Trade & Free Agent Targets

[gorbachav5 5,694]

The guy I'd absolutely love to get is Dadonov.  He was a beast for Florida, but had a down season points-wise because he missed out on some assists.  His scoring rate was still great, and he was arguably the best play driver on the Panthers.  But if you sign him, you've probably got to get rid of at least one other forward (probably more than one), and one of them probably has to be either Rakell or Henrique to make the salaries work.  So you've taken a step forward, but then also taken most of a step backward.  And then who do you trade for?  Do you package Rakell and a guy like Lundestrom and try to get a better prospect than Lundestrom?  Or do you add a pick and try to get an NHL player who improves the roster this season?  Who might do that trade?

Hopefully Murray can do some wheeling and dealing, but I'm not super confident he'll be able to get as much done to improve this year's roster as people might like.  It will take some very creative trades to do it, and that means you've got to find trade partners.

[FanSince1993 181]

The Ducks are the hostage of Kesler's contract situation. They can put him on LTIR only AFTER the season begins. It will be like this for 2 more years. Also, don't forget, the forward you are talking about, his last name is DadonOV. Remember, who is our GM?

[gorbachav5 5,694]

4 minutes ago, FanSince1993 said:

The Ducks are the hostage of Kesler's contract situation. They can put him on LTIR only AFTER the season begins. It will be like this for 2 more years. Also, don't forget, the forward you are talking about, his last name is DadonOV. Remember, who is our GM?

I don't have any real expectation of signing another impactful free agent, at least not until a trade is made.  If you sign a guy like that and make your cap situation tight, your trade leverage goes way down.  Outside of possible a low-key depth signing, I figure the next thing we'll see from the Ducks, if anything, is a trade.

As for Dadonov specifically, Murray drafted the first Russian since 2009, so maybe he's come around finally?

[BombaysTripleDeke 1,339]

1 hour ago, gorbachav5 said:

The guy I'd absolutely love to get is Dadonov.  He was a beast for Florida, but had a down season points-wise because he missed out on some assists.  His scoring rate was still great, and he was arguably the best play driver on the Panthers.  But if you sign him, you've probably got to get rid of at least one other forward (probably more than one), and one of them probably has to be either Rakell or Henrique to make the salaries work.  So you've taken a step forward, but then also taken most of a step backward.  And then who do you trade for?  Do you package Rakell and a guy like Lundestrom and try to get a better prospect than Lundestrom?  Or do you add a pick and try to get an NHL player who improves the roster this season?  Who might do that trade?

Hopefully Murray can do some wheeling and dealing, but I'm not super confident he'll be able to get as much done to improve this year's roster as people might like.  It will take some very creative trades to do it, and that means you've got to find trade partners.

Agree with this and that Murray's actually going to pull off a notable trade, unless he was lying to Shattenkirk about being sick of making the playoffs and doing so this season. There's also our lack of cap space, so I don't think he's done yet. I'm just not sure what kind of deck chair shuffling he's doing to do. We still need to see if any of the young guys can even replace the production of Kase and Ritchie. There aren't enough moves to be made to get the Ducks into being a playoff threat, IMO and don't understand any playoff expectations. Plus, our back up goalie position is seemingly going to decline with Miller not likely to come back I don't like the idea of running Gibson even further into the ground with a greater workload. 

[gorbachav5 5,694]

37 minutes ago, BombaysTripleDeke said:

Agree with this and that Murray's actually going to pull off a notable trade, unless he was lying to Shattenkirk about being sick of making the playoffs and doing so this season. There's also our lack of cap space, so I don't think he's done yet. I'm just not sure what kind of deck chair shuffling he's doing to do. We still need to see if any of the young guys can even replace the production of Kase and Ritchie. There aren't enough moves to be made to get the Ducks into being a playoff threat, IMO and don't understand any playoff expectations. Plus, our back up goalie position is seemingly going to decline with Miller not likely to come back I don't like the idea of running Gibson even further into the ground with a greater workload. 

