travel_dude

I'm not really sure what his mood was being traded. On one hand he knew he wasn't going to just get top 6 here. On the other, he was not at fault for his drop off. I don't know that he would come back as a UFA for that little. If he ramps it up, there's a chance he could be looking at $4M or so on an extension. He needs to show that he has some mileage left. Hope he get to that level.

I hear Sutter saying that achieving in the AHL is different than the NHL. I know he said that early on, about 1/2 way through I think. The fact that the kid did the same thing day after day and into the playoffs says something. Sutter will look at him in camp and develop and opinion then. But he's not going to just toss him on the 4th line. He's a top 6 talent and need to play at least on a 3rd line.

TBH, I thought you were talking about Mickey Renaud.... https://www.nhl.com/flames/news/renaud-will-be-missed-never-forgotten/c-454028

Don't ever change. Facts get in the way so often.

COL spent a ton on players this year, not just TDL. They traded for Kuemper last summer; gone. They went after COgs and Manson. They have Lehkonen and kept him. Their path to the cup was easier for two rounds. Tampa won two cups in short years, so hard to say the new guys had anything to do with the wins.

It seems unlikely now. Hard to trade away Monahan then tuen around and sign a 2nd guy. Not that there is anything wrong with that. I would be okay with it, but it has to be a salary you can bury penalty free. Pitlick and Simon were wasted dollars or trade assets. We have to do something with the D. We can't be carrying 8D. Meloche is really the guy we brought in to replace Guddy. He's 7th at worst. Now we have Kyl or someone else playing with Zaddy. Valimaki waived costs us $550k in cap or thereabouts. Unlikely him or Mackey get claimed, but you never know. Losing Valimaki to waivers would be a fail and I doubt BT coniders waiving him. Choices are carrying him or trading him. Hanifin for Willie makes so much sense it will never happen. Helps TO, but puts them up to 8D. Gets us a regular season scorer that Sutter would put the boots to. We can afford the salary offset. But is it a smart trade? TO is not the best team for us to deal with. NYI and NJ maybe. Or trade Valimaki to NY for Kravtsov. They have 2 D that don't have to pass through waivers.

The reffing was far from perfect, not even close. I'm not using it as an excuse, just saying that if we had the type of reffing the AVS-EDM series had we likely see different results. The losses weren't blowouts by any stretch.

Our D was not a joke last playoffs. They got exposed when we had to play a couple of guys short. Slower guys like Stone and Guddy had it tough againt the EDM F, since we weren't allowed to be mean to them. The reffing was a joke and allowed EDM to exploit it. I don't blame the reffing, just saying that for a playoff round, it was simply unbelievable.

Look, I get the desire to fix everything all at once. But let's not fool ourselves, we have 6 x top 4 D. Trading Hanifin doesn't get us a top D. Maybe perhaps possibly Hanifin + Dube + gets us a top D. Then we are down a F that plays or can play middle 6. Markstrom and Tanev will age, but not in two years. If we are to keep Mackey and Valimaki, maybe one of them replaces Tanev in 2-4 years. Replaces as in allows him to play less minutes. Marky has at least 3 years at this level left. Goalies aren't aging out at 36 these days. If we have Vladar and Wolf coming up, then we have a surplus. We have the D in spades. Let's use some of the depth in a trade, if it makes sense.

The D was fine last year, and the first round wasn't poor defense that made it go to 7. It was lack of finish from the F in round one. Round two, we went in with hobbled Tanev (didn't play healthy at all), and Mr. Ribs trying to take up some of the minutes.Kylington was also injured, but managed to play most of his minutes. You do need an extra layer of offense, since we had basically one. You need the D to be solid. You need the goalie with enough breaks to play an extended playoffs. Hanifin bother me at times because he doesn't recognize things happening in front of him. Too much gap, low % plays, etc. and that is from a seasoned vet. If a trade of him brings back a 2 way player that has a ratio of 2-1 in goals for and scored against while on the ice, then we do better. Contender will be determined by how the team plays as a group. We don't have more than a couple of franchise level (possibly elite) forwards, but that doesn't mean we can't win the West. We have D that have been under used for offense. Ras passed up most of his chances o score. Weegar play with AE. Ras is still adjusting from playing under Gio rule.

^^^^ Please don't mention trading Ras for Willie Ny. That is just so wrong.

Talking about Tkachuk and Gaudreau as if we had any control about their negotiations seems a bit far fetched. We can keep Hanifin and trade him next year for a player that might cost more. Does that fix any problem? The reason why there is little impact this year is we have two players making what we offered Gaudreau initially. I'm all for having youg guys step up, but who are they replacing? Not anyone from the default top 6. Perhaps Dube from the 3rd line. Maybe Rooney/Lucic/Lewis. Maybe they lessen the need for Backlund long term. I think you really need to look at who is currently capable of playing on one of the two scoring lines. We don't have the 6th player from last year's results. Maybe Dube is that guy or maybe Coleman could be that guy, but those are two that play a sound defensive game first. I think it would be best to have a player that can play either wing. That way you aren't locked into Mange on the top RW or 2nd LW, or Toffoli on the top RW. Just me I guess.

