Winners & Losers from NHL Free Agency
Which teams won and lost free agency? Who improved their team the most, and who looks a lot worse than they did at the end of the playoffs?
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Transcript
Hello and welcome to Overtime Hockey Talk.
Speaker:Justin Baker, wait right there, watch the software swap us.
Speaker:Justin Baker, Mark, Paul, we're joining you here.
Speaker:It is.
Speaker:We are knee deep in summer and we have finally figured out a way to,
Speaker:to make an episode happen where we can talk about free agency.
Speaker:we're just going to jump right in because there's been a ton that's happened.
Speaker:We want to talk winners.
Speaker:We want to talk losers, but before we do that, how's your
Speaker:summer going so far, Justin?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Knee deep in ball sweat right
Speaker:now.
Speaker:That's for sure.
Speaker:It's been muggy here lately in Michigan.
Speaker:that has a
Speaker:Yeah,
Speaker:lot of rain.
Speaker:Did you guys get like three, three and a half inches like we did up here?
Speaker:not that much, but we got quite a bit, though.
Speaker:Yeah, it was, I, we got three, a couple, maybe 10, 15 miles east of us.
Speaker:Got five.
Speaker:Oh,
Speaker:God.
Speaker:saw that some of those streets were just like right in front of people's
Speaker:houses, their driveway covered in water and all sorts of stuff.
Speaker:So I am glad to be not one of those people.
Speaker:but, yeah, you know, maybe some of the NHL free agency losers are currently
Speaker:sitting in a driveway full of water, because that may be the way that
Speaker:it looks for some teams right now.
Speaker:particularly, can we just start with the Carolina hurricanes?
Speaker:Oh, yeah, I
Speaker:Because is there a team on July 1st that got worse than the Carolina hurricanes?
Speaker:That got worse.
Speaker:Um, I might go Winnipeg, but no, I think you gotta go, I
Speaker:think you gotta go Carolina.
Speaker:Yeah, I could see Winnipeg.
Speaker:Winnipeg got lost a good amount of their, like their depth.
Speaker:They're, they're kind of, they're maybe four or five defensemen with, what
Speaker:Nate Schmidt going and Brendan Dillon leaving, Carolina just got hit hard.
Speaker:What Brady Shea, Brett Pesci, Jake Gensel, Tara Vinen, and Stefan Nosen all gone.
Speaker:And what they brought in, they didn't manage to re sign Jordan
Speaker:Martinuk and Jakob Slaven.
Speaker:They bring in Shane Gossesbeer, who had a good, nice little season for Detroit.
Speaker:I'll give him that.
Speaker:And Sean Walker, who was really good for Philadelphia and
Speaker:really not good for Colorado.
Speaker:And then they go and grab Jacqueline Roslovich, William Carrier,
Speaker:Eric Robinson, and Tyson Jost.
Speaker:So it seems like they traded a lot of pretty solid players for guys
Speaker:that were the scraps of free agency.
Speaker:is that a fair assessment there?
Speaker:They got the scraps
Speaker:They got scraps.
Speaker:Yeah, I,
Speaker:yeah, I, you know what?
Speaker:It was funny because being, being a Detroit fan, I was watching the
Speaker:Shanghassasphere one pretty closely.
Speaker:rumor was I was working it and he was probably going to get this guy
Speaker:reassigned and I thought he fit in very well in Detroit, right?
Speaker:he was great being a third pairing guy, not a lot of responsibility and he
Speaker:worked well as the top power play guy.
Speaker:seem like he liked being there too.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Why wouldn't you?
Speaker:they have good young talent.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:My guess is the reason that he went to Carolina was, this,
Speaker:these spots just opened up.
Speaker:That means there's, we know Orlov's Slavin burns.
Speaker:There's some room there.
Speaker:he could, maybe he slots in as the fourth defenseman.
Speaker:If Sean Walker doesn't cut it, he gets 3.
Speaker:2 million.
Speaker:He also gets it for three years.
Speaker:that may have been.
Speaker:The stopping point for Detroit,
Speaker:because Yeah, gossips bear had a nice season last year, but let's
Speaker:take a look at the last three seasons before that, and then average them
Speaker:out amongst those four seasons.
Speaker:and you're not looking at a 3.
Speaker:2 million player.
Speaker:yes, he absolutely bought himself a nice cushy contract from Carolina.
Speaker:It's funny to me, the players that Carolina is unwilling to pay like an
Speaker:extra 700 grand, and yet they're willing to, go out and get people's scraps.
Speaker:it's not that Gosselaar is a bad defenseman, he'll do fine on their
Speaker:power play, sort of replaces the, the missing pieces on the power play.
Speaker:And I don't really, I'm not excited about Jack Roslevich at all.
Speaker:I
Speaker:think he, I think we know what he is and he's just a fine player.
Speaker:He's a third line.
Speaker:He's I don't see Jack Roslevich as anything more than that.
Speaker:guy.
Speaker:third line center.
Speaker:And he's never going to score you any goals.
Speaker:He's not moving the needle,
Speaker:especially in comparison to the guys that they lost
Speaker:that's the thing, right?
Speaker:nobody wants to be like, people like to play there.
Speaker:People like the area, but I don't think they like ownership.
Speaker:I think they think their ownership's cheap.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:We're spiteful, right?
Speaker:you look at what they did with, right?
Speaker:The offer sheet th
Speaker:And that worked out so well.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:ever.
Speaker:But here's the t though, with like guys li Pesci.
Speaker:I have no good players, but I often they have, maybe they jus what?
Speaker:We could freaking g
Speaker:And plug them in and they're going to, they're going to do well.
