Speculation: Off-Season 2013 - Part II

[TheDaysOf 04]

There's no way we are competing right now. The future looks good because we have an excellent group of young prospects and great place for them to develop, and we're gonna add a #3 pick this weekend...but right now I don't see how we can be good. You have a goaltending issue that's been going on forever, the defense isn't that strong, there's too much being placed on our rookies (Johnson, Killorn, Gudas, Palat, and Panik) to play real well, and now we have a major hole without Vinny. We aren't in the S.E. anymore either. You could try to fix the 2nd line center hole through FA but I don't see the point. It's better off to build this team correctly than overpaying through free agency again. If Yzerman is trying to replicate the Detroit model, then that's how you do it. You draft and develop your core and your top players, so you don't have to outbid teams in the summer, and it's easier to keep contracts under control. The hard part about that is can you keep going not making the playoffs for 3 straight years + lose Vinny and expect fans to stay patient enough to see what this team could be 1,2, or 3 years from now?

 

[LightningStrikes]

Maybe something like this:

Killorn - Stamkos - St. Louis
Palat - Johnson - Purcell
Pyatt - Barkov - Panik
Thompson - Lapierre - Crombeen
(Labrie, Pouliot, Malone, whoever)

Hedman - Salo
Scuderi - Carle
Brewer - Gudas
(Aulie)

Bishop
Lindback

 

[LightningStrikes]

Mike Corcoran ‏@MikeCorcoranNHL 56m
Spoke with Kent Hughes, agent for RFA Benoit Pouliot. Said there have been preliminary talks with Lightning, unsure where talks will end up.

https://twitter.com/MikeCorcoranNHL/status/350290971755429888

 

[LTIR Trickery]

Sounds like Scuderi won't make it to free agency.

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

https://twitter.com/MikeCorcoranNHL/status/350290971755429888

I think with Vinny gone, we need Pouloit more now. With Killorn already here, Drouin or Barkov a high possibility to be picked and play here at 18, and Coop likely going with some more of his kids from the Crunch, this will be a young team. Especially if you lose Malone too, you need that stopgap. You need someone who can play in the top 6 and relieve some of the pressure you'd put on the younger guys until they're ready to handle top 6 minutes, responsibilities, and pressure to put up points.

 

[CupsOverCash]

Wonder what they do with that extra cash now. They need another center. Im hoping we draft Drouin but you wouldnt fault them for taking Barkov. Big need for size in the lineup.

 

[NatoGhost]

Assuming we draft Seth Jones or Drouin, what about signing Tyler Bozak or Derek Roy to help fill out our roster? I don't know too much about either of them. I was just looking at Capgeek UFA centers and they were near the top point-wise after skipping Lecavalier and Patrick Elias.

If we drafted a center like Barkov, what about signing Ryan Clowe? Not sure what he would demand though.

 

[Bolt32]

screw it, give the reigns to the kids. Sink or swim. We are the Tampa Bay Crunch now.

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

Assuming we draft Seth Jones or Drouin, what about signing Tyler Bozak or Derek Roy to help fill out our roster? I don't know too much about either of them. I was just looking at Capgeek UFA centers and they were near the top point-wise after skipping Lecavalier and Patrick Elias.

If we drafted a center like Barkov, what about signing Ryan Clowe? Not sure what he would demand though.

Roy or Bozak aren't really good fits, because we already have a small center in Tyler Johnson. Roy isn't that great anymore and Bozak without all the Toronto hype, was never that great to begin with. He's not really an ideal #2 center going forward.

And Clowe, he is friends with Purcell and he'd be a welcomed upgrade over Malone, but he'd probably ask for too much.

screw it, give the reigns to the kids. Sink or swim. We are the Tampa Bay Crunch now.

Let's not ruin them now that we have have a good prospect pool for once. A lot of our future rides on them.

 

[Steve Yzerman]

Angelidis re-signed. 1 year, 2 way contract.

