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Saturday, July 11
Gustav Nyquist, Patrick Sharp, Kevin Shattenkirk and more …
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Gustav Nyquist signed a four-year, $4.75 million contract Friday.
He followed up his 28-goal breakout during 2013-14 season with 27 tallies last year, albeit in 25 more games. Nyquist is an exceptional shooter and offensive player. He has 40-goal upside. However, no one should be surprised if he settles in as a solid 25-to-30 goal scorer annually.
Entering his age-26 season, there might not be another level to his production, either. His skills suggest there is, though. And, it is fair to suggest he wasn't utilized in the best offensive roles all the time last season. There is a littler more to this coming.
Expect that to change in the upcoming campaign, and for the Red Wings to lean on Nyquist in offensive situations more. He did only average 16:39 minutes per game last year. And he surely can improve on his even-strength play, as 24 of his points and 14 of his goals were of the power-play variety.
He was 200th-ranked scorer in points per 60 minutes at five-on-five, and he is far more skilled than that. Expect modest gains in goals and points for Nyquist next season, and he checks out as an excellent target in the early middle rounds as your third winger.
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As always, Elliotte Friedman's 30 Thoughts are worth a peruse.
He touched on Shawn Matthias receiving top-six minutes, which lead me to wonder about what the group looks like.
James van Riemsdyk - Nazem Kadri - P.A. Parenteau
Joffrey Lupul - Shawn Matthias - Daniel Winnik
That group is working under the assumption Tyler Bozak is traded without a roster player returning in the deal.
There is also the potential for Peter Holland to receive a look, and Matthias moving to the wing. Personally, I like that more. Winnik, regardless of what Mike Johnston thinks, is a third liner, at best.
Andrew Walker opened his show today with the opinion Toronto was going to be better than a basement-dweller or tank team. I somewhat agree. Then, Friedman joined, and he suggested the Maple Leafs will be an intriguing team because there is so much on the line for many of their players because they're signed to one-year contracts.
This is a lunch-pail group who should be much more difficult to play against next season. They're going to disappoint those who are expecting a bottom-three finish. The fantasy take is extremely disappointing, though. They're not going to score a lot. It isn't out of the question to avoid the entire team.
Just pass.
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Back to Friedman's 30 Thoughts, there is a lot of nice detail in there about the St. Louis Blues, Chicago Blackhawks and the Boston Bruins.
There was also an interesting note about Phil Kessel's charity generosity.
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Blues general manager Doug Armstrong had a lot to say.
Jake Allen is going to compete with Brian Elliott for No. 1 status, and landing Allen as your No. 2 goalie for next season will reward. St. Louis isn't going to falter defensively any time soon, and expect their playoff collapse to drive down Allen's stock into profit territory.
Kevin Shattenkirk being dangled as trade bait was a media creation. He was inquired about, and for good reason. Shattenkirk is an elite offensive defenseman, and arguably as good as there is.
Don't forget, he returned from injury and averaged just 20:09 minutes per game over his final seven outings. So he was clearly being eased back, and he still nearly topped Erik Karlsson in points per game.
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Then there was the Detroit Red Wings talk.
Discussions with new head coach Jeff Blashill touched on the topic of Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk playing together, which will be great. You know, come December, or whenever they're both healthy.
Seriously, though, Zetterberg and Datsyuk are great real-world players and fine fantasy options, but their name value exceeds their fake value, especially with their injury histories. Unless they fall into your lap, allow someone else deal with the increasingly inconsistent production and frequent lineup absences.
What is interesting is his notion of turning over more scoring roles to the younger players, which lends more optimism for the upside of Tomas Tatar and Gustav Nyquist.
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Our boy Cliffy, as usual, did a knock up job of breaking down the Patrick Sharp-Trevor Daley deal.
Daley has two years left on his current contract at an accommodating cap hit. He is a plus-skater, with a beautiful stride and solid enough puck skills to fit nicely with the Hawks. He'll thrive with Chicago, and he should easily excel in a second-pairing role. Considering the Blackhawks had basically already moved on from Sharp, this isn't a bad fetch for them.
Dallas, on the other hand, just intensified their biggest weakness. Patrick Sharp will make the Stars much more potent offensively, but defense and goaltending were the largest issues last season. Removing arguably the best all-around defenseman from the mix is a serious blow.
Isn't it?
John Klingberg and Alex Goligoski are solid players, but neither is a franchise defenseman. Klingberg looked like a prize offensively, and in fairness to him, I don't have a gauge on his defensive side. But still, Daley was a key cog on that blue line, and they don't have any replacements in tow.
So …
Cody Franson, Johnny Oduya or Christian Ehrhoff makes sense, and wouldn't Oduya to Dallas be absolutely insane. Dallas was interested in Oduya, too, again something that was mentioned in Friedman's 30 Thoughts.
Dallas would likely be wise to bring in two of them, also. They have the cap space, and while parts of their core are young, they're clearly going for it sooner than later. The current defense corps is a series problem. They need upgrades, and again, they have oodles of cap space.
So, what about Sharp, then?
Similar to Mike, the 30-goal, 60-point benchmarks are well within his wheelhouse in my book. 30 is a lot of tallies, though, and 25-35 seems the path more likely to 60 points, for me. Sharp is declining, and while Jason Spezza has typically been a pass-first player, 30 goals is still a tall task.
After all, only 15 players in the league hit the mark last season, whereas 45 players scored 25 times. Hitting 30 tallies isn't easy.
Dallas will be a lot of fun to watch. Last Saturday, I placed a two dollar wager at 37-to-1 odds they would win the Stanley Cup.
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Sean McIndoe had a pretty solid take on the Vladimir Tarasenko contract at Grantland.
If insulated properly, Tarasenko is going to be a perennial top-10 scorer, in both goals and points. He will be worth a million pennies more for the majority of those years, too.
By insulated properly, I mean not expected to go head-to-head against opposing team's top players or kill penalties. As noted in Friedman's 30 Thoughts, though, general manager Doug Armstrong is paying him to be a scorer.
Hopefully, that will fly in St. Louis. It wasn't acceptable to just score among the league's elite for Phil Kessel in Toronto.
The Blues made out extremely well with this deal.
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Enjoy your weekend, folks.
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