Predators Hockey Discussion 22-23

[triggrman]

I'm amused that people think Carrier has passed Fabbro. Carrier has Ekholm to cover his butt, and in the process Ekholm had one of his rougher seasons in a while. Meanwhile Fabbro is holding the fort for Josi so he can run around and do whatever he wants. Ones job requirements were not equal to the other last season.

I think I posted this almost exactly on Twitter.

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

Anyway, I agree with the sentiment that we needn't turn on Carrier, just because we see Fabbro is a bit more of a well-rounded and capable player. Carrier is still kind of like finding a free $100 bill on the sidewalk though. After he passed through waivers a couple of times, I don't think too many people really thought he was going to be a player for us, let alone one who has played as well overall as he has.

And if it comes to a showdown between them for scarce Cap space next season, while I think it's obvious we should keep Fabbro ahead of Carrier, it doesn't mean I actively WANT to get rid of Carrier. We simply may have no choice. Although if Carrier has a decent agent and he puts up the stats that he did last season, he might want to think about filing for arbitration! 30 pts, +26, high minutes... he could have probably pulled down a huge payday if his contract had been up this summer instead of next.

I could see the Preds factoring that into their utilization next season. It'll be easy to balance pairs playing Josi-McDonagh, Ekholm-Fabbro, and Lauzon-Carrier if things shake out that way. And that could put a dent in Carrier's numbers and icetime correspondingly, which might help us on the contract front.

 

[Armourboy]

I don't have an issue with Carrier, there are just some out there, especially in the media, who don't really understand they are comparing apples and oranges when it comes to what each player was asked to do.

Ekholm has a style of game that enables Carrier, where Josi has a style that requires Fabbro to be much more conservative and be the safety net for that pairing.

There is a reason Fabbro's offensive stats haven't been as good as some expected while Josi's went through the roof.

I'll also remind people that a Norris level Dman in Subban didn't look great with Josi.

 

[PredsV82]

https://www.tsn.ca/travis-yost-grading-every-nhl-team-s-right-wing-depth-1.1832393

Apparently this guy thinks we are "elite" at Right Wing

He also dos Left Wing and rates us as "Outperform"(second highest tier)

 

[herzausstein]

https://www.tsn.ca/travis-yost-grading-every-nhl-team-s-right-wing-depth-1.1832393

Apparently this guy thinks we are "elite" at Right Wing

He also dos Left Wing and rates us as "Outperform"(second highest tier)

Our center depth is going to be near the bottom I think though

 

[Armourboy]

Yeah center is definitely the weak point. Ours aren't bad, but we basically have two 2nd line centers, a 3rd/4th, and our 4th is basically just whoever gets the vote that day.

 

[PredsV82]

Yeah center is definitely the weak point. Ours aren't bad, but we basically have two 2nd line centers, a 3rd/4th, and our 4th is basically just whoever gets the vote that day.

Dont know if he will do all the positions like this but if he does we should end up with 2 elite(RW,D), 2 outperform(LW,G), and one average/underperform(C).

 

[Scoresberg]

I'm not loving the idea of trading one of Fabbro or Carrier next summer. Our defense is aging as it is and moving one of the younger guys in the D core will only accelerate the eventual downfall. We have no one coming through the ranks to replace these guys and the Big 3 are all well over 30.

I think next summer, we can explore trading Sissons. Hopefully, Glass will take a step forward this year and be the ultimate replacement for Sissons. Maybe it's Pärssinen. But I want to believe that after next year, Sissons is redundant for us.

Now I know, trading Sissons may not solve all of the cap issues as he's only making less than $3 mil. But moving him would give us $15 mil in cap next summer.

 

[triggrman]

What website wull tell me how many minutes defensive pairings played together last season? Does it also tell me goals for and goals against in that pairing?

 

[Scoresberg]

What website wull tell me how many minutes defensive pairings played together last season? Does it also tell me goals for and goals against in that pairing?

MoneyPuck. Good God, I didn't even realize that Benning was that bad last year.

 

[herzausstein]

View attachment 575488

MoneyPuck. Good God, I didn't even realize that Benning was that bad last year.

So basically every pair he was on suffered greatly

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

I'm not loving the idea of trading one of Fabbro or Carrier next summer. Our defense is aging as it is and moving one of the younger guys in the D core will only accelerate the eventual downfall. We have no one coming through the ranks to replace these guys and the Big 3 are all well over 30.

I think next summer, we can explore trading Sissons. Hopefully, Glass will take a step forward this year and be the ultimate replacement for Sissons. Maybe it's Pärssinen. But I want to believe that after next year, Sissons is redundant for us.

Now I know, trading Sissons may not solve all of the cap issues as he's only making less than $3 mil. But moving him would give us $15 mil in cap next summer.

