Roster Building Thread VI (2022-23): Offseason edition

[RGY]

Tarasenko and Kane were on team for 1/4 of the season. How would that be bringing back the same team? If even just 1 of those guys were on the team for the full season we definitely finish ahead of the Devils and there is a good chance we finish ahead of Carolina. Then you are talking about a Game 7 at home or playing a trash Islanders team in Round 1.

Some of you act like we were a bubble team last year and it was a miracle we even made the playoffs. But for all their warts, and keep in mind STILL being a young team, they were one of the better teams in the league. And no they weren’t the fastest team, but they weren’t the slowest and quite frankly Vegas wasn’t some blazing young team and they won the cup. You need talent to win. There is no such thing as a Top 6 anymore on a good roster in the NHL. Its a Top 9. I prefer to have more proven scoring talent. If you are driving more offense, you are defending less.

 

[haohmaru]

Highly recommend this week’s episode of The Broadway Hat podcast for some great insights into our draft picks (all).

 

[NickyFotiu]

I liked Tank but after signing Wheeler I'm not sold on adding another older slower RW. We need speed. There are only so many slots we can add it. Plus we are hoping Oth and or Cuyle will be coming up soon. If it was Tank 5 years ago make a deal but in 2023? I do not know if that is the best way to go. Maybe keep some powder dry incase someone younger and faster comes available during the season?

 

[GAGLine]

Lindgren on LITR

Putting Lindgren on LTIR would have enabled us to trade for Kane sooner and avoid running short benches, but we wouldn't have had the cap space to reactivate Lindgren before the end of the season. His injury wasn't expected to keep him out for the remainder of the season. And even though he came back for one game and went out again, he still ended up playing the last 5 games.

Believe it or not, the NHL does look at these things. Teams can play around in the gray area in terms of when they bring players off LTIR, but if the league can prove cap circumvention, they would hammer us. The benefit of using LTIR didn't outweigh the potential cost.

 

[NYR Viper]

I'm not opposed to Tarasenko or Kane. What I am opposed to is shoe-horning them in to slots that they don't below. Either player in a 3rd line role adding offensive depth and playing on PP2 is a good signing.

 

[bernmeister]

So we gotta wait till one of Panarin, Kreider, Laff is traded.
Not gonna happen. Cuylle is exactly the kind of player this team needs sooner than later.
If he outplays guys like Pitlick, Nash, Belzile he should at least get 10 games.

one of these is not like the other 2.
One is a prob, the other 2 are not
whether you go by paycheck or production

Some of these people want to build the same team every year and the coach is blamed when the older finesse players show their age. Tarasenko isn't the same player. His numbers have dropped as he gotten older and the double shoulder surgery didn't help. Bring him back. Kane puts out a video working out. Bring him back. His defensive metrics suck ass. His hip was f***ed befpre the surgery. It will be f***ed up after hip resurfacing surgery. Bring him back too. Such bullshit. Push Lafreniere and Kakko to the back again. What's wrong with them? They suck. They are slow. They can't skate. Boo.

Where have I heard most of this before?
Don't favor vets, esp excessively, over youth, which needs be developed, not pushed back.

And there's even a "Boo".
I know I should recognize this from somewhere, it feels familiar....

 

[IDvsEGO]

I'm not opposed to Tarasenko or Kane. What I am opposed to is shoe-horning them in to slots that they don't below. Either player in a 3rd line role adding offensive depth and playing on PP2 is a good signing.

Except then that shoe horns wheeler into the 2nd line.

 

[SA16]

Except then that shoe horns wheeler into the 2nd line.

He’s the best RW on the team of course he should be on the first or second line

 

[lakeshirts37]

Im not commenting on Zibs but in a 32 league team I look at things in tiers. Top 12 would be above average. 13-20 would be average. 21-32 would be below average.

Your math is a little off here…

 

[Lindberg Cheese]

To get Tank, he’d have to take a 4-4.25 deal and we’d have to get rid of Goodrow, pinch Laf and Key by 100-300k each off their expected offers, and do the 21 roster shuffle regularly. Too many hills to climb peoples.

 

[NickyFotiu]

Your math is a little off here…

Its my tier view. Its not about math. Please do not take the word average literally.

 

[duhmetreE]

Putting Lindgren on LTIR would have enabled us to trade for Kane sooner and avoid running short benches, but we wouldn't have had the cap space to reactivate Lindgren before the end of the season. His injury wasn't expected to keep him out for the remainder of the season. And even though he came back for one game and went out again, he still ended up playing the last 5 games.

Believe it or not, the NHL does look at these things. Teams can play around in the gray area in terms of when they bring players off LTIR, but if the league can prove cap circumvention, they would hammer us. The benefit of using LTIR didn't outweigh the potential cost.

That's how the LITR scam works. Did Lindgren really need to play those games? We could have added more help. 2 of the 3 past cup winners have used it.

The outcome was still inevitable because our coaching, gameplan and teamwork were subpar.

 

[NYR Viper]

If Lafreniere wanted a 1 year deal, that may be better for the Rangers anyways. If the player thinks this is his breakout year, he may prefer that. Give Lafreniere 1 year @ $2m, save some money and then offer the big 8 year deal next off-season as the cap starts to go up.

 

[LaffyTaffyNYR]

I know people are wanting some speed but if it’s Tarasenko or Goodrow.. What’s the difference? Is there anyone out there still that has speed that could play in a top 9 role like Tarasenko could?

