2017 NHL Offseason

[BeerGuyJordan]

Assuming the Caps don't get gutted, too badly, this offseason, it could be an exciting game.

[CS85]

Rumor is that Blackhawks are on verge of major cap-relief trade, sending a non-Toews core player away.  

 

 

[Cosmic]

2 hours ago, CS85 said:

Rumor is that Blackhawks are on verge of major cap-relief trade, sending a non-Toews core player away.  

 

 

Your newest Phoenix Coyote... Marian Hossa? He stuck out to me, just because his cap hit is so much less than his actual salary right now ($5M vs. $1M). But that's an interesting rumor, because all of their core players have no-movement clauses.

[HedleyLamarr]

7 hours ago, Cosmic said:

Your newest Phoenix Coyote... Marian Hossa? He stuck out to me, just because his cap hit is so much less than his actual salary right now ($5M vs. $1M). But that's an interesting rumor, because all of their core players have no-movement clauses.

I was thinking Vegas, myself. 

 

The one thing that makes the Vegas expansion draft different than the NSH/ATL/MIN/CBJ expansion drafts is that Vegas has a salary basement to reach.  They're going to have to take on a couple big salaries if a bulk of their expansion picks are going to be used on cheaper players or players that'll be flipped for prospects.  And if I've completely understood all these expansion draft protect-vs-expose regulations correctly...Hossa would have to be one of the players automatically protected.  This would free up one of the protect spots for Chicago.  I could the trade being something like:

Chicago gets: 3rd-to-5th round draft pick, freed up protection spot, wink-wink agreement for Vegas to not take certain player(s) on exposed list.

Vegas gets: Hossa, late-round pick(s), and a prospect or two as a "thank you" for not taking certain player(s) in expansion draft & for opening up CHI's cap space

 

I said this months ago: There's going to be a few names on these exposed lists where fans and hockey folks will say "Holy crap, you're exposing him/them?! What are you thinking?!".  There's going to be so many under-the-table agreements between Vegas and these established teams about not taking these players that are exposed.  Also, once the exposed lists are made public, Vegas is going to be fielding calls from established teams about making deals if they take a certain player off another team's exposed list (For example, say the Ducks expose Silvferberg and the Sabres want him....Sabres tell Vegas they'll give the Golden Knights a couple good prospects if they take Silvferberg and flip him to Buffalo).

[Cosmic]

1 minute ago, HedleyLamarr said:

I was thinking Vegas, myself. 

 

The one thing that makes the Vegas expansion draft different than the NSH/ATL/MIN/CBJ expansion drafts is that Vegas has a salary basement to reach.  They're going to have to take on a couple big salaries if a bulk of their expansion picks are going to be used on cheaper players or players that'll be flipped for prospects.  And if I've completely understood all these expansion draft protect-vs-expose regulations correctly...Hossa would have to be one of the players automatically protected.  This would free up one of the protect spots for Chicago.  I could the trade being something like:

Chicago gets: 3rd-to-5th round draft pick, freed up protection spot, wink-wink agreement for Vegas to not take certain player(s) on exposed list.

Vegas gets: Hossa, late-round pick(s), and a prospect or two as a "thank you" for not taking certain player(s) in expansion draft & for opening up CHI's cap space

 

I said this months ago: There's going to be a few names on these exposed lists where fans and hockey folks will say "Holy crap, you're exposing him/them?! What are you thinking?!".  There's going to be so many under-the-table agreements between Vegas and these established teams about not taking these players that are exposed.  Also, once the exposed lists are made public, Vegas is going to be fielding calls from established teams about making deals if they take a certain player off another team's exposed list (For example, say the Ducks expose Silvferberg and the Sabres want him....Sabres tell Vegas they'll give the Golden Knights a couple good prospects if they take Silvferberg and flip him to Buffalo).

Even though I'm mad at Vegas for ripping off the Army's IP, this off-season is going to be really fun.

[The_Admiral]

Screwing with everyone's rosters in a league that struggles to market its talent, through both an expansion draft and a broken salary cap, is an odd concept of fun.

[Cosmic]

1 hour ago, the admiral said:

Screwing with everyone's rosters in a league that struggles to market its talent, through both an expansion draft and a broken salary cap, is an odd concept of fun.

Is the salary cap broken because the Blackhawks are going over it?

[The_Admiral]

Floor and ceiling are too close together, and 25% of revenue from a number of top earners disappears into thin air because of the exchange rate. Las Vegas is probably acquiring the ghost of David Clarkson from Columbus to hit the floor. System's great!

