dirtydangles

I've been saying this all year. We could even trade up with our two first rounders to get a sure-fire 1C guy in the top of the round maybe. I'd rather have quality over quantity at this point with our young lineup and huge prospect pool. Only glaring need is a 1C prospect.

Welcome to LGW where all the speculation is made up and the posts don't matter!

I think bottom line gritty players are a little overrated for this team. Helm, Glendening, Miller, Abby, Callahan are all gritty enough. We need gritty top 6 forwards to absorb some of the punishment that Z and Dats take. A guy like Evander Kane or Wayne Simmonds would go a long way in terms of taking the load off of Z and Dats. Also you have to consider that Nyquist and Tatar are small guys that will take punishment too. I'd be okay with an overpayment for Kane or Simmonds because it will pay off big time for our team in the long run because we don't have any top 6 gritty players. Corey Perry is a pretty perfect example of what this team needs but he is nowhere near available.

I think we would have to add to E to get Bogo due to age difference. Ericsson + 1st or Tatar could maybe get Bogo.

He looks much more mature than an 18 year old. I think his physical maturity is ahead of others in the draft but in all likelihood others could develop into similar players with a bit of time.

Probably not in the same conversation including the 1st overall as part of a package. I could see them taking him back in some small deal with no connection to the 1st overall pick.

Well he isn't going to be playing until 2019-2020 when his contract expires anyway and by then we will have Mantha, Jurco, Pulks all as RW on the roster so I see no need to keep him if we can buy him out for nothing this year or better trade him. And that is without any UFA acquisitions. I think you have to hedge your bets and we are better long term without him on the roster.

Was it just me or did Ekblad have a weak showing at the juniors this winter? I didn't really see him dominate or eat minutes the way I expected. But that could be said for all of team Canada.

Never mind. There is no overlap: "The buyout window slams shut for good at 5 p.m. ET on June 30. Bought-out players become unrestricted free agents and can sign with a new club on July 1." http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/countdown-to-nhl-buyout-season-what-we-know/

Maybe I should look this up before I start mass confusion.

Ah I forgot about that. Well at least it overlaps with Free agency. So if we can make a run at a moulson or vanek then holland should at least CONSIDER using the buyout on franzen for long term purposes and his gradual decline.

At which point we would have to move E and probably trade one of them. I really like all three of these kids. Backman is very underrated because of his low exposure playing in Sweden and has produced 4 points in 4 playoff games so far. Ouellet is obviously talented and smart all around. Sproul just looks like he is a raw Shea Weber in the making once his body fills out. I don't want to lose any of these guys. I like Marchenko too and he should get the first look next year probably - I just don't really have any idea what he will project as in the NHL. Injuries are also a concern for him going forward and he will need to avoid them to stay in the lineup and keep other kids from winning his spot.

In a perfect world he would replace Franzen in the lineup. Holland doesn't have the stones to do something like that though.

I wish Holland kept his mouth shut about buying out Tootoo. We really should have waited to see what Mantha can do in camp and then if he can make the jump just buyout or trade Franzen. If we can replace his size with Mantha we are good going forward in the long term with a younger, cheaper, and harder working player.

I just want to point out that Ouellet isn't like most Dmen. Babs said it himself that Ouellet always makes the right play. He isn't going to have very many growing pains or rookie mistakes from everything we have seen so far. He is very poised out there and actually played physical against Boston too in front of the net and along the boards (actually afraid he would be penalized). Its not the end of the world to pair him with someone who isn't a vet dman. I don't think pairing him with Marchenko or Dekeyser would really make a difference.

If Hanzel is on the market I would be all over him. But PHX is not deep at C. Dwight King may be a cap casualty in LA that would be worth looking into.

When Sproul gets traded and becomes a Weber or if Ouellet is traded and becomes a Keith we will all be kicking ourselves (obviously not guaranteed to happen but could). We are NOT a Niskanen away from being a cup contender - I don't want to lose them for nothing due to lack of roster space. Holland can't afford to waste any of our current assets because the only thing we have of value in excess is our prospects. If we mismanage them and end up losing on a few trades then in 3 years when Z and Dats are gone/regressed we will be a bottom feeder. If we are trading our kids in GR it better be in a package for a sure thing - that way if we end up trading a future star we at least got a top calibre player in return.

