Offseason Roster Moves, Rumors, and Discussion

[DEF]

I wonder if Carolina would be willing to trade Fast? He is on ltir for the season and has a cap hit around 5mil.

 

[VT]

I wonder if Carolina would be willing to trade Fast? He is on ltir for the season and has a cap hit around 5mil.

He has $2,400,000

I don't see any exception given. It opens pandora's box of loopholes. Rules exist for a reason and they only need to spend a few million to get above it. There are plenty of teams who'd love to give away a contract or 2 for this season.

I don't think that would be opening Pandora's box. An injured player can be moved to LTIR until the end of his contract. In order for Pandora's box to be opened, a precedent would have to be set regarding the injured player.

 

[Iron Balls McGinty]

I don't see the NHL forcing this team to be Cap compliant and fully expect an exemption of they request it. They likely won't need it but losing $9.5MM 3 weeks before camp... like this. Nah, no way they force a move. Just my opinion though.

Fair enough but it's still 6 weeks before the season starts to add 3+ million to the roster. There are ways to be compliant without needing to ask for an exception. An exception should be the absolute last resort after any other opportunities have been tried. I just don't see that being an option. It's not like cap compliance is required next week.

 

[koteka]

You should be allowed to bring forward cap hits. Not for actual players, but for things like buying out Wennberg and Boqvist. $1.4 million of cap space next season is tied up in their buyouts. There should be an option to bring that forward.

 

[Indy18]

I agree about the exception but for this…

Any deal now involves a team over a barrel. They absolutely must make a deal and so the inclination to play hardball might be too much to resist. And if the league won’t step in to offer some grace with regard to the cap floor it isn’t going to ensure the team below the floor isn’t held hostage by other teams either. Will another organization make a deal with the Jackets out of sympathy? Doubtful.

I don't think this is gonna be a thing

1. The PR hit would be insanely bad if it ever got out.
2. That would burn a major bridge and open themselves up to repercussions in the future. Y'all don't think the oilers got 2 offer sheets out of the blue do you?
3. You can always sign a PTO to a 2.5 mil deal or take an LTIR contract. Its not as over the barrel as being against the cap limit. There more options for our situation then most are used to.
4. Cap is king. If someone wants to be an ass you can always reach out to another front office. There are 6 right now that need to trim asap and a few others that would love flexability.

 

[Jovavic]

I don't think a team would try to take advantage. Seattle (who I believe wouldve taken Kivi) ended up taking Baythern and then giving him right back to us.

 

[majormajor]

Will another organization make a deal with the Jackets out of sympathy? Doubtful.

I think they would actually. We will get better terms than under normal circumstances.

Not a very good player, but if there is a decent veteran that is a little overpaid on another club's cap, they're not going to nickel and dime us to make it happen.

 

[Jovavic]

LW Van Riemsdyk
LW Pacioretty
LW Hoffman
RW Wheeler
LW Zadina
RW Yamamoto
LW Kubalik
C Lorentz
LW Katchouk
RW Okposo
RW Clutterbuck
C Tierney
LW Martin
RW Labanc
LW Gagner
C Bellemare
C Bonino
LW R. Pitlick
LW Khaira
RW Luff
LW Erne
LW Hirose
C McKegg
RW T. Pitlick
RW Mayhew
C Weatherby
RW Reedy
LW Tracey
C De Leo
RW Gust
C Johansen

Here's a list of notable UFA forwards that was posted on trade board. Some names already mentioned like JVR and Patches for being veteran leaders. Okposo and Hoffman haven't been mentioned yet. Don't know how much these four have left in the tank but I would look into them before taking on cap dumps (especially if the dump has multiple years left)

 

[WannabeFinn]

I agree about the exception but for this…

Any deal now involves a team over a barrel. They absolutely must make a deal and so the inclination to play hardball might be too much to resist. And if the league won’t step in to offer some grace with regard to the cap floor it isn’t going to ensure the team below the floor isn’t held hostage by other teams either. Will another organization make a deal with the Jackets out of sympathy? Doubtful.

We are in no way over a barrel, so to speak. You simply pay a guy off the street a contract that is worth more than he’s actually worth, rather than put yourself in any poor trade situation. It’s a cap dump with assets/for free or a likely overpaid FA for free.

I would gladly take JVR at the $3-4m mark or whatever it is we need to shell out to be cap compliant.

