Check out the latest on the Edmonton Oilers, Detroit Red Wings and Vancouver Canucks in your NHL rumor mill.
OILERS
Will landing a top-four defenseman cost the Oilers Ryan Nugent-Hopkins or Jordan Eberle?
EDMONTON JOURNAL: David Staples reports the Oilers still lack “an elite puck-mover and power play ace” among their top-four defensemen. Considering GM Peter Chiarelli overpaid to add a right-handed defenseman for his top pairing (Tayler Hall for Adam Larsson), Staples believes it makes little sense to ship out either Jordan Eberle or Ryan Nugent-Hopkins for an attacking blueliner. He suggests a veteran bottom-pairing rearguard who can help on the power play (such as Calgary Flames blueliner Dennis Wideman or UFA James Wisniewski) shouldn’t be impossible to acquire before the start of the season.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Signing Wisniewski would be easier than trying to swing a trade with the Flames for Wideman. It’ll be interesting to see how Chiarelli addresses this issue. He could target teams that risk losing a skilled defenseman in next summer’s expansion draft. Considering that he gave away Hall for Larsson, he could be squeezed to part with Eberle or RNH.
RED WINGS
THE HOCKEY NEWS: Jared Clinton notes the Detroit Red Wings’ recent re-signings of forward Teemu Pulkkinen and Luke Glendening leaves GM Ken Holland with five spare forwards. Two of them (Johan Franzen and Joe Vitale) are likely to start the season on long-term injured reserve. It’s also possible promising forward Anthony Mantha (waiver-exempt) could be demoted to begin the season. Holland could draw upon that forward depth to acquire a top-four defenseman via trade. Pulkkinen, Mantha and Tomas Jurco could become trade candidates, but Clinton doesn’t rule out the possibility of Gustav Nyquist or Tomas Tatar being swapped for a blueliner.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Acquiring a top-pairing defenseman could cost someone like Mantha or Jurco package with a first-round pick. I still think it’ll cost them Nyquist or Tatar to bring in that top-four blueliner. Holland is willing to be patient, as he recently said his search could stretch into training camp and preseason.
CANUCKS
THE VANCOUVER SUN: Ben Kuzma speculates Canucks GM Jim Benning could go the trade route to bring in a second-line left winger. Benning stresses he’s not using winger Jannik Hansen as trade bait to address that issue.
Benning’s roster need is a full tear down. See Toronto for how that works.
Benning is a moron. Unable to decide on rebuild or try to win now. Only ones that suffer are Canuck fans. Bungling Jimmy strikes again, just brutal.
I couldn’t agree more.
Correction: Aquilini is a moron. Benning is a lame duck, I’m willing to bet his trades require approval before he can act.
Well the Hamhuis 1 certainly did & know question he is meddlesome. Gillis threw him under the bus on the Torts signing, cost him his job & he’s certainly the 1 pushing for playoff revenue.
NHL is a business. Aquilini wants the Canucks to pay for themselves. The Vancouver market is not like Toronto, where you can put any crappy team out and people will come to see them lose. Canucks need at a minimum to play some entertaining hockey (before they lose), hence the signing of Loui Eriksson. Can’t say that all the moves of Benning & Co. have impressed me, but the defence looks like it on the way to improvement. The forward group needs a lot of work, but the prospect pool overall seems to be getting somewhat better. The real problem for Vancouver is their abysmal draft record c.2005-2010, and that only many (future) years of better drafting will solve.
1 of the richest teams in the NHL, finished 5th in operating income in 2014-15 at 35+ mil. They have spent to the cap ceiling for years. No problem there.
http://www.statista.com/statistics/193744/operating-income-of-national-hockey-league-teams-in-2010/
They have 2 future hall of famers who have spent their entire career in Vancouver that they have to win now for. If this season doesn’t go well I suspect there will be a full tear down. The difference between the leafs and Canucks is the Canucks were a good team and the leafs never were a good team. 2 completely different situations. Apples to oranges.
It’s nice to have an owner willing to spend to the ceiling but the meddling has to stop. Aqua man, you don’t know hockey the same way Trevor and Jim do. Stay out of the bloody kitchen and allow the chefs you hired to do their jobs! Have some faith brother.
Toronto’s made the playoffs once in the last 10 years and came dead last in 2015/16. Best not to use them as an example of a good franchise until they have some success.
