Seattle Dragons: A Draftless* 32nd Team Expansion

[PFellah]

Re: Seattle Dragons: A Draftless* 32nd Team Expansion

April 2020: Around The League


STANDINGS


Already dealt with in great detail.

LEAGUE LEADERS


The big news here is the TIE for the scoring lead -- Tyler Seguin (Golden Knights) and John Tavares (Islanders) both finish with an even 100 points. Alex Ovechkin wins the Richard with 62 goals, leading a top 3 (Ovi 62, Tavares 56, Seguin 56) that ran away from the rest of the league by a healthy margin. Hard to say who walks away with the Vezina... if this were real life and I was voting, I'd say Braden Holtby feels like a good call since he's near the top of all the categories AND Washington had a successful season. If the CPU is a dope and goes with wins, I guess it'll be Cam Talbot, who wasn't a leader in any other category but has the most W's.

CALDER WATCH


Leonardo Little makes a late run and ALMOST catches Svechnikov. I assume the CPU will be dumb and give the Calder to Svech since 59 > 58, but given that Arizona was in the playoff hunt until the final days, one could argue that Little was more valuable. Then again, the plus-minus discrepancy could argue Svechnikov's team was slightly more effective with him on the ice.

[PFellah]

Re: Seattle Dragons: A Draftless* 32nd Team Expansion

2019-2020 Closeout: Playoffs And Awards



STANLEY CUP
John Tavares brings the Cup back to Long Island, dispatching the Winnipeg Jets in five games. The Isles had a tough (and all-Metro) road to the final as the #8 seed in the East, going through Presidents’ Trophy-winning Pittsburgh in six, the Caps in seven, and the Rangers in six again. Winnipeg got to the finals by beating the Blues in 5, Colorado in six, and San Jose (trying to defend their title) in seven.

Tavares also takes home the Conn Smythe on the strength of 16 goals and 12 assists in 24 games.

CALDER CUP
Another second-round exit for the Tacoma Tigers. In Round 1, Tacoma draws the 101-point Rochester Americans rather than the 103-point Hartford Wolfpack. (No wildcards, they just take the Top 4, maybe?) It doesn’t really matter: Tacoma sweeps the series – 4-1, 4-2, 5-1.

Round 2 puts the Tigers up against the Utica Comets (49-23-10). This time, it’s Tacoma getting swept, though in fairness the first and last game went to overtime. Scores were: 3-2 (OT), 4-2, 4-1, and 3-2 (OT).

On the "bright" side, at least we lost to the team that would go on to win it all. Utica would go on to win the Calder Cup, polishing off the 120-point juggernaut -- the Bridgeport Sound Tigers -- 4-2 in the conference final. Utica then followed that up with a similar 4-2 win over the San Jose Barracuda to take the title.

PLAYER AWARDS
Hart: Joe Pavelski, RW, San Jose – 78 G, 37-57-94, +45, 18 PM, 17.2 S%
Norris: Erik Karlsson, Ottawa – 81 G, 20-71-91, +33, 0 penalty minutes, 7.1 S%
Vezina: Carey Price, Montreal – 69 GP, 37-24-8, 4 SO, 2.24 GAA, .924 save %
Calder: [B]Evgeni Svechnikov, LW, Detroit – 82 G, 25-34-59, +9, 41 PIM, 16.2 S%
Conn Smythe: John Tavares, C, NY Islanders – 24 G, 16-12-28, +11, 14 PIM, 17.6 S%
Lady Byng: Nikolaj Ehlers, RW, Winnipeg
Masterton: Dominik Masin, D, Tampa Bay
Selke: Connor McDavid, C, Edmonton
Lindsay: Joe Pavelski

AUTOMATIC (stats-based) AWARDS
Art Ross: John Tavares, C, NY Islanders -- 100 points (56 G, 44 A)
Maurice Richard: Alex Ovechkin, LW, Washington – 62 goals
William Jennings: Andrei Vasilevskiy, Tampa Bay – 198 goals against

First, a minor quibble: Tavares technically tied with Tyler Seguin of Vegas, but who’s counting? The Brothers Svechnikov go back to back as rookies of the year! Pavelski wasn't a BAD choice for the Hart, but he was a little out of left field, since he was never really a Top 10 guy in anything except plus-minus. As far as the Vezina, now that I’m looking at Price, he did lead the league in goals-against AND save percentage (at least for starters), so he probably makes a little more sense than Holtby (my original prediction).

DRAFT LOTTERY/TOP 10
1. Los Angeles
2. Edmonton
3. Montreal
4. SEATTLE
5. Nashville
6. Buffalo
7. Anaheim
8. Carolina (Toronto)
9. Carolina
10. Detroit

SALARY CAP
The cap rises to just a hair over $86M (up from $82M), the floor is around 65 and a half. I think the max player salary was in the range of $17M, but I have to admit I don't pay close attention to that unless/until I'm actually in the market for such a player.

NOTABLE RETIREMENTS (> 500 GP)
For the Dragons, he was a pending free agent anyway, but Mike Cammalleri hangs ‘em up with 1042 games played. 318 goals, 395 assists. Good having you with us.

League-wide: Mike Cammalleri, David Clarkson, Trevor Daley, Deryk Engelland, Toby Enstrom, Martin Erat, Tom Gilbert, Andy Greene, Ales Hemsky, Matt Hendricks, Chris Kunitz, Mark Letestu, Ben Lovejoy, Derek MacKenzie, Torrey Mitchell, Matt Moulson, Johnny Oduya, Kris Russell, Dennis Seidenberg, Matt Stajan, Scottie Upshall.
Letestu and Oduya immediately become scouts for Columbus.

Only two goalies retired, and neither hit the cutoff. Peter Budaj at 365 games was the closest.

[PFellah]

Re: Seattle Dragons: A Draftless* 32nd Team Expansion

THE DRAGON'S LAIR: Looking Back, Looking Ahead

Brock: Welcome once again to the Dragon’s Lair. I’m your host, Brock Whitney, and in the studio, we have Stu Kennedy, Logan Marx, Sarah Shaw, and Tacoma correspondent Dan DeCarlo.

With the NHL draft and free agency approaching it’s that time of year again. We’re here to take a look back at a disappointing season which didn’t go as anyone really expected, and look ahead at what the team might do to rebound going into the 20-21 season.

Obviously the Dragons took a big step back from their inaugural season – they went from just missing the playoffs in the final days to being an also-ran and selling off parts by early March. So, panel… how does that happen? Or is there even any one thing you can point to in a case like this?

Stu: For me, it’s defense and toughness. I know what we were saying coming into last season. They got the best goalie on the market in Bobrovsky. They got either the best or the second best forward on the market in Wheeler. And yes, they also got the second-best defenseman on the market in Tyler Myers, but I always felt like they needed to do more on the blue line. Myers was a good start, but then they missed out on some other guys and had to settle for guys like Jamie Oleksiak and Nathan Beaulieu, and those were more sideways moves, when they really needed to get better there. I also think this team is too in love with flashy forwards who look good when the no-contact pinneys are on, but they don’t really put enough effort into keeping the puck out of their own net.

