Bernstein : Le Tricolore devra retenir son salaire pour conclure des accords (TSN n°690)
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BlazeOfGlory72
@Canadiens de Montréal
Bernstein : Le Tricolore devra retenir son salaire pour conclure des accords (TSN n°690)
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BlazeOfGlory72
3 Comments
**Summary**
– They start off by talking about the state of the league, and say that the style of play is very exciting. Bernstein thinks that the league is just getting more skilled, and because of it, teams can now outscore their mistakes. The mind set of teams also seems to have changed, moving away from the 2-1 or 3-2, tight checking games.
– They talk a bit about Boston, saying they are firing on all cylinders. This was a team that had 107 points last year though, so this isn’t terribly surprising. The big question mark for them is if they can stay healthy, being an older team. They talk about Vegas as well, saying they have had rock solid defense, and surprisingly good goal tending. With Eichel finding his game again, they are a real threat.
– Gallo gives his hot take, saying he thinks goal tending is overrated. You need decent goal tending, but not great goal tending to do well. Bernstein points to Seattle, who has Jones and Daccord as their net minders yet are still winning games. He thinks that the more offense focused league has let teams survive with only mediocre goal tending.
– They breifly talk about Pastranak, with Bernstein thinking he will get paid close to 11 million dollars per year.
– Campbell brings up Nick Suzuki, and asks if Bernstein was surprised by his offense this year. Bernstein thinks that on a championship team, Suzuki is probably a 2C. To win a Cup, you probably want a 90+ point top line centre. Bernstein thinks Suzuki probably tops out as around a point per game type play. Gallo mentions that the Suzuki contract is looking really good right now though.
– Gallo asks about Caufield and what kind of contract he will end up getting. Bernstein thinks Caufield will probably end up getting around 8 million per year. It would be difficult to justify paying Cole significantly more than Suzuki unless he score like 60 goals. Bernstein adds that we have all the leverage right now, with Cole having no arbitration rights at the moment.
– Campbell asks what teams might be interested in Drouin, Hoffman and Dadonov. Bernstein doesn’t think any of these guys can be moved without salary being retained. Additionally, no one will want them if they aren’t producing. We need to hope these guys get their game going, and we might get a 3rd round pick in exchange. Bernstein doesn’t know if it is worth taking ice time away from our developing players just to try and get some of these guys going.
– Gallo asks if the Capitals, with all their injuries, would be a team that might be interested in some of our forwards. Bernstein doesn’t think the Caps are panicking yet. Their expectations aren’t supper high, likely being content to just sneak into the play-offs right now, so it is a bit early for them to be making any major moves.
The part about Suzuki not being a 1C is ridiculous.
First of all, there’s not much actual difference between a center who’s a PPG player (82 pts) vs a 90 pts guy, especially if that center also plays on the PK.
Second of all, Suzuki is currently on pace for a 40-50-90 season. Sure, it’s only through 11 games, but I don’t think that saying that he’ll never average over a PPG for a season is a good assessment of his potential.
As far as the retention on trades, it’s totally fine for contracts that are expiring this year (Drouin, Dadonov), it won’t change anything.
I’d be more wary of retaining cap on players who have multiple years left, though (Hoffman, Armia). Then again, cap may go up by 4M next year with the players’ debt being paid off by the end of the season, so it might not hinder us too much, especially if we aren’t planning to compete for the next 2-3 years.
Uh??? NO WAY?!?!??