BigTramFan

I am not sure why you are concerned with performance bonuses. These won’t have any major impact on the cap for this year, and it certainly isn’t worse next year as you suggest. Firstly, the perf bonuses are well below the 7.5% cushion (about $6m) allowable over the $81.5m cap, so these do not affect the cap this year or next year. Secondly, the recapture penalty is no worse next year than it is this year either. We are nowhere near cap hell! I agree we could stand to lose some large contracts such as Eriksson and Baer, which for their cost are not able to contribute much to the team from the press box and from Utica. I believe Baer might be traded near the TDL to a contender for depth. LE is virtually untradeable. I would support moving him to Utica to try and see if he might void his contract by not reporting. However, even if we can’t move any of these contracts before next season, we are not in cap trouble. Let me show you how the team could structured for next season without losing Baer or Eriksson and still be cap compliant... Miller Pettersson Boeser Pearson Horvat Ferland Roussel Gaudette Virtanen Motte Beagle Sutter (Leivo) Edler Myers Hughes Tryamkin Benn Stecher (Juolevi) Markstrom Demko EST. TOTAL CAP = $79.5m Including all recapture penalties and buried contracts This assumes: Baer and Eriksson buried in Utica Schaller walks This assumes resigning: Markstrom $5m Tryamkin $2.75m Stecher $2.75m Gaudette $1.5m Leivo $1.5m Virtanen $1.5m Motte $1.1m I have also assumed that Tanev will walk or be traded at the TDL, but if he has a good season then they may offer him a 2 year x $4m contract. Resigning Tanev would be contingent on either missing out on Tryamkin, or on getting Tryamkin and trading a contract such as Baer’s which is currently taking up $2.29m in cap space. A bunch of other contracts end in 2021, so we will have space to resign Pettersson and bring in high end prospects such as Podz. This team is not mismanaged. It is actually very nicely constructed from a salary cap perspective.

I would love to see Virtanen given the opportunity to grow into a great PK'er. I think that the team would be much more balanced using him in that role. If he could do it, I would then think that Beagle, Sutter, Motte and Virtanen would provide plenty of PK ability. Horvat and Pearson can be used if one of those other four are in the box. No need to keep LE around just for PK. However, as you say it doesn't look like JV is going to be given the chance by Green. So regarding whether LE is going to stay as a PK specialist...I am expecting JB to waive Biega and Schaller and to run with 14F and 7D, including Eriksson and Goldobin on the roster. Until Roussel returns, and depending on who makes the lineup on any given night, the PK forwards would be drawn from: Beagle, Sutter, Motte, Eriksson, Horvat (and perhaps a little of Pearson, Virtanen) Once Roussel returns, and if Green still doesn't want to grow Virtanen in the PK role, I would like to see Horvat taken off PK duties and stick with PK pairings of: Motte-Beagle and Roussel-Sutter I also expect that JB will have tried his hardest to trade Loui before Roussel returns to the lineup.

As nice as some of those trades look for the Canucks, I don't see WPG trading with VAN. If Byfuglien actually retires (and that's a big if) then WPG will need to look carefully at their options to solidify their RHD. They really need two guys. One that can be a legit top pairing RD, and another that can bring a veteran presence/depth and play RD on the 2nd or 3rd pairing. Bearing in mind that Pionk, who is probably their top RD behind Buff, is only 24 and has only played one season in the NHL. It would be useful to have that veteran presence to shelter him and allow him to grow into the second pairing role. The two players that come to mind are: Justin Faulk - a RD that provides offence, size and plays with an edge. CAR recently added Gardiner to their already great D corps, so they have incredible depth on their blueline and could afford to trade Faulk for a decent asset, probably a forward. Faulk would be ideal for that top pairing role with Morrissey. Luke Schenn - Luke has shown he is a gritty vet that can handle himself adequately bringing simple, solid and low risk plays. He would be a good a cheap target for WPG. Tampa Bay have signed him for one year only, but have since added Shattenkirk which pushes Schenn down the depth chart, probably into the AHL. He may relish the opportunity to play a bigger role in the NHL. Luke would be a good option as that 2nd/3rd pairing guy. What assets can they use to get these guys? I feel that they would be stupid to trade an offensive dynamo such as Laine, he could be a future STAR in the NHL. Despite his comments and his contract demands, WPG should keep him. The one positive if Buff retires is that they will have the cap space to sign both Connor and Laine. I think they would be dumb not to do that. I reckon Faulk could be had for a top prospect. He only has one year left on his current contract, so WPG would only be buying that year. I feel that they could get him by trading one of either: Appleton, Roslovic or Vesalainen. I'm going to guess it would take Vesalainen, but if WPG can make it Appleton + 2020 3rd then that would be better for WPG. I think Schenn could be had for as little as a 5th round pick. This only buys WPG some relief for 1 season. But it does give them the chance to evaluate Faulk and Schenn before committing to anything long-term. The other thing to remember is that WPG have some great young Dmen in their system (such as Heinola, Samberg, Stanley, Chisholm) but these guys are probably 1-2 seasons away from the NHL.

