What should the non-playoff teams do?

[tiger tiger]

Just for fun, I thought I'd post my opinion on what I think some of the GM's should do to improve their team. I'll go team by team, adding when I've got some spare time.

Edmonton:

Draft and Prospects:

They have the 1st pick. The should draft centre Tyler Seguin. They have super speedy Magnus Pajaarvi-Svensson (10th overall in 2009) on LW. They do have clutch center Eberle, but he's a bit small. Seguin and Eberle are both right handed shots, so either could end up playing the wing.

They have signed LW Linus Omark (check out some youtube clips for this guy) and RW Toni Rajala. C Riley Nash still needs to bulk up, but could potentially be a decent #2 centre.

Current team:

Forwards:

Penner, Hemsky, Sam Gagner and Cogliano are players to build around. Cogliano had a setback year, hopefully they can help him get back on track. O'Sullivan, Robert Nilsson and Brule are on the bubble. Talented, but are they team players and can they bring it every night to compete in the NHL? Nilsson and O'Sullivan have expensive contracts too, so if they don't show signs of improvement, they could be on their way out very quickly. Moreau could still play on the 2nd, but would be more effective on the 3rd line.

Comrie and Pisani will not be resigned (UFA's). Souray wants to be traded, but not sure who would want his contract, plus he's been injury prone for the last few years. Another contract they have to move is Horcroff's, but will be difficult to do.

Defence: Ryan Whitney and Gilbert are young and talented enough to build around. Smid is a solid stay at home d-man, and was a +5 this year too. But after that, it drops quite a bit. Chorney, Plante and Petry could be decent NHLers, but need more experience. I'd sooner sign older UFAs (at age 27), than draft one, unless they are the next Doughty. Plus d-men take a little longer to develop.

Goaltending:
Khabibulin has been a bust. Injuries, age, and a 3.75mil for 3 more years make him immovable. Never understood the reasoning behind signing him. Oilers are rebuilding, why sign players as if you're hoping to win it all. A bit delusional on Lowe's part. Delauriers and Dubnyk were over their heads this year. Olivier Roy is talented, but raw. If the Oilers rush him, they may mess him up.

The Oilers are going to stink for another year (or 2), but with decent 1st round picks and prospects, the rebuilding process looks good. If they are able to trade Souray and Horcroff, that would take over $10mill off their cap. They could use that to sign 3 d-men to solidfy their defensive end. ie. Derek Morris, Hamhuis, Van Ryn, etc.

If they can move Khabibulin, that would be a bonus, but unlikely. If some GM is crazy enough to do it, look to try to pry a young goalie like Montoya from the Coyotes, or Harding from the Wild. If not, sign Raycroft cheap.

Lineups:

Top 3 lines:
Penner, Gagner, Hemsky
Moreau, Cogliano, O'Sullivan
Nilsson, Horcoff, Brule
Sortini, Pouliot, Ryan Jones

Omark, Rajala on call ups.

D:
Whitney, Gilbert
Chroney, Smid
?, ?

Petry, Plante on call ups.

[tiger tiger]

Leafs:

The Leafs would have had the 2nd pick overall, but traded it with this year's 2nd round next year's 1st round pick for and injured Phil Kessel (he missed the 1st month). I don't think Burke thought that the pick would be this high. Good job on the part of the Boston GM, loading up with picks and still having enough to make the playoffs and well on their way to the 2nd round. The pressure is on Burke to make next year's team a winner otherwise Leaf-nation are going to turn on him for giving up 2 high 1st round picks for Kessel.

The line of Kessel, Bozak, Kulemin had a lot of chemistry this year (near the end). Gabrovski is a decent (and expensive) 2nd line centre, but is small so needs some big talented wingers to be effective. Stalberg, Hanson, and Caputi could make it on the 2nd line. Kadri could make the team, but why rush a guy to play on a losing team. Hayes and DiDomenico could get a long look at camp.

With the purge at the trading deadline, look for Burke to make some big free agent signings. He could go after Kovalchuk or Marleau. Or he could spread out the money and go after Plekanec, Frolov and Svatos. But none of those guys are Wilson type players. But it's slim pickings after that. I'm not sure if any of these guys are looking to play for a team that's re-building/re-tooling still.

Defense:
Phaneuf, Komisarek, Beauchemin, and Schenn will be the top 4. Rumors of problems between Kaberle and Ron Wilson, and Kaberle being a UFA at the end of next year, look for Burke to trade Kaberle to get some draft pick and prospects back. Gunnerson will make the team next year. They have to unload Finger's lousy contract.

Goalies:
Giguere has a huge contract (7 mil), but it ends next year. They've resign Gustavsson, for 2 yrs and he looked good this year, but will be a UFA after that contract.

Top lines:
Kessel, Bozak, Kulemin
Hanson, Gabrovski, Caputi
?, ?, Stalberg

Phaneuf, Shenn
Beauchemin, Komisarek
Gunnerson, Finger

Giguere, Gustavsson.

