2026 NHL Offseason Thread: You're probably wondering how I got there

[Grand Moff Larkin]

"In your position as Big Daddy Hockey Pants, where do you fall on the leadership structure?"

[practice]

The return of everyone in hockey pointing and laughing at the Leafs should command as well a check-in from forever user truc

[captain]

I forgot about Steve Simmons. Remember when Burkie said the best part of leaving the Leafs was never having to talk to him ever again

[captain]

Also I missed participating in the playoff thread. Oilers were injured and played badly and were soundly beaten by the Ducks. I caught about half the Vegas game last night and they showed them way more respect

[captain]

Some observations:
-Top six minutes need to be limited during the regular season. We can't play these guys 24-25 mins a night in the regular season and expect them to be ready to elevate in the playoffs.
-Bottom six sucked during the regular season but our depth actually came through in the playoffs (Kapanen, Dickinson and Podkolzin leading goal scorers). Mac-T was on with Bob Stauffer saying he would trade our bottom six for any other bottom six in the league, it was that bad. Frederic is not an NHL player at this point, they're going to have to figure something out there.
-Team defense was really good after the Olympics but fell apart in the playoffs. I can't really pin it on any one player, but bad habits of forwards flying the zone early, centre not supporting, and too many stretch passes cost us the series.
-Goaltending was bad but not the reason we lost. I don't know how they fix this before McDavid's a UFA again.
-We got killed on special teams.

What I think we need to do in the offseason
-Consider Bruce Cassidy as Head Coach - Why did the team stop playing to the system in game 1 of the playoffs? What is the plan for getting more out of his bottom six? Limiting 97/29 minutes - why is McDavid on the PK anyway? How is the team addressing special teams deficiencies? I don't think it's a good practice to change the coach again but Knob needs to have damn good answers and a plan to keep his job IMO.
-Re-sign Kapanen, Murphy and Dickinson. Kapanen is a gamer who works with Drai/Podkolzin. Murphy was better than described and was really effective in the playoffs, actually fit reasonably well with Nurse. Dickinson is our best 3C since McLeod, brought toughness, defense and some clutch scoring.
-Walk away from Ingram and find someone better to compete with Jarry for starts. Ingram was a good story but the results weren't good enough. Could we get Filip Gustavsson out of Minnesota?
-Explore options on Nuge - RNH is not a top six forward anymore, he is a drag on McDavid and barely contributes any offence. Can he turn himself into a third line defensive forward and PK specialist - aka our next Henrique? What does the trade market for him look like? Would St Louis consider a swap of RNH and Kyrou?
-Explore a Nurse move. He wasn't even bad this playoffs but it's time, I just don't think the mix is right with him involved. With the rising cap, I suspect they can move him and even get something useful back, the issue is in the NMC for one more season.

The team has some cap space but with Frederic/Jarry/Campbell's dead money, and the Nurse deal, I don't know how they're going to be able to get significantly better in the next 2 years. RNH might be a decent trade chip to get cheaper, younger, faster and better.

So you're basically going into next year with this sort of configuration, which is the same as what we saw in the playoffs, barring any sort of trade involving Nurse/RNH:

Skill Line 1: Savoie - McDavid - Hyman
Skill Line 2: Podkolzin - Draisaitl - Kapanen
Shutdown Line: RNH - Dickinson - UFA with speed, physicality and defensive acumen. Kevin Stenlund?
Energy/Physical Line: Frederic - Samanski - Dach

Janmark as 13F, Howard as first call-up for top six injury. Hutson/Clattenberg also call-up options.

Ekholm - Bouchard
Nurse - Murphy
Walman - Emberson

Gustavsson
Jarry

[captain]

If they were able to flip RNH for Kyrou in some sort of deal, you could move Hyman down to 3RW and get this kind of configuration, which I actually really like:

Savoie - McDavid - Kyrou
Podkolzin - Draisaitl - Kapanen
Stenlund - Dickinson - Hyman
Frederic - Samanski - Dach

[practice]

So uh how long does a draft lottery take?

[practice]

Some observations:
-Top six minutes need to be limited during the regular season. We can't play these guys 24-25 mins a night in the regular season and expect them to be ready to elevate in the playoffs.
-Bottom six sucked during the regular season but our depth actually came through in the playoffs (Kapanen, Dickinson and Podkolzin leading goal scorers). Mac-T was on with Bob Stauffer saying he would trade our bottom six for any other bottom six in the league, it was that bad. Frederic is not an NHL player at this point, they're going to have to figure something out there.
-Team defense was really good after the Olympics but fell apart in the playoffs. I can't really pin it on any one player, but bad habits of forwards flying the zone early, centre not supporting, and too many stretch passes cost us the series.
-Goaltending was bad but not the reason we lost. I don't know how they fix this before McDavid's a UFA again.
-We got killed on special teams.

