Rosterbating with Winnipeg is CRAZY this offseason... So much open cap space to fuck with...
They have only 15 NHLers under contract for next season, currently totaling out at 35.9 million... Meaning they have to spend around 12.1 just to get to the cap FLOOR, and somewhere around 28.1mm of total room to splurge with.
Right off the bat, I figure they'll Re-Sign Ladd and Wheeler, to their forward group, and I'll assume that Andrew Ladd commands somewhere around 4-4.5m.. maybe 5m. and Blake Wheeler will go for around 2.5-3m.
Ladd is their captain, off a balanced, successful 29 goal, 59 point season, which is great for a top 6 forward, and was 2nd on the team in Corsi relative - meaning he was a great possession player, and got shots on net. He's like a poor-man's Jordan Staal - he's put up similar offence with this team than Staal did with a much more talented Pittsburgh club. Staal makes 4 million currently.
Their Defense is mostly shored up, really... Byfuglien, Hainsey, Enstrom, Oduya, and Mark Stuart make up their signed 5 guys on D, and Zach Bogosian is an RFA currently making 3.3mm, and all the potential in the world, being he was born in 1990... and an extremely highly touted prospect. Lets just say they resign him for like 4m or so for this example...
Goalie's are pretty much set, with Mason and Pavelec are signed through next year, and they have a few good backstop prospects like Pasquale and Carozzi. Pavelec's pretty dang good though, once he went out, the team fell straight out of the hunt again.
Assume that Ladd, Wheeler, and Bogosian, to be re-signed costs in the neighborhood of 13m That gets you to the floor, you have your defense mostly shored up, with 6 guys signed through at least next season, and 5 of them beyond that... and you can go sorta crazy with UFA's this offseason.
That leaves you with room to figure out who you MIGHT want to keep...
the other 5 NHL forward free agents are Ben Maxwell, Rob Schremp, Anthony Stewart, Radek Dvorak, and Eric Boulton.
First things first. Dont resign Dvorak or Boulton. Dvorak is terrible, doesnt add anything to your team, except maybe some oft experience, and is now older, diminishing, and injury prone. Boulton is a goon who has extremely little upside other than the fact that he can punch people in the face really hard, but even for a 4th liner you want a guy who can score more than .1 points per game, even if he is a goon
(Example of a goonish 4th liner you might want - I know Vancouver now hates his guts, but Ben Eager of the Sharks, can goon it up and fight you into the building's foundations, but can also turn on the speed, and score some pretty sweet goals when he needs to - this is the type of 'good' goon you might want to find in the offseason if you're interested in such a player)
Anthony Stewart and Ben Maxwell both have more upside.
Anthony Stewart is a capable scoring, big bodied guy who fits in ok on the 4th line especially. he had 14 goals and 39 points, which is serviceable, and he has some upside, but he's bad defensively and kinda slow, and only really showed a lot of promise on the power play. He can be let go, but if retained has at least SOME potential, unlike Dvorak or Boulton. The RW class in this free agent grouping isn't too good though, so they might want to keep him anyways.
Ben Maxwell is only 23, and was a former 2nd round pick for MTL. He has produced well at the AHL level, and only played in 12 games in ATL last year, so I'd say it's a safe bet to keep him around, especially if he can improve at center, and give WPG options there... if not, it's to Left Wing he goes, and maybe he can shine there. Who knows. Either way, he's got upside that you want to keep around.
Rob Schremp, I'm on the fence with...
On one hand, you have a guy who has INSANE stickhandling skills, and can make some pretty sweet plays..
On the other hand? You have a centerman who's mediocre in the circle, and downright terrible in the defensive end. For a guy who's not making the top 2 scoring lines, I wouldn't expect heaps out of him.
However... He's still 24, only played a few games with this club, and his offensive skills might be useful enough for WPG to find enough upside in keeping him to sign him to a low cost contract to give him a chance for another year.
Then, for your other D FA's. you have Festerling and Fred Meyer (no, not the Walmart of the PNW..).
Freddy Meyer has bounced around a lot, and played a few years for the Islanders, till he came over to Atlanta last year. He hasn't been super impressive over his career and has seen lots of AHL time outside of NYI. Looks like he probably got signed by MODO though, so he's heading over to Europe next season... so why bother with examining him past that - he's good over there, but not prime NHL talent.
Festerling has SOME upside, being a little younger, but he's still not something WPG should waste their time on. He's just going to clog up St. Johns with another guy preventing WPG's prospects from getting more ice time, and you dont need that...
So, after all that, this leaves you with something like this...
Andrew Ladd - Brian Little - Blake Wheeler
Evander Kane - Nik Antropov - Anthony Stewart?
Patrice Cormier? - Jim Slater - Chris Thorburn?
Ben Maxwell - Alex Burmistrov - Tim Stapleton?
