Free agent targets Offseason Armchair GM Thread

[MacJ88]

I think it's funny that a first-class organization like the Detroit Red Wings valued Brad Stuart so highly and desperately wanted to retain him but the Sharks fans on the Sports SportsHoopla message board thinks he's an "over the hill" pile of crap. Of course we need Ryan Suter and when you compare Brad Stuart to him, Stu doesn't look that great. Stuart is not our savior but do not be fooled, he is a top 4 defenceman, especially on this team. Nice trade Dougy, give him 3 years.

 

[SJVP408]

Assuming a deal will get done. It will be nice to give Burns and Boyle defensively capable partners (Vlasic, Stuart) so they can be more aggressive on the offense.

 

[Cmon_WTF]

Per the Merc, Stuart wants this contract to be his final one. If that's the case, hopefully DWil can do some magic with extending out the term to make the cap hit more friendly. If Stuart will sign a 4 year front loaded contract for an average of $2M, that would be good. Something like $3.5M, $2.5M, $1.5M, $.5M, I'd be ok with it. It would put Stuart on the Sharks until he's 37 years of age, but hopefully the cap # will keep rising.

Hopefully he'll replace Douglas Murray and be a #5 defenseman.

He wants this to be his final stop in his career. Not necessarily his final contract.

“I don’t know if it’s going to be my final NHL contract, but I hope it is my final destination,” Stuart said of what comes next.

 

[Cbrower91]

Now comes the huge overpayment for stuart, followed by everyone on the board loving it. Mark my words, just as I said about the zues signing, moore trade, and ginner trade... Brad Stuart is NOT the answer. We will quickly turn sour when we realize that he is not the 25 year old we dealt. He is much slower, much weaker, and will quickly become a liability. He is fine as a depth Dman in a #5/6 role for under 2M, but I strongly doubt we'll get that. Probably we're just gunna keep getting older and older and pray that something changes.

The sharks need a suter-type. They need to get a whole lot younger. They have no farm, No clear top 6 O prospects or top 4 D prospects. They have only 4 picks in the first 6 rounds in the draft. With Stuart, they will have 8 players 30+ (out of a total of 15) signed for next year with just 1 legit player under 25 (as defined by top solid top 4 D or top 9 F) in cooch and only 3 under 30 (add in pickles and pavs). And, they just got blown away by an OK team that subsequently got swept by LA.

It's not that stuart is terrible, just that dougie really needs to be looking elsewhere.

p.s.: Nix all I just wrote if he signs for under 2M. At 1 or 1.5, Im all for it

Wait and see what Mcginn does next season before tooting your horn on that, in all likely hood its back to 9goals per season for him, maybe 12-15 on the high end.

Moore i think it depends on where his mind is at with his old lady being so sick, that has a big effect on anyone.

 

[sjrules99]

Wait and see what Mcginn does next season before tooting your horn on that, in all likely hood its back to 9goals per season for him, maybe 12-15 on the high end.

Moore i think it depends on where his mind is at with his old lady being so sick, that has a big effect on anyone.

1. Ginner will pot at least 20 next year, assuming no injuries of course. 30 is a stretch but not impossible, just watch.

2. I suppose I have to give moore a half a pass on his suckage. A wife with cancer would screw me up royally, so maybe that was part of it. However, his long history of suckage for many years makes me think that was only part of his ineffectiveness here. He only had 4 goals in like 50 games for tampa prior to finding out about the cancer, so it's not like his production took a dive. I have absolutely no desire to keep him in SJ...

3. Stuart is NOT a top 4 dman on a cup winning team. If he plays 20+ mins, it's bad news. He's a solid depth Dman good for 16-18 mins. However, here, is bound to be counted on alot, and it's not gunna be pretty IMO.

 

[Cbrower91]

1. Ginner will pot at least 20 next year, assuming no injuries of course. 30 is a stretch but not impossible, just watch.
.

What kind of wager are you willing to put on this? And no pro rated stats either

 

[filosofy29]

He wants this to be his final stop in his career. Not necessarily his final contract.