I do think Murray's going to try something, I'm just not sure what it is.  He has a lot of options.  If he wants to make a run at the playoffs while staying competitive for the future, I think his only parameters are:

• Keep Zegras
• Keep the guys you drafted this year (at least from the first two rounds)
• Keep Lindholm and Gibson
• Keep your first round picks for the next two years
• Make sure the roster is set up to meet expansion requirements

That's it, really.  Everyone else is expendable in this process.  There are guys they should hang onto, obviously, because they'll be difficult to replace (Fowler, Getzlaf, Silf).  But, for example, if you can find a deal where you can package Rakell and Mahura and a second rounder for a second or third year player who's already good, I'm all for it.  Or maybe Manson and Comtois or Steel and a pick for a better RD.  Or maybe you dump Manson and Henrique in separate deals to shed salary and then try to go get a player like Pietrangelo.  That last one is a super crazy longshot, but there are options.  I just have no idea who might be willing to listen and help the Ducks out.

As for Miller, have you heard something about him recently?  The interview I read by Eric Stephens indicated that he's working out and wants to come back to the NHL, and it seems like he's happy being here with the Ducks.  I would put it at more likely than not he returns, but that's obviously just speculation.

I don't have huge expectations for this season at this point, but I don't think hoping for the playoffs is crazy.  I think they'll be better.  Most of my pessimism now comes from the coaching staff and their failure to develop the youngsters.  If that continues, then not only is the team not going to the playoffs next season, but they're in trouble for many years to come.

[BombaysTripleDeke 1,339]

18 minutes ago, gorbachav5 said:

I do think Murray's going to try something, I'm just not sure what it is.  He has a lot of options.  If he wants to make a run at the playoffs while staying competitive for the future, I think his only parameters are:

• Keep Zegras
• Keep the guys you drafted this year (at least from the first two rounds)
• Keep Lindholm and Gibson
• Keep your first round picks for the next two years
• Make sure the roster is set up to meet expansion requirements

That's it, really.  Everyone else is expendable in this process.  There are guys they should hang onto, obviously, because they'll be difficult to replace (Fowler, Getzlaf, Silf).  But, for example, if you can find a deal where you can package Rakell and Mahura and a second rounder for a second or third year player who's already good, I'm all for it.  Or maybe Manson and Comtois or Steel and a pick for a better RD.  Or maybe you dump Manson and Henrique in separate deals to shed salary and then try to go get a player like Pietrangelo.  That last one is a super crazy longshot, but there are options.  I just have no idea who might be willing to listen and help the Ducks out.

As for Miller, have you heard something about him recently?  The interview I read by Eric Stephens indicated that he's working out and wants to come back to the NHL, and it seems like he's happy being here with the Ducks.  I would put it at more likely than not he returns, but that's obviously just speculation.

I don't have huge expectations for this season at this point, but I don't think hoping for the playoffs is crazy.  I think they'll be better.  Most of my pessimism now comes from the coaching staff and their failure to develop the youngsters.  If that continues, then not only is the team not going to the playoffs next season, but they're in trouble for many years to come.

I think the parameters you listed are pretty spot on. If the Ducks want to keep Lindholm long term, then I think it would come at the expense of Fowler. If they did, then, theoretically, I see the Ducks drafting high enough to get another another D with their 2021 first round pick. I think that they should be a bit better then last year but that their ceiling is so limited and that it's not going to be enough to get them in the playoffs. I still still see them as more likely to draft in the top-10 again. As far as trading Lundestrom or even Steel, I think one of those could very much get shipped out, especially after Grant getting re-signed and log jamming the bottom-six center roles. Plus, Groulx would likely be vying for a similar role as well, not to mention Zegras. Murray has to address this and the defensive logjam which is why I'm betting the farm on him making a big move. It seems like Vegas is putting on the full-course press to Pietrangelo.

I haven't heard much from Miller as far as him signing with the Ducks. Sounds like he wants to keep playing though. The issue is that if he does come back and it's a one-year deal, then the Ducks still need another goalie to expose in the ED.

The Ducks development of players is a real concern, more so on the offensive side. I'm not sure how much to contribute the issues to failure of the coaches/staff and Murray's philosophy of what a winning team is. Granted, it's not like the Ducks have been drafting in the lottery for long enough so they've been missing out on the best opportunities to get top-end players.

