This has easily been one of the most confusing fan responses I've seen from Flames fans. And the level of hatred and vitriol surrounding this trade is shocking.
We didn't trade Adam Fox. We traded the rights to Fox. If there's a player that seems set to go the UFA route, it's him, so how much value do people think his rights have? A team is trading to try and convince him to sign there, which seems unlikely unless it happens to be whatever team(s) are high on his list, and I can't imagine Carolina is one of them. Teams aren't lining up to give assets to try and negotiate with a player that seems set for UFA.
Ferland has 89 points in 250 NHL games and 135 PIM. He's not some intimidating force (unless you're the Canucks) and nearly half his points came last year playing with one of the best duos in the league. When Treliving said "if he has a season like last one he'll be in for a big pay day" I think the word "if" is pretty predominant in the statement. Is Ferland a 40 point player when he's not with such a strong duo? His stats and history say no, even including portions of last year. He'll be 27 next year. He would have riden Mony/Johnny to a bigger paycheque than he deserved, and Tre would have had to risk overpaying or lose him for nothing. Lindholm has 100 more points than Ferland and is 4 years younger. Anyone that doesn't see that as a massive upgrade is kidding themselves.
Hamilton is a great player and I couldn't care less about this "character" and museum talk. We upgraded at forward and added what should be a core top-6 forward piece going forward. On defence, we may have upgraded as well, as Hanifin could develop beyond Hamilton (especially on the defensive side) and at worse he's a very minor downgrade offensively and an improvement defensively. Also 21, which is crazy. I think fans are seriously overvaluing Dougie and undervaluing Hanifin.
Is Gio/Hamilton that much better than Gio/Brodie was? I think moving Brodie back to his natural side will see a massive return to form (where he put up Hamilton points numbers) and in actuality Brodano > Gio/Hamilton. Then is Hanifin/Hamonic better than Brodie/Hamonic? Impossible to say now but considering the train wreck Brodie is on his off side, I'd say most likely yes. So our top 4 D has (theoretically) improved. Our forwards have significantly improved. We have two more young core pieces.
Like Bingo said, this isn't a fire Tre moment, this is a thank God he's been extended moment.
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