Player Discussion Victor Olofsson (2014, 181st) - Part II (Heading to UFA, Playing at the WCs)

[MarkusKetterer]

I would give him the Zack Hyman contract (7 x 5.5M) or 6 x 6 without hesitation. Because of his speed and versatility, he will always be a useful player and bring huge character, leadership & experience. I suspect he can sustain his level of play for 4-5 seasons, and have more of a gradual decline than Hornqvist because his body doesn't take the beating Horny does. Horny fell of a cliff because he was never a great skater and he played a much more physically demanding game.

And we have to keep in mind, in 5 years from now the cap will be at ~ 100M and go up from there. So his last 3-4 years could be the equivalent of a 4.5 to 5M player. I would roll the dice on him if we're looking to add a UFA. The value he would bring to our younger players would VERY signficant.



Spoken like a perfect example of someone who doesn't watch him play.

VO and Rust are not in the same ballpark. The difference between the 2 is FAR FAR greater than the delta between their dollar value will be on an AAV basis.

The Hornqvist contract was 5 x $5.85M. So I’d be fine with that. Or like I said the Okposo one. I wouldn’t wanna go 7 years, as I really would prefer the ability to be able to re-assess on him getting extra years.

 

[Matt Ress]

Also if we are looking at him, is his frame able to withstand NHL conditions and thinking that a full year of 100% health is possible? Not for nothing, but he's not the most robust player in terms of mass. How prudent would it be to assume that he's going to complete seasons without physical breakdowns?

Good reason why he won't be awarded too much. I think his next contract(s) won't be crazy because he'll never really put together a full year with 30+35. That and his other elements are average or below. I don't dislike the player but if we can upgrade the position (we can) that's obviously the preferred path.

 

[elchud]

I think we can resign VO on a bargain deal because or his injury history.

Like the bang-for-buck potential with his contract.

 

[Bendium]

Sign VO for anything 4-6 years at 4.25 - 4.75 AAV depending on term. VO gets alittle better and more well rounded every year. The contract will age just fine and be very tradeable. If the kids push him out of the top six and you don't want to pay him on the third line he should be easily packaged to bring in good assets. He is a legit, productive NHL middle six player. Do not let him walk next year. Do not sign him for to much money or term. BUT......... give him the solid contract he has earned, and show the other players you will pay people that earn it.

 

[jmelm]

The Hornqvist contract was 5 x $5.85M. So I’d be fine with that. Or like I said the Okposo one. I wouldn’t wanna go 7 years, as I really would prefer the ability to be able to re-assess on him getting extra years.

Okposo was 7 years x 6M, right?

I’d go 6 years x 6 with Rust.

 

[MarkusKetterer]

Okposo was 7 years x 6M, right?

I’d go 6 years x 6 with Rust.

Okposo was 6 x 6

 

[jmelm]

I think we can resign VO on a bargain deal because or his injury history.

Like the bang-for-buck potential with his contract.

VO has only had a short career and only has one real chance left to bank serious coin.

So that’s either signing a long term deal now (which I don’t think we want to do), or taking his 1 year arb award and going to UFA next year and the highest bidder.

Okposo was 6 x 6

7 x 6

Kyle Okposo Contract, Cap Hit, Salary and Stats - CapFriendly - NHL Salary Caps

Kyle Okposo contract, salary, cap hit, salary cap, aav, career earnings, lifetime earnings, aav, advanced stats, transaction history, trade history, and rfa or ufa free agent status

www.capfriendly.com

 

[MarkusKetterer]

VO has only had a short career and only has one real chance left to bank serious coin.

So that’s either signing a long term deal now (which I don’t think we want to do), or taking his 1 year arb award and going to UFA next year and the highest bidder.



7 x 6

Kyle Okposo Contract, Cap Hit, Salary and Stats - CapFriendly - NHL Salary Caps

Kyle Okposo contract, salary, cap hit, salary cap, aav, career earnings, lifetime earnings, aav, advanced stats, transaction history, trade history, and rfa or ufa free agent status

www.capfriendly.com

I guess I’m mixing him up with Loui Eriksson. Or was it Andrew Ladd?

 

[jmelm]

I guess I’m mixing him up with Loui Eriksson. Or was it Andrew Ladd?

LOL, I don’t know, except that I think it’s safe to say it’s better to forget about both of those 2 guys!

 

[MarkusKetterer]

LOL, I don’t know, except that I think it’s safe to say it’s better to forget about both of those 2 guys!