[Sexlaf15 2,888]

3 hours ago, gorbachav5 said:

I don't have any real expectation of signing another impactful free agent, at least not until a trade is made.  If you sign a guy like that and make your cap situation tight, your trade leverage goes way down.  Outside of possible a low-key depth signing, I figure the next thing we'll see from the Ducks, if anything, is a trade.

As for Dadonov specifically, Murray drafted the first Russian since 2009, so maybe he's come around finally?

My main move is acquiring Dunn from STL. Then maybe Dadanov or Duclair. But as you said a trade needs to be made and looking through capfriendly, I don’t see an obvious move. Other than moving Kesler’s contract, which would probably cost a 1st round pick. Ottawa needs to hit the cap floor, so there’s someone who would probably be willing to take it. 

[Sexlaf15 2,888]

2 hours ago, BombaysTripleDeke said:

Agree with this and that Murray's actually going to pull off a notable trade, unless he was lying to Shattenkirk about being sick of making the playoffs and doing so this season. There's also our lack of cap space, so I don't think he's done yet. I'm just not sure what kind of deck chair shuffling he's doing to do. We still need to see if any of the young guys can even replace the production of Kase and Ritchie. There aren't enough moves to be made to get the Ducks into being a playoff threat, IMO and don't understand any playoff expectations. Plus, our back up goalie position is seemingly going to decline with Miller not likely to come back I don't like the idea of running Gibson even further into the ground with a greater workload. 

I think Murray did a good job of committing to a play style. Ritchie had to go honestly, and Heinen looked promising. He essentially got Perrault and Andersson for Kase which in retrospect isn’t too bad. 

[gorbachav5 5,694]

2 hours ago, Sexlaf15 said:

My main move is acquiring Dunn from STL. Then maybe Dadanov or Duclair. But as you said a trade needs to be made and looking through capfriendly, I don’t see an obvious move. Other than moving Kesler’s contract, which would probably cost a 1st round pick. Ottawa needs to hit the cap floor, so there’s someone who would probably be willing to take it. 

Dunn looks fantastic, but who do we trade?  I suppose St. Louis could want a guy like Larsson or Mahura as LD depth.  But then we still have a logjam at LD with Djoos and whichever of Larsson/Mahura is left.  We also have the issue of protecting guys from Seattle.  

I don't think anyone's taking Kesler's contract.  I think the Ducks are going to have to trade Manson, Henrique, or Rakell in order to move salary.  And my guess is that they're loathe to move Manson because of the RHD situation.  They'll probably have to add a pick or a prospect in order to get a good young player back, unless they're just looking to stockpile picks, which wouldn't be at all consistent with Bob Murray's statements.

[Sexlaf15 2,888]

18 minutes ago, gorbachav5 said:

Dunn looks fantastic, but who do we trade?  I suppose St. Louis could want a guy like Larsson or Mahura as LD depth.  But then we still have a logjam at LD with Djoos and whichever of Larsson/Mahura is left.  We also have the issue of protecting guys from Seattle.  

I don't think anyone's taking Kesler's contract.  I think the Ducks are going to have to trade Manson, Henrique, or Rakell in order to move salary.  And my guess is that they're loathe to move Manson because of the RHD situation.  They'll probably have to add a pick or a prospect in order to get a good young player back, unless they're just looking to stockpile picks, which wouldn't be at all consistent with Bob Murray's statements.

Right now STL couldn’t afford to match an offer sheet, if you can dump camp you can do that or send a pick + prospect, but I’m not a GM so I’m not sure of the logistics 100%

[nieder 6,978]

7 hours ago, FanSince1993 said:

The Ducks are the hostage of Kesler's contract situation. They can put him on LTIR only AFTER the season begins. It will be like this for 2 more years. Also, don't forget, the forward you are talking about, his last name is DadonOV. Remember, who is our GM?

You can exceed the cap by 10% in the offseason. 

[BombaysTripleDeke 1,339]

Pietrangelo to Vegas.

