He’s looking for experienced hard-working players while not forcing the younger guys into roles they may or may not be ready for. What’s the point of doing it for one year and then having to do it again next year? At least this way there’s some continuity at the worst and at the best we found some pretty solid younger pieces for reasonable dollars that can either be part of the team’s future or valuable commodities at the deadline next year. Everyone knows who a guy like Nino is and based on the contract he got, he’s hit his ceiling.
EK would never ask for a trade because his ego wouldn’t accept that none of the other teams would touch him and his stupid contract.
Continuity is great to maintain when the team is good
You're not making any sense dude. How does bringing in players you consider to be bad make it harder for the Sharks to tank? Who cares about handing 2-3 years of term out to depth players when the team will not be competitive during those years?
There’s been NO continuity the last few seasons! Players shuffling up and down from the Barracuda. Constant line changes. It’s been a complete shit show. I also don’t know if bringing in guys from Colorado, Nashville and Carolina are guys that have dealt with a losing culture.
You have such a black and white outlook on everything. No one is saying that DW didn’t sign some real bad contracts. But arguing that Grier has effectively used our cap space since he was named is just plain ridiculous. If you didn’t sign Nuutivaara and Kunin, you have the space to sign Niederreiter.
For what purpose? Why does this team need Nino Niederreiter? So they can draft 12th overall instead of 9th overall? Why would Niederreiter sign for a discount with a non playoff team in a non hockey market with the highest state tax rate and worst travel schedule in the league?
By that logic, why sign Benning? Wouldn’t it be better to have Meloche, since Benning is a good player and Meloche isn’t?
I didn’t say we should or would be able to sign him. I’m saying we would have had space. Don’t put words in my mouth.
Kunin, Benning, Sturm, Lorentz and Nutivaara all have varying levels of skill and roles but they are all established NHL players which forces young players from Eklund and Bordeleau on down to actually steal a job on the big club rather than have one gifted to them right out of the gate as the Sharks have been doing with their prospects for three years.
Doing literally nothing would have been better, yes, not to mention the assets we wouldn't have spent trading for his negotiating rights in the first place
I don’t think that’s true. If we stood pat then we’re forcing some of the younger kids to play when they may not be ready. It’s clear there’s a long term plan for MG that involves not rushing anyone that doesn’t need to be rushed. It’s also probably why the team is stockpiling so many young goalies.
How many of these trades even happened last deadline? IIRC the only one was Florida getting a 6th round pick for eating part of Max Domi’s salary. Oh no, what a missed opportunity.
Literally right now, half the league wants to move salary out to take runs at players.
Play the slightly older guys with limited but still potential futures (like Chmelevski, Weatherby, Reedy, Verrenou), and don't buy out Balcers to sign equivalent or lesser players for more money.
So why aren’t these trades happening? There are plenty of teams with cap space and a demonstrated willingness to take on salary dumps like Arizona, Chicago and Buffalo.
I never really saw the appeal with Balcers and personally felt he wasn’t going to be better than he was. There’s a reason the offensively-starved Sens cut him and a reason florida basically signed him to a minimum contract. All of the guys you mentioned may see time up but only if they prove they belong. Reedy and Sasha showed flashes but for the most part our impression of them is genuinely influenced by how bad a majority of the other call-ups looked.
