July 1st UFA's, would you target any of them?

[kinot-2]

Here's a list of the top 12 UFAs available for this year.

We have a whole bunch of $$$$,  Any takers? 

https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/nhl-best-2019-ufas-unrestricted-free-agents-list-rumours/

i found this interesting, in regard to Tyler Myers:

" Myers will have a bevy of suitors to choose from. Vancouver, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Montreal are among the speculated clubs with interest."

Short version is this:

More notable UFAs of 2019: Jordan Eberle, Mats Zuccarello, Gustav Nyquist, Wayne Simmonds, Brock Nelson, Alexander Edler, Micheal Ferland, Semyon Varlamov, Joe Thornton, Brian Boyle, Jason Pominville, Joonas Donskoi, Jason Spezza, Marcus Johansson, Valtteri Filppula, Derick Brassard, Justin Williams, Ron Hainsey, Patrick Maroon, Jay Bouwmeester, Robin Lehner, Cam Talbot, Mike Smith, Marc Methot, Deryk Engelland, Thomas Vanek, Niklas Kronwall, Brett Connolly, Alex Chiasson

if MB went after any of those UFAs then the max (imo) would be 5 years.

 

[archey]

Nelson....Thanks for asking

[BigTed3]

7 hours ago, kinot-2 said:

Here's a list of the top 12 UFAs available for this year.

We have a whole bunch of $$$$,  Any takers? 

https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/nhl-best-2019-ufas-unrestricted-free-agents-list-rumours/

i found this interesting, in regard to Tyler Myers:

" Myers will have a bevy of suitors to choose from. Vancouver, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Montreal are among the speculated clubs with interest."

Short version is this:

More notable UFAs of 2019: Jordan Eberle, Mats Zuccarello, Gustav Nyquist, Wayne Simmonds, Brock Nelson, Alexander Edler, Micheal Ferland, Semyon Varlamov, Joe Thornton, Brian Boyle, Jason Pominville, Joonas Donskoi, Jason Spezza, Marcus Johansson, Valtteri Filppula, Derick Brassard, Justin Williams, Ron Hainsey, Patrick Maroon, Jay Bouwmeester, Robin Lehner, Cam Talbot, Mike Smith, Marc Methot, Deryk Engelland, Thomas Vanek, Niklas Kronwall, Brett Connolly, Alex Chiasson

if MB went after any of those UFAs then the max (imo) would be 5 years.

 

Everyone for the right price/term obviously, but from your list of top 12, the guys I would at least inquire about:

- Karlsson: yes

- Panarin: yes

- Duchene: yes

- Bobrovsky: no

- Skinner: yes

- Pavelski: no

- Myers: no

- Gardiner: yes

- Hayes: yes

- Lee: yes

- Stralman: no

- Dzingel: yes

Would also have interest in Eberle, Edler, Nelson, Nyqist, Simmonds... again all depends what they want for a contract though. I think MB needs to set clear limits with what he's willing to pay each player. Without a doubt, we need a top-pairing LHD, which we aren't going to find on the UFA market. So I think the best strategy here might be to target a guy who can bring scoring up front, since the forward crop has got a better top-end than the D group this year. If you can't get Karlsson (and assuming Panarin isn't considering us), then go for a guy like Skinner or Duchene or Lee or Eberle and then use him to fill a hole that makes another forward like Drouin expendable in a trade.

[campabee82]

1 hour ago, BigTed3 said:

Everyone for the right price/term obviously, but from your list of top 12, the guys I would at least inquire about:

- Karlsson: yes

- Panarin: yes

- Duchene: yes

- Bobrovsky: no

- Skinner: yes

- Pavelski: no

- Myers: no

- Gardiner: yes

- Hayes: yes

- Lee: yes

- Stralman: no

- Dzingel: yes

Would also have interest in Eberle, Edler, Nelson, Nyqist, Simmonds... again all depends what they want for a contract though. I think MB needs to set clear limits with what he's willing to pay each player. Without a doubt, we need a top-pairing LHD, which we aren't going to find on the UFA market. So I think the best strategy here might be to target a guy who can bring scoring up front, since the forward crop has got a better top-end than the D group this year. If you can't get Karlsson (and assuming Panarin isn't considering us), then go for a guy like Skinner or Duchene or Lee or Eberle and then use him to fill a hole that makes another forward like Drouin expendable in a trade.

