Quote:
Originally Posted by Jay Random
The Tarasenko of the last two years has been much, much worse than the Monahan of the last two years, because he has usually been unable to play at all. He is also older and has a higher cap hit. And he plays a less valuable position.
The more you bash the decisions made by Flames management, the happier I am that you are not making those decisions instead.
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I would be somewhat tempted to do this trade. It definitely is risky though(for both sides). The reason I can see Tarasenko as a better fit is because he has the better shot form the circles/distance. It seems that the Flames have a lot more players that score from in front of the net.
I agree with you that center is the more valuable position. However, if Monahan and Gaudreau are split up is Monahan your 2nd line center? or is he your 3rd? Regardless of what line he plays on, his line would likely need to be sheltered defensively. I don't see Monahan as a good shut down center, and if he is not on your top scoring line, then his offensive potential is also limited. I'm basing this on last season, and I could be wrong about it. Perhaps he heals and comes back to his old self, I don't have enough information to hope for that though.
Again I look at it in terms of fit, and Tarasenko could be a pretty good fit. That way you have two very good lines, with more versatile offensive weapons. Right now if I'm the opposition's coach I would try to match up my top offensive unit against Monahan's line. You still need to replace Monahan, but the top 9 look a lot more flexible in terms of match-ups. Finally, I'd probably want STL to retain salary(around $1M), just so that the cap numbers for the teams don't change as a result of the trade.