BombaysTripleDeke

I think that they can be reliable role players but I'm not expecting them to shoulder the offensive burden in the future. Any trade of significance for the next while should be primarily focused on loading up the prospect pool as much as possible, IMO. If done well enough, then we can start moving excess pieces and assets to bolster the roster with more established NHLers.

Yeah, Suzuki has been very good and has some real potential. Definitely helps Montreal's future after getting him in the Pacioretty trade. Hope Murray is taking notes lol. Not too worried about the Pens, unless they lose Game 2, I think they just have too much firepower for Montreal to overcome. That said, Go Habs! Really liking the Coyotes putting a hurting on the Preds early on.

Agreed. The Canes/Rangers game was great, it had everything. It made me sad watching the Vatman quarterbacking their PP though. I remember all the way back to two years ago when we rivaled Carolina with our defensive depth, but oh man, they are so stacked on blueline. We'll know that the NHL is truly back if Edmonton loses to Chicago and then gets the 1st overall pick.

I can see Milano flirting with a 20 goal season if he's really feeling it but even getting more than 12 would be good. The LW position is going to be interesting going forward.

Hope Milano has Pontus Aberg-like production but without the character issues!

Yeah, wouldn't surprise me either. Larsson has done himself no favors. His contract is going to be cheap, so maybe Murray gives him a chance to at least up his trade value. My preference is for the former lol. The Ducks are going to be looking up at most of teams in Pacific for the next two seasons which is noticeably weaker overall than the Central. Missing the playoffs isn't fun but we are paying the price for all of those division titles and two WCF runs. It's just our time to suck. Unless Terry, Steel, Jones, Comtois become major contributors, I don't see them getting back to the playoffs or making deep runs until they get some huge hits (and luck) in the upcoming drafts. I really hope the Ducks weaponize their cap space too but my gut feeling is that the pandemic is going to take such a major financial toll that the Ducks will use most of the expansion money to help cushion the blow. Full arenas aren't happening for a long time so I think the Ducks are going to look to reduce expenditures more than anything.

I'd take on Loui Erikkson's contract from Vancouver for their 2022 1st round pick!

Yeah, that is something and I'd like to know how much money they are letting Murray work with. The Ducks will be in a position to weaponize cap, assuming it's in the budget. Taking advantage of teams needing reduce cap space and payrolls would be nice but I doubt the Samuelis are going to want to add much additional salary, unless they are also moving some out.

Milano signed for two years, $1.7 mil aav. Decent low-risk move. Ducks currently with $4.1 mil in cap space (not including Kesler's LTIR) and only needing to sign Larsson and a back-up goalie for next season. In 2021, cap space is currently projected to be at $32 mil and $55 mil in 2022. They are going to have a lot of fun money at their disposal those years.

I think nylander would be more likely to get moved to help resolve their cap issues, but still don’t think the Ducks should make a play for him either. The timing just isn’t right for to make a blockbuster acquisition. Load up on picks and hope that we crush it at the next couple of drafts. With Terry and Comtois, I think they should be decent players and will have rolls on the Ducks. As far as them being 1st liners or even 2nd line locks, I think there’s quite a bit of development needed if they are going to get there. If either of them are reliable 30-35 point guys then that’s pretty good value, imo.

