Gorbachav55

I'm excited about the season. I'm excited to see a new brand of hockey from the new coach. I'm excited to see Killorn, Gudas, and, hopefully, Carlsson. I'm excited to see at least one young d-man in the lineup. I expect the contracts for Zegras and Drysdale to get done in fairly short order and for them to be in the lineup. I'm with other people who are frustrated by how long it's taking, but I'm not anticipating that it will have an impact beyond maybe the first few games of the season.

Sure, I don't disagree with you there, although I'd probably come in closer to the $8.0 - $8.5 range at this point for a long-term deal. My guess is that the Zegras camp wants a bridge around $8 million and the Ducks are more in the $6 range. I don't think either is unreasonable. Do you think Getzlaf could only teach defense to one guy at a time? Terry has been very good at defense since he came into the league. Stat guys have been praising his defensive prowess since two seasons before he broke out, predicting a break out for that very reason - Terry controls play through the neutral zone and is very effective at breakouts from the defensive zone. Zegras is good at producing offense, and when he and Milano were clicking, their defensive numbers were solid simply because they kept the puck in the other team's zone more often, which is fine. Last year, Zegras was abysmal on defense because he isn't good at playing it. Not everyone can learn to be Bergeron (or even Getzlaf). Some guys have the ability, some don't. Zegras's defense is always going to have to be good offense. I'm assuming that Zegras is pushing a bridge deal. There's no reason to give Zegras more than $8.5 million on an eight-year deal right now because, while he has the potential to be a $10 million player, he's not all that close to realizing it. If I were Verbeek, that's as high as I'd go on a long-term contract. If I'm Zegras, that means I'm pushing for a bridge so I can prove myself over the next couple years and then get paid big bucks. That has nothing to do with not believing in what Verbeek is doing or in feeling pushed out. It has everything to do with maximizing earning potential. It's possible there's animosity between the player and the team. I'm not in these negotiations (none of us are), so I have no idea. Friedman has said that Jeff Solomon is a tough negotiator. But absent a statement from Zegras saying as much, there's no reason to assume that he wants out. Maybe he does, maybe he doesn't, but we don't have any evidence of that. The only thing we know is that both sides are playing hardball because if they weren't, a deal would already be done.

Except he's right - Terry HAS been better than Zegras the last few years because Terry actually plays defense. It's not a huge margin, and I expect Zegras' offensive potential to push him past Terry, but Terry has been better to this point. It's why I don't think Zegras deserves more than Terry on a bridge deal.

Someone used Kase as a comparison for Sidorov and I like that comparison a lot. Great hands, good ability to find a way to get into scoring areas, high energy. He did make some rather dangerous (not in a good way) plays in the defensive zone, but I thought the good outweighed the bad. It will be interesting to see how he develops.

So some random people on the internet then. Got it. In that piece there is this (from Google translate): I'd love to see the public quote Zegras gave that indicated he thought the Ducks were not ready to open their wallet for him. If it's out there, fair enough, but I also have a hard time believing that quote wouldn't have been posted here and dissected ad nauseum. Maybe I just missed it.

Zellweger looks fantastic. I'm fine with the over-ripen approach, but I would love to see him in Anaheim next season. Stick him next to Gudas and watch magic happen. Thunder and lightning.

I'd be good with it. The Ducks still need more forward talent in the system. I don't know what Ottawa would ask for, though. I have a feeling the firsts are off the table, but I'd take a prospect.

Lol, no. I don't use Twitter. If you want to link them here, that would be great. Otherwise, I'm just going to assume these are random people making stuff up and you're latching onto them because you have an axe to grind.

Can you provide links to those reports?

This is my guess as well. For some of the older guys, especially those with families, they're going to have photos they're happy to share and see the value in something like this. But there might be a bunch of younger guys who don't have much in common with old grizzly-faced Mike Babcock thinking, "I don't want to show this dude pictures of me partying over the summer." 20-year-olds might have a few photos of their parents or a brother or something, but they probably also have a bunch of photos of them doing dumb bro stuff that they don't want their boss to see. But when there's a power dynamic, especially if you're a younger player, you might not feel comfortable refusing. Or they might have refused and felt they were negatively judged because of it. It's true that it doesn't sound like much, but given Babcock's history, I think it's likely that at least part of this interaction was done in a way that made guys uncomfortable at best.

Yeah, when the NHLPA announced they were conducting an investigation, you knew there had to be fire there. Babcock couldn't afford any missteps and this might have been a minor one, but he hasn't earned any benefit of the doubt. I'd be just as happy if he faded into the background and we didn't hear from him again.

Good post. And of course, this is the exact reason Verbeek got criticized for his ".500" comment last season. He's not going to publicly say "We expect to be garbage." No hockey coach, manager, or executive does that going into a season. They may say it at a trade deadline when they're tearing things down to set expectations, but they're not going to publicly trash their team (and turn fans away and piddle players off) right before the season starts. That said, as someone who's coached for a long time (kids sports and high school), I believe Cronin was genuine. The goal really is to make the playoffs, as unlikely as that is.

Yeah, I'm glad we don't have a bunch of washed up role players in camp on PTOs. I know our forward depth in particular could use a boost, but I don't think there's anyone out there we could get on a PTO who would move the needle on the season. Kassian being in camp is annoying enough.

The point isn't necessarily about avoiding hurt feelings, it's about creating good ones - letting him know he's wanted and valued by the organization. As I said, there are many ways to do that, but money is one of them, and some guys are motivated by that more than others. I don't think there's any downside. The potential for loyalty and good feelings far outweigh any potential ripple effect. Drysdale has been on the NHL roster for two full seasons, plus we'll say a third. Sorry I rounded up to a half. He's been an NHL player for that long. When talking about how long a player's career has been, we don't discount for injuries once they've established themselves as an NHL player. We do that when we're talking about productivity and availability, but I'm just talking about how long Drysdale has been in the league. That's as relevant to this discussion as the missed time is.

