Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperMatt18
It really depends on the trade.
Moving something like the Devils pick for a Pinto, Cozenz, Mercer type would be perfectly fine.
There should be no blanket rules against anything, that's where you get yourself into trouble. Every situation has to be assessed on its own.
I know it's not your preferred outcome but this team is always proving again that a bottom 5 finish is probably not in the cards. Worst case is probably that 7-12 range again I think.
They are going to have to be creative with how they fill this void at C. They have to hope they do have a chance to draft the top line guy at some point but a trade for a C shouldn't be something they avoid either.
And I think what we actually haven't talked about is what if the piece they'd be willing to move is actually something like Coronato but get a similar piece that is a C instead of a winger.
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It sure is looking less likely the flames will have a bottom 5 finish. Still early of course but these days, teams that finish bottom of the league rarely have stretches where they get 10 of a possible 11 points at any point in the season let alone to start the season. We’ll see how it goes. Wolf has proven himself to be a star player very quickly at every level he plays and he could be doing that in NHL right now as well. Even the worst teams can be floated out of the bottom 10 in the league with quality goaltending.
I’m still in the camp that I would rather the flames keep their high picks for now and just see how the season goes with the players they have. If the flames continue to surprise and are firmly in a playoff spot at the deadline, I would be fine with them choosing not to trade some of the upcoming UFAs as a way of rewarding the team for their play. Especially since I don’t think they would get very much for Mantha or Kuzmenko (a 2nd round pick for Kuzmenko at most and a 3rd round pick for Mantha at most IMO).
Trading for a center might be the best option eventually but I think it’s better to wait for the offseason for that move. For a few reasons:
1. After the season ends, draft picks are at their highest value while players under contract are at their lowest value. It’s the opposite right now. I think the moves Conroy should make should be focused on long term gains rather than short term gains. That means buying low and selling high.
2. After the season, the flames will know where the Devil’s first round pick will end up as well as where their other first round pick will be (either Florida’s or their own pick). They will also have an idea of what players might be available in the draft with those picks… they might really like some of those prospects and they could be centers with high ceilings.
3. While the flames are doing well, most of their success is coming from their veteran players. That’s not a bad thing… it’s awesome to see this team surprising everyone and playing so well. But it’s hard to assess how good this team will be in 2-3 years considering most of their top producers right now are the veterans and several of them are in their late 20s/early 30s/mid-30s. That could be an indication they haven’t bottomed out yet and they may not for another year or two. Kadri, Backlund, Huberdeau, Weegar, Andersson, Coleman, Mantha and Kuzmenko are still looking good (even great). But it’s already asking a lot of Backlund and Kadri especially to be the top centres on this team at the age of 34-35… even more so when they are 37. So trying to bring in centres through trades to make the team better right now and in the near future seems risky. Think of trading a first round pick to get Pinto only to have Kadri and Backlund both regress next year.