Roster Building XXV: Winning Rantanen's Undying Love

[chaz4hockey]

If Nadeau continues (which i don't see him slowing down), has a good camp, hes getting a spot.

Nadeau - Aho - Rantanen
Svech - Bennett - Jarvis/Hall
Carrier - Staal - Hall/Jarvis
Blake - KK - Martinook

Slavin - Morrow
Nikishin - Walker
Gost - Chatfield

Vej/Demko/Binnington/Gibson
Pk

I like the proposed lineup. Is it cap compliant?

 

[Unsustainable]

I like the proposed lineup. Is it cap compliant?

Should be with 3 ELCs lol

I don't think we keep Hall around.

Replace him with Robinson and save 3m in cap then.

 

[w e l o s t b o y s]

bennett is going to cost a fortune

 

[To Be Determined]

I don't think we keep Hall around.

i need to see more games from him with the canes, but my first impression has been that he reminds me a lot of kuzy in that i see a lot of flashes of skill that we haven't really seen much over the years. at least once a game (i've missed a couple since he arrived, though) i see something and think "that's the guy that was first overall."

if he fits well / finds his groove the rest of the way and his effort is consistent i wouldn't mind bringing him back on something like the staal deal. he won't be that cheap, but he's said he is tired of moving around. he has a (very) young kid, and this isn't the worst place in the world for a young family.

i reserve the right to say 'oh, hell no' to this in a couple months.

bennett is going to cost a fortune

good news is, we have a fortune to spend!

 

[User13452]

Husso to Anaheim likely means Gibson is gonna be on the move

 

[A Star is Burns]

Husso to Anaheim likely means Gibson is gonna be on the move

While possible, apparently this is also their Tokarski type move while a few guys are out even down to the AHL level.

 

[robbieberns]

Brought this up a while ago, and his showing at the 4 Nations had me thinking about it again, rumors of him being available in the summer:

How do we feel about Karlsson?

 

[Wolfpuck]

Brought this up a while ago, and his showing at the 4 Nations had me thinking about it again, rumors of him being available in the summer:

How do we feel about Karlsson?

He would be an excellent Burns replacement and stop gap until Nikishin and Morrow are fully acclimated to the NHL.

 

[DaveG]

Brought this up a while ago, and his showing at the 4 Nations had me thinking about it again, rumors of him being available in the summer:

How do we feel about Karlsson?

I'm down especially with the cap going up if Pittsburgh retains a bit more on his deal. EK around 6-7 per for the next couple seasons would be a nice option next to Slavin, though we'd still need to rely on Chat/Walker heavily with Slavin in shutdown minute situations.

 

[Chan790]

Brought this up a while ago, and his showing at the 4 Nations had me thinking about it again, rumors of him being available in the summer:

How do we feel about Karlsson?

I'd rather not.

Put Morrow and Nikishin in the lineup, maybe one of the forward specs, enjoy the benefit the ELCs give us to spend to load the lineup everywhere and use spare cap-space to buy the next Jarvis.

 

[AhosDatsyukian]

Not a fan of adding EK unless we move Walker. Morrow needs to be a full time NHLer next year for his development going forward, and I don't have any interest in moving him just so we can keep Walker around and add a short term solution in EK. Chatty is a staple.

My preferred D group next year, although near 0% chance it plays out this way:
Slavin-Nikishin
Orlov-Chatfield
Ghost-Morrow (yep, scary defensively but exciting 3rd pair)

Well actually I'd get rid of Ghost too and get a better defensive D man but can't see us moving both Ghost and Walker after just signing them to medium term deals.

 

[chaz4hockey]

Not a fan of adding EK unless we move Walker. Morrow needs to be a full time NHLer next year for his development going forward, and I don't have any interest in moving him just so we can keep Walker around and add a short term solution in EK. Chatty is a staple.

My preferred D group next year, although near 0% chance it plays out this way:
Slavin-Nikishin
Orlov-Chatfield
Ghost-Morrow (yep, scary defensively but exciting 3rd pair)

Well actually I'd get rid of Ghost too and get a better defensive D man but can't see us moving both Ghost and Walker after just signing them to medium term deals.

Isn’t Nikishin a LD?

 

[A Star is Burns]

It's slightly scummy, though we've done it a handful of times in this era, but that's kinda the nice part about Walker and Ghost. They are on pretty good contracts, even moreso with the rise of the cap, so if this front office sees adding really-good-to-stud dmen as some sort of inefficiency or opportunity in the market this offseason, those two should be super easy to unload even with partial no trades. Whether it's Karlsson, Dobson, Chychrun, retaining Orlov, whoever, they could find their way back to a version of the eff you defense of last season.

 

[Borsig]

NO to Orlov. NO

 

[AhosDatsyukian]

NO to Orlov. NO

4 years $20M

Isn’t Nikishin a LD?

Yes and I would play him on the right with Slavin. He can handle it. But as I mentioned, zero chance that happens — with one of the main reasons being Rod won’t play a guy on his off hand. He did in 2018-19 and I think a bit with Cole and Smith but it’s definitely not his preference

 

[AhosDatsyukian]

It's slightly scummy, though we've done it a handful of times in this era, but that's kinda the nice part about Walker and Ghost. They are on pretty good contracts, even moreso with the rise of the cap, so if this front office sees adding really-good-to-stud dmen as some sort of inefficiency or opportunity in the market this offseason, those two should be super easy to unload even with partial no trades. Whether it's Karlsson, Dobson, Chychrun, retaining Orlov, whoever, they could find their way back to a version of the eff you defense of last season.

I think we could move both and have no issues, I don’t think it’s happening not because of concerns about moving them after just being signed but because the front office thought enough of them to sign them both to pretty long contracts so I’d be surprised if they look to move either let alone both. If an opportunity arises and we need to move one out, sure, but just don’t see it for both of them. Although that would be my main preference as I’m not a big fan of either player. Ghost I’m fine with for his PP play but Nikishin should be our PP1 QB so that mitigates Ghost’s positive impact for this team