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

[bhamill]

For league minimum we should have been in on that too.

Who knows? There are some players that DON'T want the bright lights, big city and pressure. Or just want to be somewhere else, especially if it's a return to a team they were already on and are comfortable with. Might have been league min for St Louis and 1.2mil for everyone else...

 

[I Eat Crow]

What’s the report on Gustafson? Is he a turnstile defensively? I get he has a good rapport with Lavi but just seems strange a 35 pt season netted a minimum deal.

Not a turnstile but can make some questionable decisions and is brain fart prone. He and Trouba on a pair looks good on paper but I worry a bit too.

 

[Avery16]

Who knows? There are some players that DON'T want the bright lights, big city and pressure. Or just want to be somewhere else, especially if it's a return to a team they were already on and are comfortable with. Might have been league min for St Louis and 1.2mil for everyone else...

Yes, of course. I’m sure Sundqvist liked St. Louis and maybe they had the inside lane on signing him. I’m just saying that for league minimum we should have been in on it.

 

[Levitate]

Without seeing him play a lot my impression is Gustafson probably plays “ok” defense overall for a 3rd pairing when you grade it all out on average but makes some
Noticeable mistakes that gives him the “bad defensively” label

 

[Avery16]

Not a turnstile but can make some questionable decisions and is brain fart prone. He and Trouba on a pair looks good on paper but I worry a bit too.

He’s going to be with Schneider.

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

Not a turnstile but can make some questionable decisions and is brain fart prone. He and Trouba on a pair looks good on paper but I worry a bit too.

I wouldn't play him above the 3rd pair.

I know he handled 2nd pair minutes well in Washington last year but 3rd pair and pp2 (get Trouba the f*** off of that unit) should be how hes used. Let him carry the transition load with Schneider and we're good there.

If Trouba can go back to being 2021-22 Trouba, I think we'll be happy with our defense as a whole.

 

[jacko23]

There is so much risk with trading Lafreniere.

Right now he was a draft pick made by the previous GM. Drury isn't really accountable for his performance.

If Lafreniere is traded and some how becomes a decent hockey player, then all of a sudden Drury becomes accountable for his performance.

Just from a corporate politics point of view, it's very risky trading him.

I hate this train of thought. Laf plays for the NYR now and Chris Drury is the GM of the NYR now.

While he isnt responsible for making the pick, he certainly overall IS accountable for his performance given the position he holds right now.

 

[RangersFan1994]

He’s going to be with Schneider.

Can't wait until they trade Jones for a 6th or 7th in 2025 because he has to go through waivers. If they send down Jones over Harper, such a bonehead Rangers type of predictable type of move.

 

[Avery16]

Can't wait until they trade Jones for a 6th or 7th in 2025 because he has to go through waivers. If they send down Jones over Harper, such a bonehead Rangers type of predictable type of move.

Maybe they carry 7 and Gustafsson competes with Jones. But neither are getting paired with Trouba (at least not right away, with Jones).

 

[mas0764]

If we're trading Lafreniere to the desert, Cooley is the target. Arizona reached big time and gambled on the two massive Russians filling out.

Simashev can handle an NHL shift out of the box, but he can be Zdeno Chara if he's developed correctly. But has a great skill set but very raw. It's going to take 4 to 5 years for these guys to be top end contributors. Does Cooley want to wait that long?

I'm more interested in finding another more creative way to get Cooley.

 

[bleedblue94]

He's good at moving the puck and his defense isn't any worse than anybody else playing bottom four roles.

He has trouble locking down a role because he's a normal sized person (6'0", 197) playing a position where coaches and GM's are still very much obsessed with giants.

i dont think it is simply his size that holds him back from a solid role with any of those teams. we will see

I think Sykora can possibly be that guy but he’s probably not ready for prime time yet but who knows maybe he surprises at camp, Berard is another possibility

i dont care how good sykora looks, he should have time to develop his offense. putting him in the nhl for whatever reason would be one of those moves everyone regrets 2 or 3 years later. let him develop

I present Dominic Moore for evidence...

same issue who had more value as a 4th line rental or 13th forward than he did as a regular player for 82

 

[bleedblue94]

Part of his problem is he’s good enough to be a rental so he’s been on a bunch of teams but he’s not good enough defensively to stay put

He is good enough offensively to stay in the league as a depth guy .

So he’s a good 6/7 just hope Jones earns more time

this, but people are trying to elevate him beyond that place. that was what i was asking about, why

The other side to that is teams keep on signing him and/or trading for him. If he really wasn’t good, he would be in Europe by now.

He got pretty heavy usage in Washington last year and played well. Personally I don’t really care how good his defense is, what he does very well was easily our #1 need heading into the off-season and we were able to address it cheaply.

He isn’t a top 4 defenseman and isn’t being paid as one. Don’t see what the issue is here. Bad players get signed to long contracts all the time so too your point is kind of moot.

i look at it the other way, if a team wants to keep someone or something they dont let it go. he feels like the classic guy that has tools and every team thinks they can "fix him" and then it just doesnt work the way they hoped so they cut bait

 

[I Eat Crow]

I wouldn't play him above the 3rd pair.

I know he handled 2nd pair minutes well in Washington last year but 3rd pair and pp2 (get Trouba the f*** off of that unit) should be how hes used. Let him carry the transition load with Schneider and we're good there.

If Trouba can go back to being 2021-22 Trouba, I think we'll be happy with our defense as a whole.

