Nashville Predators talk - The Offseason

[GeauxPreds1]

I assume and hope, assuming Asky isn't traded, we bring in a veteran backup goalie as well. My approach would then be:

• Saros still gets 55 starts or whatever
• Askarov gets 35-40 starts in the AHL while Backup ABC dresses behind Saros
• Whenever we have a back to back or a time you want Saros to rest, call Askarov up, scratch either Saros or Backup
• Send him back down

You'd end up with 55 Saros starts, 15-20 Askarov NHL starts and 35 Askarov AHL starts, and very few starts from our "backup". If Saros gets hurt, Askarov is the starter.

I don’t think him getting games in with ads is gonna make him develop any more than he has already in the ahl. But being on the bench in nhl games and practicing with us will help his ddevelopment much better

 

[Top 6 Spaling]

I don’t think him getting games in with ads is gonna make him develop any more than he has already in the ahl. But being on the bench in nhl games and practicing with us will help his ddevelopment much better

Eh, I don't see it that way. Askarov was great in the AHL, but not transcendent. He was #6 in GAA and #11 in SV%. I still think he has more to learn and do there and only getting him 20 starts total is, IMO, a disservice to his development. Who knows, I trust Mitch Korn above all here.

 

[Predsanddead24]

I assume and hope, assuming Asky isn't traded, we bring in a veteran backup goalie as well. My approach would then be:

• Saros still gets 55 starts or whatever
• Askarov gets 35-40 starts in the AHL while Backup ABC dresses behind Saros
• Whenever we have a back to back or a time you want Saros to rest, call Askarov up, scratch either Saros or Backup
• Send him back down

You'd end up with 55 Saros starts, 15-20 Askarov NHL starts and 35 Askarov AHL starts, and very few starts from our "backup". If Saros gets hurt, Askarov is the starter.

This was essentially what we did with Saros early on and I think it was a good choice. As for Askarov's situation now that we've re-signed Saros (or at least will soon) I think Trotz is taking the right approach. Let people know you're willing to move him but only for a high price. Hopefully he keeps building his value and we're able to trade him for a haul at some point.

 

[PredsV82]

Any word on Johanssen buyout?

Philly bought out Atkinsson. Joey is still on LTIR and can't be bought out

 

[PredsV82]

Is Brian Poile still an assistant GM? If so make sure the fax machine is plugged in today.

Any word if there are any RFA we aren't going to qualify? Or do we even have any?

 

[BigFatCat999]

Is Brian Poile still an assistant GM? If so make sure the fax machine is plugged in today.

Any word if there are any RFA we aren't going to qualify? Or do we even have any?

Yes, he is. Luckily with the advancement in tech, the fax is dying out.

Maybe JAD.

 

[Top 6 Spaling]

Is Brian Poile still an assistant GM? If so make sure the fax machine is plugged in today.

Any word if there are any RFA we aren't going to qualify? Or do we even have any?

No leaks for us yet, which I assume means no surprises. My guesses:

Qualified:
Tomasino
Parsnip
Wilsby
Del Gaizo
Stastney

Not:
JAD
Allison

No clue:
Grigals
Foudy

 

[Viqsi]

I'd be very happy bringing in Stamkos and Skjei. Only Stammer worry is too much term, but he's good enough that it's worth the risk (IMO unlike Stevenson or Lindholm).

Some *very* interesting young Dman neames just hit the market. Brannstrom and Boqvist not qualified/bought out, with rumblings Liljegren might not be qualified either. Exactly the type of player I'd want to bring in to compete for 3rd pairing minutes.

@Viqsi what's the scouting report on Boqvist?

I posted the actual sum-up on the mains:

How To Make Boqvist Useful:

1. Pair him with a shutdown guy.
2. Give him #1 minutes on the power play.
3. Pray that he isn't injured further.

We'd sometimes do #2 (particularly when Werenski was out), but our prayers in #3 were never answered, and we didn't have enough shutdown guys to do #1. Get a better fit and some injury luck and he should be a useful contributor.

Wouldn't be my first recommendation for the Preds unless folks really think Josi needs to be taken off the PP. Would probably have to be paired with Lauzon.

 

[BigFatCat999]

With the RFA action, maybe the question is IF they get QO’s

 

[Dadof5boys]

Or, people can have different opinions and that's what boards like this are for. There's some whining, but I see plenty of decent discussion here, and it ain't from posts like this just vomiting out strawmen and appeals to authority.

