I've been saying this since the beginning of time. Bjugs had no value around the league after last season. Then if they had left him exposed I can think of 3 other players that would have garnered attention ahead of him. I had hoped he would have the type of season he's having this year to at least get one GM's to kick the tires but even that's no guarantee anyone would take a shot even up at the TDL. Besides Tallon will ride his guys into the sunset. Don't let the door hit you in the arz on the way out Dale.
Everything else is irrelevant. Bjugstad is a Tallon guy and was never an option to moved. Maybe now that he's no longer the big hulking center he dreamed he'd be, he'd be more open to moving him but I doubt it.
No, not the best and only option. The most realistic option. We had to dump salary and out of the three clear salary dumps we had (Demers/Bjugstad/Smith), two got traded and the one that didn't, clearly had the worst trade value at the time for various reasons. Vegas wasn't going to take on salary without a bribe, so you get to pick your poison. Prospects/picks or a player (for the record, we weren't the only team that gave up a good player, Anaheim gave them Theodore and Minnesota traded Tuch). It made more sense from where we are (bubble playoff team) to give up one year of March, than to give up on a young controlable player. I don't blame Tallon for choosing that way.
Yeah, who wouldn't take a clear number 1 goalie short-term that's good for PR and a 2nd rounder on top of it. Yup, a really good comparison to a mid6/top9 forward with performance & injury issues and an eternity contract to boot.
You're rewriting history and framing it as our only option. You're also saying it is the best option which we all know is tough to accept.No, not the best and only option. The most realistic option. We had to dump salary and out of the three clear salary dumps we had (Demers/Bjugstad/Smith), two got traded and the one that didn't, clearly had the worst trade value at the time for various reasons. Vegas wasn't going to take on salary without a bribe, so you get to pick your poison. Prospects/picks or a player (for the record, we weren't the only team that gave up a good player, Anaheim gave them Theodore and Minnesota traded Tuch). It made more sense from where we are (bubble playoff team) to give up one year of March, than to give up on a young controlable player. I don't blame Tallon for choosing that way.
Unless you're totally fine with trading the 1st rounder from the past draft, or one of our better prospects like Borgstrom or Heponiemi? Imagine the outcry here had we traded Borg/Hepo (although technically not possible with Hepo, since the expansion draft happened before the entry draft) and let Marchessault walk as a UFA after this season.
No matter how hard you (or anyone else for that matter) try to come up with a "best scenario" on how things should've gone, we'd still have holes in the line-up, short-term or long-term.
Yeah, who wouldn't take a clear number 1 goalie short-term that's good for PR and a 2nd rounder on top of it. Yup, a really good comparison to a mid6/top9 forward with performance & injury issues and an eternity contract to boot.
You must be new here, lol.
Agree ownership is ultimately responsible but you also need a good GM to make any progress.
And some guys here believe(d) that Kulikov and Gudbranson were great Dmen, part of the core, whatever.
Yup. Tallon had to be sold on Barkov because of his NA bias. If it was between McKinnon and Barkov, Tallon would have grabbed McKinnon in a heartbeat because of the speed, skill, shot and solid frame. He had 2 other choices in Drouin and Jones. He wasn't going to waste a #2 on Drouin because he was another Huby but I'm sure he was tempted on Jones due to his other fetish which is drafting D men. Kekalainen used Tallon's obsession with "big down the middle" to persuade him to grab Barkov ahead of Jones. Incidentally, IMO Tallon normally does what he pleases when it comes to the first two guys in any draft no matter what his scouting staff has to say. Just another negative trait from a guy with an ego who has lived off his drafting of Toews and Kane his whole GM career.
No, I'm looking at the expansion draft from a point of realism and you're looking at it through the eyes of an NHL console game GM. Just because teams have capspace and needs, doesn't mean they're going to take our salary dump and thank us.
This isn't true, Tallon has been on the record for many years now that the league is trending towards smaller & faster players and that the team needs to adapt.
But how can you guarantee that they'd put up the same numbers? We saw already last year how March's numbers dropped when he was taken off the top line and Smith has consistently proven to be inconsistent.
For all we know, Kekalainen could've said it (draft him or fire me IIRC) to ensure Barkov was the pick. We literally have no idea who Tallon on his own wanted to draft 2nd, MacKinnon more than likely at #1.
Right and we all know he would have passed on Barkov if he followed his typical criteria for selecting a player
