Best possible roster under $57M?

[Josh]

Re-Sign:
Michalek @ $4.3M
Lehner @ $1M
Da Costa @ $1M

Sign:
Moulson @ $3.5M
Niskanen @ $3M

Trade:
Spezza + Condra to Florida for
Brad Boyes + 2014 1st

Matt Moulson - Kyle Turris - Bobby Ryan
Clarke MacArthur - Mika Zibanejad - Brad Boyes
Milan Michalek - Stephane Da Costa - Mark Stone
Colin Greening - Zack Smith - Chris Neil
Jean-Gabriel Pageau

Marc Methot - Erik Karlsson
Jared Cowen - Matt Niskanen
Chris Phillips - Cody Ceci
Patrick Wiercioch

Craig Anderson
Robin Lehner

[Victor]

Re: Best possible roster under $57M?

and select whom with that 1st overall pick?

[Josh]

Re: Best possible roster under $57M?

and select whom with that 1st overall pick?

I know this won't be a popular opinion, but I go for William Nylander.

[Alfie11]

Re: Best possible roster under $57M?

With the 1st overall I'm not sure who I would pick. Ekblad would fill a need and looks promising, but it's been said and shown countless times that taking a D first overall is not a wise move. But you'd have to think whoever would get selected by us would be on the roster, no?

[Victor]

Re: Best possible roster under $57M?

Any draft pick for an established center is a risky trade. Even 1st overall.

[Josh]

Re: Best possible roster under $57M?

With the 1st overall I'm not sure who I would pick. Ekblad would fill a need and looks promising, but it's been said and shown countless times that taking a D first overall is not a wise move. But you'd have to think whoever would get selected by us would be on the roster, no?

Well, the D would end up being:

Marc Methot - Erik Karlsson
Jared Cowen - Cody Ceci
Chris Phillips - Aaron Ekblad
Patrick Wiercioch

I'm not sure I like a Cowen/Ceci pairing very much, but I guess we gotta' believe in Cowen if we're keeping him. It does definitely help the budget to not sign Niskanen, and I was told on HF that Moulson can get up to $5M so we need the extra money to be able to offer $5.5M. That also leaves room for Ekblad's ELC. I need to find a spot for Hoffman on my roster. I definitely think Lazar should stay down another year.

[Alfie11]

Re: Best possible roster under $57M?

We have quite the issue with defense. The defense sucks, but a large part of that is age and inexperience. We kind of threw a lot of the players into the spotlight right away and it's tough on them. You'd think they'll be good in a couple years time, but in the present it doesn't look too good. I think Cowen tops out as a second pairing defenseman. He has good foot speed and mobility for his size but I question his hockey IQ. I think he may top out as a Coburn-type player.

Would you rather pick a C or D, Josh? I know with 1st overall you should pick best player available, but it seems to even and split with a few prospects up there. With Zibanejad, Lazar and Turris for the future I don't think we need another C, but we might need a game-breaker which I'm not sure either of those have the ability to, but Nylander and Reinhart seem to.

I think it's going to be hard to not put Lazar on the roster but there's little choice. He's done pretty much everything in junior now, I guess another WJC will be good for him. I think we're really missing a player like him who does so many little things well. He reminds me of a Bergeron-type guy.

[Josh]

Re: Best possible roster under $57M?

I'd draft a winger or defenseman. Nylander or Ekblad. Can we get Lazar into the AHL next season?

[Josh]

Re: Best possible roster under $57M?

OK, so I was definitely not being generous enough with salaries in my earlier post. I think I've fixed that and made an even better team:

Re-Sign:
Gryba @ $2.5M
Lehner @ $1.7M
Da Costa @ $1.2M
Hoffman @ $1.2M

Sign:
Moulson @ $5.5M
Ekblad @ $0.925M

Trade:
Spezza + Condra + 2015 3rd
to Florida for Boyes + 2014 1st

Borowiecki + Prince + Wiercioch + 2014 2nd
to Buffalo for Ehrhoff

Phillips
to Edmonton for 2014 3rd

Draft: Aaron Ekblad

Matt Moulson ($5.5M) - Kyle Turris ($3.5M) - Bobby Ryan ($5.1M)
Clarke MacArthur ($3.25M) - Mika Zibanejad ($0.894M) - Brad Boyes ($2.625M)
Mike Hoffman ($1.2M) - Stephane Da Costa ($1.2M) - Mark Stone ($0.603M)
Colin Greening ($2.65M) - Zack Smith ($1.888M) - Chris Neil ($1.9M)
Jean-Gabriel Pageau ($0.613M)

Christian Ehrhoff ($4M) - Erik Karlsson ($6.5M)
Jared Cowen ($3.1M) - Cody Ceci ($0.894M)
Marc Methot ($3M) - Aaron Ekblad ($0.925M)
Eric Gryba ($2.5M)

Craig Anderson ($3.188M)
Robin Lehner ($1.7M)

PAYROLL: $56,730,000
CAP SPACE: $14,370,000

[Victor]

Re: Best possible roster under $57M?

Ehrhoff-Karlsson sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. And that trade to Buffalo only seems to be helping Tim Murray. Don't rate Ehrhoff at all.

[Alfie11]

Re: Best possible roster under $57M?

I'd draft a winger or defenseman. Nylander or Ekblad. Can we get Lazar into the AHL next season?

