Exposing Backlund is lunacy IMO.
1. Swedes rarely fall off an age cliff. Eriksson is the only one that comes to mind.
2. It's a lot easier to trade Monahan (or hopefully not Lindholm) with Backlund on the roster.
3. He has been our best safety blanket for young players. Is there a better option to pair with Pelletier (or Phillips)? A lot of our best prospects are smaller guys who are probably top 6 or bust
4. I think he has decent trade value.
- The Blues signed 32 year old Bozak to a 3x5 contract and probably don't regret it.
- Hornqvist wasn't negative value (albeit not great value). Copycat league...someone will hope to replicate that.
- Stastny still fetched a 4th + 25 yo 6/7 D-man (worse AAV, albeit expiring)
- Palmieri, Zajac, Staal, Carter were all desired despite their AAVs. We may need to wait a couple years, but Backlund would bring value to our roster in that time.
This might be a tough off-season to get value for him because there are a ton of 2/3 C's available UFA; the above +: Danault, Stepan, Bonino, Granlund, Johansson, Wennberg, Haula, Cizikas, etc, along with a bunch of reclamation projects. But I think he'd have value at future TDLs.
Quote:
Originally Posted by GioforPM
I’d like them to sign Ryan to a reasonable amount, but not if he’s just going to get grabbed by Seattle.
Speaking of which, Seattle might just take him anyway, like Vegas did with pending UFA Engelland. Ryan is from Washington, is low mileage, useful, and would provide them with a few good years.
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This is the optimal result IMO. I imagine Ryan would strongly consider 1x1.5 or 2x1.25...there's a lot of risk of being left without a chair when the music stops and struggling to get a 7 figure deal.
Quote:
Originally Posted by FanIn80
Not if you can use his cap space to add a top-6 forward.
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Because that always works out well
