I am not saying hold the draft pick.
I would keep the defenseman that has been excellent, and wouldn’t even consider trading him. I would also extend him. Graves wasn’t any good even when he was moderately successful with Marino — and it still would’ve been crazy to subtract from the team that year.
So a 2nd then lol?
barring some enormous collapse, we shouldn't be selling anything at the deadline, let alone half of one of the best shutdown defensive units in the entire league.
Graves would have gotten us assets. Whether it's the Tanev deal of 2nd+prospect (they got identical offseason contracts by the way), or the Orlov deal, or the Gavrikov deal.
Trading away Ryan Graves (who got outscored 7-1 in those playoffs 5v5) and bringing in Luke vs the rangers would not have hurt our playoff run lmao.
Trading away picks and taking away from our asset pool when it is likely that, come playoff time, Nemec will likely be the better option than Kovacevic anyway would be foolish.
It's always easy to assess this stuff with hindsight and yes, you can always suggest that if your likely outcome is just a playoff spot without a serious likelihood of a cup run you should just trade expiring vets that will return something when you can replace them to some extent. But this isn't a video game. The guys in the room are people. You have to be careful how you handle that dynamic. The mercenary approach from management at the deadline in what is supposed to be a good season isn't the message you want to send. I understand your grand plan and with respect to Meier it makes more sense since they always wanted to extend him, but right now, NJ has to cap space to extend Kovacevic, let alone any other player they would trade him for. Your idea is interesting and I get the appeal but adding a LW2 or RW2 over a RD2 is kinda sorta a lateral move anyway. You aren't getting a long term piece for Kovacevic and you aren't flipping whatever the return is and another pick or prospect for a good long term piece. Just my thoughts.
As good as Kovacevic has played, I'd still rather have Nemec than Kovacevic in the lineup going into the playoffs come april/may. The same as Luke over Graves back then.
And if we had traded Graves we could have used those extra assets to get defensive depth, such as buying Chris Tanev, or Zadorov, or Hanifin, or M Pettersson, etc etc.
If Kovacevich gives us a better chance to win than Nemec now then he'll give us a better chance to win in May. I don't feel comfortable having a sophomore who lost his job suddenly have all of this pressure thrust onto him. Quality depth wins you games in the playoffs and we haven't had quality depth since 2012.
There is nothing to support the idea that Nemec will likely be better than Kovacevic this season, especially in the role he is playing (anchor on the PK, shutdown pairing). You just don’t trade a player like that when you’re pushing for the playoffs.
Nemec is a 20 year old 2nd overall pick who was excellent last year.
If you can turn Kovacevic into a 4C and 2LW (something like Jake Evans and Vatrano), that improves our depth without giving up assets. If you're that scared of Casey playing then go get a colin miller type as well.
We currently have MacDermid and Dowling as a 4th line and as our injury replacements at F.
Don’t care where he was picked, that stops mattering very quickly. You have to earn your spot in the lineup, Kovacevic did that. When he stops being one of the best dmen in the NHL, we can have a conversation.
If 1-2 defenseman get hurt then I’ll be a lot happier with the guy taking their place in the lineup with Nemec on the team than without.