Agreed

[habsisme]

4 hours ago, BigTed3 said:

Everyone for the right price/term obviously, but from your list of top 12, the guys I would at least inquire about:

- Karlsson: yes (Not realistic, we don't need another RD)

- Panarin: yes (too expensive)

- Duchene: yes (only good on contract years and extremely overrated)

- Bobrovsky: no

- Skinner: yes (I agree)

- Pavelski: no

- Myers: no

- Gardiner: yes (I was thinking yes, but this guy really is a turnover machine and will probably be getting a 6 million AAV. Not worth it)

- Hayes: yes (I like him, maybe at the right price but its unlikely. We're not desperate for center help anymore)

- Lee: yes (yeah he could be interesting at the right price)

- Stralman: no

- Dzingel: yes (Meh, I don't see it)

At the right price, I would be interested in Edler as well. And I think a good backup goalie alone will get us into the playoffs

[campabee82]

Everyone for the right price/term obviously, but from your list of top 12, the guys I would at least inquire about:

- Karlsson: yes (Only if we were planning on moving Weber or Petry for a LHD)

- Panarin: yes (Too Expensive)

- Duchene: yes (too Overrated)

- Bobrovsky: no (We have the best goalie)

- Skinner: yes (Definitely)

- Pavelski: no (Nope)

- Myers: no (Again only if it meant trading Weber or Petry for a LHD)

- Gardiner: yes (No way too many turnovers)

- Hayes: yes (Yeah)

- Lee: yes (Yeah)

- Stralman: no (Nope)

- Dzingel: yes (Yes)

 

[maas_art]

7 hours ago, BigTed3 said:

Everyone for the right price/term obviously, but from your list of top 12, the guys I would at least inquire about:

Yup.  For me its:

Tier 1: (Very interested, would probably overpay to get them):

Karlsson:, Panarin, Duchene, Skinner

Tier 2: (interested but term/money will be crucial):

Eberle, Hayes, Nelson, Lee, Dzingel, Nyqist, Simmons

 

Not interested: (they may be good players still but will be looking for term and $$) 
Gardiner, Edler, Bobrovsky, Pavelski, Myers, Stralman, Benn,   (*The temptation to sign Gardiner or Edler as a band-aid solution is there for me but i know both will want some term.  If you could get one for a year, then maybe but it aint happening). 

 

Some of these guys though would mean the necessity of a second trade.  I cant see how we're fitting Jk, Domi, Danault, Poehling, and Suzuki (who i guess is now pretty much guaranteed to be a RW, not a centre)  and add a guy like Duchene, Hayes or Nelson.  Or if Karlsson was secretly a Habs fan & we signed him, you just cant keep EK, Weber, Petry on your right D (especially when you have 2 or 3 exceptional RD prospects in the system already).   I think you'd have to move someone.  Which is good - you sign the UFA, you move a roster player & bring back an asset, but MB worries me when a plan requires multiple moving parts. He seems at his best when its a simple move. 

[jeff33]

Ive always really like Duchene, but he has a bit of an inconsistent track record as a star player, but personally I'd offer him a generous deal 

Panarin I would 100% over pay for.

those 2 , especially Panarin, are of the elite skill level we simply dont have and have been missing for...most of my life when I think about it LOL

we can talk about being a playoff team all we want but until we have at least 1 guy if not 2 or even 3 getting 75 + points we are not winning anything. What I espcecially like about Panarin is he is a righty, and as well as shaw played, thats not a real top 6 winger...and honestly if you want to argue that he is, then we have him on our 3rd line and thats cup contending kind of depth.

