The Official 2011/2012 Armchair GM thread

[cw]

I continue to wonder about Orr's health from reportedly a nasty concussion. It's probably hard for them to discuss in the media because he's more vulnerable to concussion problems as an enforcer. I suspect that is a chunk of what is going on. Orr was a -1 last season - not a big liability before he got hurt beyond the opportunity cost of playing him when they didn't need to dress an enforcer.

So how do you see this playing out on Sunday, when Mac is good to go again? One of them is leaving.

Orr could go on the IR though he's effectively got some time before MacArthur officially returns (3rd game, Oct15th).

Rosehill or Frattin or someone else could go down to buy them some time.

Those are wild guesses because I'm not sure what is going on and what the prognosis is IF it's a health issue.

 

[BlueWhiteBlood]

Orr could go on the IR though he's effectively got some time before MacArthur officially returns (3rd game, Oct15th).

Rosehill or Frattin or someone else could go down to buy them some time.

Those are wild guesses because I'm not sure what is going on and what the prognosis is IF it's a health issue.

I don't think it's a health issue at all, outside of him being a risk for another concussion. What I'm saying is that I think the coaching staff likes Rosehill better to play a regular shift, vs Orr. Orr had one decent pre-season game, but the rest of his camp was fairly forgettable IMO.

Rosehill makes less money, is a bit younger and can play the shift better I think. That is what I think is going on.

Is MacArthur allowed to stay off the 23 man roster until the his next eligible game? I thought after Saturday's game they have to make the room for him, if he's healthy.

 

[cw]

Orr could go on the IR though he's effectively got some time before MacArthur officially returns (3rd game, Oct15th).

Rosehill or Frattin or someone else could go down to buy them some time.

Those are wild guesses because I'm not sure what is going on and what the prognosis is IF it's a health issue.

I don't think it's a health issue at all, outside of him being a risk for another concussion. What I'm saying is that I think the coaching staff likes Rosehill better to play a regular shift, vs Orr. Orr had one decent pre-season game, but the rest of his camp was fairly forgettable IMO.

Rosehill makes less money, is a bit younger and can play the shift better I think. That is what I think is going on.

Is MacArthur allowed to stay off the 23 man roster until the his next eligible game? I thought after Saturday's game they have to make the room for him, if he's healthy.

MacArthur counts against the roster now. Next Saturday's game (a week +) is when a real decision has to be made - more to do with Connolly (unless he plays tomorrow).

Rosehill looks like a better skater to me so you might be right. I think Orr's the better fighter. Both got between 5 and 9 minutes in preseason games - hard to distinguish. Rosehill got 2 more games but why risk Orr having to fight someone trying to break in and make a name for himself during preseason - won't do Orr any good.

 

[BlueWhiteBlood]

MacArthur counts against the roster now. Next Saturday's game (a week +) is when a real decision has to be made - more to do with Connolly (unless he plays tomorrow).

Rosehill looks like a better skater to me so you might be right. I think Orr's the better fighter. Both got between 5 and 9 minutes in preseason games - hard to distinguish. Rosehill got 2 more games but why risk Orr having to fight someone trying to break in and make a name for himself during preseason - won't do Orr any good.

Okay, so the extra two positions on the roster are covering Kadri and Connolly? Got it.

So yeah, decisions to be made 1) when Connolly is healthy, which could be today or tomorrow at the earliest and then 2) Kadri in a few weeks. The first one is the one I'm wondering about, in regards to Rosehill vs. Orr and what the coaching staff is thinking.

When Kadri comes back I guess the decision becomes a bit harder and it will most likely come down to Kadri vs. Frattin and a longer shot of Gardiner vs. Franson, if they want to keep both Kadri and Frattin on the big club, which most likely isn't the case.

Of course this could all change with one phone call from Burke to another GM, it will be interesting to see how this plays out.

 

[cw]

MacArthur counts against the roster now. Next Saturday's game (a week +) is when a real decision has to be made - more to do with Connolly (unless he plays tomorrow).

Rosehill looks like a better skater to me so you might be right. I think Orr's the better fighter. Both got between 5 and 9 minutes in preseason games - hard to distinguish. Rosehill got 2 more games but why risk Orr having to fight someone trying to break in and make a name for himself during preseason - won't do Orr any good.

