The potential expense for the Jets to re-sign Andrew Ladd, Dustin Byfuglien and Jacob Trouba, updates on the Ducks, Predators and Blues plus the latest on Mark Streit in today’s Stamkos-free edition (hooray!) of your NHL rumor mill.
Re-signing Ladd, Byfuglien and Trouba expensive for Jets.
It could cost the Jets $152 million to re-sign Dustin Byfuglien, Andrew Ladd and Jacob Trouba.
WINNIPEG FREE PRESS: Tim Campbell cites league and player sources claiming Jets free agents Andrew Ladd, Dustin Byfuglien and Jacob Trouba are seeking a combined $152 million to re-sign with the club. Ladd seeks a six-year deal worth at least $41 million, Byfuglien $55 million over eight years and Trouba $56 million over eight years. “Ladd’s new cap-hit number would be at least $6.8 million, Byfuglien’s $6.875 million and Trouba’s at least $7 million.”
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Campbell doubts those would be the final numbers agreed to by the Jets, but still, they’re indicative of how expensive it’ll be to re-sign the trio. Of the three, Trouba has no leverage, as he’s coming off an entry-level contract, lacks arbitration rights and his performance so far this season doesn’t compare favorably to his first two seasons. I expected it could cost over $6 million annually to re-sign Ladd. Byfuglien’s asking price is actually cheaper than the anticipated $7 million-plus he could land on the open market.
If the Jets play hardball, Trouba could get a two- or three-year deal for between $3-$4 million annually. I think they’re keen to re-sign Ladd because of his leadership, experience and the depth he provides at left wing. Given their blueline depth, I won’t be surprised if they part ways with Byfuglien. The Jets could trade Ladd and/or Byfuglien at the trade deadline, but I think they’ll retain both for a playoff push.
Latest on the Ducks, Blue Jackets and Panthers.
SPORTSNET (via Today’s Slapshot): Elliotte Friedman believes Anaheim Ducks GM Bob Murray is shopping around for help.
TSN: (via Today’s Slapshot): Pierre LeBrun noted the blueline depth of the Florida Panthers, Nashville Predators and St. Louis Blues, suggesting they could draw upon that depth as trade bait to bolster their offensive production. He also believes the “Edmonton Oilers, Buffalo Sabres, Colorado Avalanche and Columbus Blue Jackets are among the teams that might want to look to upgrade their blue line.”
SPECTOR’S NOTE: There could be a fit somewhere among those clubs with defensive depth with those seeking it. The Panthers could be the most likely to swing a deal. GM Dale Tallon recently admitted bolstering his offense is a priority. They narrowly missed the playoffs last season and remain very much in the hunt this season. Given their need to boost their sagging attendance, the Panthers could be active leading up to the trade deadline.
Could the Flyers trade Streit?
COURIER-POST ONLINE: Dave Isaac suggested trading Mark Streit after he returns from injury as one way the Philadelphia Flyers could clear a permanent roster spot for Shayne Gostisbehere. “If they could find a buyer for Streit, they could keep Gostisbehere around and still have the most salary-cap space they’ve had in recent memory without using LTIR allowance.”
SPECTOR’S NOTE: While Streit’s still an effective puck-moving defenseman (when healthy), he’s also 38 and still has a season left on his contract at an annual cap hit of $5.25 million, plus a limited no-trade clause. Unless the Flyers pick up part of that salary (which defeats the purpose of why they’d make this trade in the first place), it could be difficult to move Streit this season.
Good luck to Trouba seeking that kinda deal tho I think he gets more than 4….could be a very good time to do a Jossi type deal and buy up some UFA years, but not at 7 mill.
If that’s what Trouba gets, I don’t want to think about re-signing Rielly. Jeez
Ehh I don’t think the 2 are dissimilar and if it was possible to get say a 6 or 7 year deal between 5 or 6 mill it could be worth it in the long run, realistically its buying up 3 years of prime ufa time…7 mill is just a little to rich of a gamble imo
Trouba is awesome in different aspects of the game but has limited offensive upside and that will limit what he could get on his next contract. I could see a short contract (2-3y) for $3.5-4M or longer (7y) with higher AAV, like $5M.
So Ladd wants an AAV of $7M??? Ladd is crazy not to sign ANYTHING over $6M. So many bad contracts signed by NHL GMs the last few years for players just turning 30; Thornton, Kesler, Bolland, Zajac, Brown, Pominville… Buyer BEWARE. Let Ladd and his agent rot if they keep those demands.
