It will be interesting to see what happens with Hanifin. For me, it is all about dollars.
If Hanifin re-signs long-term at a max of 7 million a season, I would want to retain him. Anything over that - especially in the 8's - and I would prefer he is traded.
We all see players differently, and we all have our confirmation biases. The way I see Hanifin is as a #2 or #3 defencemen. I don't really see him as a 'difference maker', like you do with some other defencemen around the league that you label as #1 defencemen.
Pros: Hanifin has the size and skating ability to cover basically anyone in the NHL well. He is a smooth skating minute muncher who makes good first passes in transition, or who can skate well with the puck out of the zone and enter the offensive zone. Doesn't make many mistakes defensively.
Cons: I see him as underwhelming offensively. He is similar to me as TJ Brodie was, but Brodie had better offensive vision and could make some high-skilled passes to set up his teammates. Brodie had that creative ability. Hanifin seems like a stronger Brodie, but without that vision. This con could be 100% confirmation bias by me, but I have noticed it enough that it grinds my gears: I hate how Hanifin often relieves pressure that Calgary is building. Too often I see the Flames having control and keeping the opponent in the defensive zone without being able to change, and you want the puck to keep moving around and creating more breakdowns. Puck goes to Hanifin, and from just inside the blueline and without anyone screening the goalie or being able to get even get a stick on the puck, Hanifin shoots the puck, and the goalie eats it and the play stops, relieving the pressure. I have noticed this happening way too often in the last 2 seasons, and I really hate it as I see it is either a very selfish play, or a low-IQ play. This is actually my ONE and ONLY complaint about Hanifin, but I do think it is something that can be fixed. I would still prefer to re-sign Hanifin rather than trade him (well, depending on what is coming back - could be a great haul).
I like the comparison to Bouwmeester a lot. I really disliked Bouwmeester under Brent Sutter, but I did really like him under Hartley. He was night and day more effective. I don't remember Hanifin grinding my gears under Peters so much with what I call his 'lack of offensive awareness', so perhaps just like Bouwmeester experienced a resurgence under Hartley, I openly wonder about what it can mean for Hanifin too. I really wish that Brodie was on this team as he had that creative spark, but I am legitimately excited to see what Hanifin, Andersson, Weegar and Kylington can really do within Huska's system. Heck, Zadorov had a career year offensively under Sutter, so let's see how it goes for him as well.
TLDR; Trade Hanifin at greater than 7 million/season over 6-8 years. Weegar is a good comparable to Hanifin right now I think, and I am willing to pay Hanifin a little more, but not above the somewhere in the 6's.
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