Okay, so the extra two positions on the roster are covering Kadri and Connolly? Got it.

So yeah, decisions to be made 1) when Connolly is healthy, which could be today or tomorrow at the earliest and then 2) Kadri in a few weeks. The first one is the one I'm wondering about, in regards to Rosehill vs. Orr and what the coaching staff is thinking.

When Kadri comes back I guess the decision becomes a bit harder and it will most likely come down to Kadri vs. Frattin and a longer shot of Gardiner vs. Franson, if they want to keep both Kadri and Frattin on the big club, which most likely isn't the case.

Of course this could all change with one phone call from Burke to another GM, it will be interesting to see how this plays out.

The next stop for Kadri in my opinion will be a conditioning stint in the AHL once he's cleared to play. By then, they'll have been able to assess if Frattin is for real. Right now, based upon their play to date, Frattin seems the clear winner to me. He has not looked out of place in a single game since his one game last season and throughout preseason and last night. Kadri may well stay in the AHL if the balance of the club stays healthy.

If Franson replaces Gardiner, Aulie or a AHL vet dman like Lashoff may come up. Like Gardiner, Aulie would only come if he's going to get ice time. The key for Aulie is probably if they feel a stay-at-home type is needed to boost their defence - a distinct possibility.

I think the most interesting upcoming decision will be when Connolly rejoins the team. That's probably where Frattin is most exposed because he doesn't have to clear waivers. And it's a top 9 guy Connolly will be replacing with Lombardi pushing his way into the top 9 as he gets fit as well. Another injury or trade may be the only way to keep Frattin up in the short term as I doubt they'll stick him with 4th line minutes.

It's not an easy time to swing a deal because everyone is trying to bury their depth while most teams and that depth are still relatively healthy.

 

[BlueWhiteBlood]

It's not an easy time to swing a deal because everyone is trying to bury their depth while most teams and that depth are still relatively healthy.

This is a good point, maybe if a team is riddled with injuries on the back end, they may bite the bullet and make a deal. I think the Leafs could afford to trade a defenseman, a forward or two plus a pick to upgrade. Maybe after the teams have made their assessments it might be a bit easier to make a deal.

 

[cw]

It's not an easy time to swing a deal because everyone is trying to bury their depth while most teams and that depth are still relatively healthy.

This is a good point, maybe if a team is riddled with injuries on the back end, they may bite the bullet and make a deal. I think the Leafs could afford to trade a defenseman, a forward or two plus a pick to upgrade. Maybe after the teams have made their assessments it might be a bit easier to make a deal.

The other thing to consider, for me anyway, is depth. If one of our guys sucks, we've got Kadri, Aulie & Scrivens (forward, dman & goalie) as waiver exempt options. If a guy gets hurt, we have more options for injury relief with call up rules.

Lombardi & Connolly have to be considered fragile for the year. So we're a little susceptible at center though Dupuis, Steckel, Boyce, Kadri, Colborne & Lombardi (in the event Bozak sticks & Connolly is the one to go down) aren't a bad collection of options when you consider you only need one of them who is playing well this season should one of them go down at a time.

The other aspect is who do we get? With Reimer and all the turnover and depth on the D, I presume we'd be after a top 6 forward. I think Kessel, Kulemin and Armstrong are a fine set of right wingers. We lack size and skill in the top 6. So my guess is down to a good top 6 left winger or center with size who would be an upgrade on what we have. As we saw when we looked at the Oilers who are needy for a dman, there's not a lot of those guys available.

You'd have to find a winger better than Lupul or MacArthur or a center better than Connolly or Grabovski. That's not an easy task at the best of times to make a deal if he's more than a rental. Those are the guys teams are hanging on to which is why the UFA market has been so barren.

The better a team gets, and I think this team has improved, the tougher it gets to make a deal to improve them. We're just starting to face that.

So if were not facing losing decent talent for nothing on waivers, I'm not immediately enthusiastic to make a deal unless it really tilts to be helpful to the club in terms of winning a Cup - not just to make the playoffs. Trades can upset a good thing as we saw with the Lindros rumours in '03. And getting rid of our depth because we have a spare body or two when we're trying to scratch our way into the playoffs isn't such a hot idea either in my opinion because we may need all the depth we can muster to stay in the hunt.

