[stemit14]

I still have hope that Monahan will get his game going soon as I am a fan of him and I think he still has some great game left in him. However, Dube is looking like he fits well at centre ice. I would not be surprised to see Monahan moved for a fairly disappointing return in order to make the eichel deal work cap-wise.

For example, I could see Ottawa trading something like a 2nd round pick + B prospect. They are looking for a scoring centre. Monahan has been that in the past and if traded for right now would likely be a low cost acquisition… with a decent chance to rebound on a new team. This return would be unremarkable for Calgary but it would give them cap space to make the eichel move. I’m sure Ottawa would prefer someone like Hertl or Giroux but I don’t think those players are available right now because both San Jose and Philadelphia might be fighting for playoff spots (a surprise I think). Also, the acquisition costs for those players would be much higher than Monahan right now.

I know most would hope for the return for Monahan to be more so that it could be used to direct assets acquired from the trade to Buffalo to save some of Calgary’s assets but his value right now might not be very high. If you look at it as a cap move to acquire eichel instead of a trade for value, it makes sense. If losing Monahan for little return meant the flames could acquire eichel, I think most people would be ok with that. It’s essentially losing one trade now so that the flames could acquire eichel now and get his surgery done sooner so he could be back and hopefully help this team in a playoff run.

Dube playing well at centre makes this possible since the flames could still be competitive till eichel is healthy. If Monahan was playing well as a top two centre on the team and Dube was not an option at centre, I would say that trading Monahan was too big of a risk (especially if it was for a poor return). But right now that’s not the case.


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