The Official 2026 Off-Season Thread: Revenge of the Nerds

[MindzEye]

I really think Hayton is the play at C. Young prime, handles top matchups, possibly has untapped offensive upside (the nerdies are there at least).

I don't know how motivated Utah is to move him, but we know they haven't re-signed him yet (RFA) so that's enough to think he's available.

Utah seems to have a number of C prospects coming up which would explain their hesitancy, even though many C prospects end up as wingers.

There's no clean fit with our assets for them though - Utah has pretty decent depth all around, so it's hard to see exactly what they want in return.



Though now that I think about, an interesting wrinkle might be Sean Durzi. He signed a 4 x $6m contract 2yrs ago, but immediately got a shoulder injury that required surgery 4gms into year 1, and hasn't really bounced back yet. With the trade for Weegar, who joined Sergachev on the top pair, Durzi was bounced down to the 3rd pair with Ian Cole (with the 2nd pair being the Schmidt-Marino defensive matchup pair).

No idea what the prognosis for Durzi's shoulder is, but at age 28 a 2 x $6m gamble might be worth it, because he fits what we want. And with Utah likely wanting to promote offensive #6 overall LD Simashov to the NHL fulltime next year, they might prefer to have a steady gudpro like Carlo to pair him up with on the bottom pair rather than an offensive D like Durzi.


A lot would depend on his medicals, but a Hayton+Durzi swoop would be interesting.

Yeah, this is interesting. It also gives an opportunity for cap space savings to work into Utah's side of the equation as part of the value they're receiving. Something like Carlo + Stolarz/Woll might work there.

 

[Leafin']

Raddysh and Andersson are probably going to get some really stupid contracts. We’re hiring all these nerds, how about finding the next Raddysh? All these good teams seem to find them.

Signing both those guys would be great for a couple years. But what happens when we’re looking to extend McKenna and Matthews in a few years? Leaving any money for McDavid as free agent?

 

[LeafOfFaith]

Cap will rise, Matthews won't be making that much more, Tavares will be off the books, you can trade guys.

I wouldn't worry about three years from now currently. I really think we need to be super competitive right out of the gate next season, so we should add the bigger names on D if we can, and we can always deal them off later if we need to.

 

[Leafin']

I think we need to build a better depth chart through smart acquisitions instead of just spending because we have the cap available. None of Raddysh or Andersson are can’t miss elite defenders.

 

[zeke]

Raddysh and Andersson are probably going to get some really stupid contracts. We’re hiring all these nerds, how about finding the next Raddysh? All these good teams seem to find them.

Finding the next one usually means waiting on them a few years, but also that they're dirt cheap.

So signing some bigger contracts doesn't in any way stop us from finding some next ones at the same time.

 

[LeafOfFaith]

I think we need to build a better depth chart through smart acquisitions instead of just spending because we have the cap available. None of Raddysh or Andersson are can’t miss elite defenders.

There may be a valid argument against getting both of them, but I think one of them is a must.

Then it's a matter of which one is better - Andersson who is older and probably gets a more sizable deal in dollars and term, or Raddysh who is younger and likely to sign for less but is a lesser known commodity. I'm good with either, and I will always take a guy like one of these over swinging a trade where we lose Robertson or Cowan in order to get a guy who might be a little better and younger than the UFA.

Trying to find the diamond in the rough instead of the UFAs is malpractice imo. But trying to find one in addition to the UFAs is the way to do it, and then if you land both the UFA and the stealth guy, you have a surplus to trade from.

 

[LeafOfFaith]

Random question - when these kids sign their ELCs, is the base amount a fixed sum tied to draft position or just draft year per the NHLPA rules or something, or is it negotiable up to some cap? Like, does McKenna get the same amount that the 10th overall pick will get?

 

[leafman101]

The base is fixed of about $1 mill, plus bonuses up to $3.5 mill that are negotiable not standardized. The number 1 pick always gets all the bonuses, but in theory the 10th pick could too. But precedent dictates they don’t.

Marner was pissed because he didn’t get all the bonuses but Auston did.