Solinar

Toronto apparently likes term, likes multiples. If they're looking at buying from us, they are probably looking at more than one piece. They want a winger for the 2nd line, and they want a rhd. Garland, Boesser, Myers and Schenn are all basically available. Look at Engvall, Kerfoot, and Holl coming back, and then start adding the prospects and picks. We aren't in it to win it this year, and they are. What is wrong with loading up a team and watching them win, while you reap the future rewards? Even if it is Toronto. You have the conversations... Imagine if it was ....Boesser, Myers (1/2 retained), AND Demko going the other way? The haul you'd get back would definitely be extensive and more than worth it if it moved the needle to the 2nd round.

I have a problem with the inflation game. We fight inflation by curbing spending with higher interest rates for loans. AKA, we claw back more money, while making it harder to create new money. Which is fine, when you think that the money supply is the overall problem. But the problem is a multitude of factors that we have to break down individually to come up with solutions. Increased prices on food and material. One side blames increased labour costs and demand due to excess money in the system. But here, we can look at an increase in shipping costs due to taxing base energy. Rise in energy costs across the board (fuel, electricity). Increase in insurance costs. Then we have corporations setting prices due to speculation and the fact that they just can, and you get $10 eggs. A lot of corporations are making big profits, which, you wouldn't be making if you were screaming how much it costs to supply said items and that you are sucking up said costs to deliver at the best price. No, you are using excuses to jack the prices, and nobody is stopping you, so you make 55 billion without investing in adding supply, because that isn't profitable because, you don't care. Looking at you Exxon. We have a demographic problem. A lot of our workforce, especially skilled workers, are just aging out. Goodbye baby boomers. So that 'shortage' of workers is basically our largest segment of the population leaving the workforce without enough other workers coming into the work force to replace them. Ouch. Canada largely gets around this with...immigration, but of course, immigrants take jobs from hard working canadians, but....some hard working canadians just don't want to do said jobs, so now, shortage. Right now, we have to really be honest with ourselves, and really take a hard look at what is going on, or what we're doing, isn't going to solve anything and just cause more pain, as we aren't actually capable of solving a problem we aren't identifying. We need investment, which is capital, and need it to be focused on manufacturing, building, trades, and core infrastructure. We need to tax the right people, and lay off the middle class a bit. We need to stop raising the minimum wage, and instead start attacking the cost of living, so that we can remain able to do what we need, but competitive in a global market for wage dispersion and utility. We need to make government bonds for things like infrastructure and mineral exploration and give foreign capital something to invest in other than our housing market. And we need to raise our housing supply, and notably, entry level housing. Stop using 'affordable', or 'supportive' housing. Entry level. Apartment buildings for renters, and probably duplexes. And the surrounding infrastructure (water, power, sewer) to actually support that. So, raising capital costs when we need to spend, kind of not helping. But in a public fervor where scoring political points is more important than actually DOING anything, here we are. Green energy requires mining. We have lots of open area that is resource rich, but it is locked away in areas that are ...not connected. On top of which, while wanting to 'be green', it has led to ...don't do anything at all. Our green policy is awfully short sighted, to the point of damn near idiotic and counter intuitive. We focus on silly things, while not focusing on what our role could be in the developing of a whole new era of energy policy. You like electricity, well, you need copper for one thing. Lithium for another if you want to make some batteries. Natural gas is going to be part of the solution, as will be nuclear, both fission and fusion. But to be green, kind of means being against all of that, while supporting that, as long as it isn't here.... SMH. Oh, and you really want to make a difference, ban stock buybacks. Artificially inflating your worth, while slashing development, innovation, and constricting supply to control prices was not what was intended with corporate policy in the first place. We now have a few very large entities entangled in everything creating cartels and monopolies which are controlling public policy while bleeding the public dry. That takes legislation to fix...but the legislators are co-opted into this corrupt mess, that isn't a free market, but an oligarchy starting to push into a feudalism style of society. We need to break that up quick, because it'll happen one way or another, just it is better to control and set the outcome, than go full revolution. Just sayin.

