Rangers announce signing of kravtsov to 1 year 875,000 contract. I hope this talented kid has grown up a little and will be here with us next season. First of what I think will be many moves by drury. Can’t wait to hear gallants explanation of. Sitting kakko for fucking hunt. He refused to talk about it during postgame presser when asked.
The Strome decision was mind boggling in a must win game. He clearly couldn't go. As for Kakko I'm not seeing it with him. Lafreniere's game is much better and more physical.
We agree 10000000000% Mess. Strome should have sat not Hunt. Clearly he couldn't play. And we 100000000000000% agree on Kakko to this point as well, especially in comparison to Lafreniere. In the offseason thread I post this - # 1 need by far is please finally address the glaring need for a legit # 2 C - please Drury!!!
I wouldn't be surprised to see them move Kakko in a deal with Lundkvist for a young NHL ready center prospect or proven young or wing center with upside. Won't be easy. Money wise it needs to make sense. Do you take a chance on Ryan's brother who was good in the faceoff dot this season? A guy I like is Mittelstadt. He's had some fluke injuries but he's got size, he has a great shot, he was better in the dot a year ago but he's stuck behind two guys at center. He's a guy they could easily acquire with d prospects like Jones and Lundkvist. He reminds me a little of Zibanejad in that they stole him right before he was ready to break out. Dvorak if Montreal retained some is another guy with size and great in the dot and Montreal needs loads of D help. Hajek can play. He's an incredible skater. Our fan base has always been lost on him. I would have never gotten Nemeth. I would have stuck with him. He's a guy I would target if I'm another team. Gourde I talked about all year is a player who isn't big but he's hard to play against. Zacha with his size isn't a bad add. The Devils defense blows and the surely need a puck mover. I mean Jones for Zacha. I would do that I think the Devils would. If you want stick your junk out there. Go try to get Dubois. The Jets are stuck in no man's land. They aren't going anywhere for a long time. Dubois is huge, a wing now, he's 23 and his game is built to go against teams like Tampa in the playoffs. It's going to cost. You're probably looking at giving up Kakko, Lundkvist, a top goalie prospect like Garand and perhaps a Berard. It's gonna cost but you put him on this team and in the playoffs, you'll score more goals at even strength down the line.
You're going to have to pay Dubois about 5.5 to 6.5 million. Which means if you acquire him, you're not bringing back Strome. Most likely Vatrano and you have to move Nemeth and Georgiev. If you do that maybe you can keep Copp, Vatrano and Motte. Your saving 2.5 on Kakko as well.
I'd look to Winnipeg. Scheifele or Dubois would be very nice fits here at C. Maybe they want to deal Scheifele to save cap space for Dubois who is a RFA. Scheifele has two years remaining with a $6.125M cap hit, not bad. Over a point per game player for 6 straight seasons. Just turned 29 in March, so he has 5 or 6 good seasons left I'd say. Has 31 points (18 goals) in 33 playoff games. 50% on FO's the past two seasons. R shot. 6'3" over 200 lbs. He could be a great fit at # 2 C for the next two seasons. Also cap hit is reasonable so we should be able to give Copp $5M +/- per to be the # 3 C. A deal centered around Kakko or Chytil, a young dman, and maybe Kravtsov/a pick would be a nice package for Scheifele. Kreider/Z/Kakko or Chytil Lafreniere/Scheifele/Panarin Blais/Copp/kid Motte/Goodrow/Reaves That's a great group of forwards. Lindgren/Fox Miller/Trouba kid/Schneider Excellent group on D. Vezina winning goalie. Away we go.
Want nothing to do with Scheifele. Many reports stating the refs despise him and so do his teammates. He's a cock. Dubois I'll take.
Dubois is a RFA, so his contract will be in the 7's at least. If everything checks out after due diligence, Scheifele is a great fit with a great cap hit the next two seasons - he does wear an A on his chest. Allows us to stay flexible and re-sign Copp also I think. Win win. New team fresh start. Huge # 2 C upgrade. With that said, I would take either one of them if push came to shove. No doubt about that.
I have faith in Drury. The cap makes it tough especially when Panarin's cap hit is too high by atleast 2 million.
Who knows maybe he was criticizing Kakko’s last game in a private discussion and Kakko told him he wants out of here.
I think it's pretty obvious something happened. Otherwise, you're not scratching Kakko for Hunt who hasn't played since the first round. It makes absolutely no sense. Also, Gallant could've given a legit reason or offered what his thought process was. Instead you got we're not going to discuss it right now.
Maybe there is not a story there. He would have been in if Strome was scratched, and Kakko simply has not done much. Could be Gallant thought he wasn't the best option. I don't agree with that, just saying maybe it was that simple, and there isn't some larger issue at play. Kakko needs to stay healthy and play better. He needs to get stronger, and shoot more. He needs to be more aggressive, and play with more fire. If he does those things he'll reach his potential.
What Kakko needs along with Lafreniere is 18+ minutes of icetime and first pp time. Enough with this vet bullshit.
Panarin's salary is about right for what he gives in the regular season. He seemed a bit aloof and disconnected in his first playoffs though he did have some big moments. I wonder if the stuff overseas is bothering him or if playing for GG is affecting him. Maybe nothing is wrong and he just isn't going to be a big time playoff performer. We will see as time goes on.
Didn't seem to impact Lafreniere. It is nonsense quite frankly. I agree Kakko should get more time, that is not a debate to me, but to say that is why Kakko has struggled is simply not fair. He has played 3 years now, and has not lived up to his potential. That is all on coaches? He was given chances in the top 6 and didn't produce. That is all on coaches? He has been hurt a lot. That is all on coaches? Come on now. Somehow Lafreniere, used a lot of the same ways, has clearly shown he will be a big time player with one less season of experience. It is time Kakko mans the F up IMO.
My take on Panarin, he plays one way - East-West, pass first second and third, not overly aggressive or in fast motion, and when you get later in the playoffs against big tight checking teams, it doesn't work. And based on words and body language, I got zero feel he was willing to adjust a little to what was needed to succeed. Based on words in the Canes series I think Panarin didn't want to adjust, and Gallant wanted him to, and it didn't sit very well with him. Panarin has a ton of talent, he needs to be flexible in the playoffs to be successful. Hopefully this experience will help him in the future.
