Rumor: Trade Rumors/Proposals 2018-2019 (Part 19)

[danielpalfredsson]

The opportunity with Kovalchuk will be if he and the Kings don't find a common ground this season, and he decides to go back to the KHL.

Kovalchuk will have already been paid 14.5M of his 18.74M contract. So he would have less financial incentive to stay in the NHL if things aren't working out.

In that scenario, he'd retire. The team holding his rights would not have to pay him his remaining 4.25M in real money. The hitch for the Kings would be that Kovalchuk was signed as a 35+ contract. That means his cap hit would stay on the books for them. That would cause the Kings to have 6.25M in dead cap next season.

The same thing happened with Detroit and Datsyuk. The return for taking Kovalchuk in that scenario might not be big, but it would be something the Senators should explore. Arizona got 1.3M in cash via Detroit taking an injured/uninsured Joe Vitale off Arizona's hands. Detroit also allowed Arizona to trade up from 20 to 16 to take Chychrun in exchange for a 2nd round pick. I think that was fair value for a trade up, but acquiring Datsyuk might have influenced Detroit to accept a swap of first rounders that they might otherwise not have been willing to make.

There aren't a lot of opportunities left to "weaponize" cap space. Detroit has Zetterberg and Franzen on LTIR, but Toronto just completely reset the market for those kind of contracts, so it's not like we could expect much for taking those types of contracts right now.

Loui Eriksson and David Backes are the two guys left I can think of. Upon being paid his bonus, Backes is owed 1M/3M against a 2 x 6M cap hit. He has a NTC, but he does not have a NMC. This means he might value coming to Ottawa where he'd be guaranteed a spot and a bigger role. Detroit needs to sign McAvoy and Carlo. They also need to extend Krug for next season. They only have about 7 million in space right now. To me, that makes Backes our best target.

An Eriksson for Ryan swap makes sense. Free Ryan from this nightmare of his. Save Melnyk a bit of cash. If it's true the Canucks are implying that Eriksson might have to ride the bus in Utica if he doesn't wave his NTC, then it becomes a no brainer for him to move to Ottawa. I hope he likes Shawarma.

 

[RAFI BOMB]

My confidence level of him doing it right is negative 53.

A lot of the issue is based on context. The fact that Dorion plans for a rebuild and trades away all of Stone, Karlsson, Hoffman and Duchene, creates a bigger need for each draft choice. Looking at the 2019 draft I don't know if anyone could argue that that was good asset management. Thomson, Pinto and Sogaard all seem like decent picks and they passed on a lot of good players. Could the Sens have moved back a few picks and still get Thomson in the first round? Could they have traded 32 and 44 to Carolina for 36 and 37 and still ended up with Pinto and Sogaard? Even if they lost out on Pinto there was still good players like Rees, Afanasyev, Leasson among others that they could have got. Even with their other picks couldn't they have moved back a few spots and still get those players?

That is the big concern for the 2020 draft for me. Does Dorion throw high quality picks away in trades or does he go way off the board with his selections and not manage the assets properly. Looking at our prospect pool it seems like we are good on defense and in goaltending in terms of possible high end talent. The area where we seems to be lacking in prospects with 1st line forward potential. At this point Tkachuk and Batherson seem like they could be high end first liners but the rest are more questionable. Logan Brown is a possibility but it isn't that clear. The rest in terms of White, Norris, Duclair, C. Brown, Formenton, Davidsson, Balcers, Chlapik, Paul, Abramov and Vernonneau seem like they will be 2nd liners at best. Even players like Crookshank, Novak and Loheit project to be most likely 3rd liners. Maybe some prospect suprisises and emerges as a high end talent, but by the looks of it the focus on the 2020 draft should be getting some high end forward prospects.

 

[Bevans]

The opportunity with Kovalchuk will be if he and the Kings don't find a common ground this season, and he decides to go back to the KHL.

Kovalchuk will have already been paid 14.5M of his 18.74M contract. So he would have less financial incentive to stay in the NHL if things aren't working out.

In that scenario, he'd retire. The team holding his rights would not have to pay him his remaining 4.25M in real money. The hitch for the Kings would be that Kovalchuk was signed as a 35+ contract. That means his cap hit would stay on the books for them. That would cause the Kings to have 6.25M in dead cap next season.

