[Trade] Pens trade Kessel + 4th to Arizona for Galchenyuk + PO Joseph

[Azhouse]

Originally Posted by sylvanfan

arizona is where offensive players go to retire

fyp

[Roughneck]

Originally Posted by OutOfTheCube

I would highly doubt Kessel is potting 80+ points when moving from Crosby/Malkin to Schmaltz/Stepan.

He's going who's leading goal scorers only had 19 goals last season: one of them was Alex Galchenyuk. Definitely going to be a bit of an adjustment for him.

[Enoch Root]

Kessel will be 32 this year - getting into that zone where offense really starts to drop off. And he isn't exactly a health freak.

Also, he is leaving a team that had 271 goals, and joining a team that had 209. Yes, they had a lot of injuries and should be better this year. Nonetheless, they are a defense-first team, and he will garner a lot more attention from other teams than he did in Pitt.

I would put the over/under at 59.5 for his point total, and take the under all day.

[topfiverecords]

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

I think you might need to take a closer look... (I watched over 50 Coyotes games last yr)

The Coyotes' team defense was 5th in the league last year, allowing just 220 goals.

Their save-percentage was 6th in the NHL.

Now they've added a point-per-game winger who scored 41 more points than Galchenyuk did last year. Nick Schmaltz will be healthy; he scored at a 67-point pace with Arizona last year, which is high, but he looked electric with Keller when he wasn't injured. Keller gets to play with those two guys, having already recorded a 65-point rookie season. They also added Soderberg, who just scored 49 points last year, and Derek Stepan is probably one of the best all-around 2Cs in the Western Conference.

Hayton was a top-5 pick last year who just finished 3rd in the OHL in points/game. Grabner led the NHL in shorthanded scoring. Dvorak was injured for most of last year but scored 15 goals twice before his age-21 season ended. Hinostroza scored 16 goals and 39 points last year despite playing barely over 15 minutes a night. Brad Richardson scored 19 goals and is their 4C. Garland scored 13 goals in 47 games, a 23-goal pace, and is blazing fast.

Amazingly, Christian Fischer probably has the least upside of anyone in that main forward group, and he's still just 22 and a formerly highly-touted prospect who scored 11 goals last year in a limited role.

The Coyotes missed the playoffs by just two wins last year despite losing over 500 man-games to injury. Without that apocalyptic injury luck, I think they'd have been a safe bet for the playoffs even without adding Soderberg and Kessel. After those additions... I think this is one of the most interesting up-and-coming young teams in the NHL.

Just ignore these guys. Knowledge is power.

[OutOfTheCube]

Originally Posted by topfiverecords

Just ignore these guys. Knowledge is power.

You can make this post for literally every team. Yeah, of course if everyone stays healthy, matches their career best point paces, finds instant chemistry on the new team, and all the rookies match or exceed expectations, you’ll have a great season. So will any team that has all those things happen.

[Flamenspiel]

Originally Posted by Sylvanfan

There were more than a few posters here absolutely roasted the Canadiens for giving up someone as good as Galchenyuk for mediocrity like Max Domi. Now the Coyotes are lauded for still getting something useful for Galchenyuk before the league figures him out.

Arizona is where offensive players go to die.

Exactly, if Kessel shows a decline this whole series of trades ends up being an very Oiler like asset depreciation. On top of that Strome is a big star with the Blackhawks now.

[ForeverFlameFan]

Originally Posted by OutOfTheCube

I would highly doubt Kessel is potting 80+ points when moving from Crosby/Malkin to Schmaltz/Stepan.

He did just fine with Bozak.

I think Kessel can still put up 70’s with the likes of Keller/Schmaltz.

[topfiverecords]

Originally Posted by OutOfTheCube

You can make this post for literally every team. Yeah, of course if everyone stays healthy, matches their career best point paces, finds instant chemistry on the new team, and all the rookies match or exceed expectations, you’ll have a great season. So will any team that has all those things happen.

It’s pretty straight forward that it’s his opinion. What’s obnoxious is all of the piling on contrarians who have little basis to back it up other than that Arizona has been historically bad. Even with all of their injuries and change they were only 4 points from sneaking into the playoffs.

Did Arizona have everyone stay healthy, match their career best point paces, and have all rookies exceed expectations last year?

This is a team on the rise whether you are informed on their roster or not.

[ricardodw]

Originally Posted by OutOfTheCube

You can make this post for literally every team. Yeah, of course if everyone stays healthy, matches their career best point paces, finds instant chemistry on the new team, and all the rookies match or exceed expectations, you’ll have a great season. So will any team that has all those things happen.

That is basically a description of 2018-19 Flames.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by ricardodw

That is basically a description of 2018-19 Flames.

Not really. It is really an outline of a column Staples once wrote about how Edmonton would make the POs.

Calgary's young players tended to show normal progression, but they also had subpar number one goaltending out of the gate, a bad year from a big offseason pickup, and mediocre years from Bennett, Jankowski, Frolik, Czarnik, and big injury year from Stone.

[FireGilbert]

Good move for the Yotes taking advantage of their cap space. Kessel still has the ability to generate offence by himself and shouldn't feel the pressure in a small market.

Arizona strikes me as a typical bubble team. A good goalie and average defence with a deep but not spectacular forward core.