Logan: I’m about fifty-fifty on agreeing with Stu.

Stu: Thanks, Logan, always knew you were fifty percent of a good guy.

Logan: I DO think they didn’t do enough to upgrade the defense. In hindsight that’s clear. Myers and Green makes a respectable top pair, but the bottom four are still well behind other team’s bottom four guys. Sustr and Oleksiak were both like minus-30 on the season. Beaulieu about the same. Morrow… the front office seems to like him, but he hasn’t really taken that step forward that you’d like to see at his age. And I hate to go there, but Mike Green might even be starting to lose a step – maybe he belongs on the second pair now. Goalies tend to get blamed when things don’t go well, but there were a lot of games where Bobrovsky faced 40-plus shots, so… maybe get those shot totals down, don’t make the next guy work so hard.

On the other hand, a lot of the team’s early problems were offensive, not defensive. They also weren’t scoring… how many times did they get shut out? Svechnikov and Blake Wheeler were putting pucks in the net, Paul Stastny started hot, but cooled off. But a lot of the secondary guys didn’t really get things going until the team was 10 or 15 points out of playoff contention. David Perron? Had like 4 or 5 goals in the first half. Michael Grabner? Mostly invisible. Tyler Bozak sleepwalked through the first two months, and then he hit that hot stretch for… like, two weeks. And I hate to pick on Andreas Athanasiou because he spent part of the year hurt, but it was just a lost year for him.

There was a comment David Perron made as the season was winding down, and I think it’s accurate. They had all the pieces, but didn’t get the complete package nearly enough. They’d hold the other team to 1 or 2 goals, but then they’d go scoreless. They’d score four or five, but that would be the night they’d choose to give up six. When they put it together in the same game, they were a solid team, but that was not happening nearly enough.

Brock: When the team started selling off assets and playing for next year, who, if anyone, made a good case for an increased role in next year’s roster?

Logan: I thought Jack Roslovic really stepped up and showed something. Yeah, he had that one big game with the hat trick, but in general, good stuff seemed to happen when he was on the ice. I also think Vladislav Kamenev rose to the occasion. Rang up a few timely goals, was good on the penalty kill – I think bringing him back as a fourth-liner is probably the PERFECT role for him. And I thought Tony DeAngelo did enough to warrant more minutes, though the defense corps as a whole was dealing with injuries and things were weird back there. And he wasn’t one of the new guys brought in during the fire sale, but Kasperi Kapanen took a decent step forward this year. A little hot and cold and he’s gotta work on his defense, but 15 goals playing bottom-six minutes is pretty good work.

Brock: On the other side of the coin, who won’t we be seeing again?

Logan: You mean other than Malcolm Subban, right? I mean, you want to be fair that Subban wasn’t getting a lot of defensive help, but I think it’s going to be one of those “bad memories” things where it’s best if both sides just move on. And… end of the day, Michal Neuvirth had that same defense in front of him, and at least kept the team in games. If the defense is going to be upgraded, it’s hard to see Joe Morrow coming back, and maybe you have to look at moving a second guy too. And I don’t know what you do about Athanasiou. Do you move on? Do you chalk one bad year up to injuries and see if he can find his game again? Theoretically there’s a good player in there if you can find him.

Brock: We’re starting to get into free agency, which is more Sarah’s territory. Sarah, how’s the team looking for free agency?

Sarah: They’re definitely going to have money to spend. This is kind of an oversimplified way of looking at it, but take the $18M from Wheeler and Bobrovsky, because most of that money came back in other expiring contracts, add in another 8-10M for Bozak, Grabner, and Cammalleri, and there’s almost $30M. There were a few pieces coming back the other way like Alex Tuch, so it’s not THAT cut and dry, but you can see it’s going to be a big number.

One domino effect from having that much money is that I’ve heard the team might try and lock up Andrei Svechnikov to an extension. He’s clearly the team’s best player, so they may just acknowledge that and get him inked while they have the money available.

But whether that happens or not, the short answer is, if Seattle wants to be aggressive buyers, they absolutely can be. If they don’t, it’ll be more about maintaining roster flexibility than being able to afford players.

Where it gets interesting is assembling the roster for Tacoma – a LOT of guys from the first season were brought in on two-year deals, plus some 1-year deals from 2019, so almost the whole roster is up for new contracts. It’s a mix of UFAs and RFA’s but it’s going to represent a lot of moving parts and the Tacoma roster could look VERY different next year. And then beyond that, you also have some decisions to make with the unsigned draft picks.

Brock: Speaking of the draft class, Dan DeCarlo is here, our man from Tacoma. Dan, how are things looking for the team’s top prospects?

Dan: Well, the glass-half-full is that there’s a pretty good youth movement here, depending on how far the Dragons want to go with it. They’ve got a potential franchise goalie in Carter Hart (76 OVR). They also got a solid offensive defenseman in Erik Brannstrom (76) in the Wheeler trade. Last year’s #1 pick, Peyton Krebs is pretty close to being ready (74). C Ty Dellandrea (71) probably needs a little more time in the minors but maybe you invite him to camp and you see how he responds. And then, picking #4, there’s a chance you’re getting a guy who could contribute sooner rather than later. So I mean, if you want to go all-in, you could put as many as five 20-and-under guys on the roster. Do I think that’s the way they go with it? Probably not. But it’s interesting to think about, and I do think in a year or two, you’ve got those guys AND more… maybe a Kaapo Kakko, maybe an Anttoni Honka… wearing Seattle colors.

The other question is you’ve got an expiring 2018 draft class that you have to make decisions about. Svech is Svech. Dellandrea already got an entry-level contract and he’s progressing nicely. I think Van Riemsdyk (70), Giroux (65), and Kenins (65) are guys who could at least provide some organizational depth. I don’t see them becoming major contributors but they’ll probably get signed. Jakub Skarek (7th round, 62, Fringe Starter) might be a cheap alternative to Driedger as the backup in Tacoma, but I don’t see much more than that in his future. I’m not hearing any real organizational enthusiasm for Toni Utunen (5th round TWD, 59 OVR, 7D potential) from my sources, so he probably walks.

Brock: You mentioned the youth movement, and the Carter Hart question seems to be the big one burning up our web forums. There’s this feeling amongst the fanbase that maybe you can stash Peyton Krebs on the fourth line or put Brannstrom on the third pair and then send them down if it doesn’t work out, but with Hart, you kind of have to decide one way or the other. Committing to a guy as your starting goalie has less room for a Plan B. If you go with Hart, you kinda have to go all the way with it. Thoughts?

