I am starting to get more and more convinced that we should see what is out there if Ziba is traded. He is a very good C and I like him a lot in many ways. Admires him in many ways. He is rare in that he genuinely has the tool set to carry a team.
But doing just that is also a tremendously different task from a mental perspective. And in that regard he just isn’t there for me. His best shifts the last three games game when a Flyer chopped him at the back of the legs on the attacking blueline when the refs didn’t see, on the Philly feed at least you could see how he really was giving it to the refs afterwards. He was dynamite the following 2-3 shifts. This was late in the game.
To be able to be a leader for a young team like this you must be able to have those best shifts — when the teams needs it the most. You can’t only have them when someone pissed you off.
And don’t get me wrong, this is definitely not meant to be an argument that it’s worth it for us to get rid of Ziba. Definitely not. But on the trademarket he should be our most valuable asset — by far.
There is and have always been two camps on Zucc, and with this post I will probably come across as another hater who just repeats his opinion. Nobody remembers what someone else’s opinion was x years ago. But I’ve actually been a Zucc supporter from Day 1. Wrote about him before we got him, I defended him for a long time when Torts hated him and wouldn’t play him. And I’ve för a long time pointed out the leadership qualities on the ice that he have had, how he have set an example and made players around him better.
But I just don’t think that is the case anymore. I just don’t think he is able to protect the puck well enough anymore, find that room and slow things down and make those opening passes. He is a good NHL player, but we need him to be a go to guy that we can go to when we need a player that can buy us time and space. He hasn’t done that this year nor that well last year either. He of course has qualities in other areas.
I just don’t think that he is worth keeping around in relation to what we would get if we traded him and what he makes per year.
Namestnikov is playing better, great to see. He should become moveable and Gorts shouldn’t hesitate to pull the trigger. Sometimes Names is trashed, but I don’t mind him as a player the way he is playing lately. But I don’t think he is a fit for the future.
I wonder if Max Domi could have been had for Names? To bad that ship sailed. Gorts should be able to trade Names for someone else’s underperformer. Hopefully we can get someone like Max Domi...
Skjei is struggling but that isn’t worrying me much. Young D on a tanking team, we shouldn’t expect much more.
I would like to see Ziba, Zucc and Names traded. I would like to see Hayes resigned and Kreider kept and evetually resigned too if the numbers won’t get insane. The common demeanor for these conclusions can be labeled as that I just think Hayes and Kreider are better able to handle the roles we will want them to handle than Shatty, Zucc, Ziba and Names. If Panarin is out there he could be a good replacement for Ziba on the PP.
And I would definitely like to see Gorton try to get a good solid top 4 D — of course preferably a RD — with size. Can he find a Ryan Johansen for Seth Jones type of trade?
