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Our 2014-15 Center Situation

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Beacon said:
You mentioned it how many times by now?

It's irrelevant because next season a bunch of our players (Lundqvist, Girardi, Stralman, Callahan, Kreider, Zuccarello) are getting very large salary increases.

This summer we are getting hit by a salary hurricane and at least one, maybe two players will need to be given up upon.
Click to expand...

Don't know if this is going to come out right or not.

Left Wing Center Right Wing
Kreider Stepan Nash
$2,500,000.00 3,075,000.00 $7,800,000.00
Hagelin Stastny Zuccarello
$2,250,000.00 $7,500,000.00 $2,750,000.00
Pouliot Miller Downie
$1,500,000.00 $900,000.00 $3,000,000.00
Fast Moore Carcillo
$805,000.00 $1,500,000.00 $975,000.00
$34,555,000.00




McDonagh Girardi
$4,700,000.00 $5,300,000.00
Staal Klein
$3,795,000.00 $2,900,000.00
Moore Stralman
$1,750,000.00 $3,500,000.00
$21,945,000.00




Lundqvist
$8,500,000.00
Talbot
$563,000.00
$9,063,000.00

That's just under 66 million.

So, if you want to say that Kreider is going to get more. How much more than 2.5?

Same thing with Zuccs and Stralman
 
McRanger said:
None of the above.

Dump Brad. Keep Step and Brass. Put Miller at 3C.

Resign or trade Girardi. Trade Callahan.

Don't worry about having extra cap space.
Click to expand...

I like this option the best! I know Miller is unproven but I think that's better than overpaying for Cally, Statsny and not buying out Richards. I'd like to keep Girardi if its a medium length contract under 5.5m
 
What about buy out Brad, keep Brass and Step and one of Girardi/Cally? That's what I would choose. I'd rather try and sign a scoring winger than Stastny.
 
Going after Stastny is just such a Rangers move. Ugh.

We'll sign him for 7.5 and then he'll put up 30 assists a season. I can feel it in my blood. :laugh:
 
only way I see us going after Stastny is if we trade Brassard and I still dont really like it. Just for ***** move Brass+ for a young middle 6 LW and were set down the left side for a decade. Rangers are interested in McGinn, I would also love to test the waters on Saad for Brassard+.

Kreider-Stepan-Nash
Hags/Trade-Stastny-Zucc
Trade/Hags-Miller-Kristo/Fast
Moore-Lindberg-Carcillo
 
None of the above.

Buyout Brad.
Trade Brassard.

Trade for a top talent young #1 center or move up in the draft to the top 3 and pick Bennet/Reinhart/Draistl.

?
Stepan
Miller
Lindberg/Boyle

Trade whomever of Girardi/Brassard/Callahan you have to to make the #1 center thing happen. They're not doing it through free agency. It's never going to happen.

Is this realistic? No, but it's what I would do so there. :p:
 
I'm all about keeping Brassard around and I'd be inclined to go with a 2-3 year deal. He's another player that, once he got hot, the season turned around. The skill is there, as is the vision. He's one of the unsung heroes on the turnaround of the PP. The inconsistency that plagued him early in the season seems to be a lot less prevalent.

The guy just turned 26 and is a proven 45-50 point pace center. He likely is what he is at this point, but the fact remains that a 50 point center is a 2nd line C.

In 2-3 years, he's not likely to drop off. If he plateaus in that range, fine. But to lock him up for his age 27 and 28/ 29 seasons, maybe he hits a prime and peaks. I see little risk in going 2 years for a player of his caliber. Especially with Zuccarello likely receiving a multi-year contract extension.
 
Buying out Richards makes to most sense, given his decline from a true number 1 center status. Callahan is an elite middle six forward who can shift between 2nd and 3rd lines depending on game situation: indispensable? Yes! Untradeable? No. Shop him around for a mid to high 1st rounder, NHL-ready prospect, and a big depth forward like McGinn in COL, and see who'll bite.

Having a cadre of forward prospects in JT Miller, Kristo, Fast, and Lindberg makes it a good opportunity to inject some fast, cheap talent on the roster.

