GDT: NHL Free Agent Frenzy 2024

[BobRossColton]

I bet this has been discussed, but if we somehow don't have Nuke's cap hit (traded/termination/suspension) near the deadline will we go after a top 6 option near that time, if everything else is going well?

 

[The Abusement Park]

I forgot a point:


Not only cover the holes but extend the current window as well. High end goalies can do miracles sometimes.

The downside is if they want to retool or rebuild while he's in his prime he could single handedly ruin that.

Look how far it’s gotten New York

 

[LOFIN]

I bet this has been discussed, but if we somehow don't have Nuke's cap hit (traded/termination/suspension) near the deadline will we go after a top 6 option near that time, if everything else is going well?

Maybe, maybe not. Let's say Landeskog looks fine and is able to stay healthy:

Drouin - MacK - Rantanen
Landeskog - Mitts - Lehkonen

Do we really need a top-6 option, or is that capspace better spent somewhere else?

 

[Balthazar]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1811419202311667945

 

[BrickNHL]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1811419202311667945

Really wish we could have brought him back. Mainly for the vibes and so my jersey is not out of date

 

[RoyIsALegend]

Really wish we could have brought him back. Mainly for the vibes and so my jersey is not out of date

He’s also a locker room general. Huge leader inside and outside of the rink.

Not having him and Landy around results in a lot of shit sliding downhill.

 

[henchman21]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1811419202311667945

I hope the Engrish is on point.

 

[hockeyfish]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1811419202311667945

Siri, how do I say "Do you like horses" in Russian?

 

[BobRossColton]

Maybe, maybe not. Let's say Landeskog looks fine and is able to stay healthy:

Drouin - MacK - Rantanen
Landeskog - Mitts - Lehkonen

Do we really need a top-6 option, or is that capspace better spent somewhere else?

Yeah I guess that's what I meant, I didn't really complete my thought. I think I'd go bottom 6 and G.

So about 5 million in cap space near the deadline, who you going for?

 

[Vaslof]

I bet this has been discussed, but if we somehow don't have Nuke's cap hit (traded/termination/suspension) near the deadline will we go after a top 6 option near that time, if everything else is going well?

Rental yes, long term no. I think they'll give new long term deals to Drouin and Rantanen, and for that they need cap space.

 

[BobRossColton]

Rental yes, long term no. I think they'll give new long term deals to Drouin and Rantanen, and for that they need cap space.

I think I'd target a short-term rental even, someone that's signed for another season.

 

[Balthazar]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1811427920034070596

G at #61

 

[UncleRisto]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1811427920034070596

G at #61

And Sean Walker of course.

 

[Ceremony]

I thought the Utah badges were images that hadn't loaded or something. Woof.

 

[Pokecheque]

I thought the Utah badges were images that hadn't loaded or something. Woof.

I mean...they kinda should suck, or at least be pretty generic. It still cracks me up that the Washington Redskins went with the most generic look and team name possible for, like, three years, and then finally emerged with an identity that actually made them look and sound WORSE than they were when they just called themselves the Washington Football Team.

I hope once "Yeti" is announced they knock the jersey designs/logos out of the park. With that color mix they could be quite good.

Speaking of jerseys/logos/names I assume at some point the PWHL is going to announce those at some point. They better get moving. Obviously we know what the color schemes will be.

 

[BrickNHL]

I mean...they kinda should suck, or at least be pretty generic. It still cracks me up that the Washington Redskins went with the most generic look and team name possible for, like, three years, and then finally emerged with an identity that actually made them look and sound WORSE than they were when they just called themselves the Washington Football Team.

I hope once "Yeti" is announced they knock the jersey designs/logos out of the park. With that color mix they could be quite good.

Speaking of jerseys/logos/names I assume at some point the PWHL is going to announce those at some point. They better get moving. Obviously we know what the color schemes will be.

Cleveland Guardians is awful too

Edmonton Elks is bad too but it’s not super generic so I don’t mind it. The main reason they went with the Elks is so they could continue the “EE” logo but now they’re leaning into the Elks part which defeats the purpose

 

[ABasin]

Rantanen 10
Stastny 44
Barrie 64

etc etc etc.

It's not as bleak as some propose.

Stastny was drafted 19 years ago. Barrie was drafted 15 years ago.

The Avs need to improve this.

 

[NOTENOUGHRYJOTHINGS]

It definitely has potential. There's a lot of unanswered questions though, including some significant ones(The two you alluded to with Landy/Nuke being the biggest ones).


You've also got the uncertainty in net, the lack of a 4th line(Particularly 4C), questions about the defense after the Top pairing... And then there's the question of age. We simply aren't a young group anymore. At what point does that start to really impact the top end of this team.


Every team has questions, the Avs aren't really any different then the others. But I definitely think we have more uncertainty then you'd want to have as a contender. Still, there's clearly a path for this team to be a favorite in the West again. Just need a lot of things to go right.

If everything goes right (and if it doesn't this is all moot) then Lehk LOC and Wood are available for the bottom 6. Meaning the 4th line has at least one winger who's above generic 4th liner quality.

Picking up a 4C shouldn't be too difficult. And there's even Kovalenko as the other 4th line winger who might be a positive there.

Trading for another legit second pairing guy and getting him integrated into the system will be expensive. Probably costs a first rounder and then more since retention is probably needed. That would be the one difficult hole to fill.

But those questions are ones that can be answered at the deadline.