Good catch. I should have been more clear/specific. I was trying to use the "final destination" part as a possible win-win (for the Sharks and Stuart) by offering him a longer contract which he seems to desire and getting cap relief in the short term. Obviously, Brad could be leaving some money on the table after the first two years of the contract, but he would get the location he wants and the first two years would pay pretty nicely for a 4th/5th defenseman.

Wait and see what Mcginn does next season before tooting your horn on that, in all likely hood its back to 9goals per season for him, maybe 12-15 on the high end.

Moore i think it depends on where his mind is at with his old lady being so sick, that has a big effect on anyone.

I think McGinn may have a decent year goal-wise because he seemed to show some chemistry with Paul Stastny. He should score about 15 - 17 goals next season is my estimate. The x-factor in all of this is coach Joe Sacco. He seems to ride hot hands for awhile and then jimmy-jack around his young players. Brandon Yip, David Jones, T.J. Galiardi (and some others who are escaping me at the moment) and others have looked really good for awhile only to end up in his doghouse, be demoted and even traded. McGinn still can't set up others, doesn't bring his physical play/"it" nightly and plays mediocre to poor defense. If he can bridge up that defense gap, he should be a good player in the NHL for awhile. It'll be interesting to see how he responds. If he's using the Sharks as motivation to show what they lost and can learn to consistently bring it, he may even hit 25 goals or so. If he goes back to lazy McGinn, he'll probably stay in the 10-12 goal range and fall out of favor.

I give Moore a pass for his poor play (I'd be a mental wreck if that happened to me), that said, I don't want him back unless 1 of 2 things happen: he takes a 1 year contracat for $750K OR the Sharks get a good PK Coach under McLeeloo who uses speed and pressure to attack PP's and he signs for $1.25M or less (and I don't see either of those happening, I think Moore will chase as much money as he can).

 

[sjrules99]

What kind of wager are you willing to put on this? And no pro rated stats either

Ill bet 10 "I love PM" posts vs. you writing 10 "pavs is god" posts... deal ?

 

[sjrules99]

Good catch. I should have been more clear/specific. I was trying to use the "final destination" part as a possible win-win (for the Sharks and Stuart) by offering him a longer contract which he seems to desire and getting cap relief in the short term. Obviously, Brad could be leaving some money on the table after the first two years of the contract, but he would get the location he wants and the first two years would pay pretty nicely for a 4th/5th defenseman.



I think McGinn may have a decent year goal-wise because he seemed to show some chemistry with Paul Stastny. He should score about 15 - 17 goals next season is my estimate. The x-factor in all of this is coach Joe Sacco. He seems to ride hot hands for awhile and then jimmy-jack around his young players. Brandon Yip, David Jones, T.J. Galiardi (and some others who are escaping me at the moment) and others have looked really good for awhile only to end up in his doghouse, be demoted and even traded. McGinn still can't set up others, doesn't bring his physical play/"it" nightly and plays mediocre to poor defense. If he can bridge up that defense gap, he should be a good player in the NHL for awhile. It'll be interesting to see how he responds. If he's using the Sharks as motivation to show what they lost and can learn to consistently bring it, he may even hit 25 goals or so. If he goes back to lazy McGinn, he'll probably stay in the 10-12 goal range and fall out of favor.

I give Moore a pass for his poor play (I'd be a mental wreck if that happened to me), that said, I don't want him back unless 1 of 2 things happen: he takes a 1 year contracat for $750K OR the Sharks get a good PK Coach under McLeeloo who uses speed and pressure to attack PP's and he signs for $1.25M or less (and I don't see either of those happening, I think Moore will chase as much money as he can).

I dont think he'll get 1.25M after this past year. He was only getting 1.1M and he has a horrific season and isn't young and improving. He might sign here at 750K, but I dont think he'll get more than 1M anywhere else.

Also, they had better get an assistant coach who can run a PK. However, I dont think they need to overspend or go way out of the way to try to get another guy like zues who was supposed to be the answer to the PK. Dougie got really badly burned giving up a ton to try three times (zues, then moore, then winnik/galiardi) to solve the PK problems and all the acquisitions did nothing, and/or even made them worse. I would rather they just get a coach and go with the current personnel and a better system.

