Speculation: Roster Building Thread - Off-season Part I

[Priorae]

I’m warming to the idea of a short contract for a number two center, allowing more time to evaluate others. Throw a two year deal at someone solid and go to war with that. Malkin would be a good fit.

 

[AlaBlueShirt]

I want Pulju. I think he has all the tools to be a great top-6 player, even improved version of Buchnevich. Georgiev should seal the deal.

 

[TradeAllStromes]

Malkin would be fantastic on this team, and I think he would fit with Panarin really good. Can we afford him though? I want that big name 2C like him or if giroux was still playing C, and get away from the garbage we had this year as 2c

 

[rangers1314]

Does anyone have exactly what Mollie said regarding Motte in that column yesterday?

For giggles, I'll take a guess at what the extension is going to look like.

5 Years/1.9AAV. NTC for the first 2 years, modified (5 or 10 NTC) for the final 3.

 

[Anthony5967]

Kreider-Zibanejad-Lafrenière
Panarin-Copp-Kakko
Othmann-Chytil-Kravtsov
Motte-Goodrow-Blais
Rydahl-Brodzinski

Miller-Fox
Lindgren-Trouba
Jones-Schneider
Lundkvist? Hajek?

If the Rangers choose to retain their own guys in Copp and Motte, this would be a solid lineup on opening night.

 

[Oscar Lindberg]

Does anyone have exactly what Mollie said regarding Motte in that column yesterday?

For giggles, I'll take a guess at what the extension is going to look like.

5 Years/1.9AAV. NTC for the first 2 years, modified (5 or 10 NTC) for the final 3.

This would require a subscription to the post and who the hell wants a subscription to the post lmao

 

[duhmetreE]

We need hard nosed players. It's the unfortunate truth.

You have your talent at the top.... but you need grit and edge that's capable of playing the modern game. We can't have a kid line as our 3rd line. It becomes redundant and destroys the team balance.

We need players that are willing to engage physically. It's not the only aspect but it needs to be there.

 

[Vitto79]

Craig Anderson still in Buffalo
They will sign a ufa I bet too
Let’s get the young kids for a prospect to be the backup to Igor

 

[duhmetreE]

Chytil, Lundkvist for PLD
Sign Stastny to that 2 year - I want to win $1M deal.
Re-sign Motte
Bridge Kakko

Panarin PLD Laffy
Kreider Zibs Kravtsov
Blais Stastny Kakko
Motte Goodrow Reaves/Hunt
Brodz

we trimmed the baby fat.

have no clue if this works financially but it'd be close. It'd most definitely take some movement next offseason

 

[IDvsEGO]

We need hard nosed players. It's the unfortunate truth.

You have your talent at the top.... but you need grit and edge that's capable of playing the modern game. We can't have a kid line as our 3rd line. It becomes redundant and destroys the team balance.

We need players that are willing to engage physically. It's not the only aspect but it needs to be there.

We cant have the kid line as the third line because the kids have earned and need more time than being on the third will allow, any other logic for moving them off the third is irrelevant

 

[duhmetreE]

We cant have the kid line as the third line because the kids have earned and need more time than being on the third will allow, any other logic for moving them off the third is irrelevant

that's the point. There's no balance on the team. We have/had too many top6 players. Put players where they belong and fill out the bottom6

 

[jerseyjinx94]

that's the point. There's no balance on the team. We have/had too many top6 players. Put players where they belong and fill out the bottom6

We have too many top 6 players? Half of you are saying we desperately need a top 6 C. Who are the top 6 players we have that give us too many?

 

[IDvsEGO]

that's the point. There's no balance on the team. We have/had too many top6 players. Put players where they belong and fill out the bottom6

I think what youre trying to say is, we have too many top 6 players and not enough spots for them, which the logical conclusion is you have to move a top 6 player... Except the only ones we could move are laf/kk/chytil.

"put players where they belong" is also missing significant pieces because if you're saying "leave the kids on the third" to give us depth, well the kids also dont continue their development, which is whats going to keep our window open once panarin,mika,ck slow down.

