Speculation: Offseason Roster Building Thread - Trades, Signings, Rumors

[Carolinas Identity*]

I really like Hanzal, but he would be redundant on this team I think. Ideally would like to make a push for a real 1C

UFA//Trade
Staal
Rask
McClemment

 

[NotOpie]

I really like Hanzal, but he would be redundant on this team I think. Ideally would like to make a push for a real 1C

UFA//Trade
Staal
Rask
McClemment

I don't think that McClement is back next season. Also, Lindy played a lot more center is some of these final games. I wonder if they are thinking about that experiment again.

If that is the case, I'm a little concerned. In his last 10 games Lindy potted one goal and put up 3 assists. He just seems to see the ice better on the wing.

 

[DaveG]

Given that Dahlbeck is arbitration-eligible, I don't think a simple qualifying offer would suffice. He'd actually have to accept it and sign a contract. Regular RFAs technically have to be under contract for the 17-18 season, so I don't know if a qualifying offer does it alone. It might be a distinction without a difference either way. But because arbitration eligible RFAs have that option, I don't know how the league would look at their contract status.



I like the idea of bringing back Stalberg. I also think that Wallmark is the odds on favorite for the 4C role. Fleury likely floats up to the bottom pairing.

But I just don't know about protecting Stemper....there are times when I really liked him and if he was exposed and taken, we'd have to find another 40-45 point guy in addition to a top line scoring threat. I've said it before, I don't think Peters wants 4 rookies starting on next year's team. I doubt he even wants 3.

When you look at the line-up above, it brings into clarity our challenges. The free agent market is pretty weak and guys like Oshie are going to get paid.

In the end I don't want to depend on PDG/McGinn to take the next step scoring-wise (even though I think they can). Nor do I want to depend on a rookie coming in and potting 20 goals on his way to 50+ points. My guess is that Ronnie is equally uncomfortable with that scenario. If Stempniak goes he will need to bring in 80-90 points across a couple of guys. That's a tall order in this environment.



I think Stempniak was brought in specifically to be expansion fodder (as well as secondary scoring). He's 34 and will be 35 next Feb. I protect the youth and bite the bullet hunting for that extra scoring.

I don't hate the idea of exposing Stempy, and if we think that Saarela or Goat could step in and produce at a similar rate there's no reason not to expose say him and Nordy and protect the two kids as I think PDG and McGinn could always still be excellent 4th liners.

As you said though I think the concept of exposing Stempy and him getting taken not just means we have to find a replacement for him, we also have another top 9 wing slot to fill as well and while I'd bank on one being filled from within I wouldn't roll the dice with both. So basically it would be up to management to go out and try to get a guy like Williams or Eaves to fill that slot.

IF we expose him and he's taken I think:

Skinner - Rask - (UFA)
Aho - J Staal - Lindholm
(Rookie) - (UFA) - Teravainen
Nordy - (Wallmark/UFA) - PDG/McGinn
PDG/McGinn

Slavin - Pesce
Hanifin - Faulk
Fleury - (UFA)
Dahlbeck



Main reason I like Hanzal so much is that the team is really missing that physical element. He's banged up a good bit, but he'd make the team instantly harder to play against to be sure. And Ryan in the minors or as our #23 player next year gives an OK option to fill in on that 3rd line if needed.

 

[NotOpie]

I wouldn't be surprised at all if Valentin Zykov is the rookie "scorer" who makes the team. Peters clearly liked what he saw in his short stint here.

I think at least one of the other Top 9 forwards comes from a trade.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

IF we expose him and he's taken I think:

Skinner - Rask - (UFA)
Aho - J Staal - Lindholm
(Rookie) - (UFA) - Teravainen
Nordy - (Wallmark/UFA) - PDG/McGinn
PDG/McGinn

Slavin - Pesce
Hanifin - Faulk
Fleury - (UFA)
Dahlbeck

I know we likely won't get a better option, but I really don't like seeing Rask as our top C. Heck, he was relegated to 3C quite often at the end of the season, but I digress. I know any UFAs Francis brings in will be of the Stempniak, Versteeg, Dahlbeck, Tennyson, Stalberg variety. Will be interesting to hear what Francis says tomorrow, but I didn't really like his "don't need any major moves, just a few tweaks" comment the other night.

