Why Hudler should be traded:
-He hasn't looked like his old self
-Gaudreau is offensive catalyst on this team not Hudler
-Need to get bigger up front
-Salary and term Hudler will command will hurt the Flames moving forward
-Trade him for futures, which can be picks
-Picks can be used in another Hamilton like situation to get the RW
For me the two biggest things to look at:
Gaudreau is what drives the offence from top line so why would you pay Hudler 5+ mill to be a complimentary piece, when you can lineup a much cheaper player with Gaudreau and Monahan and have similar success?
2nd is the picks/futures. Trieliving used the extra picks last year to get Hamilton, they're a currency, you don't have to use them all and you can trade them and get immediate help right away. Hamilton isn't the only trade like that:
Reinhart in edmonton was bought with excess picks. Bust but who cares.
Palmieri(27 points in 35 games) in NJ was bought with later picks. Top liner.
Lehner was bought with Isles 1st rounder. Brought in to be their starter.
There will be more of those trades available as guys are waiver eligible/need a change of scenery. You still need to draft players but have extra picks to be able to acquire those type of guys.
I'm all for trading Hudler/Jones/Russell and even Backlund for picks. They are complimentary pieces. Gaudreau/Monahan/Gio/Brodie/Hamilton/Bennett are the core, these 6 alone will be eating up around half the cap in coming years. You still need 14 other players with about ~35 million. You can't spend 5+ mill of that on guys like Hudler when you've already invested over 4 into Frolik.
|