Speaker:So maybe they're just cocky.
Speaker:guess that's yeah.
Speaker:I guess that's a better place to be this cocky over People don't
Speaker:want to come there, but it just felt like the hurricanes really
Speaker:did not do themselves any favors.
Speaker:And, you're looking at Rod Brindamore, I think came out and was like, it's
Speaker:really hard to see those guys go, right?
Speaker:Like he's been a coach there.
Speaker:I think this is up upcoming is his seventh year.
Speaker:And he's had slave and he's had, or he's had Pesci the whole time.
Speaker:He had Brady shape, what?
Speaker:Five of those years, four of those years to vote Tara vine.
Speaker:And they grabbed him out of Chicago after Chicago was winning cups.
Speaker:And he's been there ever since.
Speaker:Like a lot of these guys are players that have played for rod, Brenda
Speaker:Moore, that honestly kind of expected some of them to go, I don't want
Speaker:to leave because I love playing for him so much, that didn't happen.
Speaker:Carolina's cheap.
Speaker:Maybe people don't like playing for him as much as they say?
Speaker:There's no other way to look at it.
Speaker:when you replace guys who have been there for seven years, that can score
Speaker:30 goals with guys that barely can score 15, it's going to be a problem.
Speaker:I think right now, and Carolina really did nothing, to address.
Speaker:The biggest elephant in the room and that's their goaltending situation,
Speaker:like how they can go back with Frederick Anderson, and have guys trust him.
Speaker:I just don't know.
Speaker:I don't know how the, how they can at this point.
Speaker:not that he's a terrible regular season goalie, but
Speaker:No, but they, they still have a chip to play here with Martin Nish's.
Speaker:yes.
Speaker:him, you maybe could move him and try to get a goaltender back, but
Speaker:really all the goaltenders who bring any kind of value, move the needle.
Speaker:they're all collected, swooped up.
Speaker:So they're not available anymore.
Speaker:Also, you're not trading Martin Nietzsche's for a goalie.
Speaker:No, absolutely
Speaker:No, one out there that, that is going to match the same value that
Speaker:Martin Nietzsche's can provide.
Speaker:Martin Nietzsche's is going to arbitration and given this
Speaker:desire to go with numbers.
Speaker:It makes sense that they would, Hey, if you're not going to sign for our number,
Speaker:we're going to arbitration and we're going to tell them exactly what we told you.
Speaker:They're going to hope that they hit that hit on the number they're looking for.
Speaker:I, one can only guess what Carolina actually is offering Martin niches.
Speaker:I imagine that they would like to get him on a little bit longer of a deal.
Speaker:his last deal, two year deal for 6 million, a cap hit of three and his
Speaker:qualifying offers for three and a half.
Speaker:There's no way that he's only getting three and a half, in this next deal.
Speaker:So now, the question is, how much does that end up being?
Speaker:Is it a six to 7 million a year?
Speaker:that would be my guess that's where it's going to slot in.
Speaker:I could see that.
Speaker:And to be quite honest, I just I think, at this point, the
Speaker:relationship's a little fractured.
Speaker:I think they're just going to move him.
Speaker:They may get him signed for a year.
Speaker:So a team has the contract already done and they don't have to worry about it.
Speaker:But He's gone.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And so at that point.
Speaker:You're probably still looking for another forward with Martin Nietzsche's
Speaker:given the forwards that walked out the door for the Carolina hurricanes.
Speaker:And that's where it gets hard.
Speaker:can we sidebar for a moment?
Speaker:Let's yeah, sidebar.
Speaker:It's very difficult to navigate puckpedia versus cap friendly.
Speaker:It is a little bit more difficult.
Speaker:I'm looking at it and you scroll down on a guy's Actual
Speaker:player card, right?
Speaker:Hey, here's how much he's making.
Speaker:And there's no
Speaker:statistics.
Speaker:yes.
Speaker:there.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So you have to find it and click it and open it up.
Speaker:It's there.
Speaker:It just is.
Speaker:It's a little convoluted for me.
Speaker:I appreciate that there is still something else out there because kept friendly
Speaker:going away, obviously leaves a big hole.
Speaker:My guess is that puck PDA is tripled in people visiting the website.
Speaker:If you don't know.
Speaker:You can go to puckpedia.
Speaker:com and that's where we get much of our contract information
Speaker:now because cap friendly.
Speaker:com was sold to the Washington capitals.
Speaker:yeah, I get it.
Speaker:I get it.
Speaker:Hey, if you started a website and everybody used it and then someone
Speaker:said, Hey, we'll give you 10 million to take your website down, you might go.
Speaker:Oh, and by the way, we'll give you a job and we'll pay you X amount of year.
Speaker:You'll go, okay.
Speaker:I am more than positive.
Speaker:They probably could have went and shop that website around a little bit.
Speaker:If people had known, this is available for sale because of
Speaker:the traffic they do, right?
Speaker:They get exposure.
Speaker:Every insider.
Speaker:Is always Oh yeah, thanks to Puck Pete or thanks to cat friendly, Yeah,
Speaker:on Twitter or X, whatever.
Speaker:They're always a shout out there from those guys.
Speaker:So just the marketing, the traffic they get, they could have found
Speaker:a buyer for, I'm sure whatever Washington paid them for it.
Speaker:I'm sure they asked around.
Speaker:I would guess, but yeah, it's, it's gone.
Speaker:And, it is Puckpedia is at this point, the best option, I thought about, I was
Speaker:like, how do I make my own cap friendly?
Speaker:Did you know those guys went to the draft themselves, sat at
Speaker:the draft and Make their own.
