He probably won't, but it's an eventual possibility. Likewise, the same can be said about Rielly as well. Phaneuf needs someone who is more of a puck mover while Dion plays a more stay-at-home role. What is interesting to note is that Chicago's top pairing isn't really a puck moving one, but a mobile, skating, one so it's not an unusually foreign concept. Likewise, Josi plays a similar puck stabilising role for Weber and, honestly, Phaneuf needs someone like that as well.
That would be ideal if Gardiner can play that high endurance, Brian Campbell-like role. Now we're going to need to totally rectify the mess up front.
Sign Stastny ( or trade for J. Staal) and create a top line that can drive possession under the heaviest minutes. From there our second line will play a secondary, but important scoring role. We'll have to considering moving out Lupul and acquiring a two-way forward for Kadri. I'd also like to see Holland experimented with Clarkson, but whatever we do, our bottom six needs to be youth-based.
JVR - Stastny - Kessel
X - Kadri - X
X - Holland - Clarkson
X - Carrick - X
X - Phaneuf
X - Polak
X- Granberg
Note, I am not for trading either Gardiner or Rielly ( he's untouchable IMO), I am just not sure where either fit. We're going to need to use Franson, Lupul, and possibly even Gardiner ( if required) to get that two-way top six forward on the wing of Kadri and/or a solid, all-round, PMD like Brandon Gormley.
diceman934: I suppose I assumed wrong. If he is opposed to the trade, he's probably never seen St Louis play. If anything Shattenkirk were their missing link in the playoffs, not Polak.