That's the most illogical thing I've ever heard. Why in the world would we deal our 2 top players to go through a rebuild and only sign more free agents when we're at the top of the league now!??!?!
1st place because of hard work and toughness? Needs moar superstarz!!!
Transformative excellence? Have you looked at the standings this year? Your "perfect" off season is trading away two of our key players for "assets". Now what assets are you looking to bring in? Hey great idea lets take a 1st place team and blow it all up, I think you forgot that we have our own assets and in our own system that are coming up and clearly contributing right now with Richards and gaborik, Richards and Gaborik are two and three this month in points produced, unfortunately it took this long to put them together but if you add kreider and potentially a player like parise, Nash or Ryan, this team becomes that much deeper and better. Last time I checked you don't subtract from a contending team but add on pieces that complete the puzzle, and richards and gaborik are clearly fitting in on this team. But hey why not blow it up
If you bought two tv's for 1k each and then I came and offered you 2k to go out and replace those tv's and I also threw in Rangers season tickets, would you do it?
I'll repeat - The Perfect Offseason. I'm just going by the premise of this thread. Which means I'm gunning for transformative excellence. You can wallow in your first place position. Oh, and btw, last year's #1 is now in 9th and last year's #2 blew up their team but made a humongous big mistake.
If you bought two tv's for 1k each and then I came and offered you 2k to go out and replace those tv's and I also threw in Rangers season tickets, would you do it?
I'll repeat - The Perfect Offseason. I'm just going by the premise of this thread. Which means I'm gunning for transformative excellence. You can wallow in your first place position. Oh, and btw, last year's #1 is now in 9th and last year's #2 blew up their team but made a humongous big mistake.
I figured your perfect offseason would be a public execution of Marian Gaborik.
Of course there are probably better combinations for lines (especially on D) but this would make me ecstatic.. just imagine the speed of that 3rd line The only thing that would make me happier is a parade down the canyon of heroes..
The perfect off season would have every player on the NYR roster getting a day with the Stanley Cup...
This ^, of course, but to get there ASAP, IMO:
1. To CBH F Dubinsky+ Christian Thomas +
To NYR D Dylan Olsen, F Mark McNeil
[Ideally also a swap of this year's firsts, but that wouldn't get done, but this core does.]
2. To Edmonton, Girardi + Sauer (as is) + Boyle for #2 overall 2012 + Tyler Pitlick
[There is thought they'd consider Staal for the that pick, but would want more or at least conditional pick(s) etc if he's not back from concussion SUFFICIENTLY. Rather than have that complication, expect they will cave and take Girardi +.]
Alternatively, would do Girardi alone for the 5th/6th pick overall from Toronto.
Not clear Leafs will definitely do that.
3. By all means add Schultz.
Draft carefully, Sign FAs carefully.
If we have the 2nd pick we take the consensus pick what's his name Grigrenko(sp) with hope he comes up from Whale by end of the year at latest. Otherwise, just best available + let Gordie work his magic.
We have moved 2 good guys but obtained 8mil ish in cap space between them.
Lose Zuccarello, also a good guy, not enough speed to cut it w/small size.
Lots of room for lots of flexibility and additions as opportunity presents
Assuming NO Parise, No Suter, etc. worst case scenario:
Opening day lineup:
Hagelin Richards Gaborik
Kreider Anisimov Callahan
Fedotenko Stepan Yogan
Rupp Mitchell Prust
Bickel is your reserve LW, Kreider your reserve C
with luck Jesper Fasth makes this club, maybe not out of training, but a la Hagelin, during the year. Pitlick will eventually push Fasth, not immediately, but down the road.
Prior to that Casey Wellman pushes Yogan, but I think the bigger man w/better touch will prevail.
Grigrenko will also be here ASAP; when exactly, can't say, but could also be next season, a la Radulov, not too many games on the farm.
By end of the year McNeil will be ready. Maybe JT Miller also; if not, certainly the following year, but a least a cup o coffee a year from now.
