No surprise. Thought they may move some excess at forward to open a few spots for Barron and maybe another kid, but anyone thinking we'd make any real major moves I think was misguided. And unless we could get something good, it always made more sense to hold DeAngelo, expose him, and then buy him out for no real penalty. Save 4 mill next year, only a 900 K cap penalty the following year. No real urgency to move DeAngelo unless it was a good hockey deal for us.
Are you telling me he couldn't have gotten anything for De Angelo, Howden or Rooney? The fact that Gorton doesn't realize that his retard coach is going to play low talent players above more talented players unless he doesn't have the option is alarming. Howden for sure should have been out of here.
I also don't think they want to expose Hajek so maybe they figure if they hold DA for now(unless blown away for an offer)Seattle won't take him most likely for PR reasons and will have to take Howden, Rooney or Blackwell. I think Blackwell may be the one we lose, then they flip him during the year for something.
Which low talent players is he playing? Are you talking about the 12th forward spot playing Howden over Gauthier...OH NO THE WORLD WILL END...LOL. I would play Gauthier, but a case can be made to play Howden for the PK over Gauthier, who is much more suited for a top 9 role than a 4th line role. And I write that while stating I would play Gauthier. I just don't think our 12th forward is really a big deal. Blackwell is tied for 4th on the team in goals scored with 12. And considering Zib has 6 of his 14 goals in two games, and Kreider has 9 of his 17 goals in 6 games, you can make a case he has been one of our most consistent goal scorers. Rooney is a solid 4th line guy. Can kill penalties and is versatile. Only thing he lacks is a little sandpaper and grit. As far as I can tell we have a pretty darn talented top 9. And I am sure Gorton could have gotten a 4th, 5th, 6th round pick for some of the excess forwards. I think he just decided given where we are, and given we have a ton of picks/prospects, let it ride this season and see where we end up. Not crazy IMO.
I would take De Angelo as an expansion team because if you play the crap out of him and he’s great on the power-play and there are no bad reports you can actually get a good return for him.
