It's not impossible but I would feel better going into the offseason with Walman-Ceci and Ferraro-Liljegren as our projected 2nd and 3rd pairs so we only need to bring in two clear top 4 options.
Ceci, Walman, Liljigen and ???
This is correct. The issue isn't our depth at D, it's that the team has no top pairing guys forcing everyone to play up.
If I could only choose one, I'd easily keep Ceci over Ferraro. Bottom pairing LHD are literally a dime a dozen.
Maybe but that group has room to grow with the teenage defensemen. This group doesn't. They are what they are. As a rebuilding team, we should be bringing in our top young players and surrounding them with quality veterans as are available to us and expect to lose until the young developing talent makes it their team.
I think we swing a trade for Byram, personally. Seems like the profile of D-Man that Grier is looking for and think he would gel really well with Macklin based on the stories that came out when he got to Buffalo re: being shocked at how bad their practice habits were and just expecting more after being part of the Avs operation for the first part of his career. Fits the profile there, age wise, and skillset.
Byram is someone I'd definitely go after if we don't land Schaefer. He's talked big game about wanting to be the #1 Guy on his team, here's about the only place he'd have a chance to do that.
McAvoy I hadn’t considered but I was looking at both Nurse or Seth Jones. I know those contracts are horrible but they would be better than any D we have this season. Both could be available for free. I doubt they would waive but they maybe could be convinced the teams long term future is better.
Seth Jones is the only one I would give a thought price wise (If Chicago wants to dump him for nothing and Jones waives for new scenery)
Kesselring feels like one of those players Utah values more than he's probably worth in terms of a trade so I doubt that happens.
Guys like Kovavevic that seemingly come from nowhere scare me. He might be RH Jake Middleton and needed lots of time to develop, but I also am terrified of giving money and term to that profile because it seemingly will bust more often than it booms.
Absolutely not. McAvoy is overpaid a little but he's still a 27 year old top pairing RHD. Jones is not a top-4 D at all (on top of being 30) and Nurse is a middle-pairing LHD signed until the end of time, where we already have a log-jam.
They scare me too some, but that's what I mean that Grier's staff will have to do a ton of homework to make sure he's the guy. He's probably looking for the best contract he can get, and that's the only reason he might sign here.
I think the goal should be to do what New Jersey did and find the undervalued fully cooked guy on another team and sign him for a deal rather than getting into a long-term deal with a guy who doesn't have an established track record. If you want to go long-term on someone, make sure you're paying market value on him so that you can trade him later without having to burn a retention slot.
I anticipate that Boston may ask for Will Smith in return for McAvoy if they're truly entering a rebuild. Is that a price we would be willing to pay? Pretty steep...
Chances are they would either send Thompson down or waive Sabourin. I would pass on Saad though.
Sabourin and White could easily be sent down. I assume you mean when all FWs are healthy which is unlikely to happen before players start getting traded.
I forgot about Sabourin. Good call. I fully expect Grier to put in a claim. I expect he'll be busy at the TDL moving the vets in their final year and he'll need some vet experience to replace em. Playing him on the second line would mean moving Zetterlund back to 3 which I think is his best fit for the time.
