Limited suitors? There could be more suitors this year than we've seen in a trade deadline over the last decade.
Ottawa, Peterborough, North Bay, Mississauga, Barrie, Saginaw, London, Owen Sound, Windsor, Flint, Sarnia, Kitchener all could very well be in on players like that. That's over half the league... How are you coming up with "limited suitors"? lol
That’s a pretty big list you have.
I would take exception to many on that list.
1> Barrie will likely be a buyer if Clarke returns. If not…..
2> Saginaw is focused on next season from an acquisition perspective. They may be a buyer but not for those players. For 18!year olds? Probably but not 19 year olds that don’t project to return as OAs
3> Kitchener is an unlikely candidate at this point. It would be pretty ballsy for the GM to start buying while languishing at the bottom of the standings.
The rest are possibilities but some of those teams have open OA spots or can upgrade. We aren’t considering D-Men and goalies. It’s obviously not just forwards. Some teams like North Bay and Peterborough are light on premium picks and aren’t as capable making a trade at this point.
I agree there are still a great many variables in play and it is hard to nail down the market right now but it is an exception to the norm that a team trades their first rounder. I don’t think this crop of players moves that needle more in the direction of multiple first rounders getting moved. In some cases of a team trades their first rounder, they need to go out an make a trade to replace the first rounder because the player is a heavy contributor.
I can see Shane Wright, if he becomes available, garnering a ‘06 first. Outside of that, I don’t see another one. We could see a team like Peterborough move theirs because they don’t have the trade assets required but I don’t see a team with loads of picks moving their first.
