Proposal: Free agency edition Trade Rumours/Proposals - 2025/26 Part II

[BUCKLE UP]

Buckle up

 

[Goat Boy]

Ehlers scored 9 goals in 45 playoff games prior to Carolina. Stankoven's career high before last season was 38 points. Blake's was 34. Taylor Hall was considered cooked after Chicago.

Did you consider them elite heading into last season? I certainly doubt it. Lots of people thought Carolina didn't have it in them. They found the right players for the right roles and everything popped. Those guys were incredible this past playoffs. But don't act like anyone "saw that kind of depth" there before it actually happened.

Who knows what Eklund can actually be. Why can't he become Ehlers?

If Ottawa had traded Tkachuk for Stankoven and two 1sts last year, you would have been pissed, I'm sure.

Agreed. Players can grow and change unexpectedly. Their past performance is a useful metric, but it's not the be-all end-all.

Anyways, I'm itching to know who the Beef is.

 

[Loach]

Batherson showed up these playoffs, but let's not pretend like this wasn't the exception lol.

We have decent depth, but with Tkachuk gone, as it stands I don't know that it's nearly enough to get us far.

Stankoven just turned 23, he's about to explode offensively imo. Same with Blake. We don't have those kinds of young players in the org.

He's only been to the playoffs twice. So what's the exception? That he's bad or good? You calm yourself.

 

[commentsense]

Everyone knew Carolina had the depth bro. They are by far the deepest team in the league.

We didn't know just how good they were, and we underestimated their incredibly tight and effective system, but the depth was never in question.

And honestly, I would have been happier with Stankoven and two firsts. Absolutely without a doubt.

Wrong. Everyone appreciated their tight and effective system. Nobody thought they had enough elite talent to compete with Florida, Colorado, Dallas, etc. Everyone thought they would cap out at being a really good but never great team.

But keep telling yourself that you knew it all along, in hindsight.

5'8 Logan Stankoven who had 29 points in 59 games would have been a way better return that 5'10 William Eklund who had 53 points in 79 games. So obvious!

You of course also knew known that Taylor Hall, who had 24 points in 46 games with Chicago and 36 points in 61 games with the Bruins the year prior, was the missing piece for their top 6.

All knowing @L'Aveuglette .

 

[Relapsing]

Buckle up

I've been buckled for 4 days now. I can't buckle any more. If I do, I'm going to start cutting off circulation

 

[Mingus Dew]

Wrong. Everyone appreciated their tight and effective system. Nobody thought they had enough elite talent to compete with Florida, Colorado, Dallas, etc. Everyone thought they would cap out at being a really good but never great team.

But keep telling yourself that you knew it all along, in hindsight.

5'8 Logan Stankoven who had 29 points in 59 games would have been a way better return that 5'10 William Eklund who had 53 points in 79 games. Okay!

You of course also knew known that Taylor Hall, who had 24 points in 46 games with Chicago and 36 points in 61 games with the Bruins the year prior, was the missing piece for their top 6.

All knowing @L'Aveuglette .

Yeah Carolina really is the model for winning without superstars. Aho, like Stu, is not a high end 1C. Svechnikov is a great player but not a prolific scorer.

The guys that got it done for them we middle-six players that stepped up.

 

[Tragedy]

Buckle up

Nope unbuckle everyone, that same imaginary source that told me yesterday nothing was going to happen has just notified me nothing is happening again

 

[Emerica]

not gonna lie i have a hard time following what Calgary is doing. They seem all over the place

 

[commentsense]

Stankoven just turned 23, he's about to explode offensively imo. Same with Blake. We don't have those kinds of young players in the org.

Stankoven is like 4 months younger than Eklund lol.

 

[L'Aveuglette]

He's only been to the playoffs twice. So what's the exception? That he's bad or good? You calm yourself.

It's not just in the playoffs. He was better this season but generally he doesn't rise to the occasion.

