travel_dude

Well, he's 31 turning 32 in March so there's that. And yes a pending UFA that was making $3.5M actual. It's not perhaps a fair thing to say he played poorly for us in his 7 games and 11 playoff games. I guess we didn't want to offer him the $1M he signed for in WPG. Now if you stack him up in a UFA situation against Oesterle, where the two would be signing for $1M..... But we are talking about trades here. Trades involving sending a 27 year old for a 31 year included, yes I may vomit.

I give you that Saros is overall the best goalie that might be available. Youngest, down season, pretty consistent otherwise. Hard to tell what Gibson even is anymore. He wasn't mentioned there but I heard they might shop him. But if your fall back play is Saros, he is only $1M less andone less year. Advantage is they might consider retaining since it's a shorter time. Downside is Saros is gonna cost a ton. Where Marky is a top prospect or young NHL player + 1st, Saros is 2x1st plus a top prospect.

The two guys that provide scouting analysis and goalie analysis beg to differ. The only goalie there with a similar w/l record with a similar number of starts is Saros. The only goalies with a sub 3.0 GAA is Markstrom (2.64) The only goalie with a better than .905 SA% is Markstrom. If the cost was exactly the same, I would trade for Saros, but the size kills in the West. But the cost will be higer since Saros is younger. His next contract will be > $8M. MAF is old as dirt. Kahkonen is pending UFA. Saror has another year left. Allen has really only played well as a backup and best under STL. You have to be looking for a goalie for longer than a year to be interested in Markstrom. Unless you can open up the books for Saros.

I would first lean towards a Lundell return. Not sure what else, but he's the kind of C we should be targeting before he is untouchable. As long as Hanifin will re-sign (or sign and trade), FLA might consider it.

If I see another Forbort suggest I may vomit.

Well I seriously doubt you go very far in negotiations without the player being asked if he would waive. They wouldn't just approach him and say we have 5 teams we want to trade you to, it would be specific. You would want to treat the player with kid gloves because if you end up not moving him, you mess it up with the player. So, ask him if NJ would be okay, but only because you know they are serious. He earned that right and has full control over movement.

Well, I don't think Connie would ever get into deep negotiations with NJ without asking Markstrom if he would waive. Too many people reporting the negotiations for it to be false. With Ras, all it was said was that teams were calling about him and that only a knockout offer would even be considered. What else should you say. Who from the team is untouchable where a huge overpay wouldn't result in a trade? You also say that it has to be a huge offer, so that teams don't just walk away. As a GM you should always do due diligence; drive up offers, explore trades proposed. So, I don't think you can compare Ras talk with Markstrom or Hanifn or Tanev.

I think it was suggested that the cost of retention was the issue. In other words, what NJ was willing to give up to have CGY retain. I believe that was the sticking point, but doesn't mean things are dead. If they want a goalie, they have to pay for it. NAS is looking for 2x1st + top prospect, so that's what you the option is there.

Not to mention the lack of trade protection. For the last 3 seasons, he is consistently 50 points (will hit it this year too). The age alone nets you a better return, I think. Is he is in the same value as Chychrun? Maybe not, but he has played full seasons and is only a couple years older. And his salary situation is slightly more attractive than Chychrun's.

When I say better, I don't mean just for one season. A re-tool that works would show improvement year over year. Worse for 3 years implies that we got it wrong. There might be a slight regression, but frankly we are doing that this year possibly to the point of top 5 in the draft. A bad season followed by 3 worse season implies a decade of darkness.

Do we have that leadership group to replace them? Kadri, Coleman and Weegar are the ones that come to mind for me. What is odd is that Backlund seemed to be poised to leave because we were not doing anything to upgrade the team. Now we are going into a re-tool. How long does Backlund want to stick around now that Lindholm and possibly Tanev, Markstrom and Hanifin are on the way out? Kadri is bringing along Zary and Pospisil. Weegar is solidifying our D to help take pressure off G. Coleman is the heart and soul of th team's post country club culture. Huberdeau is bringing along Pelletier, so far in limited ice. A re-tool that starts and (mostly) ends with Lindholm, Hanifin, Tanev, Markstrom and Zadorov is not bad. As long as you can turn this into enough assets to be better next year, that is fine. I would also consider Mangiapane because he is only effective on one line. We should be able to "train" players on Backlund's line. And Mange is a bit undersized to get the greasy goals.

There are ways around it. Teams may ask to talk to the player/agent or may want a sign and trade. If they traded now, then that team have a short window to sign or get commitment from the player. A sign and trade works if he wants to go to a certain place. I think the Tampa noise is just that. Noise. Iggy was a franchise player and had to agree to the trade. Hanifin only has so much leverage. I think we are making a mountain out of nothing. We may not like the trade so much, but I don't think it has anything to do wtih Tampa.

