Quote:
Originally Posted by Cleveland Steam Whistle
I understand they are out there the most for goals against, I'm not arguing they aren't our "worst" d-men that dress (which is why they are the 3rd pair). But in order to cost the team, there needs to be better options to replace them with that we are choosing not to use. Smid and Englland rounding out our top 6 for example are an upgrade over the D overall last year.
There is a difference between "costing" the team and opportunity to improve the team. Sure, upgrading those two would be great, but that's easier said than done.
I also agree there is no guarantee that there aren't younger guys who could step up, but realistically, seems like Wotherspoon might be the only one that truly could be an upgrade. Maybe he isn't yet, or maybe he is and the team just wants to develop him further, regardless his time will come.
The point being, D is a weak spot on this team, we have no depth. But being overly worried about Smid and Englland is silly. We have no cap contstraints that are costing us with them, and the terms are very managable moving forward. This is a team that has very little in the pipe for D prospects, and had very little good on the roster last year outside of our current top 4. It's going to be a work in progress to improve, and Treliving did improve the D in the offseason and Burke helped with adding Smid prior. Are they the perfect solutions? Of course not. Are they upgrades and reasonable moves given our cap situation and asset situation on the back end as we work towards something better, absolutely.
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I just hope that if the Flames can't trade Engelland and/or Smid they don't resort to burying them in the AHL for two reasons. 1) you can't hide their full cap hits in the AHL (I think you can only bury $up to $950,000 of a player's cap in the A) I'd only be okay if you can bury most if not all a player's cap hit in the A, 2) It's not a nice thing to have to do.
I can understand burying Seto, McGrattan, and even maybe later resorting to bury Diaz in the minors, but their full cap hits can be hidden. I know Engelland's full cap hit cannot be hidden and I'm pretty sure same things applies to Smid.