Speculation: Speculation: Roster Building Thread - Part XXV

[egelband]

It was reported afterwards that it was a neck injury that caused him to have several symptoms, including some similar to a concussion. Brett Cyrgalis wrote an article about it: Mika Zibanejad’s ambiguous injury wasn’t as scary as it sounds

I mean it's possible that the Rangers for whatever reason decided to pretend it was similar to but not actually a concussion, but I'm not sure what benefit there would be to that for anyone.

Well, I certainly hope he’s well.

 

[bobbop]

A friend of mine had the artificial disc surgery at the Masson Clinic in Utah. These are the people who pioneered the procedure. My friend, who is 59, is back golfing and playing Pickleball five months later with no after effects.

 

[Barnaby]

I still feel like Eichel is greatly over exaggerating the injury to lower his trade value so a trade gets done quicker. And I also feel like he may just take the surgery that’s recommended to him by the Sabres when he gets a new team and is using it as an excuse to sever relations. He was at the biosteel camp a few weeks ago and everyone said he looked fine

I don’t see it. A healthy Eichel is almost definitely dealt this offseason. It seems like Buffalo has had enough so I doubt they’d be forcing him to stay. I don’t see who would want to pay high value for a guy whose best case scenario is being back to normal a year from now.

 

[NYR]

A friend of mine had the artificial disc surgery at the Masson Clinic in Utah. These are the people who pioneered the procedure. My friend, who is 59, is back golfing and playing Pickleball five months later with no after effects.

Yeah but that's not full contact, playoff hockey..

 

[JCProdigy]

A friend of mine had the artificial disc surgery at the Masson Clinic in Utah. These are the people who pioneered the procedure. My friend, who is 59, is back golfing and playing Pickleball five months later with no after effects.

Golf and Pickleball....two of the most brutal contact sports.

 

[TheBloodyNine]

Are you really arguing that no team in the league is going to give a true 1C in his prime a market level contract? The last true 1C I recall going to free agency was Tavares and he had no shortage of suitors. You may not want to pay Zib but someone will. I have zero doubt about that.

Tavares wasn't signed in the flat cap era and is a better player than Zib. Not comparable.

 

[Levitate]

Tavares wasn't signed in the flat cap era and is a better player than Zib. Not comparable.

he was shooting absurdly hot but I still can't believe Zibanejad scored 41 goals and 75 points in 57 games before COVID shut down that season, goddamn he was on fire.

 

[Barnaby]

Tavares wasn't signed in the flat cap era and is a better player than Zib. Not comparable.

Maybe not the flat cap era, but the cap was lower at the time. I’ll give you that Tavares had the better track record but very comparable. Both will have hit free agency as top 10-12 centers. You want to say Zibanejad is closer to 10 while Tavares was closer to 5? I can live with that, but def comparable IMO. Zibby is easily better than Hayes who signed for 7 x 7. Brayden Schenn signed for 8 years and $52 million while not even being the top center on his team. After seeing some of the contracts/extensions handed out this offseason, I really didn’t see the top guys getting crunched. It seems like the upper echelon guys will continue to get paid while the mid tier guys are most likely to suffer.

 

[egelband]

Maybe not the flat cap era, but the cap was lower at the time. I’ll give you that Tavares had the better track record but very comparable. Both will have hit free agency as top 10-12 centers. You want to say Zibanejad is closer to 10 while Tavares was closer to 5? I can live with that, but def comparable IMO. Zibby is easily better than Hayes who signed for 7 x 7. Brayden Schenn signed for 8 years and $52 million while not even being the top center on his team. After seeing some of the contracts/extensions handed out this offseason, I really didn’t see the top guys getting crunched. It seems like the upper echelon guys will continue to get paid while the mid tier guys are most likely to suffer.

Exactamundo. And I think the Rangers will be a little more stingy while the Leafs overpaid.

 

[Barnaby]

Exactamundo. And I think the Rangers will be a little more stingy while the Leafs overpaid.

Agreed. The reports sound realistic... 8+ million over 7 or 8 years. We’d all love to see 5 years but don’t see that as realistic. He’s just not a player the team can afford to lose.

 

[Shesterkybomb]

I didnt think Vegas has the cap space.. I may be wrong here. Also of all those teams do you really see Mika playing for a bottom dwelling teams of Ottawa, NJ, Buffalo, Anaheim, fluky montrael, or no mans land Calgary? Seriously if he wants the money he can go get it Dougie Hamilton style and never sniff the playoffs, or....he signs with us with a chance to consistently compete for a cup for what he is worth which is coutier deal or short 5year deal 9-10m per.

Vegas would make space for a 40 goal center. If its 50 million over 5 years and then he's too old to get another decent contract id say he'll take more money somewhere else. Most of those teams are attractive for one reason or the other outside of Buffalo, Ottawa isnt gonna bottom dwell for long, NJ is close to NY, Anaheim has young talent coming, Montreal is one of the most exciting cities to play hockey in, and i can't make much of an argument for Calgary unless they offered him 65-70 mill which would put 15-20 more mill in his pocket. Thinking we are the only option for him is silly, players in general rarely leave much on the table for a city, NY included, Hayes didn't and Zuc didn't either.

 

[Shesterkybomb]

Agreed. The reports sound realistic... 8+ million over 7 or 8 years. We’d all love to see 5 years but don’t see that as realistic. He’s just not a player the team can afford to lose.

What reports?

 

[haohmaru]

But should he?

That's kinda up to him.

 

[haohmaru]

Yeah but that's not full contact, playoff hockey..

... that you just gave up four/five key assets for to acquire...

 

[haohmaru]

Tavares wasn't signed in the flat cap era and is a better player than Zib. Not comparable.

