1.) Seeler's next on the depth chart. About the same age but probably more of a 3rd pairing guy overall. He's been a very capable player though, so I don't think he'd do poorly playing 2nd pairing minutes. We do have mostly righties in Iowa, to the extent that Belpedio's playing LD at the moment. There's Soucy and Bartkowski, who are probably tweeners/AHL guys.
The real thing with 2nd pairing LD is that it's not all that hard to acquire one in free agency. If we traded Brodin we'd presumably be extending Spurgeon, who can carry that pairing just fine with whoever the LD equivalent of Greg Pateryn is. So whether it's Seeler or a UFA, that spot's pretty easy to fill without Mete (I feel like there's a joke there, but I'll leave it).
2.) During the season: a middle-6 center, ideally the same age as Brodin but possibly a few years older. The criteria probably relaxes once the season's over, at which point I don't think a futures package is out of the question.
3.) We've already got Granlund as a lefty playing RW, and Nino as a lefty who plays both sides. We've also got Sokolov down in Iowa, another lefty that plays RW. The deeper need is for rigth-shot forwards, which Tatar doesn't help with.
4.) There's no reason to trade Brodin unless doing so fills a bigger hole. We can handle losing a 2nd pairing defenseman if we're addressing a need, but Brodin's making $4m for the next 2.5 years. He's fine where he is.
First off I will say THANK YOU for not resorting to nasty levels and focusing on the conversation. Some people are just way too sensitive and snap too quick on stupid stuff. It's a negotiation between fans and lets just talk and see what each side is saying. It's rare to have a deal that both sides agree on. Like very rare on HF boards.
1) Fair enough. If the Wild don't feel like they need young LD, then that's their prerogative. It just seems like it's another area of need to me and that's why I offered Mete and then asked for the clarity
2) So it's not necessarily a prospect or futures they are after with Brodin? Thanks for answering this. I was wondering. I know Bergevin would not trade Danault but does Danault fit?
3) I know Tatar is a left handed shot but he has played both wings. He's listed as a LW/RW player on many websites. Haven't seen him play RW with the Habs yet though. But that's because we don't need him at RW.
4) I respect the intentions of weather or not to trade Brodin or Coyle. Seems to me the Wild are not in panic mode to trade these young and soon to be UFA players. There is still time yet to see if they can increase their value.... If the Wild are even interested in trading him.
Now from the Habs perspective according to my perception.
- Suzuki, Poehling, Brook, Primeau are not on the table for guys who are 2 or 3 years from UFA. Not going to happen.
- Pieces like Mete, Ikonen, Ylonen, Evans, Lindgren, Fleury might be available
- 2nd's and 3rd's might be available.
- 1st's? This is tricky for the Habs. Even if we wait till deadline to ensure we have a better probability of knowing what the pick was and put top 10 protection on it, it still exposes us like it did with the Sens. Bergevin has never traded a 1st round pick (pre draft) so I don't see this happening
- Tatar, Petry, Byron, Danault, Shaw could be available depending on the trade and who is coming back the other way
- Salary retention is on the table. Habs have money and cap space
