Rumor: Jackets willing to move "every defenseman except Murray/Savard"

[Samkow]

From Caley on the main board.

Just mentioned at the intermission of Hockey Night in Canada that with teams hunting for defencemen, Columbus is willing to listen on any of their defencemen except for Ryan Murray and David Savard

Click to read more...

 

[punk_o_holic]

Weren't there a lot of interest in Jack Johnson at last years deadline? I want to say Calgary was highly interested. I wonder if they still do. With a Giordano/Brodie top pairing, Johnson on the 2nd pairing would be nice for them.

 

[DarkandStormy]

Why the heck is Savard protected? He's not that special.

 

[blahblah]

Not a shock; but unfortunate that Savard isn't on this list if this rumor is true. I'm not sure I buy it, no idea why #4 would be available.

 

[blahblah]

Johnson has his problems; but I can't imagine how bad of a 1/2 it would be if we moved him. Especially with Murray out. /shiver

 

[MFRONE]

I'd rather keep Cotton over Savard

 

[Brooklanders*]

Johnson and Wiz would be coveted.

 

[punk_o_holic]

I'd rather keep Cotton over Savard

Now that I think about it, don't know why Savard is protected. They should have taken offers on him as well. See if a team for whatever reason wants him and try to make them over pay. It doesn't hurt to listen to offers. No good offers, then just keep him. Also surprises me because Jarmo always said, "If Gretzky got traded then anyone can. I'm always looking for ways to make this team better." So maybe trading Savard for other assets makes the team better.

Clearing up a spot for Mike Reilly

 

[Samkow]

I'm not sure moving JJ or Wiz at the deadline makes sense. In no way do I count on Murray staying healthy or Savard being consistent/playing like a top pairing defenseman over a full season. No team is going to make a lateral move and counting on a UFA signing filling those holes is risky given what's out there.

 

[Sore Loser]

I'm not sure moving JJ or Wiz at the deadline makes sense. In no way do I count on Murray staying healthy or Savard being consistent/playing like a top pairing defenseman over a full season. No team is going to make a lateral move and counting on a UFA signing filling those holes is risky given what's out there.

Agreed.

Unless they're planning on making a play on someone like Johnny Boychuk in the offseason, I don't see any reason to tamper with what is actually a strong point on the team when healthy.

 

[CBJWerenski8]

That doesn't make any sense

 

[Jive Pawnbroker]

I'm now mentally prepared to see at least one of JJ, Wiz and Tyutin moved at the deadline. Someone's going to overpay for at least one of them, most likely Johnson.

 

[CBJWerenski8]

I'm now mentally prepared to see at least one of JJ, Wiz and Tyutin moved at the deadline. Someone's going to overpay for at least one of them, most likely Johnson.

Doubt it.

 

[Crede777]

I could see replacing Tyutin and Wisniewski (who has value but is difficult to move on his contract) as being a sufficient "re-vamping" of our back-end. I think Johnson, Murray, and Savard work. The rest I could take or leave.

The reason to move Johnson, I have heard, may be more due to perceived return than his value to the team. If they think they can get a huge asset for Johnson, then they'd move him. Wiz the return needs to make sense but not be overly great due to his defensive liabilities and contract. Tyutin, I think, is going downhill and should be moved for a decent asset when possible. Prout is a bottom-pairing guy who will fight, so that holds some cache with fans but his value is kind of limited. Same goes for Goloubef and Connauton. Leopold can be had for anything.

In a year or two this would be a strong defensive core:
Murray - XXX
Johnson - Savard
XXX - XXX

 

[alphafox]

As much as I like them people and players I think this is the smart call, particularly with JJ and Tyutin. By the time our roster is ready for the cup these guys will be on the downside of their careers, particularly Tyutin. Making a move to upgrade the roster long term makes sense. This is particularly true given that Tyler Myers and Zach Bogosian have been traded, the market for Defensemen is very thin and trading one or two players at premium prices could help us upgrade the roster significantly either trough trade or the draft.

 

[Mayor Bee]

Defensemen under contract on the roster:
Kevin Connauton
Cody Goloubef
Jack Johnson
Jordan Leopold
Ryan Murray
Dalton Prout
David Savard
Fedor Tyutin
James Wisniewski

Defensemen under contract in the system:
Thomas Larkin
Austin Madaisky
Frederic St. Denis
Will Weber

Pending UFAs:
...lot of depth, not many higher-end guys

Here's how I see it.
- There's not enough depth in the system to be able to start shipping guys out, unless Murray is going to be back fairly soon.
- That said, if someone is willing to pay a huge amount to acquire a current defenseman, I'd be willing to listen if I were the GM.
- The UFA crop is too thin to really bank on making noise there, unless there's such a far-reaching contingency plan to overhaul the blueline no matter what. Right now there is a lot of puck movers and a shortage of shutdown types, and it's certainly possible to remake the entire back end in free agency and change the way that the team looks.
- That said, we're exactly one officiating crackdown away from having possibly the best blueline corps in the league. In a wide-open game with a lot of power plays, a group like this would be an absolute nightmare to play against. It's possible to shift wholesale over to a more shutdown group and then get seriously burned if the league decides that they've seen enough obstruction and interference.
- But if moves are made, who mentors the young guys? If there's a chance that Ryan Murray is 22 years old and logging big minutes next to a mercenary and everyone that he's learned from has been shipped out, what's that do for the kid? There's a lot more to playing defenseman than being pared down to a set of 1-100 attribute numbers and being stuck in a lineup.