And you calm your own tits.

 

[Joeyjoejoe]

Batherson showed up these playoffs, but let's not pretend like this wasn't the exception lol.

We have decent depth, but with Tkachuk gone, as it stands I don't know that it's nearly enough to get us far.

Stankoven just turned 23, he's about to explode offensively imo. Same with Blake. We don't have those kinds of young players in the org.

I could say the same thing that Eklund is about to explode offensively now that he’s on a better team, and that Pinto with less defensive responsibilities and more offensive zone starts and opportunities can explode as well, or even Greig has untapped offensive potential. Zetterlund can go back to being his usual 40-50point guy with some down years behind him. Same with Foegele, he exploded offensively soon as he left the trap system with LA. Full year with Ottawa is going to get him back to 40point 20 goal guy that he has shown.

 

[Relapsing]

Nope unbuckle everyone, that same imaginary source that told me yesterday nothing was going to happen has just notified me nothing is happening again

 

[L'Aveuglette]

Stankoven is like 4 months younger than Eklund lol.

I don't see the same upside in Eklund.

Also, in the hypothetical trade with Dallas, we would have gotten both Stankoven AND the two firsts, which we could have then used to get an Eklund. How is that not better?

 

[CornerStone61]

Buckle up

 

[Micklebot]

Sure. But fundamentally we could not generate offense against a tight forechecking team in the playoffs.

Maybe with a healthy D corps we steal a game or two sure. But like we don't have the weapons.

Colorado has proven it already. We've seen what they can do when fully healthy.

hard to create offense when your backend has a broken arm Chabot, and guys like Crotty, Thomson and Gilbert out there.

Idk, I don't think people seem to understand that offence isn't just your forwards, and defense isn't just your dmen, it's a 5 man system and they all contribute a ton at both ends of the ice in the modern day game.

To suggest that Chabot's broken arm, losing Zub a period into game 1, Not having Kleven the first two games, and Sanderson getting knocked out half way through the series, not sure he was even fully recovered from his shoulder yet either, didn't have a substantial impact on the team's offence just defies logic imo.

As for Colorado, you're proving my point. They have absolutely shown that they are an elite team, but you take out Makar and they got swept. Injuries to your top players matters a lot. Multiple injuries to your backend compounds, when Kleven is already out in game one and you're already sheltering Dennis friggin Gilbert, and you then lose Zub, you're essential playing a game with 4 D, that's going to impact your offense. Adding Crotty or Thomson to the mix next games doesn't really help.

 

[Gil Gunderson]

Jealous of Washington. Never needed to tank and able to stay competitive through amazing drafting and scouting.

 

[DueDiligence]

I could say the same thing that Eklund is about to explode offensively now that he’s on a better team, and that Pinto with less defensive responsibilities and more offensive zone starts and opportunities can explode as well, or even Greig has untapped offensive potential. Zetterlund can go back to being his usual 40-50point guy with some down years behind him. Same with Foegele, he exploded offensively soon as he left the trap system with LA. Full year with Ottawa is going to get him back to 40point 20 goal guy that he has shown.

You are just grasping at straws here. Sure one or two guys might break out but who on the list is a bonafide goal scorer?

 

[Mingus Dew]

hard to create offense when your backend has a broken arm Chabot, and guys like Crotty, Thomson and Gilbert out there.

Idk, I don't think people seem to understand that offence isn't just your forwards, and defense isn't just your dmen, it's a 5 man system and they all contribute a ton at both ends of the ice in the modern day game.

To suggest that Chabot's broken arm, losing Zub a period into game 1, Not having Kleven the first two games, and Sanderson getting knocked out half way through the series, not sure he was even fully recovered from his shoulder yet either, didn't have a substantial impact on the team's offence just defies logic imo.

