Be The Schrute

i like everything you said with the exception of brett clark..hit the bricks brett no offer at all

Really like your post and agree with most of it. I really hope we can keep Stewie for less than $4M per though, and Foote for less than $3M. And wouldn’t give Darcy 3 yrs.

Can’t find the rec button for the post, but I’ll keep looking.

Yes, but how many Stanley Nickels do they get?

Stew will be landing in the 4-5m range. A solid comparrison is Loui Ericksson @ 4.25.

Tucker – please NO. There’s plenty of more effective guys that are younger, more effective, and cheaper. Or even “Veteran Leaders” – that do tucker’s job better and cheaper.

Budaj – ugh. He aint bad – but Sacco had a lot of love for wieman back in Lake Erie – so I could see him coming in as a cheap back-up that sacco would trust a bit more than he did budaj.

Foote – I think he just needs to call it quits. We cant start bringing up our defenseman of the future when we’ve got 7 d-men lined up for next year.

I too am getting an inkling that tucker may return. i doubt he gets more than just a year if he does though.
I sure hope Mueller is more than a 40-50 point guy. He showed flashes of being able to put up 60 at least.

The one thing that you didn’t take into consideration is that some of our RFA’s are not available for arbitration so I say sign them to their max % increase qualifying offer this gives the AVs a full year to make sure non of the boys had a fluky season and also saves them some cap room for another year. JMO

Here are our RFAs and UFAs and my opinions on Keep, Release or Two way contract

RFA’s
F Peter Mueller – Qualifying offer
F Kevin Porter – Qualifying offer
F Chris Stewart – Qualifying offer
F T.J. Hensick – two way contract
F Codey Burki – two way contract
D Wes O’Neill – two way contract
F Brandon Yip – Qualifying offer
D Raymond Macias – two way contract
D Kyle Quincey -Qualifying offer/new deal
D Derek Peltier – two way contract

UFAs
D Brett Clark – release
D Ruslan Salei- release
D Adam Foote – 1yr contract
F Darcy Tucker – 1yr contract if resonable
F Marek Svatos – release
G Peter Budaj – paycut or release
F Brian Willsie – two way contract
F David Koci – release
F Philippe Dupuis – two way contract
F Stephane Yelle - 1yr deal
F Darren Haydar – two way contract
D Brian Fahey – two way contract
F Matt Hendricks – 2yr deal
D Brett Skinner – two way contract
G John Grahame - two way contract
F Chris Durno – two way contract
G Tyler Weiman – two way contract
F Marty Sertich – two way contract

Nice write up.

I don’t think Tucker should stay because he’s good with the young guys. Lappy should have stayed because he was good for the young guys and great on the PK (and a fan favorite).

Tucker no longer has the skill set or wheels for top six minutes. His defense is poor enough that he doesn’t mesh in to a good 3rd or 4th line role if he isn’t drawing penalties. He did a much better job in the second half of the year at being a pest. But too often in the year and a half preceding that he did nothing but take penalties instead of drawing them.

Tucker is now in the Svatos no-mans land. He’s way too small and poor on D to play an effective role on the 3rd/4th lines. He’s lost a step to the point he’s not a good option for the 1st or 2nd lines. The result is, that if they resign Tucker he will do a lot of health scratch time next year. I also question any player who significantly improves his game in a contract year. Tucker had nothing in 2008, I mean nothing. I think he had zero fights and coasted on Arnason’s looping ice ruts for his salary in ’08.

So, if you want to discount his free salary in ‘08 that’s fine but I’m STILL pissed off about that year. So I guess for those of you that think he should stay I have one simple question, “What line would you put him on?”

Duke-Stats-Stewart
Meuller-Duchene-Jones
Yip-O’Reilly-Gally
McLeod-?-Hendrix

Then you got Porter, Stoa, Mercier as options plus a kid like Olver could take training camp by storm.

Nice write-up.

I wonder how the intangibles are going to stack up here. I had wanted them to get rid of Tucker and keep Yeller on for veteran leadership, but I am unsure that Yelle made enough of a splash with the younger guys. I know that he still has a house here, and lives here in the offseason. I am sure they will offer him a contract, even if it is a small one, and he will take it so he can wind down his career here.

Now, with Tucker… The only real reason that it makes sense to re-sign him would be with the knowledge that he is and will be a constant 4th liner, a pest, a mentor for the young guys, and sometimes a scratch. If he would be willing to take that role and a decreased salary in exchange for finishing his career with a great, young team bound for serious Stanley Cup contention before the end of his career, then I would re-sign him. I just want to be sure he has a seriuosly decreased role. Under no circumstances do I want to see him on Duchenes left in the future.

