24]

On the bright side at least we didn't draft Drouin.

 

[herzausstein]

On the bright side at least we didn't draft Drouin.

Or trade sergachev and a 2nd for him

 

[Bringer of Jollity]

Or trade sergachev and a 2nd for him

They also traded 20-year old Ryan McDonagh for 30-year old (and breaking down) Scott Gomez, who was bought out at the end of his 3rd year there.

 

[ILikeItILoveIt]

The other hindsight caveat in that draft is how we beat Colorado the final stages of that season. We could have had the #1 pick ourselves and had MacKinnon. On April 2nd, we were trailing Colorado 1-0 in the 3rd period. (Duchene scored for them, fwiw). Then Horny tied it up in the 3rd. Then Legwand won it with a minute left. Gaustad got an EN goal to seal it. But if we had just lost that game instead, a different bounce, they score on the EN... we get MacKinnon.

Perhaps we should just tell ourselves that if we drafted MacKinnon or Barkov, they would have busted!

If we lost that game, we'd have had 39 points instead of 41 points, allowing us to slip down past Tampa's 40 points and tying us with the Av's at 39 with us losing the tiebreaker and falling down past them. But Florida had 36 points, so wouldn't they have had the first pick and taken MacKinnon, right?.

Point is still well taken; we could have taken Barkov at #2. Although with our luck, we would have taken Drouin.

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

If we lost that game, we'd have had 39 points instead of 41 points, allowing us to slip down past Tampa's 40 points and tying us with the Av's at 39 with us losing the tiebreaker and falling down past them. But Florida had 36 points, so wouldn't they have had the first pick and taken MacKinnon, right?.

Well the idea is we’d have the same spot in the lottery and won instead of Colorado

Point is still well taken; we could have taken Barkov at #2. Although with our luck, we would have taken Drouin.

 

[Viqsi]

The other hindsight caveat in that draft is how we beat Colorado the final stages of that season. We could have had the #1 pick ourselves and had MacKinnon. On April 2nd, we were trailing Colorado 1-0 in the 3rd period. (Duchene scored for them, fwiw). Then Horny tied it up in the 3rd. Then Legwand won it with a minute left. Gaustad got an EN goal to seal it. But if we had just lost that game instead, a different bounce, they score on the EN... we get MacKinnon.

Perhaps we should just tell ourselves that if we drafted MacKinnon or Barkov, they would have busted!

Careful. This kind of perpetual What If self-torture is how people become tanking advocates. It's not worth it.

 

[Roman Yoshi]

Just based on what I heard, there is a deal in place for Markstrom. This source has been pretty reliable

For what it’s worth, Pekka's big contract was 10.89% of the cap at signing which would be equivalent to a $9.5M AAV contract this offseason. Saros’s current contract was 6.14% of the cap at signing which would be equivalent to a $5.75M AAV contract this offseason. So a $6M contract would be a pretty paltry raise (in terms of pro athletes at least) from that perspective.

Also, Friedman was saying the other day he thought it was likely Saros will want to wait it out until Shesterkin re-signs and resets the goalie market which wouldn’t be a great sign for him taking a team friendly deal. Wasn’t clear to me if that was anything more than just speculation though.

Just based on what I heard, there is a deal in place for Markstrom. This source has been pretty reliable over the years. Including Duchene being signed (and dollar amount) who the Preds were exposing during the Vegas expansion draft and the Duchene buyout.

I believe the deal will be announced at the end of the SC Final.

 

[Roman Yoshi]

God the Jones draft brings back a strong PTSD for me.

 

[glenngineer]

Sure, we could use an improvement on D. We need an improvement up front more than we need on D. We need better players in the top 6. That should be our focus. The problem I have, is the players available in FA outside of a few players are not what we need.

I'd honestly like to see what BT has up his sleeve. I'd love to see him make an offer to a RFA, someone like Byfield. LA is up against the cap. They'd have to shuffle the deck around to make a deal happen. Is Byfield someone worth going after? Is he a number 1 center we can build a team around for the next 10 years? He's learned from Kopitar. He'll continue to learn from ROR.

I don't want to watch another season of certain players in this lineup. They need to be replaced. Guys like Sissons can be your fourth line players and in his case, he can work up the lineup if injuries hit.

 

[PredsV82]

If we lost that game, we'd have had 39 points instead of 41 points, allowing us to slip down past Tampa's 40 points and tying us with the Av's at 39 with us losing the tiebreaker and falling down past them. But Florida had 36 points, so wouldn't they have had the first pick and taken MacKinnon, right?.

Point is still well taken; we could have taken Barkov at #2. Although with our luck, we would have taken Drouin.

Then you have to believe Poile was lying when he said he was taking Jones and was prepared to trade up to get him.

 

[herzausstein]

If the Flames trade Markstrom would they then be in the market for a new goalie? Vlader hasnt been great at the NHL level and Wolf hasnt done anything at the NHL level either. I guess theyre just in a more advanced state of what we are dealing with.

 

[Viqsi]

If the Flames trade Markstrom would they then be in the market for a new goalie? Vlader hasnt been great at the NHL level and Wolf hasnt done anything at the NHL level either. I guess theyre just in a more advanced state of what we are dealing with.

I get the impression they're very confident in Wolf. I also get a lot of "rebuilding" vibes when talking with fans of that team, but I dunno if that's the FO direction or just fan consensus desire.

 

[BigFatCat999]

I get the impression they're very confident in Wolf. I also get a lot of "rebuilding" vibes when talking with fans of that team, but I dunno if that's the FO direction or just fan consensus desire.

Wolf is Askarov but 1 yr older,

 

[herzausstein]

I get the impression they're very confident in Wolf. I also get a lot of "rebuilding" vibes when talking with fans of that team, but I dunno if that's the FO direction or just fan consensus desire.

Rebuilding with those Huberdeau and Kadri contracts would be an interesting choice