What I think we need to do in the offseason
-Consider Bruce Cassidy as Head Coach - Why did the team stop playing to the system in game 1 of the playoffs? What is the plan for getting more out of his bottom six? Limiting 97/29 minutes - why is McDavid on the PK anyway? How is the team addressing special teams deficiencies? I don't think it's a good practice to change the coach again but Knob needs to have damn good answers and a plan to keep his job IMO.
-Re-sign Kapanen, Murphy and Dickinson. Kapanen is a gamer who works with Drai/Podkolzin. Murphy was better than described and was really effective in the playoffs, actually fit reasonably well with Nurse. Dickinson is our best 3C since McLeod, brought toughness, defense and some clutch scoring.
-Walk away from Ingram and find someone better to compete with Jarry for starts. Ingram was a good story but the results weren't good enough. Could we get Filip Gustavsson out of Minnesota?
-Explore options on Nuge - RNH is not a top six forward anymore, he is a drag on McDavid and barely contributes any offence. Can he turn himself into a third line defensive forward and PK specialist - aka our next Henrique? What does the trade market for him look like? Would St Louis consider a swap of RNH and Kyrou?
-Explore a Nurse move. He wasn't even bad this playoffs but it's time, I just don't think the mix is right with him involved. With the rising cap, I suspect they can move him and even get something useful back, the issue is in the NMC for one more season.

The team has some cap space but with Frederic/Jarry/Campbell's dead money, and the Nurse deal, I don't know how they're going to be able to get significantly better in the next 2 years. RNH might be a decent trade chip to get cheaper, younger, faster and better.

So you're basically going into next year with this sort of configuration, which is the same as what we saw in the playoffs, barring any sort of trade involving Nurse/RNH:

Skill Line 1: Savoie - McDavid - Hyman
Skill Line 2: Podkolzin - Draisaitl - Kapanen
Shutdown Line: RNH - Dickinson - UFA with speed, physicality and defensive acumen. Kevin Stenlund?
Energy/Physical Line: Frederic - Samanski - Dach

Janmark as 13F, Howard as first call-up for top six injury. Hutson/Clattenberg also call-up options.

Ekholm - Bouchard
Nurse - Murphy
Walman - Emberson

Gustavsson
Jarry

What do you think of Walman? Is that a bad contract? Seems like it might me a pretty bad contract

[captain]

He was basically injured all year so it's not really a good year to judge. He was amazing in the playoffs last year, and really solid in the playoffs with Emberson this year. I like his skating, shot and physicality a lot. His defensive awareness is a bit shit but I think he has the tools to be a good player, hoping a year of good health with a regular partner does him well.

There's still potential for it to be a bad contract but I'm not sour on him by any means. I'm more worried about Ekholm, tbh.

[Alexei Ca$hin]

No fucking way

[Alexei Ca$hin]

Like everyone suspected, the undeniable great karma of hiring John Chayka would eventually pay off!

[Grand Moff Larkin]

I assume the Leaves get McKenna, Sharks take Chase Reid and get another top D that they need. Depth chart wise the Leaves would probably benefit from a D but I can’t imagine they’ll pass on McKenna. Canucks get Stenberg?

I managed to forget the lottery was happening, win for me.

[Cacophony]

Captain: it was the best of times it was the worst of times

[practice]

Trust the plan

[practice]

Biz said he was done with the Leafs and that he'd start cheering for the team that got McKenna

[Grand Moff Larkin]

Sharks fans seem determined to galaxy brain the second pick. That team needs a top-pair defenseman as a cornerstone, they luck out and move up where they can get Chase Reid, and most of their comments are “We should take Stenberg as BPA” or “we should trade down to Chicago’s pick and get an extra first for taking Reid” or “we should trade the pick for a young defenseman who’s ready now.”

What young defenseman are you talking about there? I saw one comments suggesting Edvinsson, but I don’t see the point from the Wings’ perspective. Unless they think Stenberg is an absolute superstar, that’s just creating the same size hole elsewhere in the lineup. Is there a team that has too many young top pair D? It’s not like anyone has cap issues anymore.

[sutterfamily]

Berube shit-canned

[Grand Moff Larkin]

A stunning turn of events, impossible to see coming

[Fleetwood mactavish]

agree with literally every word Captain said up there

sign Kapanen, Murphy + 'lil Dickie

let the rest walk

desperately try to get out of one of Nurse or Jarry

hire Cassidy as coach

Knoblach didn't always get any favours from the GM but his inability to adapt, horrible PK and bad judgement hiring inexperienced assistants for a cup team is all inexcusable at this point

[Grand Moff Larkin]

Vegas denied Edmo permission to talk to Cassidy, which apparently they can do