After sleeping on this, I think the return is still light, but I'm not as sour.
However, I again commend Conroy for sticking to his vision in trading for futures, and trading Hanifin to a division rival who could potentially play against us for another 8 seasons beyond this. I think that's good long-term thinking, and it continues to be a welcoming change to this organization. It takes guts to follow through with this.
The more I think about Hanifin as a player though, the more I think I overrated him. Five months ago, I scoffed at the idea of re-signing him to a $7.5MM AAV contract for 8 years - and it sounds like that's the minimum he will get on an extension with any team right now.
Hanifin never raised his game when this team made the playoffs. In fact, he perhaps wilted more than any other player on this team over his tenure as a Flame. Offensively, he only had 8 assists and no goals in 27 playoff games as a Flame. Defensively, he would cough pucks up and ultimately looked like the pressure of playing in the playoffs got to him.
Hanifin can eat minutes well in the regular season. Hell, if he's on your second pair, that means you have a pretty good team.
But I wouldn't want to pay him what he's going to get on his next contract. He doesn't move the needle.
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