thehabhater
Some call me Tim
It has been interesting
The Official 2026 Off-Season Thread: Revenge of the Nerds
- Thread starter MindzEye
- Start date
MindzEye
Wayward Ditch Pig
Fwiw, if we're looking to add a matchup centre in free agency, which we definitely need so that we can stop using Auston as our matchup guy our best bet is Charlie Coyle (5.8 x 3 contract projection).
He's pretty heavily undervalued imo. Pretty consistently a 2.00+ P/60 guy with excellent nerdies in some of the hardest zone usage in the league over the last 5 years. The concern point is age, but he was legit excellent this year. I don't see anyone else out there worth the free agent money and returning a scrub bottom 6 type guy like Laughton instead of someone actually good would be disappointing.
He's pretty heavily undervalued imo. Pretty consistently a 2.00+ P/60 guy with excellent nerdies in some of the hardest zone usage in the league over the last 5 years. The concern point is age, but he was legit excellent this year. I don't see anyone else out there worth the free agent money and returning a scrub bottom 6 type guy like Laughton instead of someone actually good would be disappointing.
mbow30
Spudmeister Supreme
MindzEye
Wayward Ditch Pig
His most common linemates by a lot this year were Sillinger and Oliver, pure W's.
Only line combo in his top ~10 that he even might have been on the wing for was with Jenner, and looking at Jenner this season it looks like he's more likely to have been used on the wing a lot than Coyle.
I try to not worry about the how or why coaches do what they do. I've yet to see one that actually deploys his roster the right way consistently, so if Coyle got pushed onto Zacha's wing a bunch over the years in Boston, I think that's more an indictment of their forward depth and coaches lineup priorities than it is Coyle's ability to play C.
MindzEye
Wayward Ditch Pig
i think we should be looking all over for trades - we have so much capspace we can take techinicallyverpaid; players if they're actually good.
and some really really good guys might want out of their current teams.
We don't have a lot of assets though, and getting actually good players in return even if they're overpaid ends up costing assets of some sort. I mean, JT Miller makes a lot of sense for us too. Has skill and produces, handles all of the NYR heavies, the contract isn't terrible (8x4yrs left). But is NYR pure dumping him? I figure we have the actual assets to pull the trigger on one actually good player and I'd really prefer if it was a defender.
zeke
Well-known member
eh i think we have plenty of assets.
full slate of picks, more than a few legit solid prospects, and then a number of secondary pieces of varying value that teams would be interested in of all types.....robbie maccelli domi joshua tanev oel carlo stolarz woll.
i think chayka has a lot of options tbh.
full slate of picks, more than a few legit solid prospects, and then a number of secondary pieces of varying value that teams would be interested in of all types.....robbie maccelli domi joshua tanev oel carlo stolarz woll.
i think chayka has a lot of options tbh.
Feyd
Well-known member
I feel horrible for our brothers and sisters in the alternate timeline where Tre signs that extension
MindzEye
Wayward Ditch Pig
I don't think the centre trade market is particularly exciting fwiw, not if we're looking for a bad contract/low acquisition cost.
Maybe out there:
Elias Pettersson
JT Miller
Vince Trochek
Z-Bad
Horvat
PL Dubois
Josh Norris
Dylan Cozens
Chandler Stephenson
Casey Mittelstadt
Andrew Copp
JT Compher
ROR
A bunch of those names are probably not really available (Horvat, Cozens, etc) a bunch either aren't good or aren't the type of good (heavies while still being productive....) won't come here (ROR, maybe Miller with his NMC) or we shouldn't want (Stephenson, Dubois, etc)
Maybe out there:
Elias Pettersson
JT Miller
Vince Trochek
Z-Bad
Horvat
PL Dubois
Josh Norris
Dylan Cozens
Chandler Stephenson
Casey Mittelstadt
Andrew Copp
JT Compher
ROR
A bunch of those names are probably not really available (Horvat, Cozens, etc) a bunch either aren't good or aren't the type of good (heavies while still being productive....) won't come here (ROR, maybe Miller with his NMC) or we shouldn't want (Stephenson, Dubois, etc)
LeafOfFaith
Well-known member
I'd leave acquisitions like those till the deadline. Guard against underperformance and injury, while at the same time leaving room to see if your own younger players can reach the next level. You might get lucky and buy low on Pettersson and have him suddenly return to magician form, but you could also buy an anchor contract that you're stuck with for years. I'd rather pay more for him at the deadline if he's performing.
Load up on the best UFAs instead, with zero acquisition cost. I'd target both Andersson and Raddysh and not chase Tuch unless you miss out on one of the dmen.
Load up on the best UFAs instead, with zero acquisition cost. I'd target both Andersson and Raddysh and not chase Tuch unless you miss out on one of the dmen.
trujaysfan
Well-known member
Isn't Jenner a FA or did i mess up my PuckGM mode today.
MindzEye
Wayward Ditch Pig
"plenty" is a strong word. Our prospect pipeline is hilarious aside from the one already on our team, and maybe Dernferd. We have a "full" slate of picks as long as you ignore the missing 2028 pick, which is kind of important when talking about making trades. For actually desirable picks that would get asked for in trade talks for actually good players we basically have the 2027 Colorado 1st unless we start getting into NBA style pick management.
As for our secondary pieces other teams would be interested in...
- we've been trying to move Robbie for years and no on will pay for him,
- we just saw Maccelli's trade value a year ago.
- Domi has no trade value, lets be real
- Treliving was the only person stupid enough to give even a 4th for Joshua a year ago and he hasn't been rehired yet.,
- Tanev might be dead forever and him passing a physical anywhere else is dodgy.
- OEL though, yeah, legit value there sure but his value is to a competing team and they tend to not want to give up good players in trade.
- Carlo definitely. He's the thing that goes with that Colorado 1st to get us a better defender in theory
- Woll probably has decent value though I doubt there are many teams who would look at him as a #1
- Stolarz maybe for the right, stupid, desperate team
It really comes down to what type of defender(s) are we trying to get? For actual "assets" that might help land a good defender (legit #2-3 or better) it's basically Cowan, Dernferd, 1st, Carlo and mayyybe a goalie. That's not a particularly well stocked cupboard, and taking a legitimately solid top 6 C in free agency rather than spending the 2027 1st and stuff on one no better than Coyle...I'd rather use the capspace, get one for zero assets and keep the powder dry for a real swing at a top defender.
Preston
MBow30 alt account
Keep in mind San Jose is apparently horny and may blow the roof off for a guy like Morgan Rielly if they miss out on some of the UFAs. I don't think it's necessary to trade him, but you probably sort of would rather have Raddysh at that contract than Rielly so it may be a worthwhile swap, especially if they get some pieces back!
MindzEye
Wayward Ditch Pig
Jenner is a UFA, but imo Coyle is a much better player.
MindzEye
Wayward Ditch Pig
I'm not against it, but then what do we replace Rielly with?
I mean, I think we need to come to grips with the fact that the blueline is way under talented. We're like 3 moves on the blueline away from where we need to be. It's one of the reasons I want Raddysh. Massive bomb for the PP that everyone keeps complaining about us not having a point shot on, and a really solid looking 2 way guy at everything else. Helps slot Rielly, OEL, and whoever else back a bit into roles they'll be better in.