Roster Building XXIV: Our Hearts Go Pitter Pattersson

[Finlandia WOAT]

I assume the Marchand experience is a lot more enjoyable when he's on the team you root for

 

[Svechhammer]

I’d do things to get pasta on this team. Things

At the same time, if the report is to be believed (again, highly suspect that it is), not sure I like hearing that he can't handle criticism when things aren't going well. Wouldn't mesh well with Brindy if that is true.

 

[AD Skinner]

At the same time, if the report is to be believed (again, highly suspect that it is), not sure I like hearing that he can't handle criticism when things aren't going well. Wouldn't mesh well with Brindy if that is true.

I agree, but devils advocate, it may be that Marchand really is that big of an asshole and it’s not worth putting up with him as a teammate (and captain) if you’re not going to be going on cup runs

 

[Stickpucker]

You know who really hated being traded here?

Rod Brind’Amour.

Seemed to work out okay.

 

[A Star is Burns]

I’d do things to get pasta on this team. Things

I already did things. Do we have him yet?

 

[A Star is Burns]

Already denied by both players. Makes it even more likely the divorce is coming.

 

[Chrispy]

Already denied by both players. Makes it even more likely the divorce is coming.

Pasternak to Vancouver in a Pettersson package.

Both locker rooms continue to have same issues as before.

 

[AhosDatsyukian]

Pass on the bruins bums. Marchand has declined a lot but would still be costly for a rental, plus very little interest in seeing his antics in a Canes jersey. Pastrnak incredibly skilled but also incredibly frustrating and would cost way too much in acquisition and the contract he's on for us. Although it would be funny to see bruins fans reactions to those guys winning a Cup with us.

 

[Svechhammer]

Per Friedman, sounds like the Ducks and Canes have been talking a lot about Gibson and things could be coming to a head very soon.

 

[Brock Anton]

Take KK, Anaheim. You know you want to.

 

[AhosDatsyukian]

Per Friedman, sounds like the Ducks and Canes have been talking a lot about Gibson and things could be coming to a head very soon.

Weird timing with Freddie coming back, although Pyotr hasn't exactly been amazing as of late (not as bad as his stats suggest but not as good as we've hoped he'd be this year). I still don't think goaltending is a huge issue for us, at least not one we need to urgently do something about well ahead of the deadline. Let's see how Freddie's return goes and how Pyotr continues to play. Even with him struggling relative to expectations, Pyotr has been above league average, albeit just barely (.902 save percentage compared to .900 league average). Freddie was great in a tiny sample size before the injury. And yes we know he's injury prone going forward but still not worth a reactionary move IMO.

 

[AD Skinner]

I still think they need a center more than they need a goalie. But I am just some yahoo

 

[Chrispy]

Take KK, Anaheim. You know you want to.

Anaheim will almost certainly take Andersen back in such a deal, although Carolina would still need to clear more cap space. Kotkaniemi certainly fits, although moving him without a center returning opens up another hole that needs to be filled mid-season.

What would Carolina need to add to Andersen and Kotkaniemi?

And while I agree C is a higher priority than G, both are long-term needs. Trading for Gibson solves the longer-term need at goalie when there probably aren't great options in the off-season to pair with Kochetkov.

 

[A Star is Burns]

I also agree that if Freddie gets back and stays fairly healthy, we're pretty good. But if they view Gibson as a solution moving forward, you get both him and Kochetkov for this year and two more. I'm curious as to if they can do it and still address other needs. They might look to bring someone in the same trade with Gibson from Anaheim. And they'd probably have to take Freddie back.

As far as Kochetkov, I think we've blown past the "he plays better getting more games" into we've had to play him too much. He's still probably best in a tandem and he just can't get that right now.

 

[Lempo]

Spider-Man. Pitter Pattersson is Spider-Man!

I still think they need a center more than they need a goalie. But I am just some yahoo

 

[cptjeff]

I also agree that if Freddie gets back and stays fairly healthy, we're pretty good. But if they view Gibson as a solution moving forward, you get both him and Kochetkov for this year and two more. I'm curious as to if they can do it and still address other needs. They might look to bring someone in the same trade with Gibson from Anaheim. And they'd probably have to take Freddie back.

