Expansion Draft

[theohall]

Looking at the list - that's a defense first team - in terms of defenseman - almost all of them are "D" first type players. Dunn is one exception. In terms of forwards - not alot to say about that other than they will have 2 really good "3rd/4th" lines, for now. My guess is they are going to try and sign UFAs for their "top 6" forward talent, because they 100% avoided that route in the Expansion draft. Just waiting to hear what Seattle got in return for not taking more obvious players.

[theohall]

Not surprised Dunn was the selection. It only puts Armstrong in a bind dealing with Tarasenko, but it frees up the org to give these other LHD a serious chance at being a regular. The questions is how will Berube handle those players. In terms of Dunn, they protected is butt to a ridiculous level if own looks at zone starts, because Dunn was flat out not trusted in the defensive zone. That never changed over 4 full NHL seasons, specifically because his defensive game never improved. Advanced stats, which focus almost exclusively on offense, Dunn did extremely well, but when compared with the few available defensive advanced stats, he didn't make up for his liabilities. This is the major flaw in looking at "advanced statistics" today - there is almost nothing that rates true defensive ability, which is why guys like Dominik Luszczyszyn struggle with true evaluations of teams which focus on D first - and why he completely missed on the Blues for their entire Cup run.

[glen a richter]

Looking at the list - that's a defense first team - in terms of defenseman - almost all of them are "D" first type players. Dunn is one exception. In terms of forwards - not alot to say about that other than they will have 2 really good "3rd/4th" lines, for now. My guess is they are going to try and sign UFAs for their "top 6" forward talent, because they 100% avoided that route in the Expansion draft. Just waiting to hear what Seattle got in return for not taking more obvious players.

With a draft like that I'm expecting to see that they got half of this years first round and half of next years. If there weren't about 15 or 16 side deals plus the expectation of cleaning up in free agency then they really pissed the bed.

I'm already hearing that Giordano is on the Rangers radar but not much else.

If I'm not mistaken, the freeze ends at noon today, so if there were any deals I guess they couldn't be announced until then. We'll see.

[theohall]

The massive lack of side deals makes me think GMs all learned from the Vegas draft and refused to get screwed by giving up more than just one player this time around.

[JCShutout]

I wonder if Seattle got ideas of what certain fa were looking for, in the hopes of signing them on July 28th so as to not give up an expansion draft pick. They do have a TON of cap space.

[theohall]

Won't be surprised if Seattle hits the remaining Tampa UFAs, simply because Tampa cannot re-sign them.

[WaukeeBlues]

The massive lack of side deals makes me think GMs all learned from the Vegas draft and refused to get screwed by giving up more than just one player this time around.

Perhaps but I've also kept hearing repeatedly that Francis' asking price was exorbitant and never came down.

IMO it is negligent bordering on unconscionable for Francis to have not done any side deals. Drop your asking price, get some free assets in the days leading up to the draft, especially on teams you're not going to be taking anyone of note anyway. Especially this perceived "weak" draft class you're telling me a team wouldn't throw a 2nd, 3rd, 4th round pick at you to lay off someone?

Absolutely unbelievable and horrendous use of the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

[JCShutout]

I’m really starting to think Seattle took the route of having a few handshake deals with fa. Why sign Schwartz and lose your chance to pluck Dunn when you can agree to rough terms with Schwartz, get Dunn, and just sign jaden on July 28th? I’ll bet we see 2-3 big signings immediately after fa opens.

It’s a risk because nothing is official until the document is signed, and maybe your guy gets a better offer, but with so many teams (especially contenders) with little cap space, it’s probably a smart move. I’ll bet that’s why we didn’t see many side deals.

[theohall]

I’m really starting to think Seattle took the route of having a few handshake deals with fa. Why sign Schwartz and lose your chance to pluck Dunn when you can agree to rough terms with Schwartz, get Dunn, and just sign jaden on July 28th? I’ll bet we see 2-3 big signings immediately after fa opens.

It’s a risk because nothing is official until the document is signed, and maybe your guy gets a better offer, but with so many teams (especially contenders) with little cap space, it’s probably a smart move. I’ll bet that’s why we didn’t see many side deals.

This is where my head went, because there are some good FAs available. From the Blues alone - Hoffman, Schwartz, and Bozak. Not to mention Landeskog, Rask, Hamilton.