The same thing happened with Detroit and Datsyuk. The return for taking Kovalchuk in that scenario might not be big, but it would be something the Senators should explore. Arizona got 1.3M in cash via Detroit taking an injured/uninsured Joe Vitale off Arizona's hands. Detroit also allowed Arizona to trade up from 20 to 16 to take Chychrun in exchange for a 2nd round pick. I think that was fair value for a trade up, but acquiring Datsyuk might have influenced Detroit to accept a swap of first rounders that they might otherwise not have been willing to make.

There aren't a lot of opportunities left to "weaponize" cap space. Detroit has Zetterberg and Franzen on LTIR, but Toronto just completely reset the market for those kind of contracts, so it's not like we could expect much for taking those types of contracts right now.

Loui Eriksson and David Backes are the two guys left I can think of. Upon being paid his bonus, Backes is owed 1M/3M against a 2 x 6M cap hit. He has a NTC, but he does not have a NMC. This means he might value coming to Ottawa where he'd be guaranteed a spot and a bigger role. Detroit needs to sign McAvoy and Carlo. They also need to extend Krug for next season. They only have about 7 million in space right now. To me, that makes Backes our best target.

An Eriksson for Ryan swap makes sense. Free Ryan from this nightmare of his. Save Melnyk a bit of cash. If it's true the Canucks are implying that Eriksson might have to ride the bus in Utica if he doesn't wave his NTC, then it becomes a no brainer for him to move to Ottawa. I hope he likes Shawarma.

Clarkson did not reset the market.

Clarkson's bonus was already paid out. So, the leafs are only paying the uninsured portion of his 1 million dollar base salary.

In other words, Sparks is owed more real money than Clarkson is.

Likely, the main motivation for Vegas to dump Clarkson was just to avoid LTIR penalties from entry level bonuses if guys like Glass and Hague making the team.

The gap in value between saving real money on 1 year of a LTIR vs shelling out millions of dollars for years on a healthy Backes, Okposo or Eriksson is astronomical.

It's tantamount to saying saying a sale on shawarma means I should be able to get a house in the Glebe cheaper.

The closest you're going to get to Melynk weaponizing the cap is the Smith for Anisimov trade. Leveraging cap dollars to save real dollars.
I
a step up from paying 2nd and 3rd round picks (ala Brassard and Zaitsev). Should count our blessings and not hold our breath for a Marleau esque or Kovalchuk move.

 

[BonHoonLayneCornell]

Clarkson did not reset the market.

Clarkson's bonus was already paid out. So, the leafs are only paying the uninsured portion of his 1 million dollar base salary.

In other words, Sparks is owed more real money than Clarkson is.

Likely, the main motivation for Vegas to dump Clarkson was just to avoid LTIR penalties from entry level bonuses if guys like Glass and Hague making the team.

The gap in value between saving real money on 1 year of a LTIR vs shelling out millions of dollars for years on a healthy Backes, Okposo or Eriksson is astronomical.

It's tantamount to saying saying a sale on shawarma means I should be able to get a house in the Glebe cheaper.

The closest you're going to get to Melynk weaponizing the cap is the Smith for Anisimov trade. Leveraging cap dollars to save real dollars.
I
a step up from paying 2nd and 3rd round picks (ala Brassard and Zaitsev). Should count our blessings and not hold our breath for a Marleau esque or Kovalchuk move.

I don't think any Ottawa Senators fan is counting their blessings because Melnyk saved a million or two in real salary on Anisimov over Smith. When you're so far away from any cap ceiling issues and are already circumventing the cap floor, moves like that benefit the owner and that's about it. It would be ideal to somehow be able to leverage their situation to get actual assets and not just a cap dump for a cap dump.

 

[Bevans]

I don't think any Ottawa Senators fan is counting their blessings because Melnyk saved a million or two in real salary on Anisimov over Smith. When you're so far away from any cap ceiling issues and are already circumventing the cap floor, moves like that benefit the owner and that's about it. It would be ideal to somehow be able to leverage their situation to get actual assets and not just a cap dump for a cap dump.

The bless counting comes from the fact Dorion didn't add an extra pick to make it happen. If you're waiting for him to leverage cap space you're going to be holding your breath for a while.

I think the most constructive form of optimism would be to hope that Melynk plans to reinvest the savings when he's ready to go for it.

It's awfully hard to believe that's the case. But if it is, then I don't fault Melynk for the thinking "I'd rather spend 50 million when I'm tanking and 90 million when I'm going for it, instead of 70 million both years if I know I can't win anyway.

