AtlantaWhaler
Thrash/Preds/Sabres
- Jul 3, 2009
- 19,713
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Stalberg was never going to be a Top 6 guy. If anyone had any sincere expectations that he would be they're kidding themselves. I was stunned we actually signed him for as long as we did.Stalberg would have to go down as one of the bigger disappointments that I can remember.
Chicago fans all told us what we were buying, but to be honest, I was excited and optimistic. You watch the guy play, and you can check off every box you need to get a big time player (or at least a quality top-6 guy), but the sum is not equal to all the parts.
Stalberg was never going to be a Top 6 guy. If anyone had any sincere expectations that he would be they're kidding themselves. I was stunned we actually signed him for as long as we did.
Oh, come on, you yourself were a fan of the Stalberg signing. All moves don't pan out the way we think or hope they will.#Poileforgmforlife
I see 3 possibilities.
1) a cap clearing move for something else
2) a 'hey, these guys are available' move before some kind of cut your loss trade
3) long shot-- prelude to buyout
Might be I just had my teeth cleaned but I have a nagging feeling this is the prelude to a Kessel trade. Think about it. With Stalberg and Clune in Milwaukee they are all salary no cap hit. What can Toronto afford? All the monies and no cap hit. Only other bad cap hit I see on the team is Hutton.
I have a gut feeling that Poile is finally going to get Kessel and I'm going to be pissed at what he gave up.
Getting a player of Kessel's level, especially when signed to a long-term contract, is always going to hurt. I don't think any of us would be very happy about what was going the other direction.
That said, man, rolling out Kessel-Neal as a 1-2 punch on the right side would be something to see. Talk about scoring depth.
Forsberg-Ribeiro-Kessel
Fiala-Fisher-Neal
Wilson-Smith/Jarnkrok-Moses/Smith
That's massively improved third-line scoring and overall depth. You're talking about two guys with 30+ goal potential, another four guys with 20+ goal potential, then who knows with Fiala. Call it 10 for him. That's 150 goals right there. If Jarnkrok can chip in 10 that's 160 goals from your top three lines.
edit: That's two goals a game. Chip in 10 goals total from the fourth line and you're up to 170. Then Weber will get 20+. Josi will get 10+. That's 200. Ellis and Ekholm for 10 more. Jones and Bartley for 5. That's 215 goals using minimum numbers.
Let's say it ends up something like this:
Forsberg (25) - Ribeiro (15) - Kessel (30) = 70
Fiala (15) - Fisher (22) - Neal (28) = 65
Wilson (15, let's say he regresses slightly) - Smith (25) - Moses (15) = 55
Bourque (8) - Gaustad (5) - Nystrom (5) = 18
That's a total of 208 goals from our forwards. Maybe drop it to 200 even if Moses and Fiala don't perform to our hopes. I think those are all fairly realistic numbers. Kessel would open up more space for Forsberg. That would be a massive improvement from the third line. I think Fiala's passing would help improve Neal's numbers a bit.
Weber (15) - Josi (10) = 25
Ellis (8) - Ekholm (5) = 13
Jones (5) - Bartley (1) = 6
So 44 goals from the defense. Drop that to 40 and you're near a 3 GPG average for the team.
Now, do I expect the team to average three goals per game next season? Well, they averaged 2.76 last season according to NHL.com. That's a pretty substantial increase. So, no, probably not, but if they could, in front of that defense, then if Rinne can stay healthy that would be one hell of a hockey team.
Getting a player of Kessel's level, especially when signed to a long-term contract, is always going to hurt. I don't think any of us would be very happy about what was going the other direction.
That said, man, rolling out Kessel-Neal as a 1-2 punch on the right side would be something to see. Talk about scoring depth.
Forsberg-Ribeiro-Kessel
Fiala-Fisher-Neal
Wilson-Smith/Jarnkrok-Moses/Smith
That's massively improved third-line scoring and overall depth. You're talking about two guys with 30+ goal potential, another four guys with 20+ goal potential, then who knows with Fiala. Call it 10 for him. That's 150 goals right there. If Jarnkrok can chip in 10 that's 160 goals from your top three lines.
edit: That's two goals a game. Chip in 10 goals total from the fourth line and you're up to 170. Then Weber will get 20+. Josi will get 10+. That's 200. Ellis and Ekholm for 10 more. Jones and Bartley for 5. That's 215 goals using minimum numbers.
Let's say it ends up something like this:
Forsberg (25) - Ribeiro (15) - Kessel (30) = 70
Fiala (15) - Fisher (22) - Neal (28) = 65
Wilson (15, let's say he regresses slightly) - Smith (25) - Moses (15) = 55
Bourque (8) - Gaustad (5) - Nystrom (5) = 18
That's a total of 208 goals from our forwards. Maybe drop it to 200 even if Moses and Fiala don't perform to our hopes. I think those are all fairly realistic numbers. Kessel would open up more space for Forsberg. That would be a massive improvement from the third line. I think Fiala's passing would help improve Neal's numbers a bit.
Weber (15) - Josi (10) = 25
Ellis (8) - Ekholm (5) = 13
Jones (5) - Bartley (1) = 6
So 44 goals from the defense. Drop that to 40 and you're near a 3 GPG average for the team.
Now, do I expect the team to average three goals per game next season? Well, they averaged 2.76 last season according to NHL.com. That's a pretty substantial increase. So, no, probably not, but if they could, in front of that defense, then if Rinne can stay healthy that would be one hell of a hockey team.
What do you suppose you'd give up for Kessel if the bolded aren't involved, especially considering you don't have a 1st?
What do you suppose you'd give up for Kessel if ANY OF THE bolded aren't involved, especially considering you don't have a 1st?
Yeah I realized after typing that up that I hadn't taken anyone off the roster for the trade. That said, I hope that a Kessel trade wouldn't involve more than one roster defenseman (Jones or Ellis), a prospect not named Fiala, a draft pick. Maybe a bottom-six player for roster depth, say Beck or Bourque. If they're giving up more than that, well, frankly I'd pass. The only point of trading for a Kessel would be to improve the existing roster and if you give up multiple roster players to get him you haven't really improved anything.