Skinner is good, but drouin -tatar- byron > shaw-gallagher-armia so Id prefer the help on the right side. Also we would be paying skinner to repeat what hes done once as opposed to paying panarin to do what hes been doing his whole career

Other than that Id prefer to see suzuki and poehling playing rather than sign a mid level guy, but to add legit star power , I'm interested

 

 

[ramcharger440]

I don't know about a ufa, the more i look at the pool that is out there they don't really do much for me at least not the ones i think would actually come here. i think we will be making 1 or 2 trades and that may be it as far as impact guys go. we have a good core in fact i think it is a very good core we also have some spare forwards and some good talent coming up our big hole is #1 LHD and we need to be sure our backup is a winner and not a burnt out retread like some of our coaches have been and we will be in good shape. now all that being said if we can get someone who really does make us better for ok term and cap the for sure do it but don't handcuff us capwise.

[H_T_L]

My first priorities would be the D but otherwise the only guy I would overpay for would be Panarin. That's not to say I wouldn't welcome some of the other guys on our roster but not at some of the prices and term being speculated out there. Can't see Panarin coming our way but we can always dream.

[maas_art]

4 minutes ago, H_T_L said:

My first priorities would be the D but otherwise the only guy I would overpay for would be Panarin. That's not to say I wouldn't welcome some of the other guys on our roster but not at some of the prices and term being speculated out there. Can't see Panarin coming our way but we can always dream.

I guess the question is whether you can fix the LD by signing a top forward & then being able to trade away a guy like Drouin without much of a drop off.  

Right now we have a really nice balance of forwards.   Suzuki and Poehling should only add to that, as well as a summer of training for a guy like JK.  But if we move a guy like Drouin or Tatar - or even Danault - then we run into a hole.  If you sign a guy like Duchene, or Skinner, or best of all Panarin then at least one forward in the lineup is expendable. 

I dont think we're solving the LD problem by trading away a Hudon or Peca - or even a Shaw or a Byron but maybe there's a deal out there... 

[BigTed3]

To clarify based on the list I put up, I'm not saying I would sign these guys at what it's going to take, just that I would consider them at the right price and that I think they at least bode an ask on Bergevin's part about what it would take. If you call Duchene's agent and he won't budge off 7 years at 10M, then you hang up. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't ask.

In Karlsson's case, I think he should still be a target. Yes, he's getting up there in age, but I think he's a guy who will still be a top 10 D man in the league for another 5 years, maybe more. He's battled through injuries already and remained a top-tier player despite this. And he helps your offence incredibly by moving the puck up ice to forwards and being able to carry it through the neutral zone, two things our current D corps is not fantastic at. Long shot to come here, but if you sign Karlsson, ou absolutely turn around and look to be able to trade Weber or Petry for a #1 LHD.

I think Skinner could be a wonderful target for a similar reason, if he is willing to come here. He's a guy you can maybe get for 5-6 years at 7M a season, for example. Sign him, and then maybe you help your PP and maybe you can deal Drouin for a LHD. Anders Lee could be another option at an even cheaper rate than Skinner... things I think MB should at least explore.

[campabee82]

53 minutes ago, BigTed3 said:

To clarify based on the list I put up, I'm not saying I would sign these guys at what it's going to take, just that I would consider them at the right price and that I think they at least bode an ask on Bergevin's part about what it would take. If you call Duchene's agent and he won't budge off 7 years at 10M, then you hang up. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't ask.

In Karlsson's case, I think he should still be a target. Yes, he's getting up there in age, but I think he's a guy who will still be a top 10 D man in the league for another 5 years, maybe more. He's battled through injuries already and remained a top-tier player despite this. And he helps your offence incredibly by moving the puck up ice to forwards and being able to carry it through the neutral zone, two things our current D corps is not fantastic at. Long shot to come here, but if you sign Karlsson, ou absolutely turn around and look to be able to trade Weber or Petry for a #1 LHD.

