Quote:
Originally Posted by Enoch Root
Regarding Hoffman...
Like many here, I think he would be a great addition to the team. Having one more scoring winger would be a real boost to the offense.
Bennett - Jankowski - Hoffman would be a heck of a 2nd scoring line.
My concern however, is that he is 28 already, and is pretty one-dimensional. In a couple years, he is going to have a pretty hefty contract. And I am concerned that his game will erode quickly. If he loses a step, he becomes a contract-anchor pretty quickly.
meanwhile, if we were to trade Brodie for him, in 2 years, Brodie is just in the heart of prime-defenseman years. And with his effortless skating, I think Brodie remains effective longer than most players.
So that trade could start looking horrendous pretty quickly.
Now, if we could get him for something like Mangiapane and Kylington? I'm all for that.
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I get the temptation to play-it-safe, don't want to trade Brodie because who knows what he could turn into in two years. (My guess is Brodie is what you see is what you get, a top 4 D who will tantalize you with ever greater upside but who's ultimate a D man with too many flaws to be anything more than a second pairing guy). But sure, assuming he still could turn into a legit #2D would you not make this trade still?
To me, it looks like this team still needs something to get over the hump and go deep. That something is most obviously more scoring, they need to push Frolik down to the 3rd line. Not because Frolik isn't good but because they need more attack and goal scoring in the top two lines.
And I mean, you don't win the Cup playing it safe necessarily. The goal here is not to be like Minnesota and always make it into the playoffs. The goal is win it all. If you're the Flames right now and you have no prospects with this current version of the team to graduate top line talent then you need to trade for it. I guess my point is that to hit a home run you need to take a big swing.
Is Hoffman the guy? Odds are no, he's not, but odds are Brodie in the lineup this year or next is also not the guy to lift the Flames into the Stanley Cup round. I hope Treliving is bold here. We have one of the best players in the league in his prime right now, we don't know when his prime will end either, it could last over the next 6 seasons like Patrick Kane or it could burn in over the next couple seasons. We have a 35 year old goalie with the third best sv% in the league. We have a 35 year old #1 D man still dominating out there. We have one of the best shut down lines in the league lead by a guy who's going to be a UFA at the end of the season. Everything is pointing to going all in here. We have almost all of the ingredients. The window is now.
It's not, lets wait and see if Brodie gets better while the whole team potentially plateaus. It's what can we do right now, to beat Anaheim, Nashville, and Vegas (and Tampa Bay). I just don't get how some people have, what I believe to be, misplaced priorities here.