Looking at the data from [CapFriendly](https://www.capfriendly.com/teams/kraken) there are some real decisions to be made in the next few weeks, in particular with those players who are RFA/UFA at the end of the season.
RFAs:
* Yamamoto
* Tolvanen
* Beniers
UFAs:
* Eberle
* Wennberg
* Tatar
* Shore
* Schultz
* Driedger
* Bellmare
I can’t see any of the RFAs leaving and would expect them all to be signed to new contracts before arbitration hits (especially given the low likely cap hit for Shore).
When it comes to the UFAs, things get a little more interesting. I would not expect to see Ebs or Wennberg to go anywhere. Tatar has proven to be a good pick up and so a potential to re-sign him is there. Schultz is trade bait and if he’s not gone, I wouldn’t expect to see him again next year. Bellemare is a low cap hit and useful on the 4th, so maybe pick him up for another season. I’m hoping that Driedger is signed to pay in the NHL after the AHL season concludes. He deserves a spot and if there’s not one here then he should be elsewhere.
​
Anyone else folks think could be on the move as we sit on the bubble of playoffs?
by SonOfZork
18 Comments
The way we played over the last month, I can’t see us trade anyone away unless its in some form of package deal to add a top line Forward or Blue line depth.
I get the feeling that Wennberg is leaving. With Shane Wright playing C we’ll need to make space for him in the near future. It’s a bummer because I’ve really liked his play this year but I don’t think we can afford his cap hit either.
I’d be really surprised if Schultz and Shore comeback.
Schultz will be replaced by Evans and Shore got brought up only due to injures. Same for Bellemare (who I’m a fan of, but Tatar is that veteran presence).
I can’t see us resigning Eberle. Yes, everyone largely looks great during this amazing run, but Ebs has had a meh year, and we have Wright and others who are the future.
honestly id expect just like last year to not really do anything
if francis can get a draft pick for schultz great, move up evans
we are playoff capable and shouldn’t be sellers, but also have a good system working and good talent in the system so should be massive buyers either way
I don’t think there is any way that we see something transpire that involves our RFAs. It’s hard to say what might happen with the others. I think Wennberg & Tatar are safe but I wouldn’t be surprised to see trade deals with any of the rest due to age, production/system issues or cap concerns.
If we can get to 5 or 6 over 0.500 by early February, I’d keep the roster in tact. Barring that, move Wennberg, Eberle, Schultz, Bellemare, and Drieger if you can.
Depends a bit on the market, though. If you’re not getting high quality picks for players, I’m not sure I’d be trading them away.
ATM I disagree with Ebs, he’s the highest paid forward (tied) on the team and among one of our ‘oldest’ players and has had a pretty bad season so far. He looked like complete horseshit/lazy into November. He seems to be turning his season around but I think he’s still too expensive.
I think Schultz, Shore, and Wennberg will be on the table. We have guys in Coachella who can cover their positions if we trade for picks and not players, and I don’t think Seattle is necessarily in a position to buy and make a playoff run. If they land in a WC position at the end of the season, I think it’ll be a nice bonus. As for the other players, I think they are important to the teams core and culture, and/or are generally a good value as they stand and could be re-signed
What’s Coachella’s goalie sitch? I hate to see Drieger up, but if they’re set, is that really the place or is that hurting future development for when we do move Gru eventually?
I hate to think Shore and Schultz gone, but definitely there are bodies ready for their lines. Between Wenny and Ebs? They’ve produced similar numbers, but I feel like you move on Wenny and bring up Wright.
That’s the only problem with running The Deep… too many good line combinations because they aren’t individual superstars, but they work amazingly as a team.
Driedger is a goner. Should get a pretty decent haul for him, as well.
If I had to guess, I’d go along with what others have said in that all of our RFA’s get something worked out. All 3 way players who are a threat to score, you can never have enough guys like that. As for the UFA’s, It’d be smart to re-sign Tatar. Eberle would need to have a stellar second half of the season to justify the price tag he’s going to be looking for. But as for Wennberg, I’d be really curious to see what Wright could do in a full year in the same role for a lot less. Shore, Schultz, Driedger, and Bellemare aren’t going to be high priority re-signs. Aside from Shore, you could probably get a mid-late round pick for any of the other three at the deadline.
