Or a starter at all. This is his 6th year as a pro and he's not been able to take the job from 3 different guys now - Anderson, Bishop and Hammond. And now you factor in the injury. I wouldn't even give 51. You should be able to get 1 of the top tier/tier-and-a-half of guys around there or lower (Samsonov, Blackwood, Booth, Vladar, Montembeault).
Sure Lehner's a Murray guy with Murray connections and yada yada but as Revelate said up there: what has he ever shown that warrants that kind of ask?
Lehner still falls into the gray area of players of his age, who have some NHL experience but not enough to rule out untapped potential. Murray drafted him and has presumably a lot of intel about the player in doing so - and, as he said when describing his preferred targets, he's looking at players who may be ready to take the next step with increased responsibility in a more prominent role with a change of scenery. Admittedly, Lehner has had ups-and-downs but he's always had the pressure of unseating a proven, established starter like Anderson who all of the Ottawa coaches were ready to switch to (when Anderson was healthy) as soon as the other goalies stumble. I can see Murray thinking that, with the unqualified opportunity to be the # 1 on a young team with similar aged-core, Lehner might be able to fulfill his potential.
in the same breath you could argue that only ROR and maybe Silf(whos really riding a hot post-season lets be honest) fit that hard to play against big two-way mold...so if we are reading between the lines of interviews that eliminates some of those you listed.
Valid point.
What would be the asking price for JVR? Personally, I would love to acquire Grigorenko.
If all it took was Grigorenko, I'd love the deal too - but I see the Leafs wanting a huge haul for JVR, such as.....
I feel like we don't make good JVR trade partners. Our first first is immovable and our second isn't high enough. He'll return a high first as part of any package.
No doubt a 1st rounder would have to go back along with 1-2 top prospects. JVR's size and age are in the prime range every team craves.
I know it goes against what he's said in the media, but I don't think Murray's going to limit his pool of targets to players of a specific age so long as he feels the "older" (i.e. Oshie) players have several productive seasons ahead of them. He's a player that could slide into this rebuild and be a contributor for four or five seasons.
I agree that the Sharp-aged players shouldn't be targets at all, but I don't think Murray will totally close the door on players older than 24/25.
Maybe so - but I'd place odds on Murray pushing for players in his top 6 to be younger, who the team can build around and let grow with Eichel and Reinhart. If he adds a late 20's guy - or even a 30+ player - it seems more likely to be for a role or depth player in the bottom 6 IMO.