Timing is everything! The expansion draft is in June 2021. There is a lot of time to evaluate our options and make the best move for the Canucks. Markstrom’s current contract finishes after this season and he will be a UFA. He might choose to walk away and sign a better offer somewhere else. If he is keen to stay there are several options for the Canucks: 1. Sign Marky to a one year contract for next season on a very decent salary with the indication that we would look to sign him long term in 2021 after the expansion draft. 2. Resign Marky long term and then: a. Trade him prior to the expansion b. Protect him for the expansion c. Leave him unprotected The Canucks will select one of the above options based on the relative performances of Marky and Demko. There is no rush! No need to make a rash/wrong move!

We don’t have the cap space Alf. Stech + Gaud = $3.24m cap hit Laine probably around $8m. Would have to try and offload $4.5-5.0m of cap somewhere. Possible deal would have to be more like... To WPG: Tanev Baer Gaudette (Total = $8.74m) To VAN: Laine, signed to $8m x 3 years I think the CAR deal I posted just above would be much better for WPG

To CAR: Laine, signed to $8m x 3 year bridge deal To WPG: Faulk Dzingel (total $8.21m cap) WPG gets a top 4 D in Faulk, plus a 2C in Dzingel. CAR get a top line RW to play with Aho and Niederreiter.

Well TOR is going to have to do something to clear the space if they want to keep Hyman. This is a potential move to get a similar player with lower cap hit that they can fit in. I think it makes sense for TOR, primarily because they don’t have many other options that I can see...

To TOR: Jake Virtanen To VAN: Zach Hyman Why for Leafs? Now that they have signed Marner the Leafs exceed the cap limit by 13,365,199. However they have 4 players on LTIR (including Hyman) for a total of $13,663,333. So they will be under the cap on opening day by just $298k. Once Hyman has recovered from his knee surgery (expected to be back around same time as Roussel), the Leafs will not have the cap space to keep him. They also don’t have the option of waiving players to create space because it would require them to waive at least 3 players to make the cap work. Their only other option is to trade one of Hyman, Kapanen, Kerfoot, Johnsson or Nylander. But I think they will keep Kerfoot as he is their new 3C and the other guys are signed for longer term than Hyman. Something has gotta give. If they trade for Virtanen they end up with a younger player with similar potential. JVs cap is only $1.25m so Leafs can waive two of their lower value players to fit him into their roster and run with a 22 man roster. Why for VAN? Hyman is the better player. Assuming we sign Boeser for about $7m and waive Schaller, we can afford to add Hyman. He would start on LTIR like Roussel and our opening night F lineup could be: Ferland Pettersson Boeser Pearson Horvat Miller Baer Sutter Leivo Eriksson Beagle Motte Goldobin Once ZH and AR both return to fitness we would need to waive Loui plus one of Goldy, Motte or Leivo, leaving: Ferland Pettersson Boeser Pearson Horvat Hyman Rousell Miller Baer Motte Beagle Sutter Leivo Thoughts?

Actually scrap that last option cuz Leafs don’t have two players with a combined salary of $2m that they would want to waive for Hyman to slot back in. So they pretty much HAVE to trade someone (likely a forward) or hope that another big contract player is on LTIR by the time Hyman is ready. I wonder who they will trade out of Hyman, Kapanen, Kerfoot, Johnsson, Nylander?... Can anyone see another option???

Interestingly the $13.7m of LTIR includes Zach Hyman at $2.25m. They are going to have to make some serious moves to fit him into the roster when he is fit and ready to go (likely around the same time as Roussel, probably before Xmas). Leafs have literally no space so will have to trade him or someone with a higher cap hit to create space, or hope that someone else is injured by the time Hyman is ready. Another option is waiving two players and running a 22 man roster when he returns. Either way this is going to be a tricky season to navigate for the Laffs.

If I was to hazard a guess I would say Gardiner ends up in Montreal. And if that happens, since the Red Wings would miss out on Gardiner, I’d say that Hutton ends up in Detroit.

