I liked Reider last season, and he had a spectacular post-season too - on the PK and on the 4th line.
Reider, however, did not look good next to Monahan and Gaudreau nor with Backlund and Mangiapane.
Regardless of where he slots in initially, and whether or not you break up the Lucic - Bennett - Dube line and insert him in Lucic's spot is fairly irrelevant. These 'hard choices' are better than not having any choices at all, right? Leivo in the playoffs somewhere on the top 2 lines would PROBABLY have looked a heck of a lot better than Reider there.
That's what depth forces on your team - tough choices. You rotate guys in and out. You stick with what works, but what works doesn't always seem to work from the start of the season through to the end of the season and into the playoffs, even when you don't account for injuries.
Accounting for injuries makes this signing a home-run in my mind. I am not even as high on Leivo as some posters seem to be, but this is unquestionably a solid depth move that gives the roster flexibility especially during injuries. I am saying this with not even hating Robinson as an everyday player on the 4th line - but having depth and forcing guys to be hungry and give their best on every shift is huge for making this team hard to play against night in and night out.
I don't know how anyone could really have any reservations. I mean, even if Leivo suddenly sucks, you ship him down to the AHL and he doesn't even count against the cap. I don't expect the Flames to suddenly sign 10 college free agents at the end of the season either, so having the contract count to the 50 limit is also practically irrelevant.
You have to be looking really, really, really hard to see a negative in this signing, and it becomes a textbook case of missing the forest for the trees.
|