Speaker:they populate everything live at the draft.
Speaker:It was a bunch of brothers that worked together.
Speaker:Oh, wow.
Speaker:those guys worked their butts off.
Speaker:Like anytime there'd be a trade, we do this, we've been
Speaker:doing the show for seven years.
Speaker:If there's a trade before the trade, before we even find out about the trade,
Speaker:it's already updated and kept friendly every time, no question about every time.
Speaker:And I hope that Puckpedia ends up being really good or somebody else makes
Speaker:something really, really great, that there's some competition out there.
Speaker:But.
Speaker:It is taking, I feel like an old man being like, ah, these young whippersnappers
Speaker:making a new website and I can't figure it out, but that's how I feel about Puck
Speaker:PD right now, but I'll get used to it.
Speaker:I've only been using cat friendly for however long it's been in existence.
Speaker:I've been there.
Speaker:So, Sorry, back to winners and losers in free agency,
Speaker:Carolina, a pretty clear loser.
Speaker:what was the other team that you mentioned that you thought was a big loser?
Speaker:Oh, Winnipeg Yeah.
Speaker:is
Speaker:Oh goodness.
Speaker:to me, the biggest reason, yes, losing.
Speaker:Nate Schmidt, Brendan Dillon were two big keys to lose, especially
Speaker:at the defensive depth that they bring and the actual, defensive
Speaker:side of the puck, That they bring.
Speaker:but for me, the bigger loss was the fact that you lost Sean Monaghan
Speaker:to the Columbus blue jackets.
Speaker:To me, that just kind of seems insulting that you couldn't figure
Speaker:that one out and Columbus swooped in and got him, no offense, but I
Speaker:thought Sean Monaghan fit like a glove.
Speaker:With that second line there, he looked phenomenal.
Speaker:And you couldn't match that offer to bring him in.
Speaker:have four years at 5.
Speaker:5 million.
Speaker:It's a lot for a guy who, again, much like Gaustaspierre, where you look
Speaker:at, yeah, last year he had a great year before, he's 17 points in 22,
Speaker:23, and then what 59 last season.
Speaker:With 26 goals the year before he had six goals in 2122.
Speaker:He had eight goals, 2020, 2021.
Speaker:He had 10.
Speaker:So I don't know.
Speaker:I don't hate it.
Speaker:I don't hate them holding off on Monahan, even though yes, he was a good
Speaker:fit, but four years at five and a half million dollars for a guy who the last.
Speaker:Three, four seasons.
Speaker:he had three seasons before this one, he had 24 goals.
Speaker:He scored 26 this year.
Speaker:Mike, he scored more goals this year than he had in the previous,
Speaker:a hundred and what's that?
Speaker:140 games.
Speaker:So yes, great on him.
Speaker:83 games.
Speaker:He played this season.
Speaker:he, and he had 26 goals, but in 140 games before that, he only had 24.
Speaker:I wonder if he comes back down to earth a little bit.
Speaker:I know there was some injury issues there.
Speaker:Calgary was a little strange.
Speaker:I know there were some other factors, but I don't know if I'm willing to
Speaker:invest in them for four more years.
Speaker:I get it.
Speaker:I get it from the, for the next season, like he was a good fit.
Speaker:You are absolutely correct.
Speaker:He was a great fit, but are you willing, do you think as a, as Winnipeg, are
Speaker:you winning the cup this next year?
Speaker:I guess
Speaker:that's, Maybe.
Speaker:that's the bigger question.
Speaker:What is Winnipeg?
Speaker:What do they do?
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:So I, so you look at Winnipeg, As far as where they fit in terms of the
Speaker:central division and yes, Colorado.
Speaker:Dallas, they're going to be above them.
Speaker:And I think after free agency, maybe you have to, put Nashville
Speaker:above them now, I don't
Speaker:Oh, a hundred percent.
Speaker:okay.
Speaker:You've got those three teams ahead of you at least right in the, at
Speaker:the very least, but to me, I still think they're a playoff team.
Speaker:And I think with the goaltending they have given, I know he, he shit
Speaker:the bed this last playoff, Connor Hollibuck is still a Vesna winner.
Speaker:And I still think you have enough pieces upfront, especially in
Speaker:that top six with Kyle Connor.
Speaker:I don't know where Elers is, if he's going to be back next season or if
Speaker:they're going to move him, you've got Gabe Velarde coming back for a full season now.
Speaker:there's good pieces there, right?
Speaker:And so to me, there's still a, there's still a contender.
Speaker:There's still a team that can come in that system, with that coach, head
Speaker:coaching they have over there to compete.
Speaker:If you look at it from Sean Monahan's perspective, okay, cool.
Speaker:You know what, maybe I'm going to get another year out of my
Speaker:contract to go to Columbus, right?
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Maybe I get to go play with Johnny Goudreau again.
Speaker:Maybe I can kind of reignite a little bit of what I had in Calgary during
Speaker:my 82 point season, but I'm further away from the Stanley cup than I was.
Speaker:And I don't see Columbus getting back anytime in the next couple of years.
Speaker:What good is that extra fourth year if I'm still scratching at the playoffs?
Speaker:That's yep.
Speaker:Absolutely true.
Speaker:Absolutely true.
Speaker:one, one thing that we didn't mention Winnipeg coming in with, I know, not a,
Speaker:not necessarily a new coach because he's been there for the last two seasons as
Speaker:an associate coach, but Scott Arneal, now the head coach of the Winnipeg jets.
Speaker:So I mean that, that could also play a factor, you go, probably not.
