dtsdlaw

I read "tangible gap" as being anything >$1M when there's term involved. So over a 3-year bridge, the difference between a $19.5M contract and a $22.5M contract would be a tangible gap IMO.

Sheesh, only four unsigned RFAs left in the entire league and two of them are core pieces for the Ducks. This is not a good look for the organization. Are we sure that Verbeek isn't really just a double agent who Yzmerna sent to inflict revenge on the Ducks organization for the 4-0 sweep of the Wings in 2003?

I really did enjoy that podcast. Wish they'd come back and just let loose on all of the inside info that they seemed reluctant to talk about while Kesler was still technically under contract.

I should add to this that Bieksa is also on the show and he talks quite a bit about the Ducks starting right around the 2:24:20 mark.

Honestly, I think it's worth a listen. They talk about the genesis of the whole situation with players contacting them and the warnings that Babcock's former players wanted to send to the CBJ players about Babcock's tactics. You can skip the first 14:30 of the show (typical useless SC garbage) and then they get right into it. Chris Chelios is then on the show starting at around the 50:30 mark and he also talks about what a terrible person Babcock was during his time in Detroit.

Got it, thanks. I do wonder how "far apart" they actually are though. Is it like, $6.5M v $7.25M? Or is it more like $5M v $8M? The former seems like it could be bridged easily before players start to report this week for camp. The latter, not so much.

It should be obvious by now that they were hunkered down in the war room all summer debating whether to acquire Ilya Lyubushkin or Tyler Myers to be their 6/7 RHD. Those types of franchise altering decisions take time and resources, you know.

Nylander is on record as saying he really wants to re-sign in Toronto, and the Leafs have a TON of money coming off of their cap next season. I think he stays.

If the Ducks end up with another top-5 pick because of poor defense, GMPV will still be in fine shape for next season. He can sit on Drysdale as long as he wants to. The addition of Lyubushkin means that the Ducks have enough bodies to cover the right side even if Drysdale holds out. Helleson can take Drysdale's spot. LaCombe can play both sides, so he can slide over there and possibly even take some PP minutes. Vaakanainen has some experience playing the right side too. Heck, maybe Luneau and Warren can alternate starts for the first quarter of the season until they both get 9 games. It's Drysdale that has zero leverage. He needs to sign and get his butt to camp.

They may even have agreed on term and AAV, but can't agree on the progressive salary structure of the bridge. Verbeek is probably trying to keep the QO down around $7.5M and Zegras wants it to be $9M+. That's my guess as to where they likely are, anyway.

I'm excited about the upcoming season because I love watching the NHL. I'm also optimistic about the potential for significant improvements from our forward group, but pessimistic about the state of our defense. I think Killorn is going to be a great add for our group this season, but I also think Gudas is going to be a giant disappointment for a lot of fans (he's just not that good). The offseason still just feels very incomplete to me though. The roster doesn't feel like it's done... like there should have been another trade or another UFA signing somewhere along the road. The Gibby trade request that wasn't fulfilled is also still a dark cloud hanging over the team IMO. I'm still hoping for more moves.

I'm generally not a fan of the Spittin' Chickletts podcast, but their latest episode is worth a listen if you're at all interested in the Babcock/CBJ story. A LOT more info available from Bissonette and Whitney (if you can stand to listen to their voices). Once again, good riddance to Babcock.

You're probably right about the 1sts as just a straight up sweetener, but I wonder if we could pry a 1st if we sent back a 2nd. Something like: Joseph + Detroit's 1st (2024) <---> Boston's 2nd (2024) That would seem more than fair considering we'd be taking three seasons of Joseph not just one.

According to Capfriendly, the Ottawa Senators currently have $896K in cap space (11F + 7D + 2G) with Shane Pinto still in need of a contract. Pinto is not eligible for an offer sheet, so there's no risk of him being poached that way, but Ottawa still has to do something to get cap compliant with a full roster. Even if they are able to sign Pinto to a short term contract for <$896K, that's still only 12 forwards under contract, and I can't imagine that a team with playoff aspirations wants to enter the season with such a dicey roster situation. Question to the board - should the Ducks be using their cap space to help the Sens out here? Mathieu Joseph (3 x $2.95M) seems like the guy they'd want to move, but Kubalik is also another option. Ottawa also has two 1sts in the next draft and I wonder if one of them could be pried away as a sweetener to get the Sens cap compliant and able to sign Pinto. Or I also wonder if there's a Sens prospect that we could get. Ottawa's ability to draft and develop forwards is on par with Anaheim's ability to draft and develop D-men, so maybe there's someone we could poach from their system. Anyone else interested in that situation with Ottawa and wondering if Anaheim should be the team that benefits from their conundrum?

He's a serial abuser. Remember this from Johan Franzen? https://www.expressen.se/sport/hockey/nhl/franzen-he-is-the-worst-person-i-have-ever-met/ This is why someone else needs to be fired. Babcock is a terrible human being and everyone was on notice about what kind of a terrible human being he was. But they hired him anyway, and he didn't even make it to the first practice of training camp before his true colors emerged. He's a predator. Not in the sexual predator sense, but in a similar way that he systematically seeks out individuals that he can manipulate and exert control over. Good riddance to him.

