If Chicago can trade Keith without retention, actually no this trade is bad for the hawks never mind…

I bet there are a lot of Hawks fans that would take that deal though, just to rid themselves of Zads...

Oh I love ultra-aggressive armchair GMs. So much fun to pick apart!

1. The Canes probably don't take that Foegele deal. Warren's an excellent play driver and forechecker that hockeyviz estimates as providing 12% more scoring chances than a league average player. MacEwan's not a terrible player, but he's a touch below average driving play and is a lot less established. The Canes really value chance generation and forechecking, I'd be surprised to see Foegele on the move at all.

2.You can totally do better than Larsson at his price point this offseason. His impacts are the standard Niklas Hjalmarsson special, excellent defensively, hurts his own team's offense nearly as much. Hjalmarsson and David Savard are both options for that available at <2 million dollars this offseason, or for more value they could target Mark Pysyk, not quite as much defense as those three but he's an above average driver of offence and won't cost a thing.

3. Nate Schmidt was not good in Vancouver, below average defensively and average offensively. Nikita Zadorov is very bad, he's average defensively and abysmal defensively. A better idea would be to just get a pick for Schmidt (or not qualify Zadorov) and replace Zad with Hjalmarsson/Savard for some extra defence, and, somehow, extra offense too.

4. Schmaltz deal is interesting. I have no idea what the Coyotes' plans are right now, but I doubt they'd want to take Roussel back in that deal.

5. Poor Jake McCabe. I love the add, Jake's a great player on a bargain contract that will make whoever signs him very happy this offseason. But god do I feel bad about a scenario in which somehow leaves Buffalo and STILL finds himself on a pairing with a boat anchor that makes 3 times his salary. Surprised you didn't try to replace Myers, but I guess dumping that deal could be a headache.

6. Devan Dubnyk is extremely bad at this point in his career. Hockeyviz currently estimates that Dubnyk makes an average shot against him 14% more likely to be a goal. He and Martin Jones were so bad in San Jose that Patrick Bacon wrote a whole article about how goaltending is basically random UNLESS you manage to acquire a tandem as awful as Jones and Dubnyk. Sign somebody else. Anybody else.

As far as going all-in on the next couple of years goes, the top-9 is strong as long as Pearson rebounds defensively, but that right side is really iffy and I'm not sold on the goaltending. Sort of like the Leafs a couple years ago, actually. At least they won't have to face the Bruins until the finals?

Yeah, I’m not a huge fan of Z but I am a big fan of proper asset management so this is a pretty hard pass.

Ah I love these passive-aggressive reply’s to an ACGM… so much fun to pick apart!


Actually wait I’m not a psychopath. Carry on.

I don't mean to be passive-aggressive, I just like analyzing other people's ideas and pointing out where they can be better. This is a pretty good ACGM, I love the McCabe add and the Schmaltz trade is really creative! I just also need to call attention to the fact that a right side of Larsson-Myers-Zadorov is a waste of 13 million dollars comparable to the current Canucks bottom-6.

Were you a fan of proper asset management before, or after you traded Saad for Zads?

In all seriousness, has anyone ever looked at Nate Schmidt's advanced stats? The A3Z comps don't have 2021 yet, so it is a bit hard to take a fair look with both of them on their current teams, but I wonder what a comparison between him and Zads would look like. Was Schmidt the victim of playing with a ****-awful Vancouver team? And also the beneficiary of playing with Vegas?

Do the stats at all point to a chance that this might be trade worth making? I have no bloody clue, just asking the question...

Thanks for the input.

1. I think Foegle will get moved. All the rumours out there are that he wants a bigger role and I think it's almost a foregone conclusion that he won't return to Carolina. I think the price is fair given the scenario. I don't see any teams offering more than this. If someone does offer a 2nd then they take that instead but I don't think it's going to happen. I agree that he's a good player and I think someone will get a good value deal for him.

2. I'm not sold on Larsson either but I don't like the age of the other guys listed and Larsson is very strong defensively and adds some toughness to the back end. Quinn plays best with D partners that don't worry about offense. Larsson is similar to tanev in the good defensive numbers and bad offensive numbers.

3. Zadorov again adds some more toughness and physicality to the back end. I would prefer to dump Schmidt for a pick as well but I don't see it happening. I think Zadorov would be a solid partner for Rathbone albeit an expensive one for the 3rd pair. Nuitavara out of Florida would be another option here.

4. I'm sure Arizona wouldn't love to take Roussell back but I think most teams looking to take on almost 6mil cap hit are going to have to send some sort of cap back. Rooster is cheap in actual dollars owed and will be off the books in a year.

5. I also feel bad for McCabe lol. If it wasn't for the injury I think he would get term around 4mil but unfortunately he will likely have to take a 1yr deal to show he's good to go again. At least in Van he knows he has a chance to get lots of ice time. And you're right I would love to dump Myers but that is just too difficult to predict and I'm not interested in paying to get rid of him.

6. I'm not sold on Dubnyk either but they could really sign any backup in the 800-1mil range. Whoever their goalie coach wants.

I wouldn't mind not signing Larsson or getting Zadorov and just picking up some 1 year contracts to get them through the season and then hopefully the UFA D next season have some good players that make it there. Ideally Hampus Lindholm and Ryan Pulock.

Good points, I will say

1. Even if Foegele leaves the Canes will probably be hunting another strong playdriver, it's just kind of their whole deal. Someone like Arturri Lehkonen would probably be a preferred replacement.

2. Larsson's 28, Pysyk's 29 and Savard's 30. Given that Mark and David are probably one or two year deals instead of a five-year one, there's probably less age-related risk going after them than Larsson.

3. Physicality is a means to an end, not an end unto itself. If a guy throws his weight around a lot but consistently makes his team worse while he's on the ice, that's an issue. Goals win games, shots and chances drive goals, physicality is just a way to drive shots and chances, and there's plenty of other ways to do that. It's a lot like speed: there are bad players who are physical just like there are bad players who skate fast, there are good players who are soft just like there are good players who are slow. There's no physicality quota you need to hit.

4. Fair point.

5. Tbh he'd get more TOI if he stayed in Buffalo, but Vancouver has the major advantage of not being a pit of infinite despair.

If the Isles manages to lose Pulock because of the Clutterbuck contract that would be so funny, especially after Lou won GM of the year.