In an ideal world yes, I agree that he's the bottom pairing PP specialist that plays sheltered ES minutes.

If it were up to me, I play Fox and Miller together for 25 minutes a game and the other two pairs are 2A and 2B options getting 16 to 18 minutes each.

 

[UAGoalieGuy]

Going back to Halak Vs Quick, I think folks forget how bad Halak was for thr first ~2 months of the season. Folks were screaming to replace him. Not saying Quick would have/will do better but there were some pretty high expectations on Halak for a back up role

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

i look at it the other way, if a team wants to keep someone or something they dont let it go. he feels like the classic guy that has tools and every team thinks they can "fix him" and then it just doesnt work the way they hoped so they cut bait

Lets look at the teams who have moved him-

Chicago (he started here and was moved mid season, a year too late as they could have gotten a bundle for him coming off of his 60 point season) who sucked.

Philly (who signed him to a 1 year deal at decent money) who sucked

Washington (on a similar deal to what he has here) who also sucked.

Teams don't generally prioritize bottom pairing defensemen, especially ones who are really bad. If we were expecting him to step into the top 4 you'd have a point but that isn't going to be his role. Bottoms pairs around the league are littered with guys who are worse than he is, including the team that just won the whole thing and the team that they beat (who had a worse player in their top 4.)

 

[bhamill]

I hate this train of thought. Laf plays for the NYR now and Chris Drury is the GM of the NYR now.

While he isnt responsible for making the pick, he certainly overall IS accountable for his performance given the position he holds right now.

Sure, but the problem with Laf ISN'T that he isn't a solid NHLer already now at the age of 21, it's that he is a disappointment for his draft position. That disappointment is not on Drury. Trading him for less than value WOULD be on Drury... Trading him and having him blossom on another team WOULD be on Drury. It's not only the SMART thing for Drury's reputation and job security to not undervalue him based on fan disappointment, but the right way to do his job.

 

[bleedblue94]

Lets look at the teams who have moved him-

Chicago (he started here and was moved mid season, a year too late as they could have gotten a bundle for him coming off of his 60 point season) who sucked.

Philly (who signed him to a 1 year deal at decent money) who sucked

Washington (on a similar deal to what he has here) who also sucked.

Teams don't generally prioritize bottom pairing defensemen, especially ones who are really bad. If we were expecting him to step into the top 4 you'd have a point but that isn't going to be his role. Bottoms pairs around the league are littered with guys who are worse than he is, including the team that just won the whole thing and the team that they beat (who had a worse player in their top 4.)

so he is only good when he is on bad teams?

you think the 3rd pair of vegas is WORSE than gustafsson? you cant be serious, please tell me you aren't serious...

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

so he is only good when he is on bad teams?

you think the 3rd pair of vegas is WORSE than gustafsson? you cant be serious, please tell me you aren't serious...

Hauge is 1000000% worse.

And no, he's been a pretty useful deadline pick up for almost everyone he has been picked up by. Would have made more of an impact in Toronto had he not gotten hurt.

 

[bernmeister]

Would have loved him, Gurianov and/or Gauthier at 850k.

We got pitlick instead

pitlick is not the problem
the other guys we signed are mostly losers/waste of space

 

[bernmeister]

We should not deal LaF, an emerging Vickers, for the same of making a deal.
IF IF IF
there is enuf on the table, then yes.

busy now but next day or 2 will go back
had something posted w/EDM as best return

 

[bleedblue94]

Hauge is 1000000% worse.

And no, he's been a pretty useful deadline pick up for almost everyone he has been picked up by. Would have made more of an impact in Toronto had he not gotten hurt.

the leafs chose not to dress him in the playoffs, and then only really did when they went to 7 d men. my understanding is he was healthy for the playoffs.

and there is absolutely no way that any gm in the league would take gustafsson over hague, that is absolutely comical. more of the classic "points" over "player" stuff that we should be use to around here at this point.

For league minimum we should have been in on that too.

maybe we were, but the player has to want to come to a city as well. NYC is not for everyone.

 

[Avery16]

Would have loved him, Gurianov and/or Gauthier at 850k.

We got pitlick instead

I take Pitlick over Gauthier.

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

the leafs chose not to dress him in the playoffs, and then only really did when they went to 7 d men. my understanding is he was healthy for the playoffs.

and there is absolutely no way that any gm in the league would take gustafsson over hague, that is absolutely comical. more of the classic "points" over "player" stuff that we should be use to around here at this point.

He was definitely banged up going in.

The only reason why Hauge gets chosen over him is because hes young and has room for growth. Hes not really good at all right now. Doesn't mean that he won't be but his only real strength right now is that he's long AF. Thats it.

If we're talking about who the better player was last season, its not even a competition.

But this feeds into my point. They're bottom pairing players. If they were better they would play higher in the line up and for what the cost is and the fact that he's actually pretty good given that role, I'm not sure what the issue is.

I would have rather had him than Mikkola.

 

[NYR Viper]

Dominic Moore was traded so many times throughout his career. That didn't make him a bad player

 

[RGY]

July 12th and Tarasenko is still sitting out there, among some others. I don’t include Kane in that because he isn’t signing until November imo. Teams are starting to sign there own players and make additional depth adds. Even if those depth adds are minimal salary, the cap space is deteriorating on any legit contender. So Tarasenko will either be settling for significantly less or playing for a rebuilding team with the hope of a deadline deal.