Proposal: NYR/Coyotes - Libor Hajek for Travis Boyd

[Tawnos]

He has never been on waivers, he has been assigned to the AHL twice, once at the start of the 2020 season and once at the start of the 2018 season. He was I believe 21 and 18 respectively.

He was a 2nd round draft pick, is only 23, turning 24 in feb, and outside of his injury looked great. If he ever recovers from that injury there's a good chance he's a good player again. Even as is he's still a 3rd pairing D on the Rangers with a low opportunity cost to acquire.

I don't love trading Boyd for him, but acquiring him for a late pick is at worst low risk low reward and at best low risk high reward.

To be clear, Hajek is in the AHL right now on a conditioning assignment because they haven’t played him a single game this year. He didn’t go on waivers because you don’t need that for conditioning assignments, but that’s the situation right now.

 

[Dead Coyote]

To be clear, Hajek is in the AHL right now on a conditioning assignment because they haven’t played him a single game this year. He didn’t go on waivers because you don’t need that for conditioning assignments, but that’s the situation right now.

I'm perfectly aware of that. Again, pretty much nothing he does this year performance wise, is going to make his chances in the future any worse. There is a distinct possibility that we could pick him up from waivers, but I don't think that happens this year. NYR have honestly played him a lot more than they should have in the NHL after the injury and they don't seem to want to let him go too badly. I'm perfectly okay with gambling on him to regain his form if we develop him in our system for 1-2 years. The expected value of that transaction, if it were a pick like a 5th-7th, is pretty high. If he does develop, he'll be much better than anything we'd likely get at that point. If he doesn't, there's still a...60% chance say, that he's a capable, or at least decent bottom pairing D who's young. I like those chances a lot more than developing a 5-7th pick into even a 7th D.

 

[cwede]

To be clear, Hajek is in the AHL right now on a conditioning assignment because they haven’t played him a single game this year. He didn’t go on waivers because you don’t need that for conditioning assignments, but that’s the situation right now.

actually Hajek has been back with NYR for a couple weeks, following completion of the Conditioning Loan

 

[Dead Coyote]

Also to anyone who thinks Hajek isn't an NHL D, he can absolutely play on the bottom pairing and for the most part isn't awful there.

And that's in NYR. We just took a 7th D from PHI and he's one of the top d scorers in the league who we literally got for nothing and were paid to take.

Our D isn't exactly great, and we have a lot more opportunities available.

Ghost and Chychrun are the only players who have been locked in for the season on D, although Capobianco is performing to his previous expectations with this coaching staff and looks great. He's also only 1 year older than Hajek and had never performed above a #7D role on our team prior to this year.

Lybushkin is a solid bottom pairing defenseman but hasn't been as good this year as he was last. Stralman is barely a warm body on the ice and more of a pylon, and Mayo and Dineen are...well, they're players. Similar position to Hajek except without the pedigree. Soderstrom is Soderstrom. Timmins is pretty decent.

I would take Hajek, right now, at his current play, above most of those players, not including potential. He's arguably as good as Lybushkin (but only because I like arguing), is much better than Stralman, is about the same as Mayo, and is better than Dineen. He's probably better than Timmins but I didn't get a good read on him when he played.

When you factor in opportunity cost and potential, I would be quite happy to get a decent player back for a pick. Not all NHL rosters are created equal, and the gap between the Rangers and the Coyotes is uh, quite a lot this year.

 

[bernmeister]

Let’s rephrase - Hajek looks like an NHL defenseman for 60% of his TOI but he handles the puck like it’s a grenade.

Maybe a coach with a lot of patience can fix it? If they can, then you are looking at a top 4 defenseman. That’s probably part of the reason the Rangers are loathe to waive him.

Agree w/this except it is less his stick/puck handling and more how fast he sizes up a play.
Somehow his reaction isn't kicking in fast enuf.
And that coupled with lack of confidence given he has zero roster spot here w'everbody ahead of him is a recipe for disaster.

Decent gamble if put in the right system, and cheap

 

[bernmeister]

Also to anyone who thinks Hajek isn't an NHL D, he can absolutely play on the bottom pairing and for the most part isn't awful there.

And that's in NYR. We just took a 7th D from PHI and he's one of the top d scorers in the league who we literally got for nothing and were paid to take.

Our D isn't exactly great, and we have a lot more opportunities available.

Ghost and Chychrun are the only players who have been locked in for the season on D, although Capobianco is performing to his previous expectations with this coaching staff and looks great. He's also only 1 year older than Hajek and had never performed above a #7D role on our team prior to this year.

Lybushkin is a solid bottom pairing defenseman but hasn't been as good this year as he was last. Stralman is barely a warm body on the ice and more of a pylon, and Mayo and Dineen are...well, they're players. Similar position to Hajek except without the pedigree. Soderstrom is Soderstrom. Timmins is pretty decent.

I would take Hajek, right now, at his current play, above most of those players, not including potential. He's arguably as good as Lybushkin (but only because I like arguing), is much better than Stralman, is about the same as Mayo, and is better than Dineen. He's probably better than Timmins but I didn't get a good read on him when he played.

When you factor in opportunity cost and potential, I would be quite happy to get a decent player back for a pick. Not all NHL rosters are created equal, and the gap between the Rangers and the Coyotes is uh, quite a lot this year.

my assessment is 1 post prior

cap is useful, but need the roster spot

A 6th and Hajek for a 5th?
something like that?

 

[rt]

I rather keep Boyd if we're going to move Schmaltz.

Let’s do Schmaltz for Hajek then.

 

[Night Shift]

Conditional pick to the Rangers, Coyotes get next month's rent.