This makes signing Paul Stastny to a reasonable deal a necessity and a good possibility. It's best to have a pivot in his prime with his tools & hockey awareness to anchor the first line if the Rangers want to be perennial playoff contenders. If the best case scenario happens, you could be talking of a forward lineup that goes like this:

Kreider-Stastny-Nash
Zuccarello-Brassard-Pouliot
Hagelin-Stepan-Miller
Boyle-Moore-Fast

extras: Lindberg (C), Hrivik (LW), Kristo (RW)

I don't know how AV utilizes the youth or his philosophy on constructing his lineup, but given his tendency to roll four lines - which is the trend in the current NHL - having fresh legs in the farm is a good problem to have in case of the regulars getting injured. Kristo has high-risk, high-reward upside, so he may be ideal trade bait pending the development of Duclair and Buchnevich
 
My lines if Statsny wanted to be a Ranger at 7.5M

Kreider - Statsny - Nash
Pouliot - Brassard - Zucc
Hagelin - Stepan - Miller/Fast/Kristo/
Carcillo - Moore - Dorsett

McD-Girardi
Staal-Stralman
Moore-Klein
Allen

Richards, Callahan, Boyle, being removed provide the cap space for Statsny and enough to also retain Stralman and sign the others that require raises.
 
Did not vote.
Stepan, Brass, Miller, Moore/Lindberg down the middle should be enough.
Trade for a young C if you can. Last season, or 2 seasons ago, I wanted Ryan Johansen out of Columbus. He was struggling and there were rumors of him being available but the price was too high. Something like that. Not too keen on Stasny at the reported prices, not sure he is a consistent first liner.
 
It's funny how people think Lindberg and Miller will be ready next season...you never know with the young guys...I'd rather do they safe option
 
someone stole hank said:
It's funny how people think Lindberg and Miller will be ready next season...you never know with the young guys...I'd rather do they safe option
Click to expand...

That's a very fair point. but Miller has shown enough in the NHL and the AHL to think he will be ready. Lindberg is a defensive centerman, that's the skillset that translates the easiest. Based on what posters who watch hartford regularly are saying, he will be ready.
 
someone stole hank said:
It's funny how people think Lindberg and Miller will be ready next season...you never know with the young guys...I'd rather do they safe option
Click to expand...


I would bet a good amount of money that one of those makes the NHL. Miller is just a dominant player at the AHL level at the age of 20 and is a borderline NHLer already. Assuming he doesn't completely plateau at the age of 20, he's an NHLer next year. He's so close that any minor improvement in his game, even improvement based strictly on having more pro experience, should be enough to take him over the hump.

Lindberg is a little further off, but he's also tantalizingly close to being ready for bottom-6 duty as a defensive centerman.
 
Dump Richards. Keep Stepan. Miller to 3rd line C. Resign D. Moore. Not sure how I feel about having to rely on Brassard as a 2nd line C. Wouldn't mind moving him and signing Stastny, I'm higher on him than most. He's a great passer that could get the puck to Nash or our speedy wingers (Hags, Kreider). Passing is the most critical skill to have for Centers in this system IMO. Won't be 29 until December so I think he should give at least 4 years of value. Not totally familiar with the CBA but I'm pretty sure you can frontload the contract a little bit so he's a little more movable at the end of the deal.

Stepan-Stastny-Miller-Moore is very solid up the middle. Lindberg 5th in line.
 
Slick Rick 61 said:
I'm all about keeping Brassard around and I'd be inclined to go with a 2-3 year deal. He's another player that, once he got hot, the season turned around. The skill is there, as is the vision. He's one of the unsung heroes on the turnaround of the PP. The inconsistency that plagued him early in the season seems to be a lot less prevalent.

The guy just turned 26 and is a proven 45-50 point pace center. He likely is what he is at this point, but the fact remains that a 50 point center is a 2nd line C.

In 2-3 years, he's not likely to drop off. If he plateaus in that range, fine. But to lock him up for his age 27 and 28/ 29 seasons, maybe he hits a prime and peaks. I see little risk in going 2 years for a player of his caliber. Especially with Zuccarello likely receiving a multi-year contract extension.
Click to expand...

I'm with this as well. I think Brassard looks good as our 2C. Give him a finisher at LW (Vanek) and I think he can put up some good numbers.

Stepan/Brassard/Miller/Moore looks good to me.
 
Bob Richards said:
Going after Stastny is just such a Rangers move. Ugh.

We'll sign him for 7.5 and then he'll put up 30 assists a season. I can feel it in my blood. :laugh:
Click to expand...

On the surface it may look that way, but when you dig into the type of player Stastny is and the things he brings to the table outside of being an equal point producer to Richards you would see that thsi is an acquisition geared towards making the team in the mold of the head coach and the style that AV uses.

