OT: Out of town scoreboard

[ShootIt]

do people usually take that? It makes sense but theyre kinda "screwed" on that if they get traded elsewhere right?

That's the risk, but also the usage of NTC/NMC has increased and Reinhart is eligible for one for "home" security.

 

[Prominence Problem]

Having $14M tied up in goal just isn't a good use of cap. Bob is a good part of the team and I like him more than most around here, but his contract is clearly structured to be moved this offseason.

I don't think moving just Ekblad will free up enough cap to sign Fors, Monty, and Reinhart plus an above average replacement for Ekblad. If you're signing OEL to replace Ekblad, then you're just saving maybe $3-4M. We did fine with our makeshift defense, but I doubt that's sustainable.

I could see Ekblad being moved in addition to Bob if the team wants more flexibility. That'll free up dollars for the rest of the roster to add more depth. A guy like Stenlund for example is getting a raise even if it's a small one.

But what I'm wondering is what goalie does this team get to replace Bob?
Does this team, with its window fully open put all its eggs in the Knight basket?

Who would be available?

 

[TheImpatientPanther]

Miiiiiikkkkkoooooolllllllaaaaaa!!!



Daaaamn....

 

[Idiot Stick]

But what I'm wondering is what goalie does this team get to replace Bob?
Does this team, with its window fully open put all its eggs in the Knight basket?

Who would be available?

swayman is a rfa next season
.932% in 13 GP this season

Miiiiiikkkkkoooooolllllllaaaaaa!!!

View attachment 778167

Daaaamn....

View attachment 778168

hurts to see huby do so bad

 

[TheImpatientPanther]

is it worth restructuring bobs contract? Looks like his contract is up in 3 years, not sure if hell be quitting by then as hes 35 now if we extend it to lessen the cap hit, but also not sure about our goalies outside of Bob if say Knight doesnt really get it together.

Ya as said by others, not able to restructure deals but would be nice for players that are 35 years or older if both sides are on board.

Would love to see Bob's deal go to 4 years x 4.5 mil but NHLPA would hate the idea.

I've always said if Bob was moved, it'd be the end of this year when money drops and NTC opens up. Now at this point with huge cap increase, some signs pointing to Ekblad being moved, I think Bob stays another year and likely moved/bought out the final year.

 

[ucanthanzalthetruth]

If Ekblad is gone our D will have zero home grown players. Just a thought I had.

Kulikov slander

 

[WaitingForThatCab]

Mike Reilly just scored on a wide open look for the Isles.

 

[Mogo]

NYI are 1-9-4 with a 3rd period lead​

 

[Chessarmy]

Kulikov slander

Sorry, forgot about him - but of course he may not be here by the time (if) Ekblad is moved

 

[Two4Fighting]

swayman is a rfa next season
.932% in 13 GP this season


hurts to see huby do so bad

Swayman is playing in front of a great team, that always helps hide the real stats of a goalie.
Mikola, totally impressed with this guy, never heard of him, he reminds me alot about Forsling, when he came in, with the same traits, fast, agile, quick to turn around and up the middle wit the puck, what a great find by the scouts.
We are very strong in defense this year, even if we were to loose Ekblad, would not have a lasting impact on the team.

 

[Idiot Stick]

Swayman is playing in front of a great team, that always helps hide the real stats of a goalie.
Mikola, totally impressed with this guy, never heard of him, he reminds me alot about Forsling, when he came in, with the same traits, fast, agile, quick to turn around and up the middle wit the puck, what a great find by the scouts.
We are very strong in defense this year, even if we were to loose Ekblad, would not have a lasting impact of the team.

i was considering that too, but were also a good defensive team as well.

 

[TheImpatientPanther]

It's pretty ugly in PIT. Anyone on their team worth trading for if they implode from now until February?

3-5-3 in their last 11 games, they're running out of gas already. they were playing decent last year at this time and burnt out near January.

Didn't think WSH would be better than them at the 1/3 mark of the year.

 

[I am not exposed]

It's pretty ugly in PIT. Anyone on their team worth trading for if they implode from now until February?