That should be enough to provide the depth and freshness we don't have this year.
F Prospects I expect to begin to challenge after next year include: St. Croix, Fogarty, McColgan, Hobbs, Lindberg, McNaught and maybe Grant and Jason Miller.
I expect the rest to be pretenders
I'd try to find a spot for big John Scott a few games as 3rd pair D, a few as W.
Keep him around as healthy scratch up here, try to work on his skating/flexibility. That coupled with his size/strength, would be frightening.
with D
McDonagh MDZ
Staal Erixon
Bickel/Stralman/Eminger/maybe Wovwitka until McIrath is here
Olsen will be here before McIlrath
Schultz
[If we dream small that Justin Schultz would sign here for multiple reasons, then as a guy in the 2008 entry draft I'm guessing he is also ready to step in at #6 RD]
I think the deal with Pashnin is not as much ability as he wanted top $$$. Whether he competes for lower pair or is redeployed or traded, I want something for Pashnin. I don't want him turning into another Paveltenko.
It would be nice if we could convert Stralman/Eminger/Wovwitka + X into an upgrade; anybody got any ideas?
D Prospects I expect to begin to challenge after next year include: Ceresnak and Noreau. Maybe Niemi, but I fear he's a bust. Pity there was not more to the Ivan Baranka era. One the heels of the Dowzak era!
There's room to improve: we need still more depth and at least one legit sniper. Not sure Nash is our man, or that I'd want to give up a lot for him, despite the talent.
Suter may well stay, especially with the return of Radulov. He just wants to make the point he can go elsewhere if he wants, so they better pay him, and they will. Weber, on the other hand, will probably want to go NW to Vancouver or Edmonton. Whether or not he can be rented cheaply enough for balance of one season without massive overpay (assuming Preds chose not to reinvest this asset and consume it going for it all with their own cup run), is not likely, but if nobody will pay in this situation, including Vancouver/Edmonton, we might be able to offer 'just enough'; don't bank on it, but keep an eye out.
But all in all, it's a lot to be grateful for, and we have more to go to be DOMINANT and balanced.
But we are a good chunk of the way there and I hope these, coming to fruition, would help.
1) We are talking about the offseason
2) We are talking about "the perfect offseason".
Let me hear your plan to achieve transformative excellence.
You assume that we would win any trades we make. That's a false assumption. And even if we did, when would the assets that we obtained in those trades mature? 2 years? 3? Just in time for you to trade them? This isn't a video game. Or the stock market. You don't improve the team by constantly buying low and selling high.
If that's your idea of a perfect offseason, you can get it on playstation, I believe.
I've already stated what my perfect offseason will be. First and foremost, a new CBA and no games lost.
Umm...why in the world would MDZ ever see the first pair? He's a second pairing defenseman, who can add offense. Enough with the trade Girardi to Edmonton. I've seen this since before the ASG. enough already.
Sign Parise, Have Kreider and either Thomas, Yogan or Miller be good enough to make our top 9, have Sauer healthy and have a 4th line of Boyle, Prust, XXX
Hi guys, I've been following these boards for a while, figured I'd finally give my input.
I think the main priority this offseason should be to craft a third line that can grind and provide secondary scoring. This season it seems the top two lines are heavily relied on to score while the bottom two are to play defensive Tort's style hockey and wear down the opposition. This could be achieved by signing a top flight LW (Parise) and letting the talent trickle down the line up, however I don't believe the odds of Parise signing at his current division rival on July 1st are very high.
A lot of the shape of next years line up hinges on whether or not Kreider will sign in the offseason, or play his last year at BC. TBH I don't think theres much area for his improvement under Jerry York, but graduating seems to be his top priority before moving on to his professional career.