In that vein... Maybe JB can swing a deal with Dallas? They are looking to contend now with the acquisitions of Pavelski and Perry. Why not help them out by taking two dead weight contracts off their hands and trading two better players to them? To VAN: Hanzal Cogliano To DAL: Eriksson Leivo Comparison: Players- LE+JL vs MH+AC Goals in 18/19- 25 vs 7 Points in 18/19- 53 vs 12 Cap hit- $7.5 vs $8.0 Salary remaining- $10.5 vs $10.5 Why for DAL? As mentioned they are looking to contend. LE and JL are huge upgrades on Cogliano and Hanzal at this stage of their careers. Hanzal will be on LTIR next season in the last year of his contract, and Cogliano will be on their fourth line for the next 2 years. With this trade DAL can put Leivo onto 2LW with Hintz and Pavelski. Eriksson can be 3LW with Faksa and Perry. Together they have similar cap hits (DAL takes on $0.5m more but can afford it as they are $0.9m under cap atm) but they end up with more useful players right now, and a good young player in Leivo as a future asset. Why for VAN? Clearing out the LE contract. We will pay the same amount of salary but will be rid of the MH and AC contracts within 2 seasons, meaning that come 2021 we will have space to resign Petey and QH. Hanzal can be placed onto LTIR for next season meaning that VAN will have plenty of cap space. Cogliano can play 4LW until Roussel returns from LTIR, and then be our 13th forward. He also provides center depth. We lose Leivo but he is not very high on our depth chart, likely 13th forward next season once Roussel returns. Why for the players? AC has a 6 team no trade list. I doubt VAN is on that. MH has a modified no trade clause but he is on LTIR so he won’t care who pays for the last $4m of his contract. LE would welcome a move back to DAL where he has spent a considerable amount of time and where they are in contending mode.

The more that gets written on fan forums, the more it “becomes” an issue. You are fuelling the fire as much as the “other side”. It is probably time to leave this pointless arguing and realise that both sides will not be changing their opinions. The stark reality is that Dahlen just wasn’t ready for the NHL and he may never be ready. Three different organisations worked that out independently. Good luck to Jonathen. If he put as much effort in and played as tenaciously as timrafan he may have made it...

I can’t see the Avs taking on a dead weight contract and giving up assets for what is essentially one season of Tanev. They can probably afford the extra $8.35m cap hit but they don’t need to take that on just to land a decent RD. If I was Sakic I would be offering Gardiner a 1-2 year deal in the vicinity of $7m per year. This way they don’t give up any assets, they have plenty of cap space this year and next year. Gardiner fills the void left by Barrie as he can play RD if required. This buys some time for the young D corps to develop. Gardiner is a better player than Tanev at this stage anyway, and the short contract reduces the risk that Gardiner’s back injury will be a long term issue for COL. Gardiner probably wants more term but it is now getting close to the start of the season and he may be tempted to take a short term contract at that higher value. Plus he would be joining a competitive team with an opportunity to show that his injury is behind him and he is worth one more long term deal in 1-2 years.

Oh I missed the Brassard signing! Carry on!

Not a bad idea. I think the main issue could be that EDM can’t really afford Sutter now. They only have $2.43m in space right now. This is with 14 forwards signed, so they may waive Nygard and Jurco to clear a further $1.675. But this leaves them about $0.3m over cap with a 22 man roster. The rumor is that they are going to sign Derick Brassard on the cheap to temporarily solve their center issues. They will probably get him for around $3.0-3.5m for one year.

Maybe JB can swing a deal with Dallas? They are looking to contend now with the acquisitions of Pavelski and Perry. Why not help them out by taking two dead weight contracts off their hands and trading two better players to them? To VAN: Hanzal Cogliano To DAL: Eriksson Leivo Comparison: Players- LE+JL vs MH+AC Goals in 18/19- 25 vs 7 Points in 18/19- 53 vs 12 Cap hit- $7.5 vs $8.0 Salary remaining- $10.5 vs $10.5 Why for DAL? As mentioned they are looking to contend. LE and JL are huge upgrades on Cogliano and Hanzal at this stage of their careers. Hanzal will be on LTIR next season in the last year of his contract, and Cogliano will be on their fourth line for the next 2 years. With this trade DAL can put Leivo onto 2LW with Hintz and Pavelski. Eriksson can be 3LW with Faksa and Perry. Together they have similar cap hits (DAL takes on $0.5m more but can afford it as they are $0.9m under cap atm) but they end up with more useful players right now, and a good young player in Leivo as a future asset. Why for VAN? Clearing out the LE contract. We will pay the same amount of salary but will be rid of the MH and AC contracts within 2 seasons, meaning that come 2021 we will have space to resign Petey and QH. Hanzal can be placed onto LTIR for next season meaning that VAN will have plenty of cap space. Cogliano can play 4LW until Roussel returns from LTIR, and then be our 13th forward. He also provides center depth. We lose Leivo but he is not very high on our depth chart, likely 13th forward next season once Roussel returns. Why for the players? AC has a 6 team no trade list. I doubt VAN is on that. MH has a modified no trade clause but he is on LTIR so he won’t care who pays for the last $4m of his contract. LE would welcome a move back to DAL where he has spent a considerable amount of time and where they are in contending mode.

