Why do so many have Tanev as the guy taken by Seattle. I like the player, but 3.5 for a guy who can't crack 20 goals is gonna make Seattle pass him up. I know he brings more, I'm a fan of his game. But that contract won't be one they want.

If he plays well Matheson is the guy they take as he'll be the most valuable. Of course he has to turn it around first. If he doesn't I'm thinking they take ZAR. Blueger maybe protected not sure what they do yet. The 7th forward is either him or McCann. If McCann is still here. But if Blueger isn't protected, I'm about sure he's gone to Seattle unless they make a deal. If they make a deal, you can bet it's Matheson.

They have to hit a cap floor too. Tanev has had Selke votes 3 years in a row. Even b4 he came to Pittsburgh. Yes, 3.5M is tough for a 29 year old bottom 6 energy guy. But in a flat cap year. If the cap situation did what it was supposed to do this year(and the fans were able to attend games), then the contract is an ok one. Actually a good one. Not great, but good. Defiantly not bad like it is now In a flat cap situation.

I don’t know why I think they will take Tanev. I just think they will. They will want his defense, energy, leadership, etc. And he’ll chip in with double digit goals and 30 points. But you know he’s not a huge scorer or playmaker. Average shot. Average passer. But He’s smart, fast, does the right things, is always in the right spot, plays tough, digs pucks out, great positioning, hits a lot of people, and obviously great defensive(one of the best in the league). And his analytics win coaches/GM’s over more than his scoring stats.

yes I realize all this about his game. Like I said, I like his game. But if Matheson has a good year, he's the better pick. As a guy who can play 2LD is more valuable than a bottom 6 forward.
Especially if you can trade him out to a team needing defensive help after. And even if he doesn't turn it around, they can use that 3.5 million to collect a 1st round pick. Which is why I don't see this happening. But we'll have to see what Blueger or ZAR make.

The draft is b4 free agency starts. They will draft Blueger or ZAR’s RFA rights. It’s why they can draft an UFA from someone’s team too. It’s like trading a UFA rights after the season and b4 free agency starts. Same concept.

But I agree, they would draft Matheson if he has a good year. Or Blueger I’d he has a good year(b/c he’s a center). But they have to have good years in order for that to happen. If they have average years or a bad year. They will take Tanev, IMO.

I get that on the RFAs but what I was trying to get at is, you got ZAR who is basically the same defensive forward, who is much younger and his cap hit, potentially is a lot lower.
Which is what I was referring to in see what Blueger and ZAR make. Because if you can take ZAR at like 1 million, and then you use your cap to take dumps and take 1st round picks. You are probably better off than taking Tanev. Who is older, about to be 29 and way more expensive. I guess that depends on when they expect to compete. If they think they are gonna be like vegas and compete right away ok. But if this team isn't going to be competitive and have to build, than taking a guy who's 30 at a high salary just makes no sense to me.

I don't know, Seattle is in a good spot to take up cap space, rake in 1st round picks and build for the future.
I see them either grabbing young guys they can make use of, cap dumps, or guys they can trade for assets. But if they are building to win that's a different story to me.

I would agree. I would take ZAR if I was the GM too. Even though, Tanev does chip in more on the scoring. I don’t know, I just have a feeling they are taking Tanev.

Seattle is gonna get F-ed. No GM is trading draft picks in order for them to take contracts this time. Or trade assets so they don’t draft a player and protect them. Every GM saw what happened with Vegas and they arnt gonna repeat what happened. They all said, they are gonna lose a player they value. So don’t make it worse, like they did and happened with Vegas. Just lose 1 played and move on. Don’t make it worse by giving up draft picks and prospects in order for them to take a player.

https://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/nhl/nhl-expansion-draft-nhl-gms-smarter-1.4942923

Read that article. All the quotes from the GM’s. The 1st caption, is a quote from the Flyers GM. 1st thing under the title.