Speaker:I don't, I really liked, oh my gosh, why can't I think of his name now?
Speaker:Who the coach was before, came from Dallas, of course, but I'm, am I,
Speaker:are the wheels turning right now?
Speaker:Oh gosh, why can't I think of who the coach was?
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:It's gone.
Speaker:It's summertime.
Speaker:anyways, it'll come up, your coach leaves and maybe that's who you
Speaker:associate your success with and you go, it's time for me to move on, I
Speaker:didn't really connect with Scott or Neil, Could be some of the factor.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:But the jets, Hey, they're all, they have Conor Hellebuck and they,
Speaker:whenever you have a Vesna trophy winner, you can always count yourself.
Speaker:At least in the playoff race.
Speaker:I think that's probably where Winnipeg belongs is somewhere
Speaker:in the wildcard conversation.
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:I don't know that they got better, but what we have seen from Winnipeg is a
Speaker:willingness to go out and trade for the pieces that they need mid season.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Like we've seen it several years in a row.
Speaker:We saw it a lot with Peter Stastny, we see it with Sean Monahan.
Speaker:We see them make those moves for that second line center to kind of shore
Speaker:things up and it makes them get through.
Speaker:So I will say they did get worse, but not that much worse to where they're.
Speaker:So far down the shoot, who's your winner toss some winners out to me,
Speaker:because I think I just actually, I just want to talk about Detroit
Speaker:is they're absolutely one of my winners.
Speaker:I know Patrick Kane was there last year, but it was looking like he
Speaker:was gone and then things turned around and he ends up signing.
Speaker:And then, you're like, okay, great.
Speaker:The wing sign Patrick Kane again, that's nice.
Speaker:And you're waiting around and then they go out and sign Tara Senko.
Speaker:Who's won two Stanley cups
Speaker:out of the last, what, five teams to win the cup.
Speaker:He's been on two of them.
Speaker:It's not so bad.
Speaker:Not so bad.
Speaker:And, they don't overpay for them in my opinion either, right?
Speaker:4.
Speaker:75 for a 30 goal scorer who can still play in your top six.
Speaker:I still think he has enough to offer.
Speaker:He's still fast enough and he's, he plays physical.
Speaker:He can, and then we also saw last season with Florida.
Speaker:If you move him down the lineup and ask him to play a more responsible
Speaker:game, he can do that still.
Speaker:Yeah, he was really good for Florida.
Speaker:I think his playoff was fine.
Speaker:I think he had some good games.
Speaker:I don't know if I'm going out on a limb and saying that he wasn't the reason
Speaker:that Florida won the Stanley cup by any means, but he was good when he needed to
Speaker:be, he contributed throughout their run.
Speaker:The nice thing in Detroit, no offense to Detroit.
Speaker:I don't think that they're in a position to do what Florida just did.
Speaker:Go on a Stanley cup run the next two years, probably not going to
Speaker:see them in the Stanley cup finals.
Speaker:Doesn't mean that they're not going to make the playoffs.
Speaker:I think they did themselves a lot of favors here and Hey, their
Speaker:forward group looks pretty good.
Speaker:And I thought about this today.
Speaker:Tara Senko comes from the Florida Panthers.
Speaker:And what team does it appear that Detroit is modeling their rebuild after?
Speaker:I would argue that it's the Florida Panthers.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:I
Speaker:Eiserman has been, yes, he's done a really, he's done a
Speaker:decent job drafting players.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Dylan Larkin has been a red wing his whole entire career.
Speaker:and there's Marie cider.
Speaker:Who's there?
Speaker:There's Lucas Raymond.
Speaker:There are some, Simon Edmondson who will likely see.
Speaker:Time with the Red Wings this year should hopefully be a starter and be up at
Speaker:the big club the whole entire time.
Speaker:So they have players on their roster that they drafted, but at the same time,
Speaker:they're going out into free agency.
Speaker:They got conference cop and to bring it via trade, they signed
Speaker:Tara Senko and Kane, Christian Fisher comes in via Mott ding.
Speaker:I know Daniel Sprung's gone now, but, or it looks like he will be, but, yeah, And
Speaker:then they're half their defensive core.
Speaker:Most of their defensive core is just from wherever they could pluck them.
Speaker:This team is built a lot like the Florida Panthers where they didn't
Speaker:build through the draft very little.
Speaker:yes, Eck, Blad, Barkov, the rest of them were just acquired
Speaker:via trade or free agency.
Speaker:And that I think is what made the Panthers so unique.
Speaker:And it appears that Eisenman had may have taken a book from Dale talent,
Speaker:mean, you could make that argument, And.
Speaker:I think the, I don't necessarily think he's doing it out of just modeling.
Speaker:cause we know that a lot of times the NHL is a copycat league, right?
Speaker:Whoever won the cup, let's do what they did.
Speaker:I think the Red Wings are doing it out of necessity, more or less.
Speaker:Like they've got a lot of young, very young talent coming up and
Speaker:who are going to be good, but, they just need, they need to.
Speaker:Buy some time, right?
Speaker:And bring in guys to help make this team competitive until
Speaker:these guys are ready to go.
Speaker:And Nate Danielson might make the team this year.
Speaker:We don't know yet.
Speaker:and same with Marco Casper.
Speaker:there's guys there that could potentially come up.
Speaker:So we'll see.
Speaker:But, yeah, I think the reason I, would consider and agree with
Speaker:you that Detroit is a winner.
Speaker:Not only Tara Sanko, but, I am glad that, of course losing Shane Gossett severe was
Speaker:kind of a bummer, but I think replacing him with Eric Gustafson at 2 million
Speaker:bucks at two years was a good signing.