 

[MrAlmost]

Hope the Motte contract is 4 years between 1.75 and 2 million. That would be a good contract. Obviously, the lower the AAV the better. Drury seems to be targeting players based on HF wants. Goodrow, Copp, Vatrano, Motte. I wonder if he reads. Haha

Drury has a type and he seems to know we need a little more depth, speed and tenacity in that bottom 6. I have a feeling Drury just moves the young players up this offseason. The UFA centers look better next offseason and the one after anyways.

 

[IDvsEGO]

Hope the Motte contract is 4 years between 1.75 and 2 million. That would be a good contract. Obviously, the lower the AAV the better. Drury seems to be targeting players based on HF wants. Goodrow, Copp, Vatrano, Motte. I wonder if he reads. Haha

Drury has a type and he seems to know we need a little more depth, speed and tenacity in that bottom 6. I have a feeling Drury just moves the young players up this offseason. The UFA centers look better next offseason and the one after anyways.

Next year our cap is gone. If we're looking at a UFA center its going to be in '25. The cap jumps up and matthews is a UFA.

 

[bleedblue94]

the issue isnt having the kid line as the "third line"

that line of thinking is so archaic in today's game. it's not top 6 and bottom six anymore, it is top 9 and your 4th line. the issue we have is our deployment of our "third line" and I believe a lot of that has to do with the issues on the zib and strome lines where almost no one on this team could win a faceoff and the 4th line ended up getting way more ice time bc usually whoever was centering that line happened to be one of the guys the coaches semi trusted on draws.

the way a lot of offense in this league now comes from faceoff wins i think too many people are discrediting just how much this team is handcuffed by their lack of ability to gain possession after a stoppage and how that plays into deployment. im not picking on chytil but rolling out a player whos career best fow percentage is 43% makes it hard, especially when strome was at 44%. strome is going to get o zone starts bc their line generates offense AND they have the 11.3m offense only winger on it, but where the kid line or even just chytil gets killed for ice time is the fact they cant trust to start him in the d zone consistently bc he has a career faceoff win percentage around 40%, so the 4th line gets more starts bc even though kevin rooney was at 45% (or goodrow at 50%) the coaches clearly trust those 4th line guys to be able to adjust better to a lost draw than they do compared to chytil's line.

bottom line is this team as a whole needs to get better on faceoffs. this is also another reason i am not in love with pld, he sucks at draws and we are going to commit to him? regarding possession we will be in the same place again with overall horrible faceoff center men which leads to us chasing the game on most restarts, and if you are running zib, pld, and somehow keep chytil in the trade then you will see someone on the 4th line who is very good at draws, and if that happens chytil and his linemates will again be in purgatory with ice time and deployment.

I honestly think if chytil was sitting as a 52% faceoff guy we wouldnt be having these conversations about ice time for him and the kid line as a whole if they are together.

 

[Lindberg Cheese]

Been fooling around with a PLD trade involving Kakko as main piece, we’ll need to move Nemeth somehow. It’s cap compliant, leaves us about a mil in space if we pay PLD about 7.25 mil for 4-5 years. And yes there will be the French Tickler line. It does mean that we’ll have to shed either Krieder or Trouba next year to afford RFAs.

Krieder Zibs Krat
Pan Chytil Goodrow
Laf PLD Blais
Hunt Rydahl Cuylle / Reeves

Lind Fox
Miller Schnieder
Jones Trouba
Braun

Igor / Lindgren

 

[MrAlmost]

Next year our cap is gone. If we're looking at a UFA center its going to be in '25. The cap jumps up and matthews is a UFA.

I doubt we are getting Matthews and honestly, don't want him. Will be too much money for 1 player. And again, this year had a winner with no player making more then 10 million a year.

But high end and depth centers are better the next 2 years. Also, I am going to reserve my take on next years cap until I see it. Record numbers this year even with a few hiccups.

 

[bleedblue94]

Next year our cap is gone. If we're looking at a UFA center its going to be in '25. The cap jumps up and matthews is a UFA.

i've been saying for years that matthews contract is historically bad. not even bc of the cap hit, but bc they paid him as if they were buying out ufa years (which they didnt), or as if they got the term they wanted (which they didnt), or as if they got the cap hit they wanted (they didnt), BUT ALSO bc matthews has a NMC in the final year much like zib did (except matthews is 3-4 years younger!!), and if they dont have an extension in place that basically means when the NMC kicks in matthews can hold toronto hostage in a negotiation for a blank check, or the leafs will have to trade him next summer. there is NO WAY they can let him get to ufa and walk for free.

