LeftWinger

So, if the draft were today (and we didn't get #1) we'd be hovering around #7, then Vegas' #29-ish then #34 and #38. Not too bad even if we didn't move anywhere: #7, 29 #34, 38, 53 (if Petr wins 6 PO games, gets to ECF) #69, 81, 84 (see below) #100, 115 (if Petr wins 5 and into playoffs will be #84)) #161, 162 #193 (McCullom is not going to get 20 minutes in 15 NHL games. We just don't have Holland's favorite 5th round choice! Honestly, with one of those 6th round picks or even the 7th, I'd give that Liam Kirk kid a go at the NHL! I hope someone gives him a chance, from what I understand, he has that work ethic that comes with always being considered the underdog. You can't teach that! If anything you know he'll be giving it his all, 100% of the time! While we're here, this is ISS top 31 for February: ISS HOCKEY TOP 31 - FEBRUARY RANKING 1 Rasmus Dahlin (D) Frölunda HC SHL 37 6 11 17 18 2 Andrei Svechnikov (RW) Barrie Colts OHL 37 32 24 56 54 3 Brady Tkachuk (C/LW) Boston Univ. NCAA 34 7 19 26 53 4 Filip Zadina (LW) Halifax Mooseheads QMJHL 50 39 32 71 32 5 Adam Boqvist (D) Brynäs IF J20 SuperElit 25 14 10 24 18 6 Evan Bouchard (D) London Knights OHL 60 21 56 77 46 7 Oliver Wahlstrom (C/RW) U.S. National U18 Team USDP 45 35 31 66 22 8 Quinn Hughes (D) Univ. of Michigan NCAA 32 4 21 25 20 9 Joseph Veleno (C) Drummondville Voltigeurs QMJHL 25 11 27 38 18 10 Noah Dobson (D) Acadie-Bathurst Titan QMJHL 60 14 45 59 48 11 Rasmus Kupari (C) Kärpät Liiga 35 6 6 12 8 12 Isac Lundeström (C/LW) Luleå HF SHL 38 6 9 15 10 13 Barrett Hayton (C) Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds OHL 57 20 34 54 30 14 Ty Smith (D) Spokane Chiefs WHL 61 13 55 68 24 15 Joel Farabee (LW) U.S. National U18 Team USDP 45 22 27 49 32 16 Bode Wilde (D) U.S. National U18 Team USDP 45 9 22 31 51 17 Jared McIsaac (D) Halifax Mooseheads QMJHL 59 8 35 43 75 18 Grigori Denisenko (LW) Loko Yaroslavl MHL 29 8 13 21 26 19 Ryan McLeod (C) Mississauga Steelheads OHL 61 19 40 59 24 20 Adam Samuelsson (D) U.S. National U18 Team USDP 45 4 14 18 53 21 Akil Thomas (C) Niagara IceDogs OHL 61 20 51 71 32 22 Martin Kaut (RW) HC Dynamo Pardubice Czech 37 9 7 16 14 23 Alexander Alexeyev (D) Red Deer Rebels WHL 45 7 30 37 29 24 Serron Noel (RW) Oshawa Generals OHL 55 25 19 44 57 25 Benoit-Olivier Groulx (C) Halifax Mooseheads QMJHL 61 24 25 49 92 26 Jonny Tychonick (D) Penticton Vees BCHL 48 9 38 47 34 27 Jesperi Kotkaniemi (C) Ässät Liiga 53 8 18 26 18 28 Jacob Bernard-Docker (D) Okotoks Oilers AJHL 47 20 20 40 32 29 Adam Ginning (D) Linköping HC SHL 24 0 1 1 10 30 Dominik Bokk (RW) Växjö Lakers HC J20 SuperElit 33 14 26 40 10 31 Jacob Olofsson (C) Timrå IK Allsvenskan 42 9 11 20 10

Not sure where the cap relief would come from though, Howard and Nyquist just may be a couple of nice chips to sell at the next TDL. Especially if one of our young G's take the next step forward. He'd have to trade another player with term, which really would only be Helm or Dekeyser that would help us with significant Cap relief. I don't think anyone would take Abby's contract. Maybe Nielsen, he has a MNTC starting next season, but they ALL pretty much control where they end up, if anywhere.

If Mike re-signs for $4M or less, he will finish his career in the Winged Wheel. We really need to shed more cap though. Especially trying to foreshadow what our young guns are going to get.