My problem with that is that other teams will recognize we need to shed a dman and try to underpay. Big E today is worth more than if we have kids that are out of options and NHL ready and we have to shed someone to keep them. I would be okay preemptively moving Big E+picks,prospects for a D upgrade and knowing that at least 2 of Ouellet, Sproul, Marchenko, Backman, Jensen will make it to the NHL with us already having the likes of Kronwall, Smith, Dekeyser and that Dman we are trading for. For one - they come with way less monetary risk at their low cap hit. For 2 they can be exchanged for other rookies and sampled to see who is more ready. For 3 Niskanen hasn't done enough consistently for me to trust him.

I don't think Krug is needed. We have loads of LD players already and considering he is undersized he would be set up for failure on our team - Boston has loads of big bodies around him so he is less exposed and doesn't get run as much. Krug on our team if we played boston would be destroyed by boston forecheckers.

I'm glad we are holding onto our organizational talent. Its time we stopped feeding other teams with great talent from the coaching staff up to the front office. The main lag that happened for us was that Holland never stepped down when he said he would (when lids retired) and we ended up losing Nill and a bunch of staff to Dallas. We need to hold onto Blashill - babs has been here for so long its almost time and we need an option to replace him when the time comes. Don't want to end up with torts.

Nabokov as wings backup then? He wanted to come a while back

RH C - would be a nice luxury. Not sure if we should use our assets there though considering we need to upgrade D. I'd be down though.

Bogosian's value is dipping in WPG right now. I'd rather pay a bit more for Bogosian rather than Buff. Having said that, I honestly would like to bite the bullet and try to get Weber. We aren't going to have another chance with this core and we are bursting with prospects right now. Weber is 28 and could play at a high level for another 7+ years likely. I agree that handedness is a big deal for dmen - its just easier to take the puck off the boards and break out - also a factor on the pp. I think if we could somehow have a future with Weber, Sproul, Marchenko as our RD we would be in unbelievable shape. I'd easily be willing to part with Ouellet, Tatar, Smith/Ericsson, multiple 1sts for Weber - I'd throw in Andersson/Kindl/Almquist if they wanted any of these guys also. We are still left with loads in the cupboard going forward even without adding UFA acquisitions. Holland can't go wrong with adding a guy of Weber's calibre - he will play like a beast anywhere. I'm worried that adding a guy like Edler or a 2nd pairing guy could end up being a waste of assets with the guys we already have developing into something likely better very soon.

So when our D corps looks like this for the next 5 years: Kronwall - Niskanen Dekeyser - Smith Ericsson - ? ? What will you do with: Ouellet, Sproul, Marchenko, Backman, Jensen? Lose them for nothing? There is only room for 1. We are still lacking a true top pairing shut-down guy.

Barring a trade we have Mantha, Jurco, Pulkkinen as our RWs for top 9 and Zetterberg, Nyquist, Tatar as our LWs for top 9. Franzen's contract goes for quite a while longer. If we buy him out this year or in a few he WILL be bought out at some point it seems. Even without adding a Moulson/Vanek I think we can make a trade for a top 4 young defender. Perhaps: Tatar, Ericsson, 3rd for Bogosian (WPG has a glut of RD and Bogo had an off season) Tatar, Ericsson, Ouellet, 1st for Subban (obvious clashing with coaches in MTL) Some megapackage for Weber (NSH might want to cash in on him for some offensive help before he declines - they are also deep at D) (Sprinkle in Almquist/Franzen/Kindl/Lashoff/Andersson/Picks) I think with the glut of assets we have it makes no sense to move a few for borderline top pairing potential - we have to go all in for a sure thing. I want to avoid moving one of our D prospects for an Edler/Ehrhoff then have the kid outplay these players in a couple years for the next decade while Edler/Ehrhoff are on the decline (that is my nightmare). I also don't want to sign Niskanen long term and then only have 1 D spot open for our kids in the next while until Kronwall retires. Nothing against Tatar, but I think we can afford to trade him. I just don't find him to be the type of player that wins you a playoff series. With Nyquist we already have a young undersized winger and I like the size and physicality that Jurco provides over him. Mantha isn't being moved for obvious reasons. Pulkkinen shouldn't be traded yet because his value is low without NHL time. As for Ericsson, I think he is young enough to have value to other teams and with Kronwall, Smith, and Dekeyser we already have our future at LD taken care of even without Ouellet, Backman, Almquist in the conversation. We should avoid trading Sproul, Marchenko right now as they are the only RD we have in the organization going into next year.