Ranking our forwards:
G, C, V, Sim, Kon, Filppula, Weal, Patrick, Laughton
Leier #10
Raffl #11
Weise #12
Lehtera #13
Read #14
Lindblom, NAK, Vorobyev, maybe even MV and Martel will jump ahead of this group by next year.
Weise>Read>Lehtera
One has to play, and all of them suck, but Lehtera is clearly the worst of the bunch so there's no excuse for keeping him in.
Still don't see why a cap dump was necessary in the Schenn trade.
Though, it'll be fun to see Frost and 2018/19 1st in the NHL in 5 years when the Flyers are just 2 years away from contending!
The cap dump on lehtera was why I was against the trade from day 1. He was clearly done last year and it gave hak another useless vet to play over better options. They should have received much more for taking lehtera back and the trade as is looks like a big win for st Louis. 2 low firsts and getting rid of a useless overpaid plug for a top 6 center in his prime is a steal. Lehtera honestly looks worse than Umberger and Vinny. There is not a single positive thing that he brings to the team and is blocking guys like Martel from getting a shot. Hextall' s love for these over the hill overpaid vets is getting very annoying. Bad enough to obtain them but then to have them actually play and be on the roster is just worse. The trade may even out after 5 years but for the next 2 years it is a massive win for the blues. If you are taking a roster player back in a trade, you need to make sure that player can actually play even if it's in a limited role. I didn't really even love Schenn but I would have kept him if the only way the trade happens was us getting Lehtera. We essentially did them a favor for free as Schenns value was probably close to 2 late firsts as seen with the Duchene trade. Very bad cap and asset management by Hextall.Still don't see why a cap dump was necessary in the Schenn trade.
Though, it'll be fun to see Frost and 2018/19 1st in the NHL in 5 years when the Flyers are just 2 years away from contending!
Schenn wasn't a top 6 center in Philadelphia, he was a marginal 3rd line center and a PP specialist,
The value Colorado got for Duchene makes it look even worse that we took back a cap dump that large for a 25-30 goal, 55-60 point scorer in his prime.
Girard
Kamenev
Bowers (28th overall 2017)
Ott 1st 2018 (top 10 protected)
Nash 2nd 2019
Ott 3rd 2018
Hammond
Jesus.
The problem is that Schenn was a third line winger.
averaged 31 ES points per year over a 4 year period, Filppula had 35 ES points last year.
Nor was he very good at possession, Corsi Rel averaged about -1.5 for that 4 year period.
The 28 PP goals the last two seasons were solid, but also the product of playing wth G and Ghost - he has 1 in 15 games this season.
Now maybe he's going to put up 60 ES points this year, but somehow I doubt it.
He's playing better than expected, but off his Philly production, no one considered him as the same quality of player as Duchene.
He was the 3rd best center and the 3rd best RW and a fail at LW on a mediocre team.
How does that make him a top 6 player?
Simmonds is also our best PK guy.
My point with Filppula is it hasn't been that hard to replace Schenn's production on THIS team.
If Patrick can get healthy and step it up, we won't even know Schenn's gone.
I just don't see how this guy is playing over Vecchione right now. I thought Vecchione showed he could play in the NHL last year and he is playing well in the A right now.
Lehtera is brutal to watch out there. What's worse is the announcers bending over backwards to find something to compliment him on.
Having a giant deadweight contract certainly helps to keep you on the NHL roster ahead of kids who can play in the AHL.I just don't see how this guy is playing over Vecchione right now. I thought Vecchione showed he could play in the NHL last year and he is playing well in the A right now.
Lehtera is brutal to watch out there. What's worse is the announcers bending over backwards to find something to compliment him on.
He is brutal. I think Hexy just wants Vech to be the fully-formed article so that when he brings him up, he will stay up. I have no idea where he is on the Laughton Memorial Completion Tour TM, but I'd bet that is what they are thinking.