2nd rounders statistically have a 1 in 3 chance of even making the NHL......chances even lower that they will be impact players. This isn't trading Tony Amonte
Question is can they beat the caps again ... 4 times in 5 years? Twice getting last second series saving goals?? That's why this new format is fuckin stupid. They're going to verse the same teams every year in RD 1. The old format was better but it is what it is
The NHL likes that as it builds and stresses rivalries. Right now our road is pretty clear. Very strong chance we play the Isles in round one, only the Pens can change that. And if we are fortunate enough to get through that we get the Caps in round two. That is a very tough road. And we will be the underdog against the Caps, no two ways about it. The Caps (and the Isles for that matter) want so badly to beat us. We eliminate them every season, so they want payback for sure. That would be a crazy tough series for us to win. It isn't a direct affect on the series, but law of averages says the Caps are due to beat us. Going to be real tough IMO. BUT no doubt today we have a much better chance to win that series than we did yesterday. All you can do is put yourself in the best position possible, and then let the chips fall where they may. The Isles in round one would sell their soles to beat us. The Caps in round two, if we get there, want to beat us badly after all their L's to us. Going to be real tough, but we are a better team than last year IMO, much deeper and bigger, so let's drop the puck and hope for the best. Still need to get through 20 regular season games healthy though. So let's not put the cart before the horse.
And what are we talking Dis...maybe 3 or 4 years from now those guys are ready IF they even make it to the NHL...late 2nd round picks from the 2016 and 2017 drafts.
chuck gets a hard-on every time this type of deals are made. Next season he will write a ten page essay on why this was a bad deal for us and we did not even manage to resign the guy.
Just got home after being out all day with the grandkids doing things. After looking at the deal it is probably one extra 2nd rder than id like to give up but in the end I think have to make this deal. Didn't lose any current roster players, no first rd pick(thank god for a change) and kept the top prospects Skjei, Buch. Graves, Gropp and another I like a lot named Kovacs. Saarela I think will be a very good player down the line with one caviat. He was a 3rd instead of a first due to concussion injury history which means susceptible on future hits. Other than that I liked him a lot but to get you have to give. Staal I think fits here perfectly. Has size, a center with good face-off skills, brings a little snarl and at 31 young enough to feel born again playing on this ranger team with Marc as opposed to the shit he just left. Chuck, I looked at your chart and I disagree with Staal at the wing. I see him as one of the ranger 4 centers with step, brass and moore giving us as good a lineup there as anybody. One thing that I will be interested to see is who plays the wings for Staal, step and brass as moore remains 4th line center. As for resigning Staal I think that depends on a) if he wants to stay(thinking he will) and b) if they can move Nash (they'll try) and recover some picks and a prospect or 2 back while freeing up the necessary cap space. They also have 3 highly rated goalies that will be able to be traded for picks (although I agree with dump would like to see them play a bit more to see who the heir apparent to hank will be(I'm personally liking the russian kid to be the heir) before making any deals there. I think we have a good mix of experienced and youthful veterans and of course Hank to make another serious run this year for the cup. Only curiosity for me is Yandle still here despite having a replacement ready (Skjei) and AV still not using him properly imo. Although who knows despite gorton's statements to the contrary about keeping him maybe quietly he is entertaining a bidding war between the kings and dallas and 1 other team who I can't remember off the top of my head for him to drive up the asset return. That I guess we'll know for sure tom after the deadline. So to conclude I think this is a good deal for us in our unending (unfortunately) quest for another cup in our lifetimes.
