Roster Building Xxvi Picking Our Teeth Off the Ice

[Blueline Bomber]

The complaint about Andersen has always been that he's never healthy enough to be a reliable option throughout the season, and that hasn't changed. He's great when healthy, but when he's missed large chunks of time pretty much every season he's been with the Canes, it's hard to get excited about having him as our goalie.

In an ideal world, the Canes could have found a replacement for him and we wouldn't have to worry about it next year. But it's looking more and more like that's not in the cards. So we'll just have to cross our fingers again and hope that his injury troubles don't hurt us too much in both the near and distant future

 

[Chrispy]

It's not just the injuries though...it's RBAs undying loyalty to him in the playoffs even when he looks cooked (like Burns). It's also the fact that when he gets injured, it's rarely a game or two and usually weeks or months of unknown. He's great in a limited role but his injury frequency makes every hard save scary

But that is an issue no matter who. It was an issue with Ned in the Central division; it was an issue with Andersen last season when they had platooned goalies all season.

If you’re going to switch off all season, then switch off in the playoffs. Keep the goalies on a consistent schedule.

 

[spockBokk]

They were rumored to have asked about Demko when they were considering the Rantanen deal vs dealing for Miller/Pettersson. I bet if there’s any indication that Demko could overcome his injury, they’ll be in on him again.

I think they’ll end up with one of Demko or Gibson rather than rolling the dice with Andersen again. Granted, the other goalies have injury worries too, but I just see them moving on from Andersen this summer.

 

[Joe McGrath]

If you’re going to switch off all season, then switch off in the playoffs. Keep the goalies on a consistent schedule.

This. Please just keep rotating them.

 

[TheReelChuckFletcher]

They were rumored to have asked about Demko when they were considering the Rantanen deal vs dealing for Miller/Pettersson. I bet if there’s any indication that Demko could overcome his injury, they’ll be in on him again.

I think they’ll end up with one of Demko or Gibson rather than rolling the dice with Andersen again. Granted, the other goalies have injury worries too, but I just see them moving on from Andersen this summer.

It's a matter of what the trade price is. Gibson is ideal because his term is short and he's rebounded this year, but Anaheim's asking price is going to be steep because of the weak UFA goalie class. The nice part about Andersen is that he's both relatively inexpensive, he performs well if healthy, and he requires no draft or prospect capital.

 

[Discipline Daddy]

On the depth forwards front, I could see Bobby McMann from Toronto being a Canes target this year. From what I've seen and read, he's kind of like a premium Eric Robinson. Big boy with a goal scorer's touch who competes hard. I could see him getting some silly offers from lower teams, but if he wanted to play for a contender we have tons of space for him. Again, he's an either/or on Robinson, and surely he will cost more as he is pacing for 24 goals if he were to have played all 82 games. I'd guess he'll get a $3Mx3 at minimum.

The likely outcome this offseason is we load up on some quality depth after missing out on the Marners and Bennetts of the world. I'm sure the Borg has several contingencies cooked up.

 

[LakeLivin]

It's not just the injuries though...it's RBAs undying loyalty to him in the playoffs even when he looks cooked (like Burns). It's also the fact that when he gets injured, it's rarely a game or two and usually weeks or months of unknown. He's great in a limited role but his injury frequency makes every hard save scary

I wonder how much of that was loyalty to Andersen and how much was the old school "you go with your 'best' goalie in the playoffs" mentality that seems so ingrained in the league? We forget that Andersen came back smoking hot from his injury last year and finished the regular season 9-1 with a 0.951 save%.
[edit: and then beat the Isles first round @ 4-1 and .912. And for the record, I was a proponent for using some sort of tandem in the playoffs in spite of Andersen's play at the time]

No question about the concerns regarding injuries.

 

[TheReelChuckFletcher]

On the depth forwards front, I could see Bobby McMann from Toronto being a Canes target this year. From what I've seen and read, he's kind of like a premium Eric Robinson. Big boy with a goal scorer's touch who competes hard. I could see him getting some silly offers from lower teams, but if he wanted to play for a contender we have tons of space for him. Again, he's an either/or on Robinson, and surely he will cost more as he is pacing for 24 goals if he were to have played all 82 games. I'd guess he'll get a $3Mx3 at minimum.

The likely outcome this offseason is we load up on some quality depth after missing out on the Marners and Bennetts of the world. I'm sure the Borg has several contingencies cooked up.

With our sort of cap situation, we're not going to lose out on the free agent market no matter what happens. The question is about which one is the smart one to pursue and which ones will be available. I have my doubts that Marner or Ehlers are even going to hit the open market. Winnipeg, in particular, has all of the cap room in the world to keep Ehlers if they want to.