Sarah: Well, they have a Plan B and it’s Michal Neuvirth. The real question is whether the organization is comfortable enough with Neuvirth as the starter if Hart needs more time, or would they want to go try and find an upgrade? This year’s goalie market isn’t looking great for that – you have definite starters and then backups who would really just be a sideways move. But there are a few in-between options. Someone like Brian Elliott, if he hits the open market, could be interesting – at 35, he’s at an age where maybe he’d be OK in kind of a transitional mentoring role to Hart, but if Hart needed more time and he had to jump in as the full-time starter, he’d also be an improvement on Neuvirth. Maybe Ryan Miller fits that suit too.

Brock: Looking at free agency more generally, obviously we haven’t reached full free agency so some of the pending free agents may yet resign, but is there anyone you see definitely being a target?

Sarah: Well, they absolutely need defense help, so whoever’s setting the market on defense… whether that’s Roman Josi, or Alex Pietrangelo, or someone else… I’d expect the Dragons to be in on that bidding. Maybe two guys. Unless they really feel Peyton Krebs is ready, they presumably have an opening at left wing with Mike Cammalleri retiring – it’s fun to speculate about Taylor Hall if he reaches the market, but there’s a crop of younger guys like Max Domi, Robby Fabbri, and Anders Bjork that would really be intriguing and fit more with the youth movement if they’re made available. But… at the end of the day, this team almost finished last in the NHL, so I don’t think you can say anyone except maybe Andrei Svechnikov can consider their roster spot safe.

Brock: Last question is actually the next event on the team’s radar: the entry draft. Seattle has four picks fairly early -- #4, #20 (Vegas), #34, and #36 (Nashville). Any early rumors about who they might take? We don’t really have a designated draft expert, so anyone can jump in on that.

Logan: Well at that #4 pick, I’m hearing two names come up most often. The first is Georg Walser, a 17-year-old playmaker center from Germany. He’s got a really polished game for his age, and people have compared him to Nicklas Backstrom. The other is Pasi Ortio. Finnish kid, he’s a defense-first defenseman so he maybe doesn’t have that exciting ceiling, but he’s got great size (already 6’5”) and a rocket of a shot. A few scouts are singing the praises of LW Alex LaFreniere, but they don’t see him being available at #4, and I don’t get a sense that there’s a lot of urgency to move up.

Dan: I’m going to dive a little deeper and give you a few names to watch later in the draft ([I]Ed: Gems[/I]) based on… just who the scouts seem like they’ve been spending extra time on. There’s a goalie named Jadon Bloodoff… the Seattle scouts have made a lot of trips to see a guy who’s listed on most mocks as a 6th or 7th round talent. Another one to watch is LW Clinton McGinn – he’s a little small at 5’9” and needs to work on his skating, but the kid has hands and instincts for scoring and I know a couple scouts who think he’s undervalued. There are a few other guys I know they like, but those two are guys I would watch in the late rounds.

Brock: Well, OK, everyone. I think we’ll wrap it up there. Some great speculation, and we'll get to start seeing what facts emerge in just a few days. This has been the Dragon’s Lair; for the rest of the team, I’m Brock Whitney, and we’ll see you next time.

[PFellah]

Re: Seattle Dragons: A Draftless* 32nd Team Expansion

2020 Entry Draft

CENTRAL SCOUTING TOP 10

1. C Vic Petry (USA) -- 6'1", 199 PLY
2. D Par Johansson (Sweden) – 5’11”, 186 ??? (yes, somehow my scouts did not bother scouting the #2 overall pick)
3. LW Alexis LaFreniere (Canada) – 6’0”, 195 PLY
4. C Georg Walser (Germany) – 6’1”, 191 PLY
5. D Pasi Ortio (Finland) – 6’5”, 210 DFD
6. D Mikael Lundstrom -- 6’4”, 218 ???
7. C Ilya Perezhogin (Ukraine) – 5’11”, 182 PLY
8. C Joakim Haakana (Finland) – 5’11”, 190 TWF
9. C Zackary Smith (USA) – 5’10”, 179 PLY
10. RW Felipe Domingue (USA) – 6’5”, 210 PWF

SEATTLE DRAGONS PICKS (INITIAL)
Round 1, Pick 4
Round 2, Pick 20 (from VGK)
Round 2, Pick 34
Round 2, Pick 36 (from NSH)
Round 3, Pick 66
Round 4, Pick 98
Round 4, Pick 110 (from CBJ)
Round 4, Pick 111 (from ARI)
Round 6, Pick 162

PRE-DRAFT THOUGHTS/STRATEGY
Last year was an aggressive, active draft. This year I expect to just take the picks that come to me, with maybe a little minor maneuvering at the edges.

At #4, it's down to Walser or Ortio. Walser feels like the high-ceiling pick; Ortio might actually be more immediately useful since my defense corps needs work. I know everyone and their mother loves LaFreniere, but I'm not going to meta-game, and trading up would be costly as well.

At #20, I initially like a RW named Desmond Silverthorn -- yes, I like that he has partially scouted Elite potential, but mostly I just like the name. If he doesn't work as a hockey player, he'll make a hell of a Night Elf Ranger. (I also though the game made him from Paraguay, but nope, he's Croatian, which isn't nearly the same novelty factor.) Since he's #22 on central scouting, I might trade up 2 or 3 slots just to make sure I get him, if it doesn't cost too much. If that falls through, backup plan at #20 is Milan Melichar, a partially scouted Elite TWD.

34 and 36 are going to be a little tricky because the scouting in that area is bad and most of the guys who are scouted aren't Elite. I do think one of the two picks will be Tuomas Heikkinen, a partially scouted TWD, but he's even a little dicey since Central has him at 35, right between my two picks.

More generally, I have seven gems, but the ones in the early draft are Top 6 forwards, so I may or may not go with those. I do have some Elites in the later rounds (McGinn would look to go in the late 5th, Bloodoff would probably still be around in the 7th), which is why I might look at trading down -- using a 4th on one of those guys would be an overpay, but wouldn't want to miss out on them entirely.

TRADES


I was looking around for a small move-up deal for Silverthorn, and noticed that at #16 in Central Scouting, there's a RW named Bryson Wellwood. Also a sniper, also Elite, but fully scouted. An idea springs forth to put #20 and #36 together (since I'm unsure what to do with that pick anyway) to move up to the 14-16 range to grab Wellwood, and maybe pick up a 5th in the process. I figure I'll take that offer to Arizona if he's still available at 15, but then just punt and take Silverthorn as planned otherwise.

TRADE: Seattle trades pick #20 and pick #36 for pick #15, pick #143, and Arizona's 3rd-round pick in 2021.

Basically, I move up to take the guy who's more of a sure thing, move back from the 4th to the 5th (which gives me a pick for one of my Gems) and I pick up a 3rd rounder next year. I still feel a little bad about not taking Silverthorn, but gotta make the smart play.