Speaker:They don't overpay
Speaker:little player with
Speaker:Yeah, good player.
Speaker:He's always had, if you go look at his numbers, especially, during his time with,
Speaker:his, Walden and the Rangers, he had good Corsi numbers.
Speaker:He's put up decent offensive numbers.
Speaker:if you shelter him on a third pairing and then you rotate him into that second
Speaker:power play or maybe even give him some first PP time, he's going to do great.
Speaker:He's going to do pretty good.
Speaker:do like that.
Speaker:You said PP time, but, yeah, Hey, he does have a 60 point season
Speaker:does in Chicago.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Chicago.
Speaker:pretty, yeah, he's a good offensive defenseman and you're right.
Speaker:It's a good replacement for cheap.
Speaker:And they do, they did.
Speaker:Pretty well bringing in Cam Talbot as well.
Speaker:I like the
Speaker:I like that.
Speaker:I think that, Hey, Hey, nobody wants Billy Hugh.
Speaker:So heart, no need to buy them out.
Speaker:You're not in that position.
Speaker:You might as well see if you can get him to play the way that you think he
Speaker:can when you acquired him from Carolina.
Speaker:And if he can't, it's fine.
Speaker:You bury them, you use lions and, and then you have your Talbot
Speaker:lions, which is not an awful tandem.
Speaker:but if who so confined his way, you've got three solid goalies.
Speaker:And what do we see from so many of these teams?
Speaker:you need three goalies, two goalies, doesn't cut it anymore.
Speaker:Cause one of your goalies is going to go down for probably
Speaker:more than five games at a time.
Speaker:That was the Red Wings last year.
Speaker:Who?
Speaker:So
Speaker:It's happening to everybody.
Speaker:yeah,
Speaker:So it makes a lot of sense to do what they're doing.
Speaker:And I can't hate the toss out to Jack Campbell to say, come here,
Speaker:let's see if you can find yourself in Detroit away from not the Detroit
Speaker:is not, of course it's hockey town.
Speaker:People love their hockey, but there's not going to be the same kind of pressure in
Speaker:Detroit that there wasn't Edmonton and Edmonton was a complete and utter failure.
Speaker:Like maybe the greatest failure of any signing ever in the
Speaker:history of the Edmonton Oilers.
Speaker:He won't find me
Speaker:a word.
Speaker:If you're watching this, think of a worse signing that the Edmonton
Speaker:Oilers made something that affected them more that went more poorly.
Speaker:So find me one and I'll recant.
Speaker:But
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:I'm game to try that one.
Speaker:But,
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:I will prove you wrong.
Speaker:but I'll tell you what, what's nice for Detroit, right?
Speaker:You talk about those goalies, by the way.
Speaker:just go back and maybe think about Mikko Koskin in a little bit.
Speaker:so with Jack Campbell, you get a good piece who a guy
Speaker:who, has had a lot of time.
Speaker:Obviously in the NHL, but now he can go down.
Speaker:He had some good numbers in the AHL last year with Edmonton, when he did
Speaker:get finally sent down, but you've got a young guy in Sebastian Kosa, who,
Speaker:isn't quite ready for the NHL yet.
Speaker:And I think having a guy like Jack Campbell to kind of mentor
Speaker:him and teach him the ropes, is going to be good for him.
Speaker:And then say, Campbell does find his game down there.
Speaker:He looks good.
Speaker:You've got an asset.
Speaker:You can move at the deadline to a team that maybe wants a third goaltender.
Speaker:Third round pick something like that, that you scoop up for really nothing.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:775 K and he probably helps you win some games in the AHL or, God
Speaker:forbid you get down to your fourth goalie and you have to use them.
Speaker:That has happened.
Speaker:yeah, it has definitely happened.
Speaker:okay.
Speaker:Detroit, definitely a winner on deadline day.
Speaker:we have already mentioned the natural predators, but I think it behooves us to,
Speaker:To talk about the Preds because they have the biggest signing of free agency day.
Speaker:maybe the most, the best player to change teams in a while.
Speaker:Can we think of a, like a bigger superstar that went, okay, I guess
Speaker:I'm leaving and went to a totally different team after being with
Speaker:the Tampa Bay Lightning since 2008.
Speaker:He goes and signs with the predators, 17, 16, 17 seasons for Stamkos and Tampa.
Speaker:Just unwilling to give him that extra year
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:they wanted to give him eight years at, I think it was two or 3 million bucks.
Speaker:bunch of cheap bastards.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:That's the thing.
Speaker:They're like, Oh, you'll get your money.
Speaker:We'll just put you on IR when you're 40.
Speaker:But what happens if he decides, you know what, 41 years old,
Speaker:he's I still want to play.
Speaker:Maybe he's still got something going.
Speaker:So he could go out and get.
Speaker:Also, you get your money, you can do something with it now, right?
Speaker:You can go and you can invest it and.
Speaker:And whereas if the team has your money, 2 million, now we've all seen
Speaker:inflation and not that 2 million has ever been a small amount.
Speaker:I get it.
Speaker:it's less money that you are getting over those years because
Speaker:of inflation and because the cap's invariably going to go up.
Speaker:So your percentage of the cap is going to be completely wiped away.
Speaker:Like the minimum salary in the next CBA is probably going to be 1.
Speaker:2, 1.
Speaker:3 million.
Speaker:So we're creeping up to where a 3 million contract is, is not much, you
Speaker:look at the NBA and stuff and you're like, Oh, that garbage player just
Speaker:signed for a 15 million bucks a year.
