[Speculation] Remaining Free Agents as of July 13

[DeNiro]

19 hours ago, Provost said:

Vrana is an interesting low risk - high reward option.  Not really many names with upside leftover at this point.

 

Lots of speed, lots of skill… his career was derailed by injuries and then spent time in the players assistance program.

 

We need another top six forward and don’t have a ton of money to get one.  If our coaching staff could get our hands on him and you put him with Miller who’s intensity could make him more consistent…. Then it gives some options.

 

If it doesn’t work, then you waive him with no cap implications.

 

It also gives you another winger in the system if a later offseason trade opportunity came up where you could leverage Hoglander and Garland to get a needed top four RD.

I wouldn’t say low risk.

 

Did he not have issues with substance abuse? 
 

I hope he’s recovered but I don’t think this team needs that potential distraction.

[Provost]

Just now, DeNiro said:

I wouldn’t say low risk.

 

Did he not have issues with substance abuse? 
 

I hope he’s recovered but I don’t think this team needs that potential distraction.

I haven't seen anything that has been said publicly about why he was in the player's assistance program.  It could be mental health, it could be prescription drugs from his injury treatment, etc.

You waive him or he goes into the next stage of the program if there is still a problem.

[DeNiro]

2 minutes ago, Provost said:

I haven't seen anything that has been said publicly about why he was in the player's assistance program.  It could be mental health, it could be prescription drugs from his injury treatment, etc.

You waive him or he goes into the next stage of the program if there is still a problem.

I just wouldn’t want a Nichushkin situation where he becomes an imprtant part of the team only to lose him when we really need him.

[King Heffy]

5 hours ago, DeNiro said:

I just wouldn’t want a Nichushkin situation where he becomes an imprtant part of the team only to lose him when we really need him.

You can also get a Raffi Torres situation where the player's recovered and helps the team.  No different than a guy with a concussion history for me: you consult with the professionals who have been treating him and then evaluate his recovery and likelihood of recurring issues.

 

Based on the below article, I'm inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt:

https://detroithockeynow.com/2023/06/26/vrana-talks-red-wings-departure-substance-abuse-issues/

[DeNiro]

14 minutes ago, King Heffy said:

You can also get a Raffi Torres situation where the player's recovered and helps the team.  No different than a guy with a concussion history for me: you consult with the professionals who have been treating him and then evaluate his recovery and likelihood of recurring issues.

 

Based on the below article, I'm inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt:

https://detroithockeynow.com/2023/06/26/vrana-talks-red-wings-departure-substance-abuse-issues/

Meh I just don’t see the upside to take the gamble.

 

Id rather go for a younger Czech in Zadina and hope that you can still get something out of him.

[King Heffy]

2 minutes ago, DeNiro said:

Meh I just don’t see the upside to take the gamble.

 

Id rather go for a younger Czech in Zadina and hope that you can still get something out of him.

The upside is the production he had earlier in his career.  It's likely the off-ice issues were what caused that to crater, while Zadina has never been that productive.

[cripplereh]

5 minutes ago, DeNiro said:

Meh I just don’t see the upside to take the gamble.

 

Id rather go for a younger Czech in Zadina and hope that you can still get something out of him.

One year league minimum.

Hope him and Podz can play together?

[DeNiro]

22 minutes ago, King Heffy said:

The upside is the production he had earlier in his career.  It's likely the off-ice issues were what caused that to crater, while Zadina has never been that productive.

The only time he showed production was like 5 years ago and since then there’s been no sign he can even get through a full season let alone get back to that level.

 

Sprong is the better play if you’re just looking for production.

[Canuckpuckluck1]

1 hour ago, DeNiro said:

Meh I just don’t see the upside to take the gamble.

 

Id rather go for a younger Czech in Zadina and hope that you can still get something out of him.

For me Zadina is a hard NO.

I know San Jose was a basket case last year but these numbers are woeful

2023-24

San Jose Sharks

NHL

72

13

10

23

18

-44

 

There isnt anything appealing about his previous years either. At least Vrana has some decent history. At league minimum I would certainly offer him a chance.

 

I agree with you other post that Sprong is the best of the choices. But what might his asking price be? I tend to think Vrana may be able to be picked up at league minimum where as Sprong might be in the $2M range????  

[Diamonds]

36 minutes ago, DeNiro said:

The only time he showed production was like 5 years ago and since then there’s been no sign he can even get through a full season let alone get back to that level.