So who would you like to try to pick up??

FORWARDS
Ilya Kovalchuk, LW, New Jersey Age: 27
Patrick Marleau, LW, San Jose Age: 30
Tomas Plekanec, C, Montreal Age: 27
Alexander Frolov, LW, Los Angeles Age: 28
Matthew Lombardi, C, Phoenix Age: 28
Ray Whitney, LW, Carolina Age: 38
Alexei Ponikarovsky, LW, Pittsburgh Age: 30
Maxim Afinogenov, RW, Atlanta Age: 30
Todd Bertuzzi, RW, Detroit Age: 35
Olli Jokinen, C, N.Y. Rangers Age: 31
Lee Stempniak, RW, Phoenix Age: 27
Brendan Morrison, C, Washington Age: 34
Bill Guerin, RW, Pittsburgh Age: 39
Tomas Holmstrom, RW, Detroit Age: 37
Saku Koivu, C, Anaheim Age: 35
Pavol Demitra, C, Vancouver Age: 35
Alex Tanguay, LW, Tampa Bay Age: 30
Colby Armstrong, RW, Atlanta Age: 27
Matt Cullen, C, Ottawa Age: 33
Eric Belanger, C, Washington Age: 32
Matt Cooke, LW, Pittsburgh Age: 31
Raffi Torres, LW, Buffalo Age: 28
Dominic Moore, C, Montreal Age: 29
Mike Comrie, LW, Edmonton Age: 29
Owen Nolan, RW, Minnesota Age: 38
John Madden, C, Chicago Age: 36
Kyle Wellwood, C, Vancouver Age: 27
Fredrik Modin, LW, Los Angeles Age: 35
Rob Niedermayer, C, New Jersey Age: 35
Christopher Higgins, LW, Calgary Age: 27
Jim Slater, C, Atlanta Age: 27
Adam Burish, RW, Chicago Age: 27
Taylor Pyatt, LW, Phoenix Age: 28
Eric Nystrom, LW, Calgary Age: 27
Glen Metropolit, C, Montreal Age: 36
Ruslan Fedotenko, LW, Pittsburgh Age: 31
Jason Williams, RW, Detroit Age: 29
Jeff Halpern, C, Los Angeles Age: 34
Scott Nichol, C, San Jose Age: 35
Arron Asham, RW, Philadelphia Age: 32
Richard Park, RW, N.Y. Islanders Age: 34
Adam Mair, C, Buffalo Age: 31
Steve Begin, C, Boston Age: 32
Jed Ortmeyer, LW, San Jose Age: 31
Jamal Mayers, C, Calgary Age: 35
Andrew Ebbett, C, Minnesota Age: 27
Matt Ellis, LW, Buffalo Age: 28
Evgeny Artyukhin, LW, Atlanta Age: 27
Marek Svatos, RW, Colorado Age: 28
Brad Winchester, LW, St. Louis Age: 29
Matt Hendricks, LW, Colorado Age: 29
Ryan Johnson, C, Vancouver Age: 34
Tim Jackman, RW, N.Y. Islanders Age: 28
Jon Sim, LW, N.Y. Islanders Age: 32
Jamie Lundmark, C, Toronto Age: 29
Fernando Pisani, RW, Edmonton Age: 33
Wayne Primeau, C, Toronto Age: 34
Stephane Veilleux, LW, Tampa Bay Age: 28
Chris Durno, LW, Colorado Age: 29
Petr Sykora, RW, Minnesota Age: 33
Rickard Wallin, C, Toronto Age: 30

ENFORCERS
Shawn Thornton, RW, Boston Age: 32
Zenon Konopka, C, Tampa Bay Age: 29
Jody Shelley, LW, N.Y. Rangers Age: 34
Krys Barch, RW, Dallas Age: 30
Eric Boulton, LW, Atlanta Age: 33
Derek Boogaard, LW, Minnesota Age: 28
John Scott, D, Minnesota Age: 27
Wade Belak, RW, Nashville Age: 33
Raitis Ivanans, LW, Los Angeles Age: 31
David Koci, LW, Colorado Age: 28