I could see many teams being interested in Byfuglien. Realistically, he could probably land a contract of $6.5M AAV in many destinations if going UFA. Winnipeg would have to bid accordingly if they want him. I would stay away there. Jets already have a good blue-line and decent money allocated there. They should worry about cementing their goaltending and goalscoring instead.
Wonder if the Panthers consider moving Campbell who is the final year of his deal…nearly 5 mill in space so they ould hold a chunk of Campbells salary with little to no problem and he would likely bring in a nice value. Might be a better idea than holding on to him for the plzyoffs and losing him for nothing, once Petrovic and Kampfer return (if they havent yet) the depth should still be enough to get by.
The teams with depth on defense won’t trade any of their top 4 but will dangle players they rotate through the 5th and 6th spot. The teams that need help on the D have plenty of 3rd pairing players, they want to improve their top 4. Hence no trades unless a player is going to be a UFA and the club may not afford him, like Buff.
The same topsy-turvy could be characterized by clubs that are considered seller and buyers this year…
Normally teams like New Jersey and Edmonton would be this years sellers for other teams to trade off of, but now these are in buy mode…?!?…and other teams like Columbus, Calgary and Anaheim were considered buyers before season began…but now…are they sellers or what are they?!? At the same time, the standings are as close as they’ve ever been top to bottom. These circumstances are contributing to the trade inactivity at this time.
Let’s see how small market Winnipeg does with those 3 contracts. Everyone paints this rosy picture of Winnipeg (Canadian city, great fans, sell out crowds) which are true but when a small market Canadian team faces a Canadian dollar like it is now it becomes harder to keep players around. I mean no disrespect to the Jets or their fans but what happened in Quebec City and Winnipeg in the 90’s will be the same thing that endangers Winnipeg now and what Quebec City will ultimately face.
Plus any ream in Quebec will have one helluva time trying to attract key UFAs – or trading for players who will almost assuredly have the city on any n-go list (unless they are Francophone) – due to their Machiavellian language laws.
And the highest taxes anywhere in North America. Try explaining the virtues of 62% tax to an American-born player!
Tr y telling them their language is persona non grata! Officially.
“Machiavellian”?
Surely you mean “Draconian”.
And anyway, it ain’t like that.
The kids go private, Mtl has a huge private school network.
No. I meant ” “the employment of cunning and duplicity in statecraft or in general conduct” – and that fits Quebec language laws to a “T” as far as I’m concerned. They may have private schools, but when a family tries to fill in an ordinary day while dad is on the road they’ll have a helluva time trying to find signs in English anywhere.
“The town of Saint-Lazare has lost its bilingual status, and that means English is disappearing from its official signs. Bill 101 states non-bilingual communities must have signs in French only. Saint-Lazare has always been bilingual, but because the number of Anglophones dropped below the 50 per cent mark in the 2011 census, its official status has been revoked.”
Do you think Quebec City is 50% Anglophone?
Do you think rich athletes dont have google maps? Come on George taxes and weather (and QC witers can be cold) can see having a rather big effect on players decisions but this is a bit of a stretch.player being offered 3,4,5 million dollars are not going to be saying no thaks the stop signs say Arret…players play over seas and tho the general population may not be 50% anglo the majority of the pop can speak english.
QC wouldnt have any more of a hard ti,e finfing players than any other city because of the street signs.
Not to mention Ive been around quite a bit seen lots of places and QC is one of the most beautiful cities in the country if not on the continent …my wife doesnt speak much french (mind you I do) anf I doubt I would have a hard time convincing her to move. Telling her we were movimg to several other places in the NHL would be much tougher, I wont name names as to not offend
The difference being, those overseas points don’t BAN English through legislation – hell, when the Soviet block broke up one of the biggest phenomena in Russia was the rush to English classes springing up all over the country.
As for “Arret ” – that’s being simplistic in the extreme Shticky and you know that that is NOT what I was referring to. I’m talking about ANY signs – in stores, libraries, public halls, arenas.
Sure, some UFA stiff might go there if offered some of the cash being thrown at mediocrity these days – but again, you damned well know I was talking about top-drawer UFAs (you think a Stamkos would go there?) and star players who have limited no-movement clauses in the contracts. You can bet, unless they are Francophone, that Quebec City will be a no-go site.
Thats a Q for a very rich owner.
Prolly not a problem at all for the Jets.
Other Canadian teams would suffer more.
Sagging attendance. Is that the term they are using now in Florida. If they put an All-Star team in Florida I I doubt any one would notice there.
