Speculation: Roster Building Thread LI: Something happen, please...

[Edge]

And there is always a decent chance to get surprises like Barrett Hayton going 6, but even Kotkaniemi shooting up to 3 was rumored well in advance. No news about Zegras other than everyone loves him. He's not gonna slide. Dach will slide before him, if it's someone. At this point, I also think Cozens is on the outside looking in, regarding the top 7, but we'll see. Not that he won't end up being a great player too.

There's probably half-a-dozen guys out the top 10 on any given list for whom we can make a case.

 

[mas0764]

There's two approaches I can see.

One is to get in a certain range to either catch a faller, or be in a position to slide up a few spots for him.

The second is to get a little higher because mathematically you're confident a guy you have in a cluster will be there (and you can potentially slide up a few slots).

I like the latter.

Especially if the difference in price is Buch vs. Kreider, essentially.

 

[Dr. Ogrodnick]

Why? Kakko and Kravtsov don't do anything for you?

They are exciting players who have never played an NHL game. Counting on them to replace the winger production that would be going out the door if both Kreider and Buch were traded is a good way to hamper development. See Edmonton.

 

[I Eat Crow]

The Rangers have thus far been reluctant to take back bad contracts. So that is a potential hold up in any deal right now.

I believe this is why we haven't seen a deal done yet.

 

[I Eat Crow]

I feel like the only way the Rangers get Zegras at this point is if they make a deal prior to the draft (let's for the 8th pick), and Zegras is still sitting there at the fifth spot. Maybe you can turn 8 and a second into 5 and leap frog Detroit.

But you'd have to be in range before the draft, and you'd likely have to have find a willing trade partner to leap frog Detroit.

Maybe LA has their sights set on Spencer Knight and feel that he'll be there at 8.

 

[NoQuitInNewMexico]

Yotes deal in 2017 was announced around 1:00 EST on draft day (~3 hours from now).

I'll be worried if I don't see a Zucc extension today because I have it in my head that Dallas is playing it by ear about letting us have this year's pick instead of next year's. But I could just be getting nervous about something I literally made up.

 

[Tawnos]

The Rangers have thus far been reluctant to take back bad contracts. So that is a potential hold up in any deal right now.

Reluctant or playing reluctant?

 

[thethirdhockeyman91]

the other thing that we need to keep in mind about trading buch is the uncertainty of his next contract...not knowing his demands it seems to me that we have 2 options with him as a RFA (ignoring a trade for a second). you can either sign him to a bridge deal or you can sign him long term which is probably something like 6 years, $6-6.5 mil...

now buch has the potential IMO to be a 30/30 guy...and if he becomes that the long term deal is a great contract. but what if he doesn't? what if he remains and enigma or isn't in the top 6? in that scenario the contract becomes bad and we are looking for ways to move it...

but then if you bridge him, you are almost betting against him because if he becomes that 30/30 combined with more UFA years it will cost way more to extend him in 2 years...

I think part of the reason they are listening to offers is that they aren't sure what to do with him...they aren't looking to just get rid of him but if you can get real value then that becomes a 3rd option...

of course another potential wild card is the rumor of a flat cap the next few seasons...if the cap doesn't go up to push salaries up each year, does that help minimize the risk of a bridge deal if the cap is virtually the same after those 2 years?

6 years 6 million for Buch?

 

[Jaromir Jagr]

No, everything is going to go against us. No one will want to sign with us. The player we'd draft at 8 suck. We can't do anything.

Waah waaaaah

Some real Debbie Downers on this board. But that's their thing. Be negative so you can't be disappointed.

I don't see that at all. And no one said the guy we draft at 8 will suck. The reality is, that drafting a guy is hardly a sure thing like you make it out to be. And right now we have a young, 40 point winger, who just had his best NHL season and showed real flashes the second half of the season under Quinn's tutelage.

If you're not reluctant about trading that for a black box, then you're doing it wrong.

 

[Edge]

Reluctant or playing reluctant?

Unknown.

 

[Brooklyn Rangers Fan]

The Rangers spent a lot of time looking at the Avs last season. They were all over the AHL team too.

Very sensibile report that jibes well with what we've heard from our insiders... and then he throws Tyson Barrie's name out there at th

Really don’t like the Avs as trading partners, none of their realistic assets are interesting at all.

You don't like Kaut or their 1st round pick?

 

[Jaromir Jagr]

Anyone else anticipating the outcry on here if Shero chooses KK and we're 'stuck' with Hughes?

 

[Tawnos]

Unknown.

Yeah... so either they really don't want to or their trying to extract as much out of the trading partner as they can for doing so.

It's going to be an interesting day today. Answers forthcoming.

 

[Bacon Artemi Bravo]

Trading Buch would hurt. If the 8th overall is on the table, I understand it. It’s probably the right move to get one of these high skill centers which are in abundance in the early part of this draft. That being said, it’s not a home run and we could definitely end up regretting it at some later point.

 

[Raspewtin]

If we end up trading Kreider and Buch, we are going to have plenty of money to sign some vet wingers. They may not be Panarin, but we could add some older players on shorter deals to provide the necessary leadership and experience.

