To me, the option that shouldn't be muttered is extending him. I would rather let him walk for nothing than give him 7 million a year for the next 6-7 years.
Reasonable view. That would make sense to me too. Him at 7, or maybe even 6, would be crippling to the team's success moving forward.
Resigning Brassard is a no brainer.
I don't know about no-brainer. Is 3 years for 12 million worth it for a 3rd line winger (essentially)? In his 8 NHL seasons, 6 full seasons, Brassard has never put more more points than 47. He's on pace for 48 points this year. I think it is a reasonable question to ask - is that value fair for a player of that nature? Sure his potential may lead some to believe that he could find consistency during the course of a season and surpass his points ceiling of 47... but 8 seasons seems like a fair sample size to determine where Brassard should be headed moving forward, in terms of points, production, and consistency.
Brassard's QO is $3.7 million. Players above $1M aren't due the 10% raise.
I'd love to sign him to something like a $12 million / 3 year deal.
Apologies, I thought the QO was 4.1. Either way, 12/3 is 4 per yr. Is it worth it for him? Our defense is getting paid. McD went up from his ELC to 4.7 mill. Girardi is going up at least 2 mill a season... at least. Staal will see the same increase in AAV for his next contract if he resigns. Stralman's pay is increasing, Moore's pay will be increasing. Klein is an increase over Del Zotto's ELC. We have Miller coming up, on an ELC and likely cheap bridge contract afterwards, due to his lack of NHL experience. Not that i'm advocating for Stastny... but if we buy out Richards, Sather will need to justify the drop off in point production from our 2c... and he will be the hottest FA available at that position. I can see a 7 year deal @ 6.6 (same AAV as Richards' contract now) being mutually agreed to. We'll need a 2w considering that all signs point to Cally being traded. We won't necessarily sign one, but in the event that we trade for one, 2nd line wingers aren't generally cheap either (in terms of contract). That cap isn't rising significantly enough for us to make all of these moves and we'll have to slash $$ at least from somewhere. We have a cheap alternative to Brassard in Fast. Kristo is also another option that is cheap. Miller will take the 3c duties next year and perform fine.
1. I am a proponent of resigning Stralman if he isn't asking for stupid money. I have no problem with 8 NHL caliber dmen let them force the issue. The one think I might consider doing is if Stralman won't resign I might call up San Jose and swap Stralman for pure rental Dan Boyle. Boyle has been down but he can still be dangerous and if Stralman is going to walk anyway let SJ cut some salary and then you free up some money for yourself. But I would rather have signed Stralman.
2/3. Agree. Issue has been beaten to death.
4. I think if Callahan and/or Girardi is dealt he might actually keep Richards. Either way finishing a center is ridiculously hard. I don't love Stastny as a FA. He would need a similar to Richards contract and I'm not sure I would do that. I would also prefer a really fast C. At least someone more mobile than Stepan and Brassard.
5. If you are commiting to some combination of Boyle/Moore/Dorsett/Carcillo, you are sacrificing a ton of offense. I would keep Moore because he will be cheap and look to trade Boyle and either Carcillo or Dorsett for picks, particularly Dorsett (who probably has more value somehow) if Carcillo will resign for less than Dorsett is due.
6. Brassard is worth about 4, but he isn't worth more. Would not pay him more than, for example, Bryan Little for any reason.
7. Staal really becomes the elephant in the room. But I think this gets tabled until next season because there is too much going on. I think Staal would resign, but this is where you need to be careful with the Girardi contract. If you give Girardi a random, when Staal asks for more it could get ugly.
I don't know about a Stralman for Boyle swap. Boyle is in shambles from what I've heard - due to his concussion.
I don't agree that committing to the 4th line we have now is sacrificing offense. Boyle is definitely a black hole, in that regard, but we'd take a significant hit in penalty killing if we lost him. Moore has a replacement in Lindberg, who should add more offense than Moore can add to us. I'd love to trade for someone like Glencross to take Carcillo's spot - keeping the intensity level as high (if not higher) while also adding more scoring.
And I really hope Staal's contract is resolved this summer. This has been a terrible few months of beating the horse dead on G and C and I'd hate to have to repeat the whole thing, with the media and fan speculation, w/ S.
