Top Available UFA Centres for the Red Wings
5 years ago
Centremen are the most coveted players across the league. Centres are the hardest to trade for and they often come with an insane price tag. John Tavares is an elite player and can hold possession as well as Sidney Crosby. To who’s fault is it that a franchise player reaches free agency? He’s so good, he gets to choose where he’s going to play next season. It isn’t often the player is in the driver’s seat.
Here is my take on Tavares:
John Tavares
Tavares has given six teams the luxury of an in-person meeting at his agent’s (Pat Brisson) office in Los Angeles. Those teams are the Islanders, Maple Leafs, Bruins, Lightning, Sharks, and Stars. A couple teams were allowed a phone call with Brisson and Tavares but none of them could muster enough together to be awarded the change for an in-person meeting.
To my surprise, the Vegas Golden Knights weren’t allowed an opportunity to make a pitch to JT – I thought that would have been a great fit.
The current favourites to sign Tavares are the Maple Leafs, Sharks, and Islanders. So, this is what I think happened (or should have happened) in those 3 pitches;.
Toronto Maple Leafs
The Maple Leafs are a natural fit for Tavares. He is from Oakville and his fiancée just started working in Mississauga at a hospital. If he signs in Toronto, their depth becomes absurd. Essentially, replacing Tyler Bozak with JT. So, what went down in the meeting on Monday?
A lot, probably. It’s no secret the Leafs are a well run team and have one of the best coaches in the game. Tavares has played for Mike Babcock on the international level. I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that Babcock handed him a Maple Leafs’ jersey with 91 on the back and a ‘C’ on the front. Further, they likely told him they’re interested in a 1-year deal and also a 7-year deal.
Imagine Tavares playing with a real winger in Mitch Marner. As a member of the Islanders, Tavares carried Josh Bailey, Anders Lee, and others and gave them first line production. I couldn’t imagine a play-making winger like Marner feeding JT the puck.
San Jose Sharks
Doug Wilson, the GM of the Sharks, is in the early running for ‘GM of the offseason’. He absolutely showed-up Pierre Dorion and Wilson was the real winner in the Mike Hoffman trade. The Sharks are in a ‘win now’ mode and have made a series of efficient moves.
Evander Kane shoots like anyone not-named Alex Ovechkin and he can score from virtually anywhere. Kane, comes with his share of baggage, but the Sharks have shown they can handle non-hockey issues and poor attitudes as well as any NHL team. As part of the Hoffman trade, Wilson dumped Mikkel Boedker and his $4 million cap hit on to the Ottawa Senators. As a result of that trade, the Sharks now have over $18 million in available cap space this summer.
Tavares, one of the best leaders in the league, can help turn the likes of Evander Kane and, down the road, Ryan Merkley into mature NHL all-stars.
The concern about Tavares joining a win-now team is that not many teams try to “win now” for 7 consecutive years. The Sharks are one of the most liberal teams when it comes to their draft picks. If I was in Tavares’ position, I’d want to know that they’re drafting and developing good players while the NHL team is competing for the Stanley Cup.
New York Islanders
If Tavares hadn’t played for the Islanders for 9 years, there’s no way they’d have a chance at signing him. In his 9-year career, he’s only played in the post-season 3 times and made it to the second round once.
The Islanders are known for drafting well and have some great prospects on the way in Kieffer Bellows, Oliver Wahlstrom, and Noah Dobson, among others. That being said, they’ve had numerous ‘great’ prospects on the way for years.
If I was Tavares, here are my list of ‘demands’.
- Aquire a proven #1 goalie. Lou Lamoriello has a history of trading for goalies; Cory Schneider and Frederik Andersen.
- Tell ownership they need to be playing in a new arena by 2020 or if they have to build one by 2021.
- Find a #1 defenceman. Whether it’s via free agency or through a trade, the Islanders need defence.
Further, there’s no changing Lamoriello’s ‘ways’. Tavares will know how Lou likes to run his teams and I imagine the Maple Leafs included that in their pitch – Matt Martin might be traded back to Brooklyn sooner rather than later.
To sum all of this up, it’s not very common for a player of Tavares’ calibre to reach free agency. In fact, he hasn’t yet. Just two years ago, Steven Stamkos played a similar tune. He participated in the interview period and met with the Toronto Maple Leafs, just like Tavares did on Monday. One day before free agency opened in 2016, Stamkos elected to stay in Tampa Bay and he signed an 8-year $68 million deal. Don’t count the Islanders out from re-signing Tavares just yet.
The majority of current conversation is centered around Tavares and until he makes a decision, we will continue to see the rumours. The Detroit Red Wings, to no surprise, won’t be given an opportunity to sign him. So, here is a list of 6 centres that the Wings may reach out to;
- Joe Thornton
- Paul Stastny
- Tyler Bozak
- Valtteri Filppulla
- Matthew Peca
- Derek Ryan
Let’s get in to some potential targets for the Red Wings.
