Quote:
Originally Posted by FAN
Who are the veterans on multi-year deals blocking young guys? We only have 3 veteran forwards signed beyond 2016 and one of them is Bollig who is irrelevant for the purposes of this discussion since he's a 4th line guy and completely expendable if need be. The other two are Raymond and Stajan, who like Glencross, do not require specific spots in the lineup and can be put anywhere in the lineup. There are lot of spots that we only wish our young guys can eventually fill.
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For the 2015-16 season, unless we're relying on other teams to take dead weight off of our hands, counting on injuries or planning to bury veterans in the AHL, our lineup will look something like:
Glencross (if he's resigned) - Monahan - Hudler
OPEN - Backlund (assuming he's resigned) - Colbourne
Raymond - Stajan - Jones
Bollig - Bouma (assuming he's resigned) - OPEN
Giordano - Brodie (assuming he's resigned)
Smid - Wideman
Engelland - Russell
Basically, assuming that Backlund, Bouma and Brodie are in the long-term plans, there are only guaranteed to be 2 open spots for skaters in the next 2 years if we re-sign Glencross, and one of those spots will almost certainly be filled by McGrattan or a replacement face-puncher. When we have Bennett, Gaudreau, Baertschi, Reinhart, Knight, Agostino and Granlund all knocking on the door, I'd rather not re-sign Glencross so that one more young guy can get a chance to play.
You are right that things open up in 2016-17, but I don't know that our prospects (or the fans) would be best-served by waiting that long.