The Official 2018-2019 Anaheim Ducks Thread

[UndertheHalo]

But I do agree.  We should look to trade out of prospect pool or D men.  

Panarin is essentially a rental, I’m not trading any of Lindholm, Montour, Fowler, or Manson without receiving a significant controllable asset back. 

[Pujols4MVP]

3 hours ago, gotbeer said:

I'd go as far to say Silf and Lindholm or Montour and prospect for him.  Simple fact is Seattle is going to get an expansion team.  We can't protect all 4 Dmen.  Strike now, and get something really really good for him, instead of doing a Knights.

By then we should have seen Steel & Morand in the NHL lineup as well as Lundestrom at least getting a call up (He's only 1 to 2 seasons away from what they've been saying about him), that they could buy out Kesler & since Perry is like bobby ryan in that no expansion team would take him they'd ask Perry to waive his NMC since he'd have only 1 year remaining by then. With 1 year remaining on his deal, they could even more Perry in a trade attached with a draft pick so another team takes him.

They could go 4/4/1 with Getzlaf/Rakell/Kase/Henrique/LIndholm/Fowler/Manson/Montour/Gibson. Its easier to replace Cogs, Eaves or Silf than a D-man. Jones, Comtois etc should be winger depth by then. Should Seattle take Cogs, they still got LW Comtois, Max Jones & Nik Ritchie assuming Ritchie hasn't turned things around & Vegas takes him instead.

[gotbeer]

1 hour ago, nate said:

The D already gave up more shots than ever last season, you want to thin out the D corps even more?

Getting rid of the two cones will help the D corp tremendously.  Remember Fowlers main partner through 2/3 of the season was Cone.  It wasn't until Cone got injured that it dawned on Carlyle that maybe Montour would be a good pairing.  

[gotbeer]

1 hour ago, UndertheHalo said:

But I do agree.  We should look to trade out of prospect pool or D men.  

Panarin is essentially a rental, I’m not trading any of Lindholm, Montour, Fowler, or Manson without receiving a significant controllable asset back. 

I'd only do the deal if we could sign Panarin to a long term deal for sure.  But he's only 26, and a max deal from Columbus I think is 8 years.  Ducks max would be 7 years I think.   6 or 5 years would be ideal.  Which would take him to 31/32 and get another deal from someone.  

Oh and I'd change my tune on GMBM if Perry was somehow included.

[gotbeer]

So should the Ducks look at this as what to offer Gibson?  Too high?  Too long?  Too low?

Jets, goalie Connor Hellebuyck agree to six-year deal

6 year/$37 million avoided arbitration.  Gibson is 24, Hellenbuyck is 25.  Gibson has one year till RFA, so age wise should be comparable.  

[gotbeer]

 

[gotbeer]

So what's people's thoughts on what Montour should get?  I have a feeling that if it goes to arbitration, they are going to trade him.   

But when you compare him to LIndholm and Fowler.  There are some similarities and differences.  First off, regardless of numbers, I think last season showed that Fowler is definitely the QB on D.  He is the only Dman that seems to consistently be able to move the puck up the ice.  Stats wise, points, Lindholm, Fowler and Montour are all around the same.  As much as I rail on Lindholm though, his Corsi and Fenwick numbers are much better than Fowler and Montour.  The other thing is that Lindholm had 3 full seasons before signing his 6/$31.  Fowler had 2 full seasons at age 19/20 before signing his first contract of 5/$20 million, which paid him till his UFA year.  

If I'm correct, Montour has 3 (I think you become a UFA at 27)  years left.  I think the Fowler first contract is a good reference point.  The Ducks will probably try and go 3/$9.  Montour would probably go for the LIndholm contract as a comparison.  I'd say it'll end at 3/4 years between $3 and $4 million per.  Anything over on the $ per, and my thoughts are he gets traded for something really good.  

[gotbeer]

I'm bored again.  So just another would you, would they?