Don’t think he was using them as an example of a good franchise, but as one that seems to be rebuilding
Dan39. I’m not saying Toronto won’t see success in the near future due to the tear down of their roster but I don’t see how anyone can say that they have succeeded at this point. There are many teams who failed to tear down and rebuild through the draft. There are teams who completely reshuffled and remained competitive. Then there are teams who split down the middle the tear down, trades and those they retained. There is no right answer on how to retool your team. The only right and wrong seems to be the make up of the roster at the end.
Dallas, made trades and drafted a few
Edmonton, dump and went the draft route
Detroit, keeps bringing in new faces, some free agents and a few trades
Ottawa dumped a bit and continues to build mainly through the draft few a few additions via trades
Toronto, tore it down, drafted and made trades
San Jose, reshuffled a bit but mainly gave their young guys greater roles and reduced the roles of guys like Thornton.
Buffalo is spending money on free agents left right and centre.
Pittsburgh simply changed coaches and added a few pieces to their bottom half of the roster and changed a bad season, mid season to a Championship.
etc, etc
they all handle their teams a bit differently some succeed others dont’
TOR has been successful at its tear down – that’s indisputable, they finished in last place last year and picked Auston Matthews, a franchise center first overall, and they also cleared a ton of cap space with the Phaneuf, Kessel, Bernier, Clarkson contracts. Lupul is the last of the bunch and he’ll burn off in two years, well before they need it.
The hard part, of course, is going to be staying on course, developing talent, and building the team back up into a contender.
The way I assess things is that you have a roster that may or may not have a legitimate NHL starter in Andersen. The forward corps look very promising as I project it today and the biggest and most difficult hole to fill is on the back end, where they are missing an elite, franchise player to play alongside Reilly.
Dan39, I guess Edmonton’s tear down was a success to then?
Edm is finally righting the ship after a decade of Kevin Lowe ineptitude. In a very short period of time Chiarelli has added 2 solid NHL Dman in Sekera & Larsson; at an astronomical cost. He’s added grit in Kassian, Maroon & Lucic. He’s pulled a rabbit out of his you know where 2 years in a row getting McDavid & Puljujarvi.
The future is now. Edmonton goes from cellar dweller to the penthouse in the blink of an eye.
Jeff, we’re having a communication issue here. I’m not referring to a rebuild. I’m talking about the part before the rebuild – the tear down that paves the way for the rebuild.
The Oilers have been wildly successful, although it would seem mostly unintentionally, in tanking – very different than what TOR and BUF did.
The Leafs management group so far has defied expectations and I believe things look more promising for the Leafs today than they did for the Oilers in 2010 after taking Hall at #1.
I’d be interested to hear where you guys see the Leafs next season.
If they get average goaltending next season, I think that is 15 goals of differential right there. They should also benefit from an improved offense (maybe another 10 goals?) and lets call it a wash on defense, with Phaneuf and Harrington out and Zaitsev and Carrick coming in. Rielly taking another step evident at the Worlds and Gardiner continuing his improved play.
I can see TOR in the range of 20-25th place.
Striker r u kidding me! PC, failed on the Larsson trade, simply he could’ve gotten Hamilton for less last year. The last two draft Lowe or my dog would’ve made them picks. Too much term for Lucic, dead money in two years. Then when all the young guys elc comes up lets see if he learns from his pass experience or sets the Oilers back like he did with Boston. I wouldn’t be giving Chiarelli a big oh pat on the back just yet.
Ah I see Dan39.
I guess my point was it doesn’t matter how you tear it down. I was counter your claim Vancouver needed a tear down like Toronto. It matters the final out come of your roster and teams of succeeded in doing it many different ways. So Vancouver doesn’t necessarily need a tear down.
But yes I understand in your opinion they should. Yet I can’t see them moving the Sedin’s on and think due to that fact alone they can’t tear it down they need to retool, and do a better job of it.
Caper apparently he made a better bid for Hamilton. Or so the story goes. He lost out on Hamilton regardless made the best deal he could.Maybe he didn’t want Hamilton for the same reason Boston didn’t who knows.
I believe I said just that, pulled a rabbit out of you know where with McDavid & Puljujarvi. I wasn’t so much crediting Chiarelli as Edm, although he dserves some credit. He’s made hard choices. Let’s wait & see how Edm does next year & we can revisit. Nor is Edm done do I think. Chiarelli has been in place for a little over a year.
I assume Edm will do what all teams appear to be doing. If Lucic hits the wall significantly later in the contract he’ll dump him on another team or buy him out. His contract goes, 8,8,7,6,4,5,4. just turned 28 so will be 34 or 35 at expiry should Edm make a deep playoff run his last season. In 7 years 3rd liners will be making 6 mil.
Amazing magic trick, finish at the bottom of the standings every year and get high draft picks? How do they do that?
you people are nuts if you don’t think Lucic will become a star playing alongside Mcdavid. This is a kid who was injured all the way up to the all star break last season and came back from a horrible injury to only be outscored by Crosby for the remainder of the season. barring any injury this kid will lead the league in points this coming season and would have if he had played the entire season last year. Not to mention adding Puljujarvi to the line. Lucic will be worth every dime. That’s hard for me to say I’m a die hard Flames fan but i also can see the truth. I’m not blinded by my team like some of you.
This suggestion that Vcr needs a tare down originates from Eastern media type all safely tucked up in their offices East of the Lakehead. Vr has more pure talent available to them than TO and others. The mass media flock centred away from the every day working or even viewing on a regular basis. Vcr has genuine set of star players and yet likely to be written of by the “experts” from TO. I can’t say I blame hockey fans for following the media lead. If you tell folks that black is white eventually they’ll believe it. Call it marketing or brain washing what ever you like but it’s been hard for TO fans to grin and bare the better record of the Canucks for the last decade, a bitter pill for sure. Last season Vcr ( maybe unrealized by those in the East ) suffered extensive injuries. This forced other to play out of position and as Vcr is now a very young team ( yes already but un-noticed ) the impact was not good. Unless you’re watching I would guess 20+ games a season then the understanding must come from the ever revolving pck of out of town media types. The media as a whole play to the major demographics of their customers…. the result ….rubbish 🙂
Yeah Vancouver’s “talent” is aging. No rebuild and you’ll be Toronto 2.0. You think the Sedin’s will get you to the promised land?
Vancouver needs to get rid of the Sedin sisters and finally put some sort of an NHL caliber team on the ice. It’s been long enough already with those 2. the experiment didn’t work get over it and move on
I don’t care how Benning chooses to do it, just stop giving assets away for nothing & making bad trades. Had those players moved returned proper value Vancouver would have been better served. I would suggest everyone go to ESPN, highlight teams, click on Vancouver, click on transactions & look at everything Benning has done since arriving. He was hired on May 23rd 2014. I should warn you it’s not pretty or for those with weak stomachs.
With the exception of Vrbata; he later let Desjardins devalue him to nothing, Eriksson & Stecher, I don’t like any of his trades or acquisitions. He has drafted well with the limited picks he’s retained, having given most away for nothing but 2 of those 3 picks were top 10; 6th Virtanen & 5th this year, a Monkey could get a good player in the top 10 with today’s quality of players.
Virtanen will be 1 of the 7 worst selections from the 2014 draft, he will be a good player but 2nd line winger at best & that taking Juolevi was a terrible pick at 5. It should have been Tkachuk & if he had to take a Dman it should have been Sergachev. Demco at 36 was a solid pick & Boeser at 23 looks to be solid as well.
But how can you justify moving Garrison for a late 2nd, Bieksa for a late 2nd when a player like Doug Murray moved for 2 2nds or Winnik a 2nd & a 3rd or Eller for 2 2nds or Shaw 2 2nds or DeAngelo a 2nd, letting Hamhuis walk for nothing to mismanagement. This is just the tip of the ice berg. Dman are in short supply & Benning has nothing to show for moving 3 of them. Forsling for Clendening, are you kidding me. How did Bonino look in Pittsburgh? They got the better player & we gave up the pick, then he extends him at almost 4.4 for 5 years. Bonino had 2 years at 1.9.
Kesler for Bonino, Sbisa; bum, a 1st; McCann later move for Gubranson; not a player I like, we included the picks again & 3rd; later moved to NYR.
It goes on & on.
How did the Bruins ever win a Cup with Chiarelli, Benning, Sweeney & Neely manning the controls? They get too much credit for 2011. That was O’Connell’s team
It’s hard to gauge what Neely has provided not being a point man. Rumors are he was responsible for the Seguin trade but we will never know for certain. Chiarelli did a bunch of good things, some bad but with a cup win & 2 appearances there is enough credit for all including O’Connell.
Sorry, no dignity in that approach. I respect what Benning is doing. Maybe wait until the games are played before you decide what the final outcome will be.
