July NHL News- Draft and Free Agency Frenzy

burstnbloom

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 12, 2005
2,761
That Trocheck deal strikes me as super bad, especially compared to the Copp deal, who is way better.
 

TheAOE

New Member
Jul 15, 2005
100
Jan Rutta to Penguins (3-year, $8.25 million)

That was (at least for me) one of my Bruin hopefuls.
 

burstnbloom

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 12, 2005
2,761
I think all of those contracts in Tampa are overpays, tbh. The Deslauriers and Gundbrandson deals stick out as the worst ones of the day so far. At some point, GMs will learn, right? RIGHT?
 

cshea

Member
SoSH Member
Nov 15, 2006
36,047
306, row 14
I think the Flyers look like the biggest dolts of the day. Johnny Gaudreau is begging to join them, but they decided that Tony DeAngelo, Justin Braun and Nic Deslauriers were a better use of resources.

They also won't trade a pick to unload JvR to accomodate Gaudreau. This a year after trading two 1sts for Rasmus Ristolainen (and extending him!)
 

cshea

Member
SoSH Member
Nov 15, 2006
36,047
306, row 14
He left like $15 million on the table to go from Calgary to Columbus. Columbia is closer to Jersey than Calgary obviously but it’s not all that close. Weird all around.

CBJ also needs to trade dudes to sign Laine. That Hudbransom deal is really bizarre now.
 

Fred in Lynn

Member
SoSH Member
Jan 3, 2013
4,905
Not Lynn (or Ocean Side)
I think the Flyers look like the biggest dolts of the day. Johnny Gaudreau is begging to join them, but they decided that Tony DeAngelo, Justin Braun and Nic Deslauriers were a better use of resources.

They also won't trade a pick to unload JvR to accomodate Gaudreau. This a year after trading two 1sts for Rasmus Ristolainen (and extending him!)
Hold on. It was a first last year (14th overall), a second, and Robert Hagg. Plus, Fletcher had to send a second this year (36th overall) and a seventh just so Phoenix would take Gostisbehere so he had money to sign Ristolainen to a five-year deal because the fallacy of sunk costs is for suckers. Not two firsts, although to be fair, the pick sent to Phoenix was almost a first. Also, you forgot Kevin Connoauton or however you spell “9th defenseman” in the list of players signed not named Gaudreau.

This multi-year run by Fletcher in correcting all the mistakes made by Hextall (such as creating cap space and valuing draft picks as assets) has been a master class in how to blow up a franchise.
 

Zososoxfan

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 30, 2009
9,209
South of North
The cap is there to create parity. But the structure the Lightning front office creates in building its contracts and the trust it forms with its players to know their payday will come are key to fielding the best roster while staying under the cap.

There are certainly hard decisions along the way. The Lightning had to say goodbye to longtime fixture Ondrej Palat as free agency opened, and earlier this month traded away a veteran leader and top defender in Ryan McDonagh to create cap space.

But that allowed the team to keep their top 25-and-under core players — Sergachev, center Anthony Cirelli and defenseman Erik Cernak — in Lightning uniforms into the next decade as the team invested a total of nearly $160 million into eight-year extensions for all three players.
...
The three were scheduled to become restricted free agents after next season, but instead they will be signed through 2030-31.

The Lightning’s formula of keeping their star players long term through their prime years involves signing club-friendly three-year bridge deals with the understanding that they will cash in during their next negotiation.

Before this cycle that will pay Sergachev $68 million (on a $8.5 million average annual value that will make him the team’s highest-paid defenseman), Cirelli $50 million (a $6.25 million AAV) and Cernak $41.6 million (a $5.2 million AAV), the trio saw several of their veteran teammates go through the same process.

“The other guys have gone through it,” Cirelli said. “So I think it’s a process and it was nice to get to this point.”

