[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Harry Lime

Any proposal for ROR, in my opinion, starts with the guy we would least like to give up. That's Backlund. ROR is a better player, and Buffalo knows that, but the drop off between the two is not that great.

I would then do what many fans would consider an overpay, and add Brodie. We can ask for a sweetener to balance the contracts, but Buffalo would still come away feeling good about the trade.

From a Calgary perspective, I would feel very comfortable going into next season with centre depth of :

ROR
Monahan
Jankowksi
Shore
with Bennett as an emergency stand in.

Spend the summer figuring out the 4th defenceman.

Edit : I would add, that I think that slotting Backlund is a bit of a problem for this team. He is cemented in the second line because of his overall ability, but to have a player like that you need a truly elite first line centre to make Backlund's defense really shine. With someone like Crosby, Tavares or .... Eichel ahead in the depth chart, Backlund is a potential shutdown monster. The way Calgary is built, they need more offense from the second line, and that won't happen with Backlund, and they are not going to start rebuilding around him, or have the opportunity at landing a top 5 centre in the league. He has more value to Buffalo than he does to Calgary, and ROR has more value to Calgary than to Buffalo, due to the makeup of their respective cores. It's a potentially good 'hockey trade'.

ROR's salary is going to be tough for Buffalo in a couple years. Reinhart looks to have rebounded some, and Mittlestadt looks like he will be good. So that, plus his comments, might make him tradeable. That's pretty much the trade I was thinking: Backlund/Brodie for ROR+. What the plus is makes the trade a win, loss or tie.