all depends on what we do with our existing contract players...
Forwards:
C's on contract or RFA: Pleks-Eller-DD-Galch-White-Dumont
Wingers: MaxPac-Gionta-Cole-Bourque-Gally-Prust-Moen-Leblanc
If we don't move anyone, I'd only target guys in the primary group of UFA's, otherwise stick with what we have. If we do move someone, then I'd add 1-2 of any of the players below.
Defense:
On contract or RFA: Markov, Subban, Gorges, Diaz, Emelin, Weber, Kaberle, Tinordi, Beaulieu
If we don't move anyone (highly unlikely Kaberle isn't traded/bought out), then no need to add anyone, if we move 1-2 players than I would target the following players, in order:
Smid (3-4yrs, <3.75M$/year)
Regher (2-3 years, <3.5M$/year)
Murray (1-2 years, <2M$/year)
otherwise, just re-sign Bouillion if we feel we need veteran depth.
You know the cap is going down, right? 8 Million for Perry is retarded.
The cap can never go lower than 64.3 M and Renaud Lavoie reported on Saturday that ticket sales are actually up compared to last season despite the lockout, so I think the cap will grow in the coming years.
Even if it doesn't, spending 12% of the cap on a Corey Perry isn't a killer.
The cap can never go lower than 64.3 M and Renaud Lavoie reported on Saturday that ticket sales are actually up compared to last season despite the lockout, so I think the cap will grow in the coming years.
Even if it doesn't, spending 12% of the cap on a Corey Perry isn't a killer.
Perry would be awesome but it's probably close to the max for seven years if we want him. I don't think he's worth that. He is wicked though...
What's with Getz and the beating heart, D'you have a bald fetish or something ?!?
Seriously, any of those 2 would be HUGE !! But I'd prefer Perry too. Our RW position is getting a little old with Cole and Gio and Perry would complement with the power and size that Gally doesn't have. He'd be awesome and I'd be willing to pay a king's ransom for him. Do it !
Other need ? IF Tinordi isn't ready to make the jump as a 3rd pair pk guy, a bigger Bouillon would be nice for transition purposes
edit : not that it will interest anyone, but a while ago I vouched to sport the brown-paper-bag avatar until we got rid of Gomez and the masterminds who had brought him here. Just got around to it and it feels great to do away with the shame and its stigma. New dawn has come. Hail to the Lars !!
I say don't go after the top free agents. Perry? Sure but not at the price he will likely be asking. I would rather wait one more year and shower Malkin with $$$.
Players i would lke to upgrade in the current line-up:
Gionta; Armstrong; Emelin, Bouillon, Budaj
Potential within the org.: Dumont/Leblanc (Armstrong); Tinordi/Beaulieu/St-Denis (Emelin, Bouillon); Tokarski (Budaj); Collberg (Gionta).
Now, I obviously don't expect all of these young players to be ready or able to replace the current ones but this is the situation we're in now imo.
Seconded. People here are way to enamoured with his physical play to notice his shot and scoring sense is kind of lacking and would easily be one of our slowest skaters, if not the slowest. Considering what it would cost to get him to sign, I'd stay away.
Take it from me, steer clear of Clowe like you'd steer clear of Gionta. Neither are performing well and I'd like to get them both off my two favourite teams.
Semin, Alexander » R CAR 28 $7,000,000 2013 (UFA)
Iginla, Jarome » R CGY 35 $7,000,000 2013 (UFA)
Elias, Patrik » C NJD 36 $6,000,000 2013 (UFA)
Backstrom, Niklas » G MIN 35 $6,000,000 2013 (UFA)
Visnovsky, Lubomir » D NYI 36 $5,600,000 2013 (UFA)
Gonchar, Sergei » D OTT 38 $5,500,000 2013 (UFA)
Perry, Corey » R ANA 27 $5,325,000 2013 (UFA)
Getzlaf, Ryan » C ANA 27 $5,325,000 2013 (UFA)
Ribeiro, Mike » C WAS 33 $5,000,000 2013 (UFA)
Thomas, Tim » G NYI 38 $5,000,000 2013 (UFA)
Thanks for list...
For me:
<Perry (Hab fan, but hope we don't have to overpay too much)
<Iginla (depending on price...wouldn't overpay)
<Clarkson (ufa?)
<Montoya (ufa?)
<Leopold (ufa?)
<Bouillon...for another year as a #6 (cheap, reliable...attainable)
<Getzlaf (but I don't like the lazy reputation)
NO WAY:
<Semin (absolutely useless when not scoring like he can/no heart...keep him far away unless he's dirt cheap which will not happen)
<Ribeiro (I'd rather go with two-way Pleks, Galchy, Eller, but no more Ribs...that ship has sailed.... just can't stand Ribeiro in a Hab jersey...still happy he's gone)
trust me Getzlaf will disapoint whoever gets him to a crazy contract
his numbers have dropped like Mike Richards and you will be regretting years 4-8
walk away from all , and stay the course with the kids on the cheap
Getzlaf has 18 points in 17 games this season... I agree though, even if he's one of my favorite players in the league, he's a no show on a lot of nights and would get chased out of Montreal in no time.
We'll need to clear either Cole or Gionta or both if we are to make room for a Clowe/Perry/Getzlaf/Semin type acquisition.
Both for the cash required, and for the roster spot.
It's pretty close, though. $7.5M in cap space on the "default" lineup. But even if we could trade Kaberle this season and not have to use a compliance buyout on him, and even if Cole or Gionta continues to struggle to the point where they are buyout candidates... we still can't really gamble on buying one out in June, not knowing if we'd really get one of the big UFAs to replace them in July.