 

[Cbrower91]

Ill bet 10 "I love Marleau the hockey god" posts vs. you writing 10 "pavs is god" posts... deal ?

Corrected for acceptable terms

 

[Cbrower91]

[/B]

I dont think he'll get 1.25M after this past year. He was only getting 1.1M and he has a horrific season and isn't young and improving. He might sign here at 750K, but I dont think he'll get more than 1M anywhere else.

Also, they had better get an assistant coach who can run a PK. However, I dont think they need to overspend or go way out of the way to try to get another guy like zues who was supposed to be the answer to the PK. Dougie got really badly burned giving up a ton to try three times (zues, then moore, then winnik/galiardi) to solve the PK problems and all the acquisitions did nothing, and/or even made them worse. I would rather they just get a coach and go with the current personnel and a better system.

This is the biggest problem with the PK, it doesnt matter how good the parts are if its got no direction. Rudderless ship as far as im concerned, I think with the proper coaching on the PK all those guys are fine.

 

[SJVP408]

One other aspect about the PK is that Marleau, Thornton, and Boyle need to be given rests while the Sharks on the PK, not skating. At 33+ in age, saving those legs for 5on5 is crucial. I've always liked the idea of having bottom 6 kill penalties because the shift after killing a penalty, there can be line matchup advantages. Whatever system they use, I want the bottom 6 to execute it.

 

[sjrules99]

Corrected for acceptable terms

..... OK, done!

 

[SJVP408]

BOS is about to re-sign Chris Kelly and Greg Campbell. That's two less third line center options for the UFA crop.

 

[rares]

Hello rares. It appears that you have not posted on our forums in several weeks. Is your team really that bad? Throw your two-cents in the discussion.

No shit.. it HAS been a while. Hope everyone is doing well. Between work, the baby and Diablo III, I haven't had much time for SportsHoopla.

Came to post congrats to the Kings fans mostly but... this Brad Stuart thing... Everyone knew he wanted to come to SJ, it was a done deal already... I wish I could say I'm surprised to see Dougie give up a player (yeah, not a great one and a roster spot had to be freed up but still) AND a pick for someone who was going to sign with you as a UFA anyway, but it's Dougie...

 

[Ray_Dogg]

What To Expect When You're Expecting (a Brad Stuart signing) - Fear The Fin

Awful stats and overpayment here we come? 3.75 per with possibly more? I hope this guy is way off.

 

[abaskin18]

No shit.. it HAS been a while. Hope everyone is doing well. Between work, the baby and Diablo III, I haven't had much time for SportsHoopla.

Came to post congrats to the Kings fans mostly but... this Brad Stuart thing... Everyone knew he wanted to come to SJ, it was a done deal already... I wish I could say I'm surprised to see Dougie give up a player (yeah, not a great one and a roster spot had to be freed up but still) AND a pick for someone who was going to sign with you as a UFA anyway, but it's Dougie...

Dude, Murray is an 30 year old UFA AHL'er and the conditional pick is a 7th. Go back to Diablo III with your friggin

Hope all is well, man.

 

[rares]

Dougie is stupid and even though he has all the leverage in the world, he'll manage to overpay... something like $4M+/year. Book it.

 

[rares]

Dude, Murray is an 30 year old UFA AHL'er and the conditional pick is a 7th. Go back to Diablo III with your friggin

Hope all is well, man.

LOL... I'm just saying... which of the following two options would you rather have:

a) Sign Brad Stuart in exchange for giving up A. Murray (a nobody) and a 7th round pick.

or

b) Sign Brad Stuart.

I'm going with b) just because I like stuff for free... Dougie didn't have to give up anything at all. Stuart would have signed with SJ anyway. But either way, I'm not upset or anything. Just saying. Free stuff is more betterer than uhh.. non free stuff. :p

 

[abaskin18]

Dougie is stupid and even though he has all the leverage in the world, he'll manage to overpay... something like $4M+/year. Book it.

$4M plus per? I'll take that bet. Lunch at Wurstkuche?