 

[Pontius Palat]

Maybe something like this:

Killorn - Stamkos - St. Louis
Palat - Johnson - Purcell
Pyatt - Barkov - Panik
Thompson - Lapierre - Crombeen
(Labrie, Pouliot, Malone, whoever)

Hedman - Salo
Scuderi - Carle
Brewer - Gudas
(Aulie)

Bishop
Lindback

If this is our lineup then we'll get to add Ekblad/Reinhart/Nylander at the next draft.

 

[LightningStrikes]

If this is our lineup then we'll get to add Ekblad/Reinhart/Nylander at the next draft.

It's far from great and definitely not enough to compete. It's still early into the off-season but as things look today this team won't really be competing for another year or two at the earliest. From Yzerman's statement today: "We are committed to building a franchise focused on draft and development". Which actually makes me wonder about Marty's future with the team too TBH.

Then again, I guess you never know with Yzerman. As it stands (17/23 players on the roster) we have approx. $10 million in cap space - still counting Ohlund though. Malone might soon be asked to deliver his 12 team trade list which opens up another $4.5 million - minus whatever the return is.

Lots of holes. Lots of options.

 

[Yzlamic Preacher*]

It's far from great and definitely not enough to compete. It's still early into the off-season but as things look today this team won't really be competing for another year or two at the earliest. Which actually makes me wonder about Marty's future with the team too TBH.

Then again, I guess you never know with Yzerman. As it stands (17/23 players on the roster) we have approx. $10 million in cap space - still counting Ohlund though. Malone might soon be asked to deliver his 12 team trade list which opens up another $4.5 million - minus whatever the return is.

Lots of holes. Lots of options.

If we move Malone and Ohlund goes on on LTIR then we will have something like 18 million in cap space. Stupid money going to be thrown at Filpulla?

 

[Pontius Palat]

If we move Malone and Ohlund goes on on LTIR then we will have something like 18 million in cap space. Stupid money going to be thrown at Filpulla?

If you're gonna start throwing around stupid money then just offer sheet Pietrangelo.

 

[Yzlamic Preacher*]

If you're gonna start throwing around stupid money then just offer sheet Pietrangelo.

Well when I meant stupid money, I meant in relation to what Filpulla is worth. He is worth maybe 4 - 4.t but throw 5.5 at him. Also I'm all for the Pietrangelo idea.

 

[Steve Yzerman]

Well when I meant stupid money, I meant in relation to what Filpulla is worth. He is worth maybe 4 - 4.t but throw 5.5 at him. Also I'm all for the Pietrangelo idea.

We have almost 18 million in cap space? Offer sheet him now. Why shouldn't we?

 

[JFleegs]

We have almost 18 million in cap space? Offer sheet him now. Why shouldn't we?

Yzerplan muahahah(evil laugh)

 

[jg39]

If we move Malone and Ohlund goes on on LTIR then we will have something like 18 million in cap space. Stupid money going to be thrown at Filpulla?

Freeing up money to bring in Luongo




I hope to everything holy that's a joke.

 

[Yzlamic Preacher*]

We have almost 18 million in cap space? Offer sheet him now. Why shouldn't we?

Yup 18 million if everything goes exactly like planned. 10.1 right now, 3.5 off with Ohlund, and if Malone leaves 4. 5. That is 18.1 million, also if we get rid of Brewer 22 + million. There is a lot of room to play with.

Offer sheet Pietrangelo!

 

[2MinutesforGiraffing]

Which actually makes me wonder about Marty's future with the team too TBH.

That's what I was discussing today. Not gonna be surprised if Marty moves on, given the clear rebuilding we're doing. Unless Stevie has something big* up his sleeve, we're icing a mostly green team next year and won't be competitive, quite possibly for several years. MSL wants to compete and has at best a few years left to get another cup. It's really not fair to him to hold him in Tampa without a chance to win.

