Speculation: Roster Building thread - Part XVII - (TDL is March 7th)

[TGWL]

What’s that website with the accurate-ish contract projections?

Contract Projections – AFP Analytics

Evolving-Hockey - think you need the subscription for this one.

 

[gump116]

Adam Fox isn't the issue. Does the defense need to get bigger and more physical along with more competent? Yes. Borgen was a nice step in that direction. I actually like Vaak too, he is passable on the bottom-pairing. That process needs to continue.

Adam Fox @ $9.5m isn't really a concern. He is one of the best offensive d-men in the league and when he is on the ice, the team consistently out-performs the other team.

Montour got $7.143m on a LONG term deal this past offseason
Skjei got $7m

Wait until we see what Chychrun gets as a UFA. AFP has him projected @ $7.85m as of right now. I am guessing he eclipses $8-$8.5m per season. That's a guy whose only full 82 game season he ever played was last year in Ottawa and who doesn't really drive offense anywhere close to how Fox does with regularity.

Agreed. I don’t think people are ready for how much guys are going to get paid with the big cap jump and projected increase over next few years. Every team is going to have space and there are only so many guys to spend the money on. Easy to justify overpays by saying it won’t look bad in a couple years with a rising cap. Chychrun, Gavrikov, etc are all going to get 8+.

 

[Raspewtin]

Going to have to reconsider everything I’ve ever known now that 4 random fans on twitter think Fox sucks.

they even have blue checks!!!

 

[bernmeister]

Adam Fox isn't the issue. Does the defense need to get bigger and more physical along with more competent? Yes. Borgen was a nice step in that direction. I actually like Vaak too, he is passable on the bottom-pairing. That process needs to continue.

Adam Fox @ $9.5m isn't really a concern. He is one of the best offensive d-men in the league and when he is on the ice, the team consistently out-performs the other team.

Montour got $7.143m on a LONG term deal this past offseason
Skjei got $7m

Wait until we see what Chychrun gets as a UFA. AFP has him projected @ $7.85m as of right now. I am guessing he eclipses $8-$8.5m per season. That's a guy whose only full 82 game season he ever played was last year in Ottawa and who doesn't really drive offense anywhere close to how Fox does with regularity.

disagree 2 x
first, setting aside critical assessment of what he brings now, he is only going to get slower going forward, which obj is a prob b'c he is already slow
he is at the lower end of acceptable height, which is ok if other physical aspects offset, but here they do not

second, as always, a rule across the board, is it is less what value a player delivers vs what is the opportunity cost of not obtaining what he brings back in trade

in case of fox, that would be a lot

imo deal w/OTT
large elc Kleven
Pinto
Grieg
2 firsts down the road for 2 2nds dtr

 

[NYR Viper]

Contract Projections – AFP Analytics

Evolving-Hockey - think you need the subscription for this one.

They have it available through their X account which is where I grab it from

 

[TGWL]

They have it available through their X account which is where I grab it from

I was referring to the evolving one.(second link) I think you need a subscription tier to access that one. The AFP account should allow you to pull up projections. At least it use to allow you to navigate it on the site.

 

[RangerBoy]

Trade Kreider and Mika will follow.

You must miss Trouba and his nuclear hits too.

I appreciated Trouba very much. The Rangers miss him. He played with a broken foot in the playoffs. Wasn't the prefect player but he was a tough SOB. The Rangers need more tough SOB's and not being so nice. I think the U.S. team plays a heavy game. Playoff hockey.

 

[JohnC]

Adam Fox isn't the issue. Does the defense need to get bigger and more physical along with more competent? Yes. Borgen was a nice step in that direction. I actually like Vaak too, he is passable on the bottom-pairing. That process needs to continue.

Adam Fox @ $9.5m isn't really a concern. He is one of the best offensive d-men in the league and when he is on the ice, the team consistently out-performs the other team.

