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2015 NHL Offseason Thread


dlbalr

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Lou was cash strapped all those years. I give him full marks for staying relatively competitive,with his hands tied behind his back, as it were. I would expect him to do quite well in this market. Looking forward to a great rivalry.

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A better Leaf team might be more interesting to match up against for sure, but it is such a dysfunctional franchise and they will most likely shoot themselves in the foot somehow.

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A better Leaf team might be more interesting to match up against for sure, but it is such a dysfunctional franchise and they will most likely shoot themselves in the foot somehow.

They can't hold onto any temporary success. 92-93 and 93-94 were great years for the Leafs. Two years later, Pat Quinn is fired. Then Dryden comes in and rights the ship with Quinn. What happens? One weak year and suddenly Larry Tanenbaum abolishes Dryden's position, fires Quinn and sends the team into a downward spiral and completely erases 10 years of being a relatively competitive team.

2012-2013 they make the playoffs in a 48 game season. What do they do? Go absolutely crazy.

I'd prefer the Leafs, Bruins, Sens and future Nordiques fighting for 9th.

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They can't hold onto any temporary success. 92-93 and 93-94 were great years for the Leafs. Two years later, Pat Quinn is fired. Then Dryden comes in and rights the ship with Quinn. What happens? One weak year and suddenly Larry Tanenbaum abolishes Dryden's position, fires Quinn and sends the team into a downward spiral and completely erases 10 years of being a relatively competitive team.

2012-2013 they make the playoffs in a 48 game season. What do they do? Go absolutely crazy.

I'd prefer the Leafs, Bruins, Sens and future Nordiques fighting for 9th.

Totally agree...except maybe for Boston. I'd like to see them in the playoffs once in a while, given that I actually respect them as a franchise/opponent. The other three can blow away and die for all I care.

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Derek Stepan signs a six year, $39 million deal with the Rangers, avoiding arbitration. He has been a 45-55 point player for most of his career though he had high point-per-game averages in '12-13 and '14-15. Still, $6.5 M per is #1 line money and he hasn't shown he can be a front liner long-term. I think O'Reilly's deal in Buffalo influenced this a bit.

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Derek Stepan signs a six year, $39 million deal with the Rangers, avoiding arbitration. He has been a 45-55 point player for most of his career though he had high point-per-game averages in '12-13 and '14-15. Still, $6.5 M per is #1 line money and he hasn't shown he can be a front liner long-term. I think O'Reilly's deal in Buffalo influenced this a bit.

New York isn't particularly deep at centre either. To be fair to Stepan, he's only 25.

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Is there a pattern whereby senior UFAs (say, 28+) are finding the market dried up, but young veterans (guys around age 25 with a track record of being good) are getting overpaid? Just wondering.

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Guest Stogey24

Stepan is in my opinion one of the top underrated players in the NHL, all positions combined.

He's a solid all around player. I'd honestly pay him 6.5
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Hey, things are happening...

Pittsburgh trades Brandon Sutter and a 3rd rounder to Vancouver for Nick Bonino, Adam Clendening, and a 2nd rounder.

The Pens then signed Eric Fehr to a three year deal, at $2 M per year.

I have to admit, I don't get why Vancouver does this. Sutter makes more and is one year away from free agency while Bonino has two cheap years left on his deal. And they lose on the pick swap as well, plus a semi-decent young guy though Clendening is nothing special. I've had the sense that Vancouver isn't expected to contend this year yet this is a win-now move.

Pittsburgh is up near the cap but essentially traded Sutter for Bonino and Fehr (plus a pick upgrade) while adding only $600k on the cap, or basically the cost of a minimum salary roster filler. Not a bad day at the office for Jim Rutherford.

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Pit did ok in terms of salary, but in my opinion, Sutter is by far the best player in the deal including gthe UFA Fehr, so Vancouver got the best asset. Sutter is a good player, with heart out the ying yang...

