This is what it would look like next year only signing RFA's.
Something has to give here, we have too many guys to play NHL minutes next year. An abundance of cap space that is abnormal for this team, and even more coming off the books the next year.
The questions to me become: what is Steen, Sobotka, berglund's value? Can we move 1or2 of them, plus for upgrades? How do we attack free agency, when we already have to many players?
Looking at the offense:
Schwartzy, Schenn, Tarasenko. Not going anywhere.
Tage, Thomas, Kostin, Kyrou. Shouldn't go anywhere.
(7 of your top 9 moving forward)
Jaskin, sundquvist, soshnikov. As your 12,13,&14.
So we have Fabbri, Bergy, Sobo, Steener, Barby, sanford, and Blais to fill the 8,9,10,11 spots. Leaving 3 good players in limbo as to where they fit in the teams future.
Looking at the Defense is a bit easier:
Edmundson Pietrangelo
Dunn Parayko
Are locks moving forward. Bortuzzo (your 6/7) has no need to be moved. Which leaves jbow, Gunn, Walman, Schmaltz left to fill 2 spots. Do we want to pay jbow 5.4 to be a #5? Are Walman or Schmaltz ready to be an everyday player?
And finally goaltending:
Allen is the guy, like it or not. (At least right now)
Both Husso and Binnington are probably ready to be NHL back ups. Husso is looking like a future starter. And Binnington being a fringe guy, maybe Elliot/Hutton like?
But Binnington would have to be resigned and pass waivers to play in the AHL. Husso is still on EL contract.
Scary thing with Allen's consistency issues, is it safe to not have a 1B type back up?
All in all, this team has the pieces and many different options to make itself better. You could build a 5+ year powerhouse with a few well planned moves.
I think something has to give now. I mean with Soshnikov in the mix they basically have a million players rotating on the 3rd and 4th lines. They already lost Paajarvi to waivers this year so I'm assuming that they don't want to keep giving up players for nothing. Jeremy Rutherford mentioned on twitter that both Berglund and Sobotka have came up in trade talks so I wouldn't be surprised if one of either them or Jaskin is on the way out. Armstrong also mentioned today that he expects there to be a lot of movement on deadline day so I can totally see Soshnikov as coming in to replace one of those players. I also have a wierd feeling that Armstrong has some crazy surprise trade up his sleeve this year that no one has caught onto yet. Really good insight on this post btw
Correct me if I’m wrong, but signing Binnington to a 1 year 925k deal will most likely be a 2 way contract giving them the option to send him down without passing him through waivers. Also if they send him down before the season starts then I don’t think he will be eligible for waivers anyways. But all in all I think bergy/sobotka will get traded and I’m praying gunnarson gets the boot or we at least buyout Bouw.
I think something has to give now. I mean with Soshnikov in the mix they basically have a million players rotating on the 3rd and 4th lines. They already lost Paajarvi to waivers this year so I'm assuming that they don't want to keep giving up players for nothing. Jeremy Rutherford mentioned on twitter that both Berglund and Sobotka have came up in trade talks so I wouldn't be surprised if one of either them or Jaskin is on the way out. Armstrong also mentioned today that he expects there to be a lot of movement on deadline day so I can totally see Soshnikov as coming in to replace one of those players. I also have a wierd feeling that Armstrong has some crazy surprise trade up his sleeve this year that no one has caught onto yet. Really good insight on this post btw
I have that same feeling about army! He seems to always pull the move no one sees coming, instead of the obvious ones everyone talks about.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but signing Binnington to a 1 year 925k deal will most likely be a 2 way contract giving them the option to send him down without passing him through waivers. Also if they send him down before the season starts then I don’t think he will be eligible for waivers anyways. But all in all I think bergy/sobotka will get traded and I’m praying gunnarson gets the boot or we at least buyout Bouw.
I used to think that, but Gunnarson and Bouwmeester are actually playing really really well right now. Unless we trade for another LHD I think both of them stay. With Edmundson hurt there is not really any depth behind them. (Butler is a career AHLer, Walman isn't ready, Linbohm is out for the year etc)
Correct me if I’m wrong, but signing Binnington to a 1 year 925k deal will most likely be a 2 way contract giving them the option to send him down without passing him through waivers. Also if they send him down before the season starts then I don’t think he will be eligible for waivers anyways. But all in all I think bergy/sobotka will get traded and I’m praying gunnarson gets the boot or we at least buyout Bouw.
If he signs a 2way I believe that's correct. Other wise he'd have to pass through waivers, before the season or not. The waiver wire before the season is usually inactive. Teams like to see what they have, plus I think it's one of those unwritten rules, GM code.
For sure! With him and Petro, the right side is set. I'd say paying to turn bouw into mcdonagh makes the most sense.
We'll see. I think that Bouwmeester could be part of a cap dump to Arizona in a Domi trade. I think maybe Fabbri, Walman, and some conditional picks could get Domi.
I used to think that, but Gunnarson and Bouwmeester are actually playing really really well right now. Unless we trade for another LHD I think both of them stay. With Edmundson hurt there is not really any depth behind them. (Butler is a career AHLer, Walman isn't ready, Linbohm is out for the year etc)
At the same time though, as soon as Bouwmeester looks good he'll go through an even bigger streak of being the worst defenseman. It never fails. He might waive his NTC to go somewhere.
We'll see. I think that Bouwmeester could be part of a cap dump to Arizona in a Domi trade. I think maybe Fabbri, Walman, and some conditional picks could get Domi.
Arizona will ve on his list of teams he won't get traded to. He'll allow a trade to 12 teams , they won't be one of them