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To Buy Out or Not to Buy Out

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haohmaru said:
UFA centers that are better options than Brad Richards are pretty limited:

http://www.capgeek.com/free-agents?year_id=2014&team_id=-1&position_id=C&fa_type_id=2

Matter of fact, it's downright abysmal. Looking more and more like Richards won't be bought out.
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my thinking too. sounds like statsny isn't all that big an upgrade...and with the dearth of quality available, his price will be high. maybe too high for the rangers. they could buy-out richards and then find themselves empty-handed. i do think that sather should look ahead a couple years cuz maybe there's a guy who'll come available. but i don't think that'll happen. most likely, with weak alternatives this summer and uncertainty beyond that, the decision will be to stay with 'the devil you know'. and maybe with saint louis onboard, it will work out.
 
I thought it was pretty much decided that with his low salary in later years, and significant cap recapture risk if he retires, it would be nearly impossible (by way of it being tremendously dangerous) NOT to buy him out this summer.
 
if beever and msl play well together and the team does reasonably well making the playoffs and getting past round 1, then i expect we will not do a compliance buyout of the beev.

there arent a ton of other viable options out there and he is the closest thing to a 1c we have on the roster.

as far as center goes, its by far our biggest weakness. take beev out and its down right bleak.

bringing in msl, i believe, further increases the odds that the beev stays next year.
 
...

Why are we even discussing this?

Of course you buy out Richards!:handclap:

St.Louis can play with anyone. He played well with Stamkos , and without Stamkos. He creates his own plays. Even last night I felt that Richards slowed down St.Louis more than anything. Sure, they still have some chemistry, but Richards is plain slow right now!

We have plenty of Center depth, without Richards:
Stepan
Brassard
J.T.Miller
Boyle
Moore

That's plenty. We need to be smart with our cap going forward. No more overpaid, old, slow guys!
 
Evgeny Oliker said:
Why are we even discussing this?

Of course you buy out Richards!:handclap:

St.Louis can play with anyone. He played well with Stamkos , and without Stamkos. He creates his own plays. Even last night I felt that Richards slowed down St.Louis more than anything. Sure, they still have some chemistry, but Richards is plain slow right now!

We have plenty of Center depth, without Richards:
Stepan
Brassard
J.T.Miller
Boyle
Moore

That's plenty. We need to be smart with our cap going forward. No more overpaid, old, slow guys!
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um.... thats depth ?

thats depth like having pennys is wealth.

not much.
 
offdacrossbar said:
if beever and msl play well together and the team does reasonably well making the playoffs and getting past round 1, then i expect we will not do a compliance buyout of the beev.

there arent a ton of other viable options out there and he is the closest thing to a 1c we have on the roster.

as far as center goes, its by far our biggest weakness. take beev out and its down right bleak.

bringing in msl, i believe, further increases the odds that the beev stays next year.
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I'll agree that it increases the odds that Richards stays but it would still be the wrong move. He has a toxic contract as far as I'm concerned. He's on the decline as well and even if MSL continues to be a force in the next few years I don't see Brad keeping up with him. Better to cut bait and try to find someone better either via a trade or some future free agency. Personally I think Stepan despite his skating problems is going to rebound some. I'd prefer both he and Brassard as players over the current version of Richards. The Rangers besides that can use the money saved from buying out Richards for signing their RFA's and to piece together the rest of the team. Keeping Richards--there might not be enough left as it is.
 
offdacrossbar said:
um.... thats depth ?

thats depth like having pennys is wealth.

not much.
Click to expand...

well, here is where I would rank Richards on the depth chart:
Stepan
Brassard
J.T.Miller
Richards
Boyle
Moore

I'm not kidding either. Stepan, Brassard and Miller can actually skate with some speed , are younger, and have way more upside. Richards is just not a very effective Center at this point...he can barely skate, he gets knocked off the puck easily, and his shot is not what it used to be...passing is still ok, but not same.

So why keep him at $6.6 for another 6 years ?

You can play fine without him or use part of that $6.6 on a free agent or two.

Keeping him makes zero sense.
 
Evgeny Oliker said:
well, here is where I would rank Richards on the depth chart:
Stepan
Brassard
J.T.Miller
Richards
Boyle
Moore

I'm not kidding either. Stepan, Brassard and Miller can actually skate with some speed , are younger, and have way more upside. Richards is just not a very effective Center at this point...he can barely skate, he gets knocked off the puck easily, and his shot is not what it used to be...passing is still ok, but not same.

So why keep him at $6.6 for another 6 years ?

You can play fine without him or use part of that $6.6 on a free agent or two.

