Unofficial 2013-2014 Armchair GM Thread

[Tigger]

Yeah, you could flip over a 14th forward there without any significant cap changes, and the lack of face punchers was definitely more my desire than the likely reality of the makeup of the team.

 

[BlueWhiteBlood]

I actually believe that Tyler Biggs could be our answer to eliminating Orr and McLaren from our team. He can play a bit and drop them if necessary. He has way more upside offensively than either of the above mentioned.

Yeah, you could flip over a 14th forward there without any significant cap changes, and the lack of face punchers was definitely more my desire than the likely reality of the makeup of the team.

I think they would keep 8 defensemen over 14 forwards personally, they've said a few times that you can never have enough blueliners, so I don't think you're far off there Tigger.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

I actually believe that Tyler Biggs could be our answer to eliminating Orr and McLaren from our team. He can play a bit and drop them if necessary. He has way more upside offensively than either of the above mentioned.

He might be eventually, but I'd be absolutely shocked if it was next season. He's only 20 years old and still has a lot of developing to do. Being a 12th/13th forward on this team isn't going to help him do that.

As far as his offensive upside goes, Biggs wasn't even a PPG player as a 19-year old in the OHL and has 5 points in 33 games this season in the AHL. His offensive potential might be slightly higher than Orr and McLaren's but that's not really saying much.

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

I actually believe that Tyler Biggs could be our answer to eliminating Orr and McLaren from our team. He can play a bit and drop them if necessary. He has way more upside offensively than either of the above mentioned.

He might be eventually, but I'd be absolutely shocked if it was next season. He's only 20 years old and still has a lot of developing to do. Being a 12th/13th forward on this team isn't going to help him do that.

As far as his offensive upside goes, Biggs wasn't even a PPG player as a 19-year old in the OHL and has 5 points in 33 games this season in the AHL. His offensive potential might be slightly higher than Orr and McLaren's but that's not really saying much.

I'd look to Broll more than Biggs.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

I'd look to Broll more than Biggs.

Agreed. He's definitely higher on the depth chart right now. That was made pretty clear when he got the call-up over Biggs earlier this season. Heck Devane got called up over Biggs too this year.

Broll's only 20 years too though, so I'd probably give him another season in the AHL before giving him a roster spot here. I'd rather re-sign a guy like Bodie if we're looking to replace Orr/McLaren (which probably won't actually happen).

 

[BlueWhiteBlood]

I actually believe that Tyler Biggs could be our answer to eliminating Orr and McLaren from our team. He can play a bit and drop them if necessary. He has way more upside offensively than either of the above mentioned.

He might be eventually, but I'd be absolutely shocked if it was next season. He's only 20 years old and still has a lot of developing to do. Being a 12th/13th forward on this team isn't going to help him do that.

As far as his offensive upside goes, Biggs wasn't even a PPG player as a 19-year old in the OHL and has 5 points in 33 games this season in the AHL. His offensive potential might be slightly higher than Orr and McLaren's but that's not really saying much.

Yeah, I should have clarified, I mean 13th forward at best for next year. Added to my line of D'Amigo-McClement-Ashton, but I totally agree with you that it's looking like Biggs needs another year, maybe two.

As Potvin says though, Broll could even rectify that problem, he's further ahead in development than is Biggs. So either way, we could be able to get rid of Orr and McLaren I think.

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

I'd look to Broll more than Biggs.

Agreed. He's definitely higher on the depth chart right now. That was made pretty clear when he got the call-up over Biggs earlier this season. Heck Devane got called up over Biggs too this year.

Broll's only 20 years too though, so I'd probably give him another season in the AHL before giving him a roster spot here. I'd rather re-sign a guy like Bodie if we're looking to replace Orr/McLaren (which probably won't actually happen).

I can't speak to how Biggs was used, but I got to see Broll a number of times in the Soo and it always stuck out to me that he was being used in all situations, PP, PK, matched against the stars on the other side.  I've never thought of him as more than a future 4th liner, but the fact that he was being relied on in all of these situations made me think he might have an easier transition to the pro game and might wind up being a pretty useful 4th liner.  He's not clueless in his own end at all.

 

[nutman]

A rough template for next year, barring whatever you could get in a trade for Reimer and Franson... if they want to they'll only be able to keep one from the looks of that ... and yeah, I just dumped the face punchers. They have room to make some deals.

