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Originally Posted by Poe969
If anything, your attitude is "oilerizing" the team. The mentality of "I don't want to trade this guy, he's one of our best players and I really like him so he has to be worth more" is what the oilers are doing.
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I am fine with trading Backlund, actually.
For a return that makes sense, like an actual, tangible upgrade on Backlund who plays the same (vital) position and won't take three or four more years to get up to speed as a two-way player.
I'm even fine with moving Monahan for Matthews, for that same reason.
Jesse Puljujarvi for Backlund makes zero sense because he is an 18 year old winger, which leaves a giant donut hole in the middle if Backlund is out. Backlund is a 26 year old veteran center who happens to be by far the best 200-foot forward on our team.
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and he's scored 20 goals once and never eclipsed 50 points.
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Fact is Backlund produces at a rate empirically comparable to second line forwards. He plays a second line role at center, where his second line outscores other team's second lines and at times first lines.
These above statements are all true. Tthe Flames don't have a replacement for him. That's a
fact. Not Monahan nor Bennett. Not yet. Not remotely.
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If he was on another team, most Flames fans would laugh at the thought of a third line center having enough value to move into the top 3. Take a look at third line centers from around the league and see if any of them are good enough to add to pick #6 for pick #3. It's going to take more than a third line center to make CBJ trade away that pick.
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Value's got nothing to do with it. Even if Backlund lacks the value to return Puljujarvi, his value to us is more than his value to another team. Center is not a position of excess for us as all our most talented centers are green.