I wouldn't mind us grabbing Boqvist off waivers or even signing him in FA. Promising but has dealt with a lot of injuries. Still worth a shot.
I'd rather give Erik Brannstrom a chance.
He won't be quallified by the Senators and still has some upside to his game.
Though, all of those guys would be our #7 defenseman unless we trade one of our guys.
Shouldn't Beniers receive a qualifying offer as well?
The ex-Jacket that I want Seattle to sign is Alex Nylander. He was actually good with the Jackets, very skilled goal scorer. They just don't have lineup space with all of the talented young players and needed to make space for gritty consistent veterans to complement them. It left Nylander with no spot, even though he was very good.
Of course he wasn't effective in his previous stops so there's no guarantee he'll fit. But a $1m x 1 prove it deal would make a lot of sense. If he doesn't fit you can send him down.
Boqvist has been steadily improving in the last couple years but he's never going to be strong defensively. He's not wired for it or built for it. He'd work as an offensive specialist but I don't think we need one.
Brannstrom I don't know as well but he seems like a very smart player. He moves pucks well and has better defensive smarts than Boqvist. He's just very small. That's more of a team building concept question, do you want guys like that on the backend? Most would say no.
Interestingly there were a lot of short D drafted in 2017 and 2018, when Brannstrom and Boqvist were picked. It was something like thirty of them under six foot. Only about three this year. Teams have figured out that they don't want this player type unless they're #1D.