Off-Season Roster Thread #2 -- Nothing to do but wait

[Djp]

Way way above where they’ll be just signing Olofsson.

they need to spend a lot of money. Over 10 million dollars. With limited positions available.

current roster

Skinner, KO, Girgs, Mitts, Tuch, Thompson, cozend, Asplund. 8 for 28.6M
Dahlin, Power, Joki, Samuelson, Fitz 5 for $11.1M

8-5-0 for 37.7M
resign Bryson, UPL, Olofsson, and Hinostroza/ secondary vet player
2 of kid forwards on team ( Quinn, Peterka)
dead space added from buy out
12-6-1 for $51M with 1-1-1 to figure out plus an additional roster spot.
with UPL you coukd sign him to a higher 2 yr contract with year 1 lower expecting him to be in AHL at least some of season but year 2 is high figuring he’s on the team so like $2M+ so cap hit is about $1.5M

Contracts out there like Ferland they can and will likely grab I'm sure.

Cap floor is I think 60.8 million now since it was 60.2 this past season. Basically they need to be at 61 million or higher.

if it’s that they have nearly 0.8M fir Hodgkin buy out. So it’s $60M as target.

 

[Fezzy126]

Way way above where they’ll be just signing Olofsson.

they need to spend a lot of money. Over 10 million dollars. With limited positions available.

Realistic offseason blueprint:
1) Sign Olofsson for ~$5M AAV (EH contract projections have him at 4 x $4.9M)
2) Sign a starting goalie for ~$5M AAV
3) Sign a vet 3rd pairing defenseman for ~$2.5M AAV
4) Trade for the Seabrook contract after this year's $4M signing bonus is paid

This puts the cap number over $66M, which should give us a little flexibility in case we want to move out Bjork or sell of a piece at the deadline.

 

[Fjordsen]

Campbell
Anderson

UPL and Subban/Tokarski or someone similar in Rochester.

 

[brian_griffin]

And then Adams just re-signs Anderson and Pysyk.

Fleury and Letang would be the top-notch steakhouse dinner.

Anderson and Pysyk would be hitting the drive-thru because the steakhouse is closed Mondays.

Check the calendar Kevyn.

But seriously, while I think the chances are slim for either or both to sign, Adams SHOULD pitch it as a package deal to both and their agents given their time and Cups in PIT.

 

[Matt Ress]

Realistic offseason blueprint:
1) Sign Olofsson for ~$5M AAV (EH contract projections have him at 4 x $4.9M)
2) Sign a starting goalie for ~$5M AAV
3) Sign a vet 3rd pairing defenseman for ~$2.5M AAV
4) Trade for the Seabrook contract after this year's $4M signing bonus is paid

This puts the cap number over $66M, which should give us a little flexibility in case we want to move out Bjork or sell of a piece at the deadline.

And lots of room to BUY at the deadline

 

[nickdawg95]

I'd like to try and grab wood from NJD local guy would probably want to be here (Girgs replacement) ? throw some money at some mentors

wood 2x3
letang 7/3
Maf 5x3

Skinner-TT-Tuch
Asplund-Cozens-Oloffson
krebs/JJP-Mitts-Quinn
Wood-Girgenson-Okposo

Samuelson-Dahlin
Power-Letang
Bryson-Jokiharju

MAF
UPL

4 top 40 picks from this draft in the pool

good looking group

 

[Archie Lee]

I'd like to try and grab wood from NJD local guy would probably want to be here (Girgs replacement) ? throw some money at some mentors

wood 2x3
letang 7/3
Maf 5x3

Skinner-TT-Tuch
Asplund-Cozens-Oloffson
krebs/JJP-Mitts-Quinn
Wood-Girgenson-Okposo

Samuelson-Dahlin
Power-Letang
Bryson-Jokiharju

MAF
UPL

4 top 40 picks from this draft in the pool

good looking group

The Fleury/Letang idea is intriguing as a capfriendly/fantasy/roster-building exercise. I would certainly be excited if those two or comparable players were added this off-season. Nothing of the sorts is going to happen though.

Adams is a bright guy, I think. He knows that expectations will be higher this year and that at best the team can miss the playoffs for one more season before he moves into the cross-hairs of widespread fan and media discontentment. What I don't think he will do though, is acquire a player or players who will accelerate those expectations; not this off-season anyway. He is going to slow walk this and let expectations grow more organically with the players that are already in the system and who will be brought in through the draft.

I'm not cynical about this. I don't think he is doing this to protect his own job. I think he believes this is the right path to sustained success. As a fan, I would like to see a bit more urgency to actively compete now, but I do respect that he has a plan.

 

[Djp]

He's hitting free agency because he asked for $35mil over 5 years from Pittsburgh, which not surprisingly led to a breakdown in talks. Ice Breakers: Penguins, Kris Letang have big gap to bridge in negotiations

He appears to be looking for one last long-term contract, so I doubt he'd take a 2 year deal for anything short of obscene money.