I think Skinner could be a wonderful target for a similar reason, if he is willing to come here. He's a guy you can maybe get for 5-6 years at 7M a season, for example. Sign him, and then maybe you help your PP and maybe you can deal Drouin for a LHD. Anders Lee could be another option at an even cheaper rate than Skinner... things I think MB should at least explore.

Absolutely to be a GM you need to kick tire on UFA's and see who you can get to improve your team and at what price. I think you also have to try kicking tires for all the possible trades you can think of no matter how rediculous. That being said I would definitely see what Ehlers would take, maybe you get him for Lehkonen and Juulsen or Juulsen and a 2nd or 3rd or even Lehkonen and a 2nd or 3rd 

[tony5775]

I would take a look at Duchene and Brock Nelson up front and that would be all. On defense do not think over paying for Gardner or Edler would be worth it. Going to take a trade to get a competent LD with some offensive skill. 

Possibly bring Cam Ward in for the back up job. Have no faith in Lindgren at all.

[ramcharger440]

5 hours ago, tony5775 said:

I would take a look at Duchene and Brock Nelson up front and that would be all. On defense do not think over paying for Gardner or Edler would be worth it. Going to take a trade to get a competent LD with some offensive skill. 

Possibly bring Cam Ward in for the back up job. Have no faith in Lindgren at all.

Yep i feel pretty much the same way.

[caperns61]

6 hours ago, tony5775 said:

I would take a look at Duchene and Brock Nelson up front and that would be all. On defense do not think over paying for Gardner or Edler would be worth it. Going to take a trade to get a competent LD with some offensive skill. 

Possibly bring Cam Ward in for the back up job. Have no faith in Lindgren at all.

Duchene I wanted a few years ago for Glachenyk. I was near laughed off the site. I cannot imagine one person that would take Galchenyk over Duchene today . Well maybe BigTed3

Having said that though, i would not be interested in Duchene now. He has baggage, just like Droiun. He wanted out of Colorado, he wanted out of Ottawa. I think it would just give Julien more vets to sit the young ones. We would have Danualt, Domi and Duchene down the Middle. Where would KK be? Suzuki be? Poeling be? Our forwards are fine. KK another year older, hopefully the emergence of Poeling and Suzuki.Similar roles as KK this season.

We were 14th in the league goals scored not bad, 2 of the remaining 4 teams were just behind us at 15 and 16...

Of the 4 remaining teams in the playoffs 3 of those teams were in the top 8 for fewest goals given up. San Jose is the outlier however they were the second highest scoring team in the league. And I would bet on St Louis beating them in the Semi Finals

Our defence needs help period. I am betting on Julsen jumping right in again this season and being really good for us..

We suck on the left side and it could not be any more obvious that is our biggest issue. 

 

[habsisme]

7 minutes ago, caperns61 said:

Duchene I wanted a few years ago for Glachenyk. I was near laughed off the site. I cannot imagine one person that would take Galchenyk over Duchene today . Well maybe BigTed3

Having said that though, i would not be interested in Duchene now. He has baggage, just like Droiun. He wanted out of Colorado, he wanted out of Ottawa. I think it would just give Julien more vets to sit the young ones. We would have Danualt, Domi and Duchene down the Middle. Where would KK be? Suzuki be? Poeling be? Our forwards are fine. KK another year older, hopefully the emergence of Poeling and Suzuki.Similar roles as KK this season.

We were 14th in the league goals scored not bad, 2 of the remaining 4 teams were just behind us at 15 and 16...

Of the 4 remaining teams in the playoffs 3 of those teams were in the top 8 for fewest goals given up. San Jose is the outlier however they were the second highest scoring team in the league. And I would bet on St Louis beating them in the Semi Finals

Our defence needs help period. I am betting on Julsen jumping right in again this season and being really good for us..

We suck on the left side and it could not be any more obvious that is our biggest issue. 

 

agreed, the problem is how do we fix it? It's easy to blame MB but first there has to be a team willing to give one up and right now, I'm not certain there are any. Some have mentioned philly and Edmonton, and I could see it but I wouldn't be surprised if the other GM just hangs up. We may have to live with that hole for now. 