 

[SuperGenius]

Seems like "willing to listen to offers on their d-men except Murray/Savard" is different from "willing to move every defenseman except Murray/Savard"

I take it as listening and taking the best 1-2 offers that make sense rather than any willingness to make wholesale changes to the entire defense outside of two guys. Am I not reading it right? It seems some are taking this as an indication of 'blowing it up' - which makes little sense to me.

 

[Crede777]

Seems like "willing to listen to offers on their d-men except Murray/Savard" is different from "willing to move every defenseman except Murray/Savard"

I take it as listening and taking the best 1-2 offers that make sense rather than any willingness to make wholesale changes to the entire defense outside of two guys. Am I not reading it right? It seems some are taking this as an indication of 'blowing it up' - which makes little sense to me.

Yeah. There seems to be this idea on here that GM's will entertain deals for any player. That doesn't seem to be the case though. It was big news when Howson started even listening to the words that came after "Rick Nash." He also reportedly wasn't even entertaining offers for Johansen.

Now we're hearing that Jarmo is willing to listen to offers for everyone except Murray and Savard.

I think there are guys every GM and front office have who they simply won't move. And other teams don't even bother asking.

 

[Mayor Bee]

Seems like "willing to listen to offers on their d-men except Murray/Savard" is different from "willing to move every defenseman except Murray/Savard"

I take it as listening and taking the best 1-2 offers that make sense rather than any willingness to make wholesale changes to the entire defense outside of two guys. Am I not reading it right? It seems some are taking this as an indication of 'blowing it up' - which makes little sense to me.

I'd argue that it could make perfect sense.
- If you're convinced that there is no officiating crackdown coming, and
- If you believe that the defensemen on the roster have peaked, and
- If you see a lot of guys around the league who can be targeted as UFAs who fit the idea of what the defense should look like next year, and
- If teams are willing to pay huge amounts in the trade market to get your guys,

then it makes perfect sense to blow up the entire unit. If you can get a first-rounder and a prospect for Wisniewski and then replace him with Mike Green or Lubomir Visnovsky as a UFA, then do it. If you think Tyutin is declining rapidly and you can get some great value for him and then replace him with Zbynek Michalek or Paul Martin, then do it. If someone will cough up big-time for Prout and you can replace him with Barret Jackman or Jan Hejda again, then do it.

It's possible to be extremely aggressive as the deadline approaches and completely reshape the defense fundamentally from top to bottom, and there's a good chance that it will drastically boost the team in the near future when all is said and done. There's also a good chance that the entire thing blows up and sets the franchise back by years, which would not only be devastating to the fans but ultra-devastating to everyone here who would have to still deal with me.

 

[Theo Von]

Given Jarmo's track record of unpredictability... it honestly wouldn't surprise me at all to see Johnson and/or Tyutin traded at the deadline.

 

[Jackets Fan]

That doesn't make any sense

Exactly my thought when I first heard about this.

This rumor is likely just bull**** and was probably started by an 'insider' who has nothing better to do than try to stir up something.

The only D-men I can picture being traded are Leopold ( obviously ), Goloubef and maybe Prout ( but with the huge crush HCTR has on him I doubt it ).

I can almost guarantee no blockbuster Wiz/JJ deal will go down.
You don't trade away multiple core pieces unless you're in a rebuild.

 

[alphafox]

Exactly my thought when I first heard about this.

This rumor is likely just bull**** and was probably started by an 'insider' who has nothing better to do than try to stir up something.

The only D-men I can picture being traded are Leopold ( obviously ), Goloubef and maybe Prout ( but with the huge crush HCTR has on him I doubt it ).

I can almost guarantee no blockbuster Wiz/JJ deal will go down.
You don't trade away multiple core pieces unless you're in a rebuild.

Normally I would agree, however apparently this is coming from Friedman one of the two insiders that I actually believe when they say something (the other being Mackenzie).

 

[WannabeFinn]

I think this is exactly what they should be doing. Murray and Savard are both young, cost controlled, and proven top 4 defensemen. The rest are aging, expensive, at peak trade value, etc. I don't think moving Wiz or JJ is the best idea but a hefty price paid for them would help ease the pain. Connauton has been a nice waiver wire pick up but I could easily see us selling high on him. I wouldn't mind keeping him at all but you can't deny that his value is sky high in comparison to his waiver wire placement.

 

[KeithBWhittington]

I'd move Two, and maybe even three. And I wouldn't have a problem if two of them were one of the "big 3". My only real fear is that the team overplays their hand with Ryan Murray, who can't stay healthy. If any defenseman on this roster is considered "untouchable", I'd start questioning what's going on at the top.

 

[blahblah]

I'd move Two, and maybe even three. And I wouldn't have a problem if two of them were one of the "big 3". My only real fear is that the team overplays their hand with Ryan Murray, who can't stay healthy. If any defenseman on this roster is considered "untouchable", I'd start questioning what's going on at the top.

And replace them with whom? I know we need work, but you have to be careful here. We can get a lot worse than we are back there fast. The Jackets almost have to add before they can subtract here.