SEATTLE DRAGONS PICKS

• 1-4-4 – C Georg Walser (17, Germany) – 6’1”, 191 PLY – a fully scouted Elite Med. Push comes to shove, gotta to with the higher ceiling.
• 1-15-15 (from ARI) – RW Bryson Wellwood (18, Switzerland) -- 6’0”, 194 SNP – Fully scouted Elite Med Sniper. Kinda had to do it.
• 2-2-34 – D Tuomas Heikkinen (18, Finland) – 6'2", 200 TWD – Only half-scouted, but Elite Med so far. Major negatives were injury prone and not very physical, which I can live with.
• 3-2-66 – D Justice Morrow(19, Hungary) – 5’11” 183 TWD – I skipped over a few Top 6 Gems that were like players I already drafted because this guy was fully scouted Elite.
• 4-2-98 – LW Vyacheslav Malakhov(18, Russia) – 6’4” 206 TWF – No Elite talent in the immediate vicinity, so I went for a well-scouted Top 6 forward.
• 4-14-110 (from CBJ) – C Eric Fragapane (17, Germany) – 5’10” 177 PLY – Claims to be a Low Elite, but seems to be good at character stuff and bad at actually playing hockey, so... we'll see.
• 4-15-111 (from ARI) – D Daniel Joudrey (18, Canada) – 5'10", 200 DFD – similar to Fragapane, all the good stuff is "character" stuff; all the weaknesses are actual hockey skills. But he's Elite AND a Gem, so let's do it.
• 5-15-143 – LW Clinton McGinn (19, USA) – 5’9” 184 SNP – Short, can't skate well, but puts pucks in nets. And a Gem.
• 6-2-162 – G Jadon Bloodoff (19, USA) – 6’2” 197 HYB – Elite Med Gem, so let's go with it.

[PFellah]

Re: Seattle Dragons: A Draftless* 32nd Team Expansion

2020 Free Agency


RE-SIGN PHASE
Let’s look at who’s up for contracts:

UFAs (13)
D Andrew MacDonald ($5M), LW Matt Belesky (3.8M), G Malcolm Subban (1.8M), RW Brian Gibbons (1.725M), D Joe Morrow (1.7M), C Derek Grant (1.6M), C Cedric Paquette (1.4M), C Alan Quine (935k), D Matt Bartkowski (875k), LW Philip DiGiuseppe (850k), RW Beau Bennett (850k), RW Zack Mitchell (725k), C Joel Mustonen (700k)

Let's start with the easy cuts. MacDonald and Beleskey were dead money I took on to make deals work. Malcolm Subban just left a bad taste in my mouth, so it's best for both parties if we just start over. Gibbons didn't even sniff the Seattle roster, and Morrow is a numbers crunch -- if I'm going to upgrade the defense corps through free agency, there's simply no room for him.

Similarly, at the bottom end, Mustonen, Mitchell, and DiGiuseppe are in no-man's land -- too old to be prospects, but didn't contribute in the minors either. I'll let them walk with the idea that I can bring back players like them (or even bring THEM back) if I had to.

That leaves a middle-ground of Grant, Paquette, Quine, Bartkowski, and Bennett. Not really prospects, but were useful role-players last year, so I guess I wouldn't mind bringing them back. If they even want to come back -- Grant and Paquette at least are No's on an extension.

RFAs (16)
RW Kasperi Kapanen (1.185M), LW Vladislav Kamenev (1.01M), D Tony DeAngelo (960k), D Kyle Wood (875k), LW A.J. Greer (850k), LW Brendan Lemieux (825k), G Elvis Merzlikins (825k), G Carter Hart (795k), D Hardy Hamon Aktell (770k), G Chris Driedger (770k), D Jordan Subban (770k), LW Pierre Engvall (700k), RW Gabriel Gagne (700k), D Niko Mikkola (700k), G Niklas Rubin (700k), C Miska Siikonen (700k)

The top tier of the RFAs are guys I expect to either be on the Seattle roster, or are important contributors. Carter Hart, Kasperi Kapanen, Vladislav Kamenev, and Tony DeAngelo. DeAngelo maybe a little less than the other three because I'm likely to be adding one or more free agents, and also have Erik Brannstrom pushing from below.

The rest? It's a double-edged sword. I don't exactly want to turn over 10 or 15 roster spots every year (and I'm also worried what it would do to morale), but some of these guys aren't ever going to amount to anything and it's nice to bring some fresh faces in.

Based on some combination of potential or effective play last season, Elvis Merzlikins, Brendan Lemieux, Kyle Wood, and Niko Mikkola are at least going to get RFA tenders.

That leaves Aktell, Driedger, Engvall, Gagne, Greer, Rubin, Siikonen, and (Jordan) Subban in no-man's land. I think what I'm going to do is replace those guys with my expiring draftees, and then RFA who's left.

EXPIRING UNSIGNED ROOKIES (5)
C Damien Giroux, LW Pavel Kenins, G Jakub Skarek, D Toni Utunen, D Ian Van Riemsdyk

OK, so a center, a left wing, two defensemen, and a goalie. So, we'll cut Siikonen, Engvall, Aktell, Subban, and Driedger (Rubin is younger) to make room for these guys. Which means Gagne, Greer, and Rubin will get RFA tenders.

JUNE 25
I'm pretty much offering people their ask if I'm offering at all. Offers go out to:
UFA: Bartkowski, Bennett, Grant, Quine
UFA-Expiring Rookies: Giroux, Kenins, Skarek, Utunen, Van Riemsdyk
RFA offers: Kapanen, DeAngelo, Kamenev, Hart
RFA Tenders: Greer, Lemieux, Merzlikins, Rubin, Wood


JUNE 26
Accept: Tony DeAngelo, Damien Giroux, Carter Hart, Vladislav Kamenev, Kasperi Kapanen, Pavel Kenins, Jakub Skarek, Toni Utunen, Ian Van Riemsdyk.
Reject - Grant wants more than 1.6M. I'm probably just going to let him walk and make Chandler Stephenson a depth forward. Bartkowski rejects based on playing time. Bennett and Quine reject on "success of team" but might be swayed by more money.

I think I'm going to let Bartkowski and Grant walk, but try a little more money on Bennett and Quine. They both did play well for Tacoma last year; some veteran leadership would be good. They both get 925k, the max two-way deals.

JUNE 27
Quine accepts his revised offer, but Beau Bennett rejects. Bennett was asking for the max two-way deal, so to go any further would require converting to a 1-way deal. I'm not opposed to doing that, so Bennett gets a 1-way deal for an even mil. (He accepts the next day.

Fast forward to the last day, and everyone has accepted their RFA tenders except the goaltenders, but that may just be because I forgot to do them in the initial batch and they're running behind.

OPEN FREE AGENCY


Our overall status is good. Maybe too good. We have 36 contracts and 49.475 in committed salary, leaving us 36.670M under the salary cap. The bad news is the free agent class is... not great. But let's not despair -- let's see where we need to add some guys.