My guess is he'll end up getting 4 years and somewhere between $25-28mil. If that were front-loaded and didn't include trade protection...I might actually be in favor of the Sabres going there.

i will not sign Letang more than 2 years at this time. 35+ rules are tied to the contract.

 

[Sebastien]

I'd like to try and grab wood from NJD local guy would probably want to be here (Girgs replacement) ? throw some money at some mentors

wood 2x3
letang 7/3
Maf 5x3

Skinner-TT-Tuch
Asplund-Cozens-Oloffson
krebs/JJP-Mitts-Quinn
Wood-Girgenson-Okposo

Samuelson-Dahlin
Power-Letang
Bryson-Jokiharju

MAF
UPL

4 top 40 picks from this draft in the pool

good looking group

Maf and Letang aren't signing in Buffalo, let's be real

 

[nickdawg95]

Maf and Letang aren't signing in Buffalo, let's be real

not with that attitude

 

[KrakenSabresMike]

not with that attitude

I would do 2x6 or 7 for MAF - Get us ready to where we need to be before we might need to re-up a bunch of folks. Same for Letang. Our biggest advantage this year is tons of salary cap space in the short term, so you can way over pay on 1-2 years for what we need. Obviously better to get useful assets back from a trade from a team that needs to shed cap but if there’s an absence of that being out there … Pay a couple older really good guys too much money for two years.

 

[joshjull]

There’s no good reason we can’t get Letang and one of the better goalies with this much space for 2 years each. Make it so they can’t say no.

If they want to take a run at the Cup or at least be guaranteed a playoff run, we can’t provide that.

No matter how much some of you want to believe it to be so. We don’t have much control over those guys coming here. It also wouldn’t be very smart to give them a ridiculous contracts just to land them.

 

[joshjull]

I would think if for some reason Letang got to the point where he is at least willing to listen to an offer; one of his main questions would be: Who is going to be your goaltender?

I imagine its more likely to be “will you give me the 5 year deal I wanted with the Pens?”

 

[joshjull]

Yeah, I'm not losing sleep if they get a full-time gig somewhere else. And yes, they have things the team needs but the packages thus far have not been complete enough to worry overly much. There will be guys on almost every team who are similar and in similar positions. Let's face it, if someone wants an AHL winger with size and jam... AJ Greer just rubbed the Amerks faces in it just a couple weeks ago and has all sorts of good things that Murray brings and is group VI UFA.

I‘d be much more disappointed about losing Fitz.

This past season was his 3rd as a professional but the first and only year developing at defense in a normal professional league. His first year was either at wing or a healthy scratch thanks to Botts holding on to 8 million dmen in the organization. Then last season was the glorified rec league version of the AHL. I think Fitz was just getting his feet wet as a pro this year.

 

[Sebastien]

I would do 2x6 or 7 for MAF - Get us ready to where we need to be before we might need to re-up a bunch of folks. Same for Letang. Our biggest advantage this year is tons of salary cap space in the short term, so you can way over pay on 1-2 years for what we need. Obviously better to get useful assets back from a trade from a team that needs to shed cap but if there’s an absence of that being out there … Pay a couple older really good guys too much money for two years.

Letang isn't signing a short contract. Also MAF isn't signing with a team which isn't a contender. Along with MAF making it clear money isn't everything to him. He wants to win. He would resign with Minnesota, go back to Pittsburgh, or sign with a contender like Colorado if they don't resign Keumper. He's also mentioned not moving his family again so that will be a big factor for him

 

[Chainshot]

I‘d be much more disappointed about losing Fitz.

This past season was his 3rd as a professional but the first and only year developing at defense in a normal professional league. His first year was either at wing or a healthy scratch thanks to Botts holding on to 8 million dmen in the organization. Then last season was the glorified rec league version of the AHL. I think Fitz was just getting his feet wet as a pro this year.

Yeah, I could see that. Of the two, a RHD who has some NHL dimensions to his game (even if that is physical in nature), getting reps is important.

 

[TheMistyStranger]

I feel like transactionally, it's going to be a really boring offseason, but the overall story is going to be fascinating.

 

[Djp]

Did anyone here watch him in the khl?

I‘d be much more disappointed about losing Fitz.

This past season was his 3rd as a professional but the first and only year developing at defense in a normal professional league. His first year was either at wing or a healthy scratch thanks to Botts holding on to 8 million dmen in the organization. Then last season was the glorified rec league version of the AHL. I think Fitz was just getting his feet wet as a pro this year.

Yeah, I could see that. Of the two, a RHD who has some NHL dimensions to his game (even if that is physical in nature), getting reps is important.

iagree. He wasn’t given enough experience and is on a learning curve.

i do not want to expose him to waivers and lose him.

He could be a 6/7 with a vet they sign/acquire at around $3M-$4M range. Players are going to get banged up so hey rotate players.

i think Bryson and Dahlin can shift sides if needed. They aren’t necessarily tied to being a RD.

what is done depends heavily on the draft. If they pick aRD at 9, expect them on buffalo in 23/24.

 

[Zach716]

If they want to take a run at the Cup or at least be guaranteed a playoff run, we can’t provide that.

