My plan is to hopefully lift the Cup with him at some point in time down the road here. So again, we’ve got lots of guys that obviously, from a free agent standpoint, both UFA and RFA that we’ll have to sort out over a period of time. But first and foremost, it’s all about winning right now. And we had the situation last year too, where we had several guys that that are were up for potential UFA. We were able to keep some of them. Some of them went in different directions for various different reasons. So when it comes to that for us, I want the focus to be totally on winning. And that’s kind of how we’ve approached things.
Literally the first line says that Chevy hopes to win with him down the road. And this to you sounds like Chevy doesn't want him to stay?
Okay then.
Literally the first line does not provide a definitive timeline. By concluding that this timeline extends into next season and beyond, you are inferring, assuming. That's exactly the same thing I did, the only difference being you are doing it in the opposite direction. Personally I think the absence of a definitive timeline by Chevy lends more credence to my interpretation.
Maybe save your "okay then" for Chevy, though I suggest prefacing it with "again, certainly" so he'll comprehend it.
why? we know they are planning on keeping him after the trade deadline when he has good value, we have 40+ million in capspace next year with no real replacement for him, he's a part of the leadership group on the best powerplay in the league and the only driver we have on the 2nd line, it seems very likely that they will at least try to sign him...
imo if they had no intention of trying to sign ehlers they would have traded him in the summer time
I'll start with your last line. This also is assumption. They value Ehlers and knew he would help them this year. Moreover, they wanted to see him fully entrenched on PP1. So even as an own rental he was worth keeping. I don't think they value him as much as Connor, and perhaps not as much as Vilardi and Lowry either. I think they might have seen Lambert as Ehlers' imminent replacement, or to a lesser extent Chibrikov or another prospect. That would make Ehlers expendable, in their view. Of course, their view is often cockamamie. Maybe their opinion of Lambert's imminence has changed. That might help Ehlers' cause. But we don't know that, any post on that subject is mere assumption.
I agree they will not trade him this season. They aren't
that cockamamie (hopefully). We have no idea what they plan for that future cap space. They might be planning on forking out $10M for a free agent RD or a load of cash for a 2C. And to quote Chevy, "again" they saw Lambert as a replacement.
For the record I hope they do re-sign Ehlers. They might be planning to lowball him but have no confidence that he'll bite. I think Ehlers is going to find out that he can get $8M x 6 years in free agency (or more). The questions then become, will the Jets be willing to match that, and if not, will Ehlers be willing to take less to stick around with the familiar? I think Ehlers will feel at home on a number of teams -- he's spent his life roaming the globe playing hockey so relocation will be water off a duck's back (which is not to say he'll sign with Anaheim). I just don't see how anyone can consider Ehlers' return next season as a fait accompli at this point.