Joe Thornton
The future Hall of Famer needs to win, so Detroit is not the place for him in 2018-19. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him start to take pay cuts on winning teams. This may still include San Jose; he loves playing there. Matt Cane predicts a 1-year $5,415,728 deal for Jumbo Joe.
The biggest question around Thornton isn’t about his ability to produce at 38 years old but rather the health of his knees. He cut last season short due to ACL and MCL issues. He also played through the 2017 playoffs with a torn ACL.
I imagine Thornton ends up on the Sharks even if they win the John Tavares sweepstakes. If not, he’ll sign with a contender.
Paul Stastny
Paul Stastny is one of the quietest yet most productive players in the NHL. Because he isn’t flashy and his goals aren’t highlight reel material, he is under-valued around the league. Stastny is a point producer and remastered his game in Winnipeg.
The Jets and Stastny’s camp have mutual interest in getting a deal done. Stastny, as he should, is looking for $6 or $7 million. The Jets, on the other hand, can’t afford to go much higher than $5.5 million. Winnipeg is such a good fit for Stastny but he won’t get paid as much as he could if he tests free agency.
How would he look in Detroit? Kind of weird, to be honest. Signing Stastny for 3 years works if Henrik Zetterberg retires. He would be a great stop-gap 2nd-line centreman while we develop our prospects. With that being said, Stastny should have no interest in signing in Detroit because he wants to win.
Matt Cane has predicted Stastny receives a 3-year deal with a $5,410,504 cap hit.
Tyler Bozak
Essentially, a Frans Nielsen comparable, so Detroit should not be in on Bozak. He is a very good 3rd-line centre but Detroit isn’t in a place to sign depth players.
The Wings still aren’t in contention and they won’t be during a potential Bozak deal. With Michael Rasmussen and Joe Veleno on their way to the Wings, there’s no reason to commit long term for the services of this 32-year old.
Other teams, like Montreal, need his services more than we do which will raise his value. Let’s not screw up our depth chart with Bozak. Matt Cane has Bozak getting a 3-year offer with a $4,378,618 cap hit.
Valtteri Filpulla
Steve Yzerman came to our rescue in 2013 and signed Filpulla to a 5-year $25 million deal. Thank God, too. He was not worth that amount of term or money. Yzerman discovered that as well and had to work some deadline magic in 2017 to send him to Philadelphia.
Today, he is a serviceable third liner and can play either wing or centre. I wouldn’t hate Filppula signing in Detroit so long that Ken Holland has found a way to move Luke Glendening or Darren Helm. Without moving a vet, it won’t be possible to sign Filppula and allow Micheal Rasmussen, Evgeny Svechnikov, and Filip Zadina a fair shot at making the opening night roster.
Matt Cane has Filpulla receiving 1 year with a $2,214,496 cap hit. This is a contract I can get behind for the Wings if they move out a veteran body.
Matthew Peca
Peca will be a UFA this summer and hasn’t broken the barrier to be a consistent player for Tampa Bay. The 25-year old made his debut in 2016-17 and
has played 20 games in the past two seasons amassing seven points.
has played 20 games in the past two seasons amassing seven points.
Tampa’s absurd amount of prospect depth and the talent they have coming through their system may result in Peca signing elsewhere. He knows he’s sitting further down the depth chart and may have to sign a two-way deal in Tampa. However, a team should be willing to give him a one-way contract.
Matt Cane has Peca pegged at a one-year deal worth $652,790. I think this is a realistic prediction given his lack of games-played and production.
Derek Ryan
Derek Ryan is a solid bottom-6 centreman. He wasn’t an every-day contributor in Carolina until the 2016-17 season. Since his NHL debut in 2015, Ryan has 69 points in 153 games.
The 31-year old’s adjusted Corsi since 2016 is +179.99, a CF% of 53.04, and a Rel CF% of 1.06. Carolina is a high-shooting possession team and Ryan was above average on that team. In the 2017-18 season, Carolina lead the league in shot differential at +413.
Matt Cane’s prediction model has Ryan slotted at a two-year deal worth $2,483,222 each season. That is a cheap value for a producing bottom-6 player.
Is There A Motor City Match?
Not really.
I would be really happy if we signed Peca as our 4th-line centre. But that means we’ve been able to trade one of Glendening or Helm. I’d be really happy with trading either of those players but Holland would have to be creative.
I’d personally rather move out some vets, sign Thomas Vanek (like all the rumours have us doing), and continue paving forward to being good again. Realistically, we’ll be drafting in the top-6 again next year. Hopefully, we can put together a competitive team in the 2019-20 season.
Recent articles from Graham McMullen
