Ryan Wilson: August Mailbag August Mailbag

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Ek said during the SCF that Joe Thornton had a great series. As Penguins fans is this accurate? Personally I thought he was invisible.

Ek said during the SCF that Joe Thornton had a great series. As Penguins fans is this accurate? Personally I thought he was invisible.
- gergeswillems

Good read

Ek said during the SCF that Joe Thornton had a great series. As Penguins fans is this accurate? Personally I thought he was invisible.

The Magic Eight Ball EK uses to make up his stories says no

The Magic Eight Ball EK uses to make up his stories says no
- Guile

I thought he just yelled upstairs to his mom...

"MOM! what is vegas naming their team?"
"MOM meatloaf now"

Ek said during the SCF that Joe Thornton had a great series. As Penguins fans is this accurate? Personally I thought he was invisible.
- gergeswillems

The Joe's struggled pretty bad. Couture and Hertl (until he got hurt) were pretty dangerous every shift.

Burns was just OK and Jones is the reason the Sharks made it a series. IMO he was the best player on either team in that series.

Ek said during the SCF that Joe Thornton had a great series. As Penguins fans is this accurate? Personally I thought he was invisible.
- gergeswillems

And that right there is a reason why you can't take Ek seriously. Duck Dynasty was non existent. I thought only two had what I would term a great series. Jones and Donskoi. Hertl would have been good if not for being hurt. The rest ... not so much at all.

Finally got bored enough at work that I decided to run through the expansion draft tool and do a roster, I was actually kinda surprised at some of the decisions I had to make, I'm sure my roster is going to be very different than most because I would be willing to take more changes to ensure being as competitive as well for the 1st 3-4 years while I build a prospect pool for the future through the draft and trades.

Moulson-Plekanec-Jagr
Cammalleri-Bozak-Hornqvist
Wilson-Coyle-Stempniak
Marroon-Lee-Atkinson

Hamhuis-Martin
Despres-Methot
Schenn-Sbisa

Bishop
Howard
Subban

Taking Bishop as a UFA over Killorn is a big risk but as MTL has been showing for years, a goaltender can make an average team very competitive so I would take the risk that I could give Bishop the terms he wanted and make him the cornerstone of the team, the caveat is that I would make sure to also draft a reliable goaltender like Howard to ensure I'm covered if I can't get Bishop signed. Jagr was also an interesting situation as a UFA but he's a Vegas guy who I think would seriously consider signing and it would give LV a very marketable face.

You'd have to give Bishop 9 million a year for him to even consider playing on an expansion team, he would basically be giving up any chance of even playing in the playoffs and definitely winning the cup. With Howard's 5.2 that is a lot of money for goaltending. Not to mention Howard is mediocre to terrible now.

I wouldn't pay Hudler 2 million. The Stars have quite the weird forward corps.

Finally got bored enough at work that I decided to run through the expansion draft tool and do a roster, I was actually kinda surprised at some of the decisions I had to make, I'm sure my roster is going to be very different than most because I would be willing to take more changes to ensure being as competitive as well for the 1st 3-4 years while I build a prospect pool for the future through the draft and trades.

Moulson-Plekanec-Jagr
Cammalleri-Bozak-Hornqvist
Wilson-Coyle-Stempniak
Marroon-Lee-Atkinson

Hamhuis-Martin
Despres-Methot
Schenn-Sbisa

Bishop
Howard
Subban

Taking Bishop as a UFA over Killorn is a big risk but as MTL has been showing for years, a goaltender can make an average team very competitive so I would take the risk that I could give Bishop the terms he wanted and make him the cornerstone of the team, the caveat is that I would make sure to also draft a reliable goaltender like Howard to ensure I'm covered if I can't get Bishop signed. Jagr was also an interesting situation as a UFA but he's a Vegas guy who I think would seriously consider signing and it would give LV a very marketable face.
- jaydogg1974

You lost me when you said that Howard is a reliable goaltender.

Fun exercise. but their team is going to be worse than anything we come up with right now. Teams will make trades to get to optimum expansion protection.

IE. I think someone would pay us something nice to keep us from exposing hornqvist. Someone will have a 7th forward protection spot and want his grit for a playoff run. I think as a 1 year rental we can get a 1st round pick for him. I'd rather have a 1st round pick than the next guy we lose - rust, wilson, sheary.

The Stars are stacked if it wasn't for their albatross goalie situation.

