Skip to 1:33:00 to see some interesting input from Todd Bertuzzi on Red Wings players.
Thanks again to Kooleus for lending his thoughts to the previous blog. Toronto is such an interesting proposition in that they have such high end talent up front that won’t come cheap, but a need on the blue line that won’t go away.
Brian LaRose penned an interesting piece regarding Nashville’s offseason. Henry Hockey is lending his thoughts to today’s entry as we take a look at any potential deals between Nashville and Detroit. Cap Friendly shows that the Preds have 17 players signed going into next season and just under 10 million in cap space. Mikael Granlund, Craig Smith and Colin Blackwell are all UFAs up front. On the back end Dan Hamuis announced his retirement and won’t be back. Weber and Holzer are both UFAs. Fabbro will need a new deal next year (RFA) so some space will need to be saved for that.
Having 36 million tied up in your top 6 paid forwards isn’t a horrible number. The problem is that only one forward broke 20 goals. Johansson had 14, Duchene had 13, and Turris had 9. Forsberg had 21. That’s 28 million paid for 57 goals. Filip Hronek had as many goals as Kyle Turris did. Not good for Poile and Co.
David Poile seemed to have a golden touch for many years. Nashville had been a budget conscious team for many years. The backend pairing of Shea Weber and Ryan Suter was dominant. Barry Trotz worked his magic and the team could wear you down and win a 2-1 game. “If only they could get some more scoring”. Poile’s greatest trade to date was turning Martin Erat into Filip Forsberg. That was highway robbery! Still, the desire to add high end scoring gnawed at the franchise.
When Shea Weber was swapped for P.K. Subban, I honestly thought Montreal got the better end of the deal. I wasn’t convinced the P.K. could be as complete a D man as Shea, but the early returns proved me wrong. At one point, P.K. had more points than Weber had games played (due to injury) and it looked like Poile struck gold again. The Ryan Johansen acquisition at the cost of Seth Jones didn’t look as bad yet, and Nashville made it to the cup finals. Then, things started to go off the rails a bit.
Seth Jones looks amazing and Johansen doesn’t look like an 8 million dollar center. Still, that wasn’t the greatest undoing. As the story goes, “‘twas beauty that killed the beast”. A man crush in the form of Matt Duchene. The first deal, in which Poile wanted “Duchy” found him taking Kyle Turris instead. KT had 27 goals in 16-17. He’d broken 20 just 2 seasons earlier. The drop off has been steep. You can’t pay 6 million for 9 goals. 7 the year before, and 16 the year before. But, Turris had been a consolation prize. Duchene was the man crush, and everyone knew that with an interest in a country music career, Nashville was the destination.
MD had 34 goals in 18-19 and 27 the year before. This looked to be a good fit, and CBJ couldn’t hold on to the center. The drop off was steep with 13 goals in 66 games. Now, between Duchene and Turris, you have 14 million dollars into 22 goals and a deal that looks bad. Poile is now on the losing end of trying to ramp up his offense on a team that got very close just 3 seasons ago. Ellis and Jossi still make up a good top 2 D, but for the first time in a long time, defensive depth is being scrutinized. Poile has said that changes are coming.
It’s fairly easy to see that Turris would be the odd man out. HenryHockey had a couple takes on where Detroit may be a good trading partner for Nashville:
I would have said make a deal for Kyle Turris and get a 1st for taking him, but a flat cap has put a monkey wrench in that plan as turris has too much term at $6M for 4 more years and Poille does not make deals in which he retains salary. They are no longer what I consider a defense rich team as before and Hamhuis has already announced his retirement. So if a deal can be struck, most likely it would have to include the full salary and Turris did have chemistry with Mantha in the Worlds....but I doubt that they would be together......But OK.....Be it Turris, a 1st, and either a 2nd or Eeli Tolvanan or Calle Jarnkrok coming back for the Oilers 4th
Wait...... I have a better idea, Stevie gets Turris and a 1st and a 3rd for Neilson They only have 2 more years of Neilson while the Wings have 4 more years of Turris.... Wings spend that 1st on Jake Sanderson, Braden Schneider, or Yaroslav Askarov. That would be my take..... But somehow I think Stevie does bett yet!
Some bold thoughts, but the thinking is right. To take on the albatross of Turris a first round pick would have to be stapled to him. It’s that bad. I shot down the idea of Turris coming to Detroit last year, and unless the add on is fantastic, I just can’t imagine it working. Poile has been shrewd in his dealings (not giving no trade clauses much of the time, and only Rinne has a limited clause) so he can stay out of the battle trying to get permission. With an expansion draft coming up, he can make a deal and jettison someone off. Still, the fan base wants changes. To DP’s credit, he’s created an atmosphere with expectations.
Well, where are you at? Is there another piece that needs to move out? Turris’s cap hit is an enviable amount of space. Duchene could have a bounce back year. RyJo could as well. Turris seems to be in need of a change of scenery. Is there anyone else you could see wearing the Winged Wheel?
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