Speaker:it's a different, it's different world, but, good on Sam coast.
Speaker:he goes somewhere else and.
Speaker:I don't know that anyone has any hard feelings in Tampa Bay.
Speaker:Like you just kind of have to go, they weren't willing to pay them.
Speaker:And that's that, you can't be mad at Stancoast.
Speaker:You can be mad at breeze.
Speaker:And
Speaker:you can't blame Stamkos at all for this.
Speaker:if
Speaker:what he's done.
Speaker:yeah, sorry, go ahead.
Speaker:no, I was gonna say what he's done for that franchise.
Speaker:he'll get his number to the Raptors.
Speaker:He'll get a statue down there.
Speaker:he brought Stanley Cups to that team and just holds every record.
Speaker:And if Tampa Bay goes and Hey, they signed Jake Gensel.
Speaker:So good on them.
Speaker:They signed a younger.
Speaker:I think what they would say is we signed a younger Steven Stamkos.
Speaker:I like that's got it now, not the exact same player.
Speaker:You signed a high scoring winger and Jake Gensel had a more, a bigger
Speaker:point production than Stamkos did.
Speaker:And they signed him for 9 million, barely more than what Stamkos got.
Speaker:So in some respects, you look at it and you go, he did.
Speaker:Tampa Bay did pretty well for themselves.
Speaker:They get a guy who is only 29 instead of 34.
Speaker:And I, the, just the downside is that his name is Jake
Speaker:Gensel and not Steven Stamkos.
Speaker:He has never bled for the Tampa Bay lightning, whereas
Speaker:Stamkos has given it all.
Speaker:And and.
Speaker:To be honest, what's the, what are the chances that Tampa Bay
Speaker:lightning can go and win another Stanley cup with this group?
Speaker:I'd say it's pretty unlikely.
Speaker:I don't know about that.
Speaker:I
Speaker:think it's pretty unlikely.
Speaker:You got Vassie back there.
Speaker:You've got Hedman still, he's still in his, he's still looking good.
Speaker:And you've got Kucharoff, Braden Point.
Speaker:You still got good pieces, man.
Speaker:So
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:them out.
Speaker:It's not that they're not going to be good, but I don't know.
Speaker:I don't think this group's winning a cup anymore.
Speaker:I wouldn't pick them.
Speaker:No, absolutely not.
Speaker:They wouldn't be in my top three or four teams, come playoff time
Speaker:that I think would win a cup.
Speaker:But if they won one, I wouldn't be like, Oh, that's a big shocker.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah, I would agree with that.
Speaker:Hey, they go out and they signed Jake Gensel and that's
Speaker:their replacement for Stamkos.
Speaker:And I don't remember where I was going with this, but
Speaker:that's, that's what happened.
Speaker:yeah, Nashville though.
Speaker:let's just, let's get back to Nashville.
Speaker:they signed Steven Stamkos, huge signing for them, maybe the best
Speaker:player they've ever signed in free agency who was actually likely
Speaker:Repeat the pattern of the past.
Speaker:I guess they had Peter Forsberg who was unbelievable for them for the
Speaker:36 games that he got in for them.
Speaker:Like he didn't play a lot.
Speaker:He was hurt.
Speaker:I actually, I can't remember how many games did Peter Forsberg
Speaker:play for the Nashville predators?
Speaker:I'm gonna look that up.
Speaker:I am looking it up right now.
Speaker:He played 17 for the Nashville predators and he had 15 points.
Speaker:He had two goals for the bread.
Speaker:So yeah.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:I gave him too much credit.
Speaker:17 games.
Speaker:So yes, was he the, he was the biggest signing that franchise had ever had.
Speaker:But he played 17 games, Steven Stamkos, barring some crazy injury is going to
Speaker:play for four years for the national predators, and is going to put up likely
Speaker:around a point per game for at least the first two seasons of that deal.
Speaker:He's he is probably the best free agent signing that franchise has ever had.
Speaker:And Hey, they just, all they do is go out and also sign Jonathan Marsha.
Speaker:So who also has a Stanley cup to his name just two years ago.
Speaker:Oh, he only had 69 points and 42 goals last year.
Speaker:They have set themselves up in an unbelievable way and Barry trots
Speaker:from where they were two years ago.
Speaker:It is unbelievable what he's been able to do.
Speaker:Like we thought Philip Forsberg was going to leave.
Speaker:We thought they'd trade Roman Yossi.
Speaker:Juicy sorrows was supposed to get dealt.
Speaker:And here they are signing Stephen Samcoe and Jonathan March or so.
Speaker:And.
Speaker:Now you look at them, find me five better teams in the West.
Speaker:And there's at least going to be a debate about some of them.
Speaker:They also snipe Brady Shea.
Speaker:I'll
Speaker:put Dallas ahead of them right now, for sure.
Speaker:yep.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:I could probably still put Vegas in front of them.
Speaker:Edmonton.
Speaker:I would still put
Speaker:an ad ahead of
Speaker:absolutely.
Speaker:Vancouver, maybe.
Speaker:And
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:Vancouver lost a lot in free agency.
Speaker:They did,
Speaker:lost their, Elias Lindholm and they don't have that second line center
Speaker:anymore.
Speaker:bringing him in, that was a good,
Speaker:Colorado could be the, maybe the
Speaker:one other team, but there you go.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:So we struggled to name five teams that
Speaker:are better than they just made themselves legitimately a Stanley cup contender.
Speaker:For the first time in almost 10 years, like we thought, 2016, 2015 in there, they
Speaker:were, they had legitimate possibility.
Speaker:And this is the first time that I think you could say that again.
