Quote:
Originally Posted by Cleveland Steam Whistle
Totally agree with your entire post. Fully on board with moving Hudler, this team has no other option, as there is no long term fit (unfortunately). But the notion that Hudler will simply replaced by some already in the org. is laughable. While I don't disagree he hasn't been the same Hudler as we saw last year, there is literally no one on this team or in Stockton that is even in the same league as Hudler, it's not even close.
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Hudler is very good, but life goes on. We managed to get over losing Iginla, Cammalleri, Tanguay, and Bouwmeester. Did it take time, and some lucky plinko chips? Sure. But we're over it.
Guys will have to step up and the replacement maybe won't be a 1:1 seemless transition. But there's nothing stopping, maybe Granlund from developing into part of what Hudler is right now. Some other players in the organization who could offset the loss include Jankowski, Poirier, Agostino, Mangiapane, and Klimchuk. We've got Sam Bennett becoming better and better by the moment. Hunter Smith might be a one-trick-pony, but that one trick is deflections, which is a big part of what Hudler brings.
You
won't have one player replacing everything he brings, but if different players can add the elements he brings in different ways, the organiation gets better.
Hudler is a valuable piece, and that's
why we have to get value back for him at the deadline. This team is still years away and can't be half-assing its rebuild. If we really do like Hudler there's always a chance he returns in the offseason as Vermette and Michalek did in Arizona. And yet we'll have gotten a look at "life without Jiri" at the same time which is an important way of assessing his value from a cap hit perspective.