The Free Agency/Trades Thread (Proposals, Speculation, Rumors) VI

[Mustard]

He also noted that Ribs is going to need "the summer of his life" in order to make the top 6.

 

[BonMorrison]

Summary from presser today (source: https://twitter.com/brooksbratten)

- Poile says discussions are happening with Carter Hutton and his agent for a possible return.
- David Poile has had conversations with Petter Granberg's agent on a new contract.
- David Poile says he had a good conversation with Colin Wilson, confident Wilson will play at a high level consistently.
- Poile says the Preds will look to trade Eric Nystrom or going seperate directions.
- Poile says the Preds do not intend to re-sign Paul Gaustad.
- Poile says contract negotiations will start "right away" with Calle Jarnkrok.
- Poile says Gabriel Bourque continues to progress and Preds will talk about his future.
- Poile also says Preds will talk to Cody Bass on a new deal as well.
- Poile wants young players like Fiala, Kamenev and Aberg to challenge for roster spots next season.
- To summarize, Poile says Eric Nystrom & Paul Gaustad are the only players he doesn't intend to try and have on the Preds '16-17 roster.
- Poile believes the Preds don't necessarily need to add another piece, just need consistency throughout the lineup.
- Poile says he doesn't have a deadline to get a Forsberg deal done, but all sides are happy in Nashville and want to get a deal done.
- Poile says meetings continue and will talk ideas for free agency. Isn't opposed to making a couple of changes but likes his team.

 

[Mustard]

I see Ribs as a player who is only valuable on the top 6. It's 2LW/2C or bust for him, IMO.

 

[MrJoshua]

I see Ribs as a player who is only valuable on the top 6. It's 2LW/2C or bust for him, IMO.

If they can improve on him at the 2C position, he might do OK if the third line is something like Wilson-Fisher-Ribs. But then that would either push Jarnkrok up into the top six or down onto the fourth line.

 

[Mustard]

If they can improve on him at the 2C position, he might do OK if the third line is something like Wilson-Fisher-Ribs. But then that would either push Jarnkrok up into the top six or down onto the fourth line.

I think this could only work if we add to our top 6 LW.

I think the fourth line is set with 20-10-16. Fisher and Jarny are almost locks for me for the third line. Where does Arvy fall in? I'd rather have his hustle on the 3rd line than Ribs' loafing, personally. Decent defensive line.

 

[Montross]

Summary from presser today (source: https://twitter.com/brooksbratten)

- Poile says discussions are happening with Carter Hutton and his agent for a possible return.
- David Poile has had conversations with Petter Granberg's agent on a new contract.
- David Poile says he had a good conversation with Colin Wilson, confident Wilson will play at a high level consistently.
- Poile says the Preds will look to trade Eric Nystrom or going seperate directions.
- Poile says the Preds do not intend to re-sign Paul Gaustad.
- Poile says contract negotiations will start "right away" with Calle Jarnkrok.
- Poile says Gabriel Bourque continues to progress and Preds will talk about his future.
- Poile also says Preds will talk to Cody Bass on a new deal as well.
- Poile wants young players like Fiala, Kamenev and Aberg to challenge for roster spots next season.
- To summarize, Poile says Eric Nystrom & Paul Gaustad are the only players he doesn't intend to try and have on the Preds '16-17 roster.
- Poile believes the Preds don't necessarily need to add another piece, just need consistency throughout the lineup.
- Poile says he doesn't have a deadline to get a Forsberg deal done, but all sides are happy in Nashville and want to get a deal done.
- Poile says meetings continue and will talk ideas for free agency. Isn't opposed to making a couple of changes but likes his team.

If Poile is not going to try to get a winger for the top line via trade or FA in the offseason, he is fooling himself to think the team as-is can win the Cup.

 

[NoNecksCurse]

just need to cut ties with ribeiro

 

[TootooTrain]

Nystrom and Goose out of the picture. Fiala and Kamanev being pushed to make the roster. That's a decent offseason right there.

Anything about adding another dman in the presser? I suppose Granberg might fall into that.

 

[Enoch]

Again, Poile speak can be maddening because he always convinces himself that his team needs no changes. He clearly needs another winger or he needs both of Wilson and Smith to play consistently throughout the year, something neither have done individually, much less together. If Ribiero has to have the offseason of his life to make the top 6, then we need two top 6 forwards. Fisher played out of his mind in the playoffs, but not in the regular season .... If you are penciling him into the top 6, you still need another winger.

 

[Soundgarden]

No Gaustad and Nystrom is a good start, excited to see Kamanev and Fiala.

 

[SavageSteve]

If Poile is not going to try to get a winger for the top line via trade or FA in the offseason, he is fooling himself to think the team as-is can win the Cup.