Career and/or better than expected seasons: Skinner, Aho, Slavin, Lindholm, Teravainen. About what we'd expect: Staal, Stempniak, Rask, Faulk, Pesce, Hanifin. No doubt guys like Aho, Lindholm TT, Pesce, Hanifin can improve on what they've done, but the team really had no guys that had off years and the team had no major injuries. IMO, this team is more than a "tweak" away from the playoffs.

 

[Big Daddy Cane]

If GMRF goes the UFA route, I think Jagr would be a good target. The Canes need better depth; he can still put up 2nd line numbers. The team needs to get bigger up front; Jagr is still hard to knock off the puck. The organization has shied away from giving out regrettable contracts to free agents in recent years; Jagr will most likely get 1-year of term on the open market. Additionally, Jagr has a connection with GMRF, and he would bring leadership and winning experience to a young locker room.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

If GMRF goes the UFA route, I think Jagr would be a good target. The Canes need better depth; he can still put up 2nd line numbers. The team needs to get bigger up front; Jagr is still hard to knock off the puck. The organization has shied away from giving out regrettable contracts to free agents in recent years; Jagr will most likely get 1-year of term on the open market. Additionally, Jagr has a connection with GMRF, and he would bring leadership and winning experience to a young locker room.

Florida fans have said his skating has really tailed off now. Not sure if that fits with how the Canes play, as that isn't changing in the next year.

 

[DaveG]

I know we likely won't get a better option, but I really don't like seeing Rask as our top C. Heck, he was relegated to 3C quite often at the end of the season, but I digress. I know any UFAs Francis brings in will be of the Stempniak, Versteeg, Dahlbeck, Tennyson, Stalberg variety. Will be interesting to hear what Francis says tomorrow, but I didn't really like his "don't need any major moves, just a few tweaks" comment the other night.

Career and/or better than expected seasons: Skinner, Aho, Slavin, Lindholm, Teravainen. About what we'd expect: Staal, Stempniak, Rask, Faulk, Pesce, Hanifin. No doubt guys like Aho, Lindholm TT, Pesce, Hanifin can improve on what they've done, but the team really had no guys that had off years and the team had no major injuries. IMO, this team is more than a "tweak" away from the playoffs.

Neither do I, but we're basically competent goaltending away from being a playoff team as is if we just add some more competent players to go with it, not even necessarily first liners. Thing is I don't see Sergio Garcia Matt Duchene as a #1 anymore either, or at least he certainly wasn't playing anywhere near that this year especially after the rumors surfaced, and he's rumored to be the only one really in consideration for being a #1 on the market. To me he hasn't been a #1 caliber guy for 3 years (may have been a low end one in 15-16) and with his contract he's nowhere near worth what the Avs fans want as a return anyway, though looking at their system they'd actually probably be better off doing a quality for quantity trade if they get the #1 or ESPECIALLY if they get the #2 pick.

Johnson (also rumored to be on the market) really crashed down to earth and DEFINITELY isn't one IMHO.

So shy of something strange like a Hanifin for Reinhart swap to get a potential #1C, just not seeing it.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Neither do I, but we're basically competent goaltending away from being a playoff team as is if we just add some more competent players to go with it, not even necessarily first liners.

I'm not so sure of that. Like I said, we had no down seasons by any key players, no major injuries, and had a franchise record point streak to get where we were this past season. I'm of the firm belief that we need to address our forward talent as much as we need to address goaltending. I don't expect that WSH, PIT, NYR, or CLB is going to fall back anytime soon so we'll be fighting for a wild card spot most likely with the likes of TBL, FLA, PHI, TOR, BOS, NYI, OTT.