Things are getting worse & they should if your rebuilding but Benning has been at the helm for 2 years & the prospect cupboard is virtually bare. Rebuilding teams don’t just give assets away for nothing. Something Benning has done in mass & Vancouver is doing everything they can to actually make the playoffs which they won’t again.
The fans don’t seem to respect it or like it. The building is in 3 years of decline for attendance & last season thousands & I’m not just talking 1 or 2 but 4 or 5 went unused repeatedly that were paid for! What doesn’t that say about the fans thoughts on what Bennings doing?
So Striker: Is Jim Benning off your Christmas card list?
Oh yeah. Worse he lost my 8K+ in season ticket revenue & the 100+ bucks I usually spend per game.
Six players remain from when Benning took over. Need to define “full tear down” and exactly how to substantiate it being done — especially if implying trading the Sedins.
Meanwhile, Toronto gave away their assets for little in return, still has guys like Lupul and Bozak on their roster, plus a whole slew of cap and LTI anchors.
Just more blue-tinted parroting of the eastern media muppets who don’t have a clue what goes on west of the Great Lakes.
Toronto model??? Sucking for 50 years? Remember that Edmonton is in their 3rd strip down in a decade before seeing any light and the same thing happened to Chicago before the Toews and Kane grouping of players came through. So, 7 years after the leafs give up on Matthews and Marner like the Hawks gave up on the Arnason and Daze generation or the Oilers giving up on Cogliano and Ganger generation, the Leafs might get a group that may get them out of their generations of losing. Before advocating the Leafs have ever done something right, maybe have them close to a playoff spot…
Has not worked yet.
Only the demo has.
Regarding the Vesey discussion yesterday, this idea that somehow he missed out on dollars and burning a year off his ELC is nonsensical.
If I understand correctly, the dollars he missed out on were pro rated ELC dollars across the remaining games from April through early May when the Predators were eliminated, $100k or so – inconsequential money, meaningless, irrelevant to his life and career.
As to not burning a year off what would’ve been a two year ELC contract. This is actually a positive for the player, IMO.
He now gets two full years to establish himself as worthy of a serious second contract for ideally mid-term and dollar as an RFA.
This is vastly preferable to having only one year in the NHL as a rookie and then to go into a negotiation for your next contract when it’s unlikely he will have accomplished much in the NHL and won’t have leverage.
Some Quotes from Vesey
“I think it would be a little crazy to meet with all 29 teams,” Vesey said on Wednesday. “We have a little bit of a short list going that I’ve worked on with my agents and my family. We’re going to narrow it down as best as we can, and get through it as quickly as we can on Aug. 15.”
“I was a huge Joe Thornton fan growing up. He wore No. 19. I wear No. 19. He was my favorite player. I got to know (Bruins defenseman)Torey Krug a little bit through playing with him at the world championships last year. So it would be really cool to play with Torey and put on the Bruins jersey. It’s the team that I’ve watched for my whole life.”
So it sounds like regardless of where he signs he wants to wait till August 15th to talk to all the teams on his list. Perhaps nothing is garaunteed. He claims to be a huge Thornton fan. Could San Jose be a dark Horse?
Oh I cut and pasted from Mike Augello’s blog on hockey buzz if that is ok.
Thx for that Jeff, very useful quotes there. Clearly BOS is still very much in the picture, despite his father’s leanings against them.
here’s the link to the interview. I should warn you the interview is conducted by a stupid little fat guy.
Excerpt via CSNNE:
Who later in his article adds NJ as a short list candidates. I listened to it 3 times & never heard NJ mentioned once.
Sorry let me try that again.
http://www.csnne.com/boston-bruins/Jimmy-Vesey-has-a-short-list-of-teams-Boston-Bruins-are-on-it
Striker, don’t need to be calling people names. He puts his name and work out there. Most of us just use a handle. Yes he’s open to criticism, but don’t need to go into name calling.
Who you talking about Caper? I’m talking about Haggerty. the person who interviewed Vesey.
Striker, I’m talking too you, I know its Haggerty, btw KPD had an interview a week prior, so I don’t know what haggs point was; i’m just saying because you don’t agree or like him doesn’t mean you have to call him names, you can discredit the report or work; I for one never buy into the personal attacks, says more about the person saying the remarks then the one receiving.
