LGR4GM

So should we just not talk about the changes or look at them at all?

It's affordable for 1 year until Andersson wants 8 or 9 million a year. I just don't see the appeal when we need a top 6 player, that's where I would use assets.

Im not that interested in Andersson now

They want a slightly used Byram instead? It's like new after a delta sonic wash and detail.

Did the success of McLeod and the addition of Ruff open the door to give Ventura and Karmanos mor cache in the overall conversations around the team? I keep wondering if McLeod being good really opened up Adams to the idea that analytics does work and it doesn't have to be all his internal feels.

Well, since last June we have seen what? Cozens (who was atrocious) out for Norris and Bernard-Docker (adv Norris) Peterka (who was not great defensively) out for Kesselring and Doan (adv Peterka) Clifton out for Timmins So are we better without Cozens, Peterka, Clifton and bringing in Kesselring, Doan, Norris, Bernard-Docker, and Timmins

I really like this Voronkov idea. How do we get that guy?

Interestingly, Kesselring played 701toi with Ian Cole at 5v5. He managed a 53.53cf%, 52.85xgf%, and 58.37hdcf% Without him (so everyone else) he played 608toi with 54.35cf%, 55.64xgf%, and 54.31hdcf% Me thinks we do not value Kesselring as much as we probably should. Or Columbus was a lot worse than Utah which I am not sure I believe.

I wonder if Benson got top line work because Ruff got fed up with Peterka's d-zone play.

I like Bedkowski and EP being higher on him gives me some hope as I find that they are really detailed oriented when it comes to how they build their stuff. That said, unless he works hard on making sure he can take pucks away and either skate or pass them out of his own zone, aka facilitate zone retrievals, he's not gonna make it very far. He's got some skill though, so if we let him sit for a couple of years, might really have a hard nosed defender at the end.

Better yet... trade Byram for Provorov's rights and Voronkov and a 2026 2nd. Make it on the condition Prov signs a 5yr 7mil contract extension. It is less than he would get with UFA but maybe if you get exclusive rights to sign him he feels really wanted and would want to come play with Voronkov and Dahlin. I don't love Provorov tbh. He gets hard minutes and is just okayish at them. He's got a ton of turnover as well but they aren't tracked well. Provorov played 356 minutes with Werenski and was at 52.77% corsi and 51.63%xGF. Ivan played 1178 minutes with everyone else and was 46.38cf% and 44.84xgf% at 5v5. These numbers are very similar to Byram away from Dahlin. Why not just pay Byram 7x5yrs and keep him with Dahlin. He is the same thing with probably more upside.

100% agree. Without a goalie fix, not sure any of the rest of this matters at all. Ottawa and Montreal jumped over us because they got better goaltending.

Are we? Dylan Cozens shot at 7.9% last year and Josh Norris shoots at 18.1% for his career average. Jiri Kulich shot at 11.2 but only played 62 games. Zach Benson shot at 8.3% I get it, Peterka's 27g is something ppl are worried about replacing but flipping Cozens for Norris probably replaces half of them straight up. Norris getting 24g compared to Cozens 11 doesn't seem far fetched. That leaves about 13g between Kulich, Benson, Quinn, and Doan. And that's if we are that worried about last years goal total. I hate agreeing with Adams, but I am just not convinced this team actually has lost that much scoring.

We can fix the Leinonen draft pick f-up!

I think this is bad math. You would want to look at average salary of defenders and go from there. Idk if it would move it up or down but I would guess down. Hague isn't worth 5.5 a year in the same way Samuelsson isn't worth 4.3, at least IMPO

I checked the Amerks site, they list him at 6'4" 208lbs

Linus Ullmark's sv% since 2019 .915 .917 .917 .938 .915 .909 I mean idk what you're even talking about. Upl has only ever eclipsed .900 for a full season once with a .910 the year Ullmark had the .915.

Any time anyone talks about Benson not being hard to play against you get a thumbs dumb.

Even crazier when none are under 6'2" and 3 are 6'5" or taller.

Hey I'm all for trying to get Robertson. I think your extension avg is probably really close too.

I don't think you can get Robertson for that trade offer. There's no way McLeod signs a contract for only 3yrs at 10 million. He's going to command at least 4.5 million a year.

No. Alex Tuchs deal is not tied to a move that clears cap before Tuchs new deal would hit the cap. Tuch is signed for this season anyways.

good watch with a breakdown of everyone's game

One more thing. It's now totally false to talk about 6'5" and 6'6" defenders is some special unique unicorn thing that only comes along once in a blue moon. Maybe 5 or 10yrs ago, but now the league is littered with them. Buffalo has power, Kesselring, Bedkowski, mrtka, and kleber around who fit that category.

Idk where it is but someone talked about Mrtka being Power (in a negative) and I don't see that happening. Owen Power defers constantly when playing. He waits for this things to come to him, he is very passive in style, and when he does get aggressive and demand pucks it's just on rushes. The biggest issue Power has isn't physicality, it's his mindset of passive defending. Mrtka doesn't defend like that or play offense like that. I don't see a similar style in how they defend or attack. Mrtka and Risto are better comps because mrtka has some bad passes at times and bad reads. Hedman is the other comp I see. There's also a lot of smart play ending skills that end up in breakouts. He's got creative ideas in the offensive zone although, he's not near Hedman level. Basically he's somewhere between the two. He only played half a season in NA and on a team he carried. Next year will be fascinating to see how much his game improves.