Maybe, but I think the two things that attract UFA's more than anything are 1) money and 2) a legitimate chance to contend for a cup. With the Ducks not being big free agency spenders (they'd get theoretically get Marner via trade) and clearly rebuilding, I don't think adding Marner changes either of those things because the rest of the roster can't really support him. In Toronto, Marner is paired with Matthews or Tavares and not an aging Getzlaf or Henrique. Pairing him with Terry (I'm assuming Terry shifts to Center) and Comtois assumes that both of those guys are going to take considerable leaps and will able to compliment him. As of now, I wouldn't bet on that happening. Once the Ducks have a capable new core of players, then I am all for looking at signing impact FA's to help make deep playoff runs. Of course, this all assumes that a young, super star player like Marner is even available. I don't think he is and players of his caliber aren't traded very often...unless Peter Chiarelli is your GM. A Marner would likely cost the Ducks a top defensemen, a quality prospect and a high draft pick which the Ducks don't have an excess of. If a top-end player is available for a trade, I'd be more worried about LA getting them because they the pieces to make it work without really hurting their talent pool. As far as Gibson goes, I don't know if his trade value would be enough to land a superstar player. Freddie Andersen, who is one of the better goalies in the league, got the us a late first and 2nd round pick back in 2016. That said, I don't think there is any realistic offer that I would take for Gibson at this point and would only consider moving him if he tries to force his way out of Anaheim. We have a franchise-caliber goalie for the next seven years (knock on wood for the injury Gods), during which I'd like to think we will be able to put together another solid team to give him a chance at the Cup.

Yeah, I agree that a player like Marner improves the Ducks now, but I can't see where it's to the degree that the Ducks window to make the playoffs, let alone contend, opens back up by adding him. They were the 5th worst scoring team in the NHL. That's an awful lot of ground to cover. My other issue is, who is he going to play with down the road? Getzlaf is 35, Henrique will be 31 next season, Rakell will be a UFA in 2022 and Steel, Terry Jones, Comtois have yet to, and may not make the necessary impacts that the Ducks need to become good again. Zegras is likely going to need a couple of seasons before we see what he can become. The drop off after Zegras in the pipeline I think is pretty notable and after him, I think the next best overall prospect that we have is Dostal. The Ducks aren't going anywhere unless they really bolster their prospect pool with more high end players. The upcoming draft will help and maybe Murray will make a bold move such as trying to get the 8th overall pick or moving up like he tried to do last year to get Krebs. Those are the kinds of moves that I hope to see and think we'll need to make going forward. If we did that and then get a top-5 pick in 2022, which might be the next 2003 super draft, then I think we'd have the foundation in place to contend again. The 2022 draft is going to be hyped up the wazoo. I feel so bad for Gibson after what the Ducks have subjected him to for the last 2 + seasons, especially his workload. Maybe he regrets signing that 8-year extension but hopefully he has enough faith and patience in the organization to ride this out. If he wants to stay with the Ducks, then I don't think he has a choice lol.

Yeah, I think that Murray has until next year's trade deadline to position himself for the Expansion Draft but the Ducks are in a much better position than they were when Vegas came in. Of course, that's due in large part that we don't nearly have the amount of quality players to protect this time around. I'd rather move a quality defensemen for high picks than for Marner-esque player at this point (even if were possible that we could land a high-end player). The Ducks are missing ALOT and adding additional picks, especially 1st rounders, should be a priority especially for the 2022 draft. Bite the bullet in the short-term and load up for the future.

Yep, $1.45 mil/aav which is right in line with Ritchie ($1.49 mil) got and Terry gets $1.55 mil in the final year. Not bad at all. If Terry can put up 25-30 pts then it's a solid contract for the Ducks and he's still an RFA when it's up. I'm just waiting for the day when we have a player worth giving a max extension to!

Even better then! The Boston pick is going to be a very late first rounder and I don't think there's that much greater value compared to an early 2nd round pick. If Rakell straight up could get us #8 then I'd do it, but Murray doesn't seem to have any intention of moving him at this point and he is in no rush to. I don't think that Rakell + late 1st get you into the top-3 but it's not like the lottery teams are going to trade those picks anyway. Was the last time a team traded a top-5 pick when Brian Burke drafted the Sedin Twins? An ideal situation is one where we land a top-5 pick with someone else's pick via a trade like Colorado and Ottawa have done recently lol. Yeah, but I think he still has a good amount of value given his contract and the cache of being a multiple 30-goal scorer at age 27. I think it will take more than just him to land the #8 pick, and if anything, Murray is hoping he finds his old form and increases his value for a possible future trade.