DEFENCEMEN
Nicklas Lidstrom, D, Detroit Age: 40
Sergei Gonchar, D, Pittsburgh Age: 36
Paul Martin, D, New Jersey Age: 29
Dan Hamhuis, D, Nashville Age: 27
Anton Volchenkov, D, Ottawa Age: 28
Zbynek Michalek, D, Phoenix Age: 27
Dennis Seidenberg, D, Boston Age: 28
Pavel Kubina, D, Atlanta Age: 33
Henrik Tallinder, D, Buffalo Age: 31
Toni Lydman, D, Buffalo Age: 32
Joe Corvo, D, Washington Age: 33
Kim Johnsson, D, Chicago Age: 34
Derek Morris, D, Phoenix Age: 31
Willie Mitchell, D, Vancouver Age: 33
Jordan Leopold, D, Pittsburgh Age: 29
Carlo Colaiacovo, D, St. Louis Age: 27
Shaone Morrisonn, D, Washington Age: 27
Kurtis Foster, D, Tampa Bay Age: 28
Adrian Aucoin, D, Phoenix Age: 36
Andy Sutton, D, Ottawa Age: 35
Mike Mottau, D, New Jersey Age: 32
Brett Clark, D, Colorado Age: 33
Randy Jones, D, Los Angeles Age: 28
Mark Eaton, D, Pittsburgh Age: 33
Milan Jurcina, D, Washington Age: 27
Sean O’Donnell, D, Los Angeles Age: 38
Jay McKee, D, Pittsburgh Age: 32
Andreas Lilja, D, Detroit Age: 34
Mike Weaver, D, St. Louis Age: 32
Francis Bouillon, D, Nashville Age: 34
Brian Pothier, D, Carolina Age: 33
Ruslan Salei, D, Colorado Age: 35
Marc-Andre Bergeron, D, Montreal Age: 29
Brett Lebda, D, Detroit Age: 28
Freddy Meyer, D, N.Y. Islanders Age: 29
Martin Skoula, D, New Jersey Age: 30
Niclas Wallin, D, San Jose Age: 35
Nick Boynton, D, Chicago Age: 31
Garnet Exelby, D, Toronto Age: 28
Sheldon Brookbank, D, Anaheim Age: 29
Christoph Schubert, D, Atlanta Age: 28
Paul Mara, D, Montreal Age: 30
Shane Hnidy, D, Minnesota Age: 34
David Hale, D, Tampa Bay Age: 29
Lukas Krajicek, D, Philadelphia Age: 27
Jason Strudwick, D, Edmonton Age: 34
Nathan Paetsch, D, Columbus Age: 27
Mike Van Ryn, D, Toronto Age: 31

GOALTENDERS
Evgeni Nabokov, G, San Jose Age: 34
Marty Turco, G, Dallas Age: 34
Chris Mason, G, St. Louis Age: 34
Dan Ellis, G, Nashville Age: 30
Jose Theodore, G, Washington Age: 33
Antero Niittymaki, G, Tampa Bay Age: 30
Martin Biron, G, N.Y. Islanders Age: 32
Ray Emery, G, Philadelphia Age: 27
Peter Budaj, G, Colorado Age: 27
Michael Leighton, G, Philadelphia Age: 29
Johan Hedberg, G, Atlanta Age: 37
Alex Auld, G, N.Y. Rangers Age: 29
Patrick Lalime, G, Buffalo Age: 35
Vesa Toskala, G, Calgary Age: 33

I have a feeling we will be discussing that list quite a bit in the coming months.

I’d try to steal Paul Martin out of NJ. He’s solid across the board. Sets up the offensive D coming up if Foote/Hannan move in the next couple of years. He’s the unsexy best UFA D on the board if you ask me.

As far as the big tickets, I think Marleau would compliment Duchene’s speed perfectly. That would be scary.

I believe that if the avs offered Tucker a multi year contract and he retired it doesn’t come off the books. He’s on year to year until he does retire. and I do think that the team will re-sign him.

Never heard of him.

Tucker will always have a very small part in my cold, dark heart for his antics in Toronto. Often he was physically outmatched in his fights but the guy had heart. I haven’t seen any evidence of that since he joined the Avs. Don’t know why.

Sign him for one year, 1.5 mil and take it from there. If he doesn’t want it, let him go. Budaj should be offered another year. He is like insurance – you may not want to pay the money, but if the worst happens, you’ll be glad you did.

I think that is being very conservative…also as much as it pains me to say idk what the chance is that we keep our team completely intact…emphasis on Hendricks here…I hope they keep him but I wouldn’t be shocked if they went out and got a 1st line winger moved Gali to 3rd and Hendricks would be gone…should be a interesting offseason.

…As saying there’s no way Peter Mueller signs any contract over two years in length.

He showed what he can be made of after his trade to the Avs, but there’s some interests which may prevent a lengthier contract from being signed:

- Still question marks for the Avs management considering his career in Phoenix. What if he quits on us too?

- If Mueller’s agent is worth anything, he doesn’t want a long contract to be signed until there’s enough consistency shown to get a long-term, big $$$ contract signed with a team.