It's about a month before free agency and its about time for the armchair GM's to come out. Who should we target in free agency? Ive looked at the free agents on capgeek.com and tried to pick guys I think would be bargain signings.
Forwards- I believe we should sign a forward, but Im not sure at who I like best. I was thinking Bill Guerin would bring toughness, size and scoring on the PP. He is getting up there in age and should come rather cheap and would be great to use to fill in and bring some more competition to the lines. (He got flak last year but still had a 20 goal 40 point season) The other route I would take would be a cheap, faceoff winning, penalty killing forward with a bit of offense. Manny Malhotra would be great, Andrew Ebbett would be nice as well.
Defense - I hope we resign 2 of our free agents. If we do then there is no need to go grab any defense, if we cannot do this then I would want someone like Milan Jurcina to make up for the loss of Bullion and some one like a Kurtis Foster if we lose the more offensive minded guys.
Goalies - If we decide to get a goalie through free agency I would like to get Al Montoya or Josh Tordjman guys that still have some potential to be a NHL goalie and could be another option in the goalie competition.
...and what are you thinking of doing with all the goalies in the system?
I was just speaking hypothetically. If I had to choose out of those four, those would be the two I would target. In terms of our system, I think it is very likely that we do not sign anyone. I have maintained that this off-season. I would not be surprised at all to see one of our own take a leap forward. It will not be Pickard, but everyone else is probably fair game with the organization obviously wanting Dekanich to grab it.
I was just speaking hypothetically. If I had to choose out of those four, those would be the two I would target. In terms of our system, I think it is very likely that we do not sign anyone. I have maintained that this off-season. I would not be surprised at all to see one of our own take a leap forward. It will not be Pickard, but everyone else is probably fair game with the organization obviously wanting Dekanich to grab it.
I think you are right that Poile will probably give the prospects a chance to win the backup slot, but if he doesnt like what he sees by midawy through camp I think he'll pick up someone. There are more goalies than there will be slots available so someone decent should be available for near league minimum the last week of camp.
Yea, I agree. I think Poile will try to fill the spot from within the system first, and sign someone if that fails. So I wouldn't expect us to sign anyone before camp. There will be plenty of choices still come September. I definitely do not expect us to sign a well known backup like Nitty/Biron etc. It will be someone more obscure.
As far as other positions, it's going to be a very quiet summer in the FA market. Our team is pretty much already done. Just need to sign a few RFAs
There aren't many guys in our price range up front. Our forward corps is pretty well set anyway, and we'll have lots of internal competition for the final few roster spots. It's a long shot, but we might even see Belak on waivers towards the end of camp if the kids step up and play well.
Our defense could use an addition, depending on who we retain. I would love to add Toni Lydman or Henrik Tallinder out of Buffalo, but their price tags may be a bit too steep for us.
We have too many goaltenders as it is, so we might even invite anyone into camp on the back end.
i believe st.louis just got a little better with halak and hensick. and they are getting rid of kariya's contract as well. hope we keep pace somewhat.
We'll see. I don't think Hensick helps them too much, and Halak must be looking for a pretty lofty dollar amount if the Habs traded the guy that carried them to the conference finals.