[BigTed3]

7 hours ago, tony5775 said:

I would take a look at Duchene and Brock Nelson up front and that would be all. On defense do not think over paying for Gardner or Edler would be worth it. Going to take a trade to get a competent LD with some offensive skill. 

Possibly bring Cam Ward in for the back up job. Have no faith in Lindgren at all.

 

2 hours ago, ramcharger440 said:

Yep i feel pretty much the same way.

Would be good with going after those two guys, but you really wouldn't go after others? Is that because you wouldn't pay them what you think they will ask for or because you don't see value in them? Personally, I'm intrigued by a guy like Skinner, who I think would be a cheaper alternative to Duchene and maybe a guy who fills a bigger need for us (goal scorer/sniper as opposed to center).

Let's say the players/agents are asking for the following:

- Duchene: 7 years at 8.25M per season

- Skinner: 6 years at 7.5M per season

- Karlsson: 7 years at 10.5M per season

- Lee: 5 years at 6.25M per season

- Nelson: 5 years at 5.75M per season

- Pavelski: 2 years at 8M per season

- Edler: 3 years at 6M per season

- Gardiner: 6 years at 6.5M per season

- Hayes: 4 years at 5M per season

- Eberle: 5 years at 6M per season

Just curious if those are the numbers whether you would balk at the two guys you mentioned or whether other players would interest you...

[habsisme]

2 minutes ago, BigTed3 said:

 

Would be good with going after those two guys, but you really wouldn't go after others? Is that because you wouldn't pay them what you think they will ask for or because you don't see value in them? Personally, I'm intrigued by a guy like Skinner, who I think would be a cheaper alternative to Duchene and maybe a guy who fills a bigger need for us (goal scorer/sniper as opposed to center).

Let's say the players/agents are asking for the following:

- Duchene: 7 years at 8.25M per season

- Skinner: 6 years at 7.5M per season

- Karlsson: 7 years at 10.5M per season

- Lee: 5 years at 6.25M per season

- Nelson: 5 years at 5.75M per season

- Pavelski: 2 years at 8M per season

- Edler: 3 years at 6M per season

- Gardiner: 6 years at 6.5M per season

- Hayes: 4 years at 5M per season

- Eberle: 5 years at 6M per season

Just curious if those are the numbers whether you would balk at the two guys you mentioned or whether other players would interest you...

not interest in Duch at all

At those numbers I would be interested in Skinner (okay for 7 years) and Edler (would prefer 2, but would do 3)

[BigTed3]

46 minutes ago, caperns61 said:

Duchene I wanted a few years ago for Glachenyk. I was near laughed off the site. I cannot imagine one person that would take Galchenyk over Duchene today . Well maybe BigTed3

Having said that though, i would not be interested in Duchene now. He has baggage, just like Droiun. He wanted out of Colorado, he wanted out of Ottawa. I think it would just give Julien more vets to sit the young ones. We would have Danualt, Domi and Duchene down the Middle. Where would KK be? Suzuki be? Poeling be? Our forwards are fine. KK another year older, hopefully the emergence of Poeling and Suzuki.Similar roles as KK this season.

We were 14th in the league goals scored not bad, 2 of the remaining 4 teams were just behind us at 15 and 16...

Of the 4 remaining teams in the playoffs 3 of those teams were in the top 8 for fewest goals given up. San Jose is the outlier however they were the second highest scoring team in the league. And I would bet on St Louis beating them in the Semi Finals

Our defence needs help period. I am betting on Julsen jumping right in again this season and being really good for us..

We suck on the left side and it could not be any more obvious that is our biggest issue. 

 

I know you like taking shots at Galchenyuk and at me (and anyone else who saw value in him). The truth is that I absolutely would still take Galchenyuk over Duchene today, knowing what each player brings and what they're going to need to be paid. My guess is that Duchene wants north of 8M on a 7-year pact, maybe more. I think Galchenyuk,in addition to still having another season at 4.9M, could probably be had for 5 years at 6-6.5M... Galchenyuk is younger, and Galchenyuk really fills more of a need for us right now. We have a decent projection down the middle as we are... Domi turned out really well, Kotkaniemi should be able to move into a top 6 role shortly, Danault is an excellent 3C, and Poehling can hopefully become a good asset too. Where I think we're lacking right now is in terms of players who can make the PP work with a great shot and in pure goal-scorers. That's AG.