As hard as we are on Melnyk he did spend an awful lot on some unsuccessful years. Spending as little as humanly possible to get lafrieniere is arguably a smart business plan.

Obviously in an ideal world he sells the team or weaponizes the entire cap space and spends millions to acquire picks. But clearly we can't have nice things. This would be the next best alternative.

 

[BonHoonLayneCornell]

The bless counting comes from the fact Dorion didn't add an extra pick to make it happen. If you're waiting for him to leverage cap space you're going to be holding your breath for a while.

I think the most constructive form of optimism would be to hope that Melynk plans to reinvest the savings when he's ready to go for it.

It's awfully hard to believe that's the case. But if it is, then I don't fault Melynk for the thinking "I'd rather spend 50 million when I'm tanking and 90 million when I'm going for it, instead of 70 million both years if I know I can't win anyway.

As hard as we are on Melnyk he did spend an awful lot on some unsuccessful years. Spending as little as humanly possible to get lafrieniere is arguably a smart business plan.

Obviously in an ideal world he sells the team or weaponizes the entire cap space and spends millions to acquire picks. But clearly we can't have nice things. This would be the next best alternative.

Gotcha, fair enough, it is their calling card to throw the picks in for cash savings. I thought you meant a move like Smith for Anisimov is some form of weaponizing your cap space, when really it's just a move to benefit the expense account.

As you've pointed out, expecting them to use cap space as a weapon is fruitless if they are not even willing to spend to the floor in real salary and have gone to great lengths to do so. It's clear they aren't willing to add to the payroll in actual salary paid which makes it nearly impossible to take on these cap casualties for perks.

If that is Melnyk's plan as you portray as a possibility, I agree that does make some sense and would explain all the cap circumvention happening with them giving up picks for bonuses paid even though they're well below the cap floor. I have a real hard time seeing it re-invested at some point, but we'll see.

Maybe they're stacking their chips so they actually can sign Chabot and pay him his 10-20 mil bonus cash in year one.

 

[Bevans]

Gotcha, fair enough, it is their calling card to throw the picks in for cash savings. I thought you meant a move like Smith for Anisimov is some form of weaponizing your cap space, when really it's just a move to benefit the expense account.

As you've pointed out, expecting them to use cap space as a weapon is fruitless if they are not even willing to spend to the floor in real salary and have gone to great lengths to do so. It's clear they aren't willing to add to the payroll in actual salary paid which makes it nearly impossible to take on these cap casualties for perks.

If that is Melnyk's plan as you portray as a possibility, I agree that does make some sense and would explain all the cap circumvention happening with them giving up picks for bonuses paid even though they're well below the cap floor. I have a real hard time seeing it re-invested at some point, but we'll see.

Maybe they're stacking their chips so they actually can sign Chabot and pay him his 10-20 mil bonus cash in year one.

Yes weaponizing cap space for the sake of the bank account. Something no fan likes.

Another example of this would be Lucic for Neal. That deal saves the Flames owner I think 7+ million in real dollars. It happened the same day the Flames announced a new arena deal. Doesn't help the team on ice, but arguably it gets the team new ice.

 

[EasyMoneySniper]

Yes weaponizing cap space for the sake of the bank account. Something no fan likes.

Another example of this would be Lucic for Neal. That deal saves the Flames owner I think 7+ million in real dollars. It happened the same day the Flames announced a new arena deal. Doesn't help the team on ice, but arguably it gets the team new ice.

Seven million dollars is not the difference from having a new arena or not.

 

[Bevans]

Seven million dollars is not the difference from having a new arena or not.

Fascinating point. Heaven forbid a person trim their payroll the same time they make a major financial commitment.

 

[BonHoonLayneCornell]

Yes weaponizing cap space for the sake of the bank account. Something no fan likes.

Another example of this would be Lucic for Neal. That deal saves the Flames owner I think 7+ million in real dollars. It happened the same day the Flames announced a new arena deal. Doesn't help the team on ice, but arguably it gets the team new ice.

I would think that it's not so much that fans don't like them, but more that it's just irrelevant to their interests as a fan of the team without seeing it re-invested.

Something like the Smith/Anisimov trade is just an accounting move veiled in a hockey transaction. Saving money while spending well below the cap floor is probably about as exciting for fans as the debt refinancing announcements despite not being able to afford good players anyways.

 

[supsens]

Yes weaponizing cap space for the sake of the bank account. Something no fan likes.