46 minutes ago, Sexlaf15 said:

Right now STL couldn’t afford to match an offer sheet, if you can dump camp you can do that or send a pick + prospect, but I’m not a GM so I’m not sure of the logistics 100%

Yeah, like Gorbachav said, the issue is then who do you trade from a logjam, cap and expansion draft perspective? You'd have to trade Lindholm or Fowler unless you do an 8 skater scheme and risk losing Shattenkirk or a forward to Seattle? I think that our ED strategy is TBD depending on how the season plays out. So, I don't think even Murray has all of the logistics figured out yet.

The only thing that I am fairly certain on is that Murray is that the Ducks payroll is going to go down.

[Sexlaf15 2,888]

Devon Toews going for two 2nds 

Schmidt going for a 3rd

theres some great deals to be had on this market 

[Sexlaf15 2,888]

Btw Tampa also doesn’t have space and needs to resign Cirelli and Sergachev. Teams are really pushed to the cap right now and with some creativity we could really add some good players for cheap 

[Sexlaf15 2,888]

I the think Djoos played well enough to earn an opportunity  and obviously Curran has to play. 
we could look at Cirelli and Kahun. 
Milano - Getzlaf - Rakell 

Silfverberg - Henrique - Terry 

Comtois - Kahun/Cirelli - Steel

Jones - Backes - Grant 

Fowler - Shattenkirk 

Lindholm - Manson 

Djoos - Curran 

Gibsin 

I think that lineup gets closer to the playoffs while also not going overboard and sacrificing the future. Kahun and a Cirelli could be part of the future as well. Adding Kahun/Cirelli also makes it easier to part with Henrique which could be where we move out cap. 
 

Edited October 13 by Sexlaf15

[dtsdlaw 8,103]

What about Granlund? He can play center or RW and would instantly add some scoring to this group. The Ducks have also been on a downward slide ever since GMBM purged the roster of Finns. Maybe it’s time to bring the Finns back?

Edited October 13 by dtsdlaw

[BombaysTripleDeke 1,339]

1 hour ago, Sexlaf15 said:

I the think Djoos played well enough to earn an opportunity  and obviously Curran has to play. 
we could look at Cirelli and Kahun. 
Milano - Getzlaf - Rakell 

Silfverberg - Henrique - Terry 

Comtois - Kahun/Cirelli - Steel

Jones - Backes - Grant 

Fowler - Shattenkirk 

Lindholm - Manson 

Djoos - Curran 

Gibsin 

I think that lineup gets closer to the playoffs while also not going overboard and sacrificing the future. Kahun and a Cirelli could be part of the future as well. Adding Kahun/Cirelli also makes it easier to part with Henrique which could be where we move out cap. 
 

I think that the bottom pairing is still mostly up for grabs by Djoss, Curran, Mahura, Larsson, and Haakanpa. Djoos looked good but still only had a 9 game sample size to go. Bringing Grant back alone creates a backlog at center unless you start shifting players to the wing. The other key factor for the Ducks next season is Eakins. We still don't know if he'll be a good enough coach at the NHL level.

[JiggyToTheCup 1,007]

12 hours ago, gorbachav5 said:

The guy I'd absolutely love to get is Dadonov.  He was a beast for Florida, but had a down season points-wise because he missed out on some assists.  His scoring rate was still great, and he was arguably the best play driver on the Panthers.  But if you sign him, you've probably got to get rid of at least one other forward (probably more than one), and one of them probably has to be either Rakell or Henrique to make the salaries work.  So you've taken a step forward, but then also taken most of a step backward.  And then who do you trade for?  Do you package Rakell and a guy like Lundestrom and try to get a better prospect than Lundestrom?  Or do you add a pick and try to get an NHL player who improves the roster this season?  Who might do that trade?

Hopefully Murray can do some wheeling and dealing, but I'm not super confident he'll be able to get as much done to improve this year's roster as people might like.  It will take some very creative trades to do it, and that means you've got to find trade partners.

I'm not understanding why you have to get rid of anyone to sign him.  Kesler to LTIR.  He'd be a great fit.  65. 70, and pro rated 55 pts the last 3 years.

[Fisix 1,561]

5 hours ago, nieder said:

You can exceed the cap by 10% in the offseason. 