Compared to if Nuke and Landy won't both be able to be top line wingers then the team is toast. Those aren't problems that can be answered with some slick deadline moves. Not to mention if Nuke goes AWOL during the playoffs then no moves are possible.

In my opinion the last bullet to fire to keep the window open was Byram. There's no more realistic big moves to bring in longer term help to the top 6 forwards and top 4 wingers. What you see is what you get at this point.

Maybe there's some magic like getting another Toews quality player for a cheap cap hit for a couple of picks. Or the next Nuke walks in off of tainting camp. But realistically those type of steals shouldn't happen.

 

[CobraAcesS]

If everything goes right (and if it doesn't this is all moot) then Lehk LOC and Wood are available for the bottom 6. Meaning the 4th line has at least one winger who's above generic 4th liner quality.

Picking up a 4C shouldn't be too difficult. And there's even Kovalenko as the other 4th line winger who might be a positive there.

Trading for another legit second pairing guy and getting him integrated into the system will be expensive. Probably costs a first rounder and then more since retention is probably needed. That would be the one difficult hole to fill.

But those questions are ones that can be answered at the deadline.

Compared to if Nuke and Landy won't both be able to be top line wingers then the team is toast. Those aren't problems that can be answered with some slick deadline moves. Not to mention if Nuke goes AWOL during the playoffs then no moves are possible.

In my opinion the last bullet to fire to keep the window open was Byram. There's no more realistic big moves to bring in longer term help to the top 6 forwards and top 4 wingers. What you see is what you get at this point.

Maybe there's some magic like getting another Toews quality player for a cheap cap hit for a couple of picks. Or the next Nuke walks in off of tainting camp. But realistically those type of steals shouldn't happen.

I think a high end starting goalie would be the most expensive, and difficult hole to fill. If we have to do both of those things I don't see how we pull that off.

Wingers are easy

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

If everything goes right (and if it doesn't this is all moot) then Lehk LOC and Wood are available for the bottom 6. Meaning the 4th line has at least one winger who's above generic 4th liner quality.

Picking up a 4C shouldn't be too difficult. And there's even Kovalenko as the other 4th line winger who might be a positive there.

Trading for another legit second pairing guy and getting him integrated into the system will be expensive. Probably costs a first rounder and then more since retention is probably needed. That would be the one difficult hole to fill.

Not necessarily. Walker cost us a 1st largely because we also had to dump $4M in dead money with RyJo in the deal.

Tanev only cost Dallas a 2nd + Conditional 3rd(Which the Condition wasn't met) and a prospect who was drafted in 2021 but has essentially turned into nothing since.

Hanifin as a top pairing rental returned a 1st + 3rd(Potentially was a 2nd but ended up a 3rd).



I think the NYR 2025 2nd we acquired by trading down this year was specifically acquired with the idea of adding a Dman at the deadline again. They likely know that's the weakest link on the lineup card currently. They knew the cost last year before having to attach RyJo to a deal and IMO they specifically added a 2025 2nd so they could get a Dman at this year's deadline again.


I wouldnt be surprised if David Savard is an Avs target come February/March.

 

[Avs91]

According to The Athletic staff, Avs and Preds have the same chance to win the cup next year.

Cale in his own league

I don't have access to the article, but I highly doubt those numbers are about chance to win the cup.
More likely they all chose 1 team to win the cup and combined the results.

Yeah just a heads up, that’s a staff vote, not odds based on any sort of metric or model

 

[expatriatedtexan]

Avs would be wise to get the Rantanen contract done before one of these Canadian teams sign their UFA to a stupid contract. Draisaitl and Marner are both in the same situation, and both could push the price up. Really going Rantanen takes a discount to stay. Maybe $10.5m x 8?

If Rant's takes 10M or less, I would sign him yesterday. The problem is I don't think he'll even entertain your 10.5M offer. I have a feeling he's looking to clear 100M on the contract which would be 12.5M/year. There have been years where he has been worth every penny of that amount. But there were years where 9.5 was an awful lot of money for a second contract as he was one of the first RFA's to get PAID as teams started to shift to a slightly risker choice of locking in players long term on second contracts at prices you hope would be discount some day.

I'm still of the mind that we should have been trying to trade Rants at the draft and prior to UFA. I just feel like we are locked in to either him walking for free next July or the Avs are going to get locked into a contract that only Mikko is happy with.

 

[NOTENOUGHRYJOTHINGS]

Not necessarily. Walker cost us a 1st largely because we also had to dump $4M in dead money with RyJo in the deal.

Tanev only cost Dallas a 2nd + Conditional 3rd(Which the Condition wasn't met) and a prospect who was drafted in 2021 but has essentially turned into nothing since.

Hanifin as a top pairing rental returned a 1st + 3rd(Potentially was a 2nd but ended up a 3rd).



I think the NYR 2025 2nd we acquired by trading down this year was specifically acquired with the idea of adding a Dman at the deadline again. They likely know that's the weakest link on the lineup card currently. They knew the cost last year before having to attach RyJo to a deal and IMO they specifically added a 2025 2nd so they could get a Dman at this year's deadline again.


I wouldnt be surprised if David Savard is an Avs target come February/March.

If rentals with retention are cheaper then even better.

I think there's a bit of a benefit to bringing in a new defender who has not yet been neutered by Bednar and the staff. Someone who will throw a few hits and play with some aggression on the PK.

 

[BobRossColton]

What if mikko pulls a Matthews and only wants a 4 year deal? What's he cost then?

 

[dahrougem2]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1811427920034070596

G at #61

I'd move Erik Karlsson down at least 30 spots lol