Darnell freaking Nurse got 74M/8Y in "the flat cap era". Zibanejad will get a contract that a top echelon 1C deserves and that isn't 6-7M/yr.

 

[pld459666]

Tavares wasn't signed in the flat cap era and is a better player than Zib. Not comparable.

Both ate legit 1st line centers that are available for nothing but cash. Very comparable.

The only difference is going to be dollars and thats due to the talent disparity

 

[nsvoyageurs]

If this team resigned Chris Kreider to a long term deal which could see him on a 3rd line sooner rather than later only to let the 1C walk out the door for a contract only paying him 1.5-2 million more then that would be horrible mismanagement.

Resigning Kreider was a mistake, especially at those numbers; should've traded him prior to that deadline.

Letting Zib walk would be a mistake too; if they can't re-sign him, then look to move him.

 

[RangerBoy]

A friend of mine had the artificial disc surgery at the Masson Clinic in Utah. These are the people who pioneered the procedure. My friend, who is 59, is back golfing and playing Pickleball five months later with no after effects.

Is your friend a professional athlete in a contact sport? Eichel won't allowed to wear a no contact sweater during the game.

Where is the professional athlete who had this surgery? Are they all hiding behind HIPPA? A kid who hurt his neck playing high school hockey and now works for Target is not enough.

 

[haohmaru]

Both ate legit 1st line centers that are available for nothing but cash. Very comparable.

The only difference is going to be dollars and thats due to the talent disparity

Last year, Tavares 50 points in 56 games. Hrm, Zibanejad 50 points in 56 games.

The year before? Only 5 centers had more points than the Zibster, none of which were named Tavares (60 points in 63 games, Zibanejad 75 points in 57)

People can like or dislike the contract, the term, the player, etc... but the man is going to get paid as if he's the 10th-ish best center in the league. If he finds his 2019-20 game again this season then that cost is just going to go up the longer the Rangers twiddle their thumbs in trying to figure out what they're going to do.

 

[haohmaru]

Is your friend a professional athlete in a contact sport? Eichel won't allowed to wear a no contact sweater during the game.

Where is the professional athlete who had this surgery? Are they all hiding behind HIPPA? A kid who hurt his neck playing high school hockey and now works for Target is not enough.

All of this stuff aside, the bottom line here is that the Rangers should stay far away from this and all the assets it'll cost to acquire him. Adams wants what he wants and you're absolutely right in highlighting the risks associated with trading for this guy. We all know the Rangers "luck" when it comes to these types of players - Lindros, Bure, LaFontaine, and on and on. ALL CAPS NO THANK YOU incoming.

 

[RangerBoy]

Minnesota has about $15 MM but only 13 players under contract. They will be tighter than a drum.

Dallas and Florida could be candidates. Of course, Mika would want to live there.

it’s the Rangers deal to lose.

Florida will pay Barkov. There goes their cap space.

Dallas has the room. Pavelski and Radulov are free agents next summer. Dallas already has two big contracts on their books in Benn and Seguin. Benn has 4 more seasons at $9.5M. Seguin has 6 more seasons at $9.85M. Both of the contracts are buyout proof with big signing bonuses. Do the Stars want another long term contract on their books? The Stars want to re-sign Klingberg who is a free agent next summer. That will be a huge contract. Klingberg will be their 4th big contract. Mika is not taking less than 7 years.

Every team has these issues.

 

[NYSPORTS]

Agreed. The reports sound realistic... 8+ million over 7 or 8 years. We’d all love to see 5 years but don’t see that as realistic. He’s just not a player the team can afford to lose.

whoa, five years is more than enough. Imo, seven or eight is catastrophic. Bye, if he wants north of five years.

As i see it, the Rangers can opt to trade players away for Mika’s replacement soon or lose them in the FA market later. Choose how you want to part ways with them. You’re not keeping them all. Five years is fine, beyond five, forget it imo.

I think we all anticipate the Rangers streak of making the playoffs is soon. If not this year then next season. The more playoff games they play the longer the season is, the shorter the offseason is and it’s back to an 82 game grind. The younger kids on the rise are built for that. The aging vets on the decline are not as much imo. Watch Mika three years from now and the risk of that decline accelerates. I’ll deal with two more years of that rather than risk four or five more years while kids walk out the door for the open market. Five years is plenty for Mika imo.

 

[nyr2k2]

Vegas would make space for a 40 goal center. If its 50 million over 5 years and then he's too old to get another decent contract id say he'll take more money somewhere else. Most of those teams are attractive for one reason or the other outside of Buffalo, Ottawa isnt gonna bottom dwell for long, NJ is close to NY, Anaheim has young talent coming, Montreal is one of the most exciting cities to play hockey in, and i can't make much of an argument for Calgary unless they offered him 65-70 mill which would put 15-20 more mill in his pocket. Thinking we are the only option for him is silly, players in general rarely leave much on the table for a city, NY included, Hayes didn't and Zuc didn't either.

I remember saying when the flat cap became a reality that the guys who suffered most would be the depth players and the guys that filled out the roster. The top guys will always get paid, but it's the lower-end guys that get squeezed.

 

[Dr. Ogrodnick]

Golf and Pickleball....two of the most brutal contact sports.

I lost my leg to pickleball....

 

[nyr2k2]

What reports?

Vince posted a really vague report using numbers that we basically all have been speculating about--Zibanejad may be getting closer to signing a deal of 7-8 years, 7-9 million, maybe a little more than 9 million, and it may happen in the next few weeks. It was nothing particularly revelatory other than it was someone "official" writing down what we've all speculated.

He may have written an accompanying story, but all I saw was the tweet.