It's not just a difficult point in the season for another team to make a deal - it might be a lousy time for us as well if they're performing decently as a group.

 

[BlueWhiteBlood]

The other aspect is who do we get? With Reimer and all the turnover and depth on the D, I presume we'd be after a top 6 forward. I think Kessel, Kulemin and Armstrong are a fine set of right wingers. We lack size and skill in the top 6. So my guess is down to a good top 6 left winger or center with size who would be an upgrade on what we have. As we saw when we looked at the Oilers who are needy for a dman, there's not a lot of those guys available.

You'd have to find a winger better than Lupul or MacArthur or a center better than Connolly or Grabovski. That's not an easy task at the best of times to make a deal if he's more than a rental. Those are the guys teams are hanging on to which is why the UFA market has been so barren.

The better a team gets, and I think this team has improved, the tougher it gets to make a deal to improve them. We're just starting to face that.

So if were not facing losing decent talent for nothing on waivers, I'm not immediately enthusiastic to make a deal unless it really tilts to be helpful to the club in terms of winning a Cup - not just to make the playoffs. Trades can upset a good thing as we saw with the Lindros rumours in '03. And getting rid of our depth because we have a spare body or two when we're trying to scratch our way into the playoffs isn't such a hot idea either in my opinion because we may need all the depth we can muster to stay in the hunt.

It's not just a difficult point in the season for another team to make a deal - it might be a lousy time for us as well if they're performing decently as a group.

I guess that is the magic question. Ideally, you would trade the guy you're replacing as well, but things don't always work out like that. Another Phaneuf deal would be nice, but the chances of a forward we need being in that situation is slim to never gonna happen.

I see your point on the difficulty making that deal and think that Burke may just have to wait and see if anything falls into his lap.

Of course he'll have to make a decision on Grabovski before or just after around mid-season IMO. I know Burke likes him and the dynamic of his line and surely wants to keep them together, but at what cost? It will be interesting to see where the cut off is with Grabbo and a new extension. It's a bit easier with Kulemin, as he's RFA, but Grabbo could walk if they don't get that done. Hopefully that works out, because I don't think Grabbo is the one anybody wants to be replaced up top.

Connolly, whether he works or not is the guy I think will ultimately be replaced, it's too bad we didn't get him on a one year deal, but it's a gamble either way, as you say, you never know what's going to be available, in the trade market or the UFA market.

Lupul -          -Kessel
MacArthur - Grabovski - Kulemin
Frattin/ Kadri - Bozak - Armstrong
Brown - Steckel - Dupuis
Orr/ Rosehill

I think that is a decent, playoff worthy line up personally. How deep they go is up for debate, but it's just that top line killer center we need IMO. Maybe Lombardi, but probably not strong enough, maybe Colborne is that guy, but with this team, I think I want a more proven guy that is in the league already. The search goes on....

 

[Chev-boyar-sky]

The other aspect is who do we get? With Reimer and all the turnover and depth on the D, I presume we'd be after a top 6 forward. I think Kessel, Kulemin and Armstrong are a fine set of right wingers. We lack size and skill in the top 6. So my guess is down to a good top 6 left winger or center with size who would be an upgrade on what we have. As we saw when we looked at the Oilers who are needy for a dman, there's not a lot of those guys available.

You'd have to find a winger better than Lupul or MacArthur or a center better than Connolly or Grabovski. That's not an easy task at the best of times to make a deal if he's more than a rental. Those are the guys teams are hanging on to which is why the UFA market has been so barren.

The better a team gets, and I think this team has improved, the tougher it gets to make a deal to improve them. We're just starting to face that.

So if were not facing losing decent talent for nothing on waivers, I'm not immediately enthusiastic to make a deal unless it really tilts to be helpful to the club in terms of winning a Cup - not just to make the playoffs. Trades can upset a good thing as we saw with the Lindros rumours in '03. And getting rid of our depth because we have a spare body or two when we're trying to scratch our way into the playoffs isn't such a hot idea either in my opinion because we may need all the depth we can muster to stay in the hunt.