Another example of this would be Lucic for Neal. That deal saves the Flames owner I think 7+ million in real dollars. It happened the same day the Flames announced a new arena deal. Doesn't help the team on ice, but arguably it gets the team new ice.

If you are not showing a profit on the books how do you repay the loan? I don’t think these guys want to put up their own assets in order to secure funding.
Not saying that this was why it’s done but a few million makes a difference

 

[thinkwild]

The bless counting comes from the fact Dorion didn't add an extra pick to make it happen. If you're waiting for him to leverage cap space you're going to be holding your breath for a while.

I think the most constructive form of optimism would be to hope that Melynk plans to reinvest the savings when he's ready to go for it.

It's awfully hard to believe that's the case. But if it is, then I don't fault Melynk for the thinking "I'd rather spend 50 million when I'm tanking and 90 million when I'm going for it, instead of 70 million both years if I know I can't win anyway.

As hard as we are on Melnyk he did spend an awful lot on some unsuccessful years. Spending as little as humanly possible to get lafrieniere is arguably a smart business plan.

Obviously in an ideal world he sells the team or weaponizes the entire cap space and spends millions to acquire picks. But clearly we can't have nice things. This would be the next best alternative.

I agree that is the best possible hope we can have as fans. And a smart owner, with public relations skills, and an on the ball front office might have executed this in a way that didnt cause such a calamitous fan reaction. There is definitely a case that can be made for this course of action when in this market. Perhaps this is the hard but necessary best option. But they havent really made that case in a believable way.

Like you, i hope for that interpretation, but i cant have any faith in it. Melnyk complaining to the press when he was publicly pressuring council for a casino that maybe Ottawa fans are used to developing players for the rest of the league, threatening to do what he is doing, has burnt that bridge for me.

My suspicion is that weaponizing cap space in a way fans or hockey people would want means cratering debt repayment and so is out of the question.

People that just recently lent him money probably have first dibs on revenue streams. The league must be concerned about too much debt. And paying down a bit of debt can probably make him more money if he does decide to sell after a few years of it too.

But im bracing myself for the possibility that like many other owners that have endured fans despising them for years, that he pays down a little debt and then tries to capitalize on a newly developed young cheap team in several years.

 

[operasen]

A lot of the issue is based on context. The fact that Dorion plans for a rebuild and trades away all of Stone, Karlsson, Hoffman and Duchene, creates a bigger need for each draft choice. Looking at the 2019 draft I don't know if anyone could argue that that was good asset management. Thomson, Pinto and Sogaard all seem like decent picks and they passed on a lot of good players. Could the Sens have moved back a few picks and still get Thomson in the first round? Could they have traded 32 and 44 to Carolina for 36 and 37 and still ended up with Pinto and Sogaard? Even if they lost out on Pinto there was still good players like Rees, Afanasyev, Leasson among others that they could have got. Even with their other picks couldn't they have moved back a few spots and still get those players?

That is the big concern for the 2020 draft for me. Does Dorion throw high quality picks away in trades or does he go way off the board with his selections and not manage the assets properly. Looking at our prospect pool it seems like we are good on defense and in goaltending in terms of possible high end talent. The area where we seems to be lacking in prospects with 1st line forward potential. At this point Tkachuk and Batherson seem like they could be high end first liners but the rest are more questionable. Logan Brown is a possibility but it isn't that clear. The rest in terms of White, Norris, Duclair, C. Brown, Formenton, Davidsson, Balcers, Chlapik, Paul, Abramov and Vernonneau seem like they will be 2nd liners at best. Even players like Crookshank, Novak and Loheit project to be most likely 3rd liners. Maybe some prospect suprisises and emerges as a high end talent, but by the looks of it the focus on the 2020 draft should be getting some high end forward prospects.

2020 Draft will be so important. Especially if we get an impact lottery pick would can step right in between Tkachuk and Batherson

 

[TkachukNorris79]

2020 Draft will be so important. Especially if we get an impact lottery pick would can step right in between Tkachuk and Batherson

It's more likely a winger if it's a top 5, but Tkachuk-Byfield-Batherson would be so beautiful. Either way, I see our future top 6 as:

Top 5 2020
Tkachuk
Batherson
Brown
White
One of Norris/Duclair/Formenton/Balcers/Abramov/Davidsson

Hopefully SJ tanks underachieves a bit and we get another top 6 forward out of it in the top 15.