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Van must feel that Sutter will become a legitimate top-6 centreman, and must have changed their minds about Bonino's capacity to do that after acquiring him with much hoo-haw as an underrated 2nd-line C last summer. In that sense they're actually fixing an earlier mistake (Bonino being pretty clearly better suited to a 3rd-line role). I'm not sure how much I'd trust Benning/Linden's judgement at this point.

In Pittsburgh's case, it seems to be a nice example of dealing from a position of strength (C ). Once they sold teams on the story that Sutter is a legitimate top-6 C being held back by Crosby and Malkin, they could trade him for a quality 3rd-line C, some cap savings, a potentially useful young defensive depth, and an upgrade at the draft table. Ironically, it's not completely unlike Jordon Staal trade that brought Sutter to the Pens in the first place.

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Hey, things are happening...

Pittsburgh trades Brandon Sutter and a 3rd rounder to Vancouver for Nick Bonino, Adam Clendening, and a 2nd rounder.

The Pens then signed Eric Fehr to a three year deal, at $2 M per year.

I have to admit, I don't get why Vancouver does this. Sutter makes more and is one year away from free agency while Bonino has two cheap years left on his deal. And they lose on the pick swap as well, plus a semi-decent young guy though Clendening is nothing special. I've had the sense that Vancouver isn't expected to contend this year yet this is a win-now move.

Pittsburgh is up near the cap but essentially traded Sutter for Bonino and Fehr (plus a pick upgrade) while adding only $600k on the cap, or basically the cost of a minimum salary roster filler. Not a bad day at the office for Jim Rutherford.

Maybe they see Sutter as long time asset in rebuild and plan to extend?

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On a completely different note Cunneyworth is now head coach of the Rochester Americans. Good to see that it might be turning around for him. I think he got the dirty end of the stick in Montreal. Never like to see a guy treated like that.

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We will wait and see, cause I think I have seen this picture show before. As I recall Burke was the big savior last time. Lots of high end management talent. But no winning on the ice, which of course is just fine with me. I hope they go another 45 years with no cup.

Having been born in 1967, I am getting ready to celebrate my own half-century, Canada's 150th and the Leaf's half century of futility. To the point, I am hoping that they manage another 52 years of Cup futility so we can celebrate our centennial and Canada's bicentennial together.

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Maybe they see Sutter as long time asset in rebuild and plan to extend?

They definitely do. Benning has said as much. They see Sutter as a "foundation piece" and want to extend his deal.

I suggested above that the Canucks were crossing their fingers on Sutter as a 2nd-line C, but this may have downplayed Bo Horvat's potential to become that. If Horvat is ready (and I notice the Canucks are being careful about not forcing him into that role too soon - I guess they don't read this board and its members' philosophy of throwing young players to the wolves), they'll look like this down the middle:

H. Sedin (35)

Bo Horvat (20)

Brandon Sutter (26)

Whoever

Assuming Horvat matures into a bona-fide top-6 C, which is a reasonable projection, that's actually not a bad configuration - definitely better than Montreal's. The problem is, unless Sutter blossoms into a 2nd-line C (which I doubt), they'll still need another top-6 within the next 2-3 years given the Sedins' advanced age.

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He still has one more year before he needs to sign (and with those numbers, he probably isn't signing nor is he worth trading for). Assuming he doesn't ink a deal with them, he'll be a UFA on August 15, 2016 and could fetch an AHL deal if the Habs wanted to bring him in.

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Guest Stogey24

He still has one more year before he needs to sign (and with those numbers, he probably isn't signing nor is he worth trading for). Assuming he doesn't ink a deal with them, he'll be a UFA on August 15, 2016 and could fetch an AHL deal if the Habs wanted to bring him in.

I didn't even know McCarron had a brother
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Former Hab Dainius Zubrus is on buyout waivers today (this is the window that opens up with arbitration filings). As a 35+ contract though, the cost is 100% and it's not deferred like a regular buyout. In order words, Zubrus gets his entirely salary not to play for the Devils next year.

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Well it looks like it is time for Dainus to pack up his bag take his millions and head to whoever will give him a contract in Europe or someplace. C Ya

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