I don't know, I think a lot of teams benefited from dealing with Vegas. The penguins did. Yeah they lost a 2nd, but got a favor in return on retention and cap dump, and they moved MAF who had to go. The trade to get Brassard doesn't happen without their help.
I think there were some people who got ripped off. For sure. But I think just as many played their cards right. Carolina for example. The biggest issue with that draft for a lot of teams was they gave up the wrong players when also adding picks/ prospects. When you give up Marchessault to have a team pick Reilly Smith you are doing it wrong. Or giving up Tuch in order to move Haula . Those were just bad trades. Or course CBJ had a bad move there too. But you throw those 3 bad moves out, and it's not really all that bad.
Vegas had a raising cap that year for teams to work with. Seattle will be in a position where that doesn't exist. So I think teams looking to dump salary in a squeeze are going to cut a deal. Teams like the penguins might be in that kind of situation. You look at their cap, there is very little coming off the books. But you got 3 guys probably getting raises, one of them a significant one. Where does that come from if cap isn't taken off? This is why I feel Matheson is going to be the guy. If he plays well it costs the penguins less for them to take him and he's an almost 5 million cap hit. They probably will give up a 2nd for them to do that. It's not a huge price to pay but they are in a bind. They won't be the only team. But that cap has to open up and if they take someone like ZAR, then what are they to do? They are going to have to move that contract some how but all other teams are tight against the cap too.
So then it costs them Pettersson or someone else they probably don't want to move.
So I think Seattle is going to get deals. Probably better than what Vegas got. As 2 years without a cap increase is gonna have a huge effect.

We’ll see. It’s not what every GM says. They are all quoted saying they learned a lot from the Vegas expansion draft and the same thing isn’t gonna happen. They know they are gonna lose something they value no matter what. Might as well just let them pick a player and move on.

Tanev is taken by Seattle in the expansion draft. -----DOUBT, BLUEGER, MCCANN OR A DMAN (if they don't move one.)

Pens Sign Marino long-term. 5 years, 21M , 4.2M per. ----------TOO LOW AVV
Pens sign Blueger 4 years, 6M. 1.5M per. ---------TOO LONG TERM (UFA YEARS) HE WOULD WANT LESS TERM OR MORE AAV
Pens sign ZAR 3 years, 4M. 1.33M per. --------SEE ABOVE

Pens Sign UFA M.Johansson to a 3 year, 9M deal, 3M per year. ----------HE IS CRAP AT C (Way Worse than McCann), NOT A TWO WAY PLAYER

Pens sign UFA Joel Armia to a a 2 year 3.5M contract. 1.75 per year ------------WAY TOO LOW AAV

Pens sign UFA M.Pysyk to a 2 year 2.5M deal. 1.25M per year. ----------OK THAT'S A GOOD ONE

--------I imagine they make room for POJ, move one of Matheson (if he plays well) or Pettersson for a really nice top 9 F return. I don't even see Poulin on the team next season TBH.

I looked at this yesterday.
I think 5 1st round picks and 4 2nd round picks are possible for Seattle. I can break it down as far as I remember.
PIT 2nd. to take Matheson. who they would probably, but they make sure.
WSH 2nd to take Panik. Same reasoning, WSH needs cap space.
DAL 2nd. to take Bishop.
BOS 2nd to take Nick Ritchie, they have too many to protect. They will have a hard choice on losing someone. So they pay a 2nd to lose the guy they view least valuable.

1st
TB to to McD
EDM to take Neal
CGY to take Lucic
NYI to take Ladd
CAR to take Gardiner or Niederreiter

I don't know, that's just how I see it.

I think a lot of those 1st are probably locks. They are the only team that can take them.
Now there maybe more added, but that's how I see it.

We’ll see. From what I read. The GM’s all said they learned a great deal from the Vegas draft. And it’s gonna be completely different this time. Not saying, GM’s always do what they are quoted as saying. So we’ll see. Even in that article I linked though, like 4-5 GM’s were quoted in there. And it says a line like, 13 GMs that were spoken too, all said, what happened with Vegas was a learning experience. And it’s definitely gonna be different with Seattle. Those players might be gone by the time the draft happens. So again, we’ll see.