Whether it was Steven Stamkos and Victor Hedman or Nikita Kucherov and Andrei Vasilevskiy or most recently Brayden Point (who signed an eight-year, $76 million extension last offseason that kicks in this coming season), they were all rewarded with hefty eight-year extensions following the bridge contracts.
https://www.tampabay.com/sports/lightning/2022/07/13/lightning-sign-sergachev-cirelli-cernak-to-eight-year-extensions/
 

Sandwich Pick

Member
SoSH Member
Sep 9, 2017
701
Hold on. It was a first last year (14th overall), a second, and Robert Hagg. Plus, Fletcher had to send a second this year (36th overall) and a seventh just so Phoenix would take Gostisbehere so he had money to sign Ristolainen to a five-year deal because the fallacy of sunk costs is for suckers. Not two firsts, although to be fair, the pick sent to Phoenix was almost a first. Also, you forgot Kevin Connoauton or however you spell “9th defenseman” in the list of players signed not named Gaudreau.

This multi-year run by Fletcher in correcting all the mistakes made by Hextall (such as creating cap space and valuing draft picks as assets) has been a master class in how to blow up a franchise.
To be fair, Hextall showed little ability to acquire talent at the NHL level. And the Hakstol hire, which was seen to be an out-of-the-box move, was undermined by the fact that Hakstol coached his son at UND.

EDIT: I forgot to include that they completely wasted Claude Giroux's prime during his tenure.

Nepotism and legacy plagues that franchise, which is likely why Chuck Fletcher was so appealing to them.
 
Last edited:

Fred in Lynn

Member
SoSH Member
Jan 3, 2013
4,905
Not Lynn (or Ocean Side)
To be fair, Hextall showed little ability to acquire talent at the NHL level. And the Hakstol hire, which was seen to be an out-of-the-box move, was undermined by the fact that Hakstol coached his son at UND.

EDIT: I forgot to include that they completely wasted Claude Giroux's prime during his tenure.

Nepotism and legacy plagues that franchise, which is likely why Chuck Fletcher was so appealing to them.
I don’t agree. Most franchises hire people that they are familiar with. The board doesn’t have enough space to describe the things hampering that organization, but any of Hextall’s shortcomings when he was GM are well down the list. When he was hired, he didn’t immediately use the UFA market to sign experienced players because that’s what he said he was going to do. Homer had crippled the club with his cap management. Hextall said he was going to turn attention to putting more value into drafting and improving their financial situation. Upper management got tired of waiting. The point I made was that when Fletcher was hired, Hextall left him with $9M in cap space at the 50 contract max, which included the JVR signing, had their full allotment of draft picks plus some in every year he was there, and didn’t have any albatross contracts. Chuck has blown through that cap space and is right now in the red at 41 contracts. He’s wasted draft picks on questionable players (in most every case, I’m being generous in my characterization). They are sick with bad contracts and too many replacement-level or worse players. It’s a total train wreck. Their problem is that Chuck Fletcher is their GM and his bosses up to Dave Scott are complicit in burning the thing down.
 

cshea

Member
SoSH Member
Nov 15, 2006
36,047
306, row 14
Lot's and lots of smoke around Matthew Tkachuk in Calgary. Pending RFA with a $9 million QO. The Flames elected to file for arbitration on him, which they explained as removing the threat of an offer sheet while they work towards a long term agreement.

If he does actually get to arbitration, it's basically a 1-year deal that walks him to free agency next season. Lots of chatter that a trade is possible, if not imminent.
 

GB5

New Member
Aug 26, 2013
675
He is going to be traded in the next week from everything I have read.
 

TSC

SoSH's Doug Neidermeyer
SoSH Member
Oct 25, 2007
12,280
Between here and everywhere.
I fully understand that there is almost no way the Bruins could make it work.

But it won't stop me from dreaming. Marchand and Tkachuk on the same team would make the Bruins just a complete heel.

But considering his age (not yet 25) - I would defintely not think twice about including Lysell, Harrison, or Merkulov in the deal.