Speaker:And go ahead.
Speaker:No, I was gonna say, I do think, an underrated signing that nobody
Speaker:really talks about, given all of the.
Speaker:all the talent they just brought in, but nobody really talks much about Luke Shin.
Speaker:I think
Speaker:he's going to be so underrated on that back end for this team.
Speaker:I think it's just gonna, he's going to be a shutdown guy for, for some
Speaker:of those, other defensemen like Dante Fabbro and Jeremy Lawson.
Speaker:I think he's just going to fit in really well with this group.
Speaker:we also didn't mention Alexander Carrier.
Speaker:So there's another, he's, coming off of a really good season with
Speaker:the predators, 50 points in 21, 22.
Speaker:27 last year, 44 the year after.
Speaker:And I just think he just keeps on getting better and better.
Speaker:And, yeah, that team, you look at their Yossi Shea carrier, Shen
Speaker:Fabro, Lauzen, they have one of the best defenses in the league.
Speaker:It's not just Yossi anymore.
Speaker:No Yossi.
Speaker:they've, they got rid of McDonough too, which I thought was, it's probably
Speaker:a pretty smart move on their behalf,
Speaker:yeah, it's what allowed them to go out and get Marcia.
Speaker:It basically replaced his salary with Marcia.
Speaker:and they desperately needed.
Speaker:That forward position, like their top six was really what
Speaker:was probably holding them back.
Speaker:Now they've got Samco, Marsha, so two guys who I think are real hungry to
Speaker:shove it to the team that let them go.
Speaker:I both players are probably gonna have their jerseys in the rafters somewhere.
Speaker:It's just not gonna be in Nashville.
Speaker:It's gonna be somewhere else.
Speaker:Maybe they can, I don't know, set things up a little bit
Speaker:for themselves in Nashville.
Speaker:I think I just.
Speaker:Ooh,
Speaker:I lost your voice.
Speaker:Oh, there you are.
Speaker:Nope.
Speaker:You're gone again.
Speaker:Did I lose you?
Speaker:Oh, ah, there he is.
Speaker:technical difficulties.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:35 minutes.
Speaker:Fun stuff.
Speaker:Oh, I was going to say probably the one guy who I mean, is going to benefit
Speaker:the most from all this is Tommy Novak.
Speaker:we'll see if this pays off, man.
Speaker:listen, if Oh, for sure.
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:No doubt.
Speaker:But if they, come out and they just can't build the chemistry, maybe you
Speaker:could blame a little bit on coaching.
Speaker:But I think, if you look at the signings, he's got Tommy Novak
Speaker:signed for three years at 3.
Speaker:5.
Speaker:if he pans out the way I think he will, he could be a 60 point
Speaker:player easily at that money.
Speaker:Fantastic.
Speaker:Ryan O'Reilly signings, Yeah, phenomenal, right?
Speaker:And Jonathan Marshall, so you get a 40 goal score at 5.
Speaker:5.
Speaker:Same with Steven Stamko.
Speaker:So this could really, this could look really nice if your top six
Speaker:works out the way I think it will.
Speaker:and of course, bringing in Brady Shea to, to replace that hole that,
Speaker:Ryan McDonough left when they moved him out to, to get that money.
Speaker:he could easily elevate this defense to even, higher heights and then not
Speaker:only that, but you get UC Saro signed to what I think is just A phenomenal,
Speaker:AAV because you look at what guys like, Bobrovsky just winning the Stanley Cup.
Speaker:these top free agent goaltenders could easily go out and say, you know what, you
Speaker:need to pay a goaltender 10 million bucks.
Speaker:Cause you're not going to win one without them and look at, Bobrovsky and.
Speaker:This is what I deserve.
Speaker:Or you could go look at Hollaback and say, I've been playing, putting up good numbers
Speaker:like him and playing all these games.
Speaker:And what do they do?
Speaker:They, I think they maybe used, Escaroff is a little bit of
Speaker:leverage, but still at seven ish million bucks, that's pretty, yeah.
Speaker:He wanted to be there.
Speaker:I've got the Edmonton Oilers.
Speaker:I just think the Jeff Skinner signing alone was just a win right there.
Speaker:I said it in the playoffs and I think I've mentioned it to you a couple
Speaker:different times, but Leon Drysdale had nobody to play with on his wing and
Speaker:now he gets just a pure goal scorer and Jeff Skinner that they could slap
Speaker:on his wing and have him just feeding the puck to Skinner all day long now,
Speaker:9 million bucks.
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely could.
Speaker:And you could get lucky too and have a bunch of guys in the league.
Speaker:Just look at him who maybe aren't like projecting him to produce and just
Speaker:say, you know what, he got bought out.
Speaker:He's garbage.
Speaker:So I'm not drafting him and he falls to round 12, 13, 14, and you pick up this
Speaker:guy and he could be a, he could be a 30 goal scorer, 40 goal scorer again.
Speaker:Maybe not.
Speaker:They signed their entire third linebacker again, Henry.
Speaker:Yanmar, Connor Brown.
Speaker:Why not?
Speaker:Why break up the band?
Speaker:They look good in the finals.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I'm probably pushing Connor Brown down to the fourth line and putting
Speaker:Evander Kane down there if it's me,
Speaker:right?
Speaker:Really?
Speaker:Oof
Speaker:I was gonna say he's due . Ridiculous deal.
Speaker:Ooh.
Speaker:listen, I think regardless, right?
Speaker:Even if you only put up 70 points, right?
Speaker:Say you maybe have a down year, right?
Speaker:you, you put up 70 points versus the 82.