It's not just a difficult point in the season for another team to make a deal - it might be a lousy time for us as well if they're performing decently as a group.

I guess that is the magic question. Ideally, you would trade the guy you're replacing as well, but things don't always work out like that. Another Phaneuf deal would be nice, but the chances of a forward we need being in that situation is slim to never gonna happen.

I see your point on the difficulty making that deal and think that Burke may just have to wait and see if anything falls into his lap.

Of course he'll have to make a decision on Grabovski before or just after around mid-season IMO. I know Burke likes him and the dynamic of his line and surely wants to keep them together, but at what cost? It will be interesting to see where the cut off is with Grabbo and a new extension. It's a bit easier with Kulemin, as he's RFA, but Grabbo could walk if they don't get that done. Hopefully that works out, because I don't think Grabbo is the one anybody wants to be replaced up top.

Connolly, whether he works or not is the guy I think will ultimately be replaced, it's too bad we didn't get him on a one year deal, but it's a gamble either way, as you say, you never know what's going to be available, in the trade market or the UFA market.

Lupul -          -Kessel
MacArthur - Grabovski - Kulemin
Frattin/ Kadri - Bozak - Armstrong
Brown - Steckel - Dupuis
Orr/ Rosehill

I think that is a decent, playoff worthy line up personally. How deep they go is up for debate, but it's just that top line killer center we need IMO. Maybe Lombardi, but probably not strong enough, maybe Colborne is that guy, but with this team, I think I want a more proven guy that is in the league already. The search goes on....

I think ultimately it's the #1 position that's the glaring hole.

Luckily we have a glut of centres (not top quality, but good ones) and D-men.

I think Burke has a ton of interesting options.

Frattin looks ready, but can stay in the AHL while others  play out the season increasing their trade value. Gardiner may, down the line, be a replacement for Liles. Liles may also have a big value at the deadline (similar to Kabs) if he has a good year.

Lombardi, if healthy and productive is a candidate for trade or re-sign. If Lombardi/Grabbo/Steckel stay in the fold, Bozak and Connolly are expendable. Franson and Aulie allow for more moves on the blueline (Gunnarsson).

I think the best thing to do is to ice the best "vet" lineup you can for the majority of the season. Hopefully a Connolly/Lombardi/Bozak/Gunnarsson/Lupul/Liles will have a big year, and combined with some of our depth be moveable for the #1 type center from one of the re-building teams (other than Ottawa, please).

Burke (and the fans) can be relatively confident that when such a trade does go down, any number of Gardiner/Frattin/Aulie/Kadri/Lashoff/Colborne should be ready to fill any holes quite capably.

It's really a pretty good problem to have.

 

[Britishbulldog]

You'd have to find a winger better than Lupul or MacArthur or a center better than Connolly or Grabovski. That's not an easy task at the best of times to make a deal if he's more than a rental. Those are the guys teams are hanging on to which is why the UFA market has been so barren.

I agree.  MacArthur in my mind is the odd guy out.  In another thread that is what I was trying to say.  MacArthur is tougher than Lombardi but not as fast.  MacArthur also isn't as tough as Lupul which is too bad.  MacArthur is the youngest though.  So we have 3 20+ goal scorers who could easily replace each other in the lineup.

We also have 2 really good 2nd line centers.  I am not sure what do to with the centers.  I only joke about the option of getting Getzlaf because very few top players make it to UFA status.

This is why I don't scoff at Morrow who is older at 32 but scored 33 goals last year which is more goals last year than any Leaf, including Kessel, and Morrow can fight and he hits like a freight train.  MacArthur and Gunnarsson for Morrow?

Ofcourse the other guy that I have like for years is San Jose lw Ryan Clowe but I don't know if he could play on the 1st line.

 

[BlueWhiteBlood]

I think ultimately it's the #1 position that's the glaring hole.

Luckily we have a glut of centres (not top quality, but good ones) and D-men.

I think Burke has a ton of interesting options.

Frattin looks ready, but can stay in the AHL while others  play out the season increasing their trade value. Gardiner may, down the line, be a replacement for Liles. Liles may also have a big value at the deadline (similar to Kabs) if he has a good year.

