Options? You mean your options which includes getting rid of everyone.
Marc Staal traded again...shocking. And for Ryan Murphy...laughable. Oh and their 1st round pick. Staal sustained another injury near the end the other night and they are going to hand us their best prospect? And if Staal is ok they can't afford to lose him if they deal one of or both MDZ and Girardi.
Why are we trading Brassard? He will get a qualifying offer. He won't cost as much for the short term so we can have center depth until Lindberg/Miller are fully developed.
Trade Girardi.
Consider trading Callahan.
Move Pyatt and/or Pouliot if you can.
I'm starting to wonder if you have split personalities. Just 2 weeks ago you were arguing about how Girardi wasn't regressing with me... possibly until you were blue in the face. Now you're saying trade him?
1) Staal will absolutely command their top prospect and top draft pick. Jordan, the least dominant of the Staal brothers got a sizeable package himself. Did Pronger's concussion problems really diminish his value? No. Staal is going to command a lot on the trade market, barring some retirement induced by this concussion. Nothing you say is going to convince me otherwise... because it's illogical to think otherwise. Concussions are an inevitable part of any sport - medical research shows that concussion proneness isn't affected by previous concussions. It's not like the Rangers would be trying to pass along a vegetable. Concussions are a risk with even the healthiest of players. This isn't going to significantly reduce his trade value. It's not his 10th concussion in 3 years.
2) I'm more and more under the impression that this core group of guys isn't going to cut it. We made the SCF a couple years ago... we were taken to 7 games by two "worse teams" and were dominated by a team that was absolutely owned in the finals.
3) Brassard isn't going to cut it on this team. He needs to go. So does Del Zotto. Girardi won't be resigned because the organization likely feels his best days are far behind him. He doesn't fit this system. Will they trade him for assets? No. Sather is delusional enough to think we'll win it all this year. He rarely sets his teams up for the future mid season - he deals with those problems during the offseason.
4) You want to know why this core isn't going to cut it? Because we added way too many players that were on losing teams. Nash, Brassard, Dorsett, Pyatt, Pouloit, Moore, Falk.... they're used to losing. They bring that mentality into the locker room. Maybe it's not intentional but they do it because they simply don't know what it takes to take the next step, mentally and/or physically. And we added these players to a core that never won anything themselves. The only player to go to the SCF on this team (unless i'm marginally mistaken... i.e maybe one more player fits this criteria) was Brad Richards. We needed to help Cally, Dubi, Anisimov, Staal, etc. out by adding vets that knew what it took. We added a bunch of players with losing mentality.
Uproot the problems. Sometimes you need to sacrifice for the betterment of the team.
1) Don't cripple the team moving forward by extending a regressing Girardi.
2) Set up the future by trading your best asset. Staal is our best asset, slightly concussed right now or not. Get youth. Build for the future.
3) MDZ and Brassard should be able to yield a top 6 player. We have a glaring need there. Both are expendable. AV doesn't particularly like either. Get someone that fits the mold of the coach. Not someone that fits the mold that you, the fan, likes. My suggestion for Kessler was based on 1) a misconception and 2) just a general rule of thumb. If you have a player or two that need a change of scenery, it would make sense to trade for another player (equating to equal value) that also needs a change of scenery. I was under the false assumption that Kessler was in need of a change of scenery. He's also been on a team with a winning mentality that would help the core get to the next level.
