Quote:
Originally Posted by Poe969
Maybe it's just me but I would expose Backlund and Gio.
|
I have been a big Bennett supporter over the last 6 years but he currently is not worth protecting over Gio or Backlund. With Gio I feel he would absolutely be claimed and if Kylington takes a big step in the next year Gio certainly should be the guy they expose.
With only a year left on his deal Gio comes in as the first captain of Seattle and if they do not have the same luck as Vegas and play like an actual expansion team then Gio is a big trade chip for them at the deadline.
This makes it easy for the Flames to give the C to Tkachuk and hopefully there would be an agreement for Gio to return on a 1-2 year deal the following season.
With 4 years left on Backlund’s deal and a flat cap for 2-3 years it is not looking like that deal will age well. Having said that once he got back to playing center this year and really took off late in the season he really showed his value to the team. Lindholm can likely replace the shutdown center role if need be but losing Backlund for nothing would hurt this team.