krsmith17

Well there's one thing I'm very confident in, and that's that there is zero chance Holland would trade away any of those guys to get rid of Datsyuk's contract for one season... I highly doubt that any team seriously expects to get those types of player in the trade, but of course they're going to start (ridiculously) high. In the end, I do think Datsyuk gets traded for a very fair deal. Something along the lines of Datsyuk, Pulkkinen and a 5th to a low budget team for a 3rd...

I think McLeod is that player that would be considered too good to pass up if he slides to us. I just hope one of McLeod or Bean are available at 16. Chychrun has slid a lot, but unfortunately I don't see him sliding to 16. Johansen has been my guy for the 2nd round for a couple months now, but he's been rising fast. He could potentially be a late 1st rounder, or early 2nd at worst. I'd like to put together a package that would get us an early 2nd rounder to land him if he's still on the board, but I don't see Holland making it happen...

Who is asking for those players? Link?

If Buffalo offers $12M, they can have him... F*** that!

Yeah, I really can't see it being anyone other than Abdelkader...

I'd love to land Bean in the 1st, but my target is McLeod if he drops... 1A - McLeod, 1B - Bean, 1C - Jones, 1D - Gauthier What would we be able to get with Pulkkinen and our 2017 3rd round pick in this years draft? Maybe a mid 2nd?

Rangers trade D Keith Yandle to Panthers for 6th-rd pick & additional conditional pick if he signs.

Sabres acquire rights to F Jimmy Vesey from Preds for 2016 3rd-rd pick. Leafs have acquired G Frederik Andersen from Anaheim for the 30th pick in the 2016 NHL Draft & a 2nd round pick in 2017.

Coyotes acquire 2016 fourth-round pick and 2017 third-round pick from Sharks for center Max Letunov and 2017 sixth-round pick.

Franzen will likely remain on LTIR for the duration of his career (4 more seasons...).

Well said PVD. Pretty much exactly how I feel about the whole situation as well. The main reason I would want Pav's contract moved isn't because I think we would land Stamkos, and it certainly isn't that it would leave the team cash strapped for one season. As much as I would love to have Stamkos on this team, there are three or four other teams that have just as good or better shot at landing him, and other than him, there's not really any big named UFA's that would cost that kind of money anyway. The reason I want that contact traded is more to do with the backlash from fans if we're unable to move it. People are only now starting to come around on the whole Fedorov situation, it would take just as long or longer for people to forgive Pav for something I don't really believe should be entirely on him...

Dabura, I find it funny that you left out over half of my post. How about you acknowledge the most important part, all the other teams that are able to trade just as bad or worse players. Other teams can but we can't right? Got it... Ericsson is not worse than Ladislav Smid but the Oilers of all teams were able to trade a similar contract to Calgary three years ago...

It's because Matthews is going to be like Toews with more offensive upside, Marner is going to be as good or better than Kane, Nylander is going to be like a young Hossa, Rielly is already comparable to Keith... That's not to mention all these other studs like Gauthier, Leipsic, Brown, Kapanen, Soshnikov, Percy, Dermott and Harrington, to go along with a great veteran core of Van Riemsdyk, Kadri and Bozak... Meanwhile, the Wings have a lot of unproven talent that likely won't ever reach their potential... Larkin started out hot and then faded. I mean what rookie does that in their first season pro coming from college. What a chump. Athanasiou has speed but likely won't ever be anything more than a Helm with hands. And we know how much Helm sucks. Mantha is lazy and won't amount to s***. Svechnikov is another Russian that will probably fade out and head back to Russia. Sproul and Ouellet haven't made the NHL yet so they obviously suck. Nyquist and Tatar are soft Euros that will never get it done in the playoffs. Jurco and Pulkkinen aren't even NHL calibre players. Smith is dumb. Mrazek hasn't proven s*** and will likely amount to nothing...

capgeek.com was definitely the best, but capfriendly.com and generalfanager.com are both pretty good too. They're my go-to's for contract and cap information now...

Dickie, read my post above about Smid and Gudbranson. There are always teams willing to pay, even sometimes overpay for mediocre players. Other teams can pull it off but for some reason it's impossible for us? I don't buy that... Do you think Clayton Stoner is tradeable? I do. I would even if he had a few years remaining on that contract, and he's just as bad or worse than Ericsson...

I agree that $10.5M would be a little too high, ideally we'd be able to get him signed for around $9.5M. I really think this next year should be a year we should just try and stay afloat. We're nearing the end of this transition period and while things may look a little bleak at the moment, I truly believe this team is ready for a huge upswing in the next year - year and a half. If we can get rid of a couple bad contracts (Datsyuk, Ericsson, Howard) and keep most of our higher end players / prospects in the next year and still make the playoffs, I think it would be a huge success. Then if we can acquire a number one defenseman, and possibly even a number one center in that time frame, there's no question we'll be legit contenders for the opening of the LC Arena... Of course that's a lot of things that would need to go right, but it's very doable...