3-5-3 in their last 11 games, they're running out of gas already. they were playing decent last year at this time and burnt out near January.

Didn't think WSH would be better than them at the 1/3 mark of the year.

I for one am glad to see it.

I guess Karlsson might not be the difference maker for one last run...

 

[WaitingForThatCab]

I regret to inform you that the Oilers have won a few games and the main board is unreadable again.

 

[Panthers Propaganda]

I think I’m in the minority when I say that Ekblad probably sticks around.

Guy still anchored our team to a SCF appearance last year munching monster minutes. I don’t really see many others on the roster rn who are defensively sound enough to step up and fill that role…so unless we are getting something else back.

I don’t think Montour will be repeating last year again…OEL can step up…but he’s also like 32.

I’m a firm believer we have a cup winner here with a few more tweaks. I’m looking mostly at the third line than changing up our D personnel.

 

[letsgrowcactus]

I think I’m in the minority when I say that Ekblad probably sticks around.

Guy still anchored our team to a SCF appearance last year munching monster minutes. I don’t really see many others on the roster rn who are defensively sound enough to step up and fill that role…so unless we are getting something else back.

I don’t think Montour will be repeating last year again…OEL can step up…but he’s also like 32.

I’m a firm believer we have a cup winner here with a few more tweaks. I’m looking mostly at the third line than changing up our D personnel.

I just want to know what the hell happened with Lundell and Luostarinen this year? Is it "young guys struggling under PoMo"? Confidence issues? Something else?

Lundell especially was expected to take another step; instead he seems to be regressing. Both were supposed to be part of the "younger core". (So was Knight, for the matter.) I know prospects/young player sometimes have ups and lows in their development, but seriously, what’s going on there?

 

[Prominence Problem]

It's pretty ugly in PIT. Anyone on their team worth trading for if they implode from now until February?

3-5-3 in their last 11 games, they're running out of gas already. they were playing decent last year at this time and burnt out near January.

Didn't think WSH would be better than them at the 1/3 mark of the year.

Hypothetically thinking, what would it take to acquire Crosby?

 

[Gizmo Tkachuk]

Hypothetically thinking, what would it take to acquire Crosby?

The Penguins folding as a franchise

 

[pantherbot]

I think I’m in the minority when I say that Ekblad probably sticks around.

Guy still anchored our team to a SCF appearance last year munching monster minutes. I don’t really see many others on the roster rn who are defensively sound enough to step up and fill that role…so unless we are getting something else back.

I don’t think Montour will be repeating last year again…OEL can step up…but he’s also like 32.

I’m a firm believer we have a cup winner here with a few more tweaks. I’m looking mostly at the third line than changing up our D personnel.

I think the org likes Ekblad and vice versa, and the most likely outcome is he stays and probably gets a moderate bump in salary to like $8-8.5M AAV, but I can also see it possible they trade Ekblad to have some more flexibility and are worried about his injury history.

Given how the cap situation may play out, we could keep this current team together for a long time if management wants to (except for Bob). Cap going up next year and then again the year after when Ek, Verhaeghe, and Bennett are up for renewal. But then you gotta wonder how much they're really willing to pay for 29/30 year olds. The risk is we become that team with a bunch of 30 year-olds that are ok, but just can't compete with teams that have guys in their primes.

One of our problems I see is like letsgrowcats mentioned, our young guys just haven't stepped up. Lundell, Luostar, Knight, etc. haven't really developed. Hopefully guys like Samo, Sourdif, Schwindt step up soon and the others get back on track, cause otherwise we're gonna be that old guy team.

 

[Jean Luc Discard]

I think I’m in the minority when I say that Ekblad probably sticks around.

Guy still anchored our team to a SCF appearance last year munching monster minutes. I don’t really see many others on the roster rn who are defensively sound enough to step up and fill that role…so unless we are getting something else back.

I don’t think Montour will be repeating last year again…OEL can step up…but he’s also like 32.

I’m a firm believer we have a cup winner here with a few more tweaks. I’m looking mostly at the third line than changing up our D personnel.

Ekblad played a lot of minutes but Monty and Fors consistently played more than Ek in the playoffs. I don't think Zito is able to promote another dman into Ek's role and instead he has to look for one elsewhere. My guess would be Matt Roy if he ends up in free agency.