Montour got $7.143m on a LONG term deal this past offseason
Skjei got $7m

Wait until we see what Chychrun gets as a UFA. AFP has him projected @ $7.85m as of right now. I am guessing he eclipses $8-$8.5m per season. That's a guy whose only full 82 game season he ever played was last year in Ottawa and who doesn't really drive offense anywhere close to how Fox does with regularity.

Tbf, you’re talking about players that these bozos would rather have over Fox because their heights start with a 6.

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

Chychrun is going to push 20 goals this year.

His AAV is going to start with an 8 at minimum.

 

[NYR Viper]

How about:

Panarin to LA for Fiala + Dvorak + LAK 1st + Jeannot (cap dump)

Smith @ 50% to FLA for 2nd '26 + 4th '25

Lindgren @ 50% to COL for 2nd '25 + 5th '26

Kreider to DAL for Bourque + 1st '26 + 3rd '26


In the off-season, sign Gavrikov + Matta

Fiala-Miller-Zibanejad
Cuylle-Trochek-Lafreniere
Othmann-Bourque-Berard/Kaliyev
Edstrom-Carrick-Rempe
Berard/Kaliyev

Gavrikov-Fox
Miller-Borgen
Maata-Schneider
Vaak

Shesty
Quick

That fits with ~$4-5m in cap space

 

[JESSEWENEEDTOCOOK]

Chychrun is going to push 20 goals this year.

His AAV is going to start with an 8 at minimum.

I’d imagine 8.5x7 at least

i’d give it to him. Fox-Chychrun would be awesome

 

[NickyFotiu]

Tbf, you’re talking about players that these bozos would rather have over Fox because their heights start with a 6.

Leetch, Orr, Makar are all under 6 feet so that should not be the primary concern.

 

[kovazub94]

How about:

Panarin to LA for Fiala + Dvorak + LAK 1st + Jeannot (cap dump)

Smith @ 50% to FLA for 2nd '26 + 4th '25

Lindgren @ 50% to COL for 2nd '25 + 5th '26

Kreider to DAL for Bourque + 1st '26 + 3rd '26


In the off-season, sign Gavrikov + Matta

Fiala-Miller-Zibanejad
Cuylle-Trochek-Lafreniere
Othmann-Bourque-Berard/Kaliyev
Edstrom-Carrick-Rempe
Berard/Kaliyev

Gavrikov-Fox
Miller-Borgen
Maata-Schneider
Vaak

Shesty
Quick

That fits with ~$4-5m in cap space

You're saying this lineup has another $4-$5m worth of upgrades to be made?

 

[chris kontos]

How about:

Panarin to LA for Fiala + Dvorak + LAK 1st + Jeannot (cap dump)

Smith @ 50% to FLA for 2nd '26 + 4th '25

Lindgren @ 50% to COL for 2nd '25 + 5th '26

Kreider to DAL for Bourque + 1st '26 + 3rd '26


In the off-season, sign Gavrikov + Matta

Fiala-Miller-Zibanejad
Cuylle-Trochek-Lafreniere
Othmann-Bourque-Berard/Kaliyev
Edstrom-Carrick-Rempe
Berard/Kaliyev

Gavrikov-Fox
Miller-Borgen
Maata-Schneider
Vaak

Shesty
Quick

That fits with ~$4-5m in cap space

no fiala.
i have never seen a player with less hockey sense.
belongs in the circus and not in the nhl. see bill gueriin and david poille.
gavrikov yes. pay em!

 

[FoxysExpensiveNYDigs]

disagree 2 x
first, setting aside critical assessment of what he brings now, he is only going to get slower going forward, which obj is a prob b'c he is already slow
he is at the lower end of acceptable height, which is ok if other physical aspects offset, but here they do not

second, as always, a rule across the board, is it is less what value a player delivers vs what is the opportunity cost of not obtaining what he brings back in trade

in case of fox, that would be a lot

imo deal w/OTT
large elc Kleven
Pinto
Grieg
2 firsts down the road for 2 2nds dtr

Absolutely awful return for Fox. LOL. LMAO even.

