Guess the reports last weekend were true! Or they’re working on a deal and needed his money and/or roster spot.
I don't remember disliking a player as much as I disliked Ritchie. I'm happy to see him go. I think he would have gotten $3m+ in arb and he's not even close to worth that. He scored 7 goals because Marchand knew he could bank it off his ass and it would end up in the net.
I say think big and offer sheet Elias Pettersson, get your #1 center of the future and massively improve your second and 3rd lines today
I would love this but I just cant see Sweeney and Neely doing that to Benning. It also wouldn't get you the player. They have enough space to match anything the Bruins could responsibly offer, it would just make it hard on them to sign Hughes and the other guys.
Bingo.
Nope, the CBA doesn't allow for that. For Example, Seth Jones's hideous albatross contract doesnt start until July 1 next year. Charlie will likely get a $3-$4m raise this summer or sometime next year but they have $40m in present day cap space for next year. Shouldn't be an issue. I'm just worried that they overextend for the wrong guys and suck up a lot of that space for next year trying to improve this year. Such a difficult balancing act.
The Krejci deal is going to be a barometer of this. So far Sweeney has been pretty good about not over extending to keep declining players. His contract whiffs have all been outside UFA signings. He dodge the Lucic bullet, resisted extending Eriksson, didn't extend Krug, went year to year with Chara. If there's one area he's earned full trust from me it's the evaluation and contracts of his own players.
Krejci, Getzlaf, and Bergeron aren't exactly spring chickens. I imagine Cassidy would do well to spell them throughout the season. And Lazar can certainly always be sent to the 9th floor if Studnicka is playing well enough to supplant him.
Not had every contract expiring at the same time. Drafted better. Developed a stronger prospect pool.
It's really just Rask and Krejci coming off and those contracts were signed under Chiarelli. I don't think they've drafted poorly. The weak prospect pool is the result of being good and picking low each year plus trading picks and prospects on an annual basis for immediate help.
This is all well and good. There's no fucking plan though!
Actually, they did take a step forward on the getting younger front by trading for Hall, a player in his prime, and then resigning him. And locking up guys like Carlo and Pastrnak long term, and likely doing the same to McAvoy. They also developed Vladar and Swayman.
They sacrificed long term value to win while Bergeron/Marchand/Krejci/Tuukka's primes were overlapping McAvoy and Pasta's. I think they've been pretty transparent about that being the plan. It's usually impossible to get younger and better while staying one of the best teams in the league. Unless you're constantly ripping teams off or getting incredibly lucky. It's not going to be fun at all when Bergeron/Krejci are gone, there's really no avoiding that.
Looks like TB deployed him mostly as a wing - but he was a C his entire time in NJ.
If your "getting younger" scenario is trading for and signing a guy about to be in his 30s and resigning the few young guys already on your roster, then we haven't made much progress yeah?