The guys coming in aren't necessarily bad. It is the way it was done, the people in charge of the clown show. Sergei Gonchar, Foote, and Tocchet could be good for this club, long term, but man, did they come into a freaking gong show. I feel bad for them, and they're going to have a hell of a job winning the fans back. I wish them luck, because, well, I'm a fan. I don't want to see crash and burn, but the real problem is ownership, and the team construction/identity. All of that is still needing to be addressed. Let alone player development, drafting, etc. One could only wonder if we had chosen Linden instead of Benning, where we would be right now. If Smyl had been given the GM role, would we be seeing this? Sometimes the right people are right there....

Jesus, we're paying 3 coaches. You're blaming the media, the speculation, and the fans. No, the buck stops with you. Are you in charge, or aren't you!!?? You waited for the soft part of the schedule, everyone else called this, and you did it. Jesus, hide this man in his office.

They've had a year to figure things out. Shanahan did the same. If they don't know who they want to build around by now, and how they're going to do it, we need to switch the deck chairs around. And if they think they can turn this around fast, especially after how they've handled things this season, well, delusion must be the organizational message of the day. While I do agree that bringing in the coach you want before the TDL to get a sense of the players he wants to keep and play with does make a certain amount of sense, Rutherford has basically telegraphed this play from the off-season. Why delay when you could have just gotten what you wanted and started that way. Thanked Bruce for his tremendous work, but we're going in a different direction. yadda yadda yadda. Doing it this way was the WORST possible way to win the fans, free agents, etc. I worry with all the dysfunction, and the lack of ability to get creative, this leadership group may actually be like the Keenan year(s). If so, we're in for a bumpy ride.

Thank you, Bruce. You were the coach I wanted for this team when Travis Green's future was basically known. You took a team that was plummeting and brought us within points of the playoffs. A dysfunctional, poorly built, poorly contracted team with no identity, put them and us on your shoulders and almost willed us to the promise land. Then management came out, said they don't like what you do, how you do it, and didn't want you here. Then let you hang out to dry with their choices, roster, and opinions with your heir in the wings. No thank you, to management, ownership, and the dysfunctionality we've had to deal with as fans. We're the problem, the media is the problem, Bruce is the problem. No, just no. The problem is no plan 2.0, the problem is the awful way you run things and treat people. The problem....is you! And until you realize it, no matter how much you try, no matter what you do, nothing will ever be fixed around here. Good luck, and I'm sure we'll treat the new coach with the same class and respect you gave OUR last one.

I personally would go with trades with retention. For example OEL. You buy him out, you have a cap hit for over 8 years. You retain half, you might get something, and you only have him on the books for 4. Myers, retain half at 3 million, you only have him on the cap for next season. buy him out, you have him for 2 seasons... WHY!!?? We can retain on 3 contracts. Do it, and the fan base will understand.

And therein lies the problem. With this 'shortcut to success' thought process, we've endured a decade of pain. We are into the Buffalo/Edmonton level of pain but without a number 1 pick to show for it, and no hope on the horizon. I feel like the calgary flames during the end of Iggy's tenure. Not good enough to get in and win, not bad enough to get the high end draft pick to make the team better. We have to choose a direction and commit, or, more of the same. I know there is no one way to build a contender, but what we're doing can't be qualified as the road to success. You build it, one brick at a time, but you have to have the insight and vision to know what the hell you're doing, and formulate a long term plan. But 3 year contracts where we've burnt thru almost 2 of it...lol, give your head a shake. The boss is the problem, there is no long term, and he just doesn't understand how hockey works. Lost the plot, get out of the way, you're doing more harm than good, and he's made the journey to even the first round impossible. I think Burke said it, if I'm driving, I have both hands on the wheel. If I don't, I'm not here. We need a person in charge who can tell the owner to sit down and enjoy the ride, I got this.

We can't keep paying more for players giving the results that they do. We are in cap hell precisely because we are overpaying for players that simply aren't worth it to the team for the results. Paying more for Horvat and Kuzmenko, and everyone else on the team, just means we're paying more for this disjointed team. We HAVE to change things up, and that means we have to do surgery to the roster. Sometimes it is about change, it is about clearing the deck. In a perfect world, we would have traded Miller, we would have signed Horvat in the summer to a 7x7 contract. We would have gone thru this season, continuing to perform surgery, gaining picks, and assets, drafted high, and used the cap space to acquire more assets to keep on doing the same with till you have a winner. We didn't, so now, we have to own it, and move on. Horvat is going to be playing somewhere else, as are some of the people we actually want on the team, as they are the ones with value to trade for things we need in the future. Pettersson, Hughes, and Demko are the only key pieces you retain on this roster of mediocrity. Everyone else, make an offer.