 

[Flan the incredible]

Whats the fascination with Fiala? He hasn't been good in LA and he is another player their board hates him. He disappears in big games and his production decreases in the playoffs while being a solid-12. Defense whats defense.

He would quickly become the most hated Ranger on this board.

 

[eco's bones]

Lindgren was bad before he got hurt and that’s really the problem. It’s not that they didn’t have replacements, it’s that they didn’t actively try to replace him. They could have easily done that at the deadline last year.

Trouba actually played relatively well (for Trouba) in his limited 5v5 minutes through 2 rounds. Lavi made the mistake of wanting to “muscle up” and he really got taken advantage of vs Florida. Lindgren was Lindgren. He sucked epically pre cracked ribs too.

Florida dominated, but it’s important to look at why. For me the three things that are most clear were

1. Rangers inability to move their puck out of their own end efficiently led to a ton of extended zone time or “reload” sequences. oaf defensemen who can’t move the puck are the prime suspects here.

2. Despite that, they gave up most of their goals off the rush, which is an area they’ve struggled to defend since AV was here. This is multi layered as it’s a combo of the forwards doing stupid shit, not trying hard enough to get back into the play, the actual defense being collectively bad at it and the aforementioned reload plays (Trouba and his Grand Canyon sized gap control was obvious, but Lindgren got gashed off the rush in every series more than anyone.)

3. The PP. They scored more short handed than they did on the PP in this series. I think they actually outscored Florida 5v5 in this series somehow.

4. Coaching. I don’t know why both Gallant and Laviolette have decided to give Zibanejad the tough matchups. I don’t know that his line would have done a lot better against the others but I think there would have been more push back from the trocheck line (even with a useless Panarin.) Bumping up Trouba was dumb, his over aggressiveness was a major detriment in this series. Lindgren should have at most, been used sparingly instead of doing what ever the hell it was that he did in the playoffs last year. Graded out as the worst defenseman on the team by a lot.

It’s not just the 2 D, but when you have those 2 D playing in your top 4 you’re basically playing on hard mode. Really tough to win that way against a team that went on to eventually win the whole thing.

I think they could have beaten Florida with a better body in place of Lindgren and/or Panarin actually doing something. You bascially had to hope that Panarin would carry over most of his play from the RS (and for the most part he didn’t) but Lindgren was a self inflicted wound, there was nothing stopping them from upgrading there as he was an obvious sore spot even before the playoffs started.

Part of what I took out of that series was the Rangers couldn't handle a hard and fast forecheck or sustained physical play. The only way they might have even salvaged one more game was Igor---who has not been great this year. He kept the scores down which would have given the team a chance if the collective would have had enough energy to mount some offense.

I don't know when Lindgren cracked the ribs. What I was saying though was he shouldn't have been playing with that kind of injury and perhaps Trouba shouldn't have either. Here though is where a coaching staff has to work with what it has. Would kicking Gus up into the top 4 and playing Jones and Ruhwedel made a net positive difference? Maybe. I don't think it would have hurt but as far as changing the outcome I seriously doubt it. In retrospect I think that series was already lost before the first puck even dropped. We didn't have the horses to win against a team like that.

It's obvious from what happened afterwards with Goodrow moving over the summer and Drury trying to move Trouba then as well---the Rangers players thought they could have. Even the games they won though they weren't very good.

 

[NYR Viper]

Whats the fascination with Fiala? He hasn't been good in LA and he is another player their board hates him. He disappears in big games and his production decreases in the playoffs while being a solid-12. Defense whats defense.

He would quickly become the most hated Ranger on this board.

I think that what you're seeing is people trying to get creative to revamp the roster. Panarin isn't a perfect player either. Fiala, for all his faults, is a 28 year old winger who plays with good pace and who has (2) seasons where he put up more than a ppg, followed by a season where he scored 73 points in 82 games. This is all with playing ~2 minutes less per game than Panarin.

He's also a player who drives possession pretty consistently over his career. He's not perfect, be he'd be a nice top-6 wing option for a team in transition to a younger core who could provide offense.