 

Sprong is the better play if you’re just looking for production.

Some of the games played totals are misleading due to Covid. He had three strong, consistent seasons; 24 goals in 18/19, 25 goals in all 69 games of the first Covid shortened season of 2019/20, and 19 goals in 50 games of the Covid shortened 2021 season (which had 56 games). 2021/22 is where he started to miss games but still had 13 goals in 26 games.

 

To me that shows a pretty consistent 25-30 goal scorer at a young age. Now, there are definitely questions about if he's actually in a good place now and if so how much his missed time will have affected his ability to produce. However, I think it's pretty clear he wasn't just a one and done.

[GrammaInTheTub]

22 minutes ago, Diamonds said:

Some of the games played totals are misleading due to Covid. He had three strong, consistent seasons; 24 goals in 18/19, 25 goals in all 69 games of the first Covid shortened season of 2019/20, and 19 goals in 50 games of the Covid shortened 2021 season (which had 56 games). 2021/22 is where he started to miss games but still had 13 goals in 26 games.

 

To me that shows a pretty consistent 25-30 goal scorer at a young age. Now, there are definitely questions about if he's actually in a good place now and if so how much his missed time will have affected his ability to produce. However, I think it's pretty clear he wasn't just a one and done.

That’s an excellent pitch for Vrana. I’m definitely intrigued by his potential - I just worry that the COVID seasons are closer in memory than fact at this point for his better years. At this point, he definitely looks like a low cost high reward redemption signing.

[Devron]

On 7/2/2024 at 9:15 PM, Conscience said:

Kylington please 

Yeah I’d like to see him try out. Puck moving guy and I like a good story. Mental illness sucks. I like to see people overcome it and give others hope 

[Combover]

Would be nice to move poolmans contract to get some cap space. 
Then possibly sign or trade for an upgrade one  the bottom six or get a puck moving D. 

might be sone real bargains to be had on 1 year deals come September. 

[smithers joe]

washington could use the cap space. poolman for future consideration.

[Biff Tannen]

2 hours ago, smithers joe said:

washington could use the cap space. poolman for future consideration.

 

I don't think you understand how LTIR works. It doesn't have postive value just less negative value than an unjured player who is overpayed by the same amount

[Biff Tannen]

2 hours ago, Combover said:

Would be nice to move poolmans contract to get some cap space. 
Then possibly sign or trade for an upgrade one  the bottom six or get a puck moving D. 

might be sone real bargains to be had on 1 year deals come September. 

 

Personally, if they do pay to move Poolman, I'd rather they banked the space and got someone impactful towards the deadline. Slight risk that the team isn't competitive enough in the meantime but at least they'll have cap space to monetise. Unfortunately PA isn't returning my calls so can't see it happening.

[smithers joe]

1 hour ago, Biff Tannen said:

 

I don't think you understand how LTIR works. It doesn't have postive value just less negative value than an unjured player who is overpayed by the same amount

washington is over 4 mil over the cap. 2.5 mil on ltir  would give them a chance to knock 2.5 off their over the cap amount.

[Biff Tannen]

5 minutes ago, smithers joe said:

washington is over 4 mil over the cap. 2.5 mil on ltir  would give them a chance to knock 2.5 off their over the cap amount.

 

yeah, you still don't understand LTIR.

 

If they took Poolman it would increase their cap by $2.5m BUT it would also increase their cap hit by $2.5m so they'd be in the same position. They'd actually be worse off as when they do get under the cap they'd need to get Poolman off LTIR before they can bank any cap.

[Provost]

On 7/14/2024 at 5:44 PM, DeNiro said:

The only time he showed production was like 5 years ago and since then there’s been no sign he can even get through a full season let alone get back to that level.

 

Sprong is the better play if you’re just looking for production.

There is literally no one left with close to the upside of Vrana.  If he is indeed healthy and his head sorted out, he is a legit top six guy and likely is going to be on a one year near league minimum contract to prove it.  Sprong is the next best bet, but there aren’t really any mitigating circumstances for him… and maybe he has figured it out or we can rely on our coaches to get him to turn next level.  He has played 4th like minutes and produced similar to Hoglander’s deployment (before he was bumped up the lineup and fell off a cliff)

 

On Vrana:

“He's a volume shooter who scores goals at a higher rate than almost anyone in the NHL. 478 forwards have played 2,000 or more 5-on-5 minutes since Vrána entered the league in 2016-17. Vrana fires off 12.15 unblocked shot attempts per hour, just ahead of Kevin Fiala for 49th in the NHL.  
 

