Who will go in the off-season (Offseason Thread)

[averymustgo]

I think Del Zotto being 21 will stay. Too much upside. I think Dubinsky might have saved himself with his game last night. Gaborik to me is on the way out. He's a bad playoff performer and it's obvious. I also think despite his Ottawa series that Boyle is on his way out. He really doesn't fit the team. He's very slow. His value might be up after this early playoff success.

I would package Boyle, Gaborik, Thomas, Zuccarello and a 1st for Nash. Nothing more. That would give Columbus 3 first round picks, they replace the offense they lose with Nash by getting Gaborik, a checking center in Boyle and a scoring 3rd line wing. I think that is more than enough. Of course, the GM of Columbus is insane and won't do that.

I never liked them offering up J.T. Miller for Nash because he is more of what this team needs. He skates well, is excellent on faceoffs and is in the Cally mold. Boyle is slower than whale crap.

[aanddann]

I think Del Zotto being 21 will stay. Too much upside. I think Dubinsky might have saved himself with his game last night. Gaborik to me is on the way out. He's a bad playoff performer and it's obvious. I also think despite his Ottawa series that Boyle is on his way out. He really doesn't fit the team. He's very slow. His value might be up after this early playoff success.

I would package Boyle, Gaborik, Thomas, Zuccarello and a 1st for Nash. Nothing more. That would give Columbus 3 first round picks, they replace the offense they lose with Nash by getting Gaborik, a checking center in Boyle and a scoring 3rd line wing. I think that is more than enough. Of course, the GM of Columbus is insane and won't do that.

I never liked them offering up J.T. Miller for Nash because he is more of what this team needs. He skates well, is excellent on faceoffs and is in the Cally mold. Boyle is slower than whale crap.

ok, first off, i appreciate you posting this, only for the fact that it sparks discussion, but that being said i disagree with nearly everything you posted.

scratch that - THIS is first off...its not the offseason. we have to lose again to be the offseason, and i honestly dont have so little faith in this team to think for a second that we wont force game 7.

k, so: to start, i agree that DZ stays. he has reverted to Del Zaster in this Devils series, but he has grown a lot and has a lot of upside. he'll be fine, plus the prospect of Eminger/Woywitka/Stralman/Bickel being replaced by Erixon and God willing, Sauer our D is solid straight through.

Dubinsky, I agree, played well. I think he will continue to play well and it will play him right off this team. He's a great forechecker and has goal scoring potential, but that isnt worth 4 million dollars a year and management will probably get what they can for him in a trade this offseason.

Gaborik is probably not going anywhere. he makes too much, and don't forget that his 40 goals on an offensively challenged team are a large part of why we even got the placement in the east that we did. its not like anyone else was setting the world on fire.

if you get rid of Boyle, who consistently wins those incredibly important defensive zone face-offs, dives in front of every shot, and is a well-liked locker room guy for 2 million? they dont grow on trees. yea, hes slow...not every team has a lineup of scorchers. you need some role players and he is a very very big one.

i doubt we'll go after Nash. we need someone like him, but id rather see us sign Parise to a Gaborik-like deal as a future replacement to Gabby, he plays North American hockey, likes Torts, is friends with Step and McD...and he scores.

anyway. just my two cents.

[NYY09]

I think Del Zotto being 21 will stay. Too much upside. I think Dubinsky might have saved himself with his game last night. Gaborik to me is on the way out. He's a bad playoff performer and it's obvious. I also think despite his Ottawa series that Boyle is on his way out. He really doesn't fit the team. He's very slow. His value might be up after this early playoff success.

I would package Boyle, Gaborik, Thomas, Zuccarello and a 1st for Nash. Nothing more. That would give Columbus 3 first round picks, they replace the offense they lose with Nash by getting Gaborik, a checking center in Boyle and a scoring 3rd line wing. I think that is more than enough. Of course, the GM of Columbus is insane and won't do that.

I never liked them offering up J.T. Miller for Nash because he is more of what this team needs. He skates well, is excellent on faceoffs and is in the Cally mold. Boyle is slower than whale crap.

I stopped reading right there.

[runnermjr1296]

I'm not even thinking about an off season yet,we have games to play Friday and sunday nights

[MJL80]

Please save the negativity for the offseason......

[jets1989]

I never though of gaborik for nash but that would be great. Just because I personally like powerful players, we are too small.

Gaborik and package for nash.
-MDZ stays but needs to step up.
-Fetenko and rupp go
-Not a fan of boyle, stralman, or eminger they go

[J4KOP99]

Mdz needs to be punched in his huge ****ing nose. The guy is a complete liability.

[jetsfan89]

trading a 21 year old defenseman is equivalent to trading zubov when we did. all there is too it.

we're not gonna change much, we're gonna add more depth to our bottom 6, maybe acquire one skill player. the fact that the devils 4th line outplayed ours was a big factor there.

[Lisound15]

trading a 21 year old defenseman is equivalent to trading zubov when we did. all there is too it.

we're not gonna change much, we're gonna add more depth to our bottom 6, maybe acquire one skill player. the fact that the devils 4th line outplayed ours was a big factor there.

agreed, we should have added more depth at this years trade deadline. The playing style of the team takes a huge toll on the players, and it was very noticeable in the playoffs.
A guy I really wanna see them pursue is Shane Doan, he personifies everything this team is about. He's physical, he plays defense, kills penalties, and can score 20 goals. He would also add a much needed veteran presence in the locker room.

[Desert Plains]

agreed, we should have added more depth at this years trade deadline. The playing style of the team takes a huge toll on the players, and it was very noticeable in the playoffs.
A guy I really wanna see them pursue is Shane Doan, he personifies everything this team is about. He's physical, he plays defense, kills penalties, and can score 20 goals. He would also add a much needed veteran presence in the locker room.