You'd have to give Bishop 9 million a year for him to even consider playing on an expansion team, he would basically be giving up any chance of even playing in the playoffs and definitely winning the cup. With Howard's 5.2 that is a lot of money for goaltending. Not to mention Howard is mediocre to terrible now.
- Dcoms

I'm not sure it would take 9M but I would definitely be expecting to make him 1 of the highest paid goalies in the league to get him to sign. Howard is really only insurance encase I'm not able to sign Bishop and would be shipped out 1y and 1 day later if I was able to lock up Bishop so while I would be a big total hit for the position it would only be for the first year when I would have enough room to bite that bullet.

As for giving up any chance of being competitive, if Price capable of making an average team a top team in the division then I see no reason that wouldn't be possible for Bishop. I don't think the forward/defenseman I drafted are that far off from the talent in MTL and MTL was the best team in the Atlantic and considered a Cup contender until Price got hurt. Bishop isn't Price but I think that roster with Bishop in net can compete for a playoff spot day 1 so he wouldn't be costing himself the chance to be competitive at all, winning a Cup sure but not being competitive and a possible playoff team.

Lol I made it into RWs blog... (JJ)

Fun exercise. but their team is going to be worse than anything we come up with right now. Teams will make trades to get to optimum expansion protection.

IE. I think someone would pay us something nice to keep us from exposing hornqvist. Someone will have a 7th forward protection spot and want his grit for a playoff run. I think as a 1 year rental we can get a 1st round pick for him. I'd rather have a 1st round pick than the next guy we lose - rust, wilson, sheary.
- sditulli

I couldn't agree more. I tried to make some judgement calls(obviously by not having Murray available) but ultimately there's no way to predict who may or may not be available when the draft actually get here.

I agree on Hornqvist but it would have to be a solid NHL asset in return or it wouldn't make sense, everyone is going to lose a player so if you trade players like Hornqvist for pick/prospects and then lose an unprotected player you're losing 2 assets from your NHL roster and replacing none. I'm not sure it would make sense for someone to give up a solid NHL player for Hornqvist but if a deal like the Hornqvist/Neal deal was out there and the returning player didn't need protected it would be the smarter move.

I wouldn't pay Hudler 2 million. The Stars have quite the weird forward corps.
- Dcoms

You mean the best forward corp in the league.

I wouldn't pay Hudler 2 million. The Stars have quite the weird forward corps.
- Dcoms

No, they have a pretty stacked collection of forwards. The weird collection is on defense and in the net. Those two areas are going to make or break them, not forwards.

I couldn't agree more. I tried to make some judgement calls(obviously by not having Murray available) but ultimately there's no way to predict who may or may not be available when the draft actually get here.

I agree on Hornqvist but it would have to be a solid NHL asset in return or it wouldn't make sense, everyone is going to lose a player so if you trade players like Hornqvist for pick/prospects and then lose an unprotected player you're losing 2 assets from your NHL roster and replacing none. I'm not sure it would make sense for someone to give up a solid NHL player for Hornqvist but if a deal like the Hornqvist/Neal deal was out there and the returning player didn't need protected it would be the smarter move.
- jaydogg1974

I think a 1st round pick for horn would be worth losing 2 roster players. Sprong/Guentzel should be ready. Since you have us losing horn I'm going to assume you have us protecting pouliot. so then we lose like Horn/Rust one to trade one to draft.

If you dump horn for a 1st then I think at the TDL we can find a better rental than rust for a 1st round pick.

No, they have a pretty stacked collection of forwards. The weird collection is on defense and in the net. Those two areas are going to make or break them, not forwards.
- Oneonta Penguin

That team doesn't stand a chance with the goalie situation. I think they'll be knocking on Ruths door sooner than later.

Any of you guys think there is potential for a deal centered around Nichushkin (assuming he re-signs) for MAF with Niemi coming back as well?

Any of you guys think there is potential for a deal centered around Nichushkin (assuming he re-signs) for MAF with Niemi coming back as well?
- RonPielep

I'd like to see that, but I think it would have to involve Dallas retaining something on Niemi, and I don't think they'd do that. Even if its as little as 1-1.5 mil.

I'd like to see that, but I think it would have to involve Dallas retaining something on Niemi, and I don't think they'd do that. Even if its as little as 1-1.5 mil.
- j.boyd919

I don't really see that working out for a couple reasons.

i) MAF already has a fairly higher cap hit than Niemi.
ii) Retaining salary on Niemi would probably only increase the chances of LV taking Niemi in expansion.

A better option imo, if cap space is your concern, would be Pens sending a small short term cap dump over to Dallas with maybe a later pick to balance things out. I can't find a forward on your roster that seems suitable for this tho, except maybe Kunitz, but his cap hit is too high (although some could be retained). This is just starting to get messy now.