Even better, those shots directly translate into goals. Here are the forwards who have scored at the highest rate at 5-on-5 since Vrána entered the league:

1. Auston Matthews, 1.64 Goals/60
2. David Pastrnak, 1.30 Goals/60
3. Carter Verhaeghe, 1.24 Goals/60
4. Jakub Vrána, 1.21 Goals/60
5. Wyatt Johnston, 1.20 Goals/60
6. Alex Ovechkin, 1.18 Goals/60
7. Daniel Sprong, 1.17 Goals/60
8. Jeff Skinner, 1.16 Goals/60
T-9. Jordan Kyrou, 1.15 Goals/60
T-9. Kirill Kaprizov, 1.15 Goals/60

Is it good to be in the same breath as Matthews, Pastrnak, Ovechkin, and Kaprizov? You can decide.

For a team that wants to get faster, Vrána is an ideal candidate 

[Coryberg]

Cal Clutterbuck. He is getting long in the tooth but a 1 year deal could be a good gamble. He had 273 hits last year (that would put him at #1 on our team) while playing 12 minutes a game. That's a whole lot of forcheck.

Edited July 16 by Coryberg

[Ballisticsports]

On 7/14/2024 at 11:29 AM, Viking said:

Kaliyiev has a scoring touch but would he play the way Tocchet wants?

 

we talk about adding a scorer, we had one just expected him to be a two way guy.

 

Our GM has been very aggressive, I like most of his moves, retaining Myers and losing Zadorov was the wrong move as was including Kuz instead of Mik in the bloated overpay for Lindholm if we saw him as a 3C why pay a top line rental price…those assets we lost will hurt.

 

pry 1 last flame from Calgary, the should’ve been a canuck Rasmussen Anderson!

One of those assets did not want to resign with the Canucks,

I am not sold they intended Lindholm as just a 3c

 

I think so many factors played in to the decision made,

1st off EP wasn't signed (and Lindholm was maybe insurance if EP wasn't resigning ?, or try to resign Lindholm at a favourable cost?) and perhaps they saw Lindholm playing C and EP as his winger ?

 

They also wanted to reward the players, with adding another top player in the mix, for the season that they were having

They wanted to resign Lindholm and made an honest effort, perhaps he saw more opportunity in Boston ?

 

I love that this management doesn't get caught up in a must sign this player at Any cost, but instead will look at all options, (just as they considered moving on from EP)

 

They have a vision and won't let players dictate to them to overpay and then have a mediocre team, they want players that want to be here at a price that is fair to both sides and build a winning TEAM (they still have hard work ahead with inheriting, a bottom team capped out without an over abundance of young prospects or top pick)

Edited July 18 by Ballisticsports
spelling

[N4ZZY]

On 7/14/2024 at 5:15 PM, DeNiro said:

Meh I just don’t see the upside to take the gamble.

 

Id rather go for a younger Czech in Zadina and hope that you can still get something out of him.

Zadina's a bust. He can't even get it done with the Sharks, and I'm sure as bad as they were, he would've been given plenty of opportunities. If he can't hack it there, why would it work out here under Tocchet's system? 

 

[DeNiro]

7 hours ago, N4ZZY said:

Zadina's a bust. He can't even get it done with the Sharks, and I'm sure as bad as they were, he would've been given plenty of opportunities. If he can't hack it there, why would it work out here under Tocchet's system? 

 

Why did Forsling not get a chance with two organizations? 

[Attila Umbrus]

14 minutes ago, DeNiro said:

Why did Forsling not get a chance with two organizations? 

 

Kassian is a good example too, flamed out in Buffalo, Vancouver, and Montreal before sobering up and becoming something for Edmonton.

 

Substance abuse is a bitch, I hope Zadina's out of the woods. But who knows he may not be.

 

There will be some interesting PTO's handed out this year. Zadina is probably looking at that route right now. Could be a decent reclamation

[Attila Umbrus]

On 7/15/2024 at 8:11 PM, Coryberg said:

Cal Clutterbuck. He is getting long in the tooth but a 1 year deal could be a good gamble. He had 273 hits last year (that would put him at #1 on our team) while playing 12 minutes a game. That's a whole lot of forcheck.

 

Clusterfuck would be awesome on the 4th line!