Human’s Note: All salary cap numbers are provided by capgeek.com. So if you find fault in any of my financials, please go blame them. Also, this will be part of a series, though we aren’t sure how long because cats are strange, strange animals.
Welcome to “Purrgeron Plays GM”. I figured since I can run those four morons on Days of Y’Orr, I can take a stab at running the Bruins. I will be looking at the Bruins roster, deciding who goes and who stays whether it is through free agency or trades. Before we can properly go through the off-season, let’s take a look at the Bruins restricted and unrestricted players:
Restricted Free Agents:
F Beniot Pouliot
G Tuukka Rask
Unrestricted Free Agents:
F Brian Rolston
F Chris Kelly
F Gregory Campbell
F Dan Paille
D Joe Corvo
D Greg Zanon
D Mike Mottau
G Marty Turco
With those players waiting for a new contract, the Bruins will have roughly $5,280,357 in salary cap space, which does not include Marc Savard’s contract. Lets use the past season or two as an example and say that Marc Savard will not play hockey during the 2012-2013 season for the Boston Bruins. The Bruins can put Savard on the LTIR (long term injury reserve for those not playing at home) and put his salary towards the salary cap. If we add Savard’s $4,004,143 to the cap, Boston will have about $9,284,500 in salary cap space to play around with.
So let’s start in the trade market. Here are the players I would put “on the trade block” and the reasons why:
After the jump, my trade block...
David Krejci:
Contract: $5,250,000 for 2012-2013, 2013-2014, 2014-2015
Reasons On Trading Block: If I’m Chiarelli, I admit that I made a huge mistake giving Krejci this extension. Why was it a mistake? He’s not a first line center. In the 2010-2011 season, Krejci ranked 22nd among centers with 62 points. He was 67th overall among centers in goals scored, but was 6th overall in assists. In the 2011-2012 season Krejci finished 18th overall among centers with 62 points. But is 62 points enough for a first line center? In my estimation? No. If Krejci was making his 2011-2012 salary ($3,750,000) and moved to the second line, I wouldn’t have much of an issue with it. I refuse, however, to pay someone $5M and not get much offensive production out of him when that’s his job. Krejci had 2 power play goals in ’11-’12 and 1 in ’10-’11. Not good enough.
My real issue is that people have dubbed him a “playoff” type of player. He thrives in the playoffs.
2009-2010 playoffs: 9GP, 4G, 4A, 8P before getting injured in the second again Philadelphia
2010-2011 playoffs: 25GP, 12G, 11A, 23P
2011-2012 playoffs: 7GP, 1G, 2A, 3P
Krejci was virtually invisible during the playoffs this season. Krejci would definitely net some good value on the trade market. If I’m Boston, I would ask for a late first round pick/possibly early round second (based on the team that was asking) and a prospect or two because Providence is in desperate need of prospects. To me, this move is more of a salary dump than anything.
Tim Thomas:
Contract: $5,000,000 for 2012-2013
Reasons On Trading Block: This is probably going to be a pretty unpopular choice, but I think it’s time to move Tim Thomas. There’s a couple of reasons why I say this. One: His No Movement Clause is up on July 1st which means I wouldn’t need to ask him permission. Two: It frees up another $5M that I can put towards signing free agents. Three: I have a young goalie duo of Tuukka Rask and Anton Khudobin ready to go.
Look, I know what Thomas did in 2010-2011 was magical but it’s time to set emotions aside. The city won’t forget the show that Thomas put on during that Stanley Cup run, but he’ll be 38 when the puck drops in October and 39 when the playoffs roll around. At some point, it’s time to cut the cord and start anew. The two-time Vezina trophy winner could get had at some value and there are teams out there who will be looking for goal tending. If I’m Boston and I’m looking to trade Thomas, I look out to the Western Conference. Here are some Western Conference teams who may be looking for goal tending:
Minnesota Wild: Niklas Backstrom has $6M left on his contract and Josh Harding will be an unrestricted free agent. Would Minnesota want to take on another $5M towards their goal tending? Probably not. Backstrom has played a lot (71 games in ’08-’09, 60 in ’09-’10, 51 in ’10-’11 and 46 in ’11-’12) so having another quality goaltender would allow the Wild to use the 50/50 approach in terms of playing time. Again, they may not be the ideal candidate, but it’s worth to call.