No but if he is projecting confidence about roster, it may make some players seek out Nashville 'to legitimately have a shot at the Cup'. If they could've been at least .500 or better in the 3v3 OT they would've tied with or even passed Chicago to play the Blues or Stars in the first round.

The only thing I could really see the Preds wanting to add is a player that parks his butt in front of the net like Hornqvist used to do so well to pot tip-ins. The only player I could see filling that role is Backes if he is available.


If something happens to Fisher, I still believe a youngish team needs a guy like him to lean on too.

 

[PredsV82]

Poile confirms Nystrom and Gaustad will not return. Live on Periscope right now if you want to hop on. (via Vingan)

You saw this coming of course. EDIT: If Poile cant trade Nystrom I suspect he does Nystrom a favor with a buyout to allow him to find another job rather than ride the pine all next year. That said, since poile has declared he won't be back, who would trade for him at full salary when he could be had for less after a buyout. I guess we might trade him and retain salary...

And so that's all of the players signed in the summer of suck when Poile snapped up grinders like a fat kid does potato chips...

 

[PredsV82]

Wow. Well that's going to clear up some of the logjam in the bottom six.

Maybe something like:
Wilson-Fisher-Ribs/Jarnkrok
Salomaki-Sissons-Arvidsson
Watson

Something like that in the bottom six.

Wonder what's going to happen with Bourque?

 

[AdmiralsFan24]

So if Bourque comes back the 4th line would be

Bourque-Sissons-Salomaki

I'm struggling to find a good fit for Fiala right now. He can shoot but he's much more of a set up guy. Putting him with Ribeiro would be a weird fit since both are pass first guys. If Johansen shot more he'd be a great fit with him but the Johansen we saw this year isn't.

Maybe Fiala-Ribeiro-Smith and we use the dominant top line of Forsberg-Johansen-Neal?

Forsberg-Johansen-Neal
Fiala-Ribeiro-Smith
Wilson-Fisher-Jarnkrok
Bourque-Sissons-Salomaki

Still not a fan of that 2nd line, maybe just because I'm still upset about how Ribeiro played. Ideally we'd get a bigger C that likes to shoot so Fiala can set up Smith and the center.

 

[thecloser]

Still think a Ribeiro buy out should be an option. We need space for the young guys and if we're going to make an offseason addition. Also, I think Bourque needs to go as well.

 

[predfan98]

I really don't understand why our second line is not going to be Wilson, smith and fisher....

 

[MrJoshua]

So if Bourque comes back the 4th line would be

Bourque-Sissons-Salomaki

I'm struggling to find a good fit for Fiala right now. He can shoot but he's much more of a set up guy. Putting him with Ribeiro would be a weird fit since both are pass first guys. If Johansen shot more he'd be a great fit with him but the Johansen we saw this year isn't.

Maybe Fiala-Ribeiro-Smith and we use the dominant top line of Forsberg-Johansen-Neal?

Forsberg-Johansen-Neal
Fiala-Ribeiro-Smith
Wilson-Fisher-Jarnkrok
Bourque-Sissons-Salomaki

Still not a fan of that 2nd line, maybe just because I'm still upset about how Ribeiro played. Ideally we'd get a bigger C that likes to shoot so Fiala can set up Smith and the center.

Johansen scored 33 goals in the 13-14 season, and 26 in the 14-15 season before dropping this past season to 14 in what I think we all consider a down year for him. He can score goals. A decent setup player could have a field day playing with him and Neal.

That said, I wonder if they wouldn't be better off with somebody who has some size and can win board battles and get the puck to them. If Playoff Wilson showed up in the regular season he could be a perfect fit with Johansen and Neal, but frankly I have very little faith left in the guy where the regular season is concerned.

 

[NoNecksCurse]

You saw this coming of course. EDIT: If Poile cant trade Nystrom I suspect he does Nystrom a favor with a buyout to allow him to find another job rather than ride the pine all next year. That said, since poile has declared he won't be back, who would trade for him at full salary when he could be had for less after a buyout. I guess we might trade him and retain salary...

And so that's all of the players signed in the summer of suck when Poile snapped up grinders like a fat kid does potato chips...

summer of suck... gaustad, nystrom, stalberg, and hendricks. truly horrible moves by poile.

 

[Roman Yoshi]

We've said the same thing about Wilson and Smith for years. Lack of consistency kills this team's scoring. They aren't exactly 23 years anymore. They are what they are.

I try to avoid Poile's comments, but San Jose beat us with a significantly better power play and had better dept scoring. To not acknowledge something needs to be done outside of the current roster bothers me.

I struggle to see where Fiala fits in this roster. I would rather move him, our 1st rounder and a cap dump for a true top line left winger to play with Neal and Johansen.

