2023-2024 Offseason Thread: RIP Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau

[sutterfamily]

> gives mcdavid a great skater/finisher who can complement,

You're not talking about Skinner right? Cause he's slow AF

[sutterfamily]

SNES drop a 2025 3rd to get rid of Mathiue Jospeh's $2.95M over the next two seasons.

So much work undoing Pierre's garbage. Almost done?

[captain]

skinner has never been a burner but he has good skating ability still, doesn't he? admittedly haven't watched many buffalo games the last couple seasons

a lot of people are penciling him in on line 2 but I'm not sure draisaitl is good enough defensively to have a player like skinner on his wing

[captain]

I could actually envision Skinner / McLeod being a really nice combo. McLeod is such a good transporter/skater who should theoretically thrive off the rush, but he isn't a finisher and hasn't really had a finisher to dish to.

[sutterfamily]

He has very bad foot speed but can get to the right spots anyway + very good at finishing obv. But he's not fast.

[Grand Moff Larkin]

I think Skinner could work on a line with McDavid. They’ve tried getting burners to play with him (AA for one) and the reality is McDavid’s going to carry the puck in and beat defenders. You want the puck on his stick for that. What works is if you have a guy who comes into the zone after he’s drawn all the pressure (the Corey Perry PP goal in the playoffs comes to mind) and can finish. Skinner can finish.

[Grand Moff Larkin]

Blooze signed Buchnevich to a six year 8M AAV deal. OK?

[captain]

Buchnevich rocks, I like that a lot

[captain]

I think Skinner could work on a line with McDavid. They’ve tried getting burners to play with him (AA for one) and the reality is McDavid’s going to carry the puck in and beat defenders. You want the puck on his stick for that. What works is if you have a guy who comes into the zone after he’s drawn all the pressure (the Corey Perry PP goal in the playoffs comes to mind) and can finish. Skinner can finish.

This is why it's such an intriguing combo with McDavid and Hyman. McDavid as the transporter, Hyman drives the net/works along the boards, Skinner floats in the slot/hash to finish. You're right about the Perry goal

[Grand Moff Larkin]

Buchnevich rocks, I like that a lot

It’s a solid deal, I’m just not sure about the timetable for that team

[Grand Moff Larkin]

Pinto got two years, 3.75 average. 2.5 and 5. The split matters for his next QO I assume.

[Grand Moff Larkin]

Can’t wait for practice to wake up and see the Dakota Mermis news

[sutterfamily]

Yeah I mean just to be clear I think Skinner on EDMO is a good move! I agree he'll likely be good with McDavid. He's just not a speedster is all

[sutterfamily]

Decent AAV for Pinto. They have $3.6M more in space to use which they probably need to do if they want to be serious about being a playoff contender.

[captain]

i don't know what ottawa is doing, they seem like an organization without a plan

[Grand Moff Larkin]

i don't know what ottawa is doing, they seem like an organization without a plan

I can’t really say anything because I don’t think the Wings are any better this offseason, but I think they need to incorporate young players to take the next step rather than more Copps.

Buffalo makes the least sense to me. Jason Zucker isn’t better than Skinner.

The reality is that the Devils will easily be back in the playoffs, the Caps got better, and I’m not sure that both the Isles and BLOT will fall back enough to let both NJ and one of OTT/DET/BUF in.

[Grand Moff Larkin]

The Wings need a top six forward but signed Tyler Motte for depth.

Panthers signing Nate Schmidt to a near minimum deal was smart.

[Alexei Ca$hin]

i don't know what ottawa is doing, they seem like an organization without a plan

There's no plan beyond undoing all the mistakes from the previous regime

[sutterfamily]

Based on quotes, it sounds like they are trying not to do anything reactionary. I don't disagree with this in general, I guess. They were kinda limited - not a lot of cap space, horrible contract given to the worst goalie in the league. Like, I'd much rather they have that offseason than Seattle's. But, after years of ineptitude I also admit I was DYING for some amazing series of signings/trades to turn it all around instantly.

But... you can't really do that. Failing some other GMs handing it to you, I guess. But not hard for other teams to see how little leverage the SNES had.

It sucks that they had to participate in shitty "asset management" to tweak the makeup of the team. Their prospect pool is so fucking bad compared to where it should be given their last... eight seasons? The biggest disaster they need to somehow avoid now is Brady getting fed up and asking for a trade. Barring that, everyone is young and several years from hitting their peak so... start building it properly and get the right pieces together at the right time?

(not saying THIS will happen, but Vancouver barely made any substantive changes between 2022-23 and 2023-24 but a better coach + some luck helped them make a huge jump)

I think the ideal season for the SNES is: they are competitive and in the race at the end of the season. They aren't close to winning a cup or a division so the more staid approach is probably correct vs overpaying some UFA that you aren't sure about?

That said, if they can't sign Ullmark to an extension then pretty much all of this is out the window. Hope that can happen.

[sutterfamily]

Like, I guess (I HOPE?) the plan is: take your time and build it properly vs some attempt at a quick fix.