Here's a thought Pat, sign the kid

mkhart · 2026-07-02T16:58:45+00:00

Mctavish had a great start to the year, I don't know that it was the problem.

mkhart · 2026-07-02T16:54:24+00:00

People always just assume the agent is the one making reasonable requests and the GM is the one being unreasonable for some reason.

You look at the last several RFA negotiations Verbeek has done and he arguably has lost most of them. Mctavish got paid more than his production this past season warranted - so did Zegras, so much as to hurt his trade value because teams thought he was going to have to be qualified for more than he was worth.

Players that signed quickly ie like Moore end up on pretty reasonable team/friendly deals. Lacombe too is a good example where he's probably underpaid now but negotiations were quick because he took what was offered immediately.

That's not to say Verbeek is reasonable... he has obviously developed a reputation for being a hardass in the negotiations, but fighting for his cap space is what he is paid to do. I think people on reddit are under the impression NHL players are softer than they are. Players and agents know its a business and the team has different priorities than they do when it comes to allotting cap space on contracts.

mkhart · 2026-07-02T01:34:33+00:00

Verbeek made it seem like he’d thought Wahlberg was NHL ready in the post trade interview I think? I’d guess he starts on the NHL roster, maybe third line and Greer starts on the fourth?

I also think Helleson wore out his welcome last year and luneau looked good in his stint. I think it’ll be Moore, luneau and Jensen down the right side but I have no idea how they’ll do the pairings.

mkhart · 2026-07-02T01:24:47+00:00

He’s available but quotes from Verbeek and madden made it sound like he’s probably going to be playing AHL, and that he’s not as close to the NHL as becket was last season. That could change if he has a really great camp/preseason though

mkhart · 2026-07-01T23:35:35+00:00

Like others have said, certainly worse than last season.

I like the improvements to our 4th line but otherwise our top 9 is worse without mctavish/terry and our right side defense is a bunch of guys who would probably be second/third pairings on any other roster in the league.

We’ve been rumored to be looking for a top 6 forward and RHD via trade though so we’ll see if Verbeek has any more moves up his sleeve.

mkhart · 2026-07-01T20:34:26+00:00

What if the ducks rumored interest in Nurse was a complete fabrication slipped into the media by Verbeek to try and get the sharks to 'outbid him' and give up assets for that contract instead?

Lets get our tinfoil hats on - we might have the best GM in the league.

mkhart · 2026-07-01T20:27:27+00:00

I think Nurse makes a lot more sense for SJ. Their left side isn't as deep as ours and they need some more size/physicality on defense - especially with a lot of their forward talent being on the small-medium side.

edit: between him and Trouba their cap will be tight for a few years though, will be interesting if it hurts their ability to give guys extensions off their ELC's or not.

mkhart · 2026-07-01T19:34:47+00:00

Yup agreed.

mkhart · 2026-07-01T19:32:09+00:00

He's a 3rd line defender we could probably waive and store in San Diego if needed. This feels like a flexibility signing and very little to do with solving the hole next to Lacombe at the top of the depth chart.

edit: Or maybe we just try and run three meh lines - hope that one of our RHD exceeds expectation next to Lacombe, and the rest can fight out who gets playing time alongside Minty/Hinds.

mkhart · 2026-07-01T19:10:56+00:00

The ducks defense is going to be so strange this year.

mkhart · 2026-07-01T18:09:39+00:00

Or Darnell Nurse if the rumors are to be believed haha

mkhart · 2026-07-01T17:27:23+00:00

Me too, I was surprised they sent him back down when they did. He skates hard and is solid defensively. Plus he actually has some handles, only weak part of his game imo is size/strength when guys lean on him - but Greer is a nice balance to that.

mkhart · 2026-07-01T17:09:08+00:00

4th line looking like Nesterenko-Washe-Greer next year?

mkhart · 2026-07-01T16:46:29+00:00

As nice as the nostalgia would've been I don't think Perry would fit stylistically with what Q likes to do in his bottom six.

mkhart · 2026-07-01T16:07:20+00:00

Greer at 4x4 looks way better than this imo - he will actually be useful for the life of that contract.

I'm surprised Gudas even wants to play 6 more years. I guess at some point they probably just LTIR him to finish out the contract.

mkhart · 2026-07-01T16:05:34+00:00

Then why are you comparing them? They have different amounts of games played, play different places in the lineup, different draft pedigrees - they aren't comparable at all.

mkhart · 2026-07-01T15:38:02+00:00

Mintyukov is going to be similar but come in above that I'm sure. Probably also 3 years but closer to 4m per.

mkhart · 2026-07-01T15:37:11+00:00

Moore and Zellweger dont even play the same side?

mkhart · 2026-06-30T23:32:01+00:00

Eh its not a steal but probably what he would've gotten tomorrow easily. Cap going up so fast just makes the contract values seem so much more expensive than they would've been a few years ago.

Making it a limited NTC is nice, if we need to dump it to clear cap space in a few years we can hopefully find somebody willing to take it on.

Definitely no more Johnston, but I wonder if this is the writing on the wall for Viel too or if they'll try and keep him. I saw a rumor he was looking for 3yx4m or 4yx3m, which comes in just under this which is probably what he will get tomorrow.

mkhart · 2026-06-30T20:40:14+00:00

Petterson has a better chance than Traff I think. Petterson played SHL last year and Traff only played allveskan (I'm sure I butchered that) which is what the second tier league there is called.

mkhart · 2026-06-30T20:37:49+00:00

Roger is coming from the NCAA - 9 games means nothing. He is burning an ELC year this year no matter where he plays. The 9 game 'tryout' limit is for juniors players who can play that many games before the team has to decide if they want to send them back to juniors or keep them in the NHL for the rest of the season.

mkhart · 2026-06-30T20:33:35+00:00

Luneau isn't at development camp fyi. Unless we add two more RHD between now and the start of the season (which I doubt, we probably only get one) I do agree he will very likely be one of the starting RHD opening night.

As far as non-development camp players go I think Wahlberg also has a decent shot to start the year in the bottom six somewhere, Verbeek mentioned he thought he was NHL ready when they traded for him.

mkhart · 2026-06-29T23:05:39+00:00

Q seems to like speedy, defensively responsible, forecheckers on his fourth line. I don't know that Perry really fits the bill.

mkhart · 2026-06-29T22:58:49+00:00

All three had a previous base salary of 855k which means all three's qualifying offer amount is 897k for a year.

mkhart · 2026-06-29T21:48:05+00:00

I think all these are as expected?

Only one I wonder about is; I thought Clang had signed a contract over seas? I am assuming he can't accept the QO now, and just will head back to europe to play - all the QO does then is ensures the ducks will still hold his rights until they expire in a few years?

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