After sleeping on it and looking more deeply at Curran I've warmed up to this. Conroy extracted a very good return for a guy that had checked out. A first and a second round pick (have we found out the conditions yet???) is solid, but also getting a big center with skill is potential big win.
The amateur scouts are hopefully right on top of things as the two centers they just picked up in these trades are very interesting. Curran is a big guy with a quick trigger. Not the most graceful skater, but he finds the areas to score from and the puck likes to find him. When the puck does find his stick it isn't there very long and forces the goaltender into making a stop or picking it out of the net. Reminds me of Monahan after his first hip injury. Castagna is another interesting guy. Huge motor than never stops running and an assassin in the faceoff dot. The kid has won almost 65% of his faceoffs this year. Good skater, solid two way play, faceoff specialist, and never gives up. Has Stephane Yelle written all over him. Not saying that either of these players are going to achieve those lofty comparisons, but we now have two centers with skills we were sorely lacking prior to the trade deadline. A nice piece of work.
The only thing I still didn't like about this deadline was not moving Coleman. Another diminishing asset that was under the impression he was going to be traded, it will be interesting to see how he reacts and if he pushes the point going forward. Would have liked to see him traded elsewhere (Dallas or Tampa) but those deals went by the wayside. I think Conroy had an ask that may have been out of line based on the movement elsewhere, but time will tell that story. Overall, if this is the only downside I think that is a very successful deadline. I'll bump my vote to an 8.75 (B+).
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