The bolded. Friedman said on the 32 Thoughts podcast that this is what happened. He allegedly took one of the young players’ phones and violated their privacy in doing so. The dumb thing for me is that the veteran players and the front office jumped out in front of it immediately to say it was a nothingburger based on their own interaction with Babcock, with zero consideration for Babcock’s history of targeting young players (see Marner, Mitch) with different treatment. Like it never occurred to them that maybe Babcock’s behavior towards Gaudreau and Jenner was different than it was towards Sillinger, Fantilli, and Johnson.

Someone else in the front office needs to be fired for this. Jarmo, Davidson, I don’t know who, but someone. Bad enough that Babcock was hired with such a sketchy past, but the way CBJ org went about jumping to defend him before any external investigation was done has made a lot of people look very, very bad IMO.

Trade protection clauses are "perks" but I don't think I don't think he'll get one of those unless it's a 8-year deal. Maybe he wants part of the money guaranteed as a signing bonus too rather than just as straight salary. There aren't that many perks you can build into a standard player contract, but there are a few of that nature. It also could be that they've decided on an AAV for a bridge, but are still working out the year-over-year salary variance. Like, maybe they've agreed on a 3 x $7M AAV, but the Ducks want it to be $6.5M-$7M-$7.5M and Brisson wants it to be $5.5M-$7M-$8.5M so that his QO will be higher. Either way, I agree with you, they need to get it done. Immediately.

Pat Brisson was on The Athletic podcast a couple of days ago and said that they are working on Zegras' deal and that they really want it to be done before camp starts, but also said that it wasn't guaranteed that would happen. Maybe that's just "agent speak" but it sounded from the interview like they are still working out term and dollars. Edit: Should have watched the video before posting... I do disagree with that person's interpretation of Brisson's comments though (and her pronunciation of Brisson's name is really annoying!). Brisson was a lot more cagey about where Zegras's contract status is at and what terms they are seeking.

I specifically said earlier in this thread: "I'm personally fine if he gets paid more than his QO and good for him if he gets more (it’s not my money either)." If he gets an 1 x $8M, I'm not going to say a word to criticize it. Good for him! I like Drysdale and would be happy for him. I just wouldn't do it if I was the GM, and I would still have concerns about the ripple effect for other contracts if he's paid good will money just out of concern that he might have his feelings hurt by a lower offer. Also, since when does 24 games + 81 games + 8 games = 2.5 seasons? He's played one NHL season plus a handful of other games.

I personally think the draft pick status is overplayed in these debates. It sure didn't help Lafreniere in his negotiations with the Rangers, did it? And while we've seen a lot of highly-drafted D-men turn into stars over the past few seasons (Makar, Q Hughes, Heiskanen, Seider, etc.) we're also not that far removed from Olli Juolevi (5th overall), Haydn Fleury (7th), Ryan Murray (2nd), and Griffin Reinhart (4th). Drysdale should be paid based on his development and productivity, not his draft position.

If you give him an extra $2M now as a show of good will, should the organization also expect him to take a hometown discount as a return of good will when it comes time for negotiating a contract that covers his UFA years? And if Verbeek gives the extra $2M to Drysdale, shouldn't he also start making good will payments to all RFAs coming off their ELCs? Because not giving them inflated contracts would apparently show that the organization doesn't believe in them? And should we expect Lukas Dostal to be super ticked off and resentful for the remainder of his time with the Ducks because he was signed to a 2 x $812,500 (which is less than his ELC's $822,500 cap hit) despite showing great progress last season in starting 19 games with the big club and posting the best SV% on the team? Good will should have gotten Dostal at least another million, no? Should we be expecting a trade request from Dostal any day now? I just think handing out good will payments is wandering a dangerous road for the long term health of the organization. Seems to me like it would just be establishing a precedent that other players and agents will turn against you later on. I also can't help but wonder if it's going to sow the seeds of resentment between players who don't get the good will payments. Troy Terry (possibly our future captain) grinded through a 3 x $1.45M RFA contract before getting paid. Is he going to be cool with good will payments being made to 21-year-olds from now on?

Curious, for you and everyone that would be fine with Drysdale getting a 1-year contract but at a higher value, what do you think the minimum amount is that Drysdale would need to get so as to not have his feelings hurt? And part 2 to that question, are you fine with that number being his QO next season if his play on defensive side doesn’t improve? I’m personally fine if he gets paid more than his QO and good for him if he gets more (it’s not my money either), but I just don’t see any need to do that given the circumstances.

The main difference for me between Caufield and Drysdale is that Caufield is a scoring winger who has already proven he can score goals at the NHL level, whereas Drysdale is a defenseman who hasn’t proven he can actually play defense at the NHL level. Despite his one season of point totals, Drysdale has been terrible at defending thus far by every metric (not unexpected given his age, size, and the team he plays for). So yeah, I’d like to see a healthy Drysdale show he’s capable of playing defense first before he gets paid a hefty NHL salary.

It’s not a freak injury, it’s actually a very common hockey injury. The same injury knocked out Caufield this past season, and it’s what will keep Montour out of action to start this season. Dozens of NHLers suffer this injury every season. We learned a lot about shoulder labral injuries back in 2017 when both Lindholm and Vatanen suffered labrum tears in the playoffs that required surgery, and one of the things we were told back then is that it can take up to a year or two to fully regain strength in the shoulder after the surgery. I definitely remember Vatanen having lost quite a bit of zip on his slap shot when he returned for the 2017-18 season.