[Aarongavey]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

I am very much in the 'you need players' camp, and Hanifin is a good player. So if they extend him, I am fine with that. And back in the summer, I would have probably preferred that.

But I am definitely in the camp that would prefer a trade now. Two things push ne into the trade camp:

1) Pinder (who I do not often agree with) got it exactly right when he was comparing Hanifin to other $7-8M guys when he said they are all PP guys and Hanifin isn't. And for a guy that doesn't contribute a lot offensively, $7.5M is a lot to tie up. (At $6.5 - 7M, I am all over the extension).

2) The timing of it. I am not worried about Hanifin still being good in 5 or 6 years, that isn't the issue. The issue is that they aren't going to be great for the next 2 or 3, and in 3 years, they probably have younger guys pushing to replace him (Morin, Brzustewicz, or whoever). They have Andersson and Weegar, and they will have new guys, so I guess what I am saying is that they won't miss Hanifin, simply because, even though he is hard to replace, I think they will have replaced him by the time they need to.

So for those reasons, I am in the trade camp.

Hanifin leads Flames defencemen in even strength points over the past two seasons. Higher than Rasmus, higher than Weegar. He is tied for 24th in even strength points amongst dmen over that time. So he definitely is an offensive catalyst at even strength.