UFA Market - players of interest or not! - (Discussion)

[DownUndaCanuck]

A simple way to sort this team's problems is to sign Zadorov and Paul/Tienrey/Janmark/Jarnkrok and flip Dickinson/Poolman for nothing at the deadline. We need a good 3C and there's a bucket load of them out there this off-season so now's the time to pounce on one for something like 3 years x 3M. I know management talked about wanting a right handed center but I'd love Tierney - he's a big, strong defensive center who has been one of the few good players in a crap Ottawa team. Paul is going to demand too much after another good post-season so we have to look at some of these other guys to essentially replace what Sutter brought to the table a couple of years ago. We need a good center who can take some relief off Horvat and let him play more offence (especially because Podkolzin on his wing is going to be firing on all cylinders next year so we don't want to waste that).

 

On defence, ideally we trade a forward (Garland, Boeser, Miller) for a star young top right handed defenceman - fixes a lot of our problems. Trades revolving around Schneider in NYR or one of the many LAK defencemen make sense. Schneider is loved by NYR fans but is playing 10 minutes right now in the playoffs which is a bit pointless and has a lot of RHD to move past in the depth chart, as do guys like Faber and Roy in LA. Both teams want more offence and we have plenty to offer, but these are big-time trades which rarely go through.

 

The easy option is to just sign Lybushkin or ideally Zadorov - I wanted Zadorov last off-season when he was available but he got snatched up fairly quickly. He's a dirt-bag, mean type of player, doesn't bring much offence and isn't the best defensively but plays a very physical game. I wonder if Bruce and Hughes can mould him (the same way they did to Schenn) into a more mobile, defensive defenceman and play him next to Hughes. He'd be a boost to our PK as well, give us some much-needed physicality and hopefully he'll improve with us over the season the way Schenn has. Basically gives us a younger, meaner version of Schenn which I'm sure everyone would be happy with.

 

If we go the UFA-route and just sign 2 decent players, we're looking at having to free up 6-7M. As it stands we've got 11.5M to re-sign Brock, Highmore, Lammikko, Chiasson (if he wants to come back) and whoever else.

[BigTramFan]

Everything kind of depends on whether Miller is getting resigned. If he's not resigned then I'd like to see him traded for a proven top 4 RD + other assets. Something like Marino + Poulin + 2022 1st round pick.

 

Rather than resigning Boeser, I would also like to see him moved for a second top 4 D, if possible. Boeser to LAK for Matt Roy for example. Then trade Myers for a late round pick to create some cap space.

 

Our defense becomes:

OEL Marino

Hughes Roy

Dermott Schenn

Rathbone Burroughs

 

(not physically imposing but very strong defensively and a good mix of vets and young guys)

 

This leaves some big gaps in our forwards:

 

XXXX Pettersson Podkolzin

Garland Horvat XXXX

Pearson XXXX Hoglander

XXXX Lammikko Highmore

(Lockwood)

 

But there are some great forwards available in free agency and I would like to see the "sandpaper" added upfront. I would target Nichushkin for 1LW, Vatrano for 2RW, Paul for 3C, J Larsson for 4LW

 

Vatrano is a very underrated, fast and dynamic scoring winger. And despite what you might think, he's not light at 197 lbs. Would mesh well with Horvat and Garland. Could be had for around $3m.

 

Nich ($6m), Paul ($3.5m) and Larsson ($1.2m) bring good size and grit. Larsson also provides center depth. I would be tempted to resign Richardson as 13th forward and perhaps push Lockwood back to the AHL to play big minutes and keep developing; just so that we don't have the debacle of no center cover when injuries strike.

 

So my final lineup would be:

 

Nichushkin Pettersson Podkolzin

Garland Horvat Vatrano

Pearson Paul Hoglander

Larsson Lammikko Highmore

(Richardson)

 

OEL Marino

Hughes Roy

Dermott Schenn

(Rathbone Burroughs)

 

Demko (Martin)

Edited June 7, 2022 by BigTramFan

[aGENT]

6 hours ago, DownUndaCanuck said:

A simple way to sort this team's problems is to sign Zadorov and Paul/Tienrey/Janmark/Jarnkrok and flip Dickinson/Poolman for nothing at the deadline. We need a good 3C and there's a bucket load of them out there this off-season so now's the time to pounce on one for something like 3 years x 3M. I know management talked about wanting a right handed center but I'd love Tierney - he's a big, strong defensive center who has been one of the few good players in a crap Ottawa team. Paul is going to demand too much after another good post-season so we have to look at some of these other guys to essentially replace what Sutter brought to the table a couple of years ago. We need a good center who can take some relief off Horvat and let him play more offence (especially because Podkolzin on his wing is going to be firing on all cylinders next year so we don't want to waste that).

 

On defence, ideally we trade a forward (Garland, Boeser, Miller) for a star young top right handed defenceman - fixes a lot of our problems. Trades revolving around Schneider in NYR or one of the many LAK defencemen make sense. Schneider is loved by NYR fans but is playing 10 minutes right now in the playoffs which is a bit pointless and has a lot of RHD to move past in the depth chart, as do guys like Faber and Roy in LA. Both teams want more offence and we have plenty to offer, but these are big-time trades which rarely go through.

 

The easy option is to just sign Lybushkin or ideally Zadorov - I wanted Zadorov last off-season when he was available but he got snatched up fairly quickly. He's a dirt-bag, mean type of player, doesn't bring much offence and isn't the best defensively but plays a very physical game. I wonder if Bruce and Hughes can mould him (the same way they did to Schenn) into a more mobile, defensive defenceman and play him next to Hughes. He'd be a boost to our PK as well, give us some much-needed physicality and hopefully he'll improve with us over the season the way Schenn has. Basically gives us a younger, meaner version of Schenn which I'm sure everyone would be happy with.

 

If we go the UFA-route and just sign 2 decent players, we're looking at having to free up 6-7M. As it stands we've got 11.5M to re-sign Brock, Highmore, Lammikko, Chiasson (if he wants to come back) and whoever else.

While I'd love one of Paul/Tierney/Sturm etc, I like targeting Nic Roy out of Vegas for our 3C personally.

 

 

 

 

[JM_]

I'm hoping someone makes TO really overpay for Campbell. 

 

That could open up a nice cheap trade for us, for Kase, he could be a nice fit on our 3rd line. 

Edited June 7, 2022 by JM_