Couple things,

Ultimate, sorry there are now reports multiple teams considering offer sheeting Laine

Here’s an interesting thought not out of the realm of possible.
If a team offer sheets Connor (I’d prefer Connor not Laine!!) for anything over 8.5, that would be 2-firsts a 2nd and a 3rd in compensation. We could take the picks and use the money for Connor to sign Gardiner (I’m not a huge fan but absolutely believe he is better than Myers) plus if we were offered Gardiner, 2 firsts, a 2nd and 3rd for Connor who’d say no?

Reports are from Eklund, so it’s hard to take them seriously.

IMHO this is all pretty straightforward -

* there is a cap of $81.5M
* I want to keep both Laine & Connor
* Ehlers is on a reasonable contract - less than if we had to go get him in open market
* I'm keenly interested in keeping Lowry - especially at $2.9M
* I will not overpay for any UFA's whether they were mine to begin with (Myers, Tanev) or from the market (name any of them - ok, Duchene)
* I'm gonna have to pay market rates for new contracts but i'm gonna really work hard not to give too much term

Under these conditions, Myers and Tanev walk and that's tough luck - - I'm gonna wait for the bidding to settle then go in and sign my RFA's - - I will look for value in the open market to incrementally improve my roster

AND - - I'm going to stick to my strategy of draft'n'develop and bring my new talent up to play
- CorydonKeith

So , to sum up, you're saying get a new coach.....

IMHO this is all pretty straightforward -

* there is a cap of $81.5M
* I want to keep both Laine & Connor
* Ehlers is on a reasonable contract - less than if we had to go get him in open market
* I'm keenly interested in keeping Lowry - especially at $2.9M
* I will not overpay for any UFA's whether they were mine to begin with (Myers, Tanev) or from the market (name any of them - ok, Duchene)
* I'm gonna have to pay market rates for new contracts but i'm gonna really work hard not to give too much term

Under these conditions, Myers and Tanev walk and that's tough luck - - I'm gonna wait for the bidding to settle then go in and sign my RFA's - - I will look for value in the open market to incrementally improve my roster

AND - - I'm going to stick to my strategy of draft'n'develop and bring my new talent up to play
- CorydonKeith

So , to sum up, you're saying get a new coach.....
- liverpoolnhl

//————//

Well I don’t know about you guys, but I am tired of the draft and develop idea. Maybe we need a new GM that is not overwhelmed when he actually has to come up with a plan when he has to deal with salary cap issues.... or a new coach that doesn’t favours certain players and cause issues in his own dressing room.

Good GMs knows who to keep and who and when they need to trade to maximize value. They don’t let other teams dictate what you are going to do (Laine offer sheet).
Remember that great trade Chevy made, getting rid of the malcontent Evander Kane?
(Evander Kane, Zach Bogosian, and Jason Kasdorf to Buffalo for Tyler Myers, Drew Stafford, Joel Armia, Brendan Lemieux and the Sabres’ 2015 first-round pick.)

We have Roslovic to show for it and the jury is still out on him being anything more than a 3rd line centre? Say what you will but Kane is still filling the net. Since the trade 20, 28, 20, 9 (in 17 games) & 30.

Was signing 32 year old Wheeler to 5 year $41+M deal seems questionable.
In Byfuglien’s case, he’s played 69 and 42 games respectively in the past two seasons. He is breaking down and is getting paid $7.6M the next 2 years.

They are bad deals. But even if you could trade those 2 contracts for cap space, you are now even taking more steps backwards.

What if Morrissey decides he wants out next year?

This team had its chance the last 2 years and now it will be 10 years till they are relevant in the Stanley Cup discussion again, after they gut this team and start over... or turnover the GM/ Coach and make decisions for here and now.

Probably time for Chevy and Paul to go.

Probably time for Chevy and Paul to go.
- manvanfan

I think it’s inevitable. This season is already over for us, and no matter what happens, they’ll both be gone

So , to sum up, you're saying get a new coach.....
- liverpoolnhl

... Liverpool - that's actually quite funny ...

I know in business - leaders create, deploy, manage, and grow .... often they're not the same person - they're folks that are good at one (maybe two) of those stages

So maybe Chevy is good with finding the talent (draft) - not so good at managing the talent pool

Maybe PoMo .... well ... maybe he's good at public relations

2 seasons ago the Jets exceeded my expectations ... last year they fell short ... that's only 2 years (after taking 5 ? to build)

It's tough changing your leaders - but you do it for specific reasons ....

//————//

Well I don’t know about you guys, but I am tired of the draft and develop idea. Maybe we need a new GM that is not overwhelmed when he actually has to come up with a plan when he has to deal with salary cap issues.... or a new coach that doesn’t favours certain players and cause issues in his own dressing room.

Good GMs knows who to keep and who and when they need to trade to maximize value. They don’t let other teams dictate what you are going to do (Laine offer sheet).
Remember that great trade Chevy made, getting rid of the malcontent Evander Kane?
(Evander Kane, Zach Bogosian, and Jason Kasdorf to Buffalo for Tyler Myers, Drew Stafford, Joel Armia, Brendan Lemieux and the Sabres’ 2015 first-round pick.)

We have Roslovic to show for it and the jury is still out on him being anything more than a 3rd line centre? Say what you will but Kane is still filling the net. Since the trade 20, 28, 20, 9 (in 17 games) & 30.

Was signing 32 year old Wheeler to 5 year $41+M deal seems questionable.
In Byfuglien’s case, he’s played 69 and 42 games respectively in the past two seasons. He is breaking down and is getting paid $7.6M the next 2 years.

They are bad deals. But even if you could trade those 2 contracts for cap space, you are now even taking more steps backwards.

What if Morrissey decides he wants out next year?

This team had its chance the last 2 years and now it will be 10 years till they are relevant in the Stanley Cup discussion again, after they gut this team and start over... or turnover the GM/ Coach and make decisions for here and now.
- Tommycasino

The core of the team has shifted from Buff and Wheeler and is now about Sheifle, Morrissey and Hellybuck. Wheeler, Buff, Little remain as important depth pieces but core role will continue to be replaced by Lowry, Copp, (2 of Connor, Laine and Ehlers). Hopefully another D will emerge as a core piece as well.

As for the Kane trade we also got 2 years of Stafford, 4 years of Myers, 2 of Armia, 1 of Lemieux and Roslovic continues as a significant piece. Kane to his credit has let his play speak more for him. Bogo still injured (while Myers has recovered). The team let go of Stafford, Myers, Armia and Lemieux because the team is in a strong position. To pay the depth we have required hard choices.

Maurice is at a cross-roads, his team regressed (or at least stalled) in 2019. It is time again for him to prove himself with a strong season or move on. He will need to smooth ruffled feathers and integrate new talent. I am surprised an experienced bench boss allowed the discontent to fester as it did and it is a black mark. If the team had won games the line decisions would have been irrelevant. If Maurice fails in these areas in 2019/20 then move on.