I know they all apparently signed around the same. Apparently the Sabres targeted the better one though, even though I hated it at the time

 

[jmelm]

I know they all apparently signed around the same. Apparently the Sabres targeted the better one though, even though I hated it at the time

Well I think we’ve learned from past mistakes. Either that or at least we have new management that hopefully won’t repeat then

 

[Djp]

I would give him the Zack Hyman contract (7 x 5.5M) or 6 x 6 without hesitation. Because of his speed and versatility, he will always be a useful player and bring huge character, leadership & experience. I suspect he can sustain his level of play for 4-5 seasons, and have more of a gradual decline than Hornqvist because his body doesn't take the beating Horny does. Horny fell of a cliff because he was never a great skater and he played a much more physically demanding game.

And we have to keep in mind, in 5 years from now the cap will be at ~ 100M and go up from there. So his last 3-4 years could be the equivalent of a 4.5 to 5M player. I would roll the dice on him if we're looking to add a UFA. The value he would bring to our younger players would VERY signficant.



Spoken like a perfect example of someone who doesn't watch him play.

VO and Rust are not in the same ballpark. The difference between the 2 is FAR FAR greater than the delta between their dollar value will be on an AAV basis.

7 by 5.5M for a 30 yr old player….f*** no.

I’ve seen quite a bit over the years given Pittsburgh plays on national tv enough.


the cap in 5 yrs will be nowhere near $100M. Owners ate loses. They are getting their money back before that happens.

this team has a bunch of wingers coming up. Don’t need something that long.

his increase in pts is tied directly to PP time.

 

[jmelm]

7 by 5.5M for a 30 yr old player….f*** no.

I’ve seen quite a bit over the years given Pittsburgh plays on national tv enough.


the cap in 5 yrs will be nowhere near $100M. Owners ate loses. They are getting their money back before that happens.

this team has a bunch of wingers coming up. Don’t need something that long.

his increase in pts is tied directly to PP time.

You said he's a by-product, which is another way of saying he's a passenger. That he's the one whose performance is inflated because of who he's playing with (or by getting PP time) as opposed to be being a very active, very key component and contributor;. And the reason why the PP was so good, or why Crosby had such a strong season, and Rust being hugely responsible for his own success and not merely a recipient of of others' efforts.

You may have seen Pittsburgh "enough" but you're not watching Rust closely enough or evaluating him properly if you don't attribute his production and contribution to the team, their PP and their PK because of his own capability and quality of his play.

But whatever, don't take my word for it. You'll see based on what he's offered from multiple teams this summer, maybe even the Sabres.

That doesn't mean you have to agree with going 7 years. Maybe you would prefer 5, and that's a fair & reasonable opinion. But if you're just going to brush him off altogether beause you think he's a product of Crosby/Malkin, or that he's not a vastly superior player to Olofsson, then respectfully you haven't watched him enough or are not evaluating him correctly.

 

[Djp]

You said he's a by-product, which is another way of saying he's a passenger. That he's the one whose performance is inflated because of who he's playing with (or by getting PP time) as opposed to be being a very active, very key component and contributor;. And the reason why the PP was so good, or why Crosby had such a strong season, and Rust being hugely responsible for his own success and not merely a recipient of of others' efforts.

You may have seen Pittsburgh "enough" but you're not watching Rust closely enough or evaluating him properly if you don't attribute his production and contribution to the team, their PP and their PK because of his own capability and quality of his play.

But whatever, don't take my word for it. You'll see based on what he's offered from multiple teams this summer, maybe even the Sabres.

That doesn't mean you have to agree with going 7 years. Maybe you would prefer 5, and that's a fair & reasonable opinion. But if you're just going to brush him off altogether beause you think he's a product of Crosby/Malkin, or that he's not a vastly superior player to Olofsson, then respectfully you haven't watched him enough or are not evaluating him correctly.

he is a byproduct of who he plays with. He is a secondary player who you don’t pay more than 3 yrs for. Term longer will be an anchor on your team.

fine someone else take him. He won’t be missed.

 

[jmelm]

he is a byproduct of who he plays with. He is a secondary player who you don’t pay more than 3 yrs for. Term longer will be an anchor on your team.

fine someone else take him. He won’t be missed.

And Olofsson is still a better player than Rust, right?

Just want to make sure I'm understanding you correctly.

 

[NotABadPeriod]

I will never understand why after years of searching for secondary scoring, we finally find it and immediately people want to get rid of it.

 

[jmelm]

I will never understand why after years of searching for secondary scoring, we finally find it and immediately people want to get rid of it.

This isn't about "people" wanting to get rid of it. It's about addressing the specific rumours of Olofsson's name having been out there on the trade market, and the notion that Adams & the team may not want to commit to him long term. We didn't just make this up out of nowhere.

