Grading the Canadian Team post Free Agent Frenzy

[d_phaneuf]

Originally Posted by ricardodw

The Leafs out of last years line up gave up 54 goals 116 pts and about 45 minutes of ice time and replaced it with

Tavares 37 goals 84 pts and 20 minutes of Ice Plus Jooris 3 goals 6 pts (in 40 games)

full season 6 goals 12 pts and 10 minutes

total 43 goals and 94 pts


They need to find 11 goals 22 pts and 15 minutes of ice time to break even..


It will be really interesting to see if winning Tavares actually puts the Leafs to a much higher level.

Jooris will not be replacing jvrs minutes

Replacements, in this case the leafs have a ton of young guys like kapanen or johanson who have been pushing for more minutes

Matchups, JT or matthews lines are going to be seeind 2nd d pairs, or maybe even 3rd pairs since kadri likely is used as a shutdown guy against other top lines and usually top lines play with top d pairings

Also adding in a possesion driver like JT pushes kadri down to 3rd line, giving them an advantage at every line and less defensive zone time, in a way a move like this improves their defending because they will be on offense so much

This makes them a much better team

[ricardodw]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

So just to give you an idea of grades, in terms of transactions, this is kind of what I came up with





Probably not the most scientific, but realistically while teams like Montreal and Vancouver improved slightly for example, and Ottawa didn't improve of slightly declined, Winnipeg was the only Canadian team that you could classify as not only failing during the transaction period but with the loss of Armia and Stastny got noticeably work. The good news for Canadian teams is for the most part whether in a small way or large way they improved their lineups for next year, but in the grand scheme of things only two teams dramatically improved their lineup.

Toronto Top 6 - top 4 - top 1

Matthews, Tavares, Marner, Nylander Marleau Hyman / Rielly, Hainsey, Gardinier Zaitsev / Andersen

Winnipeg

Scheifele, Wheeler, Laine, Ehlers, Connor, Little / Trouba, Morrissey, Byfuglien, Myers / Hellebuyck

Flames

Gaudreau Monahan Neal Tkachuk Lindholm Backlund / Gio Brodie Hanifin Hamonic / Smith


Flames are by far the most improved and may arguably be close in top 6 replacing Frolik and Ferland with Neal and Lindholm.

The Jets win in top-4 with the Flames 2nd but the Flames are a distance 3rd in goalie.


The Flames have more uncertainty based on last year as Brodie and Backlund were not top-6 / Top-4 quality of Leafs and Jets. If not Backlund there is no other established top-6 on the roster Bennett/Jankowski might be at some time but not now.

The Leafs have Kadri that are close to top-6 and Jets have Perreault

[Poe969]

adding a guy named Buddy moves the Flames grade from an A to an A+

[Icon]

Originally Posted by Lumby Lager

Down goes Brown has the Oilers as winners and the Flames as losers for free agency. What an absolute clown.

https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/...y-free-agency/

I was questioning if we maybe had homer glasses on, until I saw them call the Oilers winners.... Lol

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Yoho

There are actually 12 other grades that could possibly be handed out.
Out of curiosity where were the Jets in the standings before they picked up Stastney last year?

The grade wasn't assessing strength of roster, it was assessing their off-season, and in particular, free agency.

They swapped Mason for Broissoit, which is a wash (since they won't use the capspace they are saving), and they lost Stastny, Hendricks and Armia with no replacements.

They got worse. That is a pretty easy F in my mind.

[iloveicedhockey]

Originally Posted by Icon

I was questioning if we maybe had homer glasses on, until I saw them call the Oilers winners.... Lol

I think he had three separate winners for the leafs : Toronto, dubas and the Tavares sweepstakes, so his winners and losers should be taken with a helping of salt. Also had flyers winning because they grabbed jvr on reduced term and even mentioned that the Flames did similar with Neal so perhaps could be pushed into the winners side.

Perhaps he wasn't quite aware of how bad our bottom 9 were last season and how the trades and signings drastically improve our depth. I'm easy, let them find out in season and be baffled at how Brodziak and rieder didn't move the needle up north but Ryan, Czarnik and Neal do here.

[Dion]

I'd give the Canucks an F for bringing in Roussel and Beagle to replace the Sedin twins. More importantly the overpayment the 2 players got.

[Vinny01]

Originally Posted by Lumby Lager

Down goes Brown has the Oilers as winners and the Flames as losers for free agency. What an absolute clown.

https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/...y-free-agency/

The Oilers ice the same team but add depth players in Brodziak and Rieder and they are winners? What is funny is that people seem to believe last year was the abnormal year and the previous season (which was their only good one in a decade) is what they should expect.