I believe Nylander is a C...I believe the top forwards in this draft are all centres.

As for Lazar, I don't think so. He has to either be 20 by the cut-off day (which is some time in September or October) which he will not be, or have played four years in junior. He's played three years and one year of six games, which I do not believe has counted.

Personally, I believe Lazar is NHL ready for a top nine role. I don't think he'd be lighting the NHL on fire, or even scoring at a great pace. He won't get many points yet, but he'll do a lot of things to help this team win games. I agree that some AHL tuning could really help him, but it looks like it's junior or NHL for him. I guess he could go and dominate the WHL.

[Josh]

Re: Best possible roster under $57M?

I'd draft a winger or defenseman. Nylander or Ekblad. Can we get Lazar into the AHL next season?

I believe Nylander is a C...I believe the top forwards in this draft are all centres.

As for Lazar, I don't think so. He has to either be 20 by the cut-off day (which is some time in September or October) which he will not be, or have played four years in junior. He's played three years and one year of six games, which I do not believe has counted.

Personally, I believe Lazar is NHL ready for a top nine role. I don't think he'd be lighting the NHL on fire, or even scoring at a great pace. He won't get many points yet, but he'll do a lot of things to help this team win games. I agree that some AHL tuning could really help him, but it looks like it's junior or NHL for him. I guess he could go and dominate the WHL.

What I'm concerned with is, if he's really NHL ready, why didn't he dominate the WHL last year?

[Alfie11]

Re: Best possible roster under $57M?

As I said, in a top nine role because I believe he wouldn't score a ton but he would contribute a lot when not scoring (while scoring at a small pace).

[matchesmalone]

Re: Best possible roster under $57M?

OK, a few things.

I don't see any possible way Dale Talon moves the first overall pick for Spezza. Why trade a likely future superstar, who is just 18, for a borderline elite now 30 year-old? And Tallon, of all people, who picked Kane first overall and Toews third overall, knows just how valuable those first couple picks are.

Also, I wouldn't take Nylander with the first pick. His talent-level and potential are enormous. There's a chance this kid could be the next Peter Forsberg. But how much of a chance? That's a lot harder to say. Bennett, Draisaitl, Ekblad and Reinhart are all safer picks with some elite potential. Bennett is a lock to play in the NHL, but whether it will be as a Martin Lapointe or a Pat Verbeek, I'm not sure. I've seen Draisaitl play a lot, and I would very seriously consider picking him first overall. He reminds me of Matt Duchene, but I've heard a few comparisons to Anze Kopitar. The Kopitar one seemed strange, considering he's not as tall as Kopitar, but after watching a bunch more L.A. games this spring, I can definitely see it. Ekblad looks like the next Brent Seabrook, but teams are so hesitant to pick defensemen first overall these days, and rightfully so. This is why I think Sam Reinhart will end up going first overall. The big edge he has, is that like all of the very best forwards in the NHL today - Crosby, Toews, Datsyuk, Kopitar, Getzlaf - he is going to be a great defensive forward, on top of being elite offensively. Remember who Team Canada had out as the lone forward on 3 on 5s at the WJCs last year, and at just 17.

As for Lazar, I would argue that he did dominate. I think a lot of people who didn't follow the Oil Kings this year don't realize that Lazar and Samuelsson were almost always used on separate lines in order to spread the offense. And it worked. Lazar's line was used largely in a defensive role, and yet he still was third in the league in +/- when he left for the World Juniors. And his point totals jumped from 61 in 72 games to 76 in 58, which projects to 94 points over a full 72-game season. And most of that time missed was for World Juniors, where at just 18, he was already arguably Canada's best player. His playoff scoring doesn't look so impressive at first glance, but a lot of his goals were big goals at key times in big games. His shorthanded go-ahead goal in game seven against Portland, his triple overtime winner in the Mem Cup semi-final, and during the regular season he was just ninth in the league in goals, but third in game winning goals; kid has clutch written all over him.

The big question is, should Lazar play in the NHL next year? For me, the answer would be no, unless he absolutely astonishes at camp and steals a spot. The big thing Lazar needs to work on right now is size and strength. After just winning a Memorial Cup, and having gone through three straight years of full four rounds of WHL playoffs, he's never had and again this year won't have a full summer to rejuvenate from the long season and spend a lot of time in the gym. As long as they still have Lazar and Jarry, Edmonton will be a very good team next year, but losing Samuelsson and Griffin Reinhart should ensure they won't be in the Mem Cup again, which would give him a full summer of bulking up next year. So I'd say let him go back to Edmonton, become captain there and he'll also captain Canada's World Junior team (that's not a prediction, by the way, but a guarantee), let him have a year as the sole major offensive weapon; it will be a great chance for him to round out his game by working at adding the one aspect to his offensive game that he takes a lot of criticism for lacking - the ability to make those around him better. He already showed hints of it this year, with two of his regular linemates over-performing: Mitch Moroz, who's never been more than a mucker and grinder, managed 35 goals, and an enormous breakout from his most regular linemate, 18 year old Brett Pollock, who jumped from 4 points in 40 games to 55 in 71.

[Matt the Aussie]

Re: Best possible roster under $57M?

I don't see any scenario where Spezza gets us the first overall pick. Hell, I have doubts Spezza would land a first round pick, espeically with most everybody already agreeing he's not coming back to Ottawa next season. Trade value is down.