They get:

• Silfverberg $3.75 million/UFA (top 6 offense)
• Ritchie RFA (4th line)
• Montour RFA (top 4 defense, possible future top 2)
• Perry $8.625 million/3 years  (could be a top 3 offense, his 49 points would put him third on the Jackets.  But let's say first to 3rd line)
• 2019 Round 2 pick

We get:

• Panarin $6 million/UFA
• Foligno $5.5 million/3 years (Jekle and Hyde player.  2 big seasons at 51 and 73 points.  But more like a mid 30's player. )
• 2019 Round 3 pick

Ducks lines:

1 Rakell/Getz/Eaves

2 Kase/Rico/Panarin

3 Cogs/Kesler?/Foligno

4 Terry/Gibbons/Roy?

1 Fowler/Schenn (let's face it, it's inevitable with veterans.)

2 Lindholm/Manson

3 Petersson/Larsson

 

[Pujols4MVP]

1 hour ago, gotbeer said:

I'm bored again.  So just another would you, would they?

They get:

• Silfverberg $3.75 million/UFA (top 6 offense)
• Ritchie RFA (4th line)
• Montour RFA (top 4 defense, possible future top 2)
• Perry $8.625 million/3 years  (could be a top 3 offense, his 49 points would put him third on the Jackets.  But let's say first to 3rd line)
• 2019 Round 2 pick

We get:

• Panarin $6 million/UFA
• Foligno $5.5 million/3 years (Jekle and Hyde player.  2 big seasons at 51 and 73 points.  But more like a mid 30's player. )
• 2019 Round 3 pick

Ducks lines:

1 Rakell/Getz/Eaves

2 Kase/Rico/Panarin

3 Cogs/Kesler?/Foligno

4 Terry/Gibbons/Roy?

1 Fowler/Schenn (let's face it, it's inevitable with veterans.)

2 Lindholm/Manson

3 Petersson/Larsson

 

If Kesler is out for all of next season then i'd see Steel getting a more than good chance to make the team as the 3rd line center.

Columbus D will have both RHD Seth Jones & Montour & LHD Murray & Werenski in their top 4.

Cause the Ducks would have to play Schenn in a top 4 role in that scenario i'd still try to make a Karlsson trade involving Montour + Perry & other assets work.

Ottawa would be getting back a young RHD for their rebuild.

[nate]

At this point I wouldn't trade Montour, he is the right type of defensemen for the modern NHL.

[nate]

Here is Stephens on the Ducks future contracts.  Amazing to think that they are basically a cap starved team, and this is what they have...

Spoiler

The prospect of NHL free agency has, from what I see, a bit of a three-pronged feel to it for general managers.

There is what you want to happen – i.e., the unrestricted players who have entered the market that you woo and try to sign to a contract of both parties’ liking. There is what needs to happen – which are the restricted free agents on your club that require new contracts before the middle of September rolls around and training camps open. And then there is what could happen – which are the players you wish to keep because their contracts are set to expire the following summer.

Plans naturally must be made for all three. So let’s look at the Ducks and what GM Bob Murray has done and, more importantly, what he may be faced with doing.

The first is the most clear-cut and has largely been settled. Much of Murray’s summer shopping appears to be done. In signing seven players – defensemen Luke Schenn and Andrej Sustr, goaltender Jared Coreau and forwards Brian Gibbons, Carter Rowney, Anton Rodin and Ben Street – the Ducks spent a total of $8.65 million. Rowney’s three-year, $3.4 million deal is the only one that goes beyond 2019. Unless they were to part with a higher-salaried player, they can’t take on another that comes in at a big number.

Why is that? It leads us to the second scenario.

Anaheim has roughly $9.5 million of salary cap space heading into 2018-19, according to CapFriendly. It sounds like a good amount until you factor in the three primary RFAs that must be signed. Brandon Montour, Ondrej Kase and Nick Ritchie are, as of this date, part of the Ducks’ plans for now and into the future. The three are coming off their entry-level contracts and are due raises of varying degrees given their status as regulars and the contributions that they’ve made.

