Khrox

The season still isn't over, especially since the playoffs are about to start next week. Bollig and Engelland could easily up their value in the playoffs, especially as the games get more physical and (has been pointed out in another thread, not sure if it was here or on HF) that the game tends to slow down a bit and less of a run-and-gun mindset which plays to the strengths of Bolls and Engs (yes the games are still fast paced, but players do tend to pace themselves more knowing how tight-checking and long the playoffs can be, which is where it tends to slow down a bit, especially in the later rounds if we can get there). We overpaid for Engelland and Raymond for sure, but the upside to that is we kept the contracts short (which is something Treliving said he was willing to do. Basically pay a premium for shorter 2-3 year contracts instead of lower cap hit but 5-6 year contracts). The Raymond gamble was a decent one, partially to create some LW competition, to help make us a faster team, to help replace Cammi's scoring (lets be honest, I really doubt any of us saw this many people having career years or Johnny Gaudreau to be 60+ points and in the 25 goal range, while having 2 30+ goal scorers), and because it is very hard for him to make us worse while having a good chance at making us better. The Seto gamble wasn't the best, but it wasn't that bad either. It was a really low cost, a RW (something we don't have a lot of) and gave him a chance. A change of scenery to a team that is admittedly rebuilding and willing to give a chance to someone who will work for it is what a player on the downward swing needs. It wasn't that long ago he was a rather good goal-scorer. Did it work out? Not at all. Did it hurt our chances? Not really. If he had scored a goal or two it might have won us an extra game, but at the same time, he didn't really hurt the team a whole lot (his icetime wasn't that high, and from what I've read, he worked really hard and gave a solid effort in practice. That work ethic he was still bringing would have been a positive influence on some of the younger guys, maybe helped them work even harder to pass him on depth). And if Addy doesn't make it, his playoff experience could come in handy as a Black Ace and help keep the younger guys level, he could still have some potential value there (and who knows, some freak decision could make Hartley put him in, and he scores a GWG in game 7 of the cup final, and everyone forgets how bad his season was at the beginning).

Morrisson needs to be on this list. He was signed to a contract that starts next year, (BT's doing) and he is playing on our farm on an ATO contract so that he doesn't even burn a year of his pro contract (which is an incredibly good move I think). Also Darth: How does the Brodie or Russell contracts not get A+ instead of just A, I mean Brodie is really coming into his own and is still growing, and Russell only set two NHL records this year (Most blocked shots in a single game, and most blocked shots in a season. And if it was known, he probably owns the most blocked shots in a period as well).

That game was not the best for us sadly. But again, definitely would love to see us have someone who could eat up some of Wideman's PK time (not named Russel, Gio or Brodie, who already eat up the majority of the time). The one I disagree with is the fact that Gio had less PP time than Russel (while Russel is solid on the PP, would rather have Gio/Wideman on the first and Russel/Brodie on the second). And Brodie only getting 17 seconds of PP time seems a little off, compared to how much of a threat he is normally on it. And Brodie normally leads the team in icetime, here he is 4th on our D, anyone know why? Hopefully he isn't hurting (which I could see him playing through and Hartley just scaling back the time a bit, would explain Wideman's icetime being almost 7 minutes more than usual)

This is from a hockeyfeed article, but apparently the Rangers asked about Kessel. Toronto wants Kreider, a 2015 2nd round pick, 2016 1st round pick and either Anthony Duclair OR Brady Skjei for him. If that price doesn't come down, there is no way Calgary makes a deal for him

Lets say we brought Smid/Engelland/Diaz to 15 minutes a night. For this scenario it is going to be Diaz and Engelland (seeing as Smid is injured), that is a combined 5 minutes 40 seconds of extra icetime to them combined, and away from everyone else. That is still roughly 1:35 icetime less (each) for our top 4. If we could get a third pairing that could take those minutes, I want to say try and eat up some of the PK time for it. Russel is great for PK but Wideman is a guy I want to avoid that with, and he averages about 1:02/game of SH TOI, (Engelland averages 0:47 SH TOI, Diaz averages 0:00). Gio and Brodie both average over 2 minutes SH TOI/Game. If we can take even 10-15 seconds of that from those 3, that is 30-45 seconds that our best offensive D-men get a chance to not save energy and play cautiously. I would say the rest of the time would have to come from EV since the only one even viable to put on PP is Diaz (and that changes if he is gone to upgrade), but Russel, Brodie average over 2 minutes per game, Wideman/Gio average over 3 minutes while Diaz still get about 0:47 per game. The only person we could feasibly take some there from is Russel, but I would still take Russel over Diaz on it (combination of I feel he is a better skater, prevents shorthanded breakouts better and partially get some PP time as a reward for being one of the best shot-blockers in the league and putting it all out there for the team). As much as I want an upgrade on our 5-7 D, I can't see a feasible spot to take away the amount of icetime to get the third pairing to 15 minutes a night, it's not ideal because there isn't a lot of space for Gio or Brodie in EV or PP to go down in icetime, and at most you can take 30 seconds of SH time away from them. Our second pairing, EV is at a decent spot and you don't really want to decrease Russel's SH or Widemans PP, which again leaves you at most 20-30 seconds of time (Russels PP and Widemans SH) to give away. Which means the only spot for any real extra icetime for our 5-7 is special teams, and do you really want someone like Engelland out there for an extra 30 seconds or so SH icetime? The only way we can even really justify that is getting a legitimate top 4 D-man and putting him on the third pairing and taking all that extra SH/PP time and giving it to him as well as the normal third pairing ice-time (which would put 1 at about 15 minutes, the other staying between 10-12 minutes).

I'd rather pick up a 3/4 Dman and put him on the third pairing. Russel and Wides work really well off eachother, but having another top 4 capable Dman on the third pairing really solidifies the defence. If it is an offensive minded one we can rotate in (or trade) either Smid or Engelland while keeping Diaz as the 7th, if it is a Defensive minded D-man we keep Diaz and trade one of Smid or Engelland.

Kanzig has the potential to be a bottom pairing guy (3/4 at best, assuming he shows significant improvement in both his skating and offence in the next couple years) but I would say 2-3 years away. Big and physical, and uses his size to his advantage as far as positioning goes, but skating is a bit of a weak spot (but one he has actively worked on since we drafted him). I feel he could be an improvement over Engelland and to a lesser extent Smid (maybe it's just me, but I actually prefer Smid over Engelland).

Has anyone else noticed that Smid is even starting to activate a lot and take some shots. Not getting any points but I've caught a few times where it was a really good chance (and had any of our top 4 D made the same shot it would likely have been a goal) or a couple times he has actually kept play going in the O-zone off his activation. If he can work on his shot a bit we might even have another Dman who can put up some points on the third pairing.