I completely get what Shark fans are saying and thinking right now.
When Hall was being shopped around I for sure thought the return we would get would be pretty damn good . Just came off a Hart season , best winger available in the market. Still young , cap hit was decent.
I wanted Byram from Colorado or Soderstrom from the Yotes or Harley from the Stars. At the time it made complete sense to me that Hall is worth that . He was the only reason we made the playoffs the one year. He was for sure worth an unknown commodity in a Byram etc prospect.
I remember gettig shit on by Avalanche fans thinking Byram plus their goalie propesct was fair .
In reality , it just doesn’work that way. What we wound up getting in return I thought was a steaming pile of crap
Fast forward until now…. I’m glad we got what we got and would rather have Bahl , Mercer , than Byram. It all worked out in the end.
I know right now Meier is better than any pieces being offered right now . But to expect a piece like Jarvis , Mercer , it just does not happen . I get it . Meier is a stud and SHOULD be worth a ton but no team is going to give up a 21/ 22 year old player already producing and play important roles on their respective NHL teams . Especially a cost controlled you g player that is vital havimg their contract controlled while their teams are capped out and looking to win a cup while their windows are open.
Same thing applies for Nikishkin. He is a major piece of the Canes future on D . They cannot let a player go that almost needs to be a replacemnt for a top 4 (minimum) Dman as their current players are nearing their next big raise.
I know Holtz does t sound like a sexy prospect , mainly because Devils fans have been putting him out there for trade.
It has zero to do with his ability . He is a very good prospect. It’s just that we are at the point as an organization where we need a player that is ready NOW ( Meier ). We have Haula as our winger for Jack… that’s no way to use our cornerstone piece . We have the room, need , perfect fit amd that’s Meier . We prefer to try like hell to get him now and solidify our roster instead of waiting on Holtz. We can afford to trade him , but only for the right piece . It’s not like we are trying or wanting to dump him. Other prospects like Luke and Nemec , we have earmarked for our roster omce Seversom and Graves are gone . We cannot afford to let them go .
I know I am biased, I am trying to look at thinhs as unbiased as I can . I just cannot see any prospects that are being offered that have the value as Holtz . Nikishkin is the only one I can think of and the Canes habe said that he is not available at all.
Yes Jarvis is a better piece than Holtz . But again, Canes are not going to move him.
What else has been or could realistically be available that has more value than Holtz ?
I get it that Grier might not like Holtz as much as say a D or C prospect or hulking skilled forward. But even though he might prefer that , the value of Holtz in a vacuum is pretty damn high.
Who is to say that SJ could not trade Holtz? Either right away or in the summer as part of a package to gain picks or move up in the draft or trade for a simular D or C prospect ?
