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In a lost season, I thought Grans deserved more games in the NHL to see if he is a viable 3rd pair Dman. Hence, the Risto issue remaining on the roster. On a contender, he is a 3rd pair Dman who is over 30 and will be a UFA in 2 yrs. He definitely does not fit the timeline. So he reamins entrenched in the top 6 on a lousy team. If Briere can pull another Laughton trade for Risto, I will applaud him. Big difference this times is Laughton is not brittle.
Whatever the plan is this summer it cannot include Sam Bennett. Signing him for 7 yrs which he will get, would be crazy. Rumor is he will get between 9-11 million/yr. Marner would age better and is so much better all around then Bennett. Its bad enough to avoid signing Marner because of cap hit and winger depth. Over paying for Bennett because of lack of center depth who has never scored 60 pts in a season would be madness for 7 seasons.
Spencer Gill is a prospect who I think will get a shot in the NHL, probably 3 years down the road. RHD with size and the ability to skate will be held in high regard for awhile. Ashame he got injured at the end of the season and could not play in the playoffs. I guess he is still injured and will not play in the Memorial Cup for Rimouski.
https://x.com/AntSanPhilly/status/1925596464920527143?t=fAOO0wWd_1_JpZW9UiCF8Q&s=19
Here’s the link to ASF’s article about Shabanov- including excerpt about his agents.
Apparently Shabanov’s agent is the same as Zavargin. He has also played with Zamula in lower Russian leagues. A lot of reasons to hopefully choose the Flyers. I do agree he will have a better opportunity to play in a top 6 role with the Flyers over Vegas. Unless Vegas is looking to trade one of their forwards, they are pretty set with their top 3 lines.
ASF reporting Flyers have interest in signing Maxim Shabanov. If Shabanov comes over, it will be between the Flyers and Vegas. This is a very good test for Briere to get this deal over the line, McCrimmon has been very good. I really do not care if Shabanov is small, the organization needs to be collecting talent regardless of stature. Only costs money and a contract slot to find out if Shabanov can play in North America. Get it done.
Interesting timing on the Lappy dismissal. I wonder what changed considering for so long the narrative was he was doing an effective job even though the results in the AHL were less then stellar. I wonder if there was a concern could ha really develop prospects to another level. In theory, next season the Phantoms could be an extremely young roster with prospects such as Bonk, Barkey, Bjarnason, Ciernik, Knuble, and Kaplan and Bump who will need significant ice time to develop added to a bunch of already young prospects on the roster. I wonder if McKee is the front runner for the jbb.
I do believe Tippett has value. I understand the year was not great, but he has been relatively durable the last 3 years and he is signed long-term. I will admit another down year this season and his value will plummet significantly. So I would rather trade him this summer. As far as Byram, he is currently a RFA. A team acquiring him will need to sign probably long-term. Everything I have read suggests Byram wants first pair responsibilities, which I would assume running the PP. I do wonder how many teams would be willing to give him that. Certainly the Flyers would be one of those teams because the PP has sucked.
Maybe BUF has interest in acquiring a forward with term. Tuch will be a UFA after next season. Zucker is 33. Quinn has been inconsistent. Greenway has been meh. Benson has shown potential. Peterka is going to be stud, and BUF would be smart to lock him up.
Assuming Byram is dealt, top 3 spots in BUF are filled on the blueline. After that, Clifton will be a UFA after next season. Bernard-Docker is young and recently acquired.
Both the Flyers and Sabres are in need of a roster shakeup. They could make decent trading partners.
If Bowen Byram is available, I sure hope Briere has interest. Much like the discussion on the winger depth chart, Byram at worst is the 2nd best Dman in the organization if acquired. I would argue the best Dman, IMO. Rumor was Briere was willing to trade Gauthier to COL for Byram and COL said “no”. There has not been much change in the organizational depth chart since that time to suggest the Flyers are overflowing with potential top pair Dmen. I like the progression of Drysdale, but it would be foolish not to have interest in Byram because of the acquisition Drysdale.
I’m not sure a wing depth chart of Michkov, TK, Tippett, Foerster, and Brink is considered Cup worthy. Maybe a prospect can improve the quality. If there is a question that the $15 million dedicated to 2 of those wingers is not yielding enough production, might want to take the opportunity to upgrade even outside the organization. I do not believe the lack of center depth should inhibit the ability to upgrade in other positions.
If the Flyers choose to trade for a RFA, I have no issue, but I believe there are better options then Gabe Vilardi. Vilardi’s inability to play a full season is a huge question mark. The assets that will be needed to acquire a RFA along with the contract to sigh the player will be significant. Availability should not be a concern.
The organization needs to acquire more elite talent. It would be ideal if that piece would come as a center or Dman. However, to exclude the thought of acquiring winger because of the current depth chart makes little sense. It is decent depth, but if they can upgrade it should absolutely be done. It will cost significant cap space to acquire Marner, but that is the price every team will have to pay when they have an elite player on the roster. Easy solution to reduce how much cap is dedicated to the wing position is reduce the amount of cap allocated to wingers behind Mickhov and a potential Marner signing. Use that organizational depth at wing to fill out the wing position at a lower cap hit. If Tocchet can help attract talent to the team, here is a prime example. Next year supposedly is the big year. However, there is no guarantee any elite talent will be available in the free agent market. This summer was supposed to be the market for older #1 Dmen available. Well, Hedman and Slavin re signed, that possibility is gone, I would be thrilled for the Flyers to take a run at McDavid next summer. However, I find it silly to not pursue Marner this summer in the hopes that McDavid actually makes it to free agency next summer and the team can convince him to sign.
I like Vilardi, but have a hard time trading significant assets for a player who has played 70 plus games only once in his career. Bennett is another player I like, but to add another middle six forward to this roster makes me little sense. The only player that I hope they try and acquire is Marner. Michkov and Marner on opposite half boards would be dynamic on the PP. Marner is over a PP/game player in the regular season and .9 pts/game in the playoffs. Getting him out of TOR may do wonders for his postseason production, which is pretty good anyway. I have no issue moving Tippett and/or TK to create a winger spot in the top 6 for him. With all that being written on Marner, I do not expect the Flyers to show any interest in trying to pursue him. I don’t think they are bold enough to try such a move. Maybe I’ll be pleasantly surprised.
I would think the ducks would accommodate and not send him to a team he didnt want to go to.
No doubt Verbeek will abide by the 10 team list. After that, it is try to get the best deal possible for his team. Dostall is an RFA. who played in 54 games. As of now, I would assume Dostall is the #1 goalie in ANA. From Gibson’s perspective, getting out of ANA might be something he looks forward to for a variety of reasons. First, he has been there his entire career. A change of scenery might be appealing. Being traded to a Metro team has a lot of travel advantages staying with a team in the Pacific Division. I do not think it is a stretch to believe the Eastern Conference is not as strong as the Western Conference for a team to make the playoffs. Finally, Gibson is from Pittsburgh so a chance to live on the East Coast might be appealing. The Flyers might have the inside track to acquire Gibson simply because they have the ability to take on his entire contract without ANA retaining. I just doubt the organization stands pat in goal and the UFA market is really slim.
I have a feeling they end up trading for John Gibson. Two years left on contract @ 6.4 million. Gibson’s game played starting from last season to previous years- 29, 46, 53, 56. Ersson’s contract is up after next season. I will add I highly doubt Fedotov will be on the roster. Possible to get the Petersen treatment and buried in the AHL if he really wants to stay in North America.
