Only team I see being worse than us at the moment are the Panthers, and they need to spend 26 million before they even reach cap floor, so they are going to make some major signings. Carolina could lose Jokinen, Pitkanen and Cole, but they are 17 million under the floor. Winnipeg is 13 million under the floor. I'm expecting these teams making some major signings, and the competition will get much tougher in the east too.
The cap floor is definitely one of the opportunities for us to move Kuba later this summer / early fall. If a few of these teams aren't there yet and have a hole on D, if Kuba is healthy he could be a candidate to be moved for a late pick.
If he stays in Ottawa, stays healthy and plays well (a risk, as he might not) we would likely get more at the deadline, but I don't think Murray is going to worry about that. I think he is more inclined to let this team struggle with some rookies and lose a few more games early, than worry about moving a veteran like Kuba who hasn't contributed in a significant way in quite some time.
I'd see the team starting more of a veteran team, as follows:
Michalek - Spezza - Butler
Filatov - Regin - Alfredson
Foligno - Z Smith - Neil
Greening - Winchester - Condra
Da Costa
Carkner - Gonchar
Phillips - Lee
Kuba - Karlsson
Anderson - UFA
As far as icing a "competitive" lineup, that's about as good as we're going to do (UFA signings could obviously change this). And that isn't a playoff team to me. Maybe they sneak in, but I see that team coming 13th-10th in the conference.
And then there is the chance we go younger. Add Cowen and Rundblad to the defence, and Zib to the forwards, and you have a roster of 7 rookies (not technically, but essentially rookies). That'd be a fun team to watch, but the wouldn't win much.
As far as icing a "competitive" lineup, that's about as good as we're going to do (UFA signings could obviously change this). And that isn't a playoff team to me. Maybe they sneak in, but I see that team coming 13th-10th in the conference.
And then there is the chance we go younger. Add Cowen and Rundblad to the defence, and Zib to the forwards, and you have a roster of 7 rookies (not technically, but essentially rookies). That'd be a fun team to watch, but the wouldn't win much.
Gotta agree here. A team that is likely to struggle ALOT next year. But also a team that could totally surprise.
I would not be shocked if we snuck into 7-8th, but I agree. I see us around 11th (+ or - one).
Only team I see being worse than us at the moment are the Panthers, and they need to spend 26 million before they even reach cap floor, so they are going to make some major signings. Carolina could lose Jokinen, Pitkanen and Cole, but they are 17 million under the floor. Winnipeg is 13 million under the floor. I'm expecting these teams making some major signings, and the competition will get much tougher in the east too.
Don't expect the Panthers to spend to the cap floor. The only punishment by not getting to the cap floor is they won't be receiving any revenue sharing, which is pretty mediocre anyway. Frankly, they'd probably lose less money by keeping their salaries low and skip out on the revenue sharing, than adding a bunch of overpaid bums who will lose you more money even with the money they get from the revenue sharing.
What should we expect? We should expect a consistent effort every night. That's about it. With all the players now jockeying for jobs, no one's safe save 4 or 5 guys. This alone should create a competitive atmosphere (and a very fluid roster AGAIN).
I expect next year will be much like the Oiler's 10-11 season. There will be nights where some young players will show their potential but other nights will be very frustrating. Overall, it'll be entertaining despite the results. The last 20+ games gave us a taste of this. Watching Butler, Greening, Condra et al try and prove themselves was often worth the price of admission.
The bottom line is I expect to be entertained. Watching game after game of overpaid, soft, slow and lazy vets is not entertaining. Watching youthful enthusiasm gives hope for the future and is often a positive experience. Its entertaining to watch a young group grow together and realize their potential even if its a slow process. The scores won't matter to ME. I fully expect this team to finish in a lottery position again but I can acknowledge that there is potential to overachieve and battle for a playoff spot but it should not be expected.
With a team as young as we will be and a huge number of back to back games and two long west coast trips. I want to see a team that plays hard till the last second of the game and doesn’t mail it in no matter the score. I think that the team will place about 11th in the conference. I am hoping they improve more but i will not crush them with massive expectations.
I think we live and die by the hands of Craig Anderson, its possible to make the playoffs if he plays like how the Avs made the playoffs that year, basically standing on his head the entire time. If he plays even just solid, it probably won't be enough. There are too many unknowns to even predict what would happen though, the safe pick is for us to finish 10-13 I think. But there are always surprise teams, and if you have the right recipe, we could be the ones who surprise.
-Like I said, if Anderson is excellent we have a shot
-If our coaching staff is truly top notch and Maclean brings the most out of every roster player, a la Ted Nolan Islanders.
-Most of our guys last year had career worsts, what if a lot of them end up having career bests and are rejuvenated? Its possible.
-If Filatov puts up Grabner numbers and turns it around
-Free agency still hasn't hit, could grab another okay goal scorer to help
-Someone like Cowen steps in and is immediately a good solid NHL player
Those are the optimism points and IMO its not completely impossible, but probably unlikely. Those things happen though, and we could surprise. Also, its the offseason, no reason to be negative so far, may as well be optimistic until a month or two into the season.
Ok you can continue to curl up in a corner and think that this team is going to get a lottery pick then. I don't really mind either way -- I'm just pointing out that things aren't as bad as they were last year and even then we were on the upswing and without a 20 game fold where we didn't have our best player, our other top players were either injured or not producing (which we got rid of) and we had the worst goalie in the league by far...we wouldn't have been close to a lottery pick this year (this is also ignoring the slump we went on after the Richardson tragedy.)
I agree with you, this team will surprise a ton of people this season. I know that all the "expects" will put us to finish 14th in the east, but I think this young team will be very competitive, I say we have a real chance at the 8th spot.
Im hoping for the playoffs next year. I'm hoping young players continue to develop, that we have another training camp surprise, that we face some early adversity, and learn to overcome it as the year ends finding us battling into a playoff spot as a surprise team due to great veteran leadership and some surprising rookies.
Im not expecting it; im willing to settle for a lot of moral victories along the way and a great draft pick at the end of the season. But that's the hope for me.