 

[MoeBartoli]

LW Van Riemsdyk
LW Pacioretty
LW Hoffman
RW Wheeler
LW Zadina
RW Yamamoto
LW Kubalik
C Lorentz
LW Katchouk
RW Okposo
RW Clutterbuck
C Tierney
LW Martin
RW Labanc
LW Gagner
C Bellemare
C Bonino
LW R. Pitlick
LW Khaira
RW Luff
LW Erne
LW Hirose
C McKegg
RW T. Pitlick
RW Mayhew
C Weatherby
RW Reedy
LW Tracey
C De Leo
RW Gust
C Johansen

Here's a list of notable UFA forwards that was posted on trade board. Some names already mentioned like JVR and Patches for being veteran leaders. Okposo and Hoffman haven't been mentioned yet. Don't know how much these four have left in the tank but I would look into them before taking on cap dumps (especially if the dump has multiple years left)

There isn’t a guy on this list that excites me or even seems like a good add to the roster.

 

[NotWendell]

There isn’t a guy on this list that excites me or even seems like a good add to the roster.

I was thinking the same thing earlier today. (sigh)

 

[CBJWerenski8]

There isn’t a guy on this list that excites me or even seems like a good add to the roster.

I do think JVR would be a decent pickup. Hes good in front of the net and would give a decent option on the second PP unit to play down low.

In all honesty I think we need two guys unless we’re wanting to give Brindley a real good look. But that kinda goes against Waddell’s MO.

But yeah. Slim pickings, and we’re going to be really bad this year.

 

[Jovavic]

I'm just thinking with in regards to UFA versus a cap dump: the UFA would be signing to come here he would know the situation. Whereas someone who is traded here (unless they waive their NTC) wouldn't necessarily want to play here, given the circumstances.

 

[GoJackets1]

From that list, I would take Kevin Labanc and be pretty happy about it actually. I might be missing something (injury maybe?) but he seems like a bounceback candidate to be an ideal bottom 6 wing with solid possession numbers.

 

[cslebn]

Wonder what Nashville would want for Nyquist

 

[Iron Balls McGinty]

I do think JVR would be a decent pickup. Hes good in front of the net and would give a decent option on the second PP unit to play down low.

In all honesty I think we need two guys unless we’re wanting to give Brindley a real good look. But that kinda goes against Waddell’s MO.

But yeah. Slim pickings, and we’re going to be really bad this year.

we're going to be bad this year regardless. just develop the talent properly and pck up another top lottery pick. Maybe picking up a guy or 2 on 1 year deals to keep young players in Cleveland is not a bad idea.

 

[CBJx614]

we're going to be bad this year regardless. just develop the talent properly and pck up another top lottery pick. Maybe picking up a guy or 2 on 1 year deals to keep young players in Cleveland is not a bad idea.

That's all that I want. Sign one or two of those guys to one year deals to bridge us into next off-season and allow some flexibility to make a move if something comes along.

 

[Iron Balls McGinty]

That's all that I want. Sign one or two of those guys to one year deals to bridge us into next off-season and allow some flexibility to make a move if something comes along.

The reality is we'd better focus a ton on team defense. We are going to have a ton of trouble scoring goals. A couple of relatively cheap veterans who can play D in a forward position would not be a bad add to help keep the GAA down because we aren't going to win an arms race when it comes to goal scoring. Maybe it makes the team better in the long run.

 

[majormajor]

I do think JVR would be a decent pickup. Hes good in front of the net and would give a decent option on the second PP unit to play down low.

In all honesty I think we need two guys unless we’re wanting to give Brindley a real good look. But that kinda goes against Waddell’s MO.

But yeah. Slim pickings, and we’re going to be really bad this year.

From that list, I would take Kevin Labanc and be pretty happy about it actually. I might be missing something (injury maybe?) but he seems like a bounceback candidate to be an ideal bottom 6 wing with solid possession numbers.

When I go through our powerplay lineups it is really easy for me to find ten guys already on the team that I want to see get a shot there. Labanc and JVR are powerplay specialists. In JVR's case, he's a great netfront guy, but is it worth it for us to take Marchenko and Voronkov out of netfront roles? Jenner is also very good at it.

Wonder what Nashville would want for Nyquist

Futures, very valuable ones.

 

[CBJWerenski8]

When I go through our powerplay lineups it is really easy for me to find ten guys already on the team that I want to see get a shot there. Labanc and JVR are powerplay specialists. In JVR's case, he's a great netfront guy, but is it worth it for us to take Marchenko and Voronkov out of netfront roles? Jenner is also very good at it.



Futures, very valuable ones.