Been fooling around with a PLD trade involving Kakko as main piece, we’ll need to move Nemeth somehow. It’s cap compliant, leaves us about a mil in space if we pay PLD about 7.25 mil for 4-5 years. And yes there will be the French Tickler line. It does mean that we’ll have to shed either Krieder or Trouba next year to afford RFAs.

Krieder Zibs Krat
Pan Chytil Goodrow
Laf PLD Blais
Hunt Rydahl Cuylle / Reeves

Lind Fox
Miller Schnieder
Jones Trouba
Braun

Igor / Lindgren

if pld is here he is playing with panarin, write that in pen.

that being said the right side in your lineup is, well it is awful and not even really nhl quality...

 

[JimmyG89]

We have too many top 6 players? Half of you are saying we desperately need a top 6 C. Who are the top 6 players we have that give us too many?

You can never have too many top 6 players. What you need to do it make sure that players are multi-faceted if they end up on the 3rd line. Right now, the 3rd line wingers are looking like Kravtsov and Blais. Kravtsov has the skill to join the top 6. Blais has the sandpaper to play as a tweener. His last year in St. Louis he was producing like a top 6 forward, just not getting the ice time to put up the raw totals. Downside was he shot 25% and has never done that before. We did see he has skill too when he was healthy. Good news is that he's going to have a normal offseason to train. Should be fully healthy already.

Where the team is lacking is someone to jump into the top 6 as a center if needed. If they re-sign Copp, I'd love for them to use him in a 3C role while letting Chytil run with Panarin, at least to start. A line of Blais-Copp-Kravtsov has potential. Line with size and skating. If you want to roll more of a matchup line, you could put Kakko there and have Kravtsov move up with Chytil and Panarin to go pure offense with that line. If Copp is not the guy, it makes things more difficult IMO.

The last part is making sure that the 4th line is not just there to fill in 8 minutes of ice time. Goodrow is a perfect start to that. Hunt can be part of that, but as the 13th forward. Reaves is not part of that, but I can understand having him around as a part time player. You need to find two 4th liners in free agency or promoted from within. Motte can be one of those, and hopefully that report from Mollie Walker is accurate. I'd prefer the other is a center than can play on the wing if needed, especially with their down the middle depth in the system.

 

[GAGLine]

What is the plan in Washington? Backstrom is out indefinitely and they are rumored to be in on JT Miller. If that deal goes down and Eller doesn't move as part of it, is there a chance he'd be available? He's got 1 year remaining at 3.5 mil. He could be a good 3C option if we go with Chytil at 2C.

Maybe they would have interest in Georgiev, depending on what they do with their RFA goalies. They didn't seem very confident in either one down the stretch. Vanecek was better in the regular season and worse in the playoffs, while Samsonov was worse in the regular season and better in the playoffs. Do they keep both and hope at least one steps up?

 

[bleedblue94]

What is the plan in Washington? Backstrom is out indefinitely and they are rumored to be in on JT Miller. If that deal goes down and Eller doesn't move as part of it, is there a chance he'd be available? He's got 1 year remaining at 3.5 mil. He could be a good 3C option if we go with Chytil at 2C.

Maybe they would have interest in Georgiev, depending on what they do with their RFA goalies. They didn't seem very confident in either one down the stretch. Vanecek was better in the regular season and worse in the playoffs, while Samsonov was worse in the regular season and better in the playoffs. Do they keep both and hope at least one steps up?

washington i would think is going to go after kadri hard and if they falls through they turn to miller if he hasnt been moved. winnepeg could then be their backup plan. i do think washington will be targetting kadri with the backstrom ltir money

 

[DanielBrassard]

Just throwing this out there

courtesy of Evolving-Hockey:

 

[rangers1314]

Just throwing this out there

courtesy of Evolving-Hockey:

Does the fact that Hunt played a lot with Panarin explain this?

 

[bbny]

Just throwing this out there

courtesy of Evolving-Hockey:

I see this and I raise you: