dudacek

Summer checklist: NHL goalie Defensively responsible forward who can win faceoffs Physical forward Defensively responsible 4/5 defenceman who can PK Depth defencemen to fill our 7-10 slots Not expecting a splash today. Think the biggest deals will be trades

2 weeks ago Athletic writer Eric Duhatschek published a list of the 30 players most likely to be traded this summer. There were a lot of goalies and they’re still out there. Maybe we aren’t out of this yet. 25. Jonathan Quick, Kings Quick is interesting. He basically won back the starter’s job in LA this past season, but Cal Petersen’s contract extension that pays him like a No. 1 goalie ($5 million per season for three years) starts in the fall and will likely be given every opportunity to show that last year’s struggles (.895 save percentage, 2.89 GAA) were an aberration. Quick on the other hand is going into the final year of a contract that counts $5.8 million against the cap. If the Kings want to be aggressive in free agency or the trade market (Fiala would be a good fit there), then almost $11 million is too much to tie up in two goaltenders. Buffalo is seeking a new No. 1. Quick might be a good fit there. Or if not Buffalo, then Washington. 26. John Gibson, Ducks Gibson’s wish to stay in Anaheim has been stated for the record, but he only has limited control over that (a 10-team no-trade list). Anaheim aggressively moved out players at the deadline, but instructively, only those on expiring contracts. Gibson is signed for five more years at $6.4 million — pricey, but worth it if your evaluation is he can be a top five-to-seven goalie in the NHL again after faltering the last couple of years. With new GM Pat Verbeek in place and an operating philosophy modeled after mentor Steve Yzerman, there’s no genuine way of knowing if the trade chatter is real or imagined. It feels real. Doesn’t mean anything will necessarily come of it. 27. Ilya Samsonov, Capitals Washington is in the market for a true No. 1 after dividing the job between Samsonov and Vitek Vanecek last year. Gibson and Quick have both been previously linked to the Caps. If the Caps can pull a deal off, then Samsonov likely heads the other way. 28. Mackenzie Blackwood, Devils See Samsonov (above). If the Devils legitimately make a deal for a more experienced starter, then it’s a signal they’re likely moving on from Blackwood, who would probably be going the other way in a potential deal. 29. Semyon Varlamov, Islanders Varlamov is another intriguing case. Like Quick, he’s got a year left on his contract and earns too much ($5 million) to be cast as a back-up, which is what he is now, with Ilya Sorokin’s ascendancy into the starter’s job. And while he makes a good insurance policy on the Island, and had a genuine off year last year, he had a 2.04 GAA and a .929 save percentage the season before and in those two Islander runs to the Stanley Cup semi-final, won 18 playoff games. He could be the sort of short-term fix for a contender in the same way Darcy Kuemper was for the Avalanche this past year. 30. James Reimer, Sharks If the Sharks go with Adin Hill and Kaapo Kahkonen as their goalie tandem next year, then Reimer will have value to any team looking for a reliable back-up. Reimer had a .911 save percentage in 48 appearances for the Sharks last season and demonstrated he could carry a heavier workload if necessary. He’s 34 and signed for one more year at $2.25 million. The Islanders and Kings make sense if they are looking to make adds elsewhere and not if they are unable to. Reading about the Sharks cap issues, it would seem to me Reimer and the Sabres would almost be a no-brainer after dust settles elsewhere.

It’s not like you have a monopoly on this.

A second.

In my view, there are free agents (Comrie, Samsonov) who are better than Tokarski. And I’m still hoping he can pry open someone legit like Quick or Varlamov.

Malcolm Subban? I’d have paid a higher price than Gustavsson. But maybe the Wild really liked him?

I’m starting to think it will be a repeat of last year’s 4-way camp battle, with Subban instead of Dell and someone else instead of Tokarski.

He was real bad on the ice in his brief appearances last year. Seems like a great culture guy. I’m going to assume they have picked him over Tokarski, ostensibly for G4, and he will be back and forth from Rochester to practice and sit on the bench as Andy needs to rest and recuperate. And I’m good with him in that role. Curious as to whether he has more game than he’s shown. He has been better, but he’s never been good. However, if his role is what Tokarski’s was last year - the actual back-up to Anderson - I think that’s an actual downgrade and we are in trouble.

I like this. Hard working, good culture guy, reasonably productive. Easy cap fit, no term issues. He'll make Peterka and Quinn and Krebs earn their ice time and can be nudged aside if they do. And he pushes Anders Bjork one more body away from the starting roster.

Likeliest player is Jeff Petry. They’re just waiting for Montreal to pay his bonus, which I believe comes due tomorrow. Doubt he’s a Sabre.

I don’t know if they make many centres like Östlund any more. He’s a throwback to the old 200-foot playmaking centres of the 1960s - Keon, Mikita, Henri Richard: fast, intense little guys who drove play before that was ever a term. This is the type of guy made to play the middle of the ice, using his speed, vision and hands to blunt the attack in his own zone, transition the puck out of his zone and into the opponents, and distribute to open teammates in the offensive zone. He’s a point guard, a hub and a funnel, finding and creating open ice. I hope he fills out his frame and his game translates to the NHL pace, because I am really going to enjoy watching him play. He has the skill set to make a finisher like Olofsson, Savoie, Quinn, Kulich, Rosen or even a Neuchev very rich.

Was it @tom webster who made the comment earlier about the fans drinking the Kool aid? This fan base has gone from being ready to give up on the team to this “we don’t want good players because we have to stay on the path.” The path is about accumulating good players and adding good players now is not going to prevent Peterka and Cozens from becoming good players any more than Teppo Numminen and Mike Grier stopped Brian Campbell and Jason Pominville from becoming good players. You can add good players without wrecking your cap situation, gutting your prospect pool or blowing up your development plan. Your job is to do exactly that. I think Kevyn Adams knows this and I think he is willing to do this. But in the meantime, letting people believe otherwise sure has become a handy crutch to keep people from turning up the heat on him.

I think the scouting side pushed Leinonen’s merit, but I think this was a GM’s pick. Adams wanted a “real” goalie prospect this year and the staff (Forton emphasized the gap between Topias and the next guy on their list) was of the opinion that Leinonen may have been the only one in this crop; basically, if you want one, it’s him or nobody. So Adams paid over market price at 41 to fill a perceived need because he wasn’t going to be there at 74. I think whether Savoie ends up at centre or wing will depend a lot on his linemates and their chemistry. I don’t think his skill set will force him into one or the other. I can get excited about a Savoie Krebs Cozens line in a few years that will blow other lines away with their ability to execute plays at pace. It won’t really matter much where they line up for faceoffs.

I believe Adams when he says he has looked at every goalie that might be available, put a value on each and explored every option to see if there was a fit. We know he reached at least one deal. We don’t know how close he came on others, or how much he was willing to pay, depending on the target. And we don’t know what may still be out there. So I doubt maximizing the lottery tickets was ever Plan A, but it may end up as the best plan available.

One of the fittest kids in the draft. Always figured this was a draft where a couple of the best players were going to go outside the top 10. It might take a while, but he’s a candidate. He’s skilled, but he’s also smarter than his peers and he wants it more. Don't be sleeping on this one.

I’d view Comrie and Samsonov as an upgrade on Tokarski and Dell. Given how the dominoes seem to be falling, it may be less about bringing in a legitimate starter and more about maximizing the upside of our lottery tickets. Still hoping for a trade. Maybe Adams can surprise us.

They may want an upgrade on that Swede who played down the stretch in someone who can compete with Murray, but with their cap situation it is unlikely they can afford someone good. They basically just swapped Mrazek for Murray at similar cap hits. Assuming Kuemper to the Caps and Campbell to the Oilers, I don’t think anyone is in a position (money, need, opportunity) to compete with us in the goalie market if the Sabres decide they want to sign somebody. Washington flat out said Samsonov wasnt worth his $3 million-plus qualifier. They would have traded him if he was. He’s on the verge of blowing his career if this isn’t a wake-up call.

So Craig Johnson had been working for the LA Kings since 2019. Mattias Samuelsson’s dad Kjell has been working for Philly since 2000. Mule went to college and signed with the Sabres. Casey Fitzgerald’s dad Tom has been with the Devils since 2016, and GM since 2019. Casey played college for 4 full years and was only a couple months away from UFA status and he still signed with the Sabres. Why do people think Craig Johnson getting a new job has anything to do with whether Ryan re-signs?

Guys like him gotta see opportunity here.

Even if Anderson and UPL win the jobs, they’re still going to acquire 2 more goalies. Subban, Tokarski, Griess, Halak, Comrie, Jones, Rittich, Lakinen, Domingue are the names I’m seeing still out there in free agency. Im thinking a trade for Varlamov or Reimer or Quick, assuming they’re available, would be my Plan A. If the dominoes fall as I posted above, I don’t think there will be any other teams we’ll be bidding against.

He’s been bad, but Samsonov probably makes the most superficial sense if he and Anderson had a good relationship with the Caps. He’s talented enough to be good, experienced enough to take a shot on and young enough to get better. He’s certainly not the answer though.

So if everyone figures Kuemper to the Caps, Campbell to the Oilers, Murray to the Leafs and Holtby to IR, that’s it for seats on the ride, no? All of the good seats are taken. All of the buyers have their guy. We get the pick of the leftovers.

So wasn’t Lucas Elvenes supposed to be one of the guys we were high on in the Eichel,trade talks? Not qualified. Neither was the only Sabre to really enjoy Paul Hamilton, Brendan Guhle, failed goalie Jonas Johansson, former hometown favourite Justin Bailey and noted asshat Brendan Lemieux. Rough day for Tim Murray’s boys.

I would imagine that beyond the current issues with Russia there are different immigration rules for someone on a contract coming to “work” like Kisakov, and someone unsigned coming to “participate” like Kulich.

Or Poltapov Novikov or Neuchev, who aren’t surprises. Too bad. Komarov, I’m guessing is already here and clear. We do get Johnson and Portillo though, and all the other Euros from this year. 26 forwards, 12 D, 5 goalies. That’s a lot.