An $82M cap ceiling for the 2019-20 was assumed here.
As far as the in-house signings:
- Lee has long been rumored to be the closest to a "sure-thing" to re-sign that the Isles have on the roster. This was a no-brainer
- I've flip-flopped on Nelson for awhile, but Elliotte Friedman's most recent 31 Thought mentioned that there was talk the Isles and Nelson's camp were working towards an extension
- Lehner excelled in Trotz's system and revived his career. While I don't expect him to take a huge discount to stay with the Islanders, it's not inconceivable to think he may leave a little bit of money on the table to stay somewhere he views as special
- Beauvillier has been inconsistent on the score-sheet, but is still very young and has a lot of talent to provide...not to mention his energy. A $1.5M 'prove yourself' bridge deal is probably the order of the day for AB. Possible it goes up to $2M
- Dal Colle played admirably in sporadic action spread over a few call-ups. He didn't do much on the score sheet and certainly hasn't been what you want from a 5th overall selection but was surprisingly reliable defensively and that shouldn't be overlooked when playing for Trotz. A two-way deal that pays him $1M at the NHL level is fair and, if Clutterbuck/Ladd aren't ready at the start of the year, he's earned a spot with the big club out of camp
On to the rest:
- Leddy becomes expendable with the emergence of Devon Toews as a younger, cheaper option. MTL has needs down the LH side of their defense and the Islanders have needs down the middle. Danault's defensive game would excel in Barry Trotz's system and would allow Trotz to have, essentially, virtually interchangeable 2nd/3rd lines. A one-for-one swap is not out of the question given Leddy's age, reasonable cap hit, and significant term remaining on his deal that has no NMC/NTC's
- WPG is facing a cap crunch this offseason and has only 3 picks in the 2019 draft. They currently only have 7F, 4D, 1G signed at the time this was written. Major RFA's needing deals include Laine, Connor, and Trouba with several other supporting-cast type players also needing RFA or UFA deals. Ehlers becomes an easy target to be moved coming off a down year and having a very reasonable contract, young age, and the availability of younger stars like Laine and Connor as well Roslovic ready to step into a full-time role with the big club. 23rd overall pick and a B+ prospect like Bellows will help mitigate their current dearth of picks in this year's draft
- TBL obviously have some major cap issues and absolutely must get Brayden Point under contract. Ridding themselves of Ryan Callahan's $5.8M will go a long way towards their ability to do so. Callahan's leadership, playoff experience, and physical style of play will be a welcomed asset in Lamoriello/Trotz's locker room. Barre-Boulet is the sweetener for the Islanders. A star in the AHL that probably belongs with most NHL big clubs but is blocked in Tampa is a fair trade for helping BrieBois get his best (yes, best) center signed. Vande-Sompel has scored just under a point-every-other-game pace as a defenseman in his first two pro seasons with Bridgeport and is a solid blueline prospect.
Andrew Ladd and Cal Clutterbuck are both likely to start the 2019-20 season on IR with significant injuries. If and when Clutterbuck is healthy Dal Colle can be returned to the AHL to get top line minutes and a rotation of Clutterbuck/Komarov/Callahan can platoon to fill out the two available bottom six RW spots. One or both of Ladd/Clutterbuck are candidates for LTIR moving forward if/when the Islanders face more of a cap crunch.
In this scenario, with an $82M upper limit, the Islanders would head into the 2020 offseason with approximately $21.5M to deal with the following major needs:
- Signing RFA's Mathew Barzal, Ryan Pulock, and Devon Toews
- Signing a back-up goaltender. Ideally this would be Russian super-prospect Ilya Sorokin who would be eligible for a 1-year ELC
$21.5M may be a bit short to get Barzal/Pulock/Toews/goaltender under contract, but other options remain for clearing cap space down the line. Josh Bailey, while not a star, should attract reasonable attention on the trade market due to his contract, recent production, and lack of NMC/NTC. Bubble teams looking for a middle-six veteran forward would be smart to add Bailey at the cost of futures. Additionally, Thomas Hickey could be moved to a team looking for cheap veteran defensive depth with term. Other options include a buyout of Leo Komarov (will have 2 years remaining as of summer 2020) or making a deal with Seattle to take Boychuk in the 2021 expansion draft.
I’ll read after but Mtl decline hard. Why ? Danault’s our best center. Alright you did a perfect job, but Danault is too valuable for MTL next year. Poehling Kotkaniemi or Suzuki are not ready to face other teams best line every night.
You put a lot of effort into this projection and it shows. I enjoyed following your rationale and all of your reasoning is sound. My only comment is that I hope you are right about being able to get around the NMC/NTC Callahan has.
Not Dobson level though. I would think that Dobson is untouchable
So you want a 60+ pt winger on a great contract that brings speed on zone entries and tilts the ice for a 19pt AHL winger and ~23OA pick? Sorry, either Dobson or Wilde would need to come back the other way.
Yeah you're not going to get anyone's top prospects when you don't have enough money to sign your RFA's. Maybe it's not Bellows, but expecting a stud RH blueline prospect for Ehlers is comical
I’ll read after but Mtl decline hard. Why ? Danault’s our best center. Alright you did a perfect job, but Danault is too valuable for MTL next year. Poehling Kotkaniemi or Suzuki are not ready to face other teams best line every night.
Maybe, but MTL has a major need on the left side and it's really not an unreasonable deal at face value. It would probably boil down to which thing Montreal valued more: improving a lackluster left side of the blueline or keeping Danault. They won't find a UFA LHD that's got Leddy's talent and get him for $5.5M AAV
So you want a 60+ pt winger on a great contract that brings speed on zone entries and tilts the ice for a 19pt AHL winger and ~23OA pick? Sorry, either Dobson or Wilde would need to come back the other way.