I would be on board with this but I'd like to be strategic about it. Sign some players who can be useful beyond the stop-gap years (i.e. Donskoi) and maybe mix in some bad contracts like Backes or whatever.

 

[mas0764]

Anyone else anticipating the outcry on here if Shero chooses KK and we're 'stuck' with Hughes?

I love Kakko and part of me will get a heart twinge, but then I'll go dance in the streets cause we have a #1 center.

 

[Off Sides]

I kind of think they have two ideas going,

One to build around Zbad, Trouba Skjei, even maybe Strome by adding to that approximate age group, could be Panarin or someone else.

Then they have the idea to try to draft prospects who will be coming up with the #2 pick, those who were drafted in 2017-18

If, so, I'm not exactly sure if they can ever gel those two groups together cohesively, it sure seems like that could make for a situation where they are replacing the outgoing with up and coming players, yet I'm not so sure it makes for a situation where both age groups are in their primes, where all the most important ones can be kept under the cap all at the same time.

On one hand I think that is a good thing, the being able to replace outgoing rather seamlessly, on the other hand I think it's going to be difficult for them to not end up favoring one age group or the other, the rob Peter to pay Paul type of thing.

 

[Raspewtin]

You don't like Kaut or their 1st round pick?

I don't think Kaut is realistic and the 1st is fine but if the selling point is the 1st and a meh prospect like Greer why not just wait for the TDL next year? Isn't that draft supposed to be better too?

 

[GeorgeKaplan]

And there is always a decent chance to get surprises like Barrett Hayton going 6, but even Kotkaniemi shooting up to 3 was rumored well in advance. No news about Zegras other than everyone loves him. He's not gonna slide. Dach will slide before him, if it's someone. At this point, I also think Cozens is on the outside looking in, regarding the top 7, but we'll see. Not that he won't end up being a great player too.

Apparently Colorado loves Dach

 

[Leetch3]

The Rangers have thus far been reluctant to take back bad contracts. So that is a potential hold up in any deal right now.

which leads me to speculate that the plan is to back fill these players thru free agency and therefore they don't want to unnecessarily tie up cap space unless it really ups the value of the return

 

[Brooklyn Rangers Fan]

For me it's an inhale trade. There's some cool upside there, but there is a lot of risk. There's no getting around that. Especially in a scenario where Buch is riding shotgun to McDavid.

Not a 1A center. Not a very good first line center. Not even a great first line center.

We're talking McDavid.

That's more than a little scary.

But needs to be viewed through the practical lens of "that's not something he could ever be paired with here." If they actually play him on Draisaitl's wing and he puts up insane numbers, we can experience some regret there; but next to McDavid?

Just make sure a) EDM is salivating like one of Dr. Pavlov's dogs at the potential, and b) make certain you extract value for it.

 

[Paulie Walnutz]

Rangers are gonna trade for the 8th and 16th picks before the draft starts and this is gonna be gonna be Gorton walking up to the podium when he selects Kakko

 

[Brooklyn Rangers Fan]

Haven't gotten that vibe.

Team control is huge for them. Kreider would likely walk after only one season.

Also, Buch fits McDavid's window a lot better than Kreider does.

 

[cheech70]

The only 2 Non North American players in the projected top 10 are Kakko and Vasili Podkolzin

 

[mas0764]

Trading Buch would hurt. If the 8th overall is on the table, I understand it. It’s probably the right move to get one of these high skill centers which are in abundance in the early part of this draft. That being said, it’s not a home run and we could definitely end up regretting it at some later point.

It will hurt early on.

And yeah, there are no guarantees that the 7th or 8th pick become franchise centers, but quite frankly, is it any better likelihood that Buch becomes a 60-70 point winger here? I mean, not really.

If you are going to talk about the likelihood of this center crop, which everyone has raved about, being no sure thing, then it's also no sure thing that the enigmatic and inconsistent Russian winger we have takes the next step either. So all we are really trading is 40 points of production for the same lottery ticket we'd already have, except it's for a center.

I'm not worried. We have at least two absolute blue-chip prospects here at the wing, and we are heavy favorites (in the top 2) for an impact FA winger as well. Our bets are hedged. The odds are that Buch is no better than our 4th best winger, maybe worse, within the next year or two, as Kravtsov and Kakko surpass him, and possibly Chytil as well, and maybe we import Panarin or another FA next year or the year after.

Meanwhile, we hear year after year -- with a good amount of truth -- that the teams that win in this league year in and year out have top centers.

We have Mika Zibanejad, who in my mind remains a low-end #1 or high end #2, and basically no sure things after him.

We need a stud center in this pipeline. Better than that would be TWO stud centers in this pipeline. We need it so bad that I basically don't even care about losing a winger who in all likelihood ends up no better than our 4th best winger in the future.

The gamble is entirely protected. It's basically a no brainer for me.

And frankly the Rangers have already offered it. The question is whether they can trick Edmonton or Buffalo into accepting.