I'm not really making a direct comparison of Duchene and AG though. If you asked me whether I want a 20-year old Duchene on my team or a 20-year old Galchenyuk, that's a different matter. But in terms of where each player was a year or two ago, I wouldn't have swapped AG for Duchene and I wouldn't do it now either. That said, I absolutely agree that Galchenyuk's progression really came to a standstill, albeit I see some of the fault for that lying with really poor development from his coaches and GM in Montreal. And if we're going to rank players, I would prefer to retain Domi right now than swap him back for AG, so I'm by no means stuck on AG above all else. If I'm ranking the players right now, I'd put Domi > Galchenyuk > Duchene > Drouin.

Funnily enough, I would be okay with going after Duchene now though... the wanting out of Ottawa doesn't bother me in the least. Karlsson also wanted out, and I'd take him too. Frankly, I think any sane player should have wanted out of that hole of a place, with an idiot clown as an owner. I'm more concerned about what kind of money he wants, but I'd take Duchene on my team any day if I could do it withou giving up assets in a trade.

I'm agreed with you on not wanting to give up Juulsen, I think he can be a nice cog here and I don't have confidence in Weber or Petry being top-end long-term, so I don't think we can just trade away our good young right-handed D men with the expectation Weber and Petry will hold up for 3-5 more years. The team should be building around the idea that Juulsen, Brook, Mete, and Romanov are key players towards forming a D corps down the line, and I'd much rather trade Weber or Petry or Drouin to fill a LHD hole, rather than dealing Juulsen.

 

[BigTed3]

15 minutes ago, habsisme said:

not interest in Duch at all

At those numbers I would be interested in Skinner (okay for 7 years) and Edler (would prefer 2, but would do 3)

Off my list, my interest for forwards at those contract numbers would be in order

1. Skinner

2. Eberle

3. Lee

4. Nelson

 

On D, I agree with you... I'd have interest in Edler but would probably only make the deal if it were for two years. At three years, I probably pass, and I don't see a good fit for Gardiner at that term. The trade route here seems like a better idea. But let's say for argument's sake that you sign Skinner. You could theoretically build a line-up like

 

Skinner-Domi-Suzuki

Tatar-Kotkaniemi-Gallagher

Lehkonen-Danault-Shaw

Byron-Poehling-Armia

 

and it frees up the ability to trade Drouin for a LHD. In theory, you could also go after an Eberle or Lee or so on and then have two assets (Drouin plus one of Tatar, Lehkonen, Byron, or Shaw) that you can make available in a trade to get a D asset. With the forward UFA pool being much more impressive, I maintain that the better route is to sign a scoring forward and set yourself up for a trade to get the LHD you need.

 

[habsisme]

1 minute ago, BigTed3 said:

Off my list, my interest for forwards at those contract numbers would be in order

1. Skinner

2. Eberle

3. Lee

4. Nelson

 

On D, I agree with you... I'd have interest in Edler but would probably only make the deal if it were for two years. At three years, I probably pass, and I don't see a good fit for Gardiner at that term. The trade route here seems like a better idea. But let's say for argument's sake that you sign Skinner. You could theoretically build a line-up like

 

Skinner-Domi-Suzuki

Tatar-Kotkaniemi-Gallagher

Lehkonen-Danault-Shaw

Byron-Poehling-Armia

 

and it frees up the ability to trade Drouin for a LHD. In theory, you could also go after an Eberle or Lee or so on and then have two assets (Drouin plus one of Tatar, Lehkonen, Byron, or Shaw) that you can make available in a trade to get a D asset. With the forward UFA pool being much more impressive, I maintain that the better route is to sign a scoring forward and set yourself up for a trade to get the LHD you need.

