TommyDangles
Registered User
- Jun 18, 2021
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Because they are trying to win now? Doesn't make any sense to trade away roster players if you're trying to make the playoffs this season.Why hasn't he been traded yet then? Teams have reportedly offered firsts for him before.
It would have made a ton of sense to trade him 2 or 3 years ago at the start of the rebuild when we were tanking and he was still putting up good numbers. And yet he's still here, turning 27.
Lucic played with a much better cast than Crouse ever has, again Maccelli is the only support he's gotten with little to no PP time and Lucic played regularly with Bergeron, Krejci, Horton, Marchand etc who weren't as explosive offensively as they were later but were still far better players than Crouse has seen. Also when he was traded he had 1 year left on his deal and was a UFA afterwards. Which is completely different than Crouse who still has 3 years left at a cap hit that's almost 2m less than what Lucic was making at the time.
Also, Lucic is more productive, but he isn't a better player than Crouse. Crouse is a lot better defensively and makes a lot less boneheaded decisions than Lucic did.
It's a different league now than it was 9 years ago anyways and that only adds to Crouse's value as there's a lot less guys like him around the league. Jeannot is a far worse player and got a 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and Foote. Crouse should be worth far more than that.
Cap and term matter in this league, and Crouse has team friendly deals on both, I have no doubt that he would command more than everyone who just dismisses him as a 20g scorer bottom six forward.
In terms of value I definitely think 11 + Byram would be close but 11 + Krebs certainly isn't and Byram for Crouse doesn't fit Utah's needs as you mentioned. 11 + Krebs also doesn't fit their needs either for that matter. Any deal with a draft pick being the center piece doesn't fit Utah's needs.
Samuelsson with a possible plus for Crouse would be the most realistic deal but I still doubt it happens.
We just have to be realistic here. Crouse is a 40ish point power forward who could slot in a playoff team's 2nd or 3rd line. That's not some unicorn. There are guys like that available in FA like Dakota Joshua without trading assets.
To the other points. Lucic had a reputation & accolades that boosted his value a ton. Crouse has none of that. Lucic even was top 30 in goals at one point. There's nothing that shows Crouse was "a lot better defensively" than Lucic back in Boston. Lucic was good defensively. That was really the only part of his game he had left as he declined.
Jeannot was coming off a 41-point season which is only 4 less than Crouse's career high. He was struggling the year he got traded, but his contract was only 800k. Many believed he was just having a down season & bad shooting luck. That he'd return to form on Tampa Bay. The "much better" just seems like revisionism based on him being terrible this season. I remember Preds fans saying that Jeannot was untouchable that entire summer. He was viewed much more highly before he got traded.
The best recent comparison would be Blake Coleman who got the 20th pick + Foote. Coleman also had a much better contract than Crouse at 1.8M compared to 4.3M, which definitely boosted his value.
Utah doesn't need futures & wants to make a run this season so a trade wouldn't happen. Hypothetically if they were trying to get futures his value would be around a 2025 protected 1st + Rosen.