Organization must realize now that they must let the top, individual talent win games while playing high level defenseman. That means less puck moving defense, more physical, stay at home, safe d-men types. A third and fourth line that plays physical, rarely makes defensive mistakes and can chip in on offense. That means a guy like TDA will be moved. Probably Buchnevich. Cap must be managed more careful than ever. You figure Lafreniere and Kakko could be making 10-12 million in the next 3-4 years. That means they have to be stingy signing other players. No 5+ million for TDA. No more Trouba signings. Shesterkin will get paid to. Gorton and JD will have to take chances and sign young guys they expect to be big players to long term contracts at young ages. Meaning offer guys like Fox and Shesterkin get 6 year deals at 5 million now. Those types of moves will have to be made. Can't sign guys like TDA who you hope will improve defensively.
I like the future I see on D, and the near future I think over the next 2 years. Hajek, Miller, Trouba, Lindgren, Fox, Lundkvist, Jones, Robertson. That's a real good core. Figure Staal plays out his final season. As for DeAngelo, I am starting to think the best play with him is a 2-year bridge deal in the 4's. That gives us a nice bridge from today until all the kids I mentioned are ready. I don't think a long term deal is the right play with him given the cap, and our depth of kids on D. Then next season you can go: Hajek/Trouba Lindgren/Fox Staal/DeAngelo Miller learning. The following season you move Miller into replace Staal, and have a year of learning for Lundkvist. And in two years this is your D: Miller/Trouba Lindgren/Fox Hajek/Lundkvist And you have Jones and Robertson as depth. That sets our D up well. Upfront you add the # 2 C we need. We have some bigger guys in Kreider, Lafreniere, and Kakko. I do agree though with Chytil and Kravtsov looking like the base for the 3rd line, ideally you'd want feisty bigger body to play with them, not a guy like Buch. And then your 4th line starts around Lemieux and Howden, and works in some kids to play with them. Good stuff to me.
Strome, TDA and Buchnevich will all surely be dealt now. I suspect in the same deal for a second center like a Monahan. I would also try to get an extra first in that deal in the year of the expansion draft which can be traded to the expansion team to dictate who they will take from our roster. Gorton will have to give out extensions now to players that he figures are a long term solution to the team. Fox and Lindgren must be given long term extensions now. Kakko and Shesterkin same thing very soon. You can't hope Strome will get better, TDA will get better defensively, Buchnevich will put it together. You can't go on faith now with two young wings who probably will be max contract players. It won't work. Those 3 guys have to go now. Maybe they can get Lundkvist over here now. That would be a huge plus. Even if they can't, TDA is a bottom pairing guy on defense. They can get a player to plug in for one year if they don't want to use another prospect there.
There's an outside chance Barron could end up a 3rd liner but more likely he'll be best on a 4th. How about trading for Barkov or Huberdeau in another year or two? Florida is going to have to rebuild a little and could probably use picks/prospects.
Give them a 2021 1st(probably 15-20th), player picked with Carolinas pick and either Robertson or Jones.
Strome I am on board with as needing to be dealt. Buch I can go either way on. DeAngelo is the one I view differently. I would re-sign him to a two year bridge deal in the 4's to help bridge the gap on D from where we are now until the kids are ready. The only caveat to that is if his trade value is so high and he can get us a very good # 2 C, then I would look to deal DeAngelo. But candidly, given the assets we have, I think we can add that # 2 C without dealing DeAngelo.
Don't need Huberdeau. He's a wing. Barkov is going to cost a shit load. He's also a UFA in 2 years. Too risky. He will want max money probably in 2 years. Monahan is locked up the next 4 years. However, I still say throw the mother load at Detroit for Larkin. Even more so now. Yzerman has a history trading with us. His McDonagh trade does not look like it's going to workout long term as he thought. To get Larkin you probably are looking at giving up Georgiev, Chytil, TDA, our second first this season. Me, I would do it. They have Veleno and Rasmusson in the pipeline at center. That's a pretty haul for them for a player that will probably be 29 by the time they don't suck.
TDA absolutely has to go. He is going to want 5 million and as I said above. You can't go signing guys with significant weaknesses in their game when you are probably looking at having to pay Kakko and Lafreniere 20+ million in a few years. It won't work. There is absolutely no way he's going to sign a bridge deal either. He was pissed last year he didn't get a long term contract.