He also carries a decent cap number ($7.875m) that could come back in return for Panarin's $11.6m number going the other way. It's highly unlikely that any trade of Panarin doesn't return some sort of higher cap hit contract coming back as part of the return.

Also, for all the shit Fiala gets for his playoff numbers, look at the teams he was on.
19-20 - 4 points in 4 games, where his team got swept
20-21 - 2 points in a 7 game series
21022 - 3 points in 6 games
22-23 - 6 points in 3 games
23-24 - 2 points in 5 games

Notice a trend? His teams haven't had very large sample sizes to pull from. But if we take his last 4 times in the playoffs, he has 13 points in 21 games. Not great, but not horrible. And his $7.875m contract is pretty much right in line with Lafreniere which is pretty much a 2nd liner.

 

[Rongomania]

How about:

Panarin to LA for Fiala + Dvorak + LAK 1st + Jeannot (cap dump)

Smith @ 50% to FLA for 2nd '26 + 4th '25

Lindgren @ 50% to COL for 2nd '25 + 5th '26

Kreider to DAL for Bourque + 1st '26 + 3rd '26


In the off-season, sign Gavrikov + Matta

Fiala-Miller-Zibanejad
Cuylle-Trochek-Lafreniere
Othmann-Bourque-Berard/Kaliyev
Edstrom-Carrick-Rempe
Berard/Kaliyev

Gavrikov-Fox
Miller-Borgen
Maata-Schneider
Vaak

Shesty
Quick

That fits with ~$4-5m in cap space

I’m on board with a lot of this. However, I think Perrault should be pushed hard into the roster, if he can’t hang, go be an AHL beast for a year.

As for the bread trade, I want a young studly D + solid third liner + 1st.

And smith, get a first from one of the top teams for sure.

If we can possibly get rid of K & Z I think you package them seperately (obvs) one with a 2nd or 3rd or B level-ish prospects and one with Lindy. At least another first+2nds+ and multiple great prospects and/or very good young players from two desperate teams. I’m sure we can attract teams ranging from the bottom of the league to the top level teams going for it.

We can retool the absolute f*ck out of this team.

Younger.
Harder.
Faster.

+ a shit ton of picks.

LFG 2025-2026 season!

 

[DanielBrassard]

How about:

Panarin to LA for Fiala + Dvorak + LAK 1st + Jeannot (cap dump)

Smith @ 50% to FLA for 2nd '26 + 4th '25

Lindgren @ 50% to COL for 2nd '25 + 5th '26

Kreider to DAL for Bourque + 1st '26 + 3rd '26


In the off-season, sign Gavrikov + Matta

Fiala-Miller-Zibanejad
Cuylle-Trochek-Lafreniere
Othmann-Bourque-Berard/Kaliyev
Edstrom-Carrick-Rempe
Berard/Kaliyev

Gavrikov-Fox
Miller-Borgen
Maata-Schneider
Vaak

Shesty
Quick

That fits with ~$4-5m in cap space

Dallas wouldn’t make that trade, Panarin won’t waive. Don’t see the point in signing Maata to play 3rd pairing minutes. Just play Vaakanainen and save the cap space.

 

[Leonardo87]

Pure stupidity
View attachment 978135

It’s stuff like this why I don’t really get into too many deep discussions when it comes to roster moves and whatnot.

When Rangers media and beat writers are making fan type trade proposals you know it has sunk to a new low.

 

[Crease]

Larry is basically an op-ed columnist these days.

 

[80shockeywasbuns]

NYR fans when big American trouba plays on a broken foot and throws the season away:

NYR fans when pansy ass euro Chytil works his way back from his 400th concussion and is still effective and plays his ass off every shift

 

[jerseyjinx94]

Contract Projections – AFP Analytics

Evolving-Hockey - think you need the subscription for this one.

I was thinking of AFP. They didn’t do 2025 yet I guess

 

[NYR Viper]

You're saying this lineup has another $4-$5m worth of upgrades to be made?

I'm just saying they would have cap space to make a move or add another player if desired