If the choice is trading Goodrow and signing Tarasenko (especially if it’s for 1/2 years) feels like an easy choice.

We also clear the cap of Goodrow for 2 years after etc

 

[jerseyjinx94]

Trading Goodrow and allocating his money to Tarasenko really is a no brainer. So long as wheeler plays a 3RW role and not Kakko

 

[GAGLine]

That's how the LITR scam works. Did Lindgren really need to play those games? We could have added more help. 2 of the 3 past cup winners have used it.

The outcome was still inevitable because our coaching was subpar.

As I said, Lindgren was expected to be back well before the end of the season. He played on 03/21, nearly a month before the end of the season, and he had been expected back before then. Keeping him out until the end of the season would have been a big risk for very little gain.

We weren't going to add anyone other than Kane, and we added him eventually. The only benefit would have been to add him a few days earlier and avoid the shortened bench.

Other teams benefited from LTIR by adding players they wouldn't have otherwise been able to add, and keeping the player on LTIR through the end of the season. Putting Lindgren on LTIR wouldn't have created that much space for us as he only has a 3 mil cap hit.

This is from the CBA:

The Commissioner may take whatever steps he deems necessary to investigate the
circumstances under which a Player is: (i) placed, or remains, on the Injured Reserve List, or (ii)
designated Injured Non-Roster. If the Commissioner has reason to believe that the Injured
Reserve List or Injured Non-Roster status has not been utilized properly by the involved Club or
otherwise Circumvents any provision of this Agreement, or if he determines that the Club has
used the Injured Reserve and/or Injured Non-Roster designations to evade the Active Roster
limit, he may take such disciplinary action against the Club as he deems appropriate.

Not only would we be risking punishment by the league, but both Lindgren and the team doctor would have had to agree to it. Do you honestly think Lindgren would be okay with sitting out despite being fully healthy just so the team can game the system? Do you honestly expect any doctor to risk his livelihood for it? Yeah, some teams have fudged it, but not to the extent that you are suggesting. And again, we would have gotten very little benefit from doing it.

 

[NickyFotiu]

I know people are wanting some speed but if it’s Tarasenko or Goodrow.. What’s the difference? Is there anyone out there still that has speed that could play in a top 9 role like Tarasenko could?

If the choice is trading Goodrow and signing Tarasenko (especially if it’s for 1/2 years) feels like an easy choice.

We also clear the cap of Goodrow for 2 years after etc

If those were the only 2 options I would be on board for Tank. I think we could move Goody without replacing him with Tank though.

 

[IDvsEGO]

If Lafreniere wanted a 1 year deal, that may be better for the Rangers anyways. If the player thinks this is his breakout year, he may prefer that. Give Lafreniere 1 year @ $2m, save some money and then offer the big 8 year deal next off-season as the cap starts to go up.

Then you have Kakko and laf at the same time.
Can’t take each season on its own, has to be timed carefully

 

[RangerBoy]

I think the fans only have interest in guys like Tarasenko and Kane if they are coming at a discount salary wise. Thats really the main draw. I dont care how young or old a player is at this point if they can help the team win. We arent rebuilding. I am a Kakko/Lafreniere defender, but the excuses will run out for them at some point. The more good players we have, the more good players they will play with, regardless of what line they are on. You dont think Kane feeding passes to Lafreniere will help his development?

I think Drury has made it clear, based on the with rift with Gallant and the Peca/Muse hires that the continued development of the kids is a priority but it is going to happen organically within the team structure. Having 12 good NHL forwards on the roster for the first time since the rebuild began is fine with me.

Why? Who gives a shit if Tarasenko or Kane want to play here for cheap? There is one puck. There are only 60 minutes in a game. There aren’t enough opportunities for all of these forwards. Good players? They are all the same players. This isn't fantasy hockey.

Vegas didn't win with finesse hockey. TB didn't win with finesse hockey.

 

[RangerBoy]

He posted career-best numbers after returning from the second shoulder surgery. I don’t think that’s it.

What did Tarasenko post?

Tarasenko’s two-way contributions have been trending in the wrong direction for a while, something that showed during his stint with the Rangers.

 

[LaffyTaffyNYR]

Obviously it’s highlights and anyone can look good but Blake has some skills still.

 

[NickyFotiu]

Obviously it’s highlights and anyone can look good but Blake has some skills still.

For $800k he was a low risk high reward signing. The talk of Tank at $4-$5 mill would not be the same kind of signing imo so I would pass on Tank even if Goody is moved.

 

[Fitzy]

Why? Who gives a shit if Tarasenko or Kane want to play here for cheap? There is one puck. There are only 60 minutes in a game. There aren’t enough opportunities for all of these forwards. Good players? They are all the same players. This isn't fantasy hockey.

Vegas didn't win with finesse hockey. TB didn't win with finesse hockey.

Tarasenko is and was a good fit here, there's no question about that. But so was Vatrano.

NYR need speed and volume shooting at the forward position, and they can get that much easier than signing an aging star to play pp2

 

[nsvoyageurs]

 

[NickyFotiu]

Obviously it’s highlights and anyone can look good but Blake has some skills still.

Even if he was not scoring I see him making subtle moves to give himself 2-5 feet of space. I see him looking to go a few feet away from the defender while our guys skate right in to the defender. When he had the puck he moved a few feet wide instead of going right at the dman and getting his shot deflected. Even when MSL was past his prime I noticed the same thing. He would find a little space so if the puck did come he had a shot. Laf and KK could learn a lot from watching Blake.