Just going to repost this periodically because it gets lost in the shuffle of opinions too often.

 

[gorbachav5 5,694]

2 hours ago, JiggyToTheCup said:

I'm not understanding why you have to get rid of anyone to sign him.  Kesler to LTIR.  He'd be a great fit.  65. 70, and pro rated 55 pts the last 3 years.

Because there's no room for him on the roster. You're relegating someone to the AHL who should be getting NHL minutes. So you can stunt the growth and tank the value of one of the kids, or you can trade two forwards for one and upgrade twice. 

[Sexlaf15 2,888]

4 hours ago, Fisix said:

Just going to repost this periodically because it gets lost in the shuffle of opinions too often.

 

But you have to be cap compliant when the season starts. Look at the moves teams are making out of desperation. Nate Schmidt for a 3rd round pick???? If Murray was better we could be in a situation where we could take advantage of that easily. The Western conference got a lot better on paper, so I’m interested how Murray thinks this team makes the playoffs. 

[DucksFan_08 929]

23 hours ago, Sexlaf15 said:

He signed in Florida I believe. 

Balls.

I agree that signing Dadonov would be great. I'm not sold on Hoffman because I don't really know what went on in ottawa. He can put it in the back of the net that's for sure and that's what we need.
If it's a short term deal I wouldn't be opposed to it. I think BM is gonna take the wait and see approach. Lots of names on the roster and a lot of young guys who may have taken a step. I think it's worth finding out what we have in Mahura & Lundestrom to name a few. If BM feels the same way he'll do nothing. 

Crazy that Pietrangelo ended up in Vegas. It won't make them easier to play against.

[gorbachav5 5,694]

Dang, Pietrangelo and Theodore.  That blue line is going to be hell to play against for a while.

[dtsdlaw 8,103]

4 hours ago, Sexlaf15 said:

But you have to be cap compliant when the season starts. Look at the moves teams are making out of desperation. Nate Schmidt for a 3rd round pick???? If Murray was better we could be in a situation where we could take advantage of that easily. The Western conference got a lot better on paper, so I’m interested how Murray thinks this team makes the playoffs. 

I think he was addressing the incorrect assumption that Kesler’s contract hurts us in the offseason. It doesn’t. Just look at Toronto last summer when they had a $90M+ cap number after they signed Marner in September because they were also carrying the soon-to-be LTIR’d contracts of Clarkson ($5.25M) and Horton ($5.3M). I don’t know what the exact mechanism is in the CBA but the Leafs stayed compliant throughout despite the Clarkson/Horton contracts. We can too with Kesler’s contract. His contract only hurts from a budget standpoint, not a cap standpoint.

[Sexlaf15 2,888]

 

Edited October 13 by Sexlaf15

[dtsdlaw 8,103]

1 hour ago, Sexlaf15 said:

 

He's still under contract through this coming season though. Unless he has said directly that he doesn't want to remain in Montreal after this season, this news probably doesn't mean much right now. They'd get a better return at the TDL too. 

[Sexlaf15 2,888]

34 minutes ago, dtsdlaw said:

He's still under contract through this coming season though. Unless he has said directly that he doesn't want to remain in Montreal after this season, this news probably doesn't mean much right now. They'd get a better return at the TDL too. 

I think you get more value of at the very least a whole season of Gallagher rather than half. He’s not really a rental player. Doubt it happens, but if you want to win now, Gallagher is probably your best option. 

[MooseDuck 3,028]

5 hours ago, Sexlaf15 said:

I think you get more value of at the very least a whole season of Gallagher rather than half. He’s not really a rental player. Doubt it happens, but if you want to win now, Gallagher is probably your best option. 

IF I remember correctly Ducks GM Bob Murray is not thrilled in Get Rentals..wonder if he still feels the sam...oh wait never mind.

DuckPride 4ever

MooseDuck

[Sexlaf15 2,888]

 

[Shadowduck 2,114]

1 hour ago, Sexlaf15 said:

 

Enough with getting defensemen. GMBM needs to focus on getting a foward who can can score a point a game or something close to that. REALLY tired of GMBM  and his love affair with defense.