These things are not equal. Was Dostal a #6 pick? Has Dostal played a full season in the NHL? The situations are not remotely similar. Why should Troy Terry be upset that the Ducks value Jamie Drysdale enough to pay him a couple million? Do you think Troy Terry is a petty and resentful person? Because that's what it would be - petty bitterness. Not one single person, other than you, would bat an eyelash at Drysdale getting $1.5 - $2.5 million from the Ducks, even on a one-year, prove-it deal. I would be shocked if a single credible NHL media member criticized it as being too lucrative, other than as a joke. Drysdale is a recent #6 overall pick who's been in the NHL for 2.5 seasons (even if one of them was mostly lost to injury) and put up 32 points as a defenseman in his rookie season. Zero people would be upset by him getting a couple million dollars on a one-year deal, nor should they be. This is about showing players you value them. There are many ways to do that, and paying them a bit more is certainly among them. I don't see this being a slippery slope in any way.

I think it's at least $1.5 million, but I'd probably go to $2 million. While I agree with you that, had circumstances been otherwise, he probably doesn't even see the NHL in his age 18 season and his ELC would have slid. But circumstances weren't different. And while his defense was bad, he did still put up 32 points in the NHL at age 19 as a d-man. Even if his defense doesn't improve, that's worth a $2 million qualifying offer. I think there's value to showing your employees (players, in this case) that you see the hard work they've put in and so you're going to reward them with more than the minimum. $2 million isn't going to break the bank for the Ducks, this year or next year or any year. If giving him an extra million or two now saves headache or hassle down the road (whether in the form of money or trade demands or motivational issues), it's worth it.

I also know of at least one other thing that Montreal has more of than Anaheim: $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ In a cap world, that's mitigated a decent amount, but it's still true that Montreal has more leeway to make an overpayment and survive it. But otherwise, I agree with dts for the most part - Drysdale needs to show something more on the defensive end before the Ducks give him big bucks. I'd toss him an extra million or two for goodwill, because it's not my money, but I'd be cautious about a high-dollar, long-term commitment.

I would guess he consults on the contract structure, but that's more Verbeek to decide which players he wants. But I don't know for sure.

Because they think he'll be worth that over the life of the contract if he continues his development. It doesn't mean they think he's worth that next year or even the year after. They're just trying to get an overall positive return on investment.

Sigh...yes, I covered that when I said that had Drysdale and the Ducks signed an extension last offseason, perhaps he would be making more. But that's not reality.

He's not. Sanderson isn't worth that much money until next year. He's making $925k this year. Had Drysdale (and the Ducks) wanted to sign an extension last offseason, maybe he would have gotten big money. Not $8 million, but potentially $6 - $7. But now Drysdale needs to prove he's healthy and can be effective in a new system. For the record, I think it's worth an extra million or two to show Drysdale that he's an important piece of the future and the Ducks want to keep him around. I'd give him a couple years at $3 million, or even a year at $2.25. That doesn't hurt the Ducks at all, even if Drysdale gets hurt again or completely bombs and I think it's worth the goodwill.

Even though Terry and Zegras have put up basically the same number of points the last two seasons (Terry has two more), they have not been equally valuable players. Terry has been significantly better on defense. So it's reductionist to boil it down to points. Terry has unquestionably been more valuable than Zegras on the ice the last two years. I did not say "pay him the exact contract as Terry." I said don't pay him more than $7 million ON A BRIDGE. Those last three words are key, because that means he's getting $7 million for two or three years (as opposed to Terry's seven years), leaving time for a number of things to happen: Zegras takes his offensive game to a new level, Zegras becomes a better defensive player, the Ducks improve and make him more important to the team, etc. Sure, there's plenty of potential for him to outperform a bridge deal of $7 million. But in two or three years, there's only so much he'll outperform that contract, and the Ducks can raise the offer when that one expires. If Zegras doesn't want to be in Anaheim, he'll find a way to leave regardless. If he wants to be here, he'll stay. According to Elliotte Friedman, Jeff Solomon is the one doing the negotiating on this for the Ducks, and apparently he's considered one of the toughest negotiators in the NHL. There's nothing personal about it; it's just business. THE CBA was structured to artificially restrict salaries in a player's first seven years due to team control. The Ducks are using that in their negotiations, just as Zegras's camp is, I'm sure, using potential that he hasn't yet realized. This deal is crucial for the Ducks in two key ways: 1. It helps determine their salary structure over the next few years. If it's a bridge, I expect it to come in around Terry's number and not much changes. If it's not, though, that sets the bar for future contracts for their young stars. 2. This is the first real negotiation for this regime. I guess Terry's counts as well, but they had arbitration as a failsafe. There aren't any safety nets for Zegras - he either signs a deal and joins the team or he holds out and loses money and development to fight for what he wants. How Verbeek and Solomon handle this will send a message to Carlsson and McTavish. Personally, I wouldn't mind if they were a bit more lenient, but they're looking at building something long-term. The whole thing will crumble right when they start getting good if they overpay now.

It seems like those guys might have gotten better deals BECAUSE they increased their productivity in year three. And Connor got more because UFA years were bought out. I'd be thrilled to sign Zegras to a similar contact. I don't think he should get more than 7 million on a bridge.

If Rakell had shown up at all that series... or Andersen hadn't crapped the bed...

My mom still has Directv. I signed in and watched through the Bally's app on a Firestick. I'm not sure what we'll do this season.