Offseason thread

LoCal Kings said:

3- d-men (Doughty, Martinez, Muzz). Leaving McNabb, Greene, and Trotman as only eligible d-men exposed. Out those 3, I would think only a slightly cheaper McNabb might be taken, but only if he has a break-out season in 2017

Click to expand...

Wouldn't that be something though? McNabb has his breakout season and Kings have to really consider keeping him at the expense of others in next year's Expansion Draft.

But that likely means the Kings have a great year, so obviously I'd take that.

I still think Gaborik has a great bounceback year. He was hurt all of last year and I think he still has a lot left in the tank.

LoCal Kings said:

In fact, since we've learned the definite expansion rules, combined with the fact that Brown's contract is "untradeable", I'd say the Kings are in a planning mode for Expansion. Looks like they are set-up to have Brown, and possibly Gaborik, as the only decent players exposed under the Expansion rules.....

1-goalie protect, (Quick) leaving Zatkoff exposed = doubt he would be taken, should be a lot of better starters and back-ups available.

3- d-men (Doughty, Martinez, Muzz). Leaving McNabb, Greene, and Trotman as only eligible d-men exposed. Out those 3, I would think only a slightly cheaper McNabb might be taken, but only if he has a break-out season in 2017

7- forwards (Kopi, Carter, Toffoli, Pearson, Lewis, Clifford, and maybe Gaborik). That leaves Brown and one more of the Nolan, Dowd, Andreoff, Latta type of forward exposed. Or, they protect a Latta, and expose both Gaborik and Brown.

My point: I think Lombardi has the current roster & contracts set-up to pigeon-hole Las Vegas into taking away one of the Kings bigger contracts in Brown, or possibly Gaborik.

(Of course, if there is significant player (d-man) acquired between now and then, things would obviously change).

Click to expand...

That has always been my contention since we found out about expansion. I don't think Dumbo planned for it even though it's been discussed for years and years, but once it was finalized and they knew I think the moves he is making is to do exactly what you're stating - expose Brown and Gaborik and hope Vegas takes one, and I wouldn't be surprised if they did.

Of your list, the only one I would swap out in the 7F group is Gaborik, I fully believe they will protect Shore over him (Shore is not exempt) or even Andreoff. They are very high on Shore in terms of work ethic, his defensive game and face offs not to mention the Kings are thin as is in the B6 lines on center. Far cry from the days of rolling out Kopitar/Richards/Stoll/Lewis.

After Lewis they don't have anyone else really capable of being that solid defensive presence, and moving Andreoff to center late in the season seemed to be a better place for him as opposed to LW. Wouldn't be surprised to see the line tinkering as the season moves along to see which one they will protect.

Certain guys are most likely going to be exempt (Mersch, Forbert and Gravel unless they appear in a certain number of games this upcoming season) but there will be some interesting decisions made.

Deader2818 said:

Maybe its hopeful but I wouldnt be shocked if Las Vegas took Brown. They will need to be able to hit the cap floor and adding a 2 time cup champion captain to help get a new franchise find its way might be something they would like.

Click to expand...

I agree, they could take a flyer on him. Hoping Brown has a good year to sell his value.

Stunner_At_Staples_Kings said:

Wouldn't that be something though? McNabb has his breakout season and Kings have to really consider keeping him at the expense of others in next year's Expansion Draft.

But that likely means the Kings have a great year, so obviously I'd take that.

Click to expand...

That would make things very complicated but that's what we want right?

If that happened and the Kings wanted to protect their T4 defenders, the list would be the 8S/1G method and I would assume those 8 are Kopitar, Carter, Pearson, Toffoli, Doughty, Martinez, Muzzin, McNabb and Quick. That leaves a heck of a lot more players exposed - Lewis, Shore, Andreoff, King, Nolan, Brown, Gaborik, Greene, Clifford, Scuderi, Latta, Trotman to start.

pete6835 said:

Please STFU

Click to expand...

Excuse me if you don't wish to discuss then simply ignore me. No reason for attacks. If you can't do that the I suggest adding me to your ignore list.

