NHL Mailbag: Does Yzerman stepping down change Larkin’s future in Detroit?
The dog days of summer means another NHL mailbag. As you’d expect, there may be a heavy focus on the Philadelphia Flyers.
Let’s jump right into it.
Yes, the Leo Carlsson offer sheet likely had an impact on the contract demands of the Trevor Zegras camp. How much, though? That part is up for debate. In an ideal world, the Flyers likely want to get Zegras in the $8 million to $8.5 million range; before the offer sheet, the player’s camp was likely in the mid-$9-million vicinity. Following Carlsson’s whopping $18-million AAV that the Flyers handed out, Zegras’ agent, Pat Brisson, could be asking for something that starts with a 10.
Speculatively speaking, the contract probably comes in something in the low $9 millions. Travis Konecny is currently the Flyers’ highest paid player ($8.75 million AAV), and it would be hard to see Zegras come in lower than him. With the cap rising and Zegras producing just one fewer point than Konecny last season, it would be a good bet to project the former’s new AAV to come in a little higher on a long-term contract.
As for defenseman Jamie Drysdale, the Bowen Byram mega-deal with the Chicago Blackhawks is likely playing the biggest factor. A few months back the Flyers wanted Drysdale’s AAV around Cam York’s $5.15 million; after the former’s playoff performance and the Byram deal, that is more of a pipe dream. The most likely outcome here is a three or four year contract in the $6.5-million-AAV range.
This is a very interesting question that nobody has really brought up before. My best guess is that the Colorado Avalanche seemingly produce their own superstars internally and have for close to a decade, not leaving much cap space and breathing room for other star players looking for a new home.
We know how great of a hockey player Nathan MacKinnon is, but there have been rumors for a while that he can be an overbearing teammate at times. Cale Makar is arguably the best defenseman in the world; coupled with the starpower of MacKinnon, perhaps there is a lot of oxygen taken up in the dressing room and on the bench.
All this to say, players do seem to like playing there, as Nazem Kadri essentially hand-picked the Avalanche as his trade destination and wanted to return to the team he won a Stanley Cup with. But the question is valid and certainly interesting to ask.
At the stage in which the Flyers are at it wouldn’t be wise to take a flier on a player as a reclamation project. Could a Shane Wright turn it around elsewhere? Perhaps, but he has always been considered as a high-floor player with a modest ceiling. The Flyers have cornered the market on third-line pivots with the likes of Noah Cates, Christian Dvorak and Sean Couturier; Wright would be more of the same.
There has been a lot of (fair) criticism towards the Flyers’ drafting in recent years, but while they haven’t been able to draft a center who projects as a top-line guy, they still have a decent crop of guys who project to be longtime NHLers. Names like Jack Berglund, Jett Luchanko and Jack Nesbitt will likely never be house-hold names who lead scoring lines, but they could very well become strong two-way forwards in the team’s bottom six.
Coupled with the existing crop of centers on the main roster, adding a Wright would only muddy the waters.
You can certainly dream but I highly doubt that Anaheim Ducks GM Pat Verbeek will be doing any form of business with the Flyers after the nuclear bomb that GM Danny Briere launched into So-Cal.
And as far as sweeteners go for the Ducks trying to attach to a Chris Kreider or Frank Vatrano in a cap-dump, Roger McQueen likely isn’t one of them. Beyond Carlsson, the Ducks do not have a ton of depth down the middle – probably the biggest reason as to why they had to match the Carlsson offer sheet.
Mikael Granlund isn’t a spring chicken and Ryan Poehling is barely an authentic third-line center; McQueen is their only internal option to develop into another top-six pivot. Oh, and with their cap structure in flux right now, having good players on ELCs will be paramount for the Ducks.
I’d expect Verbeek to use his three second-round picks in next year’s draft as sweeteners in cap-dumps.
The answer to this question drastically changes after today’s news of Detroit Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman stepping down as the head of hockey operations. And in all honesty, it could mean that Dylan Larkin stays put in Detroit if the new GM can’t find a deal that works.
Larkin and Yzerman’s relationship was frosty at best, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. Yzerman’s ultra-conservative approach and stagnant rebuild ultimately had things boil over for the captain; now that a new GM is coming in, could Larkin reconsider?
The Red Wings are still objectively far from being a true contender and haven’t made enough improvements this summer to propel them into the playoffs next season, so Larkin could still very well want out. But the question needs to be at least asked if he will reconsider now that there will be a new man steering the ship.
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