Keep all RFA, Tatar,
Potential trade value: Eberle, Wennberg (Wright can replace Wenny, Eberle want to go to a true contender)
If Driedger holds up, buyout Grubauer and re-sign Driedger
Shultz, Bellemare, Shore are all relatively inexpensive or cheap depth pieces that could be worth keeping.
I don’t think we’ll do a whole ton to be honest.
I do (unfortunately) think we’re going to try to get something for Driedger though.
He was a top goalie in the AHL last season with a decent playoff run and put on a show recently in the NHL. Coachella has stayed relatively on course with him gone, a little drop but still comfortably in a mid playoff spot so far (4th in their division via point%) and 8th in the league per point%.
His contract is also nearly 3x Joey’s and Joey still has an additional year on his current pay, and we can only burry about 1/3rd of his pay in the AHL if I remember correctly. So sending him back to AHL still hits us with 2.4mil in unused cap spending. Almost no way we can move Gru, his stats aren’t savory, he has a no move clause, and his contract is big, but sending him to the AHL would still stick us with over 4mil in unused cap spending.
For reference:
Dac 1.2m
Chris 3.5m
Gru 5.9m
You can burry a total of 1.1m in the AHL, so sending Joey down would cover almost all his pay, but that’s not happening Joey is our man and no matter how you swing it we would still have 9.5m in goalie cap.
With Gru and Driedger we would be the 4th highest team on Goal tender spending.
With Gru and Daccord we are 10th.
With Driedger and Daccord we would be 23rd (but again the odds of this are slim to none)
Trading Chris would open up 2mil in cap space that could be used elsewhere if we feel we are going to be a playoff contender, and/or opens up room to extend Daccord with a bigger better contract until Gru leaves.
The cap ceiling is expected to go up 4.2 million next seasons so that will also give us some wiggle room to hopefully keep Daccord happy until Gru’s contract ends in which case if he is still playing well we can hopefully pay Joey those top goalie contracts.
Unfortunately moving Driedger just makes sense since we can’t move Gru. I say this as a huge Gru lover if we could move him without retaining a ton of cap I wouldn’t be opposed, I just don’t see that happening cleanly.
I won’t hear of any of this why am I reading these comments 🫣
People who think Wright can just slip right in and replace Wenny don’t pay attention to all of the intangibles Wenny brings to the team. We will hurt without him out there in the back half of the season if he leaves. Wennberg isn’t *just* a center. He has good stats in a lot of areas that aren’t measured too.
I do think Driedger is gone because he’s too good to stay in the AHL, but otherwise I don’t see us doing anything major.
Driedger deserves to play in the NHL. I’ll leave the chess game up to the people paid to do it 😂 but that is a fact. He’s too damn good for the AHL and to sit on the bench like he’s doing right now. He’ll make some team very happy but it won’t be ours which sucks 😔 I may get some heat for this but I would give up Gru to keep him, that’s how devoted a fan I am, but that’s impossible so I just gotta hope some other team wants him and will let him shine in a way he never was able to with us. He is an extremely hard worker and we all saw what it meant to him to be back. Make it so, hockey gods!!
Could someone explain RFAs and UFAs please? Fairly knew to hockey and the whole stuff around waivers and such is very confusing haha.
Without knowing how long Grubauer is going to be out, I would assume they will continue to try to trade Driedger. Unless they think Grubauer will still be out in two months. Everyone else I assume we’ll keep through the end of the season unless we are loading up for the playoffs and have to balance the cap by trading players. But I assume Shore and Schultz won’t be re-signed. Maybe not Wennberg depending what his ask is. Bellemare will be another one-year deal if he wants to keep playing. But he is getting up there. I think he’s the sixth oldest active player in the league.