Fun fact: Frost has already had a better season in his career (19-26-46) than Lindy’s best season was prior to being traded to the Flames (16-28-44) and their stats are virtually identical this season. You could argue that Lindy brings a defensive pedigree that Frost isn’t really known for, but is that really worth the extra $5.65M per season for Boston to be in the exact same place in the standings as Calgary? Lindy’s one season riding shotgun to Johnny and Chucky was the outlier that gave the sense he was a 1B capable when he is probably better suited as a middle-six. Cozens had his first 30-goal season at age 22, which was miles better than Lindy’s season at the same age and he still makes almost a milli less. What tf has Backs proven? He’s literally been the definition of mid for his entire career. You’re not going to convince me that Lindy-Naz-Backs is any better than Naz/Zary-Frost-Cozens, and we had one of our best offensive seasons ever with the former, plus it makes the Flames younger, and keeps the cost controlled moreso than if Conny were to throw top dollar at the first 1A to hit the market. Re-up Frosty on a three year bridge deal for like $3-4M per, and suddenly you have a decent window of time with versatile centers on every line.
As for Raz, it makes zero sense to re-up him for 6-8 years (and you know he’ll want that term) when RHDs are something we actually have an over abundance of, and when he’d likely fetch a 1st, or a 2nd in a deal like the one I proposed for Cozens. Not sure how you can consider that “gutting the defense” when Bahl-Weegar and Solo-Pachal could have the 1st and 3rd pairings on lock. Any two of Poirier, Kuznetsov, Parekh, Brzu, and Grush would undoubtedly be better than Bean, Barely, and Miro have been for us this year. Dealing Raz, either for a package that includes Cozens, or for another 2026 1st is just smart asset management.
