Put this on the main board, just reasoning for Hampus Lindholm becoming available, to me he will be this year's version of Saad/Hamilton... And if I'm right, I highly expect Tim Murray to be front and center on a trade before July 1st, hopefully it'll be Friday night.
I feel bad for the fact that Anaheim fans believe all of these things simultaneously...
1. Lindholm's trade value is enormous, like Jack Eichel or McDavid enormous.
-it's big, but not that big. He's good, he's got top pair ability and potential, but he's not a legit #1 yet.
2. If he is offer sheeted, Anaheim fans believe it will be matched up to $8/$9 Million annual cap hit.
-I personally think anything above $6M aav will be difficult for them to match.
3. Despite the fact he hasn't re-signed with the Ducks, and that GM Bob Murray has stated that negotiations could go until August/September, with this good of a player, Anaheim fans think the idea of another team offer sheeting Lindholm is ridiculous.
- I believe that if he is not re-signed or traded by July 1st, he will sign an offer sheet.
4. Anaheim's internal budget doesn't limit them from putting so much money on one player on the back end.
-This is a team with almost 10 NHL ready(or near ready) defensemen in the organization, NOT including Lindholm (Fowler, Vatanen, Manson, Bieksa, Theodore, Despres, Holzer, Montour, Larsson, Stoner).
5. That an organization, without an analytics department, will recognize the value of a player who's value is most visible when looking at advanced statistics...
6. That this can all be solved simply by "dumping contracts", the main contracts being Stoner/Bieksa/Despres.
- The only teams that need to take on cap dumps are New Jersey, Carolina, and Arizona. Both New Jersey and Carolina have taken on their presumptive dumps. Arizona can find more than a few dumps of "higher quality" and, more importantly, shorter term. Stoner is still valued by Ducks management, and has two years left on his deal. Bieksa has a no movement clause and wants to play for a winner, not a cap dump team. Despres has concussion issues and a ton of term left on his deal...
I'm sorry Ducks fans...
I'm not trying be a jerk, or a pessimist, or insult your intelligence... As a Sabres fan (sorry I know Weve pissed you guys off pretty badly with this whole thing), I've seen an off season where we lost our two best players (Drury and Briere) and our 3rd best player (arguably) get signed to an offersheet (Vanek). This is real. It happens. There are limited finances in the organization and that is evident.