Quote:
Originally Posted by Resolute 14
The bolded is the part that trips me up with this deal. I agree with you that they need to be better for us to be even or marginally improved for this season. Consequently, your argument is basically that we got more expensive as a result of this trade, but not necessarily better. And some people wonder why the sentiment surrounding the trade is what it is.
The big question for me with Lindholm is where he plays, and with whom. If he's willing to play RW, then he's basically Gaudreau and Monahan's wingman by default. And with those two, he could probably put up a lot of points. But if he (and/or Peters) insists that he's a C, then what? You pretty much have to play him with Tkachuk or he's going to be trying to drag players around the ice. And in that case, we've only made our weakness at RW worse.
July 1 is going to be quite interesting, as we're going to have to overpay to deal with the mess at RW that Treliving has completely failed to address to this point, despite spending heavy coin to add players to areas of strength.
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And where I challenge this view is that you are looking at this season only.
With reasonable expectations for all the players, it is probably pretty even for this year, or, if there is little improvement from either player, the Canes maybe get a little more THIS YEAR.
However Lindholm and Hanifin are significantly younger than Hamilton and Ferland, and have, combined, substantially more upside.
Also, while the Flames will pay more this season (unless Hanifin signs a bridge deal), Hamilton and Ferland will cost more next season. We will have younger guys, with more upside, signed for longer, at less cost (or similar).
Unless Fox realizes his potential - and does so for the Canes, not as a free agent - this trade looks to be a pretty easy win for the Flames
beyond this season.