If I was captain of my team, and I knew that we were missing pieces, and that trading me in a contract year could get my club those pieces, and all it would require of me was to take some time off of playing for my team, to spend a month or so playing for another team, and then sign back in the summer and keep on doing what I do, but with a better team, I'd seriously have to consider it, wouldn't I? I mean, I want to be on a team that wins the cup for my city, after all.

As for the proposals, I suggest Boesser and Horvat, half retained to Columbus, Buffalo, or Dallas. And load up with prospects and picks, plus salary coming back on expiring deals. From Columbus I'd say Horvat and Boesser for Jiricek, a 2023 1st and 2024 2nd, and Korpisalo for Martin while we're at it. Nyquist comes back as salary. Possibly Voracek. Buffalo, we offer Horvat who immediately makes their team better by allowing them to slot him in at 2nd. I want either Savoie or Ostlund. I'll throw in Rathbone and next years 2nd if I can get both. Dallas, Dallas could be fun. Boesser for Khudobin and Gurianov, and then we get into the meat. I want Stankoven and Lundqist. I'll even throw around a 2024 3rd. OoOoo maybe some trading of the 7th round picks clubs like to do.

As for salary retention, if you have vision, and you are committed, that is a weapon in the tool kit that must and should be utilized. It will up the return, and I'd rather have 3 million in cap space than be stuck with Myers at 6 million when I can trade him for an actual asset at 3 at the tdl. Jeez, oh no, when I'm actually going into a soft reset, I don't have 3 million for a year, but an asset instead of paying to get that extra 3! The salary cap is a limit, not the minimum. Stop spending up to the cap for no reason and not having the space available when you need assets to weaponize cap space. God, where would we be if we had just ate the last year of those bad 3 contracts and had a ton of cap space when everyone needed help. Go take a look at Arizona and their plethora of picks and assets. smh

In order to be a contender, you must have key personnel in key spots. You need a true #1 and dominant centre, you need an elite #1 defenseman, it would help to have a good to great goaltender, and you need cost controlled up and coming impact rfa's. It isn't about necessarily having just a dominant lineup, but you have reinforcements in the pipeline coming up to either support or supplant, allowing for the ability to allow for key asset acquisition trades. I look at this team, and we basically have everything on the main club, and nothing that turns the dial in the pipeline, other than maybe Lekkerimaki and Pettersson 2.0. So when you size up our team right now, which isn't even good enough to really be in the playoff group, let alone contender status, with little in the way to supplement them, we have to really look at what we're going to do going forward. And that could mean a soft reset of our window and core group. Benning spiked the ball in our face in his last moves to try gamble our way into the playoffs. The TSN turning point was the OEL trade. Garland and OEL, for the price, have set us back into full rebuild mode. Oof. So, trading Miller, Horvat, and anyone not Pettersson, Demko, and Hughes is really on the table. And that'll mean we probably see salary coming back, at least expiring salary. That means we probably shouldn't push the chips in for playoffs. And we most definitely shouldn't settle for another season of 'almost there' where we are herculean in our efforts to fall short, keeping us in the bubble of mediocrity drafting wise. While I don't agree with some of the trades above, I do agree with the thinking behind it. We need to discuss it, we need to gauge the fans reaction, and while we may not see the moves we put out there in conjecture, it wouldn't hurt to make it known, that the fan base demands more than what we're seeing out of a very inconsistent and generally lacksadaisacal approach that has gotten us to where we are right now. Pick a vision, and lets communicate it, and make it happen!

The market for Schenn is going to be strong. What he brings to the table is what every playoff team either wants, because they don't have it, or wants more of, because they have it and more is always better. A 2nd should be the bare minimum that the team would go for, but a first is most certainly it, BUT, that should be changed to a first or a blue chip prospect. You pay for the privilege of the NHL's leading defensive smash master! And you make sure to tell Schenn that we want him back in the summer and going forward. And that the sacrifice made right now, makes the team better, now and in the future, makes his role still as important, and the fans will rush to reward his presence.

Um, How are you achieving cap compliance with this, unless everyone we're getting is catastrophically injured for the season?