What is it going to cost Murray to sign all three? The club and the agents for the trio naturally won’t discuss the numbers they’re batting back and forth. But we can hazard some educated guesses.

How to make deals with Ritchie, Kase, Montour 

Given that Ritchie hasn’t set the league on fire in his two seasons and doesn’t own salary arbitration rights, it stands to reason that an affordable deal for the Ducks can be reached unless there are demands that seem out of whack to them. And unless Murray is a big believer in the power forward still having some upside, it stands to reason a shorter-term bridge deal is the way to go.

One comparable example that could be entertained is the two-year contract Kings left wing Tanner Pearson signed in 2015. Pearson was 22 and in the final year of his entry level with only 67 NHL regular-season games under his belt. But he had proven to be a contributor to the Kings’ 2014 Stanley Cup title run and a young forward worth betting on in terms of an extended future.

The Kings and Pearson agreed on a two-year, $2.8 million deal with the accompanying $1.4 million cap hit. At 22, Ritchie has 186 NHL games to his name. His numbers didn’t increase from 2016-17 to 2017-18, but there is at least some track record. Could a two-year deal with a total cost of $3.4 million to $3.6 million be reached?

It would also take Ritchie to where he can have arb rights and give him an opportunity to show that he can be more than a big-bodied grinder with occasional finishing ability and earn a much larger payday. It seems logical, although there’s always the dance between what an agent seeks for his client and what a GM views as the real value of a player and what he is willing to pay.

Kase, 22, continues to be a nice surprise. The right wing delivered more than flashes in 2017-18, scoring 20 goals that were only second to Rickard Rakell in terms of players who posted all of his numbers with the Ducks (Adam Henrique had four of his 20 goals with New Jersey). He has skill, elusiveness and creativity in the offensive zone, something that is desperately needed. The key here is whether he’s a player worth locking up for longer than two or three years.

One could take a look at the recent contracts Detroit has reached with forwards Anthony Mantha and Andreas Athanasiou. Different players, for sure. Kase isn’t as big and may not have the capacity to dominate opposing defenders with his size (like Mantha) or speed (like Athanasiou). Mantha and Athanasiou also have about a year of experience on him.

Kase isn’t going to get the $3.3 million average annual value that Mantha, 23, just received in a two-year deal with the Red Wings. After all, Mantha led them with 24 goals in his second full season and is a top-line right wing for the team. He could be their top goal scorer for years. But there is a comparison between Kase and Athanasiou.

Athanasiou, who’ll be 24 on August 6, has played in 172 games to Kase’s 119. And he plays on the left side, unlike Kase, who’s almost strictly been on the right wing. But Kase’s .445 points per game is actually a tick up from Athanasiou’s .442. And Athanasiou just got a two-year deal with a $3 million AAV. Could Murray go the route he did with Rickard Rakell – who’s arguably now the biggest bargain in the NHL – and offer more years of security to bring the annual salary down?

Would a $2.5 million to 2.8 million AAV over say four seasons get it done? On Kase’s end, that would take him to unrestricted status rather than a two-year deal to gaining arb rights as an RFA. If you’re Murray, you would have to bet on Kase keeping his game at a 20-goal level or possibly taking it higher while gaining some much-needed cost certainty for a longer period.

Kase’s agent, J.P. Barry, told The Athletic on Wednesday that he’s had regular communication with Murray and David McNab, Anaheim’s senior vice president of hockey operations. “We will keep at it,” Barry said in a text.

Montour is the wild card. The 24-year-old has only one full NHL season under him. Just 107 regular-season games have been played. But he can go to arbitration. And he is a right-shot defenseman with terrific skating ability and legitimate offensive capability, all of which are highly coveted by GMs across the league. You’d be a fool to think he and his agent, Matt Keator, don’t know that.