Lombardi, if healthy and productive is a candidate for trade or re-sign. If Lombardi/Grabbo/Steckel stay in the fold, Bozak and Connolly are expendable. Franson and Aulie allow for more moves on the blueline (Gunnarsson).

I think the best thing to do is to ice the best "vet" lineup you can for the majority of the season. Hopefully a Connolly/Lombardi/Bozak/Gunnarsson/Lupul/Liles will have a big year, and combined with some of our depth be moveable for the #1 type center from one of the re-building teams (other than Ottawa, please).

Burke (and the fans) can be relatively confident that when such a trade does go down, any number of Gardiner/Frattin/Aulie/Kadri/Lashoff/Colborne should be ready to fill any holes quite capably.

It's really a pretty good problem to have.

Depth is a great problem to have, not having that #1 center is not a great one to have. How good would a young Sundin look now, with this compliment of players?

I think Burke has options, but like cw has said, that top line guy is going to be hard to come by. In a perfect world, a forward version of the Phaneuf deal would be awesome, but unlikely, as top line centers are hard to come by and they are in such demand, that teams are locking them up early or simply not trading them regardless what their other needs are.

I hope people are not getting their hopes up that Getzlaf or the like will become UFA anytime soon, as it's just not realistic IMO. Players like that don't come onto the market anymore, certainly not free agency, unless it's got some circumstantial parameters surrounding it, such as Richards this summer, who wasn't going to stay in Dallas, because of financial issues.

In the end, I think the Leafs are going to have to draft and groom a top line guy (Kadri, McKegg), develop one that we traded for (Colborne) or hope that a team falls out of line with one and needs to trade him, otherwise, we could be waiting to complete this team for a while.

 

[cw]

I think ultimately it's the #1 position that's the glaring hole.

Luckily we have a glut of centres (not top quality, but good ones) and D-men.

I think Burke has a ton of interesting options.

Frattin looks ready, but can stay in the AHL while others  play out the season increasing their trade value. Gardiner may, down the line, be a replacement for Liles. Liles may also have a big value at the deadline (similar to Kabs) if he has a good year.

Lombardi, if healthy and productive is a candidate for trade or re-sign. If Lombardi/Grabbo/Steckel stay in the fold, Bozak and Connolly are expendable. Franson and Aulie allow for more moves on the blueline (Gunnarsson).

I think the best thing to do is to ice the best "vet" lineup you can for the majority of the season. Hopefully a Connolly/Lombardi/Bozak/Gunnarsson/Lupul/Liles will have a big year, and combined with some of our depth be moveable for the #1 type center from one of the re-building teams (other than Ottawa, please).

Burke (and the fans) can be relatively confident that when such a trade does go down, any number of Gardiner/Frattin/Aulie/Kadri/Lashoff/Colborne should be ready to fill any holes quite capably.

It's really a pretty good problem to have.

Depth is a great problem to have, not having that #1 center is not a great one to have. How good would a young Sundin look now, with this compliment of players?

I think Burke has options, but like cw has said, that top line guy is going to be hard to come by. In a perfect world, a forward version of the Phaneuf deal would be awesome, but unlikely, as top line centers are hard to come by and they are in such demand, that teams are locking them up early or simply not trading them regardless what their other needs are.

I hope people are not getting their hopes up that Getzlaf or the like will become UFA anytime soon, as it's just not realistic IMO. Players like that don't come onto the market anymore, certainly not free agency, unless it's got some circumstantial parameters surrounding it, such as Richards this summer, who wasn't going to stay in Dallas, because of financial issues.

In the end, I think the Leafs are going to have to draft and groom a top line guy (Kadri, McKegg), develop one that we traded for (Colborne) or hope that a team falls out of line with one and needs to trade him, otherwise, we could be waiting to complete this team for a while.

Summer of 2013 looks like an interesting UFA summer of which Getzlaf, Perry and a whole bunch are scheduled to be UFAs.
http://www.capgeek.com/free_agents.php?year_id=2013&team_id=-1&position_id=-1&fa_type_id=2

I'm counting on Burke to be able to pick someone up there. I haven't analyzed it statistically but my sense is that that may be the best UFA season we'll have seen in some time. Yes, plenty could happen between now and then and UFAs on that list will inevitably get signed but compared to other recent years, it's looked like a better year to me and teams seem to be gearing up for it with the expiry of contracts on their current rosters (kind of a sixth sense of mine making that statement).