 

[Discipline Daddy]

With our sort of cap situation, we're not going to lose out on the free agent market no matter what happens. The question is about which one is the smart one to pursue and which ones will be available. I have my doubts that Marner or Ehlers are even going to hit the open market. Winnipeg, in particular, has all of the cap room in the world to keep Ehlers if they want to.

I half agree.

We have the cap space to outbid everybody, but we also historically have not gone far outside of Tulsky's player models for what he thinks a player should be paid. Otherwise we would have re-signed Trocheck, Hamilton, Guentzel, etc etc.

I think we'd offer the same cap to Marner as we would to Rantanen, about $13.5M or so. I would consider Draisaitl a hard cap because none of the free agents are as good as him.

Even though we have space for days I think the team will not throw money to the wind. There is a decent chance we have some core players in the young group of Blake, Morrow, Nikishin, Artamanov, Stankoven. Those guys if they hit their ceilings could be looking at $7-9M salaries in a couple years' time, and I think we have to maintain flexibility to accommodate this. I'd say we can buy one big contract a la Rants/Marner/Bennett and be OK.

 

[TheReelChuckFletcher]

I half agree.

We have the cap space to outbid everybody, but we also historically have not gone far outside of Tulsky's player models for what he thinks a player should be paid. Otherwise we would have re-signed Trocheck, Hamilton, Guentzel, etc etc.

I think we'd offer the same cap to Marner as we would to Rantanen, about $13.5M or so. I would consider Draisaitl a hard cap because none of the free agents are as good as him.

Even though we have space for days I think the team will not throw money to the wind. There is a decent chance we have some core players in the young group of Blake, Morrow, Nikishin, Artamanov, Stankoven. Those guys if they hit their ceilings could be looking at $7-9M salaries in a couple years' time, and I think we have to maintain flexibility to accommodate this. I'd say we can buy one big contract a la Rants/Marner/Bennett and be OK.

The one time that the Canes went over their cap model was Orlov, which was specifically done to cut the term to 2 years. My expectation is that with our RFAs, unless Marner or Ehlers is available, the Canes will look to sign a bunch of guys between the 1-3 year range, which would accommodate RFA extensions of both the 2 and 8 year variety. I said this before, but I could also see the Canes taking on a large 1 year cap hit from a team who wants to either spend in free agency (Rangers and Panarin) or wants to keep their free agents (Panthers and Bobrovsky).

 

[Derailed75]

I wouldn't be upset and keeping Freddie but also wouldn't mind them rolling the dice on Samsonov

 

[spockBokk]

With our sort of cap situation, we're not going to lose out on the free agent market no matter what happens. The question is about which one is the smart one to pursue and which ones will be available. I have my doubts that Marner or Ehlers are even going to hit the open market. Winnipeg, in particular, has all of the cap room in the world to keep Ehlers if they want to.

I think both Ehlers and Marner make it to market. If that is the case, I think the Canes do everything they can to get Ehlers, then make a bunch of trades. Idon’t think Bennett makes it to market, but if he does, he’d be a great fit. Florida always seems to find a way to way to keep their guys. I think they’d be interested in the likes of Boeser and Giroux if they miss on Ehlers. I don’t see a reality where Marner chooses CAR, but I wouldn’t mind being proven wrong.

I imagine the week of the draft, leading to the UFA period we’ll see the Canes make at least 1 big trade. They have way too many smallish right shot wingers now in Jarvis, Blake and Stankoven, with Nadeau and Unger Sorum in the minors. I think one of those guys not named Jarvis, gets packaged along with other picks/prospects for a high-end forward with term.

I also think they move futures for a goalie.

Seems like the D is set with Nikishin and Morrow taking the spots of Burns and Orlov. I’d hope they bring in a vet 6-7D as well.

I think they keep Hall, kinda hope they let Robinson walk, but wouldn’t be surprised if they keep him, also wouldn’t be shocked if they kept Roslovic, if he’s willing to take less term and money than he’d get on the open market (so probably not likely). Don’t see any of the other UFAs sticking around, unless someone like Jost is willing to take league minimum again.

 

[Joe McGrath]

It's a matter of what the trade price is. Gibson is ideal because his term is short and he's rebounded this year, but Anaheim's asking price is going to be steep because of the weak UFA goalie class. The nice part about Andersen is that he's both relatively inexpensive, he performs well if healthy, and he requires no draft or prospect capital.

With how sparse the goalie market is, he might not be that cheap anymore.