Quote:
Originally Posted by Caged Great
I still think Backlund is going to be dealt. If you're looking at peak value for a player, he is at his. Bennett is going to be the 2nd line C from now on, relegating Backlund to the third line. In the coming years, he is going to be less and less valuable as a trade piece. Now you could probably either get a really good prospect (better than Shinkaruk) or include him in a larger deal for something else important. With having Monahan, Bennett, Stajan, Jankowski, Shore, Colborne, Bouma, Jooris, and Arnold all being able to play center and all of those guys being either NHL ready or close in Janko/Arnold's case, making Backlund expendable could be an important move for the team.
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I don't think he's going to be dealt. Sure, his value may be peaking. But we don't have to deal away key players just because their value is high. I mean he's not untouchable and if someone blows your socks off sure.
Treliving talked about building from the middle out. We're just about to get to the point where our centre depth is solid and you wanna deal away one of top 3 centres? I don't see anybody ready right now to replace exactly what Backlund is bringing. I mean if somebody was immediately available to replace him it might be a different story.
But expendable? Backlund is far from expendable right now. Maybe in a year or two. But he's a good guy, great 3rd line centre, wants to be here. Seems like the kind of guy you wanna keep IMO.