Quote:
Originally Posted by SebC
I don't think it does. We have 6M cap space and Bennett unsigned. If we moved Bennett+ for Pastrnak and fit him in this year, next year Stajan and Raymond come of the books and that could be enough for Backlund's raise.
If our cap situation is as dire as you suggest, then should Bennett become a 6M player (after signing a one-year, for instance) then our cap structure would be broken anyways. The way I see it our cap is structured with a bit of dead space that is projected to go to a Bennett raise (so that he doesn't outgrow our cap room) but the effect is that Bennett's effectively blocking off more cap space than his current performance warrants. As such, someone who might be closer to his ceiling could be a better fit.
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Bennett's a center so if he warranted $6 million a season it would be logical that he would replace Backlund. Pastrnak isn't a replacement for the 2nd line center and in that scenario we would have to hope Jankowski can make that jump or it's back to the days of poor center depth. I believe a skilled RW is the organization's biggest need (outside of nailing that starting goaltender) but if it costs Bennett in a trade and makes Backlund nearly impossible to re-sign there's no way you can convince me that it would be making the team better especially given that Pastrnak is no lock to repeat last season's goal/point totals.