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Originally Posted by The Original FFIV
Throwing spaghettti against the wall here, but maybe our purported interest in Smith is tied to Backlund’s future. If we acquire Smith maybe it is tied to selling high on Backlund at the deadline. Not saying that Smith would be a direct replacement for Backlund, rather bring in Smith to not deplete our C depth while we move out Backlund for futures. Management would have to be confident that Janko is ready for increased duties.
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Sacrilege!
Completely agree. I think the Flames know the state of negotiations with Backlund and will be setting themselves up to deal him at the deadline. If they had the resources to eat the loss of Backlund I could see them doing so for a possible playoff run. But without the draft picks, they need to do the smart thing and manage their assets appropriately. It isn't like Backlund is ripping it up and they can't survive without his offense. They need someone to step in and be a solid contributor in certain areas, and Smith checks those boxes off. I suspect that Smith would be a stop gap measure until a player like Dube steps up and steals his milk money on him. That is still a couple years away, and we need that stop gap. With the loss of Backlund and Stajan, another center under contract is likely a requirement moving forward.