It's these kind of posts that had me go from a regular poster, to a lurker, to not coming here as much to discuss. I've been on these boards a long time before posts counts were started when HF used to actually rate prospects and did team ranking of prospects. I also posted more on the ESPN boards which only had a handful of posters. I only see, at least when I come to read, very few outlandish claims like trading for Bedard, but when someone is negative about an aspect of the team, the position of authority argument is often used. I'm glad to see that this has gotten much better lately, and I hope that it continues that way.
On to the offseason discussion, I have my doubts that Barry is going to sway too far from the Poile way of doing things, and that is quite unfortunate for it has kept us, with very few exceptions, a mediocre team. Poile's strategy, which unfortunately wasn't extremely successful, was to build from the net out. Now during expansion when we had a very limited budget, I could see that strategy being fairly necessary to try to win hockey games and grow the sport in our area. Unfortunately, it has led us to adopting that way of building a team since its inception. We heavily rely on Vezina quality goaltending to just compete to get into the playoffs which unfortunately seems to be the mail goal of the ownership group. We seem to always be in neutral when it comes to decision making on direction of the team. We have never fully embraced a rebuild due to this; how many times did we hear a rebuild turn into a "partial rebuild", "retool", or competitive rebuild. Now with this said, it's going to be a hard sell to rebuild if you've just signed your Vezina quality goaltender to a multi-year a 62 million dollar contract. Also you still have very talented pieces. My hope, since in my opinion a full rebuild isn't in the cards, is that we go all in for 3 years being we have Josi and our corp signed for 3-5 more years then look to rebuild. My hope it that we go after a few of the big named free agents at forward and D. Id love Stammer and a Teravainen type of signing on the front end with a Dman like Zadarov on the back end. Hopefully, we don't see Zucker, or any of our other free agents near this team. Fill in the holes with youth and go from there.

 

[Soundgarden]

Any updates on our QOs?

 

[BigFatCat999]

Any updates on our QOs?

Not a peep, and I am monitoring. He did coach under loophole Lou

 

[triggrman]

@Dadof5boys i agree. Make a 3 year run with this group add what we need too. Most of our young talent is 5 years away from peak. So if we tank for those 2 years, okay.

 

[PredsV82]

@Dadof5boys i agree. Make a 3 year run with this group add what we need too. Most of our young talent is 5 years away from peak. So if we tank for those 2 years, okay.

With Saros in net we were always going to be too good to truly tank. After seeing how this team can play even with multiple mediocre players currently holding down roster spots ,I agree with this as well. Let's take our best shot with Josi and Saros and Forsberg and see what it gets us. Probably 3 years of 1st round exits but that would still be better than 3 years of finishing 10th and picking in the high teens at best

 

[Top 6 Spaling]

LeBrun says Carrier is re-signing with us. Curious to see terms but there's some depth. We needed at least two more D, including him.

 

[herzausstein]

Sigh... just run it back i guess

 

[Soundgarden]

Free agency hasn't started yet. Let's at least wait until we lose out on Stamkos.

 

[JD86]

Assuming Stastney is with the NHL team, and he absolutely should be, they've got 6 D-men now. I was really hoping for an upgrade, so hopefully they're trading someone out or something.

Josi - Fabbro
Lauzon - Carrier
Stastney - Schenn

Not great, suppose they could just bench Fabbro again. But he's actually been alright with Josi

 

[Predsanddead24]

Yeah if we add someone to the mix and don’t move anyone out that’s a very full D. I still think it’s likely we move Fabbro though.

 

[Soundgarden]

Haven't heard much about Fabbro in a while.

 

[Armourboy]

Well there is one, now just need Zucker, probably misses on either Stamkos or Stephenson and I've hit it about right.

 

[JD86]

I actually like Carrier, he's a good second pairing D-man IMO. The problem to me is Lauzon and Schenn. Too similar and both bottom pairing guys. Trading Lauzon and signing Skjei and a 7th D-man sounds pretty good to me.

 

[Armourboy]

Bringing Carrier back just tells me Trotz probably got told no one someone he wanted.

 

[Top 6 Spaling]

I still think we're getting Skjei, which makes that defense look a LOT better

 

[Bringer of Jollity]

Bringing Carrier back just tells me Trotz probably got told no one someone he wanted.

Wet fart of an offseason is on track.

"We were close on a few big names, but really excited to have Alex, Zucks, and Tony [Beauvillier] back. These are strong character guys that are familiar with Bruno and the system and can help us realize our long-term vision for Preds hockey. We also think it will open some good competition for lineup spots with some of the young guys out of Milwaukee."