Meh, our PP has been atrocious for years. Not saying he's going to make a difference at his advanced age, but he could be a Prospal-esc veteran to lean on. You don't even have to play JVR on the PP unit. You just need bodies. JVR could help teach our guys some net front stuff as well, even if he's not on the PP units.

PP1
Jenner
KJ-Monahan-Marchenko
Werenski

PP2:
Voronkov
Sillinger/JvR-Fantilli-Chinakhov
Jiricek

 

[tunnelvision]

I do think JVR would be a decent pickup. Hes good in front of the net and would give a decent option on the second PP unit to play down low.

In all honesty I think we need two guys unless we’re wanting to give Brindley a real good look. But that kinda goes against Waddell’s MO.

If we're assessing possible veteran pick-ups purely from the hockey side of things, I think we should primarily look at some quicker forward who could be a better fit for Evason's high-pressure system. How many above average transition skaters do we have in our top-9 currently, Chinakhov and Fantilli (if we don't count Brindley)?

Waddell has also emphasized the importance of speed in some of his interviews, and he even tried to trade for Necas earlier in the summer. I think adding speed will be higher on their priority list than finding another PP net front guy.

 

[majormajor]

Meh, our PP has been atrocious for years.

Yes and we haven't even started developing most of our young talent for PP success.

I do not believe that our PP sucks because players like Fantilli, Chinakhov, KJ, etc... are not talented enough.

If we're assessing possible veteran pick-ups purely from the hockey side of things, I think we should primarily look at some quicker forward who could be a better fit for Evason's high-pressure system. How many above average transition skaters do we have in our top-9 currently, Chinakhov and Fantilli (if we don't count Brindley)?

Seems like Brindley would take care of that high-pressure role very well. I think certainly better than the remaining FAs who all tend to be very slow and 5v5 liabilities.

 

[thebus88]

The reality is we'd better focus a ton on team defense. We are going to have a ton of trouble scoring goals. A couple of relatively cheap veterans who can play D in a forward position would not be a bad add to help keep the GAA down because we aren't going to win an arms race when it comes to goal scoring. Maybe it makes the team better in the long run.

Bellemare??

Bonino??

 

[alphafox]

At this point I can't see doing much. An exception seems like the clear thing for the league to do as you can confine it to extreme circumstances and it prevents making the team do stupid things just to comply with the rules. Following that exception you act as a place for cap dumps for contenders as the reality is that we aren't replacing Johnny Hockey with anyone either in UFA or Trade. Leverage the Cap Space to bring back as many high value picks as possible to build a great team in the future and the success the organization creates gets tied back to this loss. Its the only way I can see anything positive happening out of this from a team perspective.

On a separate note, this feels like the whole organization has to change and head in a new direction. Almost 30 years of nothing and the biggest trivia about this franchise is the number of players that have died while on the team. I know management has an impossible task but they have to make something out of the tragedy in the next few years otherwise hockey really does seem destined for failure in C-bus. You have to bring some joy to a fan base that has spend the last half decade going through the worst stretch in possibly sports history.

 

[Iron Balls McGinty]

At this point I can't see doing much. An exception seems like the clear thing for the league to do as you can confine it to extreme circumstances and it prevents making the team do stupid things just to comply with the rules. Following that exception you act as a place for cap dumps for contenders as the reality is that we aren't replacing Johnny Hockey with anyone either in UFA or Trade. Leverage the Cap Space to bring back as many high value picks as possible to build a great team in the future and the success the organization creates gets tied back to this loss. Its the only way I can see anything positive happening out of this from a team perspective.

On a separate note, this feels like the whole organization has to change and head in a new direction. Almost 30 years of nothing and the biggest trivia about this franchise is the number of players that have died while on the team. I know management has an impossible task but they have to make something out of the tragedy in the next few years otherwise hockey really does seem destined for failure in C-bus. You have to bring some joy to a fan base that has spend the last half decade going through the worst stretch in possibly sports history.

I get the emotional aspect of this but the team still has until @10/7 to be cap compliant. There are options to make this happen that are not stupid and will need to be explored before an exception can be considered. Exceptions for any situation and circumstance should always be a last resort.

Spending that @3-4 million dollars does not replace Johnny and we already have many high value draft picks. There are teams before the season and at the trade deadline who very well could be willing to give up more assets to give themselves cap space.

What the CBJ is right now is basically an expansion team with a better start than the team had in '00 to build the right way and a lot of cap space to address needs over the next couple of years.