*If that something big is Luongo, I'm giving up

 

[Yzlamic Preacher*]

That's what I was discussing today. Not gonna be surprised if Marty moves on, given the clear rebuilding we're doing. Unless Stevie has something big* up his sleeve, we're icing a mostly green team next year and won't be competitive, quite possibly for several years. MSL wants to compete and has at best a few years left to get another cup. It's really not fair to him to hold him in Tampa without a chance to win.

*If that something big is Luongo, I'm giving up

I'm with you on this. If it's Luongo that's a paddlin'. Please someone make that meme, I'm at work and would like that as my avatar.

 

[HotPaquette]

Freeing up money to bring in Luongo




I hope to everything holy that's a joke.

Seeing as how Vinny was bought out because of his contract, I don't see us bringing in Luongo.

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

That's what I was discussing today. Not gonna be surprised if Marty moves on, given the clear rebuilding we're doing. Unless Stevie has something big* up his sleeve, we're icing a mostly green team next year and won't be competitive, quite possibly for several years. MSL wants to compete and has at best a few years left to get another cup. It's really not fair to him to hold him in Tampa without a chance to win.

*If that something big is Luongo, I'm giving up

Marty's a big believer in the Yzerplan and Yzerman refused to trade Marty at the deadline, so I don't think he's going anyway. We just lost our captain, and I would like to think MAB and Hall were good leaders too, so that makes Marty even more valuable to us. We need someone to lead this club as Syracuse continues to pass players our way and there's not too many better than him.

We have the talent in the AHL and I'm confident we can develop fine NHL players. The question will be how fast can they become impact players for us. Post 05 lockout, the Penguins, Blackhawks, and Capitals were all able to go from losers to yearly playoff teams because they were able to infuse their prospects into their team and they become quality NHL players. Those transitions took 2 or 3 years.

Murray always talks about how winning in the AHL has helped speed up the development of our prospects. We saw that when guys like Palat and Johnson were able to make a pretty smooth transition into the NHL. But how fast can a player like Panik for instance, fit comfortably in our top 6 and put up points like a top 6 NHL winger. Same goes for Kucherov, Namestnikov, Connolly, and some others. Maybe a guy like Drouin comes into this league and lights it up. That helps the process incredibly.

Martys got 2 more years on his deal. Hopefully by then this team is in a much different state and these prospects and young players more than not become the players we thought they could be.

 

[Yzlamic Preacher*]

Marty's a big believer in the Yzerplan and Yzerman refused to trade Marty at the deadline, so I don't think he's going anyway. We just lost our captain, and I would like to think MAB and Hall were good leaders too, so that makes Marty even more valuable to us. We need someone to lead this club as Syracuse continues to pass players our way and there's not too many better than him.

We have the talent in the AHL and I'm confident we can develop fine NHL players. The question will be how fast can they become impact players for us. Post 05 lockout, the Penguins, Blackhawks, and Capitals were all able to go from losers to yearly playoff teams because they were able to infuse their prospects into their team and they become quality NHL players. Those transitions took 2 or 3 years.

Murray always talks about how winning in the AHL has helped speed up the development of our prospects. We saw that when guys like Palat and Johnson were able to make a pretty smooth transition into the NHL. But how fast can a player like Panik for instance, fit comfortably in our top 6 and put up points like a top 6 NHL winger. Same goes for Kucherov, Namestnikov, Connolly, and some others. Maybe a guy like Drouin comes into this league and lights it up. That helps the process incredibly.

Martys got 2 more years on his deal. Hopefully by then this team is in a much different state and these prospects and young players more than not become the players we thought they could be.

I read this like a father was giving his child advice for adulthood. Lol

 

[TBLHoser]

This may already be old news by now....per an interview with SFY, he said that they were not discussing any more buyouts of players. They will not be overly active in free agency and plan to fill needs with younger players ready to move up from Syracuse such as Barberio. Also, acquisitions by trade may be possible if it's the right fit. He feels Brewer and Carle will benefit from a full training camp and he's not concerned about Brewer, saying "he'll be fine". At this time, Malone will remain with the team - he's had no discussions with him.

....and Barkov is a definite possibility but it depends on how things fall with the first 2 picks.