Dan39, Vesey gave up a lot not signing in Nashville, the $100k or so, i’ll take it thank you very much. Burning off a year of his elc, also giving up the opportunity to make more money quicker, is also a big deal. Not to mention getting some NHL experience and playing in the playoffs that’s some meaningful hockey. In the end I conclude that Vesey is extremely confident in his abilities that he doesn’t think he’ll have an issue succeeding in the NHL and he’ll get his money in due time. He’s already one of the story lines to watch when the regular season starts, to see if he was worth all the debate. Personally never seen him play so I can’t comment on that, there been hobey baker award winners who had success in the NHL while other didn’t. Where will Vesey fall?
Wow this Vessey kid enough..it’s like weeks of endless babble on him…something new please
+1000
I agree Dan about Vesey, he is looking for a team where he has the best chance to play to 6 mins. The few teams he would have a good chance at that are Buf, TOR and to a lesser extant BOS. He will sign in one of those cities and since he has not already signed in Buf it is is likely down to TO and BOS. He needs 2 good years to make any real money on his second deal.
If Jurco and a pick brings a too pairing D man, I pull that trigger without a doubt. The issue is cap space now to bring in that D man with Jurco salary at like 900k. Need to dump salary from elsewhere which likely means Gus or Tats. That would make more sense. Maybe Wings get a 2nd rounder in the package as well. I still want to see a rolling audition on the backline with some call ups to see where we’re at.
Chiarelli should look at Nashville as they might not want to protect all their dmen in the expansion draft.
I think we are going to see many teams choose the 8 skater option only protecting 4 forwards. I assume Nashville will be 1 of them. Top 4 Dman are in such short supply & so costly to acquire it only makes sense to me. It would cost a team like Nashville Colin Wilson to protect Subban, Josi, Ellis & Ekholm with Johansen, Neal, Smith & Forsberg being the 4 forwards, Rinne in net obviously as he has an NMC.
Who could they get out of Nash, I still think they should have tried to get Keith Yandel before Florida Picked him up.
I think several teams should have done what Arizona & Florida did with Goligoski & Yandle respectively.
I think Edm should offer Wisnewski to a 2 year deal at 2.5 per no more than 3. Certainly capable of running a power play & historically has been able to play big minutes although quite 1 dimensional but in Edm he only needs to be a 3rd pairing guy 5 on 5 & help the #1 PP unit, 2nd at worst.
I agree with this actually
Holy mother of Mary. I’m sure we have agreed more than once or at least I know I have with you on many occasions. Hahahahah
Does anyone think Sekera with a reduced roll/minutes be able to quarter back a PP?
Sekera, Klefbom & even Larsson will all see some PP time, ideally all on a 2nd unit. If a #1 PP point man, even a specialist isn’t acquired I see Edm running 4 forwards on the #1 unit with Eberle manning 1 of the points. Sekera would be the get the left poiunt on the #1 unit by default. Klefbom & Larsson on the 2nd unit.
Larsson running the pp? Yikes!
Never had the chance since his rookie year. Certainly did before he got to the NHL. Doesn’t have to run it just has to help #3 option as a D point man next season.
Most teams have at least 12 players flushing out 2 units when the dust settles.
Edm will want to put him in a position to succeed & help justify their faith in him.
Don’t you think that his lack of pp time was by design? I think people are just setting themselves up for disappointment with Larsson. I said it last year with Sekera.
The biggest mistake Edmonton can make with Larsson, is trying to make him something he’s not. It’s bad enough they are going to be forced somewhat to make him a 1st pairing guy. Which he’s not. I don’t think they should compile that with trying to make him a pp specialist.
Larson spent so much time on the PK and 5 on 5 in NJ he couldn’t be spared for the PP. If his roll is similar on Edmonton he won’t be on the PP. If they reduce his PK time they might be able to put him on the PP from time to time.
It’s the same reason Karlsson doesn’t do the PK. Many would site that as a lack of defensive ability. But Karlsson plays have the game. Is often out despite my belief it is to much for one man, the entire 2 min of a PP. So Karlsson isn’t put on the PK. Perhaps Larson will succeed on a PP due to his hockey IQ and passing ability, who knows?
Jeff,
Plenty of guys play pp, pk and 5 on 5. It isn’t a rare thing at all. I think of Larsson had the skill set to do so, NJ wouldn’t have blinked. They were dead last in goals for. I can’t imagine that this was an oversight by the entire organization. But if by some miracle it was, the entire NJ staff should be fired. From the Gm to the guy who does the laundry.