Before we get to what he could cost, the Ducks must be set on whether Montour is a top-four defenseman whom they’re willing to trust with big minutes. His best work last season came when he skated alongside Cam Fowler, and his high-risk style had a negative impact against San Jose in their first-round playoff series defeat, which an injured Fowler did not play. There were rumblings at last month’s draft about whether Montour could be available. It was more about teams calling Murray than the GM putting him on the market, but Montour would be a piece that could help land a proven top-four defender or a scoring forward.

Keator did confirm active discussions about his client to The Athletic and said after the draft, “It is very early in the process, so we’ll see.” How much progress or ground has been closed between the two sides isn’t known. Some of this is going to depend on how much of a commitment to Montour that the Ducks will want to make. You would have to imagine that Murray will want his salary number to come in under the $4.1 million AAV that he gave right-shot defender Josh Manson for four years. Perhaps well under.

All in all, the contracts for Ritchie, Kase and Montour could eat up about $8 million of that $9.5 million that’s free under the cap. (In addition, defenseman Andy Welinski and forwards Kalle Kossila and Kevin Roy also need to be re-signed).

That takes care of this season. But there is the future.

The multi-million dollar questions of 2019

The summer of 2019 sees the possibility of John Gibson, Adam Henrique and Jakob Silfverberg gaining free agency. As if Murray didn’t have enough front-burner stuff to handle.

Henrique and Silfverberg can become UFAs, while Gibson will still be a year away from that. Not that it really matters in his case. He’s the undisputed franchise goalie. The Ducks planned for that when they signed him to a very affordable three-year contract before the 2015-16 season and then made it official when they traded Frederik Andersen to Toronto the following summer.

We’re guessing that this deal won’t be as team-friendly. Big bucks, without question, will be needed to lock in Gibson. The battle between Murray and Gibson’s agent, Kurt Overhardt, might be over whether that seven-figure annual salary starts with a six and the next number after that. If a deal does get done before next summer, he’ll become the Ducks’ highest-paid netminder since Jean-Sebastien Giguere.

If there is a waiting period, Murray might be curious to see the numbers Connor Hellebuyck came in at with Winnipeg – six years, $37 million. Hellebuyck, 25, finished his entry-level contract and is coming off a huge 2017-18 where he posted statistics that made him a Vezina Trophy finalist. He was a central figure on a top-five team that reached the Western Conference finals. He’s also only got one great year under him.

Gibson hasn’t had that spectacular season. And he has battled injuries all along the way. But his career numbers (178 games played, 2.29 GAA, .923 SV%) are better than Hellebuyck’s (149 games, 2.55 GAA, .917 SV%). It can be argued that the fellow American netminder was also a worthy Vezina contender. It can be argued that Gibson has been on better teams more often.

When reached by The Athletic, Overhardt wouldn’t discuss specifics of his talks with the Ducks. The agent, however, did strike a tone of continuing a relationship that was born with Gibson’s drafting in 2011.

“I know my client would welcome the opportunity to be with the organization for several years to come,” Overhardt said. “Just be part of building success there.”

When told that Murray considered re-signing Gibson a high priority, Overhardt countered by saying, “It’s a priority for my clients to work with the organizations to that end, that’s for sure.”

According to CapFriendly, the Ducks have $53.4 million committed to 26 players. Add in the potential $8 million or so and that could leave around $19 million depending on how much the cap will go up next summer. There won’t be any big contracts coming off the books unless a salaried trade is made, so that could mean about $13 million left over to address Henrique and Silfverberg.

That’s where things could get tricky – and whether the Ducks might be faced with a choice of retaining one and moving the other.

Henrique, 28, and Silfverberg, 27, could each be seeking their last long-term contract. The two are very important to Anaheim’s means of icing a playoff team. Henrique could be more so as he’ll be the Ducks’ de facto second-line center unless Ryan Kesler is ready to go for the season and somehow resembles anything close to the indomitable two-way force he once was. Silfverberg might be their best defensive forward and still has 20-goal capability.