Like I said, I wouldn't want to trade Bertuzzi either, all I'm saying is he's not untouchable. I love the kid, and he's been a playoff beast, even before Grand Rapids when he played in Guelph. That Memorial Cup run was his coming out party and he hasn't slowed down since.

Dickie, when did I say we shouldn't do what we can to land Stamkos? I said Zetterberg isn't a top line center anymore and Larkin isn't there yet. I said Stamkos is the only number one center available through free agency, and we should go after him. Trading Datsyuk's contract is not the only way to do that though. There are other options we could explore, like trading Howard and Ericsson... I do think we will end up trading Pav's contract, but hopefully we're able to trade one or both of those guys as well... I do want to keep Bertuzzi but he's far from untouchable, especially with the trade bringing in Sadowy. Both are projected to be bottom 6 agitators that can play a bit of a nasty game and produce some points...

Unfortunately, aside from Stamkos there aren't any viable options for a number one center via free agency. We could always elect to go the trade route, but if we're giving up high end assets to trade for a top level player, I'd much prefer it to be a number one defenseman than number one center, although both are a fairly significant need... I don't think Larkin is quite ready to be a number one center, and I don't think Zetterberg has it in him anymore. Ideally Larkin is our number two center and Zetterberg flanks him on the wing or third line center. However, I'm not convinced that Holland and Blashill don't see Hank still as a capable number one, which is kind of scary...

Like Euro_Twins eluded to, for whatever reason, there's this notion that every other team's kids are a sure thing, but ours are all question marks... There's also a belief that we have all these "unmoveable contracts", but the same people are continuously surprised when teams around the league trade the same type of "s***ty players"... Ericsson is a very serviceable 2nd / 3rd at worst defenseman in the NHL. It's not his fault our defense has been terrible for the past few years and he's been forced into a role above his talent level. $3.25M is a very reasonable cap hit for a player like Ericsson. Look at Ladislav Smid, a similar player with a slightly higher cap hit, he was traded from Edmonton to Calgary along with a low end prospect for two low end prospects... Just a couple weeks ago Florida traded Erik Gudbranson, another similar type player, albeit younger and shorter term, along with a 5th round pick to Vancouver for a high end prospect, a 2nd and a 4th... of course there's only one year remaining on his deal, but that was a huge return for an average at best defenseman regardless... There's absolutely no reason to believe that we couldn't trade Ericsson ($1M retained) along with a Pulkkinen or Frk to a team for a low pick or prospect... I'd love to have Stamkos and like I said, trading Pav's contract would help a lot in terms of freeing up cap space, but it's not the only solution to the problem. As for Backes, he's going to be massively overpaid. I agree on playing the kids.

I agree marc, everyone that keeps comparing our situation with Datsyuk to Chicago's with Bickell is very frustrating. The two are not at all the same. Of course Carolina are going to want something substantial in return for taking his cap hit AND having to pay the remaining year salary. With Datsyuk there is no salary attached, so I do think one of the cap floor teams will take it, and for a reasonable price. Not giving up two top 6 forwards, a solid prospect and a pick haha.

NerveDamage, yes I do believe it's possible to sign Stamkos without trading Datsyuk's contract. There are always other options, but of course ridding ourselves of that dead cap space would be the easiest route. If we can't trade the contract though, it is very possible to trade Ericsson and Howard and still be able to go after the biggest UFA fish. As I've said before, Howard to a team like Calgary for a mid round pick and Ericsson to a team like Edmonton ($1M retained) for a mid to late round pick... Those two moves alone would give us $8.5M in cap space, along with the few million we'll have after we sign our remaining RFA's. As for Helm, he's the only UFA's that I'd personally like back, and if we can sign him for under $3M, that would be great. I'd have one of Helm or Sheahan as our 3rd line center, depending on what our overall roster looks like come October...

1.) You're right, I don't know s***, except that Helm is one of the best bottom 6 forwards in the league, and Nyquist and Tatar are very good secondary scorers. And also that Holland does NOT "need" to move Datsyuk's contract, and won't unless it's a fair deal. 2.) Nope, you didn't say it once. You said it at least twice in the past few hours in this very thread... "We need the cap for free agency and teams like NJ or Arizona know that". "Listen, they're gonna want a lot knowing that the time ticks against us. We need the cap for Free Agency"...

poel, seriously stop with your s***! You have no idea what you're talking about... As has been pointed out several times by much more knowledgeable fans, we don't "need" the cap space. Sure, it would be nice if we could trade Pav's contract, but we're actually in good shape to be able to eat the hit for one season. Holland isn't going to trade the contract if he has to offload any high end prospects, let alone the ludicrous offer you just posted...

Zetterberg could also potentially go on LTIR for the remaining couple years if his back flares up again... I think Holland is playing the media to possibly lower other teams asking price. He doesn't need to trade this contract, and he's letting other teams know that, and that he's not giving up any high end assets to get a deal done. Regardless, I think Pav's contract gets moved in the next few days.