Rich

I would guess he would be in the $180k - $220k range

Isn't this what every free agent does?

The reality is that the Jets care about salary more than cap hit.

Situation is going from bad to worse in Tampa and Drouin isn't doing himself any favours.

Chris Matthews comes to mind, but I'd have to go through old rosters to find others.

You make a good point.

Helle only has one more year after this. So he is going to be an RFA the same year Pavelec is done. I don't think there is a lot of savings there, may even be an increase depending on what kind of term they go for. Likely they go bridge with him to give him a few more years to prove consistency, goalies can be such fickle players.

Also have Armia / Lowry / Lipon coming off contract next year (RFA). Don't see huge contracts for Armia and Lowry but there is a few more million in there between the two of them.

Salary wise that is an extra $1.5M for Buff and an extra $1.5M for Ladd (probably more in the first couple of years depending how the salary is structured) Cap hit would be and extra $2.5M for Buff and $1.5M for Ladd. The Jets have the lowest payroll in the league right now with $11.5M open in cap space. This certainly wouldn't preclude them from signing Trouba and Scheifele. And by the time the other prospects are looking for their 2nd / 3rd deals, players like Enstrom and Stafford would be coming off the books. You have Perreault and Burmi coming off their contracts next year. Would really like to see Perreault re-signed. If you sign both of them and you put Sheifele and Trouba on long term deals, you are pretty close to a cap team at that point. Giving Trouba a bridge deal would give you some wiggle room for a couple of years, but you may pay for it later.

They should live by the mess they create. The fans voted him in by the rules they made. The fans have spoken. The all star game is a joke. They just proved it. Who really even enjoys the all star game? Is it the kids? If not why do we even have it.

This is exactly my point. Do you consider us a playoff team this year? If you were putting down money today, would you be betting on the Jets making the playoffs or not? How so? He will still be a 19 year old rookie. With a few small exceptions (these being the generational talents), relying on a 19 year old rookie to be a top 6 contributor basically means you aren't a playoff team. They are too inconsistent while they learn the game at the pro level. Agree with most of this. But the way I see it is you have a choice to make. Sign Ladd or sign some other experienced LW in FA, but if you are pushing Connor into a top 6 role next year, especially if that is the way you are starting the season ... you are heading for a bottom 10 finish again.

I think the expectation for Connor to slip into a top 6 role next year is a bit premature. Yes he is looking great in the NCAA right now, but he is still only going to be 19 years old to start the year next year. And if he does make the team next year he is going to have a lot of ups and downs like Ehlers has this year. You always hear Chevy talking about over ripening prospects with the Moose. When does that actually happen? I'm not necessarily advocating that we should be re-signing Ladd, but if Connor is a top 6 winger on the Jets next year, we aren't a playoff team again. If Ladd isn't re-signed, we really need a stop gap LW from FA for a couple of years.

What's the rush?

face off, eh

Yeah, this functionality is a little weird for how long it stays around after you click / choose something. Same thing if you quote someone by accident, it stays around, even if you navigate away from the page and come back. Basically I think you need to past the quote in to get rid of that box, then delete the quote. To delete the quote you need to hold down CTRL while right clicking on it. Of course that doesn't work on a tablet. I haven't really used the site on a tablet so can't really offer advice on it until I can try it out.

Curious to see what Lipon can do.

Disagree that a 25 year old player has hit his ceiling.

Interesting that Hellebuyck has now played more games this season (18) then both Pavs (15) and Hutch (17). 11-6-0 2 shutouts and .931 save pct.