As for Colorado, you're proving my point. They have absolutely shown that they are an elite team, but you take out Makar and they got swept. Injuries to your top players matters a lot. Multiple injuries to your backend compounds, when Kleven is already out in game one and you're already sheltering Dennis friggin Gilbert, and you then lose Zub, you're essential playing a game with 4 D, that's going to impact your offense. Adding Crotty or Thomson to the mix next games doesn't really help.

We were pretty healthy against TO last year and we got caved as well.

I don't think it's fair to compare us to Colorado is all.

We certainly would have done better with a healthy Kleven and Zub but watching that series it just wasn't close enough for two more Top 4 D to have made the difference.

We have a debilitating lack of finish and high-end scoring amongst our forward group. We are actually pretty good at creating chances, which is why our analytics are so good, but we are atrocious at converting. Brady was part of the problem honestly.

We need fundamentally different players in the top 6, not just additions. My opinion of course.

 

[Sensmileletsgo]

We were pretty healthy against TO last year and we got caved as well.

I don't think it's fair to compare us to Colorado is all.

We certainly would have done better with a healthy Kleven and Zub but watching that series it just wasn't close enough for two more Top 4 D to have made the difference.

We have a debilitating lack of finish and high-end scoring amongst our forward group. We are actually pretty good at creating chances, which is why our analytics are so good, but we are atrocious at converting. Brady was part of the problem honestly.

We need fundamentally different players in the top 6, not just additions. My opinion of course.

That was a pretty close series. Toronto was the better team but I don’t think we got caved.

 

[Joeyjoejoe]

You are just grasping at straws here. Sure one or two guys might break out but who on the list is a bonafide goal scorer?

I am doing the same as he did. I didn’t say we didn’t need a goal scorer. Merely stating that our depth isn’t shit as originally stated.

 

[Micklebot]

Yeah Carolina really is the model for winning without superstars. Aho, like Stu, is not a high end 1C. Svechnikov is a great player but not a prolific scorer.

The guys that got it done for them we middle-six players that stepped up.

The real question mark for Carolina was in net, nobody was expecting Andersen to play as well as he did after the reg season he had. Heck, many were expecting them to start Bussi, who'd had a pretty bad finish to the season.

But, yeah, their middle six stepping up gave them the edge for sure, I'm sure nobody had Hall, Blake, Stankoven, and Staal all outscoring Aho, Svech and Jarvis. That's down right wild.

 

[PlayOn]

I think everyone here is on the same page in wanting a top line talent with goal-scoring ability. But if you can’t get that yet, the answer of creating a deeper and stronger four line team helps you in the meantime. It shouldn’t be looked at as top line or nothing.

 

[OttawaSenators11]

My guess is if Knies gets traded it will be on draft night to Buffalo, but only if Chase Reid is available

 

[GoSenatorsGo]

I know he was going to get 10M + from some team, but that Tuch contract will be brutal in a few years imo.

 

[ReginKarlssonLehner]

Definitely don't want to pay what the Canucks will want for DeBrusk (likely #25+) but on the other hand this forward group is damn sexy:

Eklund - Stutzle - DeBrusk
Greig - Cozens - Batherson
Zetterlund - Pinto - Amadio
Foegele - Halliday - Giroux

Damn sexy?

You have 3 guys who are weak or average defensively (debrusk, batherson and Cozens). No real offensive breakout talent outside of Stutzle. Greig is not a top 6 forward at all and Eklund/Debrusk are not top line wingers at all.

That lineup can easy finish bottom 5 with Stutzle slumping or being injured for long period of time.

McTavish - Stutzle - Batherson
Eklund - Cozens - Zetterlund
Greig - Pinto - Giroux
Foegele - Halliday - Amadio

That'd be a perfectly fine lineup. A solid bet to be a really good team. Is there a ton of star power up front? No. But a ton of depth in the areas that matter.

Push Zetterlund down, get one more legit top 6 and then we would be what you think that lineup is. A solid bet for playoffs but barely making in yet again with how everyone else improving.