Thank you.

Deader2818 said:

Excuse me if you don't wish to discuss then simply ignore me. No reason for attacks. If you can't do that the I suggest adding me to your ignore list.

Thank you.

Click to expand...

I said STFU, you aren't a Kings fan until they win the cup.

Been hearing for awhile that the relatively stagnant salary cap will squeeze the mid-range players. The "big fish" in Stamkos, Lucic, Okposo, etc got signed, and a lot of lower level guys too. But players like Luke Schenn, Kris Russel, etc, are still homeless.

Given the aforementioned Kings situation in regards to Expansion, I am wondering if its a much of a multi-year contract issue. Perhaps there are a lot of teams like the Kings who aren't signing these guys (particulary for multi years) because they are hoping to get rid of certain contracts. A lot of it is surely the salary cap, but I am thinking teams like the Kings are trying to have a very limited number of Expansion Eligible players available in an attempt to get Vegas to select one of them.

Just more Expansion conspirancy theories.

Schenn IMO was great and the Kings need a guy like him......not for the $$ he was getting tho which is why I think he is not signed. He signed his last contract due to hype, he cant ride that anymore but probably still thinks himself a t4 Dman

Tampa Bay Lightning defenceman Nikita Nesterov has been added to Russia’s World Cup of Hockey roster in place of Slava Voynov, who is ineligible to compete because he is suspended indefinitely by the NHL.

In announcing the move Monday, the Russian Hockey Federation said it ran out of time in its bid to have the league lift Voynov’s suspension stemming from his arrest on felony domestic violence charges in October 2014. The former Los Angeles Kings defenceman pleaded no contest to a reduced misdemeanour and returned to play in Russia after facing deportation from the United States.

The NHL questioned Voynov’s status when he was among the final players selected to Russia’s roster in May.

The 23-year-old Nesterov had three goals and six assists in 57 games last season.

Kings4OT said:

Schenn IMO was great and the Kings need a guy like him......not for the $$ he was getting tho which is why I think he is not signed. He signed his last contract due to hype, he cant ride that anymore but probably still thinks himself a t4 Dman

Click to expand...

I liked Schenn, he was a victim of the analytics IMO. This is a great article on how analytics hasn't been accepted completely in the hockey world:

‘Analytics hasn’t reached maturity in the NHL yet': Matt Pfeffer | The Hockey News

I'm not sold on them, although I think they are good stats to get a decent picture but not the whole picture. I am still a big believer in "see what happens on the ice" even if some guy has analytics data off the charts. Case in point, Subban and Karlsson - these guys are horrid in their own end no matter how good their analytics are. Their play on the ice is on film and that doesn't lie.

Analytics doesn't take situational incidents (i.e. Muzzin for example is an anal darling but we've seen him cough up the puck at the most inopportune times over the years resulting in a back breaking or GW goal or something to change momentum, or how the Kings have been the best CF% team the last 5 years yet remain historically one of the lower tier scoring teams. Possession is one thing, resulting in goals is another - you can control the puck on the cycle for a :55 shift and all you did was pass it back and forth to your linemates against the boards which is great for possession, but nothing generated from it), which is how I still see the game. Drew Doughty is a known proponent of the "analytics is crap" school of thought although I don't discount it as much as he does - there are useful tools there but not the whole workshop.

This brings me to Schenn, who on the visual test for me I think did well in his third pairing role although his anals were below average. He played physical, cleared the net and had some good games in LA. Smart decisions overall and nothing glared out at me often, he played conservative, like a third pairing shut down defender should. Would have liked to see more foot speed out of the guy but that was never his strong suit and actually made him fit into the LA defense well since none of them are really fleet footed. Different style of game in Philadelphia than LA.

I think part of his poor data was because he had a revolving door of partners after he was acquired and injuries occurred, forcing him to play in the T4 and out of his league. I remember the last part of the season he was paired with Scuderi, which in 2012 would have been awesome but in 2016 made me cringe.

