Quote:
Originally Posted by Flash Walken
Imagine if the flames had just drafted barzal(16th overall) with the 15th overall pick, had the return from Ferland the return from Fox with 10+ million in cap space ...
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I've said it a lot this offseason but the 14-15 season was the worst thing that happened to the Flames re-build.
They went from being focused on building through the draft to making moves that were more "win now" moves.
In the end that trade tree still turns into Hanifin and Lindholm which isn't the worst but yeah Barzal and Monahan at center ice would have been a great combination for sure. Really though I might still make that trade again with the knowledge we had at the time of the deal because really Barzal should have never been there at 16 and Hamilton was a sure thing who was only 22 years old.
The trades that hurt more are the ones that followed (Hamonic/Elliott/Smith/Stone)
Quote:
Originally Posted by New Era
And what happens when the Islanders match? They lost Tavares, they aren't letting Barzal get away.
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My post was mean to be tongue in cheek due to the team needing a center if they trade Monahan.
However I think the threat of an offer sheet could be real for Barzal and the Islanders this offseason.
NYI don't really have the cap to match a huge offer sheet with the cap being flat. They don't have a lot of easily movable contracts, and only have $8M of cap space for next season with Pulock and Barzal needing to be re-signed.
I honestly see somebody throwing 5 years and $10.5M at Barzal this off-season. It would only cost 2 1sts, 2nd, 3rd at that level of compensation and would put NYI in a really tough spot cap hit wise.
If they match that one then maybe you throw an offer sheet at Pulock for 5 years at $4M..which would only cost you a 2nd. But no way could they afford $15M in salary for those two players.
Montreal for example has $14M in cap space and a lot of draft picks. I think they'd be crazy not to throw a 5 year $10M offer sheet Barzal's way to gauge his interest.