 

I definitely agree that in terms of UFAs, I think going after a good goal scorer would be helpful even if its not our most pressing need

[campabee82]

2 hours ago, BigTed3 said:

Off my list, my interest for forwards at those contract numbers would be in order

1. Skinner

2. Eberle

3. Lee

4. Nelson

 

On D, I agree with you... I'd have interest in Edler but would probably only make the deal if it were for two years. At three years, I probably pass, and I don't see a good fit for Gardiner at that term. The trade route here seems like a better idea. But let's say for argument's sake that you sign Skinner. You could theoretically build a line-up like

 

Skinner-Domi-Suzuki

Tatar-Kotkaniemi-Gallagher

Lehkonen-Danault-Shaw

Byron-Poehling-Armia

 

and it frees up the ability to trade Drouin for a LHD. In theory, you could also go after an Eberle or Lee or so on and then have two assets (Drouin plus one of Tatar, Lehkonen, Byron, or Shaw) that you can make available in a trade to get a D asset. With the forward UFA pool being much more impressive, I maintain that the better route is to sign a scoring forward and set yourself up for a trade to get the LHD you need.

 

I agree with the idea of signing Skinner and trading away Drouin. But would you really give Skinner to Domi and not Kotkaniemi? It seems to me a line of Tatar-Domi-Gallagher could be much more effective as they all play the in your face speed and skill game while still grinding it out in the corners which makes me believe they would all feed off each others energy. Plus putting Skinner-Kotkaniemi-Suzuki gives KK 2 wingers that can score making for a really scary true #1 line. Either way I like adding Skinner.

[tony5775]

13 hours ago, BigTed3 said:

 

Would be good with going after those two guys, but you really wouldn't go after others? Is that because you wouldn't pay them what you think they will ask for or because you don't see value in them? Personally, I'm intrigued by a guy like Skinner, who I think would be a cheaper alternative to Duchene and maybe a guy who fills a bigger need for us (goal scorer/sniper as opposed to center).

Let's say the players/agents are asking for the following:

- Duchene: 7 years at 8.25M per season

- Skinner: 6 years at 7.5M per season

- Karlsson: 7 years at 10.5M per season

- Lee: 5 years at 6.25M per season

- Nelson: 5 years at 5.75M per season

- Pavelski: 2 years at 8M per season

- Edler: 3 years at 6M per season

- Gardiner: 6 years at 6.5M per season

- Hayes: 4 years at 5M per season

- Eberle: 5 years at 6M per season

Just curious if those are the numbers whether you would balk at the two guys you mentioned or whether other players would interest you...

The reason is exactly that, do not see any value in over paying for anyone but the two I mentioned. Duchene is an elite talent and would be a star on the Habs. If the cost isn't crazy would pursue that. If Ottawa had not become such a joke, sure he would of resigned. 

Brock Nelson to me would be a perfect fit for Montreal. He is really coming in to his own. 6'3" forward who can play center or wing. Would compliment our present group.

Never liked Skinner, a huge defensive liability. As are most of the players on your list. Now a days most teams who have good players, lock them up and keep them happy. Tavares would be the exception. Teams have reasons for not locking up the players on this list before they become UFA's. 

[habsisme]

5 minutes ago, tony5775 said:

The reason is exactly that, do not see any value in over paying for anyone but the two I mentioned. Duchene is an elite talent and would be a star on the Habs. If the cost isn't crazy would pursue that. If Ottawa had not become such a joke, sure he would of resigned. 

Brock Nelson to me would be a perfect fit for Montreal. He is really coming in to his own. 6'3" forward who can play center or wing. Would compliment our present group.

Never liked Skinner, a huge defensive liability. As are most of the players on your list. Now a days most teams who have good players, lock them up and keep them happy. Tavares would be the exception. Teams have reasons for not locking up the players on this list before they become UFA's. 

Why do you think Duch is an elite talent? Take away his contract years and he's a reasonable second line talent to me