FORWARDS
JVR ($4.250m) / Tyler Bozak ($4.200m) / Phil Kessel ($8.000m)
Joffrey Lupul ($5.250m) / Peter Holland ($1.251m) / Nazem Kadri ($2.900m)
Nikolai Kulemin ($3.000m) / Dave Bolland ($4.275m) / David Clarkson ($5.250m)
Jerry D'Amigo ($0.851m) / Jay McClement ($1.700m) / leo Komarov ($1.750m)
Tyler Biggs ($0.894m) /

DEFENSEMEN
Tim Gleason ($4.000m) / Dion Phaneuf ($7.000m)
Carl Gunnarsson ($3.150m) / Jake Gardiner ($2.000m)
Paul Ranger ($1.200m) / Morgan Rielly ($0.894m)
T.J. Brennan ($0.660m) / Andrew MacWilliam ($0.875m)

GOALTENDERS
Jonathan Bernier ($2.900m)
Drew MacIntyre ($0.600m)
BUYOUTS
Mike Komisarek ($0.000m)
Mikhail Grabovski ($0.000m)
------
CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter)
(estimations for 2014-15)
SALARY CAP: $71,100,000; CAP PAYROLL: $66,849,408; BONUSES: $1,275,000
CAP SPACE (23-man roster): $4,250,592

Well Tigger....  I like that team and think is would be awesome. One minor change, we keep Riemer. You can never have enough top end goaltending.

 

[Highlander]

I think McIntyre is a adequat back up and Riemer and Franson may fetch us a good first round pick and prospect.

 

[Tigger]

Well Tigger....  I like that team and think is would be awesome. One minor change, we keep Riemer. You can never have enough top end goaltending.

I think there's enough cap space there to keep him if that's their choice, might leave around 800k or so under the cap.

 

[Tigger]

Ok, better?

FORWARDS

JVR ($4.250m) / Tyler Bozak ($4.200m) / Phil Kessel ($8.000m)
Joffrey Lupul ($5.250m) / Nazem Kadri ($2.900m) / Nikolai Kulemin ($3.200m)
Peter Holland ($1.151m) / Dave Bolland ($4.275m) / David Clarkson ($5.250m)
Troy Bodie ($0.600m) / Jay McClement ($1.700m) / leo komarov ($1.700m)
Jerry D'Amigo ($0.851m) / David Broll ($0.591m) /

DEFENSEMEN

Carl Gunnarsson ($3.150m) / Dion Phaneuf ($7.000m)
Tim Gleason ($4.000m) / Morgan Rielly ($0.894m)
Paul Ranger ($1.200m) / Jake Gardiner ($2.000m)
Andrew MacWilliam ($0.875m) /

GOALTENDERS

Jonathan Bernier ($2.900m)
James Reimer ($4.000m)
BUYOUTS
Mike Komisarek ($0.000m)
Mikhail Grabovski ($0.000m)
------
CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter)
(estimations for 2014-15)
SALARY CAP: $71,100,000; CAP PAYROLL: $69,936,000; BONUSES: $1,062,500
CAP SPACE (23-man roster): $1,164,000

Edit: Ack, Leo...

 

[nutman]

Ok, better?

FORWARDS

JVR ($4.250m) / Tyler Bozak ($4.200m) / Phil Kessel ($8.000m)
Joffrey Lupul ($5.250m) / Nazem Kadri ($2.900m) / Nikolai Kulemin ($3.200m)
Peter Holland ($1.151m) / Dave Bolland ($4.275m) / David Clarkson ($5.250m)
Troy Bodie ($0.600m) / Jay McClement ($1.700m) / leo komarov ($1.700m)
Jerry D'Amigo ($0.851m) / David Broll ($0.591m) /

DEFENSEMEN

Carl Gunnarsson ($3.150m) / Dion Phaneuf ($7.000m)
Tim Gleason ($4.000m) / Morgan Rielly ($0.894m)
Paul Ranger ($1.200m) / Jake Gardiner ($2.000m)
Andrew MacWilliam ($0.875m) /

GOALTENDERS

Jonathan Bernier ($2.900m)
James Reimer ($4.000m)
BUYOUTS
Mike Komisarek ($0.000m)
Mikhail Grabovski ($0.000m)
------
CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter)
(estimations for 2014-15)
SALARY CAP: $71,100,000; CAP PAYROLL: $69,936,000; BONUSES: $1,062,500
CAP SPACE (23-man roster): $1,164,000

Edit: Ack, Leo...