We basically have three 1st round picks with OTT's. The way they are headed, it be the #32 overall! There are so many talents to choose from between 25-40. If we get $5, then our 2nd will be #36. If we go D with our #1 - Boqvist FWD with out #1 - Tkachuk VEG's pick - Noel is one of my favs, as a FWD and Mattias Samuelsson as a D,although he has dropped a bit towards the 2nd round. but you also have McLeod, Woo, McIsaac, Denisenko and keep a look at K'Andre Miller. If we came out of the first two rounds with: Boqvist, Noel, McIsaac and Denisenko, that would be a haul! But since this is a 1st round thread, again I will go with: if D- Boqvist if FWD - Tkachuk then if D - McIsaac if FWD - Noel

JEff Blashill coached team: Battle hard for over half the period to get that first goal of the game! :64 seconds later, losing 2-1. Tank for Dahlin, who you jut won't get. There is no way the NHL gives Detroit the #1 overall pick. ...plus Average jimmy. Had to put that in there.

They better clear some cap then. The only UFA that was signed was Green on my roster. Odds are, he will be back, everyone else is already there. I am still holding out hope that the three young guns take a lessor contract, but I was just trying to be reasonable.

Here is something what could pretty realistic IMO, but it only gives up $3.6-ish in cap space, so no JT. ...and this is IF the cap goes up to $79M. Still no guarantee that'll happen.

Not taking anyting away from Larkin, Mantha or AA, but leading this team in scoring is not a huge feat. I hope that they re-sign at a reasonable rate. I think my original guess of $3.5M seems too low now after loking around at other comparable scorers coming of/or just came off ELC's, so I hope we can keep it mid-range. Even with $22M+ available if we give those three $6M-$8M respectively, and Green $4M-$5M, we'd be right back on top of the cap list, with the same team...worse without Mrazek and Tatar actually...

I thought the Pens were controlled by the American Diving Association? I miss the days when we were the Russian Mafia! Red Army, KGB, we had the REAL bad assess, not the pansy Russian Federation guys....

Ya, he's a great player in Juniors, we will see what happens in the Bigs. Would've been nice to have him, but oh well. We didn't get the chance to draft him, and he wasn't a top 10 (neither was Ras, but meh) so Holland probably didn't even look at him before the 2nd. if at all, then it was too late...

Plus its fun to talk about! I tried to make up a Michigan Mafia, we lost Drew Miller, but we gained Witkowski and Booth. Dekeyser Larkin Abdelkader Glendening Witkowski Booth Coach Blashill ...pretty good contingent. Plus Larkin is pegged to be the new Don. members by association: Coreau - North Mich Univ. Daley - Sault St. Marie Greyhounds - technically in Ontario, but a bridge away.

Still hoping that one of our 3 picks from 24-40 is Serron Noel. There are so many quality players in this range, I believe we are going to have 3 very good picks either way!

I honestly think I need a huge break from everything...somethings wrong.

I really cannot believe Buffalo gave Eichel that extension! $10M cap hit? Seriously? This does not bode well for us! There goes our cap space. Using that example, I see both Larkin and Mantha 8x8. AA 3yrs x $5M minimum. There goes any hope of attracting a UFA. Green may even be out of reach. Ugh, these GM's, isn't this why we had the first lockout?

I just think that none of them want to be stuck in a long contract making less than they should. Signing Larkin for 8 years at $5M seems high now for his first deal after his ELC, and in 4 years when he is (projecting here) scoring 70-90 points per season, it will be a steal. BUT if he feels he may get to that level in 4 years, would he sign that deal or only do a 3 year in hopes that he is netting 70-90 by then and he could actually get upwards of $9M, on the low side. Especially the way contracts are now for 80 point players. I would think same would apply to Mantha and AA. Sure they'd want a fair amount now, but would they want that same amount 6 years from now? I think they'd take the lessor bridge deal and then get PAID come 3 years from July! I think the modest bridge deal is a win win for both player and management.

Think about this, we get him for a modest ransom, at the draft, he is under contract for a year, if for some reason the GM doesn't get a good feeling of being able to re-sign him, imagine the return WE'D get come TDL 2019 for Erik Karlsson!