Keeping him makes zero sense.
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not disagreeing at all.

im not sure i would rank the centerman in that order. jt miller is not a better centerman right now. not even close.

brassard and beev are about the same.

more like

step
beev/brass
jtm


anyway, im not advocating for beever to stay. not at all. but unless we have another centerman option better than brad, where are we going ?

sure we will have cash if we do the compliance buy out but what centerman options are out there ?

stepan is at best a 2c and brass isnt more than that. and miller? hes a 3c to start next season if he even plays center.

harford doesnt have anything near a 1 or 2 c.

were in a tough spot unless we can pry grigorenko away from buffalo.
 
Doing the math, it will be difficult to keep Richards under the cap with the new contracts for Zucc, Hagelin, Kreider, Moore, and possibly Stralman.

I was for adding Heatley on a cheap 1 year deal to bolster the LW corps, then I saw the cap situation.
 
Fitzy said:
Doing the math, it will be difficult to keep Richards under the cap with the new contracts for Zucc, Hagelin, Kreider, Moore, and possibly Stralman.

I was for adding Heatley on a cheap 1 year deal to bolster the LW corps, then I saw him play this season and laughed at that thought
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Fixed ;)
 
The Ukraine situation isn't helping the cap lol.

The dollar is one o the top safe heavens in a situation like this, next to gold and a few other commodities. In a situation like this the dollar is always pushed several percent.
 
Jersey Girl said:
Not following your logic here. If Sather did it once, why wouldn't he do it again?
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I was joking about that part :)

I think everything hinges on MSL and how far we get before Sather decides what to do with Richards
 
Definitely buy out Beaver. His days as a true No. 1 center are behind him. Sure, he can still put up points, but only as a beneficiary of his linemates finishing their chances. And there's still that one remaining amnesty buyout that GM Sather should take advantage of.

Use that extra money from buying out Brad Richards and sign Paul Stastny, who's the only competent 1C coming up for UFA in the near future. Note what I said about Stastny: COMPETENT. Someone who can win faceoffs regularly. Someone who has decent playmaking ability. Someone who can contribute both offensively and defensively in all three zones of the ice and has the hockey sense to be in the right place to make a play with the puck.

That would address the tenuous situation with our center depth at the moment. It's becoming obvious that Derek Stepan lacks the wheels to be a true 1C in today's NHL. Stick him in the middle six. Derick Brassard is the perfect 2C who has been placed in a position to succeed given his talents (and compatible linemates in Pouliot and Zuccarello). Interchange Brass' and Step's lines and you can adapt play according to your opponent.

Which leaves us with this current trio of Hagelin-Richards-St. Louis... There's a term for that: a "donut line". Two wingers. One black hole of a faded first line center. That's the immediate problem facing the Rangers in the latter stages of the 2013-14 season.
 
Rather than worrying about buying him out, why don't we just keep him for 2 more seasons and then let him go and ask the NHL to waive the cap-recapture penalty? If they change the rules on a whim for the Devs surely they can do it for us as well?
 
mike14 said:
Rather than worrying about buying him out, why don't we just keep him for 2 more seasons and then let him go and ask the NHL to waive the cap-recapture penalty? If they change the rules on a whim for the Devs surely they can do it for us as well?
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That's what I'm saying bro... There's gotta be a way theyll either reduce it or waive it completely especially if they backed off on the devils punishment
 
You can't even consider keeping Richards. That contract is an albatross, and this summer is (probably) our last chance to escape it. Him and St. Louis can play great together and there could be no credible FA replacements this summer, and you still do it. You have to. The worst case scenario is Stepan and Brassard as the #1 and #2 center, with no replacement for Richards, and yeah, that's ****ing horrible, but it's still a better scenario than Brad Richards being guaranteed between $7-$9 million dollars until 2017.
 
Zamboner said:
You can't even consider keeping Richards. That contract is an albatross, and this summer is (probably) our last chance to escape it. Him and St. Louis can play great together and there could be no credible FA replacements this summer, and you still do it. You have to. The worst case scenario is Stepan and Brassard as the #1 and #2 center, with no replacement for Richards, and yeah, that's ****ing horrible, but it's still a better scenario than Brad Richards being guaranteed between $7-$9 million dollars until 2017.
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It doesn't really matters to us, cap hit is still 6,67. And Stastny will probably end up closer to 8 AAV (which will make it even harder to resign UFA/RFA on he team). I think it's gonna come down to if Sather can sign Stastny, if not, I don't see him buying out Richards. Like it or not, but we are a better team next season with Richards than without him, and I think Sather wants to go hard for the cup with Nash/MSL/Hank all in their prime and the key pieces on D locked up over the next season. Just my to cents, not saying that it's the best decision in a long term perspective, but we all know Sather...
 
Then just cut him and be done with it. I'd honestly rather run Step, Brass, Miller and Boyle/Moore for one season and see what we could do, rather than tie up dead money for years like that.
 
2014 and 2015 UFA class is pretty dearth of talent at center. 2016 has Staal, Stamkos, and Kopitar. 2017 has a bunch of old guys like Thornton and Datsyuk. 2018 though... John Tavares is a free agent :)
 
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