PIT won back to back cups with 5 guys that were 6ft or below: Pouliot (16), Daley (both), Ruhwedel (both), Streit (both), Letang (16...hurt all of 17). They did have other, bigger, D in each year, including Cole.
This year, BOS has Clifton, Grzelcyk, Krug and McAvoy all at or below 6ft. STL has Del Zotto (0 PO games) and Dunn.
You say keeping Barrie means one of Makar or Girard has to play PK. I say so what? Makar is big enough for the size queens at 6'1" and 192. And most definitely skilled enough. He may not be Zadorov strong....but we have Zadorov. No denying that Girard is small. But there is also no denying that he is supremely smart, and has a great stick. Pair him with Z and let the big guy do big guy things. Have the other pairing be also big guys to be the muscle. Don't have to have all 4 be bruisers.
As for the questions posed earlier in the thread...
1. we have no idea what Barrie would ask, nor do we know what Sakic will want to pay him. Not a question we can answer, so no answer will ever be right.
2. Makar could be 4th PK, Girard in a pinch (just have to run it a bit diff....make sure his partner is the one clearing the crease, Girard can scramble and puck hound.)
3. Answered above....the current SCF favorite has 4 at/below 6ft.
4. Barrie is our secondary scoring. Trading him for a forward that produces about the same points is a wash. Fair value would be getting someone that outscores Barrie, as D scoring is at a premium.
I am not against trading Barrie. I am against trading him at a loss. If we could get a top 5 pick plus out of him, great. Barrie is an elite Off. D. He was 7th in D scoring this year. For comparison, MacKinnon was 7th in forward scoring. Rantanen was 17th. An equivalent forward to Barrie as a D would be a point per game player.
Finally a logical post without someone slinging insults and others who hold a different opinion of Barrie.
But for the record:
Pouliot played 22 games in 16
Streit played 19 games in 17
Ruhwedel played 34 in 17 and none in 16
None of those 3 played a big role at all played a combined 11 games in the playoffs those 2 years.
And Daley much better defensively than his size.
And in those cup winning teams they had:
2015/16
Along with Justin Shultz and Kris Letang:
24 games- Brian Dumolin 6'4, 210
24 games- Ben Lovejoy 6'1, 205
24 games- Ian Cole 6'2, 220
18 games- Oli Matta 6'2, 210
2016/17
Along with Shultz and Daley:
25 games- Ron Hainsey 6'3, 205
25 games- Brian Dumolin 6'4, 210
25 games- Oli Matta 6'2, 210
25 games- Ian Cole 6'2, 220
I know what you are trying to say but it didn't work.