Thing is I don't see Sergio Garcia Matt Duchene as a #1 anymore either, or at least he certainly wasn't playing anywhere near that this year especially after the rumors surfaced, and he's rumored to be the only one really in consideration for being a #1 on the market. To me he hasn't been a #1 caliber guy for 3 years (may have been a low end one in 15-16) and with his contract he's nowhere near worth what the Avs fans want as a return anyway, though looking at their system they'd actually probably be better off doing a quality for quantity trade if they get the #1 or ESPECIALLY if they get the #2 pick.

Johnson (also rumored to be on the market) really crashed down to earth and DEFINITELY isn't one IMHO.

So shy of something strange like a Hanifin for Reinhart swap to get a potential #1C, just not seeing it.

Oh, no doubt. There are NO easy options for a 1C. That said, ignoring the potential cost to get him and his contract term, I'd take Duchene on this team any day, and based on what Friedman said at the deadline, I'm guessing RF feels that way also. I'm not going to let a bad stretch on a terrible team, with the circus around trading him, affect my view on him. We've seen other fan bases write off Skinner in a bad season before. I don't think Duchene will be traded to Carolina, but he'd be an improvement over Rask IMO.

 

[A Star is Burns]

Haven't seen many inspiring plans from anyone so far (which probably makes them realistic to an extent). Hopefully RF will have a few tricks up his sleeve with expansion and cap considerations. Not that I'm worried that we'd try for him, but we should stay very very far away from Hanzal. His will likely be an instant regret contract. I wouldn't hate Jagr, but I'm not loving the idea of him either at this point. And I'd much rather keep Stempniak, and expose Nordy and one of the other 4th liners on a good team in McGinn/PDG. Stempniak has warts, but we can't replace that production super easily. If they can find a way to get Duchene without giving up one of the top four D, definitely a great option. I'm in no way worried about him bouncing back under the right circumstances. Can't imagine giving up one of the big guns for him for two years though.

Overall though, by tweaks, hopefully Francis means at a minimum a goalie, a veteran D, and a relatively high end forward. If not, it won't be impossible to make it, but it will likely be similar to the last couple of years hoping for things to break right and getting great seasons from tons of young guys like the Leafs, which is rare.

 

[Big Daddy Cane]

Florida fans have said his skating has really tailed off now. Not sure if that fits with how the Canes play, as that isn't changing in the next year.

A slower-paced, heavy, puck possession line can work in the system (Nordstrom – Staal – pre-injury Nestrasil ). Then again, the 16-17 version of that line, with post-injury Nestrasil, didn’t work. I don’t know where Jagr falls on the Nestrasil continuum.

 

[Vagrant]

I believe the problem is that we have so many guys stuck between 3rd and 4th and 5th line players that it's tough to decide who comes and goes. Nordstrom, McGinn, PDG, Ryan, Wallmark, Poturalski, Zykov, etc. It's really the same problem we have all through the lines. I don't think you could get away with saying that we have all that many slam dunk top six forwards. Skinner and Aho are certainly players that would be Top 6 anywhere they played. I don't know if Lindholm and Rask are at that level yet. Jordan still profiles as an absolute fantastic 3rd line center. Probably the best and most ideally suited for that job in the entire game, but there's just not enough offense to really feel comfortable with him being deployed with an offensive intention. Stempniak is an almost second line player who disappears too much, but an otherwise serviceable 3rd liner in a very nondescript "huh, he did have 40 points." capacity. Not entirely meant as a knock. But the bottom of the forward bin here are replacement level guys at this point in time and we're just not getting enough from the Top 6 in a scoring capacity. Teuvo was supposed to blossom into that 60-65 point threat here and I think Francis' biggest disappointment this season was the lack of a decisive step forward from him. I don't rule it out as a possibility, because we're going to have to make that gamble again, but he really needs to step up if our forward group is going to be competitive. I think between Rask, Lindholm, and Teuvo we're looking at 3 guys who are all on the cusp of being 2nd line players but all have a significant catch to them. Rask's wavering intensity concerns me as it relates to his long term potential in a scoring line. Plus, his skating does him few favors. He's right there on that line of being the 7th best forward on a really strong team and he edges back and forth from the 3rd to 9th on any given night. Rarely the best player in a particular game. Lindholm is a board favorite, but he's another guy that's really on the bubble of being a slam dunk for your Top 6. Again, it's the difference between the visible version of him and the invisible version. The difference between Lindholm and Rask is that Lindholm is easily able to be your best forward some nights, but he also tends to have stretches where he's not mentally checked in. It's part of the development process most likely, as the version we saw in the last 40 games of this season really didn't have too many dramatic stinkers. Ideally that continues into next season and he starts on time. But I was browsing and saw an interesting stat on him:

Result Win 32 7 23 30 16 14 4 2 1 0 72 9.7 749 564:26 17:38
Loss 26 2 6 8 -22 0 2 0 0 0 52 3.8 636 484:49 18:39
Tie 14 2 5 7 4 2 2 0 0 0 27 7.4 358 259:48 18:33

It stands to reason that most players would show better in wins, but it seems like his split in this department is pretty drastic. I think it shows you that he fills exactly the void we have when he's on his game. In terms of being a favorite to take that next step, Lindholm is probably the one who makes the jump into legitimate Top 6 next season. I think his consistency down the stretch really correlated with our team success during that time. As it seems from the above, when his line wins against the opposing line we project to be competitive.

Teuvo is still a mystery. His situation is very Granlund-like. Ideally he follows that same trajectory and next season is his real breakout, but in the interim he's probably not a guy that you could assume a certain amount of production from. Something about being reliant on his offense is unsettling despite his talent. It's hard to quantify what exactly makes me feel that way, but there's some trepidation and uncertainty around him. He's another one in that weird stage of development where it could go either way. With all three of these players, it feels wrong to call them 3rd liners and it feels wrong to call them 2nd liners. This season didn't do a great deal to make those waters any less murky and that's probably the less encouraging flipside to the development of our defensemen.

As it stands moving forward, it's anyone's guess if any or all of them transcend to being comfortable 2nd line forwards. We need it to happen desperately, because it's our only real hope of significant improvement unless our upgrade in net is so extremely productive that the strength of our defense will carry us most of the way. That's not entirely unreasonable to imagine.

As far as the favorites for the bottom six, McGinn really won this season away from PDG if you view them as competitors for a similar role. Nordstrom will play for his cap number if not much else, though he did look better as the season grew longer. But I don't think Francis was thrilled with his investment here. I think if he wasn't contracted through next season we'd consider walking away from him and allowing PDG and McGinn to absorb his role. McClement won't be back at all. Derek Ryan may be a surprise resigning and a controversial one. I don't think you can get away from it. Lucas Wallmark didn't really inspire urgency during his recall to work him in somehow. He'll be interesting to watch in camp, but he seems right there on that line. The fact that he doesn't seem to have a specialty or an ingredient we really lack will hurt his case, especially when presented with the option of adding some size and physicality in free agency. I don't think we brought in Bickell to not play. I truly think we had every intention of having him play a role and I think that Francis will look there again. A big, physical, faceoff winning guy for the PK and 4th line will be a priority. In the absence of McClement, it would be nice to have a veteran there as well. Ideally one that could also keep up if some offense was there to be made. If we can find all of those traits, we might pay more than we want. But we need a 4th line with an established identity and not a mishmash of confusion of guys that Peters is currently unhappy with but not so unhappy as to remove them from the lineup. It would be nice to take Nordstrom, PDG, McGinn, and whatever center they decide to put between them and just say you're our 4th line. Figure it out. Whoever loses is the 13th forward. That kind of depth is what we need.

