[Report] Craig Smith will become a free agent, seeks 3-year deal

[Ilya Mikheyev]

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Predators forward Craig Smith will test free agency when the market opens Oct. 9, according to agent Kevin Magnuson.

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“A three-year deal is our goal,” Magnuson said. “I think the number, because there are eight to 10 teams that have decent cap space, I think we won’t be too far off at the end of the day. He’s not going to be signing any blockbuster deals, but at the same time, he’s going to be in the market or a little bit above it, I think.”

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Smith was on pace for his sixth 20-goal season in seven years before play was paused in March. The Predators scored 72.5 percent of the goals (29-11) when Smith’s line with Nick Bonino and Rocco Grimaldi was on the ice at five-on-five, the highest percentage among lines with at least 400 minutes of playing time, according to MoneyPuck. The unit’s 57.5 expected-goal percentage was fourth.

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[Ilya Mikheyev]

The Canucks are 1 Loui Eriksson away from having some flexibility re: improving their third line. Pearson - Sutter - Smith would be a pretty good rounding out of the top-9.

[86Viking]

not a bad player to target but pass on 3 years.

[Rush17]

Craig Smith is the exact type of player that's gonna feel the squeeze due to the flat cap. The Leafs should use the flat cap as an excuse to move one of their highly paid forwards. 

[Ilya Mikheyev]

55 minutes ago, Canuckster86 said:

not a bad player to target but pass on 3 years.

I think everyone on this board including me is so stressed about signing players past the age of 33 cuz of Loui Eriksson

[oldnews]

Smith would be a comparable, opposing winger to Virtanen on the 3rd line - wouldn't argue that.

 

However, I'd prefer they go an alternative route - as opposed to adding another winger - I'd prefer they look to add another natural center, and good faceoff guy to that line.

Richardson.   Richardson can produce in hard minutes - and he's a left handed, high end faceoff guy (if Sutter continues to have shoulder problems/injury problems = it would be great to have another center in the mix - one that can double up with him for a formidable one-two punch in their hard minutes bottom six.  My concern with Smith would be the Bonino Grimaldi effect - when that combination was together, they tended to be on the 50+% ozone start side of the scale, leaning more towards a secondary scoring 3rd line in 2nd line type deployment - Turris and his line, underwhelming.  Bonino is the 'glue' there - he is/was the double duty 'foundation' of their middle six.  If Bones were a UFA, he'd be the target imo (he has a year of term remaining, however).  Smith - I'm not sure improves the team relative to Leivo - I'd re-sign Leivo over him, and it might not take as much cap or term to do so.

[cuporbust]

Virtanen swap please 

[coryberg]

On 9/27/2020 at 10:14 AM, oldnews said:

Smith would be a comparable, opposing winger to Virtanen on the 3rd line - wouldn't argue that.

 

However, I'd prefer they go an alternative route - as opposed to adding another winger - I'd prefer they look to add another natural center, and good faceoff guy to that line.

Richardson.   Richardson can produce in hard minutes - and he's a left handed, high end faceoff guy (if Sutter continues to have shoulder problems/injury problems = it would be great to have another center in the mix - one that can double up with him for a formidable one-two punch in their hard minutes bottom six.  My concern with Smith would be the Bonino Grimaldi effect - when that combination was together, they tended to be on the 50+% ozone start side of the scale, leaning more towards a secondary scoring 3rd line in 2nd line type deployment - Turris and his line, underwhelming.  Bonino is the 'glue' there - he is/was the double duty 'foundation' of their middle six.  If Bones were a UFA, he'd be the target imo (he has a year of term remaining, however).  Smith - I'm not sure improves the team relative to Leivo - I'd re-sign Leivo over him, and it might not take as much cap or term to do so.

I was upset when we let Richardson walk and have been jealous every time we've played against him. Such a great roll player who does everything well and oozes character, much like Motte but with faceoff skills as well.

[oldnews]

1 hour ago, coryberg said:

I was upset when we let Richardson walk and have been jealous every time we've played against him. Such a great roll player who does everything well and oozes character, much like Motte but with faceoff skills as well.

I think they let him go in a stage where they weren't terribly concerned about depth (and hadn't really integrated young forwards yet - were in the interim)- they did that a few years running - they didn't really build the bottom six as deeply as you would if you intend to compete deep into the season. 

 

I wouldn't have hesitated to bring him back - and still wouldn't.  I hope they do - it'd be good timing to add him to this group imo.