GDT: [#59] Woo @ Howl ★ 8 PM CST ★ FSSW ★

[OttMorrow]

A loss like this may be good.

As for Demers. Do we really wanna throw the money at him? His play has been trending downwards recently. At this point I rather just give John his spot.

That's a little reactionary...it's not like he's past his prime or anything. He's been one of our best defensemen. Johns can't fill his shoes yet, and there's not guarantee that he'll ever be as sound defensively as Demers. If you don't resign Demers, you'd better have a sure-fire replacement, not a prayer on an as yet unproven prospect. If you can get Demers on a good contract, you do it. If you have him at a reasonable price he's at trade commodity in the worst case scenario. Remember...he's a solid, right-shot defenseman...those don't just fall off of trees.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[FirstRowUpperDeck]

Well, it has been a rough road schedule. Maybe that plays into it, but winners make no excuses either. Demers seems like a reincarnation of Morrow, who seemed at times to get called for everything, and most of those calls resulted in a PPG against. He is on a bad streak right now, but has been good overall.

Team building is a quandary with the salary cap. First, the D isn't great anyway, so rushing to resign every member of it rather than upgrading doesn't make sense.

Second, the Stars probably have a real Cup window for 2-4 more years with their core in the 25-29 mode, aka, the prime of their careers. How crazy do we get for this year in bringing in rentals?

But, if AG and JD walk (even Jordie) as UFA, do we blow our prime opportunity starting next year with three more rookie D? The D core would have to have special sweaters in pea green over Victory green if that was the case.

I suspect they sign JD over Alex, but could be wrong. No one thinks they can retain both. Maybe they try both, and sign the one that doesn't take an offer from a better team, and bring up one new guy this year, one next.