How would a casual fan of the game of hockey make a determination that Ekblad is some Norris-level dman who the Panthers absolutely has to hold on to? Sure, he has above average hockey IQ offensively, can occasionally make couple of nice passes but all I see is a big dman who doesn't have the good, practical qualities of a big dman.

Ekblad often gets beaten in board battles and in front of the net because he's not agile enough and doesn't have the leg strength to challenge even some of the smaller opposing players. His slap shot has a higher chance to hit a spectator than the opposing goalie. I think we have regurgitated this stuff enough to know the list of deficiencies in his game.

 

[WaitingForThatCab]

What I've seen so far this season leads me to think that the Panthers need to focus on re-signing two players: Reinhart and Forsling. And if you have to lose Ekblad and Montour to do it... well,

 

[Jean Luc Discard]

I think the org likes Ekblad and vice versa, and the most likely outcome is he stays and probably gets a moderate bump in salary to like $8-8.5M AAV, but I can also see it possible they trade Ekblad to have some more flexibility and are worried about his injury history.

Given how the cap situation may play out, we could keep this current team together for a long time if management wants to (except for Bob). Cap going up next year and then again the year after when Ek, Verhaeghe, and Bennett are up for renewal. But then you gotta wonder how much they're really willing to pay for 29/30 year olds. The risk is we become that team with a bunch of 30 year-olds that are ok, but just can't compete with teams that have guys in their primes.

One of our problems I see is like letsgrowcats mentioned, our young guys just haven't stepped up. Lundell, Luostar, Knight, etc. haven't really developed. Hopefully guys like Samo, Sourdif, Schwindt step up soon and the others get back on track, cause otherwise we're gonna be that old guy team.

Ekblad's value measured in dollars is probably around $4.5-5.5mil. I don't think that the mgmt is worried about Ek's injury history as much as they are about overpaying him ~$4mil per. I'd rather keep the group of Montour, Forsling, Reinhart, Bennett and Verhaeghe together than try to prolong the Ekblad experiment even further.

If Zito can trade Ekblad for a younger winger who can play with Lundell then would extend the Panthers' window of contention compared to the situation where we end up hoping that Ekblad finally becomes a stud dman worthy of his contract and doesn't LTIR himself.

 

[BeezKnees]

Any concern about signing Reinhart long term, when he is turning 29 early next season? Doesn't that kind of go counter to how we handled the Huberdeau situation?

Love Reinhart, he's obviously having an amazing year. But there is some risk to having a high cap on him, say ages 29-36.

 

[Panthers Propaganda]

Any concern about signing Reinhart long term, when he is turning 29 early next season? Doesn't that kind of go counter to how we handled the Huberdeau situation?

Love Reinhart, he's obviously having an amazing year. But there is some risk to having a high cap on him, say ages 29-36.

My usual rule is like keep ‘em until 33-34. After 35 you have to round up age wise.

 

[pantherbot]

Ekblad's value measured in dollars is probably around $4.5-5.5mil. I don't think that the mgmt is worried about Ek's injury history as much as they are about overpaying him ~$4mil per. I'd rather keep the group of Montour, Forsling, Reinhart, Bennett and Verhaeghe together than try to prolong the Ekblad experiment even further.

If Zito can trade Ekblad for a younger winger who can play with Lundell then would extend the Panthers' window of contention compared to the situation where we end up hoping that Ekblad finally becomes a stud dman worthy of his contract and doesn't LTIR himself.

Don't really disagree with this, although I think the org. seems to really like Ekblad and its possible to keep all those guys plus Ekblad given where cap is going. Also trading Ekblad won't open a lot more extra cap because you'd have to replace him on defense with someone equivalent (~$5M like you said). So it'd really only open up ~$3M in cap by dealing Ekblad.

I can see us trading him, but I think it would be more about giving us flexibility to add a bit more depth, concern about his injury history and adding some futures from a trade to replenish our pipeline. Won't be enough extra cap to add anything significant. Also why I see the most likely scenario is us keeping him.