Granted AA is not on an ELC, this one year deal could be considered a bridge, but he really isn't doing much better than last season, so I really cannot see him justifying anything more than he wanted then, which was rumored to be around $3.5M. He is putting up similar #'s to Gus, so maybe he gets past $4M, but I hope they all get around $3.5M for 3 years.

Yes, but he is coming off an ELC, that does make a difference. I know he is leading the team in scoring, but unless you are the Edmonton Oilers, most teams don't hand out huge deals right after the ELC. McDavid and Mathews are the exception to that rule. I still think Edmonton blew their load too early giving McDavid $12.5M AAV. With all those $6M+ players and $4M+ D-men next year they only have $12M cap available with only 15 players signed. It's no wonder they are trying to dump RNH. He was another on that went from a sub-$1M ELC to $6M. Edmonton has horrible management! You have to have bridge deals, that way you aren't forced to dump these players before their prime! To continue on the Oilers, there is no way Draisaitl should've gone from $925K to $8.5M! I don't care how good he did last year, they all benefited from McDavid and Lucic. What are they going to give Nurse? He is an RFA this summer. They gave Klefbom $4.1M after his ELC, so I imagine Nurse will get similar or more. They are going to be in cap hell next season. I'll bring the popcorn! I am glad Holland hasn't done this.

...and it is also very important to say again, the TSN guys said that EK's value was at its highest yesterday, because a team would actually get TWO playoff years with him. Ottawa still may ask for a King's ransom, but they won't get as much as they could've gotten yesterday. Also that whole Bobby Ryan thing, that really put a monkey wrench in the whole thing! And will continue to!

...as much as I dislike Nyquist, I really don't think he is considered spare parts. He should have just as much value in return as Tatar did, maybe a bit less considering a last minute TDL offer from VGK. Cholowski is a top prospect and TWO 1sts, one in the 20's in this years very deep draft and one quite possibly a lottery in 2020 is nothing to snub your nose at. Plus a couple of extra picks to sweetin it up. But again, I think there is no way Holland would want to pick up Ryan's contract with it, so I do think a trade is out of the question.

One year prior to becoming a UFA if you are the team that owns him. Example, Last July 1,2017, Cam Fowler signed a contract extension to take affect starting July 1 2018. Even though he had one full year left on his previous contract. So if someone traded for EK at the draft or June 30th, 2018, they could negotiate and come July 1 2018, he could sign an 8 year extension to take affect July 1 2019.The negative possible impact, is a player having a career ending injury (or incurable one like Franzen) during his last year of previous contract. Now the team is on the books with him for the next 8 years with the hefty cap hit!

Unfortunately, we have to remember than Melnyk will want whoever gets EK to also take Bobby Ryan's contract. So that will be a big huge sticking point. Karlsson may end up in Arizona because they could afford to pick up both contracts. But who would they send back. I still don't think they'd send back two consecutive lottery picks, but 2 1st's, Domi, Chychrun, and a couple of more picks. They would sure have a pretty good Swedish D-Line with Karlsson, OEL and Hjalmarsson back there.

And even the Insiders on TSN all agree that his value was its highest yesterday, because a team would get TWO playoff runs with him. Trade for him at the draft and you're only guaranteed one year with him, a teams like Tampa and Vegas are now out because they already gave up a ton for who they acquired. They still won't want to pillage their NHL rosters, any other Cup contender would feel the same. So really, Ottawa is looking at just getting picks/prospects from any team like those. Any other team who can give up roster players may not have the chance to re-sign him after one year. I believe that there may be 2-3 teams that have a good shot at re-signing him if they trade for him, and we are surely near the top of that considering his relationship with The Don and the cap space we will have available to do so.

Well, IMO, even EK is NOT worth giving up two lottery picks PLUS Larkin and high 2nds. I am not so sure than any team would give up TWO lottery picks plus the rest. 2020 1st could still be a lottery for us, plus the 20-31st pick this year is a very good pick in a deep draft. Cholowski is a 1st round pick, plus he is considered a top prospect, the 3rd and 4th extras. The sticking point is the roster player, I am sure Nyquist would not waive to got to Ottawa, but there is nobody else they'd want or I'd offer along with 2 great 1st round picks.

I like it! That'd be even better! Especially if Holland(or whomever is GM, it'll prolly be Holland) sits down and says, "hey we are going to try and acquire Karlsson PLUS we could very well put a great offer in for Tavares. What is your bottom line to come back if we land Karlsson at the draft?"