Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperMatt18
Having them locked up long term was part of the trade but in the current NHL that term is almost seen as more of a risk for a 26 year old than a benefit.
Plus you’re forgetting that the reason the deals happened was because there was a lot of question about the two young forwards commitment, their off ice behaviour, and the whole Dry Island thing.
So sure they had better playoff results (a run as an 7 seed one year led by Pronger) and still had long term deals but in terms of pure NHL production at the time of the trade, and the players age, it’s pretty close:
Carter - Age:26 GP:461 G:181 P:343 P/GP: 0.74
Richards - Age: 26 GP:453 G:133 P:349 P/GP: 0.77
Vs
Gaudreau- Age:27 GP: 464 G: 151 P: 445 P/GP: 0.96
Monahan- Age:25 GP: 541 G:194 P: 411 P/GP: 0.76
Sure the Flyers struggled a bit after that but IMO it wasn’t because of those two moves which actually brought a lot of great pieces into the organization. They lost Pronger after that season due to injury which was the biggest impact, Briere took a step back (he was the leading scorer in the cup run), and they gave the ridiculous contract to Bryzgalov.
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I'm just saying, the reason we are considering moving on from Gaudreau and Monahan is in large part because they have struggled so mightily in the playoffs and Mike Richards was a point per game playoff player who was exactly what the absolute ceiling we had all hoped Bennett would be.
Having them locked up for a decade was a massive part of their value.
If Monahan had 8 years left on his deal at 6.3 and had a career high of 46(!) goals, you could probably expect a return like that.
I think Monahan for Ristolainen might be a lot closer in terms of perceived value out there than we'd like to believe because as much as we are saying Ristoleinen has bad stats, everyone else around the league is looking at Monahan and Gaudreau and asking if these guys can actually get it done when it matters.
I'm not disagreeing that the Flames should trade both Monahan and Gaudreau, I'm just saying temper your expectations on what you're going to get back in return for a player who is basically the exact opposite of what Mike Richards was at the time in Gaudreau and a significantly worse player with 7 years left on their deal in Monahan.
Also, while there's no dry island in Calgary, there are also significant off-ice concerns for Calgary's duo as well.
I also take considerable umbrage with the idea a 10 year deal for a 26 year old player would be perceived as bad or risky when every team in the league is offering their best players max term and would be offering them a longer term than 8 years if it was possible. At the time it was definitely NOT a concern and was a major, major, MAJOR component of their value.
you're just not going to get an elite prospect and a top 5 or 10 pick for 2 years of johnny G at 6.75 after a 58 point regular season and playoff flameout.