Can you criticize winning in the NHL world? In the world’s toughest hockey league, competition is of course at the center of everything and winning matches against anyone is behind work and pain, so can it be wrong? Unbelievable, yes, but such views have also been expressed during the last few weeks when speaking Juuse Saros from represented Nashville.
A couple of weeks ago, Nashville was already falling off the playoff slide, when it suddenly jumped back on board. The winning streak reached no less than eight matches in a couple of weeks. The pipe broke early Wednesday morning, of course only after overtime.
The strong bet has put the team over the playoff line and a very likely participant in the spring big dance.
Nashville is a strong midfield team. That is, a group that is not counted among the championship favorites, but which is still far from the bottom of the league and therefore from the best reserve rotations. Advancement to the playoffs means entry into the booking opportunity lottery, where the 16 best booking shifts for the summer are awarded.
Nashville is high quality, but not necessarily high quality and deep enough. In addition, the age structure of the team is more over thirty than under. This core group is unlikely to win the Stanley Cup, but it did pay off in the regular season.
Now the question is: why not trade Saros and the entire elite of the aging core and try to find tomorrow’s cornerstones through reservations? In the NHL, you can’t get championship-level cornerbacks from anywhere other than the reserve, and even then usually only from the top spots.
‘s hockey expert Ismo Lehkonen not buying the idea though.
– I’m a guy from the old league and I think that you only learn to lose by losing. In recent years, we have harsh examples from Buffalo, Ottawa, Arizona, of how a losing culture is built. What kind of roller coaster do they use to get up there? Rebuilding is going on there all the time, says Lehkonen.
In the name of honesty, there are other examples. Pittsburgh and Chicago started in the early 2000s with almost absolute zero points and ended up winning a total of six Stanley Cups. Tampa and Colorado have also built a championship team in the 2000s through their own top bookings.
– Maybe in Nashville they think that with this orchestra they will make it to the playoffs every year and maybe the big one will come from there some year. However, we have St. Louis’s surprise championship from the summer of 2019 in the back of our minds, Lehkonen reminds.
The feeling of an interim state strengthens the contract situations of key players. by Philip Forsber the contract runs until the summer of 2030, Roman Josin to summer 2028 and Ryan O’Reilly too in another three years.
– I thought it was a really good thing to bring O’Reilly there as an example player. GM Barry Trotz building a rough and hard-working identity there for a team that leaves everything on the ice every night. Can it be better than that? Everyone who comes to the club knows that we are serious there, says Lehkonen.
A healthy culture
Nashville’s spectacular turnaround after a difficult period a couple of weeks ago is the latest example of a healthy culture. The team of young players of the club is relatively high-quality, but the sharpest top skills, thinking about tomorrow, seem to be missing. Nashville is a high-quality and credible team by all measures, but not the stuff of champions.
– It won’t win the championship. This is the second time in a row that it was difficult for them to actually go to the playoffs, Lehkonen admits.
And the resale of players is not even helped by the clauses in the contracts. For example, Forsberg and Jos have clauses preventing any kind of movement in their contracts until the summer of 2028.
Saros and a few others, on the other hand, would be good merchandise right now, if selling such big players is easier in the summer, when everyone is in the game, not just the teams aiming for playoff success.
Right now, Juuse Saros’ sales value is increased by the remaining time in the contract and the cheap price (5 million/year). A one-and-a-half-year contract would fetch a higher price in the middle of the season than a one-year contract in the summer. Trading Saros is also supported by the fact that one of the hottest goalkeeper talents in the universe is marinating in the farm club, Yaroslav Askarov.
Filip Forsberg, 29 – 2030
Roman Josi, 33 – 2028
Ryan O’Reilly, 33 – 2027
Ryan McDonagh, 34 – 2026
Luke Schenn, 34 – 2026
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Juuse Saros, 28 – 2025
On the other side of the coin is the way the club brought Saros to the top in his time with really long-term training. Saros literally had to play Pekka Rinne out of Nashville before getting the starting goalie nats. If Saros were to sign a long extension contract with the country village, in the future the jerseys of two Finnish goalkeepers might hang on the roof of the hall.
– How would you even get Forsberg’s and Jos’s big contracts to fit into the salary cap of a playoff team, Lehkonen ponders.
The answer is that by keeping part of the contract. Nashville can use this option one more time before the summer of 2025. It’s still fair to say that moving players of this caliber, especially in the middle of the season, is not a simple pattern.
– And there’s also the fact that when you suddenly trade away players of that level, the other players feel quite like what the hell in the booth, says Lehkonen.
Players don’t lose in the hope of reserve turns
It is certain that the management and coaching of the club, which has played nine matches without a regular time loss, are very satisfied with the recent results, and quite deservedly so. It’s also good to remember that players in the NHL don’t lose on purpose in the hope of reserve shifts. It’s always about jobs. Every new young person who comes in takes a job away from one of the veterans.
Ultimately, however, the club management decides with its actions, in which direction it wants to take the club and what values to cherish, and the winning healthy culture mentioned by Lehkonen will never go out of style in this discussion. What is equally certain is that hanging around in the in-between space will not take anyone to the promised land. There are good results, but never great results – and the same goes for booking shifts.
– We are constantly discussing what that team should be like. When should be like Colorado and when should be like Vegas. You never know these trends, Lehkonen spins.
The NHL transfer window closes on Friday.