That said, if he can be resigned for cheap that would be great, maybe he could be an option at camp if Forbert or Gravel don't make the club (I doubt it - one of them will IMO). Free agency has slowed down significantly - I don't recall a year like this when 18 days has gone by and some of the bigger names left aren't signed - so the more time that passes, theoretically the more affordable these guys become.

He won't be making $3.6 million again for sure, maybe in a few years but for now he will be getting essentially a bridge deal for a UFA instead of an RFA.

As reported by Nick Kypreos of Sportsnet, the Arizona Coyotes have signed Luke Schenn to a two-year contract. The cap hit of the deal will come in at $1.25 million per Elliotte Friedman, also of Sportsnet. The Arizona Coyotes announced the deal through the team’s website but did not disclose the actual terms of the contract per team policy, but it is likely that the reported figures by Elliotte Friedman are accurate.

pete6835 said:

As reported by Nick Kypreos of Sportsnet, the Arizona Coyotes have signed Luke Schenn to a two-year contract. The cap hit of the deal will come in at $1.25 million per Elliotte Friedman, also of Sportsnet. The Arizona Coyotes announced the deal through the team’s website but did not disclose the actual terms of the contract per team policy, but it is likely that the reported figures by Elliotte Friedman are accurate.

Click to expand...

Well that sucks if true, I would have rather seen him in LA for that

That does suck, sure sounds to me LA could have afforded that but who knows what else was going on. Kind of stinks that Scuderi is still in LA at about that cost.

Versteeg leaving the NHL. Kinda liked him on the 3rd line but oh well.

Wonder with this means? He couldn't hack it?

My guess is that's more about his time in Philly, but ya going to a team with no expectations is stress relief I suppose

Kings4OT said:

My guess is that's more about his time in Philly, but ya going to a team with no expectations is stress relief I suppose

Click to expand...

Zing!

=)~~

If that is what it truly was, then he is better off in AZ. Coming from two losing organizations in Philadelphia and TO his entire career, makes total sense. We all saw this as the current team progressed, they went from a bunch of free wheeling losers to learning how to win. It's always easy to play well when there are no expectations.

No better example than O'Sullivan, who was pissed he was part of the first line with Brown/Kopitar and scored 22 goals but then had to earn his spot in the line up again in Training Camp and was a bitch boy about it to Terry Murray.

It's all about improving, developing a winner's attitude and proving you have what it takes to win and he did not, maybe Schenn hasn't hit that point yet but the expectations are way higher coming to a recent 2 time Cup champ than playing in AZ, TO or Philadelphia.

He has some time, but he is 26 and has been in the league for some time. Get on that horse, son.

Schenn to AZ:
Probably one of the few teams that can "afford" to give him a 2-year deal. When I say "afford", I am referring to a combination of cap space and Expansion Eligibility. I don't really know AZ roster that well, but I know they will be protecting Ekman-Larsson and newly signed Goligoski. Not sure who they think their 3rd most valuable D-man to protect is, but doubt it would be Schenn. That at least leaves them Schenn as the 1 d-man under contract for 2017-2018 that each team is required to make available to Expansion.

Great point, they also have Dahlbeck they can expose who meets the 40/70 rule and Connauton, although Connauton only had 38 games last season but should meet the 40/70 requirement this season. They also still need to sign Murphy and Stone (RFAs - both played 70+ games last season), which will push Schenn down to a 5-7 defender.

Stone is turning into a solid T4 defender, that is the third guy you were thinking of. My thinking here is they will sign both guys to 2+ year deals so in case they do lose one of the defensemen, there are several options already in place under contract. I do think they will protect Stone in addition to the others you mentioned.

Did some research on the whole "outside pressure" dig on Schenn, and it does look like he wanted to play somewhere where the media wasn't on him all the time (Philly and TO because of the market, LA because they are still considered Cup contenders) and he could focus on developing into what he was set to be, a top 5 draft pick. He should be able to focus on his game in a non-traditional, not-a-contender market.

Problem is he lacks footspeed, which isn't the game now so he will need to improve in other areas to fulfill his potential. Wish him well though, I liked the guy when he was here.