Quote:
Originally Posted by Erick Estrada
That's the juggling act for a GM. The NFL model used by successful teams is that once aging players start to decline a team will move on regardless of him being a fan favorite, locker room intangibles, etc. NHL GM's aren't afforded the ability to just cut players with guaranteed contracts so a GM has a lot of variables to consider. Do you try to move him while he's still a useful player and weaken your team in the short term to avoid the long term pains? The GM job is much more difficult than most fans think it is. You see players like Lucic, Glencross, Frolik, Neal, Brouwer, etc decline quickly as they age and a GM can't afford to have too many of these guys associated with their roster while trying to build a contender. In regards to Backlund I do agree with what FDW said earlier in this thread in that he will assume the role Stajan did which is fine but the reality is that the team had a hole in it's top 6 with Backlund and with his drift to bottom 6 it's now created two holes in the top 6.
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Thing is you can probably get by with slotting one 3rd liner in the top 6, but not 2. So when we needed one it was a nice to have, now that we need two its pretty much a need at this point, we need another legit top6, preferably RS Forward.
This is all if you want to slot Backlund as 3C, which is where he should be to have this team at its most competitive.