Dallas Stars: Dallas currently has one goaltender under contract: Kari Lehtonen. Lehtonen will make $3,550,000 and Dallas is projected to have about $20M in salary cap space. Holy shit. Their current backup, Richard Bachman, is an unrestricted free agent. With all that scratch heading into free agency, Dallas may take a shot at Thomas. You never know.
Edmonton Oilers: Here’s a team that will definitely be looking towards goal tending in the off-season. I know the Oilers are high on Devan Dubnyk, but he’s a restricted free agent this off season. Even if they retain Dubnyk, they still have Nikoli Khabibulin making $3,750,000 for one more year. It could benefit the Oilers to bury the ‘Bulin Wall and make a run for Tim Thomas. With the virtual unknown of Dubnyk and the up and down play of Khabibulin, Thomas would add some stability in net.
Colorado Avalanche: This all depends on if the Avs trust Semyon Varlamov. Varlamov had a pretty good 2011-2012 campaign (26-24-3, 2.59 GAA, .913 SV%, 4 SO) but it was also his first season with a full NHL workload. Does Colorado trust Varlamov to bring their team to the next level? It’s possible that Thomas could do that, considering he played more games than Varlamov, had a better goals against average than Varlamov and a better save percentage than Varlamov. Basically, Thomas is better than Varlamov. The issue here is that both Varlamov and JS Giguere are both under contract for 2012-2013, but neither make more than $3M. Colorado could take a flier on Thomas and then extend him based on his play if they feel Varlamov isn’t the answer.
There’s 4 potential teams (but in reality 3 because I doubt Minnesota would want another large goalie contract on their hands) in the West that could be in need of solid goal tending. While Thomas’ age might be a factor, his production on the ice can’t be ignored. It is hard to keep him in the black and hold however when you look at then young ‘tendies who could be ready to play.
Milan Lucic:
Contract: $4,083,333 for 2012-2013
Reasons On Trading Block: Milan Lucic may be the most overrated Bruin since the B’s signed Marty Lapointe to that huge contract back in the early 2000s. Now, before you all get your wood ready to burn me on, hear me out. Every season, Milan Lucic does something to remind the Bruins faithful why he’s so awesome. He’ll run a goalie. He’ll put someone through the glass. He’ll beat the shit out of someone. He sells jerseys and “Lucic Fight Club” t-shirts. He’s a God send to the Boston Bruins because of his play on the ice during the regular season and his marketability.
But he’s a ghost in the playoffs.
Regular Season:
2009-2010: 50GP, 9G, 11A, 20P
2010-2011: 79GP, 30G, 32A, 62P
2011-2012: 81GP, 26G, 35A, 61P
Playoffs:
2009-2010: 13GP, 5G, 4A, 9P
2010-2011: 25GP, 5G, 7A, 12P
2011-2012: 7GP, 0G, 3A, 3P
Those are terrible offensive numbers from someone who is one of your top three scorers on the team. If it happens in 1 year, you can consider it a slump. 2 years? Possibly bad luck. 3 years? It’s a trend. Milan Lucic is not good in the playoffs. Fact, not opinion. I’ll concede that he played with a broken toe during their Stanley Cup run, but what’s the excuse this past post season?
A player like Lucic would probably have the highest value among the 3 players I listed here. He’s a big, physical guy with the tools to score in the 25-30 goal range. The biggest question a team would have to grapple with is will he show up in the playoffs? He’s not a 1st line winger and 24 points in 3 years as a 1st line wing is very disheartening.
Part One of “Purrgeron Plays GM” is finished. That’s my trading block for the off-season. The next part will focus on my restricted and unrestricted free agents. What do you think of my trade block? Love it? Hate it? Am I unfair to a guy like Krejci or Thomas? Anyone else you’d like to see moved? Let me know in the comment section.
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