Byfuglien - Hainsey
Enstrom - Oduya
Stuart - Bogosian
This leaves room to sign 2 forwards and a Dman in Free agency to fill out the list - and you're only a little bit above the cap floor. This gives you room to sign a plethora of guys to fill spots. only 3 remain if you look at it with this lineup, but with at least 3 or 4 of the forward spots available to be dropped into the AHL ranks (say, Cormier, Maxwell, Burmistrov, and Stapleton) you can easily sign 6 or so forwards with far more quality than the aformentioned. Then, with the ability to make Stuart into a 7th D-man, you could essentially sign a 7th or 8th guy to shore up the ranks with a pretty good Defensive backbone.
So many options out there to fill spots with, and so much cap space.
Now, we ROSTERBATE.
Center and Right Wing are the most pressing concearns on this lineup, so I'm going to start with center, and hope I can move Nik Antropov over to Right Wing, where I feel he'd be a lot more comfortable as a playmaker - he's not the best in the faceoff circle, anyways, but he could perhaps fill in if someone gets bumped, if he's moved over there.
I'm going to ignore the Brad Richards, Brooks Laich and Simon Gagne sitting in my sights on the UFA list... those guys are the top three most sought after forward UFA's and they will be overpaid by larger markets. Good riddance... they wont work.
However, with demand at the center position, guys like Tim Connolly, Jason Arnott, Scott Nichol, and Marcel Goc on the table... they could pick up someone who's got some upside.
Connolly - Injury prone, but has proven pretty decent in Buffalo. Good PK guy who knows how to deliver passes, and has good %'s in the faceoff circle - lots of upside here if he plays well.
Arnott - Wrong side of 35, but has lots of experience, and is due for at least 40-50 points depending on which line he's sat on. Could fill a good hole, and if a cup-contender doesn't want his services, he could do well in the Peg.
Nichol - Also the wrong side of 35, and coming off a season where he had a torn labrum, but he's a great 4th line guy who will win you faceoffs in the defensive zone (something Winnipeg doesnt have at all), and who can bring some energy to the team - plus he's league - minimum kinda material, so why not, when if he DOES get hurt, it doesnt cost you much and you give room for a prospect to play.
Marcel Goc - Has developed into a solid player in Nashville, is under 30 still, but off the radar, as he's not quite 2nd line material, but a decent 3rd liner for sure with lots of years to play.
Something there might just work.
then for Right wing.
Michael Ryder, Marco Sturm, Eric Cole.
All of these guys are on the wrong side of 30, and Sturm is especially injury prone, but are good 2 way guys who would play good minutes on the top 2 lines.
Ryder's a good 2 way scorer who has a few good years left in him. He's able to play top minutes, and he's off a cup win. He'll probably command more than Winnipeg could want out of him, but he's a guy who's able to score. Get a guy like Connolly and him on board, and you could have some good experience and a playmaker who dishes it well to his scorer.
Eric Cole's a lot like Ryder, but a little older at 32, and maybe more obtainable, perhaps. He's off a 26 goal season, and also has his name on the cup from 2006. He's a good experienced player who'd be a good addition.
Sturm's even older still, but a good 2 way forward when healthy. He has a reconstructed knee, so he might actually be more obtainable than the other two guys, as most teams will take a flier on his services, but with the guys who can come in and fill in spots already, Marco Sturm wouldn't be a bad bet to try out on this team. He was playing well at the end of the season with Washington, i'd consider trying him.
As for Left wing, Defense and Goalie? I wouldnt really mess around too much. D and G are not priorities, and Left Wing is solid with Ladd and Kane holding the top 2 spots. there's also an abundance of affordable lower line left wingers out there, so at the most snag a guy like Ruslan Fedotenko to fill a needed hole.
After my rosterbation, here's what i'll peg the team at.
F
Ladd 4.5m - Connolly 5m - Antropov 4m
Kane 3.1m - Little 2.4m - Wheeler 3m
Fedotenko 950k - Slater 1m - Stewart 1m
Maxwell 900k - Nichol 525k - Thorburn 866k
D
Byfuglien 5.2m - Hainsey - 4.5m
Enstrom 3.75m - Bogosian 4m
Oduya 3.5m - Stuart 1.7m
G
Mason 1.85m
Pavelec 1.15m
Burmistrov 1.5m/Cormier 854k/Zubarev 825k (rotate these 3 for scratches - I kicked Stapleton back to the AHL in this case)
At most, this lineup would cost 56.070 million.Leaving 7.93m open. It would have a good balance of veterans, and leave room for prospects to come up - many of which are mostly really young.
It would compete well I feel, because you need veterans who know how to deal with road travels for next year - as the team's going to be playing 12 games in the southeast USA, and most of the rest of their road games on the east coast, in an earlier time zone.
Playoff potential? Probably not, but a good first season could come of it for sure.
Sean's bored during baseball season...