Cheap offense would be another priority for us in free agency if we can find it. This would be where Jagr would fit if he wasn't such a bad fit for our system, but he's in the right neighborhood. Either an older player who still has a little juice left or an inconsistent guy we think we can leverage into. That goes double if we end up losing Stempniak in expansion.

 

[Anton Babchuk]

My only thought was for expansion draft purposes.

Though we can just qualify Dahlbeck lol

The Preds re-signed Irwin for expansion draft purposes for 650k and he's better than Tennyson. Canucks signed Megna for 675k for the expansion draft as well.

Both Dahlbeck and Tennyson would be extremely lucky to get one-way deals from anyone. They have no leverage to get $1.5M, even with the expansion draft.

 

[bleedgreen]

I think the only potential "major" deal we will see is for goalie. I'm not sure that when RF says "third pairing" defenseman that he means anything different than JR would've meant. Bargain bin hunting that hopefully in an expansion draft year yields a decent guy who will be here at least a couple of years. I think RF sees us as one goalie away from the playoffs, and based off the season we just had it's hard to argue against that.I'd like to add something sexy but that would strain the budget and as long as PK handles the wallet RF is fighting the same battle there that JR was. RF knows he has one season left of three ELC's on the back end, and at least two of those guys are gonna get very well paid next summer which will change our pay structure. In that setting I don't know how big a forward we are capable of adding.

I think he wants internal candidates for both the third pairing and "20 goal scorer" spots. Im curious about the development of Fleury and Mckeown. They didn't get called up which makes you curious how much they believe those two are third pairing guys next season, though they were making the playoff run and maybe thought there was as much value in leaving them there? I'm guessing he expects at least one of them competing for the 5-6 spots.

The 20 goals could come from Mcginn, whom Peters likes or PDG hypothetically though I'm not seeing that. I don't like the idea of counting on Goat next year, let him develop slow. If he steals a spot, so be it but that shouldn't be where they count on 20 goals. Duchene would bring 20 goals and would absolutely be our first line center. We could pray the price fell due to the late season struggles, but if it has then Sakic has no business trading him.

I haven't commented on it yet, but I really enjoyed this season more than any other in recent years. I have enjoyed the Peters era in general far more than any other than Lavi's brief period over the last decade. He has made the most of a limited lineup and has played an intelligent style for todays game. We've been competitive and increasingly more skilled. People were so upset over some of the losses we had this season, I couldn't be because these were games we used to have no business being in. Now we do. When we didn't get a new goalie last season and made it clear we were riding the kids on D then for me there was little hope of the playoffs, so to be as close as we were was pretty amazing and we were exciting to watch which to me personally is the most gratifying part. If RF doesn't do anything more than improve the goaltending and add a couple more spare parts I can't question it. We're climbing the ladder and it's fun to watch. I can't criticize him other than thinking if we made a move on a goalie last season we'd still be playing, but we don't know what the prices really were for us.

I thought Ward had an outstanding season. All the highlight saves with far fewer softies. His most consistent year in a long time. It's not enough obviously but I refuse to pin this season on him.

 

[bleedgreen]

I have to add I don't get any negativity people have for Nordy or Ryan. Nordy was a beast. He's our fastest player, our best forechecker and he works like he's being whipped. He creates chances out of nothing, and he together with Stalberg was really fun to watch. I don't care if he gets knocked over easily and that he doesn't finish much. He's becoming a high end fourth liner that any team would love to have. Peters loves him, the guy does exactly what he's asked to do. I'm not sure what's not to like here. We have a team that had a lot of holes in our roster and this guy has taken one and made it his own. Just because it isn't one of the higher spots is no reason to not like the guy, all the spots need to be filled.