 

[aragorn]

He is soft and lazy and sets a bad example as a veteran. He hasn't once showed up to camp in peak physical condition. For the amount of money he gets paid it us disrespectful to the organization and his teammates to not get in shape. If he is sticking with the Sens the best thing he could do is go train with Gary Roberts or hire some high end strength and conditioning coach and show up to camp this year in the best shape he possibly can get in.

I thought we could trade him for another bad contract but if that isn't the case I would be all for buying him out.

Regardless, IMO he is still a better player than 3/4 of the players in this organization & he is much more likely to drop the gloves than 9/10 of the players in this org. Look at the team now, they are all small & soft & while some maybe very skilled players, they are not the kind of players who can withstand a physical playoff drive. While I have never been a Ryan fan, he is still a better option than most of the players in this org at this time IMO.

 

[FolignoQuantumLeap]

Regardless, IMO he is still a better player than 3/4 of the players in this organization & he is much more likely to drop the gloves than 9/10 of the players in this org. Look at the team now, they are all small & soft & while some maybe very skilled players, they are not the kind of players who can withstand a physical playoff drive. While I have never been a Ryan fan, he is still a better option than most of the players in this org at this time IMO.

Who on the roster is softer than Bobby Ryan? A slight breeze knocks this guy over and it's hard to imagine any other players who gives up the biscuit as easily as Ryan. He's painfully slow, unbalanced and weak. The only time he's gonna drop his gloves is to tweet or grab a calzone.

 

[Alex1234]

#9 is the definition of softness

 

[RAFI BOMB]

Who on the roster is softer than Bobby Ryan? A slight breeze knocks this guy over and it's hard to imagine any other players who gives up the biscuit as easily as Ryan. He's painfully slow, unbalanced and weak. The only time he's gonna drop his gloves is to tweet or grab a calzone.

Agreed. The worst part is that he could improve a lot of those areas just by getting in peak physical shape. He would be quicker and maintain his balance better. He would also be able to compete hard for more than a few shifts every few games.

 

[RAFI BOMB]

Regardless, IMO he is still a better player than 3/4 of the players in this organization & he is much more likely to drop the gloves than 9/10 of the players in this org. Look at the team now, they are all small & soft & while some maybe very skilled players, they are not the kind of players who can withstand a physical playoff drive. While I have never been a Ryan fan, he is still a better option than most of the players in this org at this time IMO.

How do you define "better player"? The last 3 seasons Ryan has put up 25 pts in 62 games (-3), 33 pts in 62 games (-12), 42 pts in 78 games (-29). Sure he has some natural skill but he doesn't really utilize it. I would take the speculative performance of the vast majority of our prospects over Ryan any day.

Ryan has some size but he is soft so I don't get your argument. Also we don't have to worry about the playoffs anytime soon or at the very least not for this upcoming season.

I also don't get the small and soft argument. Up front if we just look at prospects all of Tkachuk, White, Norris, Formenton, Batherson, Kastelic and Paul all have size a grit. Logan Brown has plenty of size and might be able to have some grit down the line. Then there are still players/prospects like Duclair, Chlapik, Davidsson, Connor Brown, and Pinto all have size.

We could maybe use some more hyper gritty players like Tkachuk but as the prospect group looks now we won't be a small or soft team.

 

[aragorn]

Who on the roster is softer than Bobby Ryan? A slight breeze knocks this guy over and it's hard to imagine any other players who gives up the biscuit as easily as Ryan. He's painfully slow, unbalanced and weak. The only time he's gonna drop his gloves is to tweet or grab a calzone.

Duclair, Anisimov, Boedker, Tierny, Ennis, Zaitsev, Chabot, DeMello, Wolanin, Balcers, Davidsson, Abramov, Veronneau, Brannstrom, White, Brown, Chlapik, Thomson, Alsing & others in the org are all softer than Ryan. And again I'm not a fan of Ryan either.

 

[aragorn]

How do you define "better player"? The last 3 seasons Ryan has put up 25 pts in 62 games (-3), 33 pts in 62 games (-12), 42 pts in 78 games (-29). Sure he has some natural skill but he doesn't really utilize it. I would take the speculative performance of the vast majority of our prospects over Ryan any day.

Ryan has some size but he is soft so I don't get your argument. Also we don't have to worry about the playoffs anytime soon or at the very least not for this upcoming season.