I'm not denying that this proposal isn't enough. I just don't think they will move Dobson. I am just being realistic. I love watching Ehlers play. We will want WAAAY more than this. I would say that Beauvilier, wilde, and a 1st would be a start
You put a lot of effort into this projection and it shows. I enjoyed following your rationale and all of your reasoning is sound. My only comment is that I hope you are right about being able to get around the NMC/NTC Callahan has.
It's a big "maybe" but who knows. Tampa is going to have trouble unloading salary otherwise. They could trade Gourde but I'd imagine they'd rather try to keep him and get rid of Callahan who takes up more cap space anyway. I also wouldn't totally rule something out that goes along the lines of Orpik in the Grubauer trade, where the Isles buy him out immediately and he returns to Tampa on a real cheap deal.
I'm not denying that this proposal isn't enough. I just don't think they will move Dobson. I am just being realistic. I love watching Ehlers play. We will want WAAAY more than this. I would say that Beauvilier, wilde, and a 1st would be a start
Maybe, but MTL has a major need on the left side and it's really not an unreasonable deal at face value. It would probably boil down to which thing Montreal valued more: improving a lackluster left side of the blueline or keeping Danault. They won't find a UFA LHD that's got Leddy's talent and get him for $5.5M AAV
Mete Kulak are doing the job on the Top4 we’ll just wait for Romanov before trading Danault, Kotkaniemi or Poehling need to prove they can do the job
Yeah you're not going to get anyone's top prospects when you don't have enough money to sign your RFA's. Maybe it's not Bellows, but expecting a stud RH blueline prospect for Ehlers is comical
Not nearly as comical as your initial proposal.
There seems to be a massive disconnect when it comes to prospects and their value to fans. It seems that no fanbase is willing to give up any prospects of quality, while expecting a proven, quality player in return.
Apart from top tier prospects such as Makar, Hughes, Glass etc, no player should be off limits for a player like Ehlers. I covet Samberg and Vesalainen but even they are moveable for the right player and a top line winger or T4 defender is one of them! Hell, even Erik Brannstrom, one of the best defensive prospects was moved for Stone and while Ehlers isn’t Stone, Dobson ain’t Brannstrom!
Not nearly as comical as your initial proposal.
There seems to be a massive disconnect when it comes to prospects and their value to fans. It seems that no fanbase is willing to give up any prospects of quality, while expecting a proven, quality player in return.
Apart from top tier prospects such as Makar, Hughes, Glass etc, no player should be off limits for a player like Ehlers. I covet Samberg and Vesalainen but even they are moveable for the right player and a top line winger or T4 defender is one of them! Hell, even Erik Brannstrom, one of the best defensive prospects was moved for Stone and while Ehlers isn’t Stone, Dobson ain’t Brannstrom!
Brainstorm was a top 3 prospect in the league (as per the hockey writers) after the world juniors
Not nearly as comical as your initial proposal.
There seems to be a massive disconnect when it comes to prospects and their value to fans. It seems that no fanbase is willing to give up any prospects of quality, while expecting a proven, quality player in return.
Apart from top tier prospects such as Makar, Hughes, Glass etc, no player should be off limits for a player like Ehlers. I covet Samberg and Vesalainen but even they are moveable for the right player and a top line winger or T4 defender is one of them! Hell, even Erik Brannstrom, one of the best defensive prospects was moved for Stone and while Ehlers isn’t Stone, Dobson ain’t Brannstrom!
Not sure you're entirely grasping the definition of "proposal". I wasn't proposing anything and I can't help that you wet your pants because you didn't like something that you read on the internet ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Not sure you're entirely grasping the definition of "proposal". I wasn't proposing anything and I can't help that you wet your pants because you didn't like something that you read on the internet ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
What do you mean you weren’t proposing anything? You actually listed the reasoning for your proposal! You are just one of the many on here who overrate your prospects and expect to get high end players for peanuts thinking this is NHL19.
What do you mean you weren’t proposing anything? You actually listed the reasoning for your proposal! You are just one of the many on here who overrate your prospects and expect to get high end players for peanuts thinking this is NHL19.
Who am I proposing it to? The Imaginary GM of the Internet? Are you Kevin Cheveldayoff? Did I accidentally accept a job as the Islanders GM and email this over to the real Chevy and just haven't realized it yet?
I wasn't aware I needed to run this by you for approval. I published this because I wanted to be able to link it to something else and if I could find a way to turn off this maggot comment section so I wouldn't have to watch people like you flood your tampon because you got Mad Online™ about something you disagreed with on the internet believe me, I would. Nobody is forcing you to read this or comment pal, if you don't like it then you can put on your big boy pants and keep on moving.
Who am I proposing it to? The Imaginary GM of the Internet? Are you Kevin Cheveldayoff? Did I accidentally accept a job as the Islanders GM and email this over to the real Chevy and just haven't realized it yet?
I wasn't aware I needed to run this by you for approval. I published this because I wanted to be able to link it to something else and if I could find a way to turn off this maggot comment section so I wouldn't have to watch people like you flood your tampon because you got Mad Online™ about something you disagreed with on the internet believe me, I would. Nobody is forcing you to read this or comment pal, if you don't like it then you can put on your big boy pants and keep on moving.
Well sorry I hurt your ****ing feelings. If you want to have a double standard and be able to post a proposal, (because let’s face it, if you haven’t ****ing noticed that’s what people do here, proposals!) and then throw a ****ing temper tantrum because someone may not agree with it, go ****ing nuts. You posted something, I responded, you didn’t like it and threw a ****ing hissy over it and started throwing out bombs like tampons, peeing and big boy pants. Grow the **** up!
Poehling liked this.
before trading Danault, Kotkaniemi or Poehling need to prove they can do the job
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