Inagurial Free Agency Thread

[DaBoltsNIsles]

Islanders

Need: Power forwards who can take pressure off of players like Tavares & Josh Bailey.
A legitimate second line
To get rid of Franz Nielsen whom the org keeps touting as a second line center but he's maybe a 4th line center on a good team.

Large stay at home Dman who can play top 3 minutes and mentor players like DeHaan and Hamonic when they join the club this year or next. Plus, with the 5th pick we are either getting Fowler, Gudbranson or Gormley.

I will like that future blueline of deHaan, Hamonic, (one of the three this year) and Donovan plus Streit. They need a stay at home guy to help mold this group.

All we have is needs.

I like Nielsen. At the very least he's a solid third line center who plays solid D & scores a few. He had the best +/- on the Isles. Sorry but, I will be shocked if he's traded.

There is no doubt Donovan was a steal in the 4th round in 08. He has so much upside it's sick.

Last year the Isles got another steal in the 6th round in Anders Lee. Lee tied for the league lead in goals (35) & was named rookie of the year in the USHL. He's headed to Notre Dame next year.

I would prefer a forward at 5 but, I have no idea how healthy Connolly is nor do I expect him to be available at 5. I'm not sold on Niederreiter like some are & don't know what Tarasenkos' contract status is. If Garth trades down I like Emerson Etem but, I think the Isles will stay put & draft a defenseman.

 

[Maverick426h]

Flyers:

Flyers are in decent shape as of right now. If they can get Hartnell back to the 30 goal stage, then forwards are not needed. HOWEVER...one glaring thing they do need is a face-off guy. Carter, Richards and Briere just can't do it. Betts has been good, but not good enough. They need a Faceoff guru to teach the other 3 centers how to friggin win faceoffs. Let Asham walk and keep Nodl.

Defense is just fine. Gonna have to find some room under the cap to sign Coburn, who's looked A LOT better. Flyers have 2 very good d-men down in the minors who can contribute as well as Bartulis.

Goaltending...SIGN LEIGHTON!!!! Bouch is under contract for another year.

We would all like to see Hartnell get back to 30 goals but it looks very unlikely at this point, especially when you consider that Leino is suddenly ahead of him on the depth chart. There is a need for a right winger on the first or second line in my opinion. I guess I just don't like seeing Richards centering Carcillo or even Carter centering Hartnell for that matter. Maybe they are what you call "necessary evils"...

As for face-offs, Carter and Richards both improved quite a bit from last season in that area and if it continues next season, this will no longer be an issue. However, I know what you're talking about and that's why I wanted to get Malhotra this past offseason. It didn't happen and he signed with San Jose for only $700k. Now he's winning 62.2% of his draws with them in the playoffs. He is an UFA again this offseason, so there's your face-off specialist. I don't know where he'll play seeing as we already have about five centers, but that is your man.

On defense, obviously re-sign Coburn. Bartulis can step in as the six, but I don't like what I've seen from Parent. That leaves a vacancy at the fifth spot to either re-sign Krajicek or sign a free agent. I wouldn't fill that spot with a rookie.

Obviously goaltending is always the main issue in Philadelphia, but Leighton is 20-5-2 as a Flyer and dominating so far in his brief playoff career. I see no issue there...lol There will be question marks as to whether he can shoulder the load for an entire season, but he looks like a legit Nhl starter right now, does he not? At least he'll be cheap, grateful and have something to prove. That's all we seem to want in net these days.

 

[falconski]

Avs

needs: #1 defenseman, strong shutdown defenseman, maybe a LW for stastny (maybe, Jones may be able to fill that gap), and most importantly some better trainers so we stop geting plagued by injuries


UFAs

D Brett Clark: useless, let him go, especially since we have a bunch of our defensive prospects coming to the AHL this year, let's see what gaunce, shattenkirk, or cohen can do, we have plenty of mediocre defensemen
D Ruslan Salei: see Brett clark
D Adam Foote: meh, sign him cheap if he wants to come back, mainly for the locker room presence, try to play him on the third pairing though as he's lost most of his touch
LW Darcy Tucker: yay! he's out of here, the kids have been saying great things about his leadership, but his play is useless, can he retire and come back as an assistant coach?
RW Marek Svatos: a scorer who doesn't score anymore, send him to UFA land, he'd probably fit in well with the pens
G Peter Budaj: I'd say resign cheap, not sure I trust weiman yet and budaj is pretty much a great backup goalie, capable of playing solid on no rest, great team player, granted has some confidence issues so doesn't really work in the starter's role as we saw in 08-09
C Stephane Yelle: I have a feeling he's gonna retire, and honestly, with Hendricks being quite capable as a 4th line center I don't think we need him either
F David Koci: a goon's a goon, I don't really care, but I'd like to have one around that could win a fight

Signings: Volchenkov or Hamhuis, another goon if we let koci go, we're probably not competing for the cup next year so I'd see what Jones can provide on Stastny's left instead of making a run at kovalchuk