Anyways, if he were to sign our LW depth would include Hagelin, Dubinsky, Kreider, and Rupp. Its anyones guess as to where Torts will play the first three, as he changes his lines constantly, but in any event I see three interchangeable 40-60 pt LWers, which in itself is a huge improvement over a shortened first season for Hagelin, and an offensively struggling Dubinsky and Anisimov. This scenario is much more cap-conscious than signing a Parise or trading core roster players for an overpaid and overhyped Rick Nash or Jarome Iginla, and additionally allows Anisimov to slot in as 3rd line Center, and Boyle to slide to 4th line center, where I believe they are best suited on this team.
The next item of business is finding a RW to play under Gaborik and Callahan, thus allowing Prust 4th line minutes plus PK where he is most valuable. I think MZA could be a good option there and on the powerplay, and it seems that Sather might qualify him for a year and give him a legitimate shot. If not, perhaps test the trade market using prospects and picks to see what can be had.
The defense for the most part is pretty intact. My hope is that Staal returns to form after an offseason of training, and that Sauer (fingers crossed) comes back from injury. If he hasn't progressed, and we miss out on signing Justin Schultz, I'd give Stralman another one-year and hope he can develop a little more of an edge. Give Marty a one-year raise around 1.2 mil.
Better lineup than this year, with a lot of cap space for resigning 12/13 RFA's. Thoughts?
I think that has to be the plan. Parise would be a dream, but I'm not holding my breath. I'd love to see a Ray Whitney-type guy on a one-year deal to move up and down the Top 9, and complement that lineup, while not hindering signing Stepan, McDonagh and Co. in the off-season.
Allows for a ton of flexibility, and I really like having Anisimov and Dubinsky on the 3rd line once Kreider gets his feet wet, maybe in time for the stretch run next season.
Also, what better way to attract a FA than a parade?
Hi guys, I've been following these boards for a while, figured I'd finally give my input.
I think the main priority this offseason should be to craft a third line that can grind and provide secondary scoring. This season it seems the top two lines are heavily relied on to score while the bottom two are to play defensive Tort's style hockey and wear down the opposition. This could be achieved by signing a top flight LW (Parise) and letting the talent trickle down the line up, however I don't believe the odds of Parise signing at his current division rival on July 1st are very high.
A lot of the shape of next years line up hinges on whether or not Kreider will sign in the offseason, or play his last year at BC. TBH I don't think theres much area for his improvement under Jerry York, but graduating seems to be his top priority before moving on to his professional career.
Anyways, if he were to sign our LW depth would include Hagelin, Dubinsky, Kreider, and Rupp. Its anyones guess as to where Torts will play the first three, as he changes his lines constantly, but in any event I see three interchangeable 40-60 pt LWers, which in itself is a huge improvement over a shortened first season for Hagelin, and an offensively struggling Dubinsky and Anisimov. This scenario is much more cap-conscious than signing a Parise or trading core roster players for an overpaid and overhyped Rick Nash or Jarome Iginla, and additionally allows Anisimov to slot in as 3rd line Center, and Boyle to slide to 4th line center, where I believe they are best suited on this team.
The next item of business is finding a RW to play under Gaborik and Callahan, thus allowing Prust 4th line minutes plus PK where he is most valuable. I think MZA could be a good option there and on the powerplay, and it seems that Sather might qualify him for a year and give him a legitimate shot. If not, perhaps test the trade market using prospects and picks to see what can be had.
The defense for the most part is pretty intact. My hope is that Staal returns to form after an offseason of training, and that Sauer (fingers crossed) comes back from injury. If he hasn't progressed, and we miss out on signing Justin Schultz, I'd give Stralman another one-year and hope he can develop a little more of an edge. Give Marty a one-year raise around 1.2 mil.
Better lineup than this year, with a lot of cap space for resigning 12/13 RFA's. Thoughts?
Pretty good ideas - you are basically following my thoughts and previous posts
I would also try to sign Ray Whitney as a one year stop gap free agent for around 3 M
He would add a necessary offensive punch & depth plus great veteran experience for a deep run (I would also assume we pick up 1-2 extra SC-run player/s/ at the deadline with our huge prospect park) and could be slotted upo and down the lineup.