This season, Henrique finishes off his six-year, $24 million contract signed with the Devils. Silfverberg wraps up a four-year, $15 million extension that was inked in 2015. You can count on both AAVs heading upward. It will be interesting to see how Murray is able to keep the salary structure that he covets intact. It will be real interesting if he has the ability to build a championship-level team with the aging Kesler, Ryan Getzlaf and Perry atop that structure.

What has become paramount – as the New York Islanders learned with John Tavares – is the necessity with which to determine if a team’s key potential free agents can be kept in the fold before they get to their walk year. As soon as July 1 arrived, Murray secured the opportunity to re-sign Gibson, Henrique or Silfverberg.

And he knows how important that is. If you can’t sign them, it is a double blow to lose them without getting anything in return.

“I don’t think I can go into this with those guys being a little bit away from unrestricted,” Murray told The Athletic last month in Dallas. “It’s dangerous to have that situation and then you get to February or whatever the trade deadline is and you’re in the hurt and you’re close, you’re whatever. It’s very difficult to move the people at that point in time. It doesn’t work well.

“So, yeah, I think it’s important I try to get something done.”

Yes, indeed. For the Ducks GM, there is plenty of work ahead.

 

[HaloCory22]

44 minutes ago, nate said:

Here is Stephens on the Ducks future contracts.  Amazing to think that they are basically a cap starved team, and this is what they have...

  Reveal hidden contents

The prospect of NHL free agency has, from what I see, a bit of a three-pronged feel to it for general managers.

There is what you want to happen – i.e., the unrestricted players who have entered the market that you woo and try to sign to a contract of both parties’ liking. There is what needs to happen – which are the restricted free agents on your club that require new contracts before the middle of September rolls around and training camps open. And then there is what could happen – which are the players you wish to keep because their contracts are set to expire the following summer.

Plans naturally must be made for all three. So let’s look at the Ducks and what GM Bob Murray has done and, more importantly, what he may be faced with doing.

The first is the most clear-cut and has largely been settled. Much of Murray’s summer shopping appears to be done. In signing seven players – defensemen Luke Schenn and Andrej Sustr, goaltender Jared Coreau and forwards Brian Gibbons, Carter Rowney, Anton Rodin and Ben Street – the Ducks spent a total of $8.65 million. Rowney’s three-year, $3.4 million deal is the only one that goes beyond 2019. Unless they were to part with a higher-salaried player, they can’t take on another that comes in at a big number.

Why is that? It leads us to the second scenario.

Anaheim has roughly $9.5 million of salary cap space heading into 2018-19, according to CapFriendly. It sounds like a good amount until you factor in the three primary RFAs that must be signed. Brandon Montour, Ondrej Kase and Nick Ritchie are, as of this date, part of the Ducks’ plans for now and into the future. The three are coming off their entry-level contracts and are due raises of varying degrees given their status as regulars and the contributions that they’ve made.

What is it going to cost Murray to sign all three? The club and the agents for the trio naturally won’t discuss the numbers they’re batting back and forth. But we can hazard some educated guesses.

How to make deals with Ritchie, Kase, Montour 

Given that Ritchie hasn’t set the league on fire in his two seasons and doesn’t own salary arbitration rights, it stands to reason that an affordable deal for the Ducks can be reached unless there are demands that seem out of whack to them. And unless Murray is a big believer in the power forward still having some upside, it stands to reason a shorter-term bridge deal is the way to go.

One comparable example that could be entertained is the two-year contract Kings left wing Tanner Pearson signed in 2015. Pearson was 22 and in the final year of his entry level with only 67 NHL regular-season games under his belt. But he had proven to be a contributor to the Kings’ 2014 Stanley Cup title run and a young forward worth betting on in terms of an extended future.

The Kings and Pearson agreed on a two-year, $2.8 million deal with the accompanying $1.4 million cap hit. At 22, Ritchie has 186 NHL games to his name. His numbers didn’t increase from 2016-17 to 2017-18, but there is at least some track record. Could a two-year deal with a total cost of $3.4 million to $3.6 million be reached?