Nice!!!!!!  thats it right there. Now that's a team I could enjoy watching. To bad RC wont approve of it.(no Orr).

 

[Stickytape]

I can completely get behind that.

 

[Courtnall]

Ranger is a liability. Would be nice to find an upgrade on him.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Ok, better?

Not bad. I'm certainly not convinced we'll see both Orr and McLaren disappear next season unfortunately.

Also I think the defence really needs another reliable top-4 guy instead of Ranger. If it wasn't for his injury I would have loved to have brought in Stephane Robidas for a year or two. This past offseason I wanted to sign Hainsey, so I hope we take a look at him but it won't be cheap this time. Guys like Greene and Orpik are going to get overpaid. Girardi would be nice too but I've always kinda thought he was a little overrated and he's going to get terribly overpaid too. Mitchell and Phillips are past their prime.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Here's a bit more of a fantasy-ish team for next season that I put together. Just with some moves that I've talked about recently. Reimer and Franson are traded for Byfuglien. McLaren/Orr are waived. I put in Peters but that could really be any good free agent back-up. Things are still a lot tighter than I would like cap wise, especially since we might be looking at an overage this season too. Maybe we could get Winnipeg to eat some of Buff's salary for something. Ideally Gleason's improved play right now might make him attractive to a team desperate for defence and we can replace him from within with a MacWilliam or Granberg. Maybe he could even be a part of the Buff deal that gets some salary taken off.

FORWARDS
Joffrey Lupul ($5.250m) / Paul Stastny ($6.500m) / Phil Kessel ($8.000m)
James Van Riemsdyk ($4.250m) / Nazem Kadri ($2.900m) / Nikolai Kulemin ($3.500m)
Jerry D'Amigo ($0.851m) / Tyler Bozak ($4.200m) / David Clarkson ($5.250m)
David Broll ($0.591m) / Peter Holland ($1.000m) / Carter Ashton ($0.851m)
Kenny Ryan ($0.715m) /
DEFENSEMEN
Carl Gunnarsson ($3.150m) / Dion Phaneuf ($7.000m)
Jake Gardiner ($2.000m) / Dustin Byfuglien ($5.200m)
Morgan Rielly ($0.894m) / Tim Gleason ($4.000m)
Korbinian Holzer ($0.788m) /
GOALTENDERS
Jonathan Bernier ($2.900m)
Justin Peters ($0.850m)
BUYOUTS
Mike Komisarek ($0.000m)
Mikhail Grabovski ($0.000m)
------
CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter)
(estimations for 2014-15)
SALARY CAP: $71,100,000; CAP PAYROLL: $70,638,500; BONUSES: $850,000
CAP SPACE (22-man roster): $461,500

 

[Tigger]

I think I've missed the talk, is it in the realm to say that Dustin might be available?

 

[CarltonTheBear]

I think I've missed the talk, is it in the realm to say that Dustin might be available?

His name has been in the rumour mill for awhile, although that isn't really anything concrete. The idea basically is that the Jets have to make some sort of move to shake up their team and a guy like Buff is a piece they can dangle.

 

[Tigger]

I think I've missed the talk, is it in the realm to say that Dustin might be available?

His name has been in the rumour mill for awhile, although that isn't really anything concrete. The idea basically is that the Jets have to make some sort of move to shake up their team and a guy like Buff is a piece they can dangle.

Interesting. I like the notion of adding Dustin and Stastny, it's kind of the exact thing the Leafs need, 1C and top 4 RHD. Giving up Reimer would be tough but then it looks like Bernier is being groomed for the starters job anyway.

The cap issues would likely get settled out the following year but yeah, moving Gleason gets the wiggle room you probably need.

 

[Jalili]

Ok, better?

Not bad. I'm certainly not convinced we'll see both Orr and McLaren disappear next season unfortunately.

Also I think the defence really needs another reliable top-4 guy instead of Ranger. If it wasn't for his injury I would have loved to have brought in Stephane Robidas for a year or two. This past offseason I wanted to sign Hainsey, so I hope we take a look at him but it won't be cheap this time. Guys like Greene and Orpik are going to get overpaid. Girardi would be nice too but I've always kinda thought he was a little overrated and he's going to get terribly overpaid too. Mitchell and Phillips are past their prime.

My thoughts as well.

When looking at upcoming UFA's, by far the most appealing D-man is Matt Niskanen on Pittsburgh, but given the season he's having you just know he's going to get overpaid a pretty decent amount as well.