Look at the lanscape right now. Toronto, Buffalo, CBJ, Carolina, Zona, Edmonton are all selling IMO. The ONLY one you can say maybe is CBJ, and I bet they would deal at least Letestu, who could be a guy we'd get. Unless they get hot the next 3 or 4 games they will deal. NJ could deal Jagr. Dallas and Colorado could get in the selling mix unless they have very good weeks. That is a lot of sellers. I'd say 6 or 7 if we cut a few teams. The Rangers will get in on that I think. Toronto could deal Booth, Winnik, Jokinen. Buffalo could deal Stewart and Meszaros. CBJ could deal Letestu and maybe Leopold. Canes could deal Sekera, Tlusty, maybe Gleason and McClement (who is real good on FO's). Zona could deal Vermette, Erat, Michalek. Oilers could deal Petry. Jagr may go. If the Stars sell, and I think they should, Horcoff and Cole could be available. If the Avs sell, and I think they should, Hejda could be available. That is a lot of players available potentially. Now not all will move of course, but I bet a decent amount will. Zona and the Canes and the Leafs and the Sabres have huge for sale signs up. I would be surprised If we added none of the guys I listed. Still think us and Zona makes sense with Maloney and Sather's relationship. And BTW...we talk about the cap...WELL we have 1.5 mill in cap space right now. Franson, a 3.3 mill cap hit guy, has a cap hit of .994 mill since there are so few days left. SO under 1 mill is his cap hit to the Preds. Which means we can afford to add Vermette straight up period. And we can save a few hundred K by dealing Stemp in that move and/or sending Stemp or Glass down. So the cap works for a player with a 3.75 mill cap hit like Vermette. We'd be on the hook for a little over a mill maybe. So we can afford it clearly. I think we get something done. And I think we get a name I mentioned.
The Rangers definitely need help on face offs so Vermette would make sense, I liked the way he played. Hayes and Stepan are the 2 worst face off guys so I guess AV would move Hayes to wing and let Vermette center that line. I love Hayes but he can't win a face off, I'd let CK take the draws on that line if they can't land a faceoff guy. Still think Glen's priority is defense, Boyle is too soft for 2nd line during the playoffs.
Don't disagree with you overall, but a couple of things. Boyle is on the 3rd D pairing not the 2nd now. Unlikely Kreider takes faceoffs for Stepan (he plays with Stepan not Hayes). I agree Vermette would really be a good fit for us. He can take the big faceoffs for Hayes, and then could shift to RW on the line if they want to keep Hayes at C. A 3rd line of Hags/Hayes/Vermette is really good. Could be one of the best 3rd lines in the NHL. All 15 + goal guys IMO. Vermette is a 18 goal 45 or so point guy who is good on faceoffs. Add that to Hayes and Hags and you have a crazy deep team upfront. Follow that up with Miller/Moore/Fast on the 4th line and we are very deep. Send Stemp and/or Glass in the deal or send them down, then go deal for a decent depth dman who has a 1 mill or so cap hit, which we can fit if Stemp or Glass are down. Zona and us do fit. And they are in here on Thursday, I bet Maloney comes again for the 3rd time at MSG recently. Adding Vermette makes so much sense for us. And he played with Brass and Nash in CBJ as well.
I see the Rangers doing nothing. Nashville set the assinied cost when they gave up a good prospect a 1st for 2 guys who aren't difference makers. A lot of teams will over pay. I don't see the Rangers being one of them. I thought for weeks Sather would do something. After that Nashville deal, I don't. By nothing I mean he won't add anybody significant. I could see them adding Gleason who is on the last year of his contract. Somebody who is a left handed defenseman that won't cost much to rent and could fill in if Staal or McDonagh went down instead of having to rely on J. Moore. I still think Sather will go after R. Nash. His value isn't nearly as much as Vermette's. He can play wing. He might be able to contribute enough offense to play wing on Stepan's line and then take the draws. It's a stretch but it might work.
