you talk about these 1D changing hands like it was the teams' decision to get rid of them and therefor they must not be as valuable. I honestly don't know the specifics of all of these guys but Suter wasn't going to stay no matter what, Pronger had to leave because of that affair thing... Who were they traded for? I mean if you have a rebuilding team they're going to trade a #1D for a boatload of assets vs keeping the D. I'd like to see some context if someone is going to rattle off a miles long list.
I’m not saying the team let go of them because they aren’t as valuable. I’m saying that they’re easier to acquire because they have become available outside of the draft much more consistently. The number one that I’m saying they aren’t as valuable is that since the lockout, 4 different teams have won a Stanley Cup without a superstar #1D; teams win Stanley Cups with the likes of Sergei Gonchar, Brian Dumolin, John Carlson, and Frantisek Kaberle as their #1D. Meanwhile, literally no team has won a Cup with a center who is comparable as a player to Frantisek Kaberle or Brian Dumolin.
PK and Weber were traded for eachother, so that's kind of double-dipping.
And quite a few of those transfers were UFA signings, not trades. (You mentioned both in the post I initially replied to, but said only "changed hands via trade" in this one.)
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It would. But I'm not convinced that's a valid argument w/r/t which is more valuable to have.
Yes, PK and Weber were traded for one another. But both were made available to be acquired outside of the draft and that trade right there saw as many elite #1Ds change hands in one day as we’ve seen elite centers change hands since the lockout. Even if you don’t include those guys, you’ve still got 5 established superstar franchise #1D changing hands outside of the draft and only two centers since the lockout.
My bad if I only said trade. I am talking about whether or not these changed hands outside of the draft. With that, I’m including trades, UFAs, and offer sheets.
Zdeno Chara, Scott Niedermayer, Ryan Suter and John Tavares all moved as UFAs. The fact that more defencemen have moved as UFAs is just a coincidence. I think Chara was the only one that the team had much of a say in not staying, and it was a cap casualty over another defenceman they thought was better at the time.
It cost an established 1C to acquire Seth Jones. Weber and Subban were traded for each other. Nothing about these types of trades say which is easier to acquire.
Johansen is not an established #1C. Not Stanley Cup caliber. If you start including centers like Johansen as #1Cs, it kind of defeats the purpose since Johansen isn’t on Mathew Barzal’s level and he isn’t a Stanley Cup Caliber #1C.