CENTER: Paul Stastny 80, Jack Roslovic 79, Andreas Athanasiou 77, Alan Quine 77, Chandler Stephenson 75, Ty Dellandrea 71.

Quine and Dellandrea should start the year in the minors; I envision Stephenson as a scratch/depth forward for now. I see us needing at least one more center, but the unknown here is Georg Walser, our #1 pick. He might pull a Svechnikov and start the year with the Dragons. (Athanasiiou is another question mark -- a lot of his drop was morale-based: could he bounce back?)

LEFT WING: David Perron 85,Yanni Gourde 81, Vladislav Kamenev 78, Erik Marsh 77, A.J. Greer 76, Brendan Lemieux 75, Jacob de la Rose 75, Pavel Kenins 65

We have bodies here but there's room for an upgrade. Marsh and Kenins are both plodders, so they're not going to be big scorers. And more big-picture, Cammalleri's retirement opens a spot. We also have Peyton Krebs (74), who hasn't started the clock on his ELC; we'll see how he does in camp.

RIGHT WING: Andrei Svechnikov 83, Kasperi Kapanen 79, Beau Bennett 78, Alex Tuch 77, Gabriel Gagne 74

Tuch is a morale casualty; he used to be 81 OVR. I'm not sure how I feel about Kapanen -- he did have 15 goals last year, but not sure he stepped forward enough to be treated like a Top 6. We also have a couple unsigned rookies -- Reid Forbes (70) and Kaapo Kakko (64). Forbes might have a role to play; Kakko feels like he's a year away.

DEFENSE: Tyler Myers 83, Mike Green 82, Andrej Sustr 81, Nathan Beaulieu 79, Tony DeAngelo 78, Jamie Oleksiak 78, Kyle Wood 76, Erik Brannstrom 76, Niko Mikkola 74, Christian Folin 73, Ian Van Riemsdyk 70, Toni Utunen 59

Definitely want to push that depth chart down one, or maybe even two guys.

GOALIES: Michal Neuvirth 81, Carter Hart 76, Elvis Merzlikins 78, Niklas Rubin 69, Jakub Skarek 62

I'm not sure what the goalie market looks like, but I'd like to upgrade Neuvirth if there's a better option. Just in case Hart doesn't work out.

JULY 1
Well, here's the bad news. Except for defensemen, it's a weak free agent class. It might be tough to actually spend enough money in this market.

Let's start with defensemen, the one fairly deep position. Justin Faulk, Roman, Josi, Tyson Barrie, Cody Ceci, and Joel Edmundson would all be upgrades. I'm going to start with Josi and Barrie.

Right wing is a wasteland. Mikkel Boedker? Jesper Fast? For the moment, I'm going to wait, or maybe look at a trade here.

Left wing, it's basically Taylor Hall, Mike Hoffman, or nothing, but Taylor Hall is asking close to $12M. That's pretty steep, but imagine him and Svechnikov on a line together. Let's do it.

Center? It's mostly sideways moves. Charlie Coyle would be a minor upgrade. Maybe a Sam Gagner or J.G. Pageau, but nothing that's going to make us dramatically better.

Goalie: Stars (Sergei Bobrovsky, Corey Crawford) and stiffs. Is Ryan Miller enough of an upgrade on Neuvirth at backup goalie? Jacob Markstrom?

Offers go out: C Coyle (5/4.825), LW Hall (7/12M - rounded up from 11.95), RW Boedker (3/3.275), D Josi (6/5.9M), D Barrie (4/5.375), and G Jacob Markstrom (1/2.0M). Let's see how that goes. If I got ALL those guys, I'd actually rocket right up against the cap, but I'm willing to walk away from some of those:
Coyle (get a sideways move, and hope Walser can hop right into the lineup)
Boedker (maybe look at the trade market)
Josi/Barrie -- I still want two defensemen, but I can downgrade.

JULY 5
Coyle rejects and signs with Columbus; Boedker rejects and signs with the Kings. Markstrom rejects but is still in play. Coyle's offer moves to Sam Gagner (half the cost), I bump Markstrom to 2.2M. I don't see a direct replacement for Boedker, but 1M of his money will go to Stefan Noesen, who the scouts claim still has Elite potential.

JULY 6
Tyson Barrie rejects and chooses Toronto. Josi rejects but is still out there. Taylor Hall also rejects, citing locker-room chemistry. The worse news is all the other defense options also signed while I was waiting on my answers. Fiiiine. More money for Josi and Hall.

JULY 9
Noesen and Gagner reject, mentioning the chemistry thing again. Markstrom signs, so we finally have our first free agent. A backup goalie. Yay.

JULY 10
Roman Josi signs with the Canucks, and this is on its way to being a complete tire fire. I almost just ought to get out on Taylor Hall and assume I'll be doing a youth movement this year.

JULY 11
And Taylor Hall signs with the Red Wings. So this off-season is a complete mess.

At least to help mitigate the issues with the salary floor, I go ahead and offer Andrei Svechnikov a contract extension -- 4 years, $7.25M

JULY 12
Gagner accepts, so we have four centers, at least.

JULY 13
Stefan Noesen signs, and Nik Rubin signs his RFA tender. Looking at some offers just to suck up money... hey, let's bring back Michael Grabner. And Jesper Fast also wants $2.5M(ish) so we throw him an offer as well.

JULY 15
Jesper Fast signs with Vancouver. Whatever. Svechnikov signs his extension, but oh wait, that doesn't kick in until next year, so it does nothing to get us up to the salary floor this year. Sigh.

JULY 16
Grabner's off to the Sharks. Time to make a few offers just to suck up money. Based on having some sort of potential, I go with C Jean-Gabriel Pageau, LW Jimmy Vesey, and D Chris Bigras.

JULY 20
Vesey signs; Pageau and Bigras reject, so I go ahead and offer more money. It's the one thing I have a lot of.

JULY 24
Pageau and Bigras sign. I'm still about $10M below the floor, but I'll deal with that in camp. For now, I'm done.

RECAP

Just... ugly. Nobody wanted to play for us, most of them signed with other teams directly instead of giving us a chance to counter, and since they took too long to decide, our second choices signed with other teams while we were waiting. I guess we got marginally better at a couple of spots, but not the free agency season we hoped to have. Right now, we're close to $10M under the cap, but I'll solve that in camp as a lineup starts to emerge.