I also don't get the small and soft argument. Up front if we just look at prospects all of Tkachuk, White, Norris, Formenton, Batherson, Kastelic and Paul all have size a grit. Logan Brown has plenty of size and might be able to have some grit down the line. Then there are still players/prospects like Duclair, Chlapik, Davidsson, Connor Brown, and Pinto all have size.

We could maybe use some more hyper gritty players like Tkachuk but as the prospect group looks now we won't be a small or soft team.

Completely disagree, I think they will be small & soft & IMO will get pushed around all yr & for a few yrs to come. I could build a bigger tougher team with a number of the prospects they have now in the org but IMO that is not the way they are going, I think they are going the way of the Leafs & Habs with speed & skill & not considering grit in any way other than with Tkachuk. The poor guy is going to be left on his own to deal with other team's tough guys & how long will he be able to do that

 

[JungleBeat]

Bobby Ryan is the softest guy on the ice. I’d like to see him scratched a couple games.

 

[RAFI BOMB]

Completely disagree, I think they will be small & soft & IMO will get pushed around all yr & for a few yrs to come. I could build a bigger tougher team with a number of the prospects they have now in the org but IMO that is not the way they are going, I think they are going the way of the Leafs & Habs with speed & skill & not considering grit in any way other than with Tkachuk. The poor guy is going to be left on his own to deal with other team's tough guys & how long will he be able to do that

I think it is less black and white than you are suggesting. I prefer a bigger and tougher team and can see part of your argument, but just because the team could be bigger and grittier doesn't mean that it is small and soft. We also have a ton of draft picks over the next few drafts and a plethora of prospects, it is quite possible that we draft or trade for some grittier players to address that element in the rebuild.

Also it isn't like there are a ton of gritty players around the league that can actually play. Many of them like Lucic, Backes, Neal, Simmonds, etc are on there last legs. Other players like Tom Wilson and Matthew Tkachuk aren't available via trade so we can't get them anyway. Maybe we could have signed Ferland but who knows if he even wanted to sign here.

Maybe we could trade for Nick Ritchie or Jake Virtanen or something but other then that I don't know who to target. Overall all it takes is a few players to change things. If the Sens ended up trading for both Ritchie and Virtanen and then drafted another few gritty players wouldn't that change your perspective?

 

[aragorn]

I think it is less black and white than you are suggesting. I prefer a bigger and tougher team and can see part of your argument, but just because the team could be bigger and grittier doesn't mean that it is small and soft. We also have a ton of draft picks over the next few drafts and a plethora of prospects, it is quite possible that we draft or trade for some grittier players to address that element in the rebuild.

Also it isn't like there are a ton of gritty players around the league that can actually play. Many of them like Lucic, Backes, Neal, Simmonds, etc are on there last legs. Other players like Tom Wilson and Matthew Tkachuk aren't available via trade so we can't get them anyway. Maybe we could have signed Ferland but who knows if he even wanted to sign here.

Maybe we could trade for Nick Ritchie or Jake Virtanen or something but other then that I don't know who to target. Overall all it takes is a few players to change things. If the Sens ended up trading for both Ritchie and Virtanen and then drafted another few gritty players wouldn't that change your perspective?

YES IT WOULD ... however I don't see this management team doing anything like that. They have had plenty of chances to add grit & they constantly go the other way which has yet to work out for them with all of the puny players they have acquired in the past. Of course, some of the blame goes to the coaches who wanted their pet players who of course did not work out & are back in the minor leagues where they belong. They had an opportunity to draft Rafael Lavoie and/or Brett Leason & passed on both even though they were ranked by almost everyone higher than Pinto or Sogaard.

Also you have indicated two guys who just happen to play RW which is a position of weakness in this org IMO & both those guys would improve Ottawa's right side. I think they tried to address the RW when they acquired C. Brown from the leafs so we'll have to see how he works out. However, I'm quite sure there are plenty of guys with the grit we would like to see on this team in future drafts with all their picks, if they would just go ahead & draft them instead of these soft small boom or bust players all the time. Pinto has good size & could be moved to the right side & be a future RWer in Ottawa, but he could also be a few yrs away or bust as Gagne did. I wonder if Taylor Raddysh would be available in Tampa?

 

[FolignoQuantumLeap]

YES IT WOULD ... however I don't see this management team doing anything like that. They have had plenty of chances to add grit & they constantly go the other way

Wat. Its like you're posting from a complete alternate reality.