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WARNING: NSFW

...but you've still got to wrestle those players away from re-signing with their current team. Will the Blues be ready to move on from Pietrangelo? Would Pietrangelo want to sign here with our current situation? If you trade Green and/or Daley at the deadline this year, you're opening up yourself even more opportunities to snag a good player of Pietrangelo's calibre. The Tyler Myers', Anton Strahlman's (just examples) ...again... getting them to sign here will probably be a challenge which will cost both term and dollars. Something we KNOW Ken Holland is keen on doing. As long as he manages these things correctly and lets players go when they should go and trades them when they should be traded or have value. I'm pretty okay with that too.

FILTHY!

Nah, not yet. The article didn't say he was a bust, just a lot to prove. I'll have a crow wing for me saying he was a Calder candidate last year. I'd say he may win it this year, but that'll be Zadina. I'm still a fan of both him and Hague and hope they both make the NHL. I'd still love to have either of them in our organization. But, I am really pulling for Rasmussen to take off this year.

if a team comers asking about Daley this TDL, I definitely move him. Next TDL, Green. I don't see anybody asking about E, so let him play out his contract and then bid adieu. Either way, NONE of those players can be on this team in October 2020.

Best case scenario, Daley is a decent number 4 at this point in his career. In my opinion he's better suited as a 3rd pairing defenseman. I don't see how you can say that Daley is that much better than Jensen though. They're not that far apart in my opinion. I disagree that you need a veteran on every pair. But even if you do have that philosophy, DeKeyser is a veteran at this point, so we could go with Green - top pair, DeKeyser - 2nd pair, Ericsson (or Jensen) - 3rd pair. You think Daley and his $3.2M and a 6th round pick (Jensen trade) is more valuable than Jensen and his $800K and a 3rd round pick (Daley trade) (hypothetical). I disagree. If we could trade Daley at this year's trade deadline, I'd do it without thinking twice. Like has been mentioned, Green is the better veteran and with him being here for another 2 years (potentially longer), Daley isn't needed. I'd be open to bringing Green back in two years time, but I'm not ready to say sitting here today that that will be the best thing for the team at that point. A lot can happen in that time. It depends on how Green ages in the next two years, how our prospects develop in the next two years, who we draft next year, who else is available via free agency at that time, if any trades are made in that time, etc... I agree that one might be re-signed, but if one is, and I hope it's one at most, I'd hope it would be Green. There's also no saying that Green would be traded and Daley wouldn't. We will need a lot of these kids to pan out, but I don't think it's much of a stretch to say that at least four of Hronek, Cholowski, McIsaac, Barton, Regula, Lindstrom, Kotkansalo, Sulak, Saarijarvi, Hicketts could develop into regular NHL defensemen. The problem is, none project to be high end top pair defenseman. We will need a little luck for any of them to exceed expectations, but I don't think that's out of the realm of possibility either. I'm not too concerned. We still have a couple drafts to nab a potential top pair (number one) defenseman, trades / free agency to improve the defense.

Berggren was ranked at the bottom of the 1st round in some rankings as well. 4 first rounders really. Spoiler Alert: Rass at 46, Zadina at 6.

This was your quote in the other thread when you were raving about Daley: "Because he is arguably the best overall D on the team, on a team with crappy D. Assuming there are 1 maybe 2 rookies on the blue line this season, why put them in a worse situation? Plus Daley is a solid 2 way dman on a good contract with a Stanley Cup pedigree. Exactly the kind of guy I want playing with the kids." To me this insinuates that you must think highly of him. He happened to win Stanley cup with Sidney Crosby. Maybe it made sense to have him when he was first signed and there was still some hope of being a playoff team again; not to mention Kronwall was projected to LTIR around the time he was signed. But we're not a playoff team and we're not even close. It no longer makes sense to keep him around esp with Green resigned and Kronwall still outproducing him. Daley should be traded and so should either one of Ericsson or Dekeyser. For the record if Green wasn't resigned I would have no prob with Daley sitting on the roster. Just having 4 ******* defensive veterans on the roster makes absolutely no sense right now. And you're saying Daley and Nielsen are a benefit. What benefit does Daley bring that Kronwall and Green don't already do? I'd honestly like specific examples because I gave you specific examples. (Kronwall's open ice hitting, his ability to persevere and still outproduce some defenseman, he's an assistant captain etc etc). FYI Kronwall ended up outproducing Daley. So did Green. Green signing makes Daley obsolete. Maybe it wouldn't have if we were a contender and a veteran's playoff experience can make or break your team under moments of pressure. But having 5 veterans on defense (Green, Kronwall, Ericsson, Daley, Dekeyser) does absolutely no good for young players actually getting on ice for the NHL and experiencing a simple NHL season game.. Daley is best served playing for a contending team. I presume he will most likely get sent off during the trade deadline and may have another shot at the cup. Green was almost sent off if it wasn't for his injury. And between Rass and Helm; at this point it's a no brainier. If Rass is good enough to play in the NHL, I pick Rass. If this was 2008; I pick Helm. What does Helm being in the deep end in 2018 do anything for us? Win us a Stanley Cup? No. Helm is about as replaceable as any 3rd/4th liner in the league. In fact Helm would be the perfect trade chip. He's a veteran that actually still has some value since he's not super old. Anways; case and point in regards to the Rass/Helm situation is Tyler Bertuzzi. Had Blashill continued to play Abdelkader with Zetterberg would Bertuzzi have evolved into the player he was last year? Likely not. Bertuzzi played on a more important line than Abdelkader did, and similarly I'd give Rass the same opportunity over Helm if it came down to it. I actually think this is what will most likely end up happening at some point. We have seen direct examples of young players being placed in roles over veterans and this not only benefiting them but also the team itself. The only veteran on the list I gave that actually makes a strong case is Nielsen. He's a good two way player and he can play a top 6 role which is inherently more valuable than a bottom 6 player. Kronwall is a player you keep. Zetterberg if he was playing. Abdelkader over Helm. 100% Keep the most valuable veterans around, rid the ones that don't add much more. At some point you're just over saturating the team with vets.

let us celebrate the latest troll-mance, you guys!