At 23 with 5 years of NHL experience I have no idea what Larsson is yet. He’s never going to be a #1 PP point man but who knows or cares. I have him pegged as some where between a Hamoinc & Vlasic.
Who cares? Lol, you’re the one that brought it up in the first place…..?
Good point NYR4life. Perhaps that is why there is new guys running Ottawa due to the mismanagement of the PP, Hoffman and such.
I mean man who would of thought it possible. That people running a professional sport could make mistakes. That they could misuse players and put in wrong systems, hire wrong coaches, not bring in proper players, heck even the off ice dietary and workout regiments could be wrong? Nah non of that is likely. There is no way it could happen. The is absolutely not chance NJ’s coaching staff didn’t fully appreciate Larson’s offensive ability. I mean heck the coach in Pittsburgh last year didn’t need to be let go and replace. They were doing fine. Oh and look at Anaheim, they are bringing back a guy the canned. Heck what can go wrong there. That has to be the right move cause people running a team who were not fired this summer are still running the team.
So you’re saying, an entire organization being wrong about a player is more likely than Larsson not being a pp specialist? Really? I like Larsson,but seriously you’re reaching now. We can argue all day that a cat is a fish, but it still won’t swim!
And seriously Jeff, no need to be smug. This time last year you were dancing around this site about ” oh , Edmonton will never get a top pairing d-man in free agency?…….they just signed Sekera…. Woo hoo I was right.” Until most people here broke your spirit explaining Sekera is more of a 2nd pairing guy……So when Larsson has 4 pp points in a year, instead of a career , celebrate, and be as smug as you wish. Until then, maybe take a lesson from your Sekera victory dance.
it’s funny to read you guys fight about Larsson. Every player developes at their own pace. so he’s been in the NHL for 5 years and hasn’t come into his own yet…big deal…unless you’re a phenom that’s how long it takes. look at Burns…it took him 8 seasons before he became a bonifide star in this league and he’s just one example…relax it will work out for Edmonton…Alberta hockey will dominate the western conference again soon
Subban Jossi Ellis Elkholm I would think the Preds are using the protection of 8 skater option they are positioned pretty well
I was working on some stuff last night building depth charts, looking at waiver rights, cap hits, possible injured players who will be LTIR elligable come opening day, # of NHL contracts signed by teams, etc. for my 1st article. Found an oddity that surprised me slightly. Not a huge issue as the start of the season is essentially 3 months away.
No team is allowed more than 50 players under NHL contract. TB currently has 47 signed & Kucherov, Killorn, Namestinikov & Nestrov still to sign. What is odd is Yzerman has been signing players like crazy.
Easy enough to get out of this but weird none the less. Yzerman has left himself very little wiggle room in this regard & some of these signings are meaningless players that will never see the NHL. We saw Toronto ship out contracts in bulk last season in the Grabner trade to free up contract spots for the trade deadline so again not an issue but odd.
Just for your information…
Teams have four different “roster” limits to balance under the league’s regulations; a 20-player “dressed list” for games, a 23-player active NHL roster, a 50-contract maximum, and a 90-player maximum reserve list.
Every day I see the Hall/Larsson trade talked about I have to pinch myself. I still can’t believe it. Hands down, top 5 worse trade in NHL history. When you trade, your team is supposed to be better. Is Edmonton better? I don’t see it.
I agree with you when looking at the trade 1 for 1 but I think Edm is significantly better. In fact I have them as a playoff contender next season & should they acquire a right handed Dman that can man the #1 PP unit if if just a specialist, say like Wisnewski they make the playoffs at the expense of Minnesota who I think has gotten worse this summer.
Numerous trades have been made in the NHL since the inception of the cap that if you just look at the players moved, a team has lost it significantly but you need to account for all factors. To build a team in today’s cap world hard decisions are now often made for monetary reasons, contract situations, injury issue’s etc. This is 1 of those times, as was Chiarelli’s other brutal trade. Moving Seguin.
Dchamp, Time will tell but I think Edmonton is better. Larson will improve their back end and add in Lucic to offset the loss of hall and add some physical presence to hopefully help protect RNH, McDavid and Eberel. Then the guy they drafted Puljujarvi (spelling may very) and his offensive contributions. They’ve slowly gotten bigger, they shored up some weaknesses and maintained areas of strength.