Team 1: Pearson - Horvat - Goldobin Baertschi - Miller - Boucher Jasek - Beagle - Motte Perron - Schaller - Lind Edler - Woo Fantenberg - Tanev Benn - Rafferty Teves Markstrom Kielly Team 2: Ferland - Pettersson - Boeser MacEwen - Gaudette - Virtanen Leivo - Graovac - Bailey Gadjovich - Sutter - Eriksson Hughes - Myers Juolevi - Stecher Brisebois - Biega Chatfield Demko Dipietro

Maybe they do have a bit more development to do. But remember JB will also be looking at the bigger picture. Leivo and Motte likely have a future with the Canucks and he won’t want to lose them for nothing. If he waives them there is a good chance someone will pick them up on waivers. However if he waives LE and Schaller I doubt there is any risk of anyone picking them up! They are the most likely forwards to be waived and kept in Utica as depth if required.

Maybe JB can strike a deal with CBJ in a one for one deal: To VAN: Dubinsky To CJB: Eriksson Comparison of LE vs BD Cap hit: 6.0 vs 5.85 Salary owed: 9.0 vs 11.7 Contract years left: 3 vs 2 GP in 2017-18: 81 vs 61 Pts in 2017-18: 29 vs 14 Why for CBJ? Basically CBJ are getting the better player in this deal on all facets except cap hit, which is only 0.15m more for Loui and is not a concern for CBJ as they now have a lot of cap room. Dubinsky has become a bit of a PK and shutdown specialist or 13th forward, all things that Loui can cover for 3 seasons at a lower actual cost than Dubinsky, so not much difference there. On the positive side LE has the ability to play up the lineup in case of injury whereas Dubinsky now struggles. Why for VAN? This moves LE away from our locker room, so if there is any fire to the smoke, he is moved out. Most importantly this clears cap space by 2021 when we need to resign Petey and Hughes. If we don’t get rid of LE then his $6m hit will still be there in 2021 and will likely affect what we can pay. If BD is that bad in VAN then JB can simply buy him out in June 2020 reducing his cap hit to $1.95m for 2 seasons - still a lot better than Loui’s cap hit. Why for Dubinsky? He has a modified NTC that gives him a 10 team no trade list. He would waive this for VAN because he is generally a healthy scratch for CBJ now. He may figure a fresh start on a different team will provide opportunity to make the playing roster. Why for Eriksson? Apparently Loui wants a new start. This provides it to him. Columbus beats Utica? Maybe just!

Wrong thread?

Funny the extreme difference of opinion on this one. I think JP is a project. A worthwhile one. And I haven’t changed my opinion that he is worth Goldy + 3rd. I don’t think EDM will trade him to VAN. How is it different to him staying in Finland and then coming back to the Oilers next season? Because he wouldn’t be coming back to the Oilers, he would be joining VAN. A young up and coming roster that saw his potential, made an effort to trade for him and took him out of the crap environment in EDM, and will give him a chance to develop and become a decent player.

No I don’t think EDM will trade with VAN. Too much risk that JP becomes a great player! But Goldy + 3rd round pick is fair value for both sides. And JB should make the offer. I don’t consider this offer to be “scraps” because JP hasn’t proven a thing at this level. We can absolutely keep him in Finland until next season and that may not be a bad thing for his development and allowing him time to mentally reset. Just FYI, if we decided we want him to play this season in VAN then we would need to sign him before Dec.

Good point! He must have a head injury to propose that. I mean signing Gardiner for about the same money as Tanev, why would we do that?! Especially as Gardiner is a LEFT handed defenseman! And handedness os the MOST important thing to consider when evaluating players! Surely playing Gardiner on the right side would have an impact on his points totals? Let’s see...he got 30 points in 62 games last season? Huh, what? Oh, you say he also put up that many points playing on his offside? Oh... Well surely we can’t do without Tanev’s points? He got like 40 right? Oh what? He only got 12 points in 55 games? Oh... But why would we want a UFA when we have Tanev signed long term? What? Only one more season on his contract?! Geez! Maybe I jumped the gun OP...Not a bad proposal after all. How’s the head?

It mostly depends on how much EDM is asking for. I would trade a 3rd + Goldy for him as I believe there is more chance he will become a difference maker than both Goldy and the pick. We could just trade for his RFA rights and give him time in Finland to continue his development. If something bad happens like another couple of forwards go on LTIR before Dec then sign him and bring him in this year. Otherwise sign him in time for next season. There will be spots available by then with Leivo, Motte, Virtanen off contract. Plus the possibility that Eriksson, Baer or Pearson get traded to thin the LW stocks.