I don't know that it's that the style tired the team out over the course of the season. I think it's more about talent.

The style we played during the regular season was playoff type hockey - grind it out, play defensive, limit opportunities, block shots, play physical and out work your opponent. Most teams aren't willing to play that style night after night during the season. Where we were short on talent, we made up by rarely getting out worked.

But, the playoffs are different. Every team plays that same style, so we no longer had our one advantage ...

Look at what Ottawa did against us - after game one, they changed their approach, and probably out played us the rest of the series.

Washington did the same - they controlled the puck and blocked almost as many shots as we did (that wasn't their MO during the regular season).

With teams playing playoff style hockey, we were really at a disadvantage, because while we could still play that tough, physical style, we struggled offensively more than any other team.

Think about it .... other than Game 1 against Ottawa, we never scored more than 3 goals. Far too offensively challenged. And unless Hank got a shutout, there were never any easy wins - every game was a battle to the end (including all his shutouts). And how many of the 3 goal efforts were really only 2 goals with an empty net (2 or 3 I think).

[bsi]

I think we'll find out that we had more injuries than we let on, I'm looking at Callahan, Gaborik, Richards, DZ, Girardi, McDonagh and especially Boyle when I say that. Having said that, I think we'll be kicking the tires on Nash and Gaborik will be the bait in that deal. I think the time to cut our loses with him is now. I love the guy, but he just isn't gonna give you everything, every shift. We will not be trading Mcdonagh, Delzotto, Staal or Girardi from our D, anyone else is up for grabs on D. Richards, Callahan, Kreider, Prust, Stepan, and Boyle aren't going to be shopped,but ofcourse everyone has their price and this team needs some scoring.

[NYG4Life]

people who want to trade gaborik need to get real. He scored 41 goals this year, third most in the nhl. Those type of players don't grow on trees, so i think it's a little premature to give up on the guy. Nash has topped 40 goals once so it would be an awful idea to trade gaborik plus prospects for nash. Ill admit gaborik struggled in the playoffs, but who didnt? Should we get rid of richards and callahan and stepan too?

[Desert Plains]

people who want to trade gaborik need to get real. He scored 41 goals this year, third most in the nhl. Those type of players don't grow on trees, so i think it's a little premature to give up on the guy. Nash has topped 40 goals once so it would be an awful idea to trade gaborik plus prospects for nash. Ill admit gaborik struggled in the playoffs, but who didnt? Should we get rid of richards and callahan and stepan too?

I think the point about Gaborik is that 41 scores in the regular season is a different story when there's more room to work.

It's a different game in the playoffs, where there's less space, and you have to be willing to work harder to succeed. There were way to many shifts and games where he wasn't willing to compete at the level necessary to win playoff games. And that's the problem and where I think it's fair to question if he's the right guy for this team.

[NYG4Life]

I understand that Gaborik had a bad playoffs minus that 3OT goal but I would argue with out his 41 goals in the regular season we aren't the #1 seed in the and wouldn't have been in the position to get to the conference finals. So let's not give up on gaborik just yet but we definitely need to add more scoring whether it's Parise, Nash, or even a guy like jordan staal or iginla

[IAmARanger18]

Well boys off-season is here earlier then we expected this year. I wanna thank all the boys in blue for making this a memorable and magical season. Come from behind wins, shut outs, shoot out wins, blow outs, battling back with our backs against the wall, 7 game win streaks twice. A Winter Classic win and can we forget, 6-0 against the Flyers this year! This was a very memorable season not to forget for the Rangers!

But the way our system is built with grinding and blocking shots, it takes a toll out on us and playing in back to back 7 game series, tired us out and the Devils took advantage of it, so kudos to them. But playing in a system like this for over 100 games back fired on us.

Now heading into the off-season we have a few question marks that need to be answered.

What to do with Mats Zuccarello? He is stated to be a RFA for us, and he has no idea who he plans to play for yet, based on a tweet this morning. Fedotenko, Prust and Mitchell all slated to be UFA come July 1st.

Prust will surely be brought back on probably a 2-3 year deal around 1M a season IMO.

Fedotenko and Mitchell seem to be on their way out with Dubi back and the emergence of Kreider.
Heading to defense have Del Zotto and Stralman as RFA's. MDZ will be brought back probably to a 3-4 year deal around 2M per season probably. Stralman is up in the air based on other moves we can make.

Bickel, Eminger, Woywitka and Scott all UFA which will clear around another 2M in salary. I can see maybe Bickel being the only one brought back for his toughness. Woywitka was basically here for injury purposes if needed, Eminger though has been solid for us, I don't think he takes another 1 year deal here and Scott idk why he was even brought in to be honest.

Biron is also a UFA, and with how well he played this season for us, I can't see him not backing up The King for another season or two.

With 16M in cap space, then giving I would say MDZ 2M, Prust 1M, and possibly Zuccs for 1.75M this will give us roughly 12M in salary to spend.

I see us being players in the Ryan Suter, Zach Parise, Brad Stuart, and maybe even Shane Doan sweepstakes.

Adding Suter or Stuart is a very solid defensive help for this team. And of course adding one of Doan or Parise(Who I think will stay with the Devils now) Would be huge for this team to add another scorer behind Gaborik.

Also there is a chance of the trade for Nash or maybe even Bobby Ryan still, so who knows what Sather has up his sleeve. And with Ducks defense men Justin Schultz ready to go to FA, his tied with Stepan and McDonagh at Wisconsin have all the signs that he will sign with the Rangers when FA begins in July.

Gonna be a long off-season but it will be a good one I bet.