I think Mangiapane might be of interest to them. A young-ish F. Vladar is not worth anything to them, and frankly I'm not even sure he has value to us. Hanifin might be more of a UFA target than a trade target. They want o do nothing to increase their chances at winning games over the next 2 months. Hanifin increases their goals per game, so it goes against the tank for 1st ideas they won't say out loud. I doubt they would do anything involving a 1st over the next 2 years. They have conditional 1sts from Tampa and Toronto. I doubt they would even consider trading them. Good thinking out of the box. Rebuilding teams need to actually compete, but CHI seems to be in the Toews/Kane era right now; tank to get successive 1st overalls. Collect more picks while doing that.

I have been thinking Kaliyev for some time. Turcotte maybe instead, but need a 1st with either perhaps. Maybe they are willing to outbid FLA.

I know, but depth is costly. They are built to win this season, with their old guys aging out.

Earlier we were 11th, but I think we are actually 10th. PITTS has a better points % but is a point behind us. 9th has a better shot at 1st overall. But we are only a losing streak away from being passed by BUFF and MTL. If only ARI could win a game and OTT didn't sucj so much. 5th is about the best we can hope for an inevitably gets push down by the 6th place team.

I don't see Tampa, and BOS only makes sense for his family connections. BOS has no cap to take him on and I don't see a NHL player return that makes sense. FLA makes too much sense. VGK makes some sense too. I would trade Tanev straight up for Stankoven, but that's just me. Nothing else in the deal. We could retain salary for a lesser pick on top of it.

Played the season before and the stats were there to look at. Picked a LW LHS over a RHS C? Yeah, why would we want to draft a RHS C? I think the crew here was literaly screaming at their computers when we passed on him and DAL picked him. I remember the draft talk during the draft. SMH. We seem to have problems drafting out of Sweden. Swedes no problem, but not in their leagues.

Only a few teams I would bother dealing Hanifin to. Most are in the East. FLA is best chance there. BOS is a little thin on the return. CAR would be fine, but why would they trade for him now? TOR - nope OTT - nope MTL - no f'n way NJ - not sure they need him, besides we are trading Markstrom to them In the West, I could see VGK but they have a tenuous cap situation. Maybe Roy + 1st? Each piece alone not worth the deal. Together maybe too much. Hogue + 1st? Cotter + 2nd + Morozov?

There are good years to make team defining trades. I don't think this is the year. We have to trade the UFA's and Markstrom at some point. But so many teams that would pay for a Weegar or Ras don't have 1sts. Ras for Chychrun? Okay, that's different. Should ge a bit more for a RHS, but far as is I guess. It's hard to predict when we come out of a rebuild because we haven't started one. I think Weegar is good for at least 4 more years. Him and Ras have about the same number of years in the league. Hanifin has more. If you want to trade Ras, do it his UFA year or next season. Weegar seems to give a Satoshi Nakamoto more than a lot of guys we have. He has the attitude you want to pass on to the kids.

Well, you have him in your pool right? He's missed his 5th straight game. But Siggy has been activated off IR, so a little suspicious. Cap management no doubt. Imagine this may have something to do with their desire for a real goalie.

So, Vanacek on IR now. That is fine if they want to include in trade. It allows us to use Wolf until Vanacek is ready. If Vanacek came back prior to TDL, then we move Vladar.

Prior to the Lindholm trade, we didn't have a top RHD prospect. If we manage to find on in this draft, due to out position (grabbing him early) or them falling, will that be any closer to finding the top RHD that you crave (we all crave)? I realize that HB may be similar to Bouchard in EDM. Was lighting it up in the OHL. And he had 4 years of it compared to 2 years for HB. Needed and still needs time to be considered a top D. So, opinion wise, are you convinced that any of the available D in the draft will eclipse HB at his age? Always want more, but I still want to know.

Whoops, didn't see that last sentence, but we are in agreement.

They got rid of conditional picks for re-signing. We could do a sign and trade, if he would do it. I'm not sure I like that big trade. We give up possibly 2 players that might get us a 1st each. Plus a world class goalie. We get a (currently) 3rd line RW, a (currently) 4th line LW and a 28 goalie in his 4th season. Career year was last year and not trending that way again. If you separated it out: Hanifin for Mercer Markstrom for Holtz + Vanacek Tanev for a late 1st Each one is underwhelming, except maybe Mercer. Just me I guess.