If Burke is unable to land some big free agent forward signings, the Leafs are going to be in the bottom 5 again. Burke has no more assets to go after RFA's. Even if they do sign some decent UFAs, it'll take some time to get the chemistry going. Look for a slow start.

[tiger tiger]

Florida loses the last game of the season to the Lightning. The win propells TB into 6th and FLA gets 3rd.

Florida will most likely draft Fowler, the top rated d-man. After losing J-Bo to Calgary, they need another young d-man to build around. Yes they have Kulikov, but you can never have enough d-men, and you build from the back end out. The pairing could solidify their defence for years to come.

Critical decision time for Florida. Do they want to rebuild or compete. Vokoun won a lot of games for them, but is in the last year of his contract @ 6.3 mil. They have highly touted Swedish goaltending prospect Markstrom, but isn't quite NHL ready.

The defense for Florida is probably the stongest part of the team, until they traded a couple of their d-men away at the deadline. McCabe and Ballard will be back, Kulikov looked good as a rookie, Ellerby will get some time this year. Bryan Allen will be #5 or 6. They need to sign another top 2 line defenceman.

Weiss and Horton are the stars for the team. David Booth was up and coming, but with 2 concussions this year, he may never reach his full potential, which would be a major setback. He's got to learn to keep his head up or end up like Lindros. Olesz, Frolik, Matthias, Repik are good young players, but need to step it up to be effective 2nd line players. Stillman, Dvorak, and Reinprecht will provide veteran leadership and some scoring.

The Panthers are in limbo, they have a couple of players entering their prime, a few players in the twilight years, and a few players needing a couple more years of development. They'll never have a core group of players entering their prime at the same time. If they continue this way, they'll be mediocre for years to come.

What to do? Fire sale. Move Vokoun, McCabe, Ballard, Allen, Stillman, Reinprecht, Dvorak and get what you can in return in draft picks and prospects. I'd even consider trading Weiss for a forward a couple years younger with some potential. (like what the Avs did with Wolski to get Mueller).

The GM should sign a bunch of players to 1-2 yr contracts as you re-build your team. The Panthers have done well in the draft, getting Ellerby, Markstrom, Matthias, Frolik, and Kulikov. All except Markstrom, have seen some NHL time this year.

Lineup:

Horton, Weiss, Booth
Frolik, Matthias, Olesz
Stillman, Reinprecht, Dvorak (or younger UFAs)
4th line grinders
Repik.

McCabe, Ballard
Kulikov, Ellerby
2 cheap vet d-men
Fowler, Garrison

Vokoun, Clemmenson

It's going to be another long year for Panther's fans. Vokoun will steal some games for them, and the continued improvement of Weiss, Horton and Frolik will help. Hopefully Matthias, Kulikov, Ellerby make huge strides in their development. But they are such a young team, so they'll be on the losing end for most nights.

[tiger tiger]

Columbus.

Nash is wasting away with the Blue Jackets. He's signed an extension to the 13/14 season. But there's nobody for him to play with. Huselius, Umberger, Vermette and Pahlsson are 2nd and 3rd liners at best, and expensive ones too. With the firing of Hitchcock, it looks like the team is going to go with the youth movement. Hitchcock was always known to bring young players very slowly. But Columbus is in the same boat as the other 3 teams. Too few players entering their prime, so they will be mediocre for some time. Except Columbus has done better with their draft picks recently, so they're ahead of Florida in the re-building process. The problem is that the pressure to win now may cause the GM to do something rash for short term gain.

With Brassard, Voracek, Filatov, Steve Mason, Russell, Starlman (nice cheap pick up from Calgary, orignally drafted by the Leafs), the future of the Blue Jackets looks bright.

There are rumors involving trading away Filatov for a proven top 6 forward or top 4 d-man. I would want the GM to be patient. If you have to trade for players, trade your future draft picks instead, or try to sign UFAs like Plekanec (1st line C) and Stempniak (2nd line RW). And add D-men like Volchenkov or Van Ryn. or Corvo if you want someone to run your PP. The Blue Jackets have some cap room, but not a whole lot.

Most likely the Blue Jackets will not make the playoffs this coming year. If Huselius, Umberger, Pahlsson and Vermette have decent seasons, they should trade them for younger prospects. Columbus doesn't need to stockpile more picks, they should go for players on the cusp of making it into the NHL.

For next season, the lines will probably look like this:

Huselius, Vermette, Nash
Umberger, Brassard, Voracek
Filatov, Pahlsson, Clark.
(not sure if the new coach is willing to go with a kid line and put Filatov on the 2nd instead of Umberger)

D:
Commodore, Kesla
Stralman, Tyutin
Hejda, Methot
Russell.

G:
Mason and Garon. Should go 50/50. Don't rush Mason.