It would also take Ritchie to where he can have arb rights and give him an opportunity to show that he can be more than a big-bodied grinder with occasional finishing ability and earn a much larger payday. It seems logical, although there’s always the dance between what an agent seeks for his client and what a GM views as the real value of a player and what he is willing to pay.

Kase, 22, continues to be a nice surprise. The right wing delivered more than flashes in 2017-18, scoring 20 goals that were only second to Rickard Rakell in terms of players who posted all of his numbers with the Ducks (Adam Henrique had four of his 20 goals with New Jersey). He has skill, elusiveness and creativity in the offensive zone, something that is desperately needed. The key here is whether he’s a player worth locking up for longer than two or three years.

One could take a look at the recent contracts Detroit has reached with forwards Anthony Mantha and Andreas Athanasiou. Different players, for sure. Kase isn’t as big and may not have the capacity to dominate opposing defenders with his size (like Mantha) or speed (like Athanasiou). Mantha and Athanasiou also have about a year of experience on him.

Kase isn’t going to get the $3.3 million average annual value that Mantha, 23, just received in a two-year deal with the Red Wings. After all, Mantha led them with 24 goals in his second full season and is a top-line right wing for the team. He could be their top goal scorer for years. But there is a comparison between Kase and Athanasiou.

Athanasiou, who’ll be 24 on August 6, has played in 172 games to Kase’s 119. And he plays on the left side, unlike Kase, who’s almost strictly been on the right wing. But Kase’s .445 points per game is actually a tick up from Athanasiou’s .442. And Athanasiou just got a two-year deal with a $3 million AAV. Could Murray go the route he did with Rickard Rakell – who’s arguably now the biggest bargain in the NHL – and offer more years of security to bring the annual salary down?

Would a $2.5 million to 2.8 million AAV over say four seasons get it done? On Kase’s end, that would take him to unrestricted status rather than a two-year deal to gaining arb rights as an RFA. If you’re Murray, you would have to bet on Kase keeping his game at a 20-goal level or possibly taking it higher while gaining some much-needed cost certainty for a longer period.

Kase’s agent, J.P. Barry, told The Athletic on Wednesday that he’s had regular communication with Murray and David McNab, Anaheim’s senior vice president of hockey operations. “We will keep at it,” Barry said in a text.

Montour is the wild card. The 24-year-old has only one full NHL season under him. Just 107 regular-season games have been played. But he can go to arbitration. And he is a right-shot defenseman with terrific skating ability and legitimate offensive capability, all of which are highly coveted by GMs across the league. You’d be a fool to think he and his agent, Matt Keator, don’t know that.

Before we get to what he could cost, the Ducks must be set on whether Montour is a top-four defenseman whom they’re willing to trust with big minutes. His best work last season came when he skated alongside Cam Fowler, and his high-risk style had a negative impact against San Jose in their first-round playoff series defeat, which an injured Fowler did not play. There were rumblings at last month’s draft about whether Montour could be available. It was more about teams calling Murray than the GM putting him on the market, but Montour would be a piece that could help land a proven top-four defender or a scoring forward.

Keator did confirm active discussions about his client to The Athletic and said after the draft, “It is very early in the process, so we’ll see.” How much progress or ground has been closed between the two sides isn’t known. Some of this is going to depend on how much of a commitment to Montour that the Ducks will want to make. You would have to imagine that Murray will want his salary number to come in under the $4.1 million AAV that he gave right-shot defender Josh Manson for four years. Perhaps well under.

All in all, the contracts for Ritchie, Kase and Montour could eat up about $8 million of that $9.5 million that’s free under the cap. (In addition, defenseman Andy Welinski and forwards Kalle Kossila and Kevin Roy also need to be re-signed).

That takes care of this season. But there is the future.

The multi-million dollar questions of 2019

The summer of 2019 sees the possibility of John Gibson, Adam Henrique and Jakob Silfverberg gaining free agency. As if Murray didn’t have enough front-burner stuff to handle.