Yes Hall is a fantastic player and looking at the trade by itself it is a lop sided when for NJ.
But it was a hockey trade and when I look at NJ teams I think they are going to be a bit better. When I look at Edmonton I think they will be loads better.
I think Edmonton will push for that playoff spot this year.
I have NJ scoring more but actually being worse, in the win loss column. They were minus 24 in goal differential last season & I think the loss of Larsson adds 20 goals against minimum. Their D wasn’t very good last season & is easily the worst in the NHL now. Schneider will & can steal games but you can’t win if you can’t stop the other team from scoring.
NJ is in a tough division to be able to gain ground that is for sure. Edmonton has a opportunity to leap frog some teams. Like Arizona, Vancouver, Calgary and LA.
regardless of how bad the trade was and losing Hall. Edmonton is better going into this coming season. A bad trade doesn’t mean they got worse…it just means it was a bad trade. With Mcdavid playing a full season and adding lucic as well as Puljujarvi and Larsson they are better. Having said that I hope Hall beats the hell out of them when they meet this coming season.
I agree Edmonton will improve in the playoff race but are you not looking at all the teams…I agree they will leap frog LA and Vancouver who have done nothing to improve themselves but have you done any research at all regarding Arizona and Calgary…these 2 teams as well will be right in the mix with Edmonton…Arizona more than anyone else
I find the non stop hack of Benning quite funny. The bottom line with any of you is that you have no idea how his approach will work out. I could say that the disgraceful appproach that the Leafs took in rebuilding will fail, but I don’t know if it will or not. I could say that the Oilers may pick out of the top ten next year, not likely but then again, who knows. As a Canuck fan, I’m proud of Linden and Benning making every effort to win and not taking the low road that the Oilers and Leafs took.
Jeff.
I don’t care if they win or lose or what approach they choose to rebuild, retool, transition, what ever you want to call it. I care about asset management. Maximizing the return of those moved out so as to restock the pipeline to replace players aging out.
What Toronto is doing will work. It’s working in Buffalo, it’s working in Arizona, It’s working in Carolina, it’s working in Florida, it worked in Chi it worked in Pittsburgh, it’s just started in NJ, Boston etc.
It didn’t work in Edm as they didn’t surround the kids with proper veteran leadership at the right level or stability in management & coaching. A few bad decisions made a couple of years in a row doomed Edm. Kruger had this team on track in the lock out season, they looked to be turning the corner & Boom train off the track yet again.
Jeff you will not be in a couple of years when they can’t replace the sedins.Without them they will be in trouble.
I’m not a huge fan of what Holland has been doing in Detroit the last few years. It seems he is living off previous success. Outside of Larkin, which was a grand slam at 15th overall, his drafting has been very average and the extensions he’s given out to his drafted players are hometown premiums. Helm is simply way too much and too long, and Abdelkader’s is the same. Abdelkader’s dollars/year is OK, but I don’t know why you would need to give a 7 year contract to a secondary player that gets ~40-45 pts/year. Mike Green and Jonathan Ericsson are way overpaid as well, not to mention the disaster Stephen Weiss contract they had to buyout.
I agree. Desperation seems to be setting in.
You have to go back to 2008 the acquisition of Brad Stuart to say that was Hollands last good deal.
Tough to add solid prospects when you’ve made the playoffs 25 years in a row though. That means baring trades your already picking late & it lends to moving futures to make playoff runs.
Agree somewhat, but Anaheim and Washington still seem to be getting productive NHLers every year.
Well no other team has made the playoffs 25 years in a row. I think Tatar, Nyquist, Larkin, Abdelkader, Sheahan, Pulkinen, Jurco, Smith, Marchenko, Mrazek & numerous other prospects coming in Mantha, Svechnikov, Ouellet, Sproul, etc. That Holland has done all right considering. They just haven’t been able to address the loss of Lidstrom & Rafalski. Those dame top end Dman are essential.
Every team that wins consistently; especially Stanley Cups, has 1 common thread. They have a top flight 2 way C & 1 of the best 2 way Dman in the game.
It’s an end of an era. A lot of factors at the same time contributes to Detroits situation. Lidstroms, Rafalskis absence, Kronwalls aging, J. Ericsson didn’t pan out like they had hoped, no franchise goalie has emerged to bridge the talent void, a long period of lower draft choices leave the cupboard bare…and so on. The perception has been their success seemed like it had perpetual continuation – but really everybody works within cycles. And it was a long one (25 years).
