By Ravi:
NJ Devils
Last Year: The Devils entered what was supposed to be a rebuilding season but managed to find some sort of sim chemistry through the year. As the trade deadline approached they dealt Sutter for some nice UFAs but just fell short of making the playoffs. Still has to be considered a successful year in Jersey as they weren’t expecting many wins last season.
Key RFAs: Peter Budaj, Steve Bernier, Matt Greene
Key UFAs: Jason Arnott, Bryan Rolston, Manny Malholtra
Cap Space: ~48 Million
The Devils have some cap left to sign their UFAs is they want to. The interesting part will be with how Steve handles Budaj and the length of contract he is given, I would suspect that it is of the shorter variety given how unpredictable Budaj has been.
Should: Focus on the draft as the Devils have a few very nice picks
Should Not: Rush the rebuilding plan
Off-Season Rating:
NY Islanders
Last Year: The Islanders finally realized that a rebuild was necessary and made a few nice moves in the 2nd half of the year to bring in some young players that could develop as the franchise rebuilds.
Key RFAs: Patrick Eaves, Paul Martin
Key UFAs: Adrian Aucoin, Mikhail Tellqvist
Cap Space: ~40 Million
With a new GM coming in the Isles will need to focus on active trading while continuing with the rebuild. As evidenced by Ryan, rebuilds don’t take too long if you make the right trades along the way. It is tough to do but we’ll have to see how the new Isles GM approaches it.
Should: Continue with the rebuild
Should Not: Sign many UFAs, those grid contracts will catch up to ya!
Off-Season Rating:
NY Rangers
Last Year: The Rangers, who usually manage to find some sim chem and make it into the playoffs, were unable to this past year and as a result finished on the outside looking in. The Rangers GM is very active, always looking for moves so he made a number of them during the season but was just unable to get the team going. They made one big move acquiring Steve Mason, then parlayed him for a great #1 goalie in Nik Backstrom. Expect to see a rebound year from the Rags.
Key RFAs: Jason Williams, Tim Connolly, Jarrett Stoll
Key UFAs: Niklas Backstrom, Daymond Langkow, Chris Clark, Jeff Halpern, Craig Rivet
Cap Space: ~35 Million
About 18 mill of their cap space should go to re-signing Langkow and Backstrom which leaves enough cap over to re-sign their RFAs and maybe 1 UFA. The Rangers look to be a much improved team heading into this season, Langkow IS a number one center and they will also have a number one goalie for the entire season.
Should: Continue posting trade blocks every 3rd day and making lots of moves, the team keeps getting better
Should Not: Sign all those UFAs, obviously!
Off-Season Rating:
Philadelphia Flyers
Last Year: Last season was definitely a rebuild season for the Flyers and boy did they take advantage of it. They sold almost every high rated player they had and brought in youth by the boat load. In the later stages of the season and starting parts of the summer the Flyers then parlayed some of their youth into talented CPHL players. What a turnaround for this franchise, they have great prospects, great picks and will be a team to watch this coming year in the CPHL.
Key RFAs: Derek Roy, Patrice Bergeron, Ryan Kesler, David Perron, Patrick Sharp, Nik Kronwall, Joni Pitkanen, Anton Babchuk
Key UFAs: Roberto Luongo, JP Dumont, Mike Ribeiro
Cap Space: ~70 Million
The Flyers have a lot of cap but outside of the Penguins they likely have the most high quality RFAs to resign and a few stud UFAs to sign as well. They’ll be fine for next year though. I’m always interested to see which RFAs get which contracts under this new system, I can’t wait!
Should: Continue to be one of the leagues top traders, there is a reason that franchise has improved so much
Should Not: Continue to be a ######bag when talking trades with the Ducks
Off-Season Rating:
Atlanta Thrashers
Last Year: Yet again the Thrashers had a very strong CPHL season. GM Neil has a great ability to keep this team contending year after year, something that is much harder than it looks. In the early stages of the offseason it looks like Atlanta will be one of the top teams in the Gretzky Conference yet again.
Key RFAs: Robert Nilsson, Kyle Brodziak
Key UFAs: PAvel Datsyuk, Lubomir Visnovksy, Dan Ellis, Mike Knuble, Marian Hossa
Cap Space: ~43 Million
The Thrashers will lose 30 million in cap to replace 3 UFAs. Expect some more wheeling and dealing from Neil as he tries to bring in some depth for his squad to compliment his big guns.
Should: Sign 1 of Datsyuk or Hossa, likely deal the other for some depth up front
Should Not: Sign all their UFAs, not sure it is even mathematically impossible but it would destroy their cap in the long run (but then Neil would manage to get out of it somehow just like he did Derian Hatcher)
Off-Season Rating:
Tampa Bay Lightning
Last Year: After a rebuilding season the year before, last season the lightning bounced back and made the playoffs in a competitive Gretzky Conference. From 1st overall pick to playoff spot in a year is very hard to do!
Key RFAs: Kris Russell
Key UFAs: Joe Sakic, Jere Lehtinen, Mikael Samuelsson, Philipe Boucher, Jose Theodore
Cap Space: ~39 Million
The lightning don’t have many RFAs but have a few key UFAs and the cap space to retain them. The D core looks pretty set and they have the cap to replenish the forward ranks. I bet GM Drew is praying that Jose Theodore has a job as a #1 somewhere in the NHL this coming season!
Should: Re-sign a couple of his big name UFAs. Tbay might be able to be a big player in the UFA bidding market
Should Not: Completely rely on UFA signings, obviously there has to be a balance!
Off-Season Rating:
Florida Panthers
Last Year: The Panthers used to be an absolutely loaded franchise a few years back. Last year they made the playoffs but continued their downward spiral. The team seemed to have a revolving door for GMs but finally it looks like the organization has found the GM it needs to halt this fall. GM Matt has taken over and been very active, constantly looking to tweak and improve the team... something a few previous GMs were unable to do.
Key RFAs: Andrew Ladd
Key UFAs: Rob Neidermayer, Chris Drury, Chris Phillips, Owen Nolan
Cap Space: ~33 Million
The lack of activity of some of the previous FLA GMs put Matt in a bit of a bind when taking over. He has done well and addressed 1 huge need by bringing in a #1 goalie in Toskala. With a goalie of his calibre in net, a team can always be dangerous. If Matt can keep up his activity, expect the organization as a whole to improve (more picks, more organizational depth, more sustained success).
Should: Continue posting on the board and being active
Should Not: Add anymore UFAs, as is it will be tough to retain all of them and ice a team full of CPHL rated players
Off-Season Rating:
Washington Capitals
Last Year: GM Hesla reminds me a lot of Neil, both guys are able to ice contending teams year after year. Last season the Capitals made the playoffs again, though I know Hesla wants to advance to the next round and get rid of those pesky Penguins.
Key RFAs: Nathan Horton,
Key UFAs: Keith Tkachunky, Jaroslav Spacek, Kim Jonsson
Cap Space: ~6 Million
I’m not sure what trips Hesla has up his sleeve but he needs to add a few forwards and D with the smallest amount of cap remaining. Expect a few big moves from the Capitals in the coming days.
Should: Free up some cap by dealing some of their players currently on UFA grid deals
Should Not: Add many more UFAs if any at all
Off-Season Rating:
That wraps up the outlook, thanks Ravi for doing the Gretzky conference. Thank you all for reading. Hoping this provided some insight to all teams. Now you can see what teams are in cap trouble, go after them and rip em off
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Off-Season Outlook - Eddie Shire Division