It could be more like Desharnais on the hot seat in the real timeline that takes place. I put him down for $3M. But he presumably won't yet be signed on July 1st. You can chase after Perry or whoever with a $10M+ budget on July 1st. Odds are you don't get him. So you just sign Desharnais and it's mostly a status quo lineup. But in the off chance you do land a big time UFA like Perry, you can then turn around and really play hardball with Desharnais. MB already showed his mettle with PK. So offer Desharnais $2M or whatever. Or shave a little savings off the Bouillon D spot. Etc.
The $7.5M default cap space is enough to chase after a big UFA, but landing one would probably come at the expense of somebody other than Cole or Gionta, just on the realistic timeline.
CAPGEEK.COM USER GENERATED ROSTER
My Custom Lineup
FORWARDS
Max Pacioretty ($4.500m) / David Desharnais ($3.000m) / Erik Cole ($4.500m)
Rene Bourque ($3.333m) / Tomas Plekanec ($5.000m) / Brian Gionta ($5.000m)
Alex Galchenyuk ($3.225m) / Lars Eller ($1.325m) / Brendan Gallagher ($0.870m)
Travis Moen ($1.850m) / Ryan White ($0.722m) / Brandon Prust ($2.500m)
Gabriel Dumont ($0.578m) /
DEFENSEMEN
Andrei Markov ($5.750m) / P.K. Subban ($2.875m)
Josh Gorges ($3.900m) / Raphael Diaz ($1.225m)
Francis Bouillon ($1.500m) / Alexei Emelin ($2.000m)
Yannick Weber ($0.945m) /
GOALTENDERS
Carey Price ($6.500m)
Dustin Tokarski ($0.660m)
OTHER
Buyout: Tomas Kaberle ($0.000m)
------
CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter)
(these totals are compiled with the bonus cushion)
SALARY CAP: $64,300,000; CAP PAYROLL: $59,272,708; BONUSES: $2,485,000
CAP SPACE (22-man roster): $7,512,292
Trade Plekanec or Gionta and Leblanc at the draft for a first or more if at all possible, trade our 1st overall if it's a late pick and move up. Offer Perry 7 million over 5-6 years. Hope to Christ he signs.
Not sure if this has been mentioned, but aside from cap numbers Habs are suddenly in a much better position to attract UFAs. Our hot season has made us into a much more attractive location for a player looking for a contender. An O6 team that's young and on the upswing? Eyebrows are finally going up. We've been overpaying our UFAs for years; maybe this is the year we have an actual shot at a top-tier player.
Perry would be my first choice. Cap would be tight next year, but at the end of 2014 we lose the big contracts of Gionta and Markov. Even with a re-signed PK we'd probably be okay moving forward. This might be the year when we could pursue and catch a star.
Obviously guys like Getzlaf and Perry would be dream signings but keeping this more realistic i'd be happy with the following.
1. A tough winger who can play on the top 9. Ryan Clowe or David Clarkson would be perfect fits.
2. A big crease clearing 5th/6th/7th d-man. A guy like Douglas Murray or Marc Fistric would fit the bill.
I would trade Gionta and buyout Kaberle to make room for these guys.
Clarkson is also a dream signing the way he has played/what it would take for him to leave NJ. Ask anyone who watches the Sharks, you don't want Clowe.
Clarkson is also a dream signing the way he has played/what it would take for him to leave NJ. Ask anyone who watches the Sharks, you don't want Clowe.
There was a time before last season when people were kind of saying that about Clarkson too, though, about how risky his extravagant cap hit was for a player who was not living up to expectations. Clarkson has since rebounded superbly.
Could Clowe rebound? Well, he's older and slower. So it's probably even riskier. But that said, we're also in a pretty comfortable cap situation. So to me, if we weren't getting Perry/Getzlaf at the top end, and Clarkson is staying in NJ as expected, then if you throw a Cole-like contract at Clowe, how much can it *really* hurt us? It's risky. But if you get a tough big top-6 forward, it would be nice. It's not like we'll have a lot else to spend money on. I might take the chance, even while noticing how awful Clowe has been this year.
Perry at 8 million for however many years he wants and trade a winger not named Max for an asset. Don't wake me up from my dream.
FORWARDS
Max Pacioretty ($4.500m) / Tomas Plekanec ($5.000m) / Corey Perry ($8.000m)
Erik Cole ($4.500m) / Alex Galchenyuk ($3.225m) / Brian Gionta ($5.000m)
Rene Bourque ($3.333m) / Lars Eller ($1.325m) / Brendan Gallagher ($0.870m)
Travis Moen ($1.850m) / Ryan White ($0.722m) / Brandon Prust ($2.500m)
Eric Nystrom ($1.000m) / DEFENSEMEN
Andrei Markov ($5.750m) / Alexei Emelin ($2.000m)
Josh Gorges ($3.900m) / P.K. Subban ($2.875m)
Jordan Leopold ($2.500m) / Raphael Diaz ($1.225m) GOALTENDERS
Carey Price ($6.500m)
Peter Budaj ($1.150m) OTHER
Buyout: Tomas Kaberle ($0.000m)
Last edited by DekeLikeYouMeanIt: 02-26-2013 at 11:46 AM.
It's risky. But if you get a tough big top-6 forward, it would be nice. It's not like we'll have a lot else to spend money on. I might take the chance, even while noticing how awful Clowe has been this year.