 

[triggrman]

Consistent scorers are star players playing on top lines. Inconsistent scorers that can still pot 20 are 2nd line players. All 20 goal scorers are inconsistent, and only average a goal every 4 games.

 

[MrJoshua]

Yoshi, your point about San Jose's PP killing us is a good one, though. An improved PK should be a priority going into next season.

 

[thecloser]

i kind of agree with what some are saying about Fiala. I'd like to see what he can do in gold but where is he going to slot in? We're kind of jammed. Ribeiro has to be acknowledged and we need to realize we may need to move him in some way, whether trade (unlikely) or buyout.

We simply won't have room looking at Arvidsson, Fiala, Kamenev, Aberg, or an upgrade via Free agency. Fiala, our 1st (although it's a deep draft with good talent late in the 1st) and a cap dump would be a solid offer for a top 1st line winger.

Anyone have any ideas on who we could trade for?

I still think Perron could be a good addition for our 2nd or 3rd line in front of the net and on powerplays, possibly PK as well.

 

[AdmiralsFan24]

Yoshi, your point about San Jose's PP killing us is a good one, though. An improved PK should be a priority going into next season.

The PP completely fell apart as well. Don't dismiss that. I kind of just let it go in the series against Anaheim because they had the top PP and PK in the league during the regular season.

Our PK was actually pretty awesome in the Anaheim series at 84%. It was just that our PP was so awful at 3.7%.

It was reversed against San Jose. Well not completely reversed because our PP was still bad at 15%, which was really disappointed because San Jose was 21st on the PK in the regular season but our PK was awful as well allowing them to go 38.1% on the PP.

 

[Roman Yoshi]

Consistent scorers are star players playing on top lines. Inconsistent scorers that can still pot 20 are 2nd line players. All 20 goal scorers are inconsistent, and only average a goal every 4 games.

You are missing my point. I don't mind Smith (I know some people do) but Wilson is the definition of inconsistent and not like in a 20/20 kind of way. Wilson averages .46 points a season. Smith at least is a .5, which i would designate as second line player. I never insinuated he wasn't, but for Poile to sit their and suggest that he could be more is asinine and goes against what typically happens with players of Smith's age. Smith is fine as a second line winger. It's elsewhere where we are hurting.

We need another .60 or above player to round out our top six and I am not sure Wilson is it. Wilson fills in better in a third line role imho.

There were 60 players last season in the NHL that averaged 55 points or more during the regular season.

Here is the breakdown for all 60 of those players by teams

ANA 2
ARZ 0
BOS 4
BUF 2
CAL 2
CAR 0
CHI 3
COL 1
CBJ 0
DAL 4
DET 0
EDM 1
FLA 4
LA 4
MIN 1
MON 2
NSH 3
NJD 1
NYI 2
NYR 2
OTT 3
PHI 4
PIT 3
SJS 2
SLB 1
TBL 2
TML 0
VAN 2
WSH 3
WPG 2

As you can see, Preds are doing fine or even better than most teams in the league in terms of top line talent.

The problem we run into is when we go into .49 point players (40 point guys). Watch what happens

ANA 5
ARZ 5
BOS 5
BUF 3
CAL 4
CAR 4
CHI 4
COL 5
CBJ 5
DAL 5
DET 6
EDM 4
FLA 6
LA 4
MIN 6
MON 4
NSH 4
NJD 4
NYI 4
NYR 5
OTT 5
PHI 5
PIT 5
SJS 5
SLB 5
TBL 4
TML 2
VAN 3
WSH 7
WPG 4

The teams that are remaining all had five players with 40+ points during the regular season with the exception of Tampa (who had injury issues with some of their better players). Nashville has four. We are missing a top six winger to really compete with the big boys and challenge for a division title.

Then we go into goal scoring and it actually gets worse. Here is the breakdown for teams with players with double digit goal scorers

ANA 5
ARZ 8
BOS 8
BUF 8
CAL 7
CAR 7
CHI 7
COL 7
CBJ 7
DAL 11
DET 9
EDM 9
FLA 8
LA 8
MIN 9
MON 10
NSH 5
NJD 5
NYI 8
NYR 9
OTT 7
PHI 8
PIT 7
SJS 8
SLB 7
TBL 8
TML 6
VAN 6
WSH 8
WPG 6

Tied for worst in the league. Secondary scoring is where this team needs to improve most this off season. It starts by pushing guys like Arvidsson, Jarnkrok and Wilson down the lineup by adding another top 6 winger that can put in goals and give them easier match ups.

All of this just goes to show that we rely too much on our top players and our defense. This doesn't mean we are a bad team, it just shows that we need to improve up front in order to be an outstanding team.

 

[AtlantaWhaler]

I really don't understand why our second line is not going to be Wilson, smith and fisher....

Fisher was pretty terrible during the regular season. Wilson too.