If I'm in charge of the team, my main goal this year is to not burn anymore draft picks if at all possible. So Josh Bailey: bought out. Not paying Chicago a top-60 pick to eat the last year of his deal, even if it makes it a little harder to maneuver around the rest of the team.
--GONERS--
Scott Mayfield: Will be too expensive to keep around.
Semyon Varlamov: Ditto.
Zach Parise: 39 this summer. Assuming he hangs it up; would find a spot for him if he wanted to run it back one more time.
Parker Wotherspoon/Cole Bardreau/Jeff Kubiak/Collin Adams/Blade Jenkins: can come back, sure, just AHL depth guys.
--KEEPERS--
Samuel Bolduc: 10-25-35 in 56 AHL GP and showed flashes at the NHL level. He's a 6th/7th D on the NHL team this year.
Jakub Skarek: Still only 23; young enough that he could find that extra gear and become a decent NHL backup.
Oliver Wahlstrom: Big shot, scores well when he's allowed on the ice - bridge deal to see if he can take the next step.
Pierre Engvall: Bit of a sparkplug, meshed well with Brock Nelson & Kyle Palmieri. Hoping you can keep his AAV lower by giving him a little bit of term - 4 years keeps him through his age-30 season, so gives him one more shot at a decent paycheck if he keeps playing well.
Hudson Fasching: the nicest surprise of the season. Seems to be everywhere when he's on the ice. Not sure where the AAV is here but I think you reward him for an unexpectedly good half-season on the island.
--NEW FACES--
Not a ton of cap since we're absorbing some of Bailey's buyout, but not a ton of holes to fill. Justin Braun comes in to be a 15-16 minute per night RD3 and hopefully a veteran mentor to Sam Bolduc. Alex Nedjelkovic attempts to rebuild some value backing up Sorokin on a team that does a pretty good job of making goalies look good.
--TRADES--
Only one - Robin Salo has been leapfrogged by Samuel Bolduc and Sebastian Aho for the last two D spots on the big team. He's capable of playing in the NHL, still young enough (24), and most importantly: cheap ($800K) and waivers eligible. Picked Carolina cuz they'd have a home for him as a 6th/7th D to replace Calvin de Haan; but realistically I think a few teams would be in on him for a mid-rounder if Lou made him available. With Dennis Cholowski, Paul LaDue, and Travis Mitchell all under contract, I'm not terribly worried about losing a little depth if it helps get a future asset that could be used to refill the pipeline or as a trade deadline asset in 2024.
--LINES--
Engvall-Nelson-Palmieri has been excellent 5v5; keep them together. Martin-Cizikas-Clutterbuck has been less so, but I realistically know they're not going to get separated as long as all 3 are healthy.
Finding a home for Oliver Wahlstrom is tough; I almost considered trading him because, while he's good, he feels like he doesn't fit well on the top line with Horvat & Barzal, and fits even worse on the 3rd line with Pageau & Fasching. Stuck him with the scorers so he can hopefully make use of his shot, and will deal with the awkward 3rd line of Lee-Pageau-Fasching for the time being.
Defense pairs make the most sense to me: Pelech-Pulock should be written in stone as the shutdown pair; Romanov-Dobson is your younger pair with some experience and pedigree, and Bolduc-Braun would be your sheltered 3rd pair where the old man hopefully teaches the kid a couple things.
Why do you say that Wahlstrom doesn’t fit on line 1 and 3? If you look over line combinations from the last 3 seasons, almost every line Wahlstrom has been put on has seen a boost in offense and defensive metrics
Why do you say that Wahlstrom doesn’t fit on line 1 and 3? If you look over line combinations from the last 3 seasons, almost every line Wahlstrom has been put on has seen a boost in offense and defensive metrics
It's more that the 3rd line feels like a weird fit for anyone. Wahlstrom makes a ton of sense on the first line (my initial hesitation is just overthinking the idea of having Horvat center a pair of right-handed wingers, which: whatever) but that means you put Lee down there with Pageau and Fasching which just feels off, to me. But swapping those two guys (Lee-Horvat-Barzal/Wahlstrom-JGP-Fasching) also leaves you with two oddly shaped lines, based on the guys I've signed here.
I think if Parise comes back it would be easier to run Lee-Pageau-Parise as your 3rd line, with Fasching rotating on the 4th line wings with Martin & Clutterbuck; part of me also wonders what a Lee-Pageau-Holmstrom line could do. The more I toss it around in my head, the more I think that the bottom 6 is going to be in a blender and you just run with what's working, or maybe even shake it up based on matchups (bring in Martin & Clutterbuck against heavy teams, sub in Durandeau/Fasching against speedy ones.)
It's more that the 3rd line feels like a weird fit for anyone. Wahlstrom makes a ton of sense on the first line (my initial hesitation is just overthinking the idea of having Horvat center a pair of right-handed wingers, which: whatever) but that means you put Lee down there with Pageau and Fasching which just feels off, to me. But swapping those two guys (Lee-Horvat-Barzal/Wahlstrom-JGP-Fasching) also leaves you with two oddly shaped lines, based on the guys I've signed here.
I think if Parise comes back it would be easier to run Lee-Pageau-Parise as your 3rd line, with Fasching rotating on the 4th line wings with Martin & Clutterbuck; part of me also wonders what a Lee-Pageau-Holmstrom line could do. The more I toss it around in my head, the more I think that the bottom 6 is going to be in a blender and you just run with what's working, or maybe even shake it up based on matchups (bring in Martin & Clutterbuck against heavy teams, sub in Durandeau/Fasching against speedy ones.)
Gotcha, I actually think fasching with lee can work though because lee plays that dump and chase style and fasching works well with players like that. Fasching with Barzal struggled because that’s not his game.
I also think the 4th line needs a shakeup. With clutter in the lineup they are always losing their matchups. Hopefully Holmstrom or fasching gets to take that 4th line rw role.
Regarding the defense, one of the biggest issues this season has been getting the puck out of the Dzone. The only consistent Dmen at doing that have been Aho and to a lesser extent pelech. Dobson went from one of the best in the league at retrievals leading to an exit to about average this season.
Bolduc, Braun, Romanov and unfortunately Pulock struggle to move the puck. I’d leave Aho in for bolduc or just don’t sign Braun and have Aho play his off side
McDavid, Connor
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