 

[BlueWhiteBlood]

Summer of 2013 looks like an interesting UFA summer of which Getzlaf, Perry and a whole bunch are scheduled to be UFAs.
http://www.capgeek.com/free_agents.php?year_id=2013&team_id=-1&position_id=-1&fa_type_id=2

I'm counting on Burke to be able to pick someone up there. I haven't analyzed it statistically but my sense is that that may be the best UFA season we'll have seen in some time. Yes, plenty could happen between now and then and UFAs on that list will inevitably get signed but compared to other recent years, it's looked like a better year to me and teams seem to be gearing up for it with the expiry of contracts on their current rosters (kind of a sixth sense of mine making that statement).

I agree that none of those guys will be available come 2013, however I guess anything could happen. It is a good list, especially that Crosby guy, I've heard he's good.

Just from discussing this situation and looking around the league, it gives you an idea of just how hard it is to fill that top spot. It's no easy task to find a #1 center in today's NHL, or at least one that may become available, which is why Burke most likely decided to take a chance on Connolly. I guess my only beef with that is that I wish he would have signed him to a one year deal.

 

[cw]

I guess that is the magic question. Ideally, you would trade the guy you're replacing as well, but things don't always work out like that. Another Phaneuf deal would be nice, but the chances of a forward we need being in that situation is slim to never gonna happen.

I see your point on the difficulty making that deal and think that Burke may just have to wait and see if anything falls into his lap.

Of course he'll have to make a decision on Grabovski before or just after around mid-season IMO. I know Burke likes him and the dynamic of his line and surely wants to keep them together, but at what cost? It will be interesting to see where the cut off is with Grabbo and a new extension. It's a bit easier with Kulemin, as he's RFA, but Grabbo could walk if they don't get that done. Hopefully that works out, because I don't think Grabbo is the one anybody wants to be replaced up top.

Connolly, whether he works or not is the guy I think will ultimately be replaced, it's too bad we didn't get him on a one year deal, but it's a gamble either way, as you say, you never know what's going to be available, in the trade market or the UFA market.

Lupul -          -Kessel
MacArthur - Grabovski - Kulemin
Frattin/ Kadri - Bozak - Armstrong
Brown - Steckel - Dupuis
Orr/ Rosehill

I think that is a decent, playoff worthy line up personally. How deep they go is up for debate, but it's just that top line killer center we need IMO. Maybe Lombardi, but probably not strong enough, maybe Colborne is that guy, but with this team, I think I want a more proven guy that is in the league already. The search goes on....

Just for fun and in light of 2013, let's look ahead a couple of years with the assumption that Reimer is for real, Grabbo's line keeps it up and the kids below develop some:
Perry              - Getzlaf                            -Kessel
MacArthur      - Grabovski                        - Kulemin
Frattin/Kadri  - Bozak/Lombardi/Colborne - Armstrong
Brown          - Steckel                            - Dupuis/upgrade
Orr/ Rosehill

Whitney/top 2 dman  - Phaneuf
Gardiner                        - Schenn
Gunnarsson                  - Aulie/Franson

Reimer
Gustavsson/Scrivens

I just grabbed 3 UFAs off the list. I know Perry's a right winger and that Whitney may not be everybody's favorite at this point in time.

The rough point is that if Burke could draft, trade for or sign 3 top guys like I've bolded for example (substitute your own top 3 if anyone is hung up on any of those guys that I'm not married to), the current roster might be a pretty respectable, outside contending team after a couple of years more development of Gardiner/Aulie/Frattin, etc.

The Cap will be roughly $70 mil in 2013 and maybe someone developing has to fill someone else's shoes above to move out pricey salary to make it work under that cap.

Very roughly, what I'm saying is that they're approximately 3 top players away from being a pretty serious hockey club. If the UFA market the last couple of summers hadn't been so lousy, Burke might have had this team fairly close to that.

I know that's woulda, coulda, shoulda stuff but I think that was close to the Burke retooling plan prior to the UFA market drying up.

 

[Tigger]

I guess my only beef with that is that I wish he would have signed him to a one year deal.