Bratt would be ideal as a top line winger, or a winger to play with Mange on the Kadri line. I think they might want more than Hanifin, but maybe not. Hubie-Lindy-Toffoli Mange-Kadri-Bratt Seems ideal. The other name I was thinking about was Beauvillier, but doesn't work as well.

Not my ideal lineup. I would prefer to see Kadri with Mange and another RW. That requires a trade, assuming we lose Dube in part of the trade: Hubie-Lindy-Toffoli Mange-Kadri-RW Pelletier/Ruzicka-Backlund-Coleman 4th line Ruzie or Pelletier learns the defensive side to be more 2 way; Pelts' already good. Ruzie should learn it. Toffoli is a finisher and you keep Mange with Ladri, who I thin would blend well with him. The new RW is a finisher and can pass. I would need to do a bit better research on which team needs a D and a young winger. The trade should provide us a RHS RW coming back.

It was painfully obvious that we needed a 2C. We have two top 6 capable players that could be ready eventually. The timeline isn't obvious, though. We have three C's that are ready today and we can bring in the new guys as needed to "learn" the NHL game under the vets. Not being forced to play a top 6 spot. If they are ready, fine. If not we have plan A available. BT still has some work to do. Figuring out how to best juggle 10 D. Deciding what is more pressing, a top 6 winger or having three top 4 D for LD. Finding the balance so that Sutter doesn't have to use Lucic unless that is what works. Same for Lewis and Rooney, who are really specialists. Rooney better on the PK. Lewis a good forechecker and lesser leader. TBH, we have more than a couple of cup winners. The leaders on the ice. The big hit guy is still here and can be used to turn around a game, if we need that. As much as I pencil in Pelletier and Ruzie, it will depend on how they show up in camp. Pelts is going to do everything he can and not play just the role as the filler prospect on a line. Ruzie needs to show up jacked and ready to play. They all have to be ready to excel in a spot that is not the norm for them. Winger or defensive mover. Whatever.

It's Oils that are talking (nonstop) about Phil. I gave up about Kadri early on, since it seemed like he was NYI or AVS. Valimaki may only be worth a pick, but in my mind that is a bust trade. Really, it comes down to Hanifin or Dube. Hanifin solves two problems; excess D and pending overpay. Kylington's next deal is not going to be worth $7M. And frankly, we can be paying $7M for a 2nd pairing ceiling guy. Got no problem with Weegar, since he's a top 2. We really need some LD stepping up. And find another RD to replace Tanev eventually.

There's nothing wrong with that, but at some point you have to drop the puck and see. We still have some moves to do. Can't overthink it yet.

I don't think it matters one way or the other. He wasn't really blamed for the team losing to the Oilers. Maybe he picked the wrong horses with Jarnkrok and Carpenter, but those were rolls of the dice. Not doing anything would have been seen as more of a failure. The same is true of this season. Remaining cap neutral while adding three talents, losing a guy who changed his mind, being forced to trade a guy that didn't want to sign. Judge him after two years, not after a retool summer. Maybe he gets a one year extension. Maybe they do the same with Sutter. The two are linked together in getting this team some success.

We have two or three assets worth anything that we can trade, not including top picks. Hanifin, Dube, Valimaki. We are trying to improve the top 6 wings. Hanifin doesn't really make us dramatically worse on D. He should bring back a player that is $5M or so. You could substitute Kylington for Hanifin, but I don't think you get a similar return. As well, you are giving up a growing player. Valimaki doesn't get you anything other than an equivalent struggling player. Dube is similar in value to Kylington. No point in talking about Lucic. We need him for a year. We can even re-sign him for a short term deal at his true value.

My only regret, I finally had a named jersey or t-shirt with Monahan, Guadreau and Tkachuk. Great sales on those items, but didn't have enough time to enjoy them during the playoffs. As it was, I cursed the team by wearing #13 jersey through the playoffs. This is basically a new team. We have some exciting players that will be awesome to see on our team. Interesting to see Kadri playing Toronto with Gio and Brodie. And Lucic playing Gaudreau and Guddy in CBJ. And of course, Hibie and Weegs against Tkachuk.

We are talking about players that have played with a lot of others. And performed. There is some adjustment, but they get better. Bennett becomes a 20+ goal scorer. Nichuskin becomes a major threat. Weegar played with a top player and made him better. Why do not not expect that to be the case here.

I don't think we would have Mercer playing last year, but I could be wrong. Since he went beore we would have picked without a trade, it's kinda pointless.

I agree that trades have to be money in money out. We have to consider guys like Hanifin or Kylington or Dube or Valimaki going out to bring in an equivalent cost talent coming back in. I would like to see that type of move. Maybe it would hurt a bit in one place and help a bit in another. There isn't a variety of UFA's that justify a big signing (now). Has to be a bigger dollar going out to allow a big dollar thing coming back.