FINAL SIGNINGS

• C Sam Gagner - 2 years, $2.5M
• C Jean-Gabriel Pageau - 2 years, $2.5M
• G Jacob Markstrom - 1 year, $2.2M
• D Chris Bigras - 2 years, $1.25M
• RW Stefan Noesen - 1 year, $1.1M
• LW Jimmy Vesey - 2 years, $1.1M

[PFellah]

Re: Seattle Dragons: A Draftless* 32nd Team Expansion

Free Agency 2020: Around The League

SIGNINGS OVER $1M/YEAR

• Anaheim: G Ryan Miller (83), G Al Montoya (79), C Blake Coleman (79)
• Arizona: C Adam Henrique (84), C Jay Beagle (79), D Kevin Gravel (76)
• Boston: G Ondrej Pavelec (82), G Steve Mason (81), LW Joonas Donskoi (79), C Oscar Lindberg (78)
• Buffalo: G Sergei Bobrovsky (92), RW Brett Ritchie (80), RW Spencer Foo (78), RW Kyle Clifford (75)
• Calgary: LW Mike Hoffman (84), D Joel Edmundson (83), D David Schlemko (74)
• Carolina: D Mark Pysyk (82), LW Warren Fogele (77)
• Chicago: RW Trevor Lewis (80), G Mike Condon (80), RW Tyler Pitlick (79)
• Colorado: G Anton Forsberg (80)
• Columbus: C Charlie Coyle (83)
• Dallas: G Corey Crawford (91), RW Drew Stafford (77)
• Detroit: LW Taylor Hall (92), D Jonathan Ericsson (79)
• Edmonton: D Cody Ceci (83)
• Florida: D Ron Hainsey (80)
• Las Vegas: G Chad Johnson (82)
• Los Angeles: D Justin Faulk (87), G Anders Nilsson (82), RW Mikkel Boedker (81)
• Minnesota: G Aaron Dell (82)
• Montreal: G Malcolm Subban (81), G Carter Hutton (81)
• Nashville: C Tomas Plekanec (79)
• New Jersey: RW Craig Smith (82), G Kari Lehtonen (80), LW John Quenneville (75)
• New York Rangers: LW Boone Jenner (80), RW Tomas Jurco (79), LW Antoine Roussel (79)
• Ottawa: D Michael Stone (77), D Derek Forbort (76)
• Philadelphia: D Alex Petrovic (81), RW Brett Connolly (80), RW J.T. Brown (77)
• Pittsburgh: G Cam Ward (81), D Matt Hunwick (79)
• St. Louis: D Marco Scandella (81), C Jason Spezza (81), C Tyler Bozak (81)
• San Jose: G Jimmy Howard (84), G Keith Kinkaid (81), LW Michael Grabner (81), G Calvin Pickard (79)
• Seattle: C Sam Gagner (86), G Jacob Markstrom (82), C Jean-Gabriel Pageau (80), D Chris Bigras (80)
• Toronto: D Tyson Barrie (85), G Thomas Greiss (82), D Jon Merrill (81), C Carl Soderberg (81), C Phillip Danault (80)
• Vancouver: D Roman Josi (91), G Craig Anderson (82), RW Jesper Fast (81), D Zach Bogosian (80)
• Winnipeg: C Kyle Brodziak (79), RW Jamie McGinn (74)

NO MAJOR SIGNINGS: NY Islanders, Tampa Bay, Washington

[PFellah]

Re: Seattle Dragons: A Draftless* 32nd Team Expansion

Pre-Season 2020

POSTCARDS FROM TRAINING CAMP

You look at Stretch and the place he occupies in this team's history -- first draft pick ever, won the Calder, he's a cornerstone of this franchise. Of course coming in the new guy, I'm going to be the #2 guy. But I mean, a little friendly competition doesn't hurt. If both our lines are lighting the lamp, trying to outdo each other, that only makes the team better.

He's (Georg Walser) got a really advanced game for his age, he came in here day one like he was already an established veteran, not intimidated at all. Not every high pick makes the team out of camp, but he's a kid who looks like he deserves to be here.

Yeah, I went back to 72. It felt like a good way to close the book on last season. Rough year for me, rough year for the team. And Bob's not here, so it's available again.

I know the organization has big hopes for Carter, and to be honest, he looks like he's gonna be good. But you can't look over your shoulder in this business. You just gotta go out and play your game and not worry about what the other guy does or what the organization's long-term plans look like.

To even get the chance this year is more than I could've hoped for. And I mean, sure, you want to prove you belong and make them keep you around, but even if it's just a couple games before going back to juniors, it'll be tremendous experience and it'll only make my game that much better.

GAME RESULTS


9/25 at Anaheim -- 6-3 W
The Ducks jump out to an early 2-0 lead against Nik Rubin, but the Dragons answer and then some to take a 3-2 lead to the dressing room after one. When Anaheim starts the second period with a goal to close the gap, Andreas Athanasiou and Vladislav Kamenev restore the cushion, and then Kamenev scores his second of the game to provide insurance.

9/27 vs Edmonton -- 6-5 W
A wild 2nd period is where most of the goals scored, but it’s rookie Georg Walser coming up with the game-winner with 8:28 left in the third. Jakub Skarek gets the win in net.

9/29 at Los Angeles -- 3-1 L
No magic this time; Los Angeles starts the game with a 2-0 first, and then adds insurance in the second. J.G. Pageau gets the lone Seattle goal early in the third, but it’s not enough to change the outcome.

10/1 vs Las Vegas -- 4-1 L
Unfortunately, there’s the Seattle we remember from last season. Vegas gets two goals in the third to put a close game away. On the bright side, Seattle outshoots the Knights, 38-25.
I decide to check the stats to see how the young guys look, and damn… Georg Walser is showing 80 OVR before he’s ever played a real game. Guess I’m finding room for him in the starting lineup.
10/3 vs Calgary -- 3-2 L (OT)
Calgary gets the win in overtime, but Seattle gets a hopeful sneak preview of good things to come as Svechnikov and Walser both score.

10/5 at San Jose -- 4-2 L
Seattle gets the first two goals (Svech and Walser again!) but San Jose eventually takes the lead back against Nik Rubin.

10/7 vs Vancouver -- 7-4 L
Damn. I decide to put Carter Hart in to see how he does, and Vancouver smacks him around for seven goals. I think that’s the universe telling me to start him in the minors.

FINAL RECORD: 2-5-0

ROSTER CLEANUP


Here's my dilemma: since no one major would take my money in free agency, I'm about $10M under the salary floor and I need to add some salary. I don't want the CPU randomly distributing that around the roster. I know you can go out and just sign some scrub at $12M a year, but that’s one of those things that breaks immersion, so I’d rather not.

Ideas: LW Loui Eriksson of Vancouver should be dirt cheap and would add $6M right off the bat, but he’s got two years on his deal. Anaheim has RW Jakob Silfverberg on the market at $4.4M; he’d be a Top 6 upgrade, but he does have four years left on his contract. On the blue line, Jay Bouwmeester would be a moderate upgrade on the 2nd or 3rd pair around $4M, and only has one year left on his deal. There’s other choices out there, but that’s a first glance.

I start with Silfverberg. The Ducks are in rebuild mode, looking for prospects, and the bars are about even on my Elite enforcer, Erik Marsh. I decide to go ahead and offer that straight up, and the Ducks accept. Yeah, he's an Elite, but I'm not sure I see much of a role for him.

TRADE: Seattle trades LW Erik Marsh to Anaheim for RW Jakob Silfverberg.