[Cosmic]

49 minutes ago, the admiral said:

Floor and ceiling are too close together, and 25% of revenue from a number of top earners disappears into thin air because of the exchange rate. Las Vegas is probably acquiring the ghost of David Clarkson from Columbus to hit the floor. System's great!

I'll admit I was surprised at how close the floor and ceiling were (at least 4ish years ago). I don't know how you would work around the exchange rate? Let's let ridiculous things actually happen before we hold it against the salary cap... like Chris Pronger as a Coyote. I still prefer the NHL system over others; NFL contracts don't mean anything.

[The_Admiral]

Widening the floor and ceiling would paper over most of the exchange-rate issues and correct for hockey's inherent randomness. The reality of the NHL is that it will always have the biggest disparity between haves and have-nots, and while this in part requires the central planning of a salary cap to ensure a competitive league, it also requires allowing for low-revenue teams to be low-expense teams when necessary. The big teams can be allowed to take on more payroll; dumb crap will still make them lose winnable games and they'll pocket a ton of money anyway. The floor circumvention with the Coyotes is a joke. 

 

There should be more little tweaks, like cap-exempting one drafted/developed guy per team, decreasing the dead cap space on burials, or dispensing with the charade of LTIRetirement, but widening the range from $16 million to something like $28 million would cover a multitude of sins.

[Cosmic]

Sabres hire Rick Tocchet in 3... 2... 1...

[habsfan1]

So there's gonna talk about a transaction here, a transaction there. But the only real question that matters is.....is their any stopping the Pittsburgh Penguins??

[JayMac]

We say that the Penguins are unstoppable right now but a lot can happen in an 82 game season and playoffs.

[BeerGuyJordan]

6 hours ago, habsfan1 said:

So there's gonna talk about a transaction here, a transaction there. But the only real question that matters is.....is their any stopping the Pittsburgh Penguins??

This might be petty of me, but I kind of hope Fleury digs his heel in and causes as much mayhem, as possible, to the Penguins.

[HedleyLamarr]

I forget that Murray is still a rookie, so the Penguins won't lose either to the expansion draft.  And I assume Murray is on a cheap deal, so it doesn't make much sense to have to part with either one unless they get a great deal thrown their way.

[HedleyLamarr]

30 minutes ago, HedleyLamarr said:

I forget that Murray is still a rookie, so the Penguins won't lose either to the expansion draft.  And I assume Murray is on a cheap deal, so it doesn't make much sense to have to part with either one unless they get a great deal thrown their way.

Ok, so maybe Murray is eligible to be part of the expansion draft.  Fleury has agreed to waive his no-movement clause, so he'll be exposed in the expansion draft. 

 

So Fleury will likely be taken in the draft.  Vegas can flip him to another team, and Fleury did enough during these playoffs to get some teams excited about acquiring his services.

[Kramerica Industries]

12 hours ago, habsfan1 said:

So there's gonna talk about a transaction here, a transaction there. But the only real question that matters is.....is their any stopping the Pittsburgh Penguins??

 

Eliminating coaches challenge for offside review.

 

No I'm not bitter.

[KittSmith_95]

If I'm Vegas, I'm hurting the Penguins by not taking Fleury & selecting someone else that is exposed. Let the goalie battle consume while you take in a young upcomer & a guy like.... I dunno, Eddie Lack as your starter.

 

 

[HedleyLamarr]

1 hour ago, KittSmith_95 said:

If I'm Vegas, I'm hurting the Penguins by not taking Fleury & selecting someone else that is exposed. Let the goalie battle consume while you take in a young upcomer & a guy like.... I dunno, Eddie Lack as your starter.

If a team has a young goalie they like, he's going to be protected, in all probability.

 

Fleury is likely going to be the best goalie available, and I think Vegas has to take three goalies.  A bulk of the goalies that'll be unprotected will be the likes of Kari Lehtonen, Ondrej Pababib, Al Montoya, etc.  I've long maintained that Pavelic would be the ideal candidate to be Vegas's starting goalie in their first game because he's competent enough, makes decent enough money (Vegas has a salary basement to reach), and Winnipeg is looking to get rid of him for younger goalies.

 

I'm guessing two of the goalies Vegas takes are Fleury (to flip to someone else) and Grubhauer from the Capitals.  (Maybe their third goalie comes from Vancouver?  I think Miller has a NMC and Markstrom would be intriguing, assuming no wink-wink deal between Vegas and Vancouver.)

[Crabcake]

I'm pretty sure the Caps will be leaving Phillip Grubauer unprotected.  The Caps have way too many skaters that are far more valuable to the team than Grubauer to leave them unprotected.  Grubauer is young and has proven he can succeed when called upon.  He could be Vegas' netminder for years IMO.