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Originally Posted by Fire of the Phoenix
We don't have the expendable trade assets to pick up a guy like Strome IMO. He would be the center piece of the trade and we would have to include a guy like Bennett or our first.
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We would have to include Bennett + for just Strome? Or to have him included with Hamonic?
Both Hamonic and Strome are good young players, but I really think we're undervaluing our own players a lot. Bennett could conceivably hit Strome's career high (from last season) of 50 pts, in his rookie year. It would be awesome to bring in a guy like Strome, but Bennett plus is pretty crazy to me.
I agree it would be tough to get Hamonic without including young assets that we don't have/want to trade, but I still think there is an undervaluing of Russell and Wideman. Again, don't know much about Hamonic, but looking at his stats and judging by what people say in here, he seems to be about on par with what Russell is, but 25 years old and more physical.
If you didn't have to take money into account, I would say that Russell (if they could sign him) AND Wideman should be able do it. Not only adequately replace Hamonic with Russell (who is only 3 years older), but they get an offensive punch from Wideman who was 4th in D scoring last season.
Contract status is definitely an issue, as Hamonic has a very friendly deal, but there's also no indication that he's going to be much more than what he is now (which is not a bad thing), and he's probably paid accordingly for what he is. Russell will probably net about the same, maybe a little more as a UFA, and Wideman will likely either stay about the same, or have a drop in price, depending on how he plays. If he has a great offensive year again, he's probably looking at about the same dough he is now. If he has a drop in production, his salary will drop accordingly, and hes still an OK dman.
But really, ask yourself about the players that surround Wideman from the defensive scoring list last season. Karlsson, Burns, Subban, Carlson, Josi. All younger (Burns and Letang are closer), but still. How many of those would you package with another top-4 dman for a strong, young defensive defensmen, who is about the same as the one you added, only a couple years younger, and call it a steal for you? if you were to see a team do that from the outside, would it look good?
Anyways TL;DR - Our players are better than people give them credit for, but I understand it's more about the VALUE they bring, which is different.
Quote:
Originally Posted by codynw
I doubt Smid is on the team next year. He'll either be traded, or more likely, bought out.
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I think it's safe to hope that at least one of Smid and/or Engellend are usurped by younger players next season.
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Originally Posted by Muffins
Problem with that is, unless i'm mistaken, Hamilton and Hamonic both play the right side.
I know Brodie prefers the right side as well so you would have to have one of those 3 on the third pair.
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It would be preferred, but no, they dont HAVE to. These are NHL hockey players. They can play their offside.