Quote:
Originally Posted by strombad
They don't HAVE to make room from Corban Knight, and there really is no evidence to suggest that Corban Knight would be better than Backlund.
I'm comfortable with him being a #3 center, and I don't think he's got much trade value comparable to potential right now, so I think it would be silly to trade him.
Plus, keeping Stajan over Backlund? That doesn't make sense. Stajan is near apex and won't be part of this team when it's a contender, Backlund still could and has plenty of time to grow.
So, no.
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If you go with the premise that Backlund isn't ever going to put up the points to be a top-6 center, then I think a case could easily be made for Knight. He's bigger, tougher to play against, and was a face-off specialist in the NCAA. These are all things you ideally want in a 3rd line/shutdown center. Their offense is tough to compare as Backlund made the jump to the NHL at a younger age, but Knight has been putting up good numbers in the AHL.
Basically if you don't think Backlund is going to take the next step (which I'm not yet convinced of) then I think Knight is a better option going forward.