Which brings me to Ryan. So bipolar around here about the guy. When he was hot he was the steal of the century and top 9 or 6 option for people, now everyone can't wait to see him gone. Reminded me of the Faulk impeding Norris trophy era when he was hot. This guy came from out of nowhere to put up 11-18-29 in 67 games at 30, while playing a skill game and creating chances frequently. It's not his fault Peters played him on the top line, Rask faltered and Ryan showed chemistry so it made sense. Why are people upset that he hasn't solidified a top 6 role? You need quality top 9 guys, and we were a much higher skilled team this year thanks in part to the spare part roles being filled by skill players like this guy. He can hold the puck, play with it in traffic, and find the open guy. He passes too much when he should go to net and he's small. He's good enough to play on this team and brings a much higher rate of play than the players he replaces from years past. If he gets a good offer elsewhere and leaves, good for him but I won't complain about him coming back. He helped us this year. Why people are disappointed, again I have no idea.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

I think he wants internal candidates for both the third pairing and "20 goal scorer" spots. Im curious about the development of Fleury and Mckeown. They didn't get called up which makes you curious how much they believe those two are third pairing guys next season, though they were making the playoff run and maybe thought there was as much value in leaving them there? I'm guessing he expects at least one of them competing for the 5-6 spots.

Honestly, don't think their non-callups had anything to do with how much the Canes believe in those guys for next year. There just weren't any spots with 7 defensemen still on the roster even after Hainsey was moved. At forward, we had trades (Stalberg), injuries/illness (McClement, Zykov after his call-up, Bickell) so there was some opportunity to take a look at a couple guys. We also could send guys back to the AHL (PDG) to fill in and help the checkers with their playoff push which wasn't the case on defense. I think that's it in a nutshell.

 

[RodTheBawd]

I have to add I don't get any negativity people have for Nordy or Ryan. Nordy was a beast. He's our fastest player, our best forechecker and he works like he's being whipped. He creates chances out of nothing, and he together with Stalberg was really fun to watch. I don't care if he gets knocked over easily and that he doesn't finish much. He's becoming a high end fourth liner that any team would love to have. Peters loves him, the guy does exactly what he's asked to do. I'm not sure what's not to like here. We have a team that had a lot of holes in our roster and this guy has taken one and made it his own. Just because it isn't one of the higher spots is no reason to not like the guy, all the spots need to be filled.

Which brings me to Ryan. So bipolar around here about the guy. When he was hot he was the steal of the century and top 9 or 6 option for people around here, now everyone can't wait to see him gone. Reminded me of the Faulk impeding Norris trophy era when he was hot. This guy came from out of nowhere to put up 11-18-29 in 67 games at 30, while playing a skill game and creating chances frequently. It's not his fault Peters played him on the top line, Rask faltered and Ryan showed chemistry so it made sense. Why are people upset that he hasn't solidified a top 6 role? You need quality top 9 guys, and we were a much higher skilled team this year thanks in part to the spare part roles being filled by skill players like this guy. He can hold the puck, play with it in traffic, and find the open guy. He passes too much when he should go to net and he's small. He's good enough to play on this team and brings a much higher rate of play than the players he replaces from years past. If he gets a good offer elsewhere and leaves, good for him but I won't complain about him coming back. He helped us this year. Why people are disappointed, again I have no idea.

Agreed on Nords. He's been a great 4th liner that could reasonably fill in on a 3rd line if needed. He gets paid $1.3M and plays like it.

I'm somewhat indifferent when it comes to Ryan, but given what he gets paid, I'm not sure why there's such a ruckus over him. If you don't like the way he's deployed, then ***** about Peters. I guess every team needs a whipping boy.

 

[Finlandia WOAT]

Nordu grew on me. I like him as a 4th liner, pk guy, and he looksd like he enjoyed playing in a top 9 role late in the season. Another feather in Peters' cap, nordy played the crap minutes and was rewarded, slightly, towards the end.

Ryan is useless when he's not scoring, and that's not often. Weakest player I've ever seen, and for a playmaker has serious tunnel vision (as does stemp abd nordy, and to a lesser extent rask and skinner).

