[Crumpy-Gunt]

I have an idea. We keep Backlund and adress our wing depth by moving 1 or 2 of Lazar, Jankowski, Bennett to the wing.

Gaudreau - Monahan - Jankowski

Tkachuk - Backlund - Frolik

Ferland - Bennett - Lazar

Versteeg - Stajan - Brouwer

Maybe Shankaruk, Mangiapane, Vey, etc will make a good push in pre season as well and challenge for a spot.

Tons and tons of potential in that top 9. Sign Stone and Bishop and let's see what happens.

Stajan - great servant but we need a younger more energetic 4th line and he may be eating popcorn for a while next season.
Brouwer - hopefully/maybe the expansion draft will see him leave town. If not let's pray he can pick it up next season.
Bouma - not good enough or consistent enough.

Either way we should never trade Backlund for a top 6 winger or number 4 d man. He is a special player. Great all round and in all situations. Maybe the smartest player we have. I'd give him a 5x5 tomorrow. In this league it's about goalies, defencemen and centers. The spine of your team. We have d and centers. Just need a goalie and some depth or prospects turning out. We shouldn't trade a potentially selke level top 6 center for a winger because we have no good RWers. That would be silly Janko and Lazar are still pretty much question marks as to what they will be in the league.

Sign Backlund and give him an A on his jersey.