Production being equal between Brad and Paul, Stastny is a better skater, which if paird with Kreider or Hagelin enhances the overall teem speed. Is Stastny a burner like the two mentioned wingers? No, but he's got alot more speed than Richards.

Puck possession, Stastny is a FO guy that is as good as Boyle. In fact over the last 4 seasons, Stastny has been slightly better than our BEST face off man.

Stastny
2013-14 - 54.3%
2012-13 - 52.4%
2011-12 - 55.4%
2010-11 - 53.2%

Boyle
2013-14 - 55.2%
2012-13 - 56.4%
2011-12 - 51.8%
2010-11 - 48.5%

Richards
2013-14 - 50.8%
2012-13 - 50.6%
2011-12 - 51.8%
2010-11 - 50.6%

Additionally Stastny is, and has been a better defensive player.

If Rrichards was 28 years old, at his current rate of production, I would have no issues keeping him and his 6.66 cap hit for the next 6 years. Unfortunately that is not the case.

That said, I also have no issues paying an identical player production wise a little xtra based on the other aspects of his game that better lend itself to the style and system that AV employs.

we want AV to succeed, then we have to give him the assets needed to do that.

the most I would go for Stastny is 7.5. I think the aspects of his game that he possess that are better than Richards is worth just under a million in cap space, or as the math has shown just .2% increase in overall footprint starting the 2014-15 season.
 
pld459666 said:
On the surface it may look that way, but when you dig into the type of player Stastny is and the things he brings to the table outside of being an equal point producer to Richards you would see that thsi is an acquisition geared towards making the team in the mold of the head coach and the style that AV uses.

Production being equal between Brad and Paul, Stastny is a better skater, which if paird with Kreider or Hagelin enhances the overall teem speed. Is Stastny a burner like the two mentioned wingers? No, but he's got alot more speed than Richards.

Puck possession, Stastny is a FO guy that is as good as Boyle. In fact over the last 4 seasons, Stastny has been slightly better than our BEST face off man.

Stastny
2013-14 - 54.3%
2012-13 - 52.4%
2011-12 - 55.4%
2010-11 - 53.2%

Boyle
2013-14 - 55.2%
2012-13 - 56.4%
2011-12 - 51.8%
2010-11 - 48.5%

Richards
2013-14 - 50.8%
2012-13 - 50.6%
2011-12 - 51.8%
2010-11 - 50.6%

Additionally Stastny is, and has been a better defensive player.

If Rrichards was 28 years old, at his current rate of production, I would have no issues keeping him and his 6.66 cap hit for the next 6 years. Unfortunately that is not the case.

That said, I also have no issues paying an identical player production wise a little xtra based on the other aspects of his game that better lend itself to the style and system that AV employs.

we want AV to succeed, then we have to give him the assets needed to do that.

the most I would go for Stastny is 7.5. I think the aspects of his game that he possess that are better than Richards is worth just under a million in cap space, or as the math has shown just .2% increase in overall footprint starting the 2014-15 season.
Click to expand...

I agree with you on Stastny, by the looks of it Colorado fans do as well.

Where my opinion differs from yours is that I would want Stastny, Stepan and Brassard all at the same time, and I would want them to roll three legit 2 way lines using them as the centers.

I like Miller, actually quite a bit, and I certainly would not mind if he was on the team next season. I think he is a better center than wing as well. So I think either 4th line, which with say Dorsett and Carcillo is not a bad spot, or they bring back D Moore for that spot and they move Miller to wing until he is really ready to take over a full time NHL center position.

To me that would be a direction, three centers who all have vision, smarts, passing ability, puck possession traits, and can score goals themselves sometimes.

It would make the wings that much better. Nash, Kreider, Zucc, Hagelin, Pouliot are not all what I would consider on their own legit top 6 players, Nash is, Kreider, Zucc I think are, but I am not so sure the other are. However when matched with those centers in whatever combination works, they Rangers could have three real scoring lines full of players who can produce as top 6 players on any given night. They'd need a wing prospects to come up and hang with them, with Fast, Kristo if not Miller, maybe on the verge, imaging how much easier their transition is if they have a real legit NHL center to play with when they come up?
 
Keep everyone listed in the poll -- except (unfortunately) Richie. It's not about finding the "best" player; it's about finding the right one; throwing money at the former is not the answer.
 