No matter how much some of you want to believe it to be so. We don’t have much control over those guys coming here. It also wouldn’t be very smart to give them a ridiculous contracts just to land them.

I didn’t provide a goalie name on purpose because that field is so wide open this off-season it’s impossible to predict. I would like Fleury/Kuemper/Campbell/Husso as a 2-3 year buffer but it’s not really worth discussing at this point.

I mentioned Letang for a few reasons
-Big time league vet who has been there
-Extremely lowballed by Pittsburg @ 5M, reports that Crosby was pissed about it
-Still high caliber player
-Won multiple cups, his legacy won’t depend on winning another like we speculate with other older stars for example Thornton
-More anecdotal but have heard on podcasts that players play more for a paycheck than winning than fans would like to believe. No player will ever admit this and it would be impossible to prove but at least worth mentioning I guess
-RD that fills a huge need
-Would be an incredible mentor to all of our young defensemen
-Need to hit the cap floor. Admittingly, this won’t be hard to do as there is always Boychuk-similar deals around the league but I’d argue we should get some bang for the buck
-2 years isn’t inhibiting at all if we look at our current ELCs/2nd contract guys
-Our young guys may see he’s overpaid but these guys aren’t dumb. They will know exactly why he is compensated for what he is and if they don’t Granato will surely make it very clear. If anything it’s motivation for young guys to try harder now to get those ride off into the sunset deals at the end of the career like him. It won’t be debilitating imo like a early 30s long term Tavares situation for future negotiations

He seems like a perfect fit to me, but I can respect if others disagree.

 

[NotABadPeriod]

I didn’t provide a goalie name on purpose because that field is so wide open this off-season it’s impossible to predict. I would like Fleury/Kuemper/Campbell/Husso as a 2-3 year buffer but it’s not really worth discussing at this point.

I mentioned Letang for a few reasons
-Big time league vet who has been there
-Extremely lowballed by Pittsburg @ 5M, reports that Crosby was pissed about it
-Still high caliber player
-Won multiple cups, his legacy won’t depend on winning another like we speculate with other older stars for example Thornton
-More anecdotal but have heard on podcasts that players play more for a paycheck than winning than fans would like to believe. No player will ever admit this and it would be impossible to prove
-RD that fills a huge need
-Would be an incredible mentor to all of our young defensemen
-Need to hit the cap floor. Admittingly, this won’t be hard to do as there is always Boychuk-similar deals around the league but I’d argue we should get some bang for the buck
-2 years isn’t inhibiting at all if we look at our current ELCs/2nd contract guys
-Our young guys may see he’s overpaid but these guys aren’t dumb. They will know exactly why he is compensated for what he is and if they don’t Granato will surely make it very clear. If anything it’s motivation for young guys to try harder now to get those ride off into the sunset deals at the end of the career like him. It won’t be debilitating imo like a early 30s long term Tavares situation for future negotiations

He seems like a perfect fit to me, but I can respect if others disagree.

Letang is a better fit for Buffalo than Buffalo is for Letang, and therein lies the problem: I cannot see Letang signing here, even with Buffalo throwing stupid money at him.

 

[Zach716]

Letang is a better fit for Buffalo than Buffalo is for Letang, and therein lies the problem: I cannot see Letang signing here, even with Buffalo throwing stupid money at him.

If Letang doesn’t resign with Pit what’s your reasoning? He’s won 2 cups already and is 35. I think speculation that he needs more is just as weak as he doesn’t and would rather be paid. We can’t get inside his head so it’ll just be a circular discussion.

 

[Ace]

I feel like transactionally, it's going to be a really boring offseason, but the overall story is going to be fascinating.

with me it’s house money. I’m more excited about what they’re going to add internally (full year of Power, Quinn, Peterka, fingers crossed a healthy Mitts) then what they can add in free agency.

i just need them to take goalie seriously. No excuses. The team deserves it. UPL didn’t show anything that they can be counting on him at all. Levi is far away. Get a goalie.

 

[TheMistyStranger]

I wouldn't mind seeing what the Avs want for Compher

 

[SnuggaRUDE]

Myers to Buffalo with no retention gets Buffalo to the cap floor and slots in a 2nd pairing RHD. Plus, let's be honest, it'd be super fun to see Thompson, Tuch, Power, Myers on the ice at same time + Skinner.

 

[TehDoak]

Realistic offseason blueprint:
1) Sign Olofsson for ~$5M AAV (EH contract projections have him at 4 x $4.9M)
2) Sign a starting goalie for ~$5M AAV
3) Sign a vet 3rd pairing defenseman for ~$2.5M AAV
4) Trade for the Seabrook contract after this year's $4M signing bonus is paid

This puts the cap number over $66M, which should give us a little flexibility in case we want to move out Bjork or sell of a piece at the deadline.

Using LTIR to go over the cap floor (again) would be unacceptable. Spend real dollars to get to the floor. If you want to get paid by Tampa to take on the LTIR after that’s fine. But using it to circumvent the cap floor is giving a middle finger to the fans (again)