It's also completely fair, in the salary cap world of opportunity cost, that if we could trade VO for assets, and turn around and spend the money we would pay him on someone even better (Rust, Burakovsky, Nick Paul, etc.), it would make us a better hockey team, and be smart asset management.

No one wants to dump VO for nothing, or unless we're replacing him with an even better player.

 

[GOALOFSSON]

I will never understand why after years of searching for secondary scoring, we finally find it and immediately people want to get rid of it.

The trade Olofsson wagon comes in many forms.

 

[jmelm]

The trade Olofsson wagon comes in many forms.

It seems like some people try (or pretend) to intentionally misinterpret or misrepresent the situation being discussed, rather than actually read the posts or understand the context in which the possibility of a trade is being contemplated.

Olofssons name was out there at the deadline, discussed by Seravalli and Friedman, based on some insight/suggestion they had that the team may not want to commit to this player. So those of us who take that information and ponder “what might a VO trade look like” are not mindless zombies on the “trade Olofsson!!” bandwagon.

As I said, we didn’t come up with the possibility of VO being traded out of thin air. His name was out there, and it may well be again. We’re not talking about Owen Power or Rasmus Dahlin — Olofsson is not some untouchable part of our core. It’s not unreasonable that the team may go in a different direction and it’s more productive to discuss what a positive and beneficial VO trade might look like, rather than to put your head in the sand and pretend the almighty VO shall never be traded.

 

[Djp]

It seems like some people try (or pretend) to intentionally misinterpret or misrepresent the situation being discussed, rather than actually read the posts or understand the context in which the possibility of a trade is being contemplated.

Olofssons name was out there at the deadline, discussed by Seravalli and Friedman, based on some insight/suggestion they had that the team may not want to commit to this player. So those of us who take that information and ponder “what might a VO trade look like” are not mindless zombies on the “trade Olofsson!!” bandwagon.

As I said, we didn’t come up with the possibility of VO being traded out of thin air. His name was out there, and it may well be again. We’re not talking about Owen Power or Rasmus Dahlin — Olofsson is not some untouchable part of our core. It’s not unreasonable that the team may go in a different direction and it’s more productive to discuss what a positive and beneficial VO trade might look like, rather than to put your head in the sand and pretend the almighty VO shall never be traded.

You are pushing the narrative that Adams is going to trade him or as tried to trade him because some supposed experts said so. Except teams inquired on his availability. Afams said no ir the ask was too high.

sure Adams could trade him if VO diesnt want an extension. I feel buffalo gives him one.

sure nobody is untouchable….but be realistic here. He’s not getting moved fir spare parts if he does get traded.

 

[Kublakhan]

I see VO changing his game to a 200 foot game more and more every season.. He will be fine..

 

[Deep Blue Metallic]

I will never understand why after years of searching for secondary scoring, we finally find it and immediately people want to get rid of it.

It's "the grass is always greener" mentality.

His 5-on-5 game has improved so much, even while obviously hampered much of the season with injury. I'll be extremely disappointed if Oly's not back. Discarding a home-grown 7th-rounder with his talent, who's taken a long time to develop, just when he's starting to blossom, would be incredibly stupid.

 

[dortt]

It's "the grass is always greener" mentality.

His 5-on-5 game has improved so much, even while obviously hampered much of the season with injury. I'll be extremely disappointed if Oly's not back. Discarding a home-grown 7th-rounder with his talent, who's taken a long time to develop, just when he's starting to blossom, would be incredibly stupid.

Not if there are 6 better top 6 players than he, plus 3 players better suited for the 3rd line

That would be called team building. Instead, many here continue to engage in fantasy team building

 

[Deep Blue Metallic]

Not if there are 6 better top 6 players than he, plus 3 players better suited for the 3rd line

That would be called team building. Instead, many here continue to engage in fantasy team building

You're saying our 4th leading goal scorer, a legit sniper barely shooting a good part of the season because of injury, and 3rd leading point producing forward has no place in the top-9?

We really don't know what we have yet in Cozens, Mitts, Krebs. Quinn, JJP. They've all got question marks or have had minimal NHL playing time.

I'm excited to see what they can achieve next season, but you don't discard a guy who's probably hitting his peak starting next season because he *might* be made redundant by players who haven't yet proven themselves.

That's not "team building". It's "gambling".

 

[jmelm]

Not if there are 6 better top 6 players than he, plus 3 players better suited for the 3rd line

That would be called team building. Instead, many here continue to engage in fantasy team building

Nice to see someone make a sound, reasonable argument for why VO may not be an ideal guy to commit to long term in lieu of other players we could have instead.