I don't know, one year or two years, either seem ok to me. I haven't been able to find out just how modified his ntc is ( as listed on capgeek ) to me that's a bigger factor depending on how much it limits Burke's ability to manage.

 

[cw]

I see your point on the difficulty making that deal and think that Burke may just have to wait and see if anything falls into his lap.

Having painted a pessimistic picture of the trade market right now.

a) if any GM is capable of pulling off a swap, it's Burke. He's been remarkable in my opinion.

b) This management team:
Brian Burke President & General Manager
Dave Nonis Senior Vice-President of Hockey Operations
Dave Poulin Vice-President of Hockey Operations
Claude Loiselle Assistant General Manager
Rick Dudley Director, Player Personnel
Cliff Fletcher Special Advisor

is really quite a remarkable group. Can you imagine the networking that group has within the NHL? They could darn near name the list of players with jock itch from preseason. Nonis can always haggle a trade with GMs who don't like Burke (and Nonis has done so) for example or any of them can get a sniff when someone is available.

c) Can you imagine sitting down with that group to discuss a trade with the expectation of fleecing them? Trades can always bomb with the best of mindsets because it's a crystal ball judgement of people but there's too much brain power in that group for them to get easily taken to the cleaners.

So in some respects, anything is possible.

 

[cw]

Summer of 2013 looks like an interesting UFA summer of which Getzlaf, Perry and a whole bunch are scheduled to be UFAs.
http://www.capgeek.com/free_agents.php?year_id=2013&team_id=-1&position_id=-1&fa_type_id=2

I'm counting on Burke to be able to pick someone up there. I haven't analyzed it statistically but my sense is that that may be the best UFA season we'll have seen in some time. Yes, plenty could happen between now and then and UFAs on that list will inevitably get signed but compared to other recent years, it's looked like a better year to me and teams seem to be gearing up for it with the expiry of contracts on their current rosters (kind of a sixth sense of mine making that statement).

I agree that none of those guys will be available come 2013, however I guess anything could happen. It is a good list, especially that Crosby guy, I've heard he's good.

I'm not saying that. I doubt Crosby would be available but he could jump to his home province and play for Montreal.

If I were a betting man, I'd bet at least one of Perry, Getzlaf or Whitney will be a UFA in 2013 because:
a) they'd like to play in a hockey market
or
b) they'd like to play for a contending team that can spend to the cap
and/or
c) they like to play closer to home

Just from discussing this situation and looking around the league, it gives you an idea of just how hard it is to fill that top spot. It's no easy task to find a #1 center in today's NHL, or at least one that may become available, which is why Burke most likely decided to take a chance on Connolly. I guess my only beef with that is that I wish he would have signed him to a one year deal.

Because Connolly can PK and check, I don't think it's an awful signing for two years. He'd be an overpaid 3rd liner obviously but he's gone before summer of 2013. Apparently, lots of teams offered him a one year deal. It was the two years offered that helped Toronto to land him.

There's little on the UFA market next summer to blow that dough on.

 

[BlueWhiteBlood]

I don't know, one year or two years, either seem ok to me. I haven't been able to find out just how modified his ntc is ( as listed on capgeek ) to me that's a bigger factor depending on how much it limits Burke's ability to manage.

Yeah maybe, but would there ever be a market for that guy? Maybe it's just me and he may not turn out as bad as I think. I know he's super talented, but I'm not sure we'll ever get enough out of him.

 

[BlueWhiteBlood]

Apparently, lots of teams offered him a one year deal. It was the two years offered that helped Toronto to land him.

No doubt.

Because Connolly can PK and check, I don't think it's an awful signing for two years. He'd be an overpaid 3rd liner obviously but he's gone before summer of 2013.

I guess, but then you run into the cap space he eats. Say, if a trade that we need comes up, but you can't complete it because that team does not want Connolly back the other way and nobody else wants him, you either miss out or you have to waive him.

If that trade ever came up, I'd almost hope that he'd already be on the IR for an extended period of time, just to get the cap relief.  ;D

 

[bustaheims]

I guess my only beef with that is that I wish he would have signed him to a one year deal.

The 2 year deal was no accident - the crop of UFA centres next summer is dismal.