Montreal and New Jersey fans... what doesn't work here? Gostisbehere has played well in the playoffs so far, but with Philadelphia's depth on defence and abundance of offensive defencemen, we no longer need him and would rather have the cap space.
Pietrangelo is a good signing anywhere, but especially for a young d-core in Philadelphia. With Braun off the books after this season and Niskanen the next, they will need someone who can continue to show them the ropes and help them develop. Welcome, Alex!
Ideally for this to work, Gostisbehere's contract needs to go immediately, and after a few scenarios, it was best to move JvR's contract this offseason as well. When the Seattle expansion comes, we can decide who we are looking to keep, and if it's worth trading a few assets to Seattle in order to keep the band together.
After next season, the buyout penalties of MacDonald and Schlemko end, and Niskanen's $5.75M frees up. That'll give the fly guys roughly $10M to sign Hart, Laughton, Sanheim, and (maybe) Patrick.
Once Niskanen is gone, give the 3rd pairing open slot to Friedman (I'm high on him) until York or Zamula are ready to fill the void.
Nolan is on a one-year, "show-us-what-you-can-do" deal. If unfortunately he does not pan out, give the playing time to Frost and let him develop.
Coots is due the year after next, along with G. Coots will certainly get a pay raise, but does Giroux ease on his cap hit to keep the team together, if needed?
Let me know your thoughts, and what you would do different!
Little hole in the Pietrangelo signing. He'll get 1 more year and about 1.5 - 2.5 million more for another team on the open market. D-Men like him will get paid.
Little hole in the Pietrangelo signing. He'll get 1 more year and about 1.5 - 2.5 million more for another team on the open market. D-Men like him will get paid.
I do like this team's future though!
Agreed. We are not in the ballpark for Pietrangelo. He'd get more to stay in St. Louis and a metric ****-ton on the open market. He plays 24+ mins a night and averages more than 40pts a season over the last eight years.
I like the JVR trade for the cap flexibility and know that the Devils struggled to score at times. However, I think we should ride out Ghost. If he rebounds, he has real value. If he doesn't, he goes unprotected in the Seattle expansion and we can do what is needed from there.