As far as Kochetkov, I think we've blown past the "he plays better getting more games" into we've had to play him too much. He's still probably best in a tandem and he just can't get that right now.

Kochetkov has been on a pace that over a full season would be 70+ games. No goalie does that anymore, expecting him to be stellar every night with that kind of workload is insane. IMO, he's doing more than fine, he's playing well with the occasional off night. Get him down to a typical ~55-60 game workload and we're golden.

I don't think we need a goalie beyond a backup, and I don't think it should be Gibson if we do. Too much money for too lackluster performance. Might as well keep Andersen and carry a 3rd with that contract and the price to acquire him. Andersen is at least elite when he's playing, and you can't really say that about Gibson these days. Andersen gets you better performance and a cheaper contract, and it's not like Gibson has been an ironman, either. He has more urgency getting back from injuries than Freddy does, but he's also injured quite frequently.

 

[Blueline Bomber]

Kochetkov has been on a pace that over a full season would be 70+ games. No goalie does that anymore, expecting him to be stellar every night with that kind of workload is insane. IMO, he's doing more than fine, he's playing well with the occasional off night. Get him down to a typical ~55-60 game workload and we're golden.

I don't think we need a goalie beyond a backup, and I don't think it should be Gibson if we do. Too much money for too lackluster performance. Might as well keep Andersen and carry a 3rd with that contract and the price to acquire him. Andersen is at least elite when he's playing, and you can't really say that about Gibson these days. Andersen gets you better performance and a cheaper contract, and it's not like Gibson has been an ironman, either. He has more urgency getting back from injuries than Freddy does, but he's also injured quite frequently.

Reminder that Cam Ward had back-to-back seasons where he played 74 and then 68 games, which led to him getting seriously injured the following year and never looked the same afterwards.

 

[LakeLivin]

I still think they need a center more than they need a goalie. But I am just some yahoo

You're not just some yahoo. You're a yahoo that would do things!

 

[TheReelChuckFletcher]

I just don't think that Pettersson or Miller is going to be traded. It feels like their management is going to write off this year as being ruined by injury (Hronek and Demko, specifically) and simply try again next season. With that in mind, I wonder if the play at this deadline is going to be to get the top-6 LW upgrade early. Boston very well could be sellers this year, and if Marchand is open to a short extension, he can be one of those super-veteran, old-but-still-really-good adds that the Canes are not shy about making from time-to-time. A Marchand-Aho-Jarvis line would be stellar stuff.

 

[cptjeff]

I just don't think that Pettersson or Miller is going to be traded. It feels like their management is going to write off this year as being ruined by injury (Hronek and Demko, specifically) and simply try again next season. With that in mind, I wonder if the play at this deadline is going to be to get the top-6 LW upgrade early. Boston very well could be sellers this year, and if Marchand is open to a short extension, he can be one of those super-veteran, old-but-still-really-good adds that the Canes are not shy about making from time-to-time. A Marchand-Aho-Jarvis line would be stellar stuff.

I dunno, where there's smoke there's fire, and when you have real tension in the locker room it can be hard to just keep moving on. Both Miller and Pettersson are signed long term, and it's hard for me to imagine that that's going to be something they find sustainable. Neither would come cheap, for sure, and I wouldn't be shocked to see a young up and coming team more able to make the move, but both also have NMCs, so they'd have to agree, and would likely only agree to a trade to a team that's good.

Maybe it has to wait until the cap spikes in the offseason, but I really have a hard time seeing one or the other not traded.

As for Marchand, as much as we don't like him, he doesn't play a dirty game these days, just an sandpaper agitator one. I could see that happening if Boston decides to sell, and I could see Rod loving him, but they're still solidly in the playoff hunt. Are they really gonna trade their captain during that? Really? I have a hard time seeing them as a real seller.

