How much more of this idiot Glass does this fan base have to put up with

I look at the way the D will be without Staal and it worried me. Do you pair Klein and Boyle? Boyle is one of the smallest dmen in the league and Klein is below average himself, they'll get mauled by bigger teams come playoff time. Not to mention theyre both right shots. So do we split them up and maybe play Klein with McDonagh? Now all of a sudden a guy who we've all said is ideally a third pair guy is on your top pair.

The way the team is set up losing Staal leaves a much bigger hole than losing Klein. Staal has played against top lines almost his whole career until last season. Klein never has. If we can get a top 4 Dman back for Staal that's another story but I don't see how Sather can swing that.

 

I'm with you Al. The question that needs to be asked is this...is Staal twice the player Klein is? And I say no way. He will make double what Klein makes, 5.8 per, or very close to it and when I look at it in that context I rather have Klein. Double so for less years, a cap hit that is more user friendly so to speak, and without a NMC which Staal would get for sure.

Not sure we will have both here given the cap, so if I were to pick one it would be Klein at half the price for sure.

 

If we go into the playoffs with Boyle and Klein as top 4 guys replacing Stralman and Staal from last year I feel confident that we'll be bullied into an early exit.

 

For the record I am NOT in favor of doing anything during this season, assuming we are in it at the trade DL. I would let it happen this summer. Flip his rights for a pick or let Staal walk. The points you make are vaild, but I can shape the D better for next season during the summer, and that is when I let Staal go not mid-season UNLESS I can get a good dman back to fill Staal's role.

 

And I am with you, not on the Stralman part but the Staal part, and that is why I wait until AFTER the season. I don't dump Staal now just to do it. We agree.

 

In an ideal world yes but that is not the way Sather operates anymore. Staal is either resigned or traded by the time the playoffs are here.

 

I was no Stralman fan at all, and I was in favor of getting Boyle over him, but we did take a slight step back defensively and size -wise when we made that move and that's why I think it's important to keep Staal.

 

I don't see anyway Sather deals Staal and hurts the team now if we are in it at the trade DL...I just don't. The Cally deal worked out because MSL was sitting there for us. I believe that if no deal is there for Staal he will hold on him and see what the off-season brings. To me Staal is different than Girardi and Cally. We are more set on D longer term. I don't think Staal has the same value Girardi did in a trade last season, so I don't see the trade threat being the same as it was with DG.

On top of that we are in a different spot now. We have some guys locked up on D now. McD, Boyle for 1 more season, Girardi, Klein for a few more. That wasn't the case last season and our D was way more of a crapshoot with DG, AS, McD all unsigned after the season.

So to me things are different. I think even if we just let Staal walk, or deal his rights for a mid-pick we still gain by having the cap space. So this is different that last season IMO.

Unless we can get a good dman back I would let it ride with Staal and deal with it in the summer.

 

I disagree. Staal does very little for this team physically, he's tall but light & weak. Callahan literally threw him out of the way to score earlier. Staal's technique now is the one-handed off-balance stick check and dropping to the knee to block passes or shots rather than taking the body. His new wrinkle this year is to turn away when he goes down to block which I guess is understandable given his injury but it just makes him more ineffective. I was down on Klein to start the year and wanted him traded but he's played his ass off and has been more physical than Staal. Staal does get a lot of ice time but honestly doesn't seem to have improved his offensive game at all.