Quote:
Originally Posted by Calgary4LIfe
I definitely have a new fear unlocked with the potential of Weegar simply not wanting to be part of this rebuild. Bahl will instantly become the Flames' top defensive blue-liner.
I am 100% on "team rebuild", but I am not on team "burn it to the ground, and let's tear up the foundation while we are at it"!
Development takes a hit when you have a team that can't play a structured defensive game. I think removing Andersson essentially nukes the defence as is. Andersson + Weegar is madness. I hope he wants to stick around. It shouldn't be the end of the world if he leaves, but I do think it creates issues.
I remember Dubynk's story very well - he couldn't trust the defence in front of him, so he would cheat to compensate. Over time, these became bad habits, and it took a while for him to break out of it. You would hope that good goalie coaching would help prevent this, but maybe placing Wolf in that kind of an environment can lead to some damage to his development.
Tough for the kids to get brought in with Bahl being the mentor, or Bahl and Hanley as the mentors. No offence against either one of them, but Bahl is too inexperienced for that (he has yet to be an anchor on his own pairing), but that's what he will become.
It is interesting if Weegar chooses to leave. I would expect quite the return though, so that eases things a little, but holy that's basically nuking the team entirely shipping off Andersson, Coleman, Kadri and Weegar. Huberdeau and Backlund will be staring at one another like deer in the headlights after that.
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I actually low-key want Weegar traded. He is arguably the most valuable asset the Flames have over 30, signed to a great contract. At the same time, I don't know how well a 35-37 year-old Weegar is going to play. Weegar is also an asset that could potentially get you a top C or a top C prospect.
I agree that Bahl as the top D wouldn't work long term. Maybe if you could somehow get a Byram or a D of a similar age as a stop gap.