Strålman is a big ? - it is either him or another depth fwd (Mitchell/Feds/someone new) and using Bickel as our #7 (where he should be)
I would try to sign this Schultz kid too - especially if Sauer is slow to recover/done (pls no!).
Plus any diamond in the rough NCAA prospects/Europeans we might be able to entice signing with NYR to deepen the pool even more. We have a lot of elapsing contracts (between 11-15 I believe) that will probably not be resigned - meaning we will be needing a lot of fresh bodies within the organisation. And then we might actually have a few kids with potential in Hartford that can develop there slowly (contrary to this year imo). I also expect JAM to be signed to a NYR contract. Plus Yogan, McIlrath, Thomas to be in Hartford next year; Kreider, Fasth & Lindberg to sign deals (Kreider going to NYR + the last two playing in Sweden on loans) and MSC, Miller, McColgan, Noreau, Ceresnak to play junior hockey plus Fogarty in the NCAA. Plus our new picks for this year...
If you bought two tv's for 1k each and then I came and offered you 2k to go out and replace those tv's and I also threw in Rangers season tickets, would you do it?
I'll repeat - The Perfect Offseason. I'm just going by the premise of this thread. Which means I'm gunning for transformative excellence. You can wallow in your first place position. Oh, and btw, last year's #1 is now in 9th and last year's #2 blew up their team but made a humongous big mistake.
Haha dude your first post had me cracking up (literally) because I thought you were kidding! And then the "transformative excellence" one where I STILL thought you were busting balls... and now you come out with this one, where I realize you're serious and it's not so funny anymore. But I'll admit, you saved it with the "humongous big mistake", gold right there.
Although I guess it's not a humongous big mistake anymore now that Bryz is actually playing decently.
O yea. Gaborik has been dominating. When he fired that rocket backhand goal and then jumped into the glass in celebration I became a fan of his.
Really I thought it would have been when he scored the most goals and points on the team that's leading the league. I really find it funny you just use the blanket term assets to trade away our two best forwards rather than actually stick your neck out and try to give us an example of what assets you feel we could get. Shows how utterly full of crap your arguement is. Perfect offseason could also be just for this current team based on what we are currently acheiving and have been building towards the last 4 or 5 years to continue to do what it has been doing with a minor tweak here or there. Since you clearly haven't been paying attention I'll clue you in. We've been building towards multiple cup runs over the next 3-4 years. "Perfect" and "transformative excellence" do not call to mind destroying our chance at cup runs for the next 3 or 4 years. Y'know what that is? Foolish agenda (not opinion) driven garbage.
Like another poster i seriously thought you were joking until that "transformative excellence" post.
Last edited by JimmyStart*: 03-30-2012 at 02:56 AM.
If you bought two tv's for 1k each and then I came and offered you 2k to go out and replace those tv's and I also threw in Rangers season tickets, would you do it?
I'll repeat - The Perfect Offseason. I'm just going by the premise of this thread. Which means I'm gunning for transformative excellence. You can wallow in your first place position. Oh, and btw, last year's #1 is now in 9th and last year's #2 blew up their team but made a humongous big mistake.
You do know that last year's 1 has been a 1 for multiple years right? Your post seems to imply they were around for about 1. They also got there not by building a team but by acquiring some all world talent and riding it as far as it could go without much D and G support. That's very different from our current team and "path". And last year's 2 was having widely reported locker room issues between coaches and players. Not to mention they signed Carter to a contract he apparently was not going to live up to. Then ACTUAL NAMEABLE assets became available and THEN they traded. They did NOT simply say "Oh assets? Assets? for our best two F? Wow let's do it! Random assets hells yea!" See the difference? No of course not.
The only thing that would make me happier is a parade down the canyon of heroes..
One the heels of the Dowzak era!
