Overrated?
missing?
I think we're over-invested in RHD in terms of the salary cap. It's a nice luxury to have but I don't think the Jets can sustain it if they become a competitive team. If Trouba gets $5, Buff is at $7.5 and Myers is getting his $3 or whatever it is over the next several years that's closing on 20% of the salary cap and I just don't see it as sustainable.
I like all three of Buff, Trouba and Myers. I also like Hamonic. I believe we only really need to have two of those guys on the right side. If we move Trouba over to the left side (or Myers/Hamonic) then ok, we can keep all three. I see Buff as the #1 guy. I'm fine with any of Trouba/Myers/Hamonic as our second pairing RHD. I really don't think it's prudent to be running a $3 million+ guy as your third pairing guy in a salary cap world. Obviously if we pick up Hamonic then we'll lose Trouba or Myers somehow but to my mind if no one is moving to the left side I still think we should move out one of those guys for something of need.
So assume we sign Trouba and move him to LHD playing with Myers. Buff is still playing with Enstrom. Third pairing RHD should be someone like Postma at low salary and they should only be eating about 8-10 minutes a game.
I agree that if Trouba isn't drinking the Winnipeg kool-aid we should move him (maybe to Buffalo - Myers seems to think Winnipeg is the shizzle after being there for a while). I like Trouba and would like to see him stay here for the long term. I may have been drinking the Trouba kool-aid myself, but I think this kid will be a very good NHL defender and he has shown as much when moved away from Stu. So I don't want him to be traded but understand the notion of how solid a trade chip he is. I just think he's a better defender than Myers and so would rather move the latter.
As far as Reilly goes, I honestly haven't watched him much at all and he will inherently suffer from my anti-Leafs stance in any evaluation I might give him. I do know he hasn't been partnered with Stu so he has that distinct advantage from the start of any conversation. I think objectively that Reilly and Trouba are both pretty equal in terms of their development and performance to this point so I think Reilly's contract is a solid comparison to work from. I don't see how Trouba's agent can argue for more than that (which isn't to say he won't start higher for reasons he believes) so it's a ballpark for term and dollars. Maata's contract is as well. The comps are in and I'm ok with them. I just don't think we can keep all the guys we have on the right side.