Eriksson proves to be more trouble than he’s worth, so I end up looking elsewhere. Eventually, the needle settles on Pavel Buchnevich – the Rangers are rebuilding, he’d soak up about $4M dollars, he’s still fairly young (25), and his sniper style would fit nicely on the third line with Athanasiou (playmaker) and Tuch (power forward). After playing around with the bars a bit, I close the deal for the 1st-rounder I got from Philly in the Bobrovsky trade. Unless Philly collapses, it'll be lower in the round, and I still have my own 1st round pick to work with.

TRADE: Seattle trades a 2021 1st-round pick to the NY Rangers for LW Pavel Buchnevich.

At this point, I’m still about $4M below the salary floor. The one place I’d like to upgrade is defense – a left shot would be preferable, but any upgrade would work. I feel like I could probably afford to part with C Valentin Nussbaumer if something good comes back in return – Georg Walser already shot past him, and Ty Dellandrea is a little more polished at the same age (71 OVR vs 65). Even though he’s a right shot, Adam Larsson of Edmonton emerges as a possible target – Edmonton actively wants to move him because they’re rebuilding and he’s an expiring contract ($4.17M). Nussbaumer straight-up doesn’t get it done; let’s throw in Nathan Beaulieu, and that’s a deal. The only “problem” is that diminishes the value of the move as a salary add, so I’m still short of the floor by a few million.

TRADE: Seattle trades C Valentin Nussbaumer and D Nathan Beaulieu to Edmonton for D Adam Larsson.

OK, so now I need to pick up about $2-3M, and I find a handy candidate in Darren Helm. $3.8M, expiring contract, would make a good utility forward (stealthily good on faceoffs – 85 -- so he can even play center). Detroit traded away a lot of their early draft picks but have three picks in the 6th round, so I offer the 3rd I got from Arizona for Helm and Carolina’s 6th, and I’m finally over the salary floor!

TRADE: Seattle trades a 2021 3rd-round pick (from ARI) to Detroit for LW Darren Helm and a 2021 6th-round pick (from CAR).


So basically, Marsh (Elite, but an Enforcer, so low ceiling), Nussbaumer (Top 6 potential), a 1st and a 3rd (OK, and Nathan Beaulieu) netted me Silfverberg, Larsson, Buchnevich, and Helm. I think I can live with that. Losing the first-rounder annoys me a little, but I still have my own first, and Buchnevich could end up being worth it, especially if he makes that third line click.

PROSPECT REPORT


Here’s where things get a little interesting. I have five rookies that could legitimately make the roster.

Georg Walser, this year's first-rounder, is a lock. He shot all the way to 80 OVR, which already makes him my second-best center. He’s starting the year in Seattle. Based on styles, I think he’ll center for Gourde and Silfverberg. If he progresses, he might eventually hit the top line with Svech and Perron.

I'm going to give defenseman Erik Brannstrom a shot as well because he's only 2 points of overall behind Jamie Oleksiak (78 vs 76), and he's also a left shot, which I don't have a lot of. So I'll start him on the third pair with Tony DeAngelo, and Oleksiak will be my depth defenseman.

The three interesting decisions are G Carter Hart, LW Peyton Krebs, and RW Bryson Wellwood (my other first-rounder this year).

Hart is only 76 overall, so I feel like letting him play at Tacoma is the better option, at least until I know how the team looks overall. If last year's woes continue and we get shelled early, it could severely set him back, and sitting around as the backup isn't really helpful either. That said, if he progresses well, he could be up later in the year.

Krebs (74 OVR) and Wellwood (76 OVR) are going to get the 9-game rookie look on the 4th line to start the year and then get sent down if they're not working out. They're both young enough that if they have to go back to juniors, no harm done. For the moment they displace Vladislav Kamenev and Kasperi Kapanen.

LINES/OPENING DAY ROSTER

FORWARD LINES

• 57 David Perron - 26 Paul Stastny - 16 Andrei Svechnikov
• 37 Yanni Gourde - 76 Georg Walser - 33 Jakob Silfverberg
• 98 Pavel Buchnevich - 72 Andreas Athanasiou - 89 Alex Tuch
• 19 Peyton Krebs - 52 Jack Roslovic - 11 Bryson Wellwood
• 43 Darren Helm, 91 Vladislav Kamenev as depth forwards

As I said, Walser is pretty definite; Krebs and Wellwood are on a short leash for now.

DEFENSE PAIRS

• 7 Adam Larsson - 56 Tyler Myers
• 25 Mike Green - 62 Andrej Sustr
• 34 Erik Brannstrom - 77 Tony DeAngelo
• 6 Jamie Oleksiak as depth defenseman

GOALTENDERS

• 27 Jacob Markstrom
• 31 Michal Neuvirth

CAPTAINS: David Perron (C), Mike Green (A), Andrei Svechnikov (A). Svech picked up Riley Nash's A when he got traded to Winnipeg; since he's been the best player on my team and just signed an extension, he can keep it.

[PFellah]

Re: Seattle Dragons: A Draftless* 32nd Team Expansion

October 2020: The Kids Are Alright


Four rookies would start the year in the Seattle lineup -- clockwise from left: Georg Walser, Erik Brannstrom, Bryson Wellwood, and Peyton Krebs. Wellwood and Krebs would be sent back to juniors, but Walser and Brannstrom appear to be here to stay.

10/13 at Dallas (1-0-0) – 5-3 L
For 15 minutes, it looked like more of the same as the Dragons gave up three early goals to the Dallas Stars. But then, Paul Stastny and Tyler Myers scored two minutes apart late in the period to make the game competitive at the first break. Jamie Benn widened the lead to 4-2 in the second, but then Andrei Svechnikov narrowed the lead back to a single goal with 2:33 remaining. But the Dragons never got the equalizer, and Dallas buried an empty-netter to wrap things up.
GOALS: SEA – Stastny 1, Myers 1, Svechnikov 1. DAL – Janmark 2, Faksa 2, Gurianov 2, Benn 1, Faksa 3.

Rough game on the injury front, as Athanasiou, Green, and DeAngelo are ALL out with injuries. Since I have a three-day break after Ottawa, I’m going to try to make it through one game with a forward (Kamenev) playing defense. That’ll be fun.

10/15 vs Ottawa (1-1-0) – 4-0 W
The Dragons do MUCH better in their home opener. Weak effort by Ottawa, as the Sens only put 20 shots on net. Seattle gets three in the first period (including Georg Walser’s first NHL goal), and add insurance from Vladislav Kamenev in the second. Jacob Markstrom gets credit for the fairly easy shutout.
GOALS: SEA – Perron 1, Gourde 1, Walser 1, Kamenev 1. OTT – NONE.

Green and Athanasiou are both day-to-day (Green is actually playable), but Tony DeAngelo is out for a month.

