A nice survey.

Roy, Gavrikov and Durzi are certainly in the right columns.

If Buffalo specifically needs a veteran RhD for one season, Sean Walker should be considered because his price would be low. And for slightly longer-term purposes, Jordan Spence might be available.

I'd be VERY interested in hearing why you have Ryan Graves in the "stay away" category, because I see him in many of my fellow LA Kings fans' ACGMs as an alternative to Vladi Gavrikov. I thought that he is an excellent defensive defender, particularly a shot-blocker. Since you see much more of him than I/we do, and would thus be more likely to be right about him, it would be educational to hear your reservations about him.

My take with Graves is analytics driven but I can offer the eye test bit at the end.

My issue with graves is that, although on the surface his numbers appear positive, digging deeper it appears that he doesnt drive any of his results if that makes sense. Like his good numbers offensively don't appear to be the result of his own shooting talent or play-making ability, rather he's fortunate to be on the ice with other players who are plus shooters.

Defensively he's kind of a nightmare. From what the data shows, the Devils give up a ton of quality chances in tight when he is on the ice. It's also probably not a coincidence that Marino's numbers took a dip when Graves was paired with him. This could just be a result of too many minutes, but then, why would you want a guy who cant handle those minutes for that much money, right.

From an eye test perspective, he's constantly out of position. Like take risks sure but it can't happen as often as it does with him. I don't think he's necessarily a bad player, but he's gunna get paid, and get term, and he's just not the guy for that. COL got the best usage out of him playing at fringe 2nd/3rd pair minutes. But after 26 pts and a thin UFA market, he's not gunna get paid that and it has the potential to be one of those contracts that keeps you from making key moves in the future.

Thanks a ton for this insight. I had him in my last two Kings ACGMs as an alternative to Gavrikov and have him there right now in two drafts that I haven't published yet. I guess I'll stick with Vladi.

Thoughts on Soucy from Seattle?

Probably go in the "available and overrated" category. Not someone they can comfortably put into a top 4 role, given that the top two pairs see more ice time at EV than most of the league.

Interesting, a lot of people on here like him though to me he seems like a guy analytics wouldn’t like.

The analytics actually like him, its why SEA of all teams added him, but the caveat is it's in a reduced role.

He averaged about 14:30-14:45 mins at EV in the regular season. For reference, Jokiharju, the guy he would replace, averaged 19 minutes at EV. Odds of Soucy being able to maintain that level of play with that sort of TOI increase is highly unlikely.

Now if he were being added to replace Bryson as part of a 3rd pair rotation with Stillman, I'd be for it. But i find it highly unlikely that he'd settle for that kind of role.

There's not anything Buffalo could offer that would intrigue the Canes for Pesce is the issue. Short of like a package for Tage Thompson, but even then I'd be skeptical due to the slow start he had in Buffalo.

That's why he's in the "probably not available" section. Aptly titled.

But there's no probably about it.... that's my point

Hey if it makes you feel better to come into an ACGM to argue the semantics of probably vs definitely, more power to you homie.

Why is Murphy considered a "bad fit"? Everything about him screams ideal fit IMO:
- 30 year old locked up at 3 more years with affordable cap hit if $4.4M
- Veteran leader and locker room presence who's committed to community (back to back Clancy nominations attest to that)
- 6'-4", 220 size but strong skater that fits into a transition system like Sabres use
- Defensive-minded, shot blocking and physical presence who is strong on penalty killing
- Past experience under Granato

If there's a "fit" issue associated with Murphy, it's centered around whether or not he's made available by Chicago for all of the reasons above, his M-NTC and having married to a Chicago-born wife this summer. He may veto a trade even if Buffalo wanted him.

Just for reference, Evander Kane was nominated for the clancy once as well, so I wouldnt put much stock into that.

As far as the hockey related reasons:

He doesn't fit into the transition system at all. The entire CHI team was terrible at it and he was part of that, so im not sure where you are getting that from.

Per evolvingwild's stats, Murphy has been a below average penalty killer the last two years. So im not sure where you are getting that from either.

I don't think Murphy is a bad d-man or anything. But overrated? Definitely. Bear in mind, he's also had some injury issues and is now on the wrong side of 30.

