And why is Muzzin waiving his NTC for Washington?

Caps can't come close to affording that.

Meh.

RFA:
Samsonov: 2,225,000M (solid young goalie. Need to have a bounce back season. I think he can)
Holmberg: 815,000K (unproven, very young, solid bottom six forward)
Abruzzese: 815,000K (same as Holmberg)
Mete: 775,000K (nothing much to say)
Kral: 775,000K (same as Mete)
Kallgren: 775,000K (same as Mete and Kral)
Arguchintsev: 775,000K (same as Mete, Kral and Kallgren)

UFA:
Bunting: 6,235,000M (great top six player, can give you 65-70 Pts)
Kubel: 1,100,000M (solid bottom six forward. Nothing much to say other than he’s a very physical guy)
Kampf: 2,200,000M (another solid season would be great. Has really shined in Toronto)
Schenn: 1,120,000M (same as Kubel)
Monahan: 3,000,000M (if he does well in Montreal he could get more)

Trades: Why would Muzzin waive his NTC to head to Washington? The Caps also don’t come close to affording that.

Lines:

Bunting - Matthews - Marner
Robertson - Tavares - Järnkrok
Knies - Kampf - Nylander
Holmberg - Monahan - Kubel

Rielly - Brodie
Giordano - Sandin
Liljegren - Schenn

Murray - Samsonov

Washington is and has been a very quality organization and team. Also keep in mind this AGM is for next summer. Muzzins Full No Trade turns into a 10 team only NTC as of July 1st. He will be substantially easier to move in the offseason.

Muzzin more than likely will be traded in the off season UNLESS he has a very very good year this year.

Muzzins Full No Trade turns into a 10 team only NTC as of July 1st. He will be substantially easier to move in the offseason.

Honestly.... Great job. The team looks really good and everything you did here seems reasonable! The biggest question mark to me is the goaltending but we will see how it plays out this year.

After watching Florida today. That team is big and scary. Their D issues are overblown. Josh Mahura was a great add for the bottom pair. Forsling-Gudas-Ekblad-Montour with that center depth absolutely suffocated the Sabres in the third with only a few shot attempts while protecting the lead. Leafs arent even in the ballpark to play that kind of shutdown hockey. Lundell is damn impressive, Barkov lite. Tkachuk is absolutely making teams crazy and draws so many penalties. Dahlin lost his mind today trying to get at Matthew! Tkachuk has about 30 shot attempts already in 2 games. They are winning the division easily with Knight back in form. Knight finished the year last 15 games with over .920 save percentage. Monster stretch glove save on Skinner today with an open net.

If Dubas doesnt stop falling in love with his guys, this team may win a round but that's it! Hats off to the Cats GM unlike Dubas he wasnt afraid to trade his guys and FIX the issues. Cats outscored everyone last year but couldnt shut it down..now they can! Dubas got absolutely owned by Bill Zito this Summer in how to make your team into a legit Cup contender

Florida lost Jonathan Huberdeau, MacKenzie Weegar, Owen Tippett, 1st round pick '23’24,25(CGY choice), 3rd round pick '25 and 2 prospects for Matthew Tkachuk and 20 games of Giroux and Chiarot. Just owned him lol

We will see how it plays out. I have liked a lot of what Dubas has done but there are a few things I have really not liked:

I didn't like the Marner contract. Should have been 9.5 x 8.
I didn't like the Ritchie signing (on the day of) - We needed a big power physical forward. He just isn't physical.
I didn't like the Mrazek signing (on the day of) - I really wanted to get Fleury that offseason and if not him I though Reimer. The contract was too long and we had Campbell expiring, so we needed to keep cap for him.
I didn't like the Malgin/Marchement trade (on the day of) - We needed size and physicality in our bottom of the roster at that time and Marchement was that guy in our orginaztion.
I didn't love the Kadri trade (on the day of) - we needed to upgrade our right D. But Barrie just wasn't that person in my mind.
I didn't like the Murray trade (on the day of) - the fact they didn't get 50% retention still blows my mind.

In terms of what I have really liked:
Kase signing was great
Kampf signing has been spectacular
Brodie signing was 100% exactly what we needed. Team got wayyyy better since Brodie
Bunting signing has turned out amazing
Giordano trade and signing have been perfect
I actually liked the trade they made to get rid of Mrazek and Ritchies contacts. Fixed both mistakes inexpensively.

I am sure there is a lot more. Overall Dubas has done a good job. The team entering the playoffs the past few years has looked extremely good. He has been icing a great team. They just couldn't pull through.

Clearly far from perfect though.

This offseason I would have done completely different than what Dubas did. I REALLLY thought they needed to get bigger on forward and on D. Big power left winger (a guy like Kane at 5.5 x 5 would have been perfect). I like the ZAR signing. But I thought they needed to replace Holl, Kerfoot and not sign a guy like Jarnkrok and use that cap to get bigger and more physical. Which he did not do.

Team still looks good but I still think they are too small. Time will tell!

@Koskinen_the_great @TMLBRIAN

Dubas is a good GM. I agree with literally everything TMLBRIAN said, the good and the bad. It’s not Dubas fault the team is cursed. Bill Zito is trying to win badly, and that’s fine. But he’s losing all his future by doing so. Keeping that core : Matthews Marner Nylander Tavares Reilly Brodie was the right move.

@Scooter81 that’s your opinion on the contract
I gave Kampf what Cizikas got
After you said pretty much the same contracts but with a couple of dollars off except the Bunting extension
Bunting isn’t a top 6 forward, he just fits well with Matthews and Marner. Lehkonen isn’t a top 6 forward for exemple, but he fits well with MacKinnon and Rantanen.
Bunting had a career year IMO, and that was 63 points
I don’t think he’ll be scoring at that pace regularly
FFS Nylander did a career year last year but before that is best season was 61 points (I know he had a great PPG in 2020-2021) but still. I can’t see Bunting putting up 60+ points regularly
5M is the maximum he should get if he scores 50ish points this season