Pretend you’re Ron Francis – how would you approach re-signing players this offseason? Who gets extended for how much and how long, and who do you let go? Do
Restricted Free Agents (Kraken can match any contract offered by another team)
* F: Geekie, Sprong
* D: Dunn, Borgen, Fleury
Unrestricted Free Agents (can sign with any team on July 1)
* F: Donato, Donskoi, Hayden, Froden
* D: Soucy
* G: Jones, Daccord
For reference, here’s what our roster looks like next season of signed players without including any prospects (Kartye, Wright, Ryker Evans, etc) and trying to preserve existing lines:
Forwards
1. McCann – Beniers – Eberle
2. Schwartz – Wennberg – Burakovsky
3. Tolvanen – Gourde – Bjorkstrand
4. <4LW> – <4C> – Tanev
5. <13F, 14F>
Defense
1. <1LD> – Larsson
2. Oleksiak – <2RD>
3. <3LD> – Schultz
4. Megna
Goaltenders (including AHL depth)
1. Grubauer
2. Driedger
3. Stezka
4. Kokko
Useful tools:
* https://www.capfriendly.com/teams/kraken for the current contract situation
* https://www.capfriendly.com/armchair-gm/create/kraken to build a roster for next season
by SiccSemperTyrannis
3 Comments
I’d do the following:
Dunn: $6.5-7M AAV, ideally 5+ years. While he was awesome last season, that was the first season where he really looked like a 1D so I don’t think he will make as much as players who’ve shown that level of play consistently over several years.
Geekie: $1.5-2M AAV, 2 years. Geekie is a fine 4C and has shown versatility if needed to fill in on other lines.
Borgen: $2-3M AAV for as long as possible. Borgen is an ideal 4-5D IMO and locking him up for an affordable price long-term helps solidify the bottom of the defense.
I would let all the other UFAs walk to July 1 and trade Sprong’s RFA rights if any team is interested. Even getting a mid or late round pick is better than nothing. If not, I would not qualify him because he would be able to take the team to arbitration and get a binding contract for a much higher price. Letting Sprong and Donato go opens up roster spots for Wright and Kartye and possibly Kole Lind who tore up the AHL this season. I’d rather see them filling in 4th/3rd line minutes on cheap <$1M deals than overpay for Donato and Sprong.
Soucy is the biggest free agent hole opened up and I think I’d prefer to try to upgrade the defense via free agency or trade rather than re-signing him, though that’s an option if nothing else works out. I’ve said this previously, but I’d love to get someone like Dimity Orlov who’s got tons of playoff experience and is still really good. Plus, he’s another former Capital to add to the Kraken.
Forwards: Seen a couple of the free agency calculators putting Sprong at 3X$3.5mil. That’s pretty steep for a player who will end up mostly on the 4th line, so he’s likely gone. Between Geekie and Donato, I’d say Geekie is the more versatile option, and keeping $1.5mil on the taxi squad is a bit steep, so they may let Donato walk too, and bring up some of the younger guys like Wright, Kartye, and Lind.
Defense: Dunn and Borgen are obvious re-signings. It’s just a question of how cheap or expensive they will be. Soucy could see going either way. Might be a good opportunity to bring up Evans. If they feel Evans needs more seasoning, then re-sign Soucy to a 2 or 3 year deal at around the same salary if he’ll take it.
Goaltending: Jones is almost definitely gone. What they do with Daccord will depend on how they feel between him and Driedger. Driedger has more experience but is still coming back from the knee injury. And Daccord is likely looking for a full time NHL gig. So if they stick with Driedger, Daccord will probably walk. If they would rather keep Daccord, they’ll probably try to deal Driedger, but at a diminished value.
Donato needs to be re-signed. Eberle, Kartye, and Donato line was solid one.