St. Louis just extended Jaden Schwartz for 5yrs/$26.75M ($5.35M/yr). That’s a pretty good comparable for Mike Hoffman. Get it done, Ottawa.
Yeah it is. I’d was thinking Hoffman should be 4.8 for 5 yrs. But he could go as high as 5.5. I think 5 years is long enough. As the arbitrations are rewarded or comparable players sign contracts it would give Ottawa and Hoffman a better ideal what he should get. I think Hoffman will sign before his arbitration Date. If not he never wanted to anyways or Ottawa’s management is just plan stupid.
Is Oliver Kylington developed enough to be trusted defensively? If so, he could be a trade target for teams. He’s one of the better offensive D prospects out of Sweden in the last years. He has natural instinct with the puck. If it wasn’t for that a Calgary-Edmonton trade is very unlikely, I would think that Chiarelli would be interested.
found this on the winnipeg jets forum on proboards:
“kurt overhardt on TSN RADIO said today that his client Jacob Trouba will not be signing a “bridge deal” with the Winnipeg Jets, he claims that the Market was set last year by the Dougie Hamilton Signing, The Flames signed Hamilton to a six-year deal worth $34.5 million, last year and Seth Jones who Overhardt called a lesser experienced comparison to Trouba, signing a 6-year $32.4 Million contract.
Overhardt said that his client expects to be paid fairly after concluding his Entry Level Contract and performing well above the Level of the majority of his peers. Overhardt noted that The Jets signed defenceman Dustin Byfuglien to a five-year contract extension with an average annual value of $7.6 million. and said that his client feels that his performance speaks for Itself.. “‘
Read more: http://jetshockeyforum.proboards.com/thread/7155/boston-move-on-trouba-mil#ixzz4EVwOl76o
jets fan seem to think it will will take $6M+ for Trouba. based on that can Barrie legitimately get 7M?
Why did he not Byfuglien? Is he claiming Trouba is due similar?
*note
I don’t have the time to read the article right now but will comment anyway. The comments you stated Overhardt said are pretty far off the mark. I can understand Trouba wants the money, and the club should want cost certainty too. The longer contract is not a thing. What is a problem are Overhardts comparables. First error: comparing a RFA with a UFA. The costs become very different when averaging out the AAV for a 7 year contract for RFA vs UFA. When the times come for Trouba to be UFA, he can use Byfuglien as a comparable. Second error: inferring Trouba is as good as Jones and further inferring he is better because of more experience. Last time I checked, Jones had slightly better stats and probably has the higher ceiling (from memory) . Comparable? Yes. Above what Jones is and therefore should have higher salary? No.
Trouba is slightly below Jones in value/ability but will earn his salary where the tax probably is higher. A compromise would be to get the same deal Jones signed for in Columbus, which would result in slightly lesser net income.
i think that youre missing the point guys, Overhardt doesnt seem to care about logical comparables.
http://www.sportsrumoralert.com/2014/09/a-brief-history-of-holdouts-by-kevin.html
The agent, who has represented players since 1992, is the founder and CEO of KO Sports, an agency that represents players like Kyle Turris, Brandon Dubinsky, and Ryan Johansen, to name a few.
In recent years, players represented by Overhardt have been part of notable player holdouts.
et’s compare our three situations. All three players are/were coming off of their Entry Level Contract, and each player had recorded career highs across the board. All three were supposed to be big pieces to their respective team’s success as well.
Both Dubinsky and Turris eventually got what they wanted monetarily, and in both cases were later shipped out of conference. since that article was written the same happened to johanssen.
Garth Snow makes no secret of the fact that the reason Nino Neiderreiter is no longer an Islander is that overhardt was filling Neiderreiters head with outrageous demands while Neiderreiter was still under contract for 2 years..
Personally I think based on his hitory Overhardt doesnt care if he has to ruin relationships between player and team if it means he can get the player more money. after all getting more money than other agents…..gets Overhardt more clients
It doesn’t matter who the GM is a team doesn’t trade a Seguin or Hamilton without consulting with the Hockey Operations President and/or ownership. Neely is in control and I bet he had a lot to do with those trades.
I am not defending the GM in Edmonton because we really don’t know the result of that trade. Bringing in Lucic and removing Hall will change the room but the question is good or bad? McClellan is a good coach but the players are accountable and they haven’t been put in a situation to succeed. Maybe this year we will see it?