Not really the way they'd look at it. If he's able to handle the physicality then his hockey sense and skill places him well above D'Agostini. He's a playmaking winger with Petro-like hockey sense and Sobotka's size.
With the way Colorado College works, there isn't exactly a way to take minimum hours. I wouldn't know completely, because I'm only considering it.
Either way, we'll see what he does. Whether he stays or leaves doesn't really matter to me, because I don't think he'll be in the NHL except for injury. Perron/McDonald/Steen are all above him on the left side, and Oshie/Stewart/Tarasenko are above him on the right.
Not that it really matters, but minimum meaning 12, the lowest to still be considered full time student.
I'm pretty confident that he will turn pro, so we'll see how he performs at camp.
I dont usually do these, but what do you guys/gals think about this:
STL:
Marc Staal
NYR:
Chris Stewart (+?)
I know Staal was an untouchable last year for the Rangers, but with the emergence of McD and MDZ, it might make Staal expendable. He shoots left, can play first pairing and is a stay-at-home type of dman who can chip in offensively and is still young.
Yeah, I don't think that NYR would be willing to move Staal.
Although, as good a player as Staal is, would he really be the player to target? If we are going to be paying a price for a LHD, then I'd rather target someone who was more of a PMD. I know Staal is capable, but someone more natural.
I don't know, our issue on the left side isn't too easy to solve. We all expect Jax to be resigned, and Cole will be ready to step up full time next season, so that gives us 2 shut down guys. The problem being that neither is really a suitable partner for Pietrangelo, at least in the short term.
Erixon is a good prospect for the Rangers, and if it wasn't for the nonsense in Calgary, he might have been a decent player to target considering they are set on the left.
I don't know, our issue on the left side isn't too easy to solve. We all expect Jax to be resigned, and Cole will be ready to step up full time next season, so that gives us 2 shut down guys. The problem being that neither is really a suitable partner for Pietrangelo, at least in the short term.
Erixon is a good prospect for the Rangers, and if it wasn't for the nonsense in Calgary, he might have been a decent player to target considering they are set on the left.
Trading for a prospect doesn't make much sense, IMO. Regardless of what upside they have, they still aren't going to have the experience needed for us to ultimately feel comfortable with them on the top pairing.
Jackman is a natural fit with Shattenkirk, and Russell complements Polak well. Both those pairings work. Cole has enough versatility to his game to slot in pretty much anywhere...his biggest issue is that of polish, and experience. I doubt the Blues will throw him right into the fire from the get-go, but it is at least an option.
So what's to be done? Suter is the ideal, but it would basically take a miracle to happen. There isn't another FA out there that looks promising, as everyone is fairly limited in some way. Allen's too limited offensively, Carle might as well be Colaiacovo, and then there's a bunch of guys too old to be counted on for top 4 minutes. Besides, it's hard to picture the Blues getting involved in a UFA bidding war for anyone that would be considered a significant (relatively speaking) pickup at this point.
Staal might be the ideal trade target, but the only reason to move him would be to clear salary (say, to chase Parise) and Dubinsky would likely be moved well before Staal would. Phoenix is a target organization, but Yandle (and OEL/Gormley for those dreamers out there) is pretty unlikely. If Phoenix would deal Yandle for something around Stewart, I would be all over that deal...but he's honestly no better fit for that organization than he is here.
The equivalent of something like D'Agostini for (a healthy version of) Klesla seems like it would be more realistic type of deal to go down. St. Louis moves an expendable asset with no clear place in the lineup for a defenseman with some experience on a reasonable contract (sub-3 million for 2 years through age 31) who can provide an impact along the lines of what Jackman brings. Phoenix sheds a bit of salary, and opens up a spot for one of their youngsters. In this particular case, Klesla's injury history is a real concern, but you get the idea.
On Phoenix' board they have a player inquiry thread stickied and I was over there the other day trying to get a better sense of how they see their defensemen. I got a bit of feedback but nothing comprehensive or detailed. I wasn't making an offer. IMO that's premature before we know what happens in the playoffs for our side of things. AND it's totally conterproductive to the goal of them giving a thoughtful synopsis since they'll just close ranks around why aren't we willing to give them Backes, etc. Instead, I just wanted them to explain what they think is going to happen with their D. They suggested Shlemko might be available before I explained we have tons of that. I'm not sure they really know what's going to happen – either that or they just weren't in a mood to explain the thinking with much precision. Maybe one of you guys could make more headway.
I wonder if the Blues will sign Rylan for Peoria next year. I wouldn't put it past them.
They're crazy if they don't, IMO... The brothers have good chemistry, and Peoria needs an offensive boost in the worst way, especially since they're apparently about to trade Brett Sterling for Patrick "Alone Again, Naturally" O'Sullivan...
They're crazy if they don't, IMO... The brothers have good chemistry, and Peoria needs an offensive boost in the worst way, especially since they're apparently about to trade Brett Sterling for Patrick "Alone Again, Naturally" O'Sullivan...
Now that is one guy who has completely dropped off since his breakout in 07-08.
I have coveted Marc Staal for a long time now. I personally think he would be the best partner for AP.
I went over the the Rangers board a couple weeks before the deadline and asked them how they thought of Staal now that McD and MDZ have broken out. They basically said that while Staal is still having a bit of trouble adjusting since returning from a concussion, he's still a -very- valuable piece to their organization. So we better come prepared to add quite a bit to Stewart if we want to swing that kind of deal.