Try watching some Bufflo games. Tage is one of the top centers in the gme right now. The Canes would drive Pesce to the airport and add.

Try watching some Canes games. Pesce is arguably the best DFD in hockey. Thompson got off to an extremely slow start in Buffalo and has only had 2 good seasons. Pesce has been one of the best in hockey for half a decade at least. But remain clueless if you want

Why is Mayfield in the overrated category? He's extremely underrated imo. Will Borgen is a target too imo, he could be pried away from Seattle for the right price. I'd put him in that 2nd category, "might be available, could be ideal."

I mean ideally we are looking for a long-term partner to pair with Owen Power. Being right-handed would be awesome. A must-have is defensive reliability and astuteness on the PK. They have to be a great skater in order to keep up with Owen. It would be a bonus if they played with some smart physicality and were generally larger, say 6'2'' or bigger.

Honestly there are few players in the league that have all the above mentioned qualities. That's why I'm very hopeful we trade up as high as needed to snag Reinbacher, as he fits the bill for the role we need moving forward. Sign a UFA this season to 2-3 years as a stop-gap

1) Mayfield is in the overrated category because his shot charts indicates he gives defenders tons of time and space in the circle so he can constantly cover the crease. This isnt so bad when you are a 3rd pair guy but top 4 d-men who face other teams top lines cant give that much time and space to the best shooters in the league. Imagine if another teams d-man stayed below the circles and gave Tage or Cozens all day to shoot from the circle? Yikes.

I thought about adding Borgen, all indications suggest that he will stay though, so im not sure where you are getting that from

I dont disagree with the premise, but i urge you to do more research on reinbacher. He's an offensive d-man through and through. Id love him on the Sabres, but it doesnt solve the issues you outlined.

Pesce isn’t even the best DFD on his team, Slavin is better.

Lmao, this is how you tell me you don't watch Canes games. Pesce is WAY WAY better. Slavin's ability to get back and make ridiculous plays is needed because he's so often out of position. Watch a Canes game, Pesce will be out of position maybe once a week.

Sound like you watch a lot of Canes games….drunk.

Sounds like you don't watch any Canes games and are well and truly out of your depth!

Never said Borgen wouldn't stay, but he isn't untouchable. If the right return is offered, Seattle would trade him. Reinbacher is a two-way D-man. Watching him at WC that's clear. He has offensive potential but its his solid defensive play that stands out. For an 18 year old he is very responsible and mature. Read this scouting report, he is not an offensive D-man like you suggest, at least not according to scouts...

https://thehockeywriters.com/david-reinbacher-2023-nhl-draft-prospect-profile/

The entire NHL knows Slavin is a better defensive Dman than Pesce. You’re embarrassing yourself. But you already did that when you suggested that 6 foot 7 inch, 25 year old, 47 goal man with 94 points — Tage Thompson wasn’t good enough to land Brett (best DFD in the entire world — you said it) Pesce. Cause, you know Tage started slow. Imagine is he hadn’t started slow how many goals and points he would have had? He would have led the Canes in scoring by a mile. How would his 100 MPH one-timer look on the Canes PP? The Canes sure could have used one of those last night. Or the game before that. Or the one before that.

Stop pretending you are the only one that watches hockey or has ever seen the Canes play. Carolina packs Pesce’s bags and drives him to the airport if Tage Thompson is coming the other way.

i wouldnt rely on hockeywriters for analysis (or refer to them as scouts), no shade at them (well maybe a little). Reinbacher is an offensive guy. His NLA stats profile as such.

Also scouts are notoriously terrible at their job because many are still using archaic evaluation methods. Thats how the sabres got so good at their drafting, broomed most of them and added a s-tier analytics dept.

LMAO, you're actually dumb if you think the Canes would move Pesce for a guy that took years to figure his stuff out, and still hasn't shown its sustainable, only doing it for 2 years. How good would Pesce's ability to lock down a game look in Buffalo next to Dahlin? They'd suddenly be a great team.

Pesce is a better DFD than Slavin. It's why his analytics are better, and Pesce remains one of the best analytical DFD in hockey. He's also younger. Watch more Canes games before replying because you clearly do not have a clue what you're talking about LMAO