GoldiFox
Registered User
- Apr 21, 2014
- 13,287
- 32,030
Seattle would easily choose Nino over Skjei. The forward market isn't nearly as deep as the defensive market. IMO Nino is a must-protect, because when he's playing like this, his contract is good value. Again, Skjei is a luxury piece for us when you consider Jake Bean being there. Not saying that his loss wouldn't hurt, but we have the reserves there to still have a good top-4 without him.
I guess it is just a difference of opinion on what is considered luxury.
IMO a middle-6, 20 goal winger making ~$5 million is much more of a luxury item then a 2nd pairing shutdown D making ~$5 million. I like what I have seen from Bean but I am not sold on him being a top-4 mainstay just yet. Whereas I feel like the Canes have many options that could work in the middle-6.
Plus Nino has a history of alternating hot/cold seasons and he has 7 points in his last 32 Playoff games.
I also disagree that Francis would take Nino over Skjei. Skjei has 3 additional years of team control left and is playing a key role on one of the best teams in the league. Nino would be a 1 year rental who would be trade deadline bait. Maybe Francis would want to bring in Nino and immediately try to extend him but I don't see him being the "core" type for Seattle.