I actually really like Brassard and would love to keep him, especially if you can get him on a 2-3 year deal near his QO.

For years, people would make excuses for Dubi by pointing to a limited span of a couple of months and trying to somehow argue that that limited run was representative of his true talent, despite the fact that he vast majority of his sample here he showed himself to be a very pedestrian player (offensively, anyway). In Brassard's case, it's the opposite. He scored 11 points in 13 regular season games last year, 12 points in 12 post-season games last year and then this year, had a bad month and a half to start the season (along with the rest of the team) and since then has 24 points in 32 games, while being largely responsible for the resurgence of the powerplay (along with Zuke).

Is he a consistent PPG 1st line center? Of course not. Are there holes in his game? Yes. Is he somewhat inconsistent? History would say yes (although he's only had one down period since he's been here and it coincided with all the craziness at the beginning of the year that caused damn near the entire team to struggle).

The issue we have is that Stepan is not nearly the true dominant, dynamic #1C you would want with Brassard as your #2C. He's a 1C/2C tweener playing ahead of Brassard, who is pretty much an average 2C and, as a result, while both are fine players in their own rights, depth down the middle is not the team's strong suit.

So, sign Brassard to a short term deal, give Miller and Lindberg an opportunity to develop in the bottom six/the AHL and work to acquire that guy who can be a dominant 1C - then slot the others in behind depending on their progression and whom you had to give up in the process of getting that dominant #1.
 
Off Sides said:
I agree with you on Stastny, by the looks of it Colorado fans do as well.

Where my opinion differs from yours is that I would want Stastny, Stepan and Brassard all at the same time, and I would want them to roll three legit 2 way lines using them as the centers.

I like Miller, actually quite a bit, and I certainly would not mind if he was on the team next season. I think he is a better center than wing as well. So I think either 4th line, which with say Dorsett and Carcillo is not a bad spot, or they bring back D Moore for that spot and they move Miller to wing until he is really ready to take over a full time NHL center position.

To me that would be a direction, three centers who all have vision, smarts, passing ability, puck possession traits, and can score goals themselves sometimes.

It would make the wings that much better. Nash, Kreider, Zucc, Hagelin, Pouliot are not all what I would consider on their own legit top 6 players, Nash is, Kreider, Zucc I think are, but I am not so sure the other are. However when matched with those centers in whatever combination works, they Rangers could have three real scoring lines full of players who can produce as top 6 players on any given night. They'd need a wing prospects to come up and hang with them, with Fast, Kristo if not Miller, maybe on the verge, imaging how much easier their transition is if they have a real legit NHL center to play with when they come up?
Click to expand...

Don't disagree with the Brassard sentiment.

I just don't know if we can make it work under the cap AND keep Girardi.

I think for the puck possession/transition game that AV seems ot be headed towards, you would be right in having those three down the middle.

not sure we can make that work $$ wise
 
pld459666 said:
Don't disagree with the Brassard sentiment.

I just don't know if we can make it work under the cap AND keep Girardi.

I think for the puck possession/transition game that AV seems ot be headed towards, you would be right in having those three down the middle.

not sure we can make that work $$ wise
Click to expand...

I think without Richards, Callahan, Boyle cap hits it would work.

Something like

CAPGEEK.COM ARMCHAIR GM ROSTER
CapGeek Armchair GM Roster

Kreider ($1.600m) / Paul Stastny ($7.500m) / Nash ($7.800m)
Hagelin ($2.250m) / Derek Stepan ($3.075m) / Zuccarello ($3.200m)
Pouliot ($2.100m) / Derick Brassard ($4.300m) / Miller ($0.894m)
Carcillo ($1.100m) / Dominic Moore ($1.500m) / Dorsett ($1.633m)

Kristo ($0.900m) / Fast ($0.805m)


McDonagh ($4.700m) / Girardi ($5.500m)
Staal ($3.975m) / Stralman ($3.000m)
Moore ($0.851m) / Klein ($2.900m)

Allen ($0.925m) /


Henrik Lundqvist ($8.500m)
Cameron Talbot ($0.563m)

BUYOUTS
Wade Redden ($0.000m)
Brad Richards ($0.000m)
------
CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter)
(estimations for 2014-15)
SALARY CAP: $71,100,000; CAP PAYROLL: $69,570,500; BONUSES: $1,295,000
CAP SPACE (23-man roster): $1,529,500
 
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