Long term deal, I agree it would have to be in the 5's. Two year bridge deal, I disagree and absolutely feel that can/would get done in the 4's. That is what I am advocating, a two year bridge deal to give Miller, Hajek, Lundkvist time to mature. And I think he will sign a bridge deal, he doesn't have much choice as he's still an RFA for a few more years (3 I think). We offer two years 8.5 mill I think he signs that. But if he is steadfast on a 4 or 5 year deal in the 5's OR we can get a very good return for him which includes the # 2 C we need, then yes I agree he should be dealt. I don't think that will be the case though.
Man what an unbelievable development for this team. I was in shock when they first zoomed in on that ping pong ball. Barkov’s contract situation makes him tough. Ive liked the idea of Larkin in the past. Monahan would also be a good target, especially if we can get Hanifin along with him. I’m surprised at the projections I’m seeing about Hajek on here. He does not appear to me to have 1LD potential, and that spot is still a hole on this team. Hanifin-Trouba would be a very good pair, has a good contract and would allow the rest of the LD to fall in place behind. I’m fine using DeAngelo in a deal like that. We cant sit back and wait, we need to strike while these kids are on cheap deals.
I agree on Hajek. Not sure what makes a pair the # 1 pair. One could argue it is Lindgren/Fox. I would also say ultimately that is Miller's spot. Could be next season, or it could be one season of Hajek holding down the fort with Trouba as Miller gets seasoning in. At days end if this is our D in 2 years I feel pretty darn good: Miller/Trouba Lindgren/Fox Hajek/DeAngelo Jones, Robertson, and Lundkvist waiting in the wings to step in after that (Lundkvist replaces DeAngelo after 2 more seasons). Now if we can upgrade even further as Prod calls out, then yes all good get it done. But to me that is a pretty solid D. And # 1 I think is adding a legit # 2 C to pair with Ziban. That's the biggest need IMO.
A lot of our fan base on HF which are usually beyond stupid don't get it on Hajek. I thought he should have played over a hurt TDA wh0 was useless. He has all the tools to become a top, stay at home type. He just needs to beef up a little and learn to take hits a little better. Jones will never make this team. We have too many smaller d guys as it is. Rangers are going to get bigger on defense. Believe it. Only smaller types they will go forward with are Fox and Lundkvist. That's it. Eventually you are looking at Hajek, Lindgren, Miller and Robertson on the left side. Trouba, Fox and Lundkvist on the right. Drafting a replacement for Trouba will be important. He's out of here after his NMC clause becomes a limited NTC in 4 years. There is absolutely no chance TDA will be on this team two years from now. I don't see it. He's trade bait now. He would be out of here this season if Lundkvist came over.
So we agree on the D. I wrote the same above. And my take on DeAngelo is if we can keep him for 2 years in the 4's to help take us to Miller and Lundkvist and Hajek and Robertson and Jones being here and ready, then by all means we should do it. Then he is gone and Lundkvist steps in.
Jones as I said will never make this team. Not with Lindgren, Miller, Robertson and Hajek on the left side.
I like Jones upside, and with Hajek still a wildcard i wouldn't be surprised if he turns out better. Different type of player than Hajek with his offensive ability.
I think it was dump who suggested picking Schneider if they had remained at 10/11, but they should think about moving up for him if they use Carolina's pick. We don't really have a physical defenseman in the pipeline unless you consider Miller that type.
I know we have a lot of plans and a lot of thoughts here, but I think our D looks really good moving forward. Of course you always want to improve, and you can always add better players, but to me our biggest focus by a mile should be a # 2 C. If we didn't touch our D and it evolved like the below over the next 3 seasons, we'll be in a great spot. 20-21: Miller or Hajek/Trouba Lindgren/Fox Staal/DeAngelo 21-22: Miller/Trouba Lindgren/Fox Hajek/DeAngelo 22-23: Miller/Trouba Lindgren/Fox Hajek/Lundkvist And we'll also have Robertson and Jones in the mix moving up through the system.
Yes. I wanted Schneider from day one. You win cups with guys like that. Not with shitheads like Buchnevich. I better not see schmucks like DiGiuseppe and Rooney on our lower lines over guys like Barron and Richards. That is not rebuilding or what winning organizations do.
