Free agent frenzy starts at noon!!!! The Habs made a big push for Looch but now it looks like he’s going to the Oilers. Radulov was going to stay in the KHL but then he was going to the Wings but now he’s going to the Habs. Tyson Barrie may or may not be going to Edmonton and then Wiericoch might go to Colorado. Jason Demers was going to go to Edmonton but now Edmonton is waiting to see what’s up with Barrie first. The LouiTracker 5000 strongly indicates he’s going to the Canucks. Detroit is in on Matt Lorito. I have no idea who that is.
TSN’s staff Twitter feed is here. Elliotte Friedman’s feed is here. Trolls are everywhere! Be safe!
Suck it, Haggs!
They can’t. Don’t control their own 2nd or 3rd. Only option is going lower end or nuclear and giving up 4 firsts
Haggs was claiming the Bruins were preparing for the nuclear option:
http://www.csnne.com/boston-bruins/Source-Boston-Bruins-preparing-offer-sheet-for-Winnipeg-Jets-D-man-Jacob-Trouba
Haggs is a bloody idiot. Anyone who would give 4 1sts for a guy like Trouba? Gimme a break. Maybe a McDavid level guy but Trouba?
Exactly. It’d have to be a game breaking RFA, no less.
Not only four 1sts – it would have to be a contract of at least $7mil/yr for 7 years. Idiocy.
Yeah, total insanity.
Not true. Could be a 1 year 9m. Otherwise you’re pretty accurate
Ah yeah, I suppose there’s that.
Was listening to Kirk/Dom/Duthie podcast. Two things came up
– rumor has it that Sweeney tried to deal down the 29th pick for his own 2nd/3rd back to allow offer sheeting.
– using nuclear offer sheet for 1 yr deal at ~$9M would require WPG/whoever to match at that rate for the remaining 3 years, so was a useful tactic to force them to the negotiating table.
Hard to do since 2 was with NJ and 3 with Philly
It wasn’t explicitly stated, so I assumed they were talking one or the other which would get them either $1.8M-$3.6M (2nd rd pick) offer capability or $3.6M-$5.5M (1st+3rd rd pick).
It still sounded a bit hard to pull off.
Gotcha. Really the only offer sheet that made sense was Seth Jones with how strapped CB is. Anyone else would match reasonable offers
So, the more I think about it, this could be interesting:
Beleskey – Krejci – Backes
Marchand – Bergeron – Pastrnak
Kelly – Spooner – Hayes
Vatrano – Acciari – ??? (Nash/Randell/whatevs)
…That’s a decent crew for forwards.
I edited and now that’s spaced all dumb. WHY?
Looks normal to me. Try refreshing your window.
A ton is gonna depend on whether any of our prospects are ready for NHL duty. I wouldn’t rule out Senyshyn making the roster, even if the odds aren’t great.
Gabrielle had himself a hell of a year as well, 40 goals in a very defensive WHL. Hmm.
Ah yeah, forgot about that kid.
pshhh…way to just ignore my lineup post .. :p
Well, a good sign is that Sweeney called Backes a C/RW?
https://twitter.com/dj_bean/status/749000331279859713
Only way it makes sense besides trade. You can’t have 6m on your third line.
If the price is right, I’m more than OK with this. With Loui gone, we’re going to need Kelly’s defensive smarts.
On the cheap, most certainly. Third line of Kelly, Spooner, and Hayes? OK.
Not sure he’s good enough for 3rd anymore…
OK, so you swap him with Vatrano.
Works for me. Him or Nash. Have no issue with Kelly on 4th line and PK, assuming it’s cheap
KHUDOBIN IS A BRUIN AGAIN!
Tyler Randell signing slipped under my radar. I like him as 12th/13th forward.
Hell of a shot percentage, too!
I liked what I saw of him last year as well.
Good to see Tommy Cross returning. Good veteran presence for the P’s.
He went to my Highschool…yay.
It’s good that they re-signed Krug & Liles (& Cross, I guess – don’t follow what goes on in PVD very closely), but I still want to see them do more to shore up the D.
Agreed. Though the confusion over Liles/Backes term nearly killed me. I was ecstatic when it was reported they got Backes on a one year deal. Then it all fell apart…
Really odd. Why not just re-up Loui if you’re gonna do Backes?
Agreed. Drastically different styles, I get that. But if anything, Loui’s game ages better. A smarter style that can survive more than the rugged approach. Maybe it was all the NTC/NMC stuff? Though supposedly Boston wouldn’t go longer than 4 so who knows…
Maybe it had something to do with that $28M signing bonus (out of a $36M total package) that Muse was reporting earlier? Sounds like Loui wanted to get paid up front.
Maybe, and though I absolutely love Loui and what he brings to the table, I don’t do that with a player who a) has a concussion history and b) could just as easily go play in his home country.
Then again, Looch got a similarly signing-bonus-loaded deal, so it could just be Chia bribing people to get them to agree to freeze their asses off in Alberta.