 

[bleedgreen]

I feel like we watched different players. I saw a guy feed his linemates every chance he could. Skinner doesn't have tunnel vision, he calls his own number because he's cocky and knows he can score. He actually a very good playmaker when he chooses to distribute. Rask? I think he sees the play very well. Stemp is a north south winger, his job is to pull pucks off the boards and get it to the net, I was shocked at how good a playmaker he actually was. He maintains possession in situations I'm surprised he does at times. Poor passer on the rush I could see, but in the cycle game I thought he found his targets reasonably well.

I have no expectations of Nordy as a playmaker, but he's clearly been coached to maintain possession as that seems to be Peters style. Hold the puck until you find a good outlet. Maybe you wanted more seam passes when these guys are pushed to maintain possession and wait for the direct lane?

 

[Finlandia WOAT]

No, i mean nordy had trouble following the play, particularly in the defensive end, which is why the 4th line tended to get trapped a bit too much for my taste. Same problem as stempniak.

Rask seemed susceptible to backchecking because he had trouble visializing where players were if he didnt see them.

Cant disagree with Skinner's hero puck, though it was maddening at times (slapshot on a 3 on 1 in ot, lol).

I dunno, i mostly watch hurricanes hockey, i could easily just be too harsh on our players.

 

[bleedgreen]

Goal scorers are cocky, and yup....Skinner is cocky.

Yeah, Nordy wants to skate and a lot of defensive zone coverage for a winger is to be patient and pick your spots at the right time.

I can see the point on Rask, and maybe youre right but it's hard to say what's in his head at that moment. If they're being pushed (or are naturally inclined) to make only sure passes and to be moving forward with them then I can see how he could get caught from behind a lot because he is deliberate in his playmaking and maybe at times indecisive (which would get worse with lost confidence, which he seems to battle). He's not one to make a drop pass when being chased and he tends to wait out a backchecker who's on him instead of forcing a bad pass in the last second. His passing in the zone off the cycle seems to be on point though, and I think if he measures a pass it's rare he misses with it on the rush. He definitely can be too deliberate though. He waits for the perfect moment to make a pass sometimes, and it often doesn't come. He's also at his best when he drives off the board or out of the corner to the front of the net, didn't see enough of that this year. He can carry a dman on his back when he does it.

Disappointing finish to a promising start. I still think he's a legit number two on a team with no number one. Add another number two and we at least are really deep there. I think Lindy maybe gets another shot if they can't find one.

 

[DougieSmash]

Also i'd want to lock Slavin (Hanifin too) and choose a captain. Skinner, Faulk or Jordan.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

I wonder if there's a chance RF will take a shot that a young guy that has struggled or hasn't come along as well as expected and might have the upside. I'm talking guys like RNH, Bennett, Strome, etc... and to a lesser extent Reinhart (hasn't struggled per se, but didn't improve either), Galchenyuk (currently on the 4th line) or maybe even a guy like Bjugstad who doesn't have quite the upside.

Obviously, the cost is widely variable depending on which guy and not all of them would be worth it. Just a thought

 

[The Stranger]

I think the only potential "major" deal we will see is for goalie. I'm not sure that when RF says "third pairing" defenseman that he means anything different than JR would've meant. Bargain bin hunting that hopefully in an expansion draft year yields a decent guy who will be here at least a couple of years. I think RF sees us as one goalie away from the playoffs, and based off the season we just had it's hard to argue against that.I'd like to add something sexy but that would strain the budget and as long as PK handles the wallet RF is fighting the same battle there that JR was. RF knows he has one season left of three ELC's on the back end, and at least two of those guys are gonna get very well paid next summer which will change our pay structure. In that setting I don't know how big a forward we are capable of adding.

Eleven teams scored 212 goals or less (Canes scored 212). Of those 11 teams, only 1 made the playoffs (Sens).

The Sens had a negative goal differential...they're not a model playoff team.

Not taking a drastically different view than you...but I would say this team needs more than just a better goalie to be a legit playoff team.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Not taking a drastically different view than you...but I would say this team needs more than just a better goalie to be a legit playoff team.

Yep, agree 100%.