10/18 vs St. Louis (1-2-0) – 3-2 L
A pretty solid effort slips away late as Robby Fabbri beats Markstrom with 3:02 to play in regulation. Sustr and Kamenev with the Seattle goals.
GOALS: SEA – Sustr 1, Kamenev 2. STL – Steen 1, Schmaltz 1, Fabbri 1.

10/20 at Las Vegas (3-1-0) – 3-2 W (OT)
Seattle is cursing its luck when Tomas Tatar forces overtime with 43 seconds, but Jack Roslovic beats Marc-Andre Fleury in 4-on-4 extra time to pull out two points. Rookie Bryson Wellwood scores his first NHL goal – is it enough to keep him in the league?
GOALS: SEA – Svechnikov 2, Wellwood 1, Roslovic 1. VGK – Wheeler 2, Tatar 3.

I don't know if it rises to the level of a "rivalry", but we really wanted these two points. It's our first game against a division opponent, so we wanted to make a statement that we're back and we're a team to be reckoned with again, and I think we did that.

And now Oleksiak is injured, testing our defense depth again. This time, I think we’ll give Chris Folin the call. Yes, he’d have to go through waivers on the way back down, but I’m not even sure I care.

10/22 vs Buffalo (2-1-1) – 7-4 W
It’s a reunion with Sergei Bobrovsky, who signed with Buffalo. (Sorry, Philly.) It’s even through two periods, but the Dragons go to town in the third and cruise to victory. Minor-league callup Chris Folin even gets in on the action, scoring the Chili Goal.
GOALS: SEA – Buchnevich 1, Athanasiou 1, Svechnikov 2, Perron 2, Buchnevich 2, Brannstrom 1, Folin 1. BUF – Eichel 2, O’Reilly 2, Clifford 1, Randell 1.

10/23 vs Winnipeg (4-1-0) – 3-1 W
After a scoreless first, Seattle breaks on top on goals by Perron and Silfverberg, and they hold on to win while outshooting the Jets 38-31.
GOALS: SEA – Perron 3, Silfverberg 1, Kamenev 3. WPG – Scheifele 2.

I think that was one of the big frustrations last year, that we couldn't get any momentum. We'd win a game, but go out the next night and fall apart again. So to put a few wins together back-to-back is a good feeling.

10/26 vs Anaheim (3-3-0) – 5-4 L (SO)
After a wide open 3-2 first period, things settle down a little the rest of the way. Eeli Tolvanen scores halfway home in the third to force extra time, and Rickard Rakell wins it in the shootout.
GOALS: SEA – Svechnikov 4, Green 1, Svechnikov 5, Buchnevich 3. ANA – Ritchie 2, Jones 1, Perry 4, Tolvanen 3, Rakell SOW.

10/29 vs Carolina (1-5-1) – 4-3 W
Despite stumbling out of the gate overall, the Hurricanes give the Dragons a bit of trouble, jumping out to an early lead, and re-taking the lead after the Dragons tie early in the second. But the game eventually goes to overtime and Jack Roslovic scores his second overtime winner of the season.
GOALS: SEA – Svechnikov 6, Stastny 2, Brannstrom 2, Roslovic 2. CAR – Aho 2, Staal 5, Smith 1.

I don't think I'm doing anything special that makes me more effective in overtime. Maybe some of us guys who are playing fewer minutes have fresher legs, but there's nothing we're doing as a team to put me in those situations. Just battle hard every shift and good things happen.

10/31 vs Pittsburgh (4-2-2) – 3-2 W
The Pens come to town on Halloween, but for two periods, it’s all Seattle. Mike Green and Pavel Buchnevich stake the home team to a 2-0 lead after 40 minutes. Early in the 3rd, Phil Kessel deflects a shot from the point past Markstrom, but Bryson Wellwood burns Matt Murray with a laser-beam slapshot from the point to restore the lead to two. Sidney Crosby makes it close again in the final minute with the goalie pulled, but the Pens can’t quite get the equalizer, and Seattle escapes with the win.
GOALS: SEA – Green 2, Buchnevich 4, Wellwood 2. PIT – Kessel 1, Crosby 4.

Playing against Sidney Crosby, scoring a goal at the highest level... it's been such an amazing experience. It's gonna be tough to go back to juniors, but I'll just use it as motivation to work harder so that next year, I can come back to stay.

After the game, Peyton Krebs and Bryson Wellwood pack their bags and head back to juniors. Both did reasonably well (0 goals, 4 assists for Krebs; 2 goals, 1 assist for Wellwood) but they didn't dominate to such a degree I HAVE to find room for them, so it feels like neither would be hurt by another year of seasoning. Kasperi Kapanen and Sam Gagner will get the call from the minors to take their roster spots. Kamenev and Kapanen will be on the 4th line with Roslovic; Gagner will join Helm as a depth forward.

MONTHLY SUMMARY

STANDINGS REPORT

• MONTH: 6-2-1, 13 points.
• YEAR-TO-DATE: (same)
• DIVISION: 3rd place behind Calgary at 15 points and San Jose at 14.
• CONFERENCE: Same. Top 4 teams are ahead of anyone (i.e. Minnesota) in the Central.
  

TEAM LEADERS

• POINTS: Svechnikov 12, Stastny 9, Buchnevich 7, Myers 6, Perron 5, Brannstrom 5, Roslovic 5, Walser 5, Larsson 5
• GOALS: Svechnikov 6, Buchnevich 4, Perron 3, Kamenev 3, Roslovic 2, Stastny 2, Green 2, Wellwood 2, Brannstrom 2
• ASSISTS: Stastny 7, Svechnikov 6, Myers 5, Larsson 5, Tuch 4, Walser 5, Krebs 4
• PLUS-MINUS: Roslovic 6, Sustr 6, Buchnevich 5, Myers 4, Green 4, Oleksiak 4

ON THE FARM
Tacoma is off to another great start at 8-1-1. So far, it’s all about the goaltending – Carter Hart has a 1.40 GAA and a .942 save percentage in 7 games; Elvis Merzlikins’ GAA is an even 1.00 in three games of relief. There’s no real standout on offense, but it’s spread out pretty well. Stefan Noesen leads the team with 9 points, but I don’t think anyone’s going to appear on the leaderboards.

[PFellah]

Re: Seattle Dragons: A Draftless* 32nd Team Expansion

October 2019: Around The League


STANDINGS


Nothing much to discuss, except how little spread there is. Usually you have at least a couple teams that get out to a hot (or cold) start, but not this year.

LEAGUE LEADERS


Svech is actually showing up on the leaderboards. Maybe Markstrom will as well, once the backup goalies clear out a little.

CALDER WATCH


Picks 1 (Petry), 4 (Walser), and 5 (Ortio) from this year's draft all on the leaderboard, but it's pretty early yet. We'll have to see if Par Johansson (EDM) and Alex LaFreniere (MTL) eventually join the leaderboard. Two Dragons make the initial cut, and technically Krebs' 0-4-4 would've been on par with Petry and Ortio if he'd stuck around.