Value of: The Huberdeau Dilemma

[Djp]

What dumbass GM is taking 6 years of Huberdeau without knowing if he has chemistry with their players? This guy looks terrible unless he gets linemates that fit him perfectly.

Wasnt the other issue -- game styles in west vs east,,?

Agreed. If Huberdeau returns to 100 points he should be easily moveable if they retain him down to $8m-$9m.

I disagree. His age is factor in this. This is why I wish retention could change by years instead of being a flat amt

 

[John Mandalorian]

This would be the name of a movie if Christopher Nolan was Canadian.

Had a similar thought. But my interpretation was is The Peanut Butter Solution the sequel to The Huberdeau Dilemma.

 

[Backlund]

Wasnt the other issue -- game styles in west vs east,,?

Style of play is definitely a big factor for him but he's had trouble finding centers he can play with his entire career. Florida fans said he was only really good with Barkov and Bennett. Him and Lindholm might be one of the worst center/winger pairs I've seen a team try to force together.

 

[mouser]

I disagree. His age is factor in this. This is why I wish retention could change by years instead of being a flat amt

Far far far far too much room for abuse. (Did I say “far” enough times?)

I think the NHL locking in retention at a fixed % is one of their smarter moves.

 

[Djp]

Far far far far too much room for abuse. (Did I say “far” enough times?)

I think the NHL locking in retention at a fixed % is one of their smarter moves.

It depends on how its defined.

Like with hubrrdeau... you say I dont want anything retained this year but 50% the final year and the years in between is linearly calculated 0%,10%,20%,...,50%. The issue is it cant exceed 50% total retention.

 

[kerrabria]

Style of play is definitely a big factor for him but he's had trouble finding centers he can play with his entire career. Florida fans said he was only really good with Barkov and Bennett. Him and Lindholm might be one of the worst center/winger pairs I've seen a team try to force together.

Huberdeau did not have issues with linemates here. He produced best with Barrkov and Bennett (two radically different centers) but also put up numbers next to Trocheck and briefly Wennberg. His RW changed every season, and Owen Tippett is the only one who jumps to mind as a guy who didn’t gel. Duclair, Dadonov, Hoffman, Vatrano…all fine.

 

[Backlund]

Huberdeau did not have issues with linemates here. He produced best with Barrkov and Bennett (two radically different centers) but also put up numbers next to Trocheck and briefly Wennberg. His RW changed every season, and Owen Tippett is the only one who jumps to mind as a guy who didn’t gel. Duclair, Dadonov, Hoffman, Vatrano…all fine.

I've heard from plenty of Panthers fans that he had trouble with linemates outside of Barkov and Bennett/Duclar line his entire career there. Maybe the style of play made it easier to mask.

 

[Jetcetera]

So basically you want Calgary to be nothing for the next 10 years?

Again, I'm not taking that much dead cap space when I have a chance to win a cup. It's a no brainer imo

 

[Lunatik]

There is no Huberdeau dilema.

He is a Flame and will be for the foreseeable future. The Flames are not retaining to dump him for a paltry return, and teams aren't going to trade for him at his age and salary unless he has an exceptional season and they get him at a bargain (in terms of trade value).

As for the terrible, terrible offer in the OP... Conroy laughs and since it's clearly a f***ing joke of an offer, his response would be... "We Huberdon't accept."

 

[Ledge And Dairy]

Calgary would give Huberdeau away and retain 50% and say thank you very much.

Awful take

 

[Ledge And Dairy]

It depends on how its defined.

Like with hubrrdeau... you say I dont want anything retained this year but 50% the final year and the years in between is linearly calculated 0%,10%,20%,...,50%. The issue is it cant exceed 50% total retention.

No you are thinking so backwards on this. It's super abusable if you retain a lot early and then less later on. A team entering a rebuild can eat a bunch of cap on retention while they are bottoming out and then the cap is off their books when they need the cap space. Vise versa, the buying team would get the star when they are still in their prime at 50% when they are pushing for a cup, and then take on the full cap hit when they start rebuilding

 

[lanceuppercut75]

If I'm Calgary, I'd rather take a contract like Jarry, Merzlikins, Grubauer, Kuemper, Graves, Copp, Engvall, Ristolainen, Krug, Vlasic or maybe even Nurse, with no retention, as opposed to retaining on Huberdeau.

No matter how bad the contract, or 2 bad contracts, eat it / them at 0% retention but also retain 0% on Huberdeau.

 

[missionAvs]

You are Craig Conroy.


At the TDL, you are going in the playoffs, and somehow, against all odds, Huberdeau is back to form this year, and projects to have 100 points at the end of the year.


In the morning, you receive an offer, for Huberdeau, from a top contender, who wants to go all in:

Calgary trade:
Jonathan Huberdeau (retention: 50% - so Calgary Flames have to retain 5 250 000 for another 6 years)

for

1st 2025 + 3rd 2025 + 2nd 2026
And that's it's a final offer. The other GM already has another deal on the table, and while he'd prefer to take on Huberdeau, he ain't ready to change the structure of this offer.


Do you take on the offer, or do you reject it?