 

[TheReelChuckFletcher]

I dunno, where there's smoke there's fire, and when you have real tension in the locker room it can be hard to just keep moving on. Both Miller and Pettersson are signed long term, and it's hard for me to imagine that that's going to be something they find sustainable. Neither would come cheap, for sure, and I wouldn't be shocked to see a young up and coming team more able to make the move, but both also have NMCs, so they'd have to agree, and would likely only agree to a trade to a team that's good.

Maybe it has to wait until the cap spikes in the offseason, but I really have a hard time seeing one or the other not traded.

As for Marchand, as much as we don't like him, he doesn't play a dirty game these days, just an sandpaper agitator one. I could see that happening if Boston decides to sell, and I could see Rod loving him, but they're still solidly in the playoff hunt. Are they really gonna trade their captain during that? Really? I have a hard time seeing them as a real seller.

Pettersson's NMC does not kick in until July 1st (this year is technically the last RFA year for him), but just from a timeline perspective, I think that he's far less likely to get dealt than Miller. If a Miller to Carolina trade happens, IMO it'll be this offseason with all of Orlov/Burns/Andersen expiring so that there's no need to trade any contract from our roster.

 

[htdoc]

I’m not sure we are all watching the same games if we have folks thinking Kotchetkov has been poor or anything less than excellent for us this season.

Koooch has had sooo many high danger chances, poor coverage, wide open breakaways or 2 on 0 or 3 on 0 and has made soooo sooo many ridiculous saves that get lost and forgotten at the end of games… his play stopping highly screened shots has been better, his reactions to stop instant good stuff in tight…. Compared to when he first joined us he is rounding into a really good quality starterr, I think..

Goaltending quality is waaaay down this season. How much of it is the pre scouts being better or the overall skill of the players or too many games in too few nights leaving some teams not being at 100% each night so they give up more quality chances because it is their 5th game in 7 nights so they don’t give that last bit of effort to cover their man on the back door..

Koch gave up 3 against Toronto the other night…. But he also saved several that should have gone in and those shots easily would have scored in other games. The game easily could have gone the other way. He has held us in quite a few games this season with 2,3,5, or 8+ or more saves that were *anything* but simple…

We as a team typically suppress shots better than the rest of the league…but I would also argue that what isn’t reported as loudly is how many really high danger chances we give up and ask our goalies to stop as if they are normal shots... we don’t block as many shots and don’t collapse our house with big body physicality to limit things to a lot of perimeter easy shot stops for our goalies. So goalies tend to have what looks like worse numbers for us only seeing 15 shots but giving up 3 goals on 10 of those 15 shots being crazy good shots that should score more often than not..saw an article recently where Tampas Vasi talked about how things have changed and he sees so many more good shots and not a lot of number padding throwaway shots that are easy saves for him. We are that situation on steroids I feel….we have a reputation of being decent defensively because our players play hard and back check. But we give up way more high danger chances it feels like than a lot of other teams. It’s really really tough to play goalie for our team as a result….

Kooch isn’t perfect. He isn’t some ultra elite savant first ballot hall of famer who never gives up a softer goal. He has had some nights where he hasn’t been Superman and been more average. He has given up some less than ideal goals as all goalies will do even the elite hall of famer ones do it. He has to work on his timing of when he uses the poke check and not overuse it.

But given how the boys have played in front of him most nights, we have gotten an absolute steal of a goalie for $2M a year for the next few years.

I’m not sure why with Anderson getting closer to coming back why we would be looking to do the Gibson thing now as we have the coverage with 3 goalies and combined they are way under a normal cap cost for the position compared to other teams. Maybe they think they can set things up for next two seasons now for the right price and they want to jump on it before Anaheim changes their mind again.. but Tokaski is currently in the same spot as Martin was last season winning a few games for us and holding things down until we have a hea,thy Freddie again as well and then have 3 goalies available..

For $2M, compared to other teams paying $8M, $9M or even $10M+, we have a very good goalie who saves more than his share of really high danger stuff that our team coughs up not playing as hard in front of him as they do for others…. Hoping we can balance the load a bit more in a true 1A/1B situation but still give Kooch enough games for him to stay in a groove as he seems to play his best when he gets enough games to stay sharp but not too many games in a row to where we wear him out having to cover us..