JotCast | PHR Live Chat: 7/3/24

PHR Live Chat: 7/3/24

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Josh Erickson

2:24

Eh. Could've and should've gotten more for Chychrun. Joseph could've been dumped for free if Dallas was able to get rid of a worse value contract in Faksa for free.

I like the Pinto bridge deal, though.

2:25

You win some, you lose some. If you run 50/50 on those types of moves, your ability to draft well usually makes the difference. Unfortunately, they're one of the worst-drafting teams of the past three years, IMO.

Time to celebrini

2:25

Thoughts on the sharks off-season so far?

Josh Erickson

2:26

They had a great draft for the second year in a row. Really promising sign. Love the Dickinson and Chernyshov picks.

Their main goal should've been to just get warm bodies to avoid over-taxing the kids. They've done that quite well. No real complaints from me.

2:27

Hard to get mad about a Wennberg overpay when he'll be off the team by the time they're even close to thinking about playoffs.

Laine

2:27

Where am I going and how much will CBJ be able to get for me?

Josh Erickson

2:27

There's really nothing new, and we won't get any credible rumblings until he's out of the player assistance program.

2:28

Still too early to gauge if the market deems him a low-return player or someone Columbus will need to give up assets to move.

Don't think he nets anything considerable, though. The Kuznetsov trade is comparable, he netted Washington a third-rounder.

2:29

And that was WITH them retaining half his salary.

RocktheRed8

2:29

Are the Caps now a playoff team or do they still need to do more?

Josh Erickson

2:29

Well, they were a playoff team last season, and they're a better team now than they were a few months ago.

The question is whether all their swaps and additions are enough to offset the inevitable regression that was coming with so many one-goal wins.

2:30

I do think they'll be solidly in the mix for a wild card spot, though.

Come Sail Away

2:30

Any thoughts on Ron Francis bucking past trends and cannonballing into the free agent pool with his signings of Montour and Stephenson?

Josh Erickson

2:31

I love it! I will proudly shout out our writing team for correctly predicting the Stephenson landing spot on our Top 50 UFAs voting.

2:32

They certainly make their team better, and they desperately needed another puck-mover on D. Mission accomplished there.

2:33

If Stephenson is 2020-2023 Chandler Stephenson, that's a good deal too, at least at the front end. If he ends up being the Stephenson we saw last season... that'll be tough.

2:34

I think they're in a slightly-improved spot and certainly have a better chance at playoffs than they did last season. Just don't think any championship aspirations are legitimate until Beniers and Wright really hit their stride.

Gbear

2:34

Any chance Tarasenko stays in Florida?

Josh Erickson

2:35

Slim to none. They're capped out and have less than $1MM in space left. That increases to about $2MM if they bury Knight in the minors, but I still think he'll get more somewhere else.

2:35

Any suggestions for Carolina’s top 6? Would you keep Necas or try to move him?

Josh Erickson

2:35

With how many goals that just went out the door, I struggle to see the argument for moving him now. Try again next summer.

2:36

Even most of the cheap, unproven but high-reward type guys came off the board on 7/1. Easily the most insane day I've ever covered. Not sure who else makes sense for them that's left on the market other than Tarasenko. Daniel Sprong would look good there, too.

THAT'S who I was thinking of that Detroit lost, haha. Not "lost" yet, but if he was going back, you'd figure it would have happened already.

Merchant Ship

2:37

Do you see the Kraken making any more roster upgrades? Feels like they could use another goalscoring winger.

Josh Erickson

2:38

They're the one team that's even been remotely connected to Laine, and I still see it. Plenty of space, even after the Montour/Stephenson pickups. Again, he was a point-per-game guy in Columbus for two years before his 2023-24 injury-plagued campaign. I think Seattle, which plays a great possession game, is a good place for him to rediscover that production.

What's next?

2:38

Any obvious potential trades coming now that teams have a better sense of their cap situations for next year with all the FA signings?

Josh Erickson

2:39

Ehlers and Necas are the big fish, but both of their teams waited too long to move them and lost considerable scoring depth in the process.

2:40

So other than Laine, no, no one obvious comes to mind.

cap space

2:42

What was Lou Lamoriello's rush to get an extra 2nd round pick on 5/24 if he wasn't going to use it at the draft to get rid of a higher priced player ?

Josh Erickson

2:43

I'll speculate that he fully intended on doing it, but Detroit attaching a second-rounder to get rid of Walman screwed everything up. He carried a $3.4MM cap hit. Teams likely looked at that and asked Lamoriello for a first-rounder to take on Pageau or Palmieri at $5MM.

Sens Stef

2:43

Do you see the Sens doing anything more?

Josh Erickson

2:44

They have $3.6MM in space left with two roster spots left to fill at minimum. My wishlist would be a cheap 4C (sub-$1.5MM AAV) and a third-pairing defender for the same price, if not cheaper. Then you can carry one extra skater at a league-minimum cap hit.

swap

2:44

It was reported that Chicago offered their #1 2025 pick (unprotected) plus their #2 in 2025 for Columbus' 4th overall this year (to draft Demidov) and Waddell refused. Would you have accepted that offer ?

Josh Erickson

2:45

Columbus also reportedly had Cayden Lindstrom second on their draft board behind Celebrini. There was no way they were moving that pick unless it was for 1st, 2nd, or 3rd overall this year if that's the case.

2:46

Actually, not reportedly. Waddell said it in a quote the other day.

2:47

I haven't paid enough attention to the 2025 draft class yet to give you a good answer to that question, honestly.

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