Henrique and Silfverberg can become UFAs, while Gibson will still be a year away from that. Not that it really matters in his case. He’s the undisputed franchise goalie. The Ducks planned for that when they signed him to a very affordable three-year contract before the 2015-16 season and then made it official when they traded Frederik Andersen to Toronto the following summer.

We’re guessing that this deal won’t be as team-friendly. Big bucks, without question, will be needed to lock in Gibson. The battle between Murray and Gibson’s agent, Kurt Overhardt, might be over whether that seven-figure annual salary starts with a six and the next number after that. If a deal does get done before next summer, he’ll become the Ducks’ highest-paid netminder since Jean-Sebastien Giguere.

If there is a waiting period, Murray might be curious to see the numbers Connor Hellebuyck came in at with Winnipeg – six years, $37 million. Hellebuyck, 25, finished his entry-level contract and is coming off a huge 2017-18 where he posted statistics that made him a Vezina Trophy finalist. He was a central figure on a top-five team that reached the Western Conference finals. He’s also only got one great year under him.

Gibson hasn’t had that spectacular season. And he has battled injuries all along the way. But his career numbers (178 games played, 2.29 GAA, .923 SV%) are better than Hellebuyck’s (149 games, 2.55 GAA, .917 SV%). It can be argued that the fellow American netminder was also a worthy Vezina contender. It can be argued that Gibson has been on better teams more often.

When reached by The Athletic, Overhardt wouldn’t discuss specifics of his talks with the Ducks. The agent, however, did strike a tone of continuing a relationship that was born with Gibson’s drafting in 2011.

“I know my client would welcome the opportunity to be with the organization for several years to come,” Overhardt said. “Just be part of building success there.”

When told that Murray considered re-signing Gibson a high priority, Overhardt countered by saying, “It’s a priority for my clients to work with the organizations to that end, that’s for sure.”

According to CapFriendly, the Ducks have $53.4 million committed to 26 players. Add in the potential $8 million or so and that could leave around $19 million depending on how much the cap will go up next summer. There won’t be any big contracts coming off the books unless a salaried trade is made, so that could mean about $13 million left over to address Henrique and Silfverberg.

That’s where things could get tricky – and whether the Ducks might be faced with a choice of retaining one and moving the other.

Henrique, 28, and Silfverberg, 27, could each be seeking their last long-term contract. The two are very important to Anaheim’s means of icing a playoff team. Henrique could be more so as he’ll be the Ducks’ de facto second-line center unless Ryan Kesler is ready to go for the season and somehow resembles anything close to the indomitable two-way force he once was. Silfverberg might be their best defensive forward and still has 20-goal capability.

This season, Henrique finishes off his six-year, $24 million contract signed with the Devils. Silfverberg wraps up a four-year, $15 million extension that was inked in 2015. You can count on both AAVs heading upward. It will be interesting to see how Murray is able to keep the salary structure that he covets intact. It will be real interesting if he has the ability to build a championship-level team with the aging Kesler, Ryan Getzlaf and Perry atop that structure.

What has become paramount – as the New York Islanders learned with John Tavares – is the necessity with which to determine if a team’s key potential free agents can be kept in the fold before they get to their walk year. As soon as July 1 arrived, Murray secured the opportunity to re-sign Gibson, Henrique or Silfverberg.

And he knows how important that is. If you can’t sign them, it is a double blow to lose them without getting anything in return.

“I don’t think I can go into this with those guys being a little bit away from unrestricted,” Murray told The Athletic last month in Dallas. “It’s dangerous to have that situation and then you get to February or whatever the trade deadline is and you’re in the hurt and you’re close, you’re whatever. It’s very difficult to move the people at that point in time. It doesn’t work well.

“So, yeah, I think it’s important I try to get something done.”

Yes, indeed. For the Ducks GM, there is plenty of work ahead.