That ‘s just the nature of those living in Florida. When their baseball team went to the World Series it was standing room only. When they were just an also-ran you could fire a cannon off in the place and not worry about hitting anyone.
It’s not a Florida thing, it’s a South Florida thing. Whatever idiot did the demographics for an NHL team in south Florida… should be shot into the stadium with that same cannon!! It made absolutely no sense at all. Same should be said for Atlanta, Carolina, Arizona….Next stop Las Vegas!!!!! BRILLIANT!!!
I’m pretty sure Las Vegas is in a different situation than Atlanta, Carolina or Arizona given that they do not have any other professional sport’s franchises there. To top that off I would imagine that casino’s would buy up tickets to sell to their guests in packages. Now if Vegas gets another pro sport’s franchise then there may be a different story. It’s also a heavy tourist destination. I don’t think the NHL struggles there at all.
Any why do you think there is no other professional sport there? Hmmmm. Let’s see. The centre of U.S. gambling built and probably still controlled to some degree by the mob and a pro sports franchise. Could that have anything to do with it?
Pens in serious trouble with MAF n his concussion.
Idk about max terms will happen for either Ladd or Buff. Those type of deals should be more rare.
7-8 years contracts are bullcrap as so many moving parts will change over time. I have always thought that 5 years should be max for a contract. It’s absolutely impossible to look further into the future with any kind of precision than that. I’ve read that GMs have also discussed 5 years as a reasonable limit. Maybe next CBA negotiations will be interesting once again.
I would probably not sign either of Ladd or Byfuglien to 7 years…
trouba wants to go to a team with more exposure, he looks at what hamilton got strictly by being a young defender playing on an original six team in boston and he knows he’s a better player. with the dearth of uality defenders on the market he’s trying to entice an offer sheet from someone. He knows winnipeg cant afford top dollar with canadian dollar lagging, even with a billionaire owner.
Trouba had a great rookie season but has been in a slow but steady decline the past two years…off ice issues are strongly hinted at…October and November were not good for him this year
Lyle, what’s going on with your page? when I go on in the AM it has today’s headlines and when I click it, I get yesterday and todays is nowhere to be found, then I log on later in the day I’m able to access it. R u running a time delay? or something? Curious.
Maybe Trouba will get an offer sheet he likes. I read a trade on social media, Ladd and Trouba to NYI for Hamonic and Okposo. Doesn’t sound bad. Both get a player an a ufa.
You won’t see offer sheets. Clubs value the pics involved so much that they stay away. There are other reasons too. The product of stalled RFA/Club negotiations is nowadays that the club (and player) then understands that player can’t be signed for that particular club for that particular money. Nowadays, the gap is not one of salary semantics, but of physical cap space. The inevitable solution to it is therefore not to holdout as a player in order to force your way – since there exist NO cap room to sign for… There might exist the option for the club to exercise a lockout, but as the cap room is set pieces, it is in both best interest to seek out a trade reasonably quick to break the stalemate. Hence is why you saw the O’Reilly, Hamilton, Saad trades. That is the future, not ofer sheets.
Re; Jets first things first, this franchise cannot let assets like Buff or Ladd walk and get nothing in return and they cannot break the bank or tie their hands long term with Trouba. We’ve seen small glimpses of Trouba’s potential but its far from a sure thing especially the way he has played this year. They have to set a deadline with Ladd and Buff and put contracts in front of them and make it a take it or leave it scenario and if they decide not to sign they need to be traded. I would not go over $6 mil per year for Ladd, his leadership is overrated and Wheeler is clearly the future leader of this team. I like Buff and what he brings way more than Ladd however I would be afraid of a 7-8 year deal for buff. ( unless you sign him to a 7-8 year deal and then leave him unprotected in the expansion draft and hope an expansion team grabs him in 3-4 years….big gamble ). If the Isle would take Trouba for Hamonic I would do it. You know what you’ve got in Hamonic performance and salary wise and the chances are pretty good that he would re-sign in Winnipeg when his existing contract is up.
IMO, I would trade Ladd, Sign Buff and trade Trouba for Hamonic.
Ladd has 18 points in 31 games(8G 10 A) and is -7. He gets a lot of quality shots. Not a star player…good guy but not worth the big $ he is requesting
It appears to be a server issue. We’re looking into it.
Why in gods name would Flyers retain Streits salary. Streit easily top 15 d-men in scoring year after year after year in the last 5 years, not to mention he is relatively healthy. This is his 1st injury in last 5 years where he missed more than 2 games.