Depends on what you consider significant. I think we will add one of the players I listed above. Maybe add Glencross to the list if he adds us to his list of teams he'd go to. Here is why I feel that way. We have assets to deal. I fully disagree with the comment we don't. We have a 2nd rounder to deal. We have some solid kids to deal (and still keep Duclair/Buch/Skjei). So I disagree we don't have assets. From what I have heard, not a lot of teams looking to deal 1st round picks, so we aren't in this huge hole with 4 teams looking to deal 1st's. Look at all the teams I mentioned. There are a lot of sellers out there to go with the buyers. I think the market will come down a little, and when we offer a 2nd and McIlrath or Kristo or Lindberg or Fast or someone like that it will be a valuable package. So I think we 100% get something done. And I will predict we add at least 1 of the guys I mentioned. You can decide if that counts as significant or not. We will add some depth upfront and on D IMO. Sather gets it. He is not a blind idiot. He also sees how the team looks without Hank, and understands the need to win a cup in the next 2 or 3 years or our window will start to close. And he also knows this team is right there and can play with and beat anyone, assuming we add some depth. So I 100% believe Sather gets what we need by next week. I have to believe that because I cannot believe Sather would be blind to some of the things I mentioned.
And I also agree with you. That was a great trade for the Preds. I mean they gave up a pick in the mid to late 20's and got Franson AND Santorelli (not just 1 which would have been too much but both). So yeah that was a very good move for the Preds, agreed.
With everyone I would think. Would be very strange to me if anyone had an issue with Nashville dealing a pick in the mid 20's (and maybe late 20's if they go to the WCF) for Franson AND Santorelli. Seems like a logical great move for them. The thing I wonder is what some of you people on here are waiting for. It always puzzles me. Like I'd love to have a good in depth conversation with dump asking simply what is your plan and what are you waiting for. I freely admit I get baffled sometimes with the stance of I can't deal any picks or kids. It is funny to me. Not sure when you decide to go all in if not now when your elite goalie is 32 and we clearly have a team that is right on the edge of winning a cup. Just so odd to me that I have trouble understanding that thinking. Now that means you take Skjei/Buch/Duclair/Miller off the table. That means you keep one 2nd rounder. But outside of that it truly baffles me why anyone in here would have an issue with making a move to try and complete this team and actually win a cup with Hank in his prime (the goal right?). Strange to me...
Tlusty is someone they should be looking at too, though i bet they do end up with Winnik. Someone will probably one up them for Vermette or Glencross by throwing in a top 5 prospect. I still think Petry would be a great add for a 2nd rounder and Moore.
All guys that are available. Winnik is also such a great fit here, and his cap hit is low so adding a solid depth dman is doable as well. He is a +15 on that team, by far the best. On pace for 10 goals and 35 points now. He's an 8-10 goal 30 or so point guy most seasons. At 6'2" and 213 lbs he adds the size and grit we need. He has won 48% of his 186 faceoffs, so he can help there. He is very good on the PK. He can play 3rd line wing or 4th line wing, and take some faceoffs for Hayes. If we cannot get Vermette because the price is too high, Winnik is a great add for us. A 2nd and Lindberg or Kristo can get it done I bet.
Brooks was throwing around names like Sheppard, Brodziak and Torrey Mitchell which do nothing for me.
At least Sheppard and Broad have size. Mitchell does NOTHING for me. Why add a guy like that. I would hope for better, but Shep and Broad wouldn't be awful if we add a better dman as the bigger piece. SJ and Minny are in it, so not sure they deal those guys anyway.
Zucc better pull his head out of his ass right now with his idiotic contract demands. Cally did the same thing and they traded his ass. I would call him in by himself if I'm Sather and tell him point blank. Take 4.5 for 4 or I'm trading your ass out of town at the deadline.
I think that's where it ends up dump, 4.5 to 4.7 per. I just don't think it happens right now. And Sather will keep Zucc because he is confident they'll work something out. Both sides want it, so I think they get it done later this season or this summer before July 5th.
I like MZ and wouldn't mind keeping him for sure but the team needs another big forward going into next year and beyond. Their size can help them outskate people but it also rears its ugly head at times around the net where guys don't have reach to clear or get rebound shots enough. With Duclair in the fold and maybe even Buch they will have some interesting decisions. They won't have much cap room anyhow so it may not matter.
I would be shocked if buch makes the team next year. Duke will probably start the season in Hartford.
Agree step with Duke and Buch unless someone of the mls,hags, zucc trio is not back. Hope Duke hits the weights and can put on another 10 lbs of muscle as he'll need to be more physical in the nhl imo.