If Glass becomes good enough to replace Sissons, and Parssinen is good enough to promote as well, then we would be looking at something like...

2023-24
Forsberg ($8.5M) - Granlund ($5M) - Duchene ($8M)
Niederreiter ($4M) - Johansen ($8M) - Tomasino ($0.863M)
Trenin ($1.7M) - Glass (?RFA - $1.5M?) - Jeannot (?RFA - $4.0M?)
Tolvanen ($1.45M) - Parssinen ($0.851M) - Nurmi (?RFA - $0.775M?)
MinorsF1 ($0.775M) / MinorsF2 ($0.775M)

Josi ($9.059M) - McDonagh ($6.75M)
Ekholm ($6.25M) - Fabbro (?RFA - $4.0M?)
Lauzon ($2M) - Carrier (?RFA = $2.5M?)
MinorsD ($0.775M)

Saros ($5M)
?Askarov? ($0.925M)

Buyouts: Turris ($2M)

Total wiithout RFAs: $72.6733M
Total w/ RFA estimates: $85.4483M
(Cap $83.5M)

It's still going to be a couple million short, probably. Although of course who really knows, they have to play the games; maybe those impending-RFAs don't look good enough to get that much money, maybe they look better and deserving of more, maybe Glass can't even establish himself as an NHL player let alone one who can replace Sissons. Maybe (heaven forbid) somebody will get into an unfortunate LTIR situation. Maybe the NHL will change it's current prescription for the Cap. We'll undoubtedly be keeping tabs on all this stuff all year long, since it seems likely to be our key challenge for next offseason.

 

[triggrman]

I actually had a main member of Nashville media this morning tell me Fabbro was the 6th best defenseman we have. It's no wonder our fanbase for the most part struggles, the local media is their leaders.

 

[herzausstein]

I actually had a main member of Nashville media this morning tell me Fabbro was the 6th best defenseman we have. It's no wonder our fanbase for the most part struggles, the local media is their leaders.

No way he’s behind lauzon or boro. So that’s just nuts.

 

[Scoresberg]

Crouse 5x$4.3 mil. Good comparable for Jeannot?

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

Crouse 5x$4.3 mil. Good comparable for Jeannot?

If Jeannot would take that extension today, I'd probably do it. It'd be a pretty big gamble, though. Jeannot is certainly coming from the extreme opposite end of the draft credentials spectrum from Crouse. And teams tend to factor that track record into things, even this many years later. Maybe I'd regret it. But I do believe in Jeannot, that what he showed us couldn't be just a fluke.

 

[triggrman]

No way he’s behind lauzon or boro. So that’s just nuts.

My rankings
Josi
McDonagh
Ekholm
Fabbro
Carrier
Lauzon
Boro

I think the line between Carrier and Fabbro is small. Fabbro better all around, Carrier carries the puck better.

 

[herzausstein]

Crouse 5x$4.3 mil. Good comparable for Jeannot?

Really hard to say. Crouse has a lot more nhl experience but only now broke out at age 25 like Jeannot. Crouse is like Jeannot but with draft pedigree. I think they’re pretty good comparable but Arizona has a habit of overpaying players so I’d like to get Jeannot below 4 if possible

 

[LCPreds]

I actually had a main member of Nashville media this morning tell me Fabbro was the 6th best defenseman we have. It's no wonder our fanbase for the most part struggles, the local media is their leaders.

Did they at least attempt to back up their assertion at all?

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

I actually had a main member of Nashville media this morning tell me Fabbro was the 6th best defenseman we have. It's no wonder our fanbase for the most part struggles, the local media is their leaders.

But Fabbro was "healthy scratched" against Carolina or something. According to them. Or he had some lingering concussion issues or Covid or... well something? But no need to ask, really, surely the Preds wouldn't hide injury information during the playoffs, would they. No, Harpur and Benning were simply better players even then. Of course.

No way he’s behind lauzon or boro. So that’s just nuts.

Maybe they are just doing some good work for Poile so that we can keep his contract lower next summer.

 

[triggrman]

Did they at least attempt to back up their assertion at all?

Of course not.

 

[Flgatorguy87]

I actually had a main member of Nashville media this morning tell me Fabbro was the 6th best defenseman we have. It's no wonder our fanbase for the most part struggles, the local media is their leaders.

Who?

 

[triggrman]

Braden Gall

 

[Flgatorguy87]

Braden Gall

I haven't heard from him since he left radio. Where is he putting stuff out now? He was always a college football guy. Never really thought his preds stuff was particularly strong.

 

[Flgatorguy87]

Interesting nugget to add to the Kessel talk. Sure seems like a perfect fit for this team playing those hard minutes.



Couple bruisers for us



How about "Sniper" Tolvy. Certainly reinvented his game