I think they made their peace with keeping Yandle for the playoff run and then he goes this summer. I think that was the plan when they made the deal last trade DL, but it got a little sideways with the team struggling, so they were thinking about dealing him and changing the plan. But our play the last few weeks, and the fact that we sit in 2nd in the Met and the East made Gorton/AV decide to stick with Yandle and go all in again. That is why I said this AM a Staal like deal had to be made if you were keeping Yandle. Made zero sense to do it any other way once you made the Yandle decision. As for the lines, I hear you mel. Certainly Staal could play C, and the more I think about it the more I think that is the likely path. Hayes moves to wing. Top 3 C's Staal, Brass, Stepan. Top 9 wingers Kreider, Zucc, Nash, Hayes, Miller, and Stalberg or Fast (I prefer Stalberg in that role). 4th line is Stalberg or Fast with Moore, Glass, and Lindberg in the mix. And I actually think we make one more deal that adds a bottom 6 gritty PK type to the forwards. I think we get that done tomorrow unless there is nothing to be had. On D I think we are very solid and deep with McIlrath, and even a vet like Diaz, there for extra depth. Good group that can do a lot of different things. The fact that Nash didn't go on LTIR means he could be back with 3 weeks left in the season +/-, which would be a perfect amount of time for him to get back into game shape for the start of the playoffs. As for this summer, they may be able to resign Staal even without moving Nash. There is a difference between Yandle and Staal IMO. With G, and Staal, and Klein, and McD all here long term. And with good kids like McIlrath and Skjei ready to step in next season, I don't see a way we resign Yandle unless we move G or Staal. Upfront is different. We don't have the kind of depth and kids we do on D. We also won't have cap balance issues if we resign Staal. With Boyle off, the cap going up, and maybe letting a RFA go I could see a way to resign Staal even with Nash here. This assumes Staal is reasonable and doesn't expect 7 + mill per...if he does then all bets are off of course. But that is a long way off, and something to worry about after we win the cup in June....
I know not everyone sees eye to eye on this, but we are pretty lucky to have a leadership group that goes for it. Maybe we win a cup and maybe we don't, but I applaud our leadership for really trying to find that missing piece. Be it MSL, that led us to the SCF. Be it Yandle, that took us back to the ECF. And now Staal, which is still TBD. I give these guys credit for taking the risk and going for it. Like I said, maybe we come up short again, but at least they are saying hey let's go for it and try our best to win a cup for our fans. I really do appreciate that as a fan. And whether you agree with that approach or not it is much more risky (and potentially rewarding) than sitting and continually waiting to see how the future pans out. Good for them IMO. Let's see if the Isles follow suite to prepare for the round one likely matchup. I could see them getting Parenteau.
Yea and atleast the Rangers make things interesting.. Seems like they always acquire guys at the deadline or sign a few FA's...
Thinking about lines now... How dominate would a Kreider-Staal-Nash line be in a perfect world! Kreider-Staal- Nash Miller-Brassard-Zuccarello Hayes-Stepan-Fast Lindberg-Moore-Stalberg
Bottom line is AV has many options once Nash is back...and I still think we add a bottom 6 PK guy tomorrow as well, but we'll see on that. That is a deep group of forwards with a lot of talent and a lot of size, something we badly lacked the past couple of seasons. CK, Staal, Nash, Hayes, Stalberg all have size. Miller isn't small either. Good stuff.
What's funny is the same people who want to bitch and moan about this trade and youth immediately demand that a 23 year old Kevin Hayes should be traded because he's having a little struggle in year two.
Even if they don't make another deal tomorrow at least it leaves some room if Buchnevich makes it over in time.
As cup contenders we should be making deals to help us get that evasive Cup, but man, we really need to win one soon b/c we keep dealing away youth and the Cup is still not ours. Dangerous game to play. We have up a lot for Yandle and Staal, so if neither of them resign and leave as UFA for nothing while we still did not raise a Cup it'd be a disaster.
Keeping any of Yandle/Staal after this year is a big win for the offseason. If they decided to trade Hayes at the draft for a pick or prospect that might even clear enough room for both. I think the total will be 11-12m.
How does adding one player (questionable if he can even up his game) make our group of forwards "deep" and talented when you have complained all year that they cant score ? Just crazy !
Because Staal is a yearly 20 goal 60 point guy up until this season. He has been a legit # 1 C for years. So this isn't just adding some random dude, this is adding a 4 time all-star # 1 C type that can help in many different ways. And honestly I actually don't think we gave up a lot. A couple of later 2nd's, total crapshoot there, and maybe our 4th or 5th or so best prospect. So respectfully no I don't think that is a lot for the player Staal is. We gave up WAY more for Yandle IMO. Lastly I don't think we should even try to resign Yandle if we cannot move M. Staal or Girardi (and moving Marc would most likely eliminate us from resigning Eric). We'd have too much money tied up in the D long term if we resign him with our current D here still. E. Staal is a different situation IMO given he is a C and not a dman that would hurt our team cap balance. I would do what I could to resign him for sure, but again we can worry about that in June after we win the cup. Anyway...good day IMO. Happy we got it done. Go Rangers. Good luck guys.
I rather the could of and should and not IF ONLY...you owe it to the players you owe it to the fan base to try your upmoat best to win now. With that said..im not sold on staal. I do feel we gave up to much for someone who may be a 20 game player for us. I hope im wrong