Speaker:You're still so valuable to that team in such a way that you can
Speaker:look at Darnell nurse and be like, I want more than that guy.
Speaker:yeah, I think so.
Speaker:it's,
Speaker:I could see a bridge deal where maybe, Bouchard says, you know what, I'll
Speaker:take three years at 10 million bucks.
Speaker:And then he resigns for, in hopes that, again, Assuming Drycidal re signs and
Speaker:McDavid re signs, you could easily cash in another three years and then go to 12 14.
Speaker:That's true.
Speaker:Yeah,
Speaker:that's true.
Speaker:Maybe you're just waiting for Leon Drycidal re sign before you can
Speaker:figure out your number, right?
Speaker:Because I think, obviously, Drycidal is the priority, I think, for
Speaker:this team over Bouchard, for sure.
Speaker:maybe they just want to get that deal done first.
Speaker:And if you're Bouchard, you're just waiting, licking your chops.
Speaker:Dude, did you hear what his agent said?
Speaker:No, so his agent came out and said, basically, if I don't know the exact
Speaker:words, so I'm kind of paraphrasing, but said, you know what, if we don't
Speaker:have something done by the end of the summer, we're not talking till the
Speaker:end of the year, and it didn't sound very, didn't sound very positive as in
Speaker:he'll still resign here kind of thing.
Speaker:Maybe they're negotiating tactic, but.
Speaker:Sometimes.
Speaker:Okay,
Speaker:for sure.
Speaker:But on the flip side of that, if you are, okay, say you're Leon Dry Seidel's
Speaker:Camp, you came out, you said that, right?
Speaker:If you as a media personnel, right?
Speaker:Or as somebody in the news, if you come, come to camp or whenever, September,
Speaker:and he still hasn't signed a deal.
Speaker:This is gonna be huge news in Edmonton all season long and something that I don't
Speaker:think that Edmonton wants to deal with.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I,
Speaker:that's the thing.
Speaker:I think they're just going to have a little sit down this summer and
Speaker:be like, Hey, do we want to hang out here for another eight years?
Speaker:Okay, cool.
Speaker:Let's do it.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:I don't, I think they're worse.
Speaker:I'm going to go with worse.
Speaker:I think, I, so first and foremost, I think the biggest reason
Speaker:why they're going to be worse.
Speaker:Is now you don't have all Mark Swayman, right?
Speaker:You don't have that dual in there anymore.
Speaker:Now I know Swayman looked much better than all Mark this year, and he had a
Speaker:majority aligned share of the games, but I think not having that reliable
Speaker:number two option, that one, a one B kind of thing going on, if you have
Speaker:to press on Swayman a little bit more, yes, I think corporate solo might.
Speaker:Be all right in that role, but
Speaker:could,
Speaker:right, exactly.
Speaker:But I just don't think this duo is going to be as good as their last two years.
Speaker:And then not only that, but look, I liked Elias Lindholm when he was,
Speaker:in the playoffs for Vancouver, I didn't like his regular season.
Speaker:So I don't know what, which one we're really going to get this year.
Speaker:and you look at his numbers, especially looking at, the Corsi
Speaker:over the last couple of seasons.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:When he was with the flames and 22, 21, the numbers were good.
Speaker:He put up some decent points, going to Calgary, obviously in 23,
Speaker:24, they had good pieces, but it didn't really work out Vancouver.
Speaker:His Corsi number was just meh.
Speaker:so I just, I see it trending in the wrong direction really.
Speaker:And to give a guy that much money and that much term, just
Speaker:basically out of desperation, because you really needed a center.
Speaker:I'm a little worried about it.
Speaker:And so if he ends up being nothing more than a second line guy, 60 points, right?
Speaker:you basically are replacing what you lost in, in Dubrask as far as point
Speaker:production, but yeah, maybe you get a slightly better defensive player, I think
Speaker:in the long run, but it doesn't, right.
Speaker:But is he going to be that much better than what they had in, in Charlie Coyle
Speaker:and, and gosh, why am I blanking on the name, but now you've got to move, You have
Speaker:to move Pavel Zakha to the wing, I think, or, Elias Lindholm, they tried to put
Speaker:him on the wing in Vancouver initially.
Speaker:Yeah, it was terrible.
Speaker:So you have to play him down the middle.
Speaker:Pavel Zakha has shown he can play the wing.
Speaker:So I think that's probably what they'll end up doing.
Speaker:what happens when, again, you're just getting the same production from
Speaker:Jake DeBrusque that you just lost.
Speaker:And it's, are they better for it?
Speaker:I don't think so.
Speaker:I think there'll be, slightly worse just because of the goaltending, situation.
Speaker:Sure, and Colin Miller.
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:His point for games are going down.
Speaker:I think you hit your microphone or your camera.
Speaker:Hey, there it is.
Speaker:Yeah, I think so.
Speaker:No, I agree.
Speaker:And I think, they could see an uptick as far as the forward group is concerned
Speaker:with a guy like Matthew Patra or Poitra.
Speaker:I really don't know how to pronounce his last name correctly, but, he could
Speaker:be a guy that could help move that needle a little bit and help the team.
Speaker:replace some of that lost production as far as the depth is concerned, right?
Speaker:And now you don't have to, what they started the year off doing, forcing
Speaker:him to play in top six minutes.
Speaker:Now you can shelter him a little bit more, I think, with Elias
Speaker:Lindholm, which could help.
Speaker:but they just didn't do anything to move the needle to me and went out
Speaker:and overpaid, I think, for a guy like Elias Lindholm, which was a concern.
Speaker:I
Speaker:love it.
