- Jul 5, 2015
- 14,294
- 12,261
Even on the Flyers boards, he is hard to gauge.
As I said, he plays against top lines as our top pairing Dman. But then he gets hurt, and our makeshift D continues on without missing a beat.
He has 1 more year left on his deal and the debate is to re-sign or not. Ideally, we only need him for another 2 years and then Provy and other kids are ready. So if we do re-sign him, it needs to be a deal that the Flyers can trade when the kids are ready. But will MDZ want to sign that kind of deal? Likely he wants top 4 money and term, which he deserves. But Philly might not be the best fit for that based on the the depth of good, young, cheap kids on the way.
Here is the thing though...you won't get that deal from Philly.
MDZ is absolutely what you describe...a mid pairing Dman who can PK. As for the Flyers getting 2 NHL ready wingers...well...we have a bunch of depth there very soon.
Schenn, Voracek, Simmonds are there now. Laughton, Raffl and Weise are too. That's our top 3 lines for wingers.
Then we have Konecny who could be ready this year. And have Lindblom and Aube-Kubel ready in 2017.
Ideally we need a top 6 LW and a #3C NOW. We have youth a year away and we have Laughton and Cousins who right now, are on par with Lemieux and Dano.
If the Flyers are trading MDZ and a 1st, it's for a top 6 LW. In fact, I don't see any scenario where Hextall trades the 1st. He is committed to building thru the draft.
A 2nd pairing Dman and a 1st will fetch more than Dano and Lemieux.
You're right if MDZ isn't an UFA next season but he is. I would substitute Lowry for Lemieux or Dano if that would do it.