Calgary follows up an extremely disappointing season by making sizable trades and signings.

[Mean Mr. Mustard]

Originally Posted by Dion

I'd give the Canucks an F for bringing in Roussel and Beagle to replace the Sedin twins. More importantly the overpayment the 2 players got.

No one is thinking that those two are going to replace the Sedin twins. That is just ridiculous thinking. What they do bring though is a veteran presence for a team that is trying to bring in young players into a pressure cooker of a market. This isn't a team that will make the playoffs, they aren't going to be good. But at least make them a team that will be tough to play against, with some veteran leadership who will stick up for the younger players so they don't get bullied around the ice. Pettersson, Hughes, Dahlen, Boeser, Gaudette, and Joulevi are all highly skilled young players, but they aren't physical players in the least. The days of an NHL bodyguard are done but having bigger players on the team can open up some room and hopefully keep other teams a bit more honest.

As for cap space, it is one thing the Canucks have in droves. I think it would be beneficial for the term to be a bit shorter but it isn't as though that is what really will make the difference.

[Textcritic]

^
That’s one hell of an apologetic.

Vancouver is no good.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

It would be totally reasonable as an explanation for those two signings if they hadn't given both of them four freaking years. What are you trying to tell the fanbase there? "Don't worry about these signings, we're going to suck anyway! And by the way we're going to suck until after the next lockout, but please buy our tickets!"

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Mean Mr. Mustard

No one is thinking that those two are going to replace the Sedin twins. That is just ridiculous thinking. What they do bring though is a veteran presence for a team that is trying to bring in young players into a pressure cooker of a market. This isn't a team that will make the playoffs, they aren't going to be good. But at least make them a team that will be tough to play against, with some veteran leadership who will stick up for the younger players so they don't get bullied around the ice. Pettersson, Hughes, Dahlen, Boeser, Gaudette, and Joulevi are all highly skilled young players, but they aren't physical players in the least. The days of an NHL bodyguard are done but having bigger players on the team can open up some room and hopefully keep other teams a bit more honest.

As for cap space, it is one thing the Canucks have in droves. I think it would be beneficial for the term to be a bit shorter but it isn't as though that is what really will make the difference.

I wonder if there is a trade to be made there Brouwer + futures to Vancouver. They get Veteran leadership, don't need the cap anyway, and a pick or prospect, we get enough cap space to sign Hanifin to a longer deal so we aren't handcuffed in 2 years when a bridge ends.

[Mean Mr. Mustard]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

^
That’s one hell of an apologetic.

Vancouver is no good.

Sure, but is there a signing that the Canucks could have that would actually make them a competitive team - not in any way shape or form. They need for the young players to develop and hopefully be able to get enough luck in the draft lottery to select an elite player or two.

They are doing the right things right now for a team that is finally going through a rebuilding period after years of a failed retooling. The year is one or two too many, that is the major complaint that I would have with them. Otherwise the team will suck but hopefully with good leadership and coaching they will avoid the pitfalls of the Oilers.

[djsFlames]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

Edmonton (D)


Out: Slepyshev, Pakarinan, Brossoit, Gryba
In: no one any one cares about


Some people believe that the Oilers last season were some kind of outlier, that this super talented team should be a playoff contender. But when you look at the Oilers, they really have a lot of problems, they maybe have one of two natural top 6 wingers and that's stretching it, they're forced to borrow from their center depth to shore up the wing, which means that they are then short of actual centers. Their blueline is atrocious and they're praying that Talbot can bounce back. The Oilers also have precious little help coming from their laughable development system. The signing of Bridziak should help, but he's a bottom 6er at best, Brodziak is a 32 year old journey man, and isn't going to contribute much. The Oilers have a bit under 8 million in cap space with Strome needing a 3 million dollar qualifier and Nurse looking for a significant raise.

fyp.

[djsFlames]

Originally Posted by Lumby Lager

Down goes Brown has the Oilers as winners and the Flames as losers for free agency. What an absolute clown.

https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/...y-free-agency/

Ryan and Czarnik, both sought after by nearly the entire league, are completely overlooked (while Brodziak/Rieder aren't?). Then goes on to call the Neal deal regrettable, even though he put so much thought into it that he dismisses the NTC/NMC detail or that there will be an opportunity for a compliance buyout 3 years in... (which is when most nay sayers think the contract could sour).

Brilliant work there. Guy's just a teet-sucking oil-leafer.