I did another Armchair-GM team earlier couple days ago to situation if Karlsson was let go/wanted to leave and Thornton would retire. I said that I would do another team which would include Karlsson signed. So here it is!
This was really, really problematic. It just raised my suspicions that keeping EK65 on the team is gonna be an immense road ahead for Wilson due to so many moving parts and moves that needs to be made in order to keep Erik.
First, his contract value will be hard to define due to his injuries. He will get 7 to 8 years for his contract to hit the 35-plus after the contract expires. So the money value will be high, somewhere between $9,5M (which is quite low) to $12M (which is quite high). There have been talks that the contract will be somewhere around $11M. I don't think the value will be that high due to his injuries which is why I signed him to this team for $10M but I can see it happening that some other team tries to woo him with an $11M contract offer. I do also think that signing other guys, i.e. Simek, to longer contracts will be much harder if the contract value would go higher than the $10M. We'll see how it goes but I just don't like how this all can pan out in the long term. But I do love Erik and I hope he stays in San Jose. I just don't know what the price would be for that, literally.
I signed Spezza for 1-year contract. I don't think he's the ideal man for the job but he was the single option I could think of from all UFAs for the next season. Maybe Suomela can bolster up his game and surprise everyone taking the 3rd C, but I have my doubts about it. If Jumbo wants to continue for at least one more year after this season, I think that is the most welcoming option for Sharks. It just depends how big of a cut he is willing to take for the team. If that doesn't happen and we don't sign a guy like Spezza, I think the most likely option would be going with Couture-Hertl-Pavelski as the 3 centers. There is of course the possibility for Wilson going for a trade no one can think of or signing a free agent from Europe but that kind of magic I can't do. I leave it for both Wilsons.
Pavelski's contract was quite easy one. $6,5M for 3 years, a little cut from $7M due to his injuries this year but no problems here. If the contract goes under $6,5M, every dollar saved towards the cap is good bonus.
Signing Labanc and Meier to reasonable contracts for them while trying to keep Karlsson is REALLY hard. I think both of them expect that their following contacts are their last RFA ones. Which means Meier would require 5-year conract and Labanc 4-year contract. But the problem is that Meier's contract would go somewhere between $5M and $5,5M, Labanc's contract would go $4M+ which is a problem trying to fit all under the cap. That is why I decided to give them both contracts one year under their UFA status (Meier: 4y, Labanc: 3y). And even with these contracts, I would like to give them a tad higher values. But it is, what it is.
Yurtaykin and Kellman can be switched with other players like Gambrell and Radil but it doesn't really change anything.
Bumping Melker Karlsson up to 3rd is included in this version of the team cause I didn't see a team who is willing to take Karlsson's contract and I didn't see that it is needed. Of course there may be a team willing to take Karlsson for 6th or 7th round pick, or not a high prospect. But that keeping Karlsson in the team wasn't a problem for me. Especially for PK purposes and due to team not having right wingers. Getting Donskoi back on or under $2M doesn't seem to be realistic. Maybe trading Karlsson for pick and getting a guy like Ennis to the team with 1-year contract (who I had also in my other version) could be a possible match I could consider. That would also be a lower value contract than Karlsson which would mean Labanc or Meier could have higher contract values or then just there would be some money left under the cap. Now there is 0.
Then the trades. To make this whole team work with Karlsson, a lot of trades need to be done. There are couple of possibilities but the one I chose is the one I like the most:
Braund and Dillon for EDM 3rd and 7th round pick, Matthew Benning and Ethan Bear. The reason Benning is in the trade, is that his contract is pretty good and he is a right handed defenseman so he fills the 3rd pair RD role nicely. His stats are decent, his +/- is pretty good and his average time on ice is 16 minutes and 17 seconds for 3 seasons, 14:57 this season. So he can also rack up the minutes if needed. There is also the option to go with Ryan and Heed as 5th and 6th defenders but I like that there is depth on the D side. After Ryan and Heed, the defensemen left are Middleton and DeSimone. maybe Ferraro? So I think it is good to play safe here. It would suck to lose Dillon, I'd like to keep him. But if it goes to that, I think Ryan deserves the 6th spot on the blue line.
Edmonton really likes Ethan Bear. He isn't their number one prospect but easily top 10, maybe even top 5. He would be a good add to Sharks prospects. He is also a right handed which is also a plus. Bear has some work to do with his defensive game and skating but his offensive game is what makes him a good prospect. Good pass, good shot, good offensive awareness. That's what I've heard and read. The picks may be a bit of a low ball but they can changed into what the real value is in the end.
What really made me like this trade is that Edmonton has some issues with how their team is built. They need work with their offense. Sharks isn't the team who can help with that but if Edmonton can add Braun and Dillon to their D-core, Edmonton can start trading Klefbom or Nurse for a forward, Russell will also be a trade candidate for Oilers due to Russell's NMC will include a 10-team trade clause starting next season.
Dell trade reasoning is that Dell has better stats than Jarry but his contract is higher. I think Pittsburgh will keep DeSmith as the backup. Pittsburgh can use Dell so that he and DeSmith can battle for the backup role. Dell can also be traded for 6th or 7th round pick.
Really? They'll have about 11M to 12M in cap next year depending how much the cap rises. They're not gonna sign Petrovic or Rieder, and Chiasson won't have that big of a raise yet. And if they get rid of a defender, they have even more money to trade in a high value forward. Or did I miss something?
Really? They'll have about 11M to 12M in cap next year depending how much the cap rises. They're not gonna sign Petrovic or Rieder, and Chiasson won't have that big of a raise yet. And if they get rid of a defender, they have even more money to trade in a high value forward. Or did I miss something?
Really? They'll have about 11M to 12M in cap next year depending how much the cap rises. They're not gonna sign Petrovic or Rieder, and Chiasson won't have that big of a raise yet. And if they get rid of a defender, they have even more money to trade in a high value forward. Or did I miss something?
Well you see their issue is that they have no wingers so that space would be much better served spending it on someone to play with McDavid so that he doesn't have Zach Kassian as his winger. EDM has plenty of decent D men.
EDM says no because you're giving us 2 aging dmen for two of our RHD (point of weakness) and attaching picks like we're the ones who need to add at this point. EDM also know Sharks will be in a cap crunch so reason for us to give you any help let alone give you more assets to stay competitive.
We've also got a decent d-core and a need at forward so no use of dumping two aging dmen on a team full of second/third pairing dmen.
Its definitely a pipe dream signing labanc and meier to contracts under 5m. The Labanc contract is a maybe but I'm thinking meier takes over 6m, look at william nylander or guentzel both make over 6m neither had scored 30 at the time. 30 goals is a big deal, he will get PAID think over 6.5. As for the oilers trade, the oilers cant afford dmen like that and have great prospects in the pipeline. The real problem is like DirtyDangles said, on the wings.
Really? They'll have about 11M to 12M in cap next year depending how much the cap rises. They're not gonna sign Petrovic or Rieder, and Chiasson won't have that big of a raise yet. And if they get rid of a defender, they have even more money to trade in a high value forward. Or did I miss something?
having the cap space doesn't mean the team will spend to the max...
having the cap space doesn't mean the team will spend to the max...
It is true that it isn't always wise to spend close to the max of the cap hit. But I think EDM is in pretty good situation to do it with their contracts. Especially if (it's a big if) they can get rid of Lucic's contract but even if they don't, I think they can still do it.
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