RFA:

F Peter Meuller: man that Meuller-Duchene-Hejduk line was awesome until he got injured, resign him for 2 years, hope he doesn't go back into the form he was in in phoenix before the trade
F Kevin Porter: capable, but still a prospect, not sure if we have room for him or not, but I'd say sign him for another couple years and see how he does with lake erie, doesn't look out of place in the NHL, just doesn't really fit with the team when healthy
RW Chris Stewart: sign and sign now, at least 3 years, after breakout season last year, a great powerforward
C TJ Hensick: been up and down, with duchene and O'Reilly making the big club he doesn't really fit in anymore, at this point I'd say let him go
F Brandon Yip: hit's anything that moves, great third liner, has quite the scoring touch along with him too, sign him for a couple more years, keep him with Galiardi and O'Reilly and we've got an awesome shutdown line (alright, anybody with any sort of defensive responsibility along with Galiardi and O'Reilly should be a decent shutdown line)
D Kyle Quincey: one of our best defensemen last year, still young, doesn't really fit the #1 defenseman bill but looks to be a solid #2 guy if he can keep the consistency. sign him for a couple more years (especially so the smyth trade doesn't look pointless)

 

[puckhead]

Avs

UFAs

D Brett Clark: useless, let him go, especially since we have a bunch of our defensive prospects coming to the AHL this year, let's see what gaunce, shattenkirk, or cohen can do, we have plenty of mediocre defensemen
D Ruslan Salei: see Brett clark
D Adam Foote: meh, sign him cheap if he wants to come back, mainly for the locker room presence, try to play him on the third pairing though as he's lost most of his touch
LW Darcy Tucker: yay! he's out of here, the kids have been saying great things about his leadership, but his play is useless, can he retire and come back as an assistant coach?
RW Marek Svatos: a scorer who doesn't score anymore, send him to UFA land, he'd probably fit in well with the pens
G Peter Budaj: I'd say resign cheap, not sure I trust weiman yet and budaj is pretty much a great backup goalie, capable of playing solid on no rest, great team player, granted has some confidence issues so doesn't really work in the starter's role as we saw in 08-09
C Stephane Yelle: I have a feeling he's gonna retire, and honestly, with Hendricks being quite capable as a 4th line center I don't think we need him either
F David Koci: a goon's a goon, I don't really care, but I'd like to have one around that could win a fight

Avs sure had a heck of a year for having that many useless players

 

[dash]

Avs sure had a heck of a year for having that many useless players

No kidding

 

[falconski]

Avs sure had a heck of a year for having that many useless players

most of the non-useless ones weren't UFA's :p

 

[pixburgher66]

bump. now san jose fans can commiserate.

 

[falconski]

Adam Foote resigned at 1 year $1M, about half the price I was hoping for, probably gonna be his last year

 

[falconski]

terrible news for the rest of the league, Peter Budaj and David Koci were resigned by the avs, I know every team was hoping to get these guys on July 1st.


now for my opinion: Budaj signing I'm fine with, so long as he's a backup and doesn't really have to deal with his consistency issues, $1.25M is a little much but we're nowhere near the cap anyway so it's not an issue. He's still a great team player (he'll always give guys advice to beat the opposing goalie on the shootout and it usually works), and can play solid when needed...that and the other option was really weiman who's probably peaked in the AHL.

Koci...a goon's a goon, I really don't care that much and at least he's an alright skater (can't do anything else though) though I would have preferred one that can win a fight every so often

 

[puckhead]

Koci...a goon's a goon, I really don't care that much and at least he's an alright skater (can't do anything else though) though I would have preferred one that can win a fight every so often

he really came into the league guns a-blazin'. He hasn't been the same player/fighter since he got his head caved in. (i forget by who Chara? Boogaard? Belak?)

 

[dash]

he really came into the league guns a-blazin'. He hasn't been the same player/fighter since he got his head caved in. (i forget by who Chara? Boogaard? Belak?)

I think it was Chara...Holy Schnikies on the youtube that follows.

 

[KennyBanyeah]

Sens:

Hope that Kovalev comes back around January 1st, if at all. Use the cap space to sign Z. Michalek (Volchenkov is gone, :-( ).

Keep Cullen if it's resonable (<$3M).

Look into trading Chris Kelly; Zack Smith proved he's ready for the NHL.

See if you have room to add hard-nosed winger who might squeeze into the top 6.

Results come February.

Foligno - Spezza - Alfredsson
Michalek - Cullen - Torres?
Regin - Fisher - Kovalev
Neil - Smith - Butler

Phillips - Z. Michalek
Kuba - Karlsson
Carkner - Wiercioch - Lee - Campoli (3 of this group fills out 5 through 7)

Leclaire - Elliott

 

[forty_three]

Michalek - Cullen - Torres?

Love the idea if he could stay healthy. He's just too fragile, and the Sens don't cope with change well.

Damn the Sabres for re-signing Grier. Damn them.