It means basically that either:

- Calgary announce to their fans and their players that the "Suck Era" is about to begin right now and have a sweet little package of late picks to kickstart the day but they'll have a 5 250 000M in deadweight money on the cap and a retention spot taken

or

- Calgary roll the dices with Huberdeau and his contract (which is pretty much unanimously recognized as the second worst contract in the league right now) for the next 6 years

So let me get this straight. In your scenario, the Flames are in a playoff spot, Huberdeau is back to being a 100 point star player, another top contender is going all in and wants to make a trade to acquire him, and all that the Flames get for retaining half the contract for 6 years is a low 1st, a low 3rd, and a 2nd the following year? That's a dog shit offer brother guy. Give your head a shake lol.

 

[Djp]

No you are thinking so backwards on this. It's super abusable if you retain a lot early and then less later on. A team entering a rebuild can eat a bunch of cap on retention while they are bottoming out and then the cap is off their books when they need the cap space. Vise versa, the buying team would get the star when they are still in their prime at 50% when they are pushing for a cup, and then take on the full cap hit when they start rebuilding

I'm talking in reverse

My concern in hubs is the look at Years of tjhecontract.if I acquire him I'll say I'm fine paying him full this year but want future years tetained down to 50% in final year. If he has 6 yrd left its 0,10,20 30,40,50 in terms of retained salary. For simple math thud wold br if his cap was $10M then 10M on my iPad sp this year, then following yrs its 9,8,7,6,5M

 

[nturn06]

If Calgary is going into the playoffs with 100 pt Huberdeau theres no chance I'm trading him and retaining that salary. I'm going into the playoffs to win, not to admit that I have no confidence in my team and am already making preparations for next year before even being eliminated

The guy seems to play hard just to get out of Calgary. I won't be surprised if he gets back to his last season form as soon as he figures he won't get traded.

 

[tkb81]

keep him for the playoff run, trade him at the draft with no retention.

who would take that deal? serious question

 

[Ledge And Dairy]

I'm talking in reverse

My concern in hubs is the look at Years of tjhecontract.if I acquire him I'll say I'm fine paying him full this year but want future years tetained down to 50% in final year. If he has 6 yrd left its 0,10,20 30,40,50 in terms of retained salary. For simple math thud wold br if his cap was $10M then 10M on my iPad sp this year, then following yrs its 9,8,7,6,5M

But my point is that if you allowed varying retention percentage then high retention early that falls off later is extremely abusable. Think about how long the Kessel retention messed with Toronto's team construction. Had that fallen off like 3 years sooner they wouldn't having had to make such relevant cuts. Hell they probably don't lose Hyman in 21/22 or could have added Pietrangelo in 20/21.

 

[MM917]

Easy decision you take that trade every day of the week.

Huberdeau is god awful so losing him is a plus and the Flames will be bad for at least 5 years so the cap space is no big deal since you won't have talent to sign anyways and you don't have to worry about space to sign guys to help you finish 23rd.

 

[Djp]

But my point is that if you allowed varying retention percentage then high retention early that falls off later is extremely abusable. Think about how long the Kessel retention messed with Toronto's team construction. Had that fallen off like 3 years sooner they wouldn't having had to make such relevant cuts. Hell they probably don't lose Hyman in 21/22 or could have added Pietrangelo in 20/21.

Kessel retention was like $1M

I’m not talking about it being only in one or 2 yrs it’s just spread out a little differently.by a formula.

 

[wunderpanda]

who would take that deal? serious question

in the scenario of this thread, hubs is a 100 point player, signed to a contract below market value (because cap increased this season & will likely increase next season). it should be a cheaper option than a free agent frenzy signing in july for any team losing a top 6 winger to the frenzy. 100 point hubs would be cheaper than a UFA like marner for toronto, rantanen in colorado, boeser in vancouver or ehlers in winnipeg.

 

[pth2]

The retention required of Calgary to make this work means they need a return teams aren't likely to be willing to give up knowing they will be saddled with the worst years of his contract.

When I thought Price would return from his injury I tried to make something like this make sense, and it just never made sense for both teams.

Rather than retaining a sure-fire 50%, Calgary is better off keeping him and hoping LTIR takes the last years off their hands, knowing if they trade and retain, that 5M of cap room is definitely gone for the length of his contract.

 

[DarrylshutzSydor]

"but the cap is going up again" lol

 

[Bond]

Dumping Huberdeau now at 50% makes no sense at all for the Flames. They aren't cap strapped at all and won't be for a long time. The only way the Flames trade Huberdeau at 50% is near the end of his contract and they need the space.

 

[tkb81]

in the scenario of this thread, hubs is a 100 point player, signed to a contract below market value (because cap increased this season & will likely increase next season). it should be a cheaper option than a free agent frenzy signing in july for any team losing a top 6 winger to the frenzy. 100 point hubs would be cheaper than a UFA like marner for toronto, rantanen in colorado, boeser in vancouver or ehlers in Winnipeg

He has only had one 100 plus point season .. and is 31 .. and 5 more years of 10 plus mill ... flames have to retain something .. i just don't see it without a sweetener or retention