Archives for April 2018

The first mailbag for the month of April takes a look at several Metropolitan Division squads, impact college signings, and an intriguing hypothetical for the Golden Knights.

FortArnold: What’s your take on Dave Hakstol? I think most Flyers fans are unhappy with him. He did give Couturier a chance to excel as the team’s top center. Giroux moving left wing has worked out but I would chalk up his health as a major reason for the resurgence as well. Gostisbehere recovered from the same surgery with a similar trajectory. Beyond that, it seems like he slows their young players’ progression in favor of inept veterans. The team struggles against inferior teams and he as a coach seems to lack the ability to shift the momentum of a game like a Laviolette. Special teams are inept which doesn’t completely fall on him but still is an issue. Heck, North Dakota didn’t win a championship until after he left.

Philadelphia’s tendency to go on a long winning streak and follow that up with a long losing stretch (or vice versa) has been rather befuddling.  It’s fair to put some of that blame on Hakstol as most teams don’t do that and the Flyers do with some regularity.

However, I don’t think he has done a particularly poor job overall.  While he may prefer veterans more than some fans would like, the same could be said for a lot of coaches around the league.  Most coaches are cautious by nature and will opt to go with the safer (veteran) option more often than not.

That said, he has done well integrating a lot of young players into the lineup pretty quickly.  This is a team that has seven of their top 11 scorers aged 25 or younger while players like Ivan Provorov, Shayne Gostisbehere, and Travis Konecny are making big impacts early in their careers.  Nolan Patrick has even been allowed to develop at a nice, gradual pace which is a luxury that isn’t often afforded to top picks.  I suspect the Flyers will reap the benefits of that next season.

Ron Hextall as a manager appears to be quite patient with his team building.  He has been content to build slowly and steadily so I imagine that will be the case with Hakstol as well, especially since they’re on their way to the postseason once again.

hurricane johnny: What’s up with the Canes? Not one ELC to date. Also, with McKeown, Zykov, Foegele, and possibly Fleury being assigned to Charlotte for the Calder Cup playoffs, what do you think the chances are of them going all the way?

mikedickinson: Hurricanes GM? What the heck is going on with it? Also, and chance Tavares comes to Raleigh this summer? They’ve got the owner with deep pockets….

The 50-contract limit doesn’t get a lot of attention but this is one time of the year where it makes a difference.  The ‘Canes sit just one below the maximum which makes it difficult to offer a contract that begins this season.  That will take them out of the race for some of the more prominent college free agents.  What also doesn’t help is not having a general manager – who has the authority to make a roster move right now?  Don Waddell (or even Ron Francis) may like a prospect but the eventual new GM may not so I’m not too surprised they’re inactive at this point in the UDFA market.  As for the Checkers, they’ll get reinforcements but Lehigh Valley (their likely first opponent) is going to be a tough out, especially with Anthony Stolarz now back in goal.

As for their GM search, things have quieted down for now and that’s not necessarily a bad thing (other than possibly hamstringing them in the prospect free agent market at the moment).  With so many of the candidates publicly withdrawing, Thomas Dundon needs to rethink his strategy.  Obviously, there is something that the people being interviewed aren’t liking so Dundon needs to decide if he wants to change what’s being offered (in terms of role, decision-making authority, salary, etc).  I’m sure Carolina will make a run at John Tavares but there are other teams that have deep pockets and plenty of cap room as well.  Leaving the Islanders (a fringe playoff team) for the Hurricanes (another fringe team) doesn’t seem like too likely of a move at this time, however.

Connorsoxfan: Could Vegas pull off getting Karlsson and Tavares if they aren’t forced to take on Bobby Ryan?

With the salary cap expected to jump a bit next year and the fact that players like James Neal and Mikhail Grabovski ($5MM each) are off the books, they could make it work financially.  However, I don’t think Vegas gets Erik Karlsson without taking on Ryan’s contract.

The Golden Knights don’t have the deepest of systems thanks to this being just their first year in the league.  Not having a first or third-rounder this season won’t help that either.  That’s why Ryan’s inclusion was very important to Ottawa from their talks back in February.  They wouldn’t get the prospect capital in return that they could have got from other teams but getting Ryan’s contract off the books would have at least freed up some other possibilities.

As for Tavares and Vegas, I don’t think that idea has gotten enough attention; they haven’t been among the teams bandied about as possible destinations if he decides to go elsewhere.  If they have a good run in the postseason, they’re going to be an attractive option for a lot of free agents and that would certainly catch the eye of Tavares.

@twin1todd: Who is the college post-tournament player that will make the biggest impact for their team getting to the playoffs?

Right now, it’s hard not to pick Ryan Donato in Boston.  Not only has he held his own, he has thrived so far.  They’re a pretty deep team up front and for him to step into a top-six role and not miss a beat is quite impressive.  Even when they get all of their players back, it’s hard to see him really falling out of the top-nine for the postseason.  I can’t see him maintaining a point-per-game pace like he is through his first seven regular season contests but he should still play an important role.

If Anaheim can hold onto a playoff spot, I could see Troy Terry playing a regular role for the Ducks in the postseason, though it may be more of a depth one.  He has produced in big games before so it wouldn’t be surprising to see him be a factor at some point.  Adding him and Jason Chimera (back at the deadline) gives them a much-improved speed element which should come in handy in the postseason.

Walter T: NYR have four RFA forwards in Hayes, Namestnikov, Spooner and Vesey. Who do you think they sign long-term and do you see them trading any of them? Thanks.

Considering the way Vladislav Namestnikov was playing when he came over from Tampa Bay, I’d have called him a lock for a long-term deal this summer.  However, he hasn’t played all that well in New York which complicates things a little bit.  If they’re not sold on him rebounding to his form with the Lightning next season, I could see them looking at a one-year deal for him.  If, however, they believe this drop is just a blip and that he’ll be fine with a full offseason and training camp under his belt, then he’s the most likely of the group to sign a lengthy deal.

Kevin Hayes has been a fairly steady middle-six player for the past several years and should earn a nice raise on his $2.6MM salary this season.  The question becomes, is he a core player, or just a nice middle-six fit?  If it’s the latter, signing players like that to long-term, big money contracts are the types of deals that can come back to haunt teams down the road.  I don’t think they’ll go year-to-year with him but he’s not getting a contract of six or more years either.  Three or four, a term that buys out a bit of UFA time while keeping the cap hit reasonable, seems like the way to go.

It’s a similar question for Ryan Spooner although his track record is a little more erratic.  I don’t think a six-week stretch is enough to make him part of the core so, like Hayes, a deal that buys out a year or two of UFA rights is about as far as I think GM Jeff Gorton would go.  Spooner is only a year away from UFA eligibility so a two or three-year pact may be the end result.  As for Jimmy Vesey, players in his role aren’t ones teams should be signing to big contracts.  The true ‘bridge deal’ isn’t really available since he’s only two years away from UFA eligibility but I think they’d like to give him one more year before deciding whether or not he’s worth committing to long-term or if he’s more of an expendable player.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.