The signing bonuses are still paid out annually. He doesn’t get all 28 this year, just gets ~4m at the start of each year
Exactly. I don’t get it. I also think if you have Begeron, the league’s star two way center (better than Toews and Kopitar, fact), and Krejci, who is a wonderfully gifted playmaker with a good defensive game, what the hell do you need Backes for? That’s why I think there’s a deal for a defenseman out there that’s contingent on us sending Krejci or Spooner (more likely the former) the other way. Sigh.
Noooooo mooooovement claaaaaaauuuuuusssssse.
Krejci isn’t going anywhere.
You never know, people do waive them. Also, there’s Spooner. I just feel like this is too weird a move, you know?
Especially given that Backes supposedly thinks he’s playing center.
Maybe they’ll move Spoons to wing? They’ve done it before.
Not too successfully but yeah, there’s that. His lack of success at wing is what has me confused about everything.
More likely to see Backes at RW
https://twitter.com/kluedeke29/status/749001097247756288
But we still have a ton of cap space, Who is out there that we’d have to trade a player like Krejci to make room for?
I’m talking about a trade for a player, not a signing. Don’t get me wrong, I want DK here.
Oh that didn’t cross my head…it’s just the speculation of what kind of caliber of player (and salary of player) would we be bringing in that would require moving a player like Krejci. Between his NMC and his hip surgery, I don’t see him as being the asking price for a good defenseman, but if we want a good defenseman it might take moving a player like him.
You’d have to think that the Blues would want a playmaker like Krejci to kickstart their offense. Especially considering they didn’t sign Backes.
Shattenkirk is still out there (as is Bouwmeester – but he also has NTC)
Some combination of any or all of: Jason Demers, Kevin Shattenkirk & Tyson Barrie?
FOR THE RECORD, I want Krejci here forever.
Something tells me that the new annoying, negative narrative for the next couple of seasons is gonna be “Come onnnnnnn! Why won’t they trade Krejci?!?!? Ugggghhhh.”
Unless he’s ok with moving…
That said, I have no idea where he’d be ok with moving to.
Sweeney kills me. Makes good moves like not giving Loui term and getting a depth guy like Liles and Nash for cheap. Then he blows it on Backes. Talk about feast or famine.
With Sweeney, you get both – feast AND famine – at the same time.
It’s so weird, that’s why I keep thinking there’s something on the horizon.
Backes is not a bad player AT ALL and he is a player I’d like on my team, but at that money and term? Is this just to say we did something?
Methinks this is going to be the Sweeney era in a nutshell. Some good and some “what the fuck are you thinking?”
I’m surprised that Demers is still out there.
Me too. I can’t take it. They’d better.
99 signings, but Demers ain’t one.
It is so bizarre….im curious if he is holding out and getting lowballed or waiting for a specific team to inquire…god i want him so badly on this team to sure up that D.
Who the hell is Tim Schaller?
Played a handful of games for Buffalo last two seasons. Something like 2-4-6 in 35 games. Nothing special at AHL either. Pure depth.
Gotcha.
He’s from Merrimack, NH? ::CarlShrug::
So he’s your people. I see.
I like him as well.
Like the Nash, Krug, Khudobin and Liles signings. Concerned about the Backes one, especially with him talking about playing 3C. For that money you’d better be playing RW with DK or PB. Either way, contract will be an anchor by year 3 (I foresee a Mike Richards redux).
Disappointed by the loss of Connolly and Trotman as well as not getting Weircoch. All were super cheap so seem worthwhile, especially Weircoch. I get the disappointment with Connolly but still have to think he is worth the QO of 1.07M.
Yeah, I don’t get not re-signing Connolly. He’s not the top-six forward he was expected to be, but he’s plenty useful for $1mil/yr.
Yup. I mean, he may not have wanted to play here which explains his departure but it doesn’t explain not qualifying in the first place. Yea, he only got 850K but 200K is peanuts.
I don’t even understand him signing for $800K. He was far from horrible.
Going to a high skill team with limited space. Probably banking on himself doing well on such a skilled team and turning it into a better followon deal. Could get more from a lesser team but would need to be a focal point then rather than supporting cast?
I missed Nash completely.
Also disappointed in no Wiercioch, and I feel like Connolly could have been re-signed and flipped for SOMETHING.
Doubly disappointing given how cheap he was. Honestly, I don’t get why he signed at all for that kind of term. That kind of deal will always be available… wait a few days to see if someone gets desperate after missing out on someone else and offers more. Just strange to settle so early.
Sounds like there was really no interest in Connolly… have to think/hope Sweeney tried to swap his rights before non-tendering him.
Maybe he didn’t want to be here. Who the hell knows?
You taking Connolly or Weircoch?
Riley Nash signed for 2 years, 900K per. Quite pleased with this one. Averaged ~9-15-24 the last three seasons on a bad Carolina team. Positive Corsi too.
This is so…underwhelming it’s cracking me up.
Ha ha ha ha!