Would anyone like the idea of trading for a high second rounder? maybe in the 35-45 range? The draft is so deep that we could pick up a pretty talented player in this range (maybe another Rattie), plus we would not have to give up a player from our original core group to get one, maybe Jaskin and Lundstrom for one
If a player we like is still on the board and it isn't going to cost much to move up, I don't think anyone would mind. No point until draft day though and we know the guy we want is there.
That said, this is not a very deep draft. There are maybe 20 guys that are what I would call first round talents, there are a lot of guys who are early second rounder types though to somewhat makeup for that. You mention Rattie, but if he had been a year younger, then I have little doubt that he would have went top 20 in this draft.
Wow was I wrong about Grabovski's contract. That is one brutally terrible deal. Immdiately he has negative trade value. Wouldn't trade a conditional 7th to get him.
That is a massive deal. I figured he'd want that much, but end up getting around 4.0-4.5 million. Boy was I wrong. So not only is it an overpayment, but you then add on the 5 year term...Yikes!
Wow. I said he'd probably get close to $5m per year, $5.5m is insane.
Is anyone else getting a little worried about signing players? When Ruutu is getting $4.75m and Grabovski gets $5.5m, some players are going to want crazy money.
Basically what we've learned is that UFA on July 1 is crazy time, and these teams are figuring that it's better to overpay when they have exclusive negotiation rights than offer the same stupid amount as four or five other teams wo that the player's annoyed at you for not offering it sooner and he gets to pick his destination.
They're going to have to fix the CBA because it's really exposed the inequality among the haves and have not teams as far as signing free agents. The Blues are still in good shape because their core is still either locked up or only coming up on RFA deals, but it does mean they'll have a hard time in the UFA market except for veterans with something left to contribute to a contender ala Arnott/Langenbrunner. As long as they keep drafting well and lock up Pietrangelo forever they can stay highly competitive a long time.
Told you he was at least going to get 5 million....ended up being 5.5. It's actually a solid deal. He's a 30/30 player who plays both ends of the ice and works hard. Plus this is Toronto, so you get a bit of a bonus for playing for a rebuilding team in a market unaccustomed to having to watch a rebuilding team.
I'm not sure if the CBA really needs that much more fixing.....it's more like GMs in the league need to stop giving out stupid contracts and driving the price up. When a guy like Leino is making 4.5 a year for a whopping 6 goals, it makes agents happy. Also, for the first time in awhile, teams seem to be locking up their own players more, which wasn't the case in the past. This was a clear target of this CBA; the ability of teams who draft and develop players to have a chance to keep those players as they enter into their prime years. I will say they need to tweak how they set the cap a little bit, since it's like doubled in 6 years. If you tweak the cap a little bit so that you don't see 7 million dollars of cap space open up every 2 years, I think it would behoove the league.
They hope he becomes a 30-30 player, the way we hope Oshie does. Never hit either number. Like Oshie, he's been on pace in assists once or twice. Of course, he's years older than Oshie. It's a terrible contract.
As for the CBA needing to be fixed, it absolutely does. The reason it keeps going up is a few top teams keep making massive profits but it's making the bottom teams hemmorage money. Top teams spending less than half their revenues on salary while bottom teams spending 2/3 to 3/4 on salary. Each time the floor rises it's choking off the lower revenue teams, despite revenue sharing.
I'm not saying that I have a fix for the current situation but I will say that I find it troubling.
Currently, the big market US teams with rich owners and loyal fan bases have enough money to spend to the cap so they do. To recoup the money they raise ticket prices which in turn increases revenue, which raises both the cap and the floor. The Canadian Dollar is stronger than the US Dollar now so even the smaller Canadian markets can act more like larger markets due to their rabid fan base, similar to the Baseball Cardinals here. As of now, the cap floor is close to, if not higher than, the ceiling was coming out of the lockout.
This is bad news for teams that are struggling to make money like the Blues. According to the last NHL Team Marketing report the Blues have the 5th lowest average ticket prices at $40.57 with the NHL average being $54.25 and the Maple Leafs with the highest of $115.96. So even if the Blues Sell out every game, they are still making less than half of what Toronto does. Not including merchandise, food/drink sales and TV money. The gap of revenue between the wealthiest teams and poorest is growing and soon teams will have to either contract or move if nothing is done.
But this is the way that most Sports work, players get paid whether they perform or not and when they do perform they look to get paid more than the one who isn't.
That is a massive deal. I figured he'd want that much, but end up getting around 4.0-4.5 million. Boy was I wrong. So not only is it an overpayment, but you then add on the 5 year term...Yikes!
That spending trend seemed to be contagious when the Oilers locked up the perenially under-achieving Hemsky to huge dollars as well.
They hope he becomes a 30-30 player, the way we hope Oshie does. Never hit either number. Like Oshie, he's been on pace in assists once or twice. Of course, he's years older than Oshie. It's a terrible contract.
As for the CBA needing to be fixed, it absolutely does. The reason it keeps going up is a few top teams keep making massive profits but it's making the bottom teams hemmorage money. Top teams spending less than half their revenues on salary while bottom teams spending 2/3 to 3/4 on salary. Each time the floor rises it's choking off the lower revenue teams, despite revenue sharing.
I think it would be worth looking into how the cap would have worked the past several season if the outliers were not included when calculating the cap. Something like only using the middle 20 teams to calculate the cap.
), plus we would not have to give up a player from our original core group to get one, maybe Jaskin and Lundstrom for one
