FOR FUN! Some rumors and thoughts that would be great to see happen...
Trade Jimmy Howard to Calgary Flames:
Detroit Receives 3rd round draft pick
(But really Detroit receives the release of Howard's contract and creates more cap space, while also getting rid of a contract with a NMC that kicks in soon. This would be a bad thing to have during an expansion draft. So getting rid of his contract is the best thing they can do regardless of return)
Cap Savings: 5.5mil
Detroit Trades Gustav Nyquist to Anaheim for Sami Vatanen
I'm sure there will be competition for Vatanen on the trade market, so Detroit might need to sweeten the pot with a draft pick.
Detroit bolsters its defensive core with a young right handed shooting defensman while also moving Nyquists soon to kick in NMC contract. He is a good player who had a down year, but will be replaced later in this post with more scoring ability.
Cap Savings: 4.25mil
Trade Datsyuk contract to Carolina to help them reach cap floor. (It's either Carolina or Arizona, and I don't know about the new kid GM they have in Arizona, so Carolina looks like a landing spot.)
Not sure what else would need to go in this trade in either direction but I imagine it would be low level prospects or expendables.
Cap Savings: 5.5mil
Trade: Teemu Pulkkinen and Ryan Sproul (Expendable with Right Handed Vatanen) for draft picks to restock Griffins with picks now that we have lots of players moving up. We have Russo, Marchenko and Ouellet who can make the team.
Trade Sheahan: Could get a decent draft pick in return.... with free agent signings below... he is expendable even though I like him. He is a great lower line role player who can chip in from time to time, but they are prevalent in the league.
What I would do with Ericsson...Trade him. If no one wants him then "Loan" him to a team in the Swedish league... they'd love to have him and his cap comes off our books. Ericsson might not want to go but if you tell him it's either that or the AHL for the remainder of his contract, then why wouldn't he want to go home and still make the same amount of money rather than sit in the AHL for his career. It also gives us the added benefit of getting rid of his ridiculous NMC for the possible expansion draft.
Cap Savings:4.25mil
Projected Cap space with above savings: 35.25mil
RFA to resign and ballparking contract value (complete guess):
DDK- Apx. 5.25mil
Marchenko- 2.25
Mrazek-3mil
Vatanen- 5.25
Total:15.75mil
Money Remaining: 19.5mil
Sign Stamkos.... Give him an 8 year 84 million contract. 10.5mil annual, same thing Kane and Toews got.
Sign Kyle Okposo..... Give him 6.25mil annual
Sign Backup Goalie: 2mil
Possible LInes:
Zetterberg; Stamkos; Abdelkader
Mantha, Larkin, Okposo
Tatar, Athansiou, Jurco
Glendening, Tangradi, (Frk/Bertuzzi...)
Defense:
Dekeyser, Vatanen
Kronwall, Green
Smith; Ouellet
Trade Jimmy Howard to Calgary Flames:
Detroit Receives 3rd round draft pick
(But really Detroit receives the release of Howard's contract and creates more cap space, while also getting rid of a contract with a NMC that kicks in soon. This would be a bad thing to have during an expansion draft. So getting rid of his contract is the best thing they can do regardless of return)
Cap Savings: 5.5mil
Detroit Trades Gustav Nyquist to Anaheim for Sami Vatanen
I'm sure there will be competition for Vatanen on the trade market, so Detroit might need to sweeten the pot with a draft pick.
Detroit bolsters its defensive core with a young right handed shooting defensman while also moving Nyquists soon to kick in NMC contract. He is a good player who had a down year, but will be replaced later in this post with more scoring ability.
Cap Savings: 4.25mil
Trade Datsyuk contract to Carolina to help them reach cap floor. (It's either Carolina or Arizona, and I don't know about the new kid GM they have in Arizona, so Carolina looks like a landing spot.)
Not sure what else would need to go in this trade in either direction but I imagine it would be low level prospects or expendables.
Cap Savings: 5.5mil
Trade: Teemu Pulkkinen and Ryan Sproul (Expendable with Right Handed Vatanen) for draft picks to restock Griffins with picks now that we have lots of players moving up. We have Russo, Marchenko and Ouellet who can make the team.
Trade Sheahan: Could get a decent draft pick in return.... with free agent signings below... he is expendable even though I like him. He is a great lower line role player who can chip in from time to time, but they are prevalent in the league.
What I would do with Ericsson...Trade him. If no one wants him then "Loan" him to a team in the Swedish league... they'd love to have him and his cap comes off our books. Ericsson might not want to go but if you tell him it's either that or the AHL for the remainder of his contract, then why wouldn't he want to go home and still make the same amount of money rather than sit in the AHL for his career. It also gives us the added benefit of getting rid of his ridiculous NMC for the possible expansion draft.
Cap Savings:4.25mil
Projected Cap space with above savings: 35.25mil
RFA to resign and ballparking contract value (complete guess):
DDK- Apx. 5.25mil
Marchenko- 2.25
Mrazek-3mil
Vatanen- 5.25
Total:15.75mil
Money Remaining: 19.5mil
Sign Stamkos.... Give him an 8 year 84 million contract. 10.5mil annual, same thing Kane and Toews got.
Sign Kyle Okposo..... Give him 6.25mil annual
Sign Backup Goalie: 2mil
Possible LInes:
Zetterberg; Stamkos; Abdelkader
Mantha, Larkin, Okposo
Tatar, Athansiou, Jurco
Glendening, Tangradi, (Frk/Bertuzzi...)
Defense:
Dekeyser, Vatanen
Kronwall, Green
Smith; Ouellet
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