 

This is quite depressing. How in the blue hell is this dumpster fire team pretty much maxed out. Oh yeah... Perry and Kesler. We need to unload Silf and Perry 100% Maybe package them together and hang onto some of Perry's money. Simply dumping him is reward enough for me though. Montour is very meh for me. No way in hell does he deserve 3-4 mill AAV with just 1 season played. He's no where near that good. (yet) 

[Pujols4MVP]

14 hours ago, HaloCory22 said:

This is quite depressing. How in the blue hell is this dumpster fire team pretty much maxed out. Oh yeah... Perry and Kesler. We need to unload Silf and Perry 100% Maybe package them together and hang onto some of Perry's money. Simply dumping him is reward enough for me though. Montour is very meh for me. No way in hell does he deserve 3-4 mill AAV with just 1 season played. He's no where near that good. (yet) 

Montour's shot is also inaccurate, its got good velocity but inaccurate. His S% is pretty low for a guy with his kind of shot.

I think he also plays sheltered minutes focusing on offensive zone starts.

[UndertheHalo]

Some sad news. 

Former Ducks goalie Ray Emery passed away today in a strange drowning accident.  He was 35.  I’ll always remember that he stepped up huge for the Ducks in that 2010-2011 season after Jonas Hiller couldn’t play due to vertigo.  He ended up winning his cup with the Blackhawks.  Anyway, Rest In Peace Ray. 

 

[gotbeer]

On 7/13/2018 at 12:20 PM, HaloCory22 said:

This is quite depressing. How in the blue hell is this dumpster fire team pretty much maxed out. Oh yeah... Perry and Kesler. We need to unload Silf and Perry 100% Maybe package them together and hang onto some of Perry's money. Simply dumping him is reward enough for me though. Montour is very meh for me. No way in hell does he deserve 3-4 mill AAV with just 1 season played. He's no where near that good. (yet) 

That's why I really think we will see a Perry/Silf/Montour trade for someone big.  Montour is a big + to add for other teams D.  Silf is what he is, and wont be worth his contract as an extension.  And Perry is about a $5 million a season player, not a $8+.  Just need to find a team to take them all on, cough Colombus, and realize that Montours RFA years is worth the Perry $3 million a season premium.  

[nate]

Uncle Rico extended.

https://nhl.com/ducks/news/ducks-sign-henrique-to-five-year-contract-extension/c-299500006

[gotbeer]

With the prices being thrown out today.  That's not a bad aav.

 

[UndertheHalo]

It’s a pretty good deal. 

[OCAngelsNotLAA]

I wish we could have paid less but i bet he would have gotten more as a FA so i cant complain.  He might get more minutes this season too with Kesler questionable.  

[gotbeer]

I swear, if we aren't even inquiring about him.

Report: ‘No contract progress’ between Panarin, Blue Jackets

 

[Pujols4MVP]

2 minutes ago, gotbeer said:

I swear, if we aren't even inquiring about him.

Report: ‘No contract progress’ between Panarin, Blue Jackets

 

Its like back when the Angels weren't even inquiring about international prospects but then sign Baldoquin(Rowney in the Ducks case)

[gotbeer]

Shows Henrique as a kid with a Mighty Ducks hat.

[Pujols4MVP]

8 hours ago, gotbeer said:

Shows Henrique as a kid with a Mighty Ducks hat.

He's either serious or its a jab at Tavares lol.

If he's serious its neat that Palmieri (Devils fan) moves from Ducks to Devils & Henrique (Ducks fan) moves from Devils to Ducks.

[nate]

On 7/16/2018 at 5:56 PM, gotbeer said:

I swear, if we aren't even inquiring about him.

Report: ‘No contract progress’ between Panarin, Blue Jackets

 

My guess is that BJs want to keep Panarin so their price is high right now.  Give it another month.

[gotbeer]

 

Panarin won't talk business with Blue Jackets once camp begins Sept. 13

Wake up Bob.  Time to strike while you can.