CrosbyMalkin
Registered User
- Aug 7, 2005
- 6,700
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Couldn’t disagree more. Trading a guy who was widely considered an A or A- wing prospect for a run-of-the-mill 4-6 D man is not good asset management. Also, you can speculate that Sprongs value would not have gotten hire, but obviously we will never know. Perhaps pens suffer an rash of injuries and Sprong moves up lineup and produces?
What seems almost certain is that if the pens moved Sprong earlier they would have gotten quite a bit more than a guy like Petterson.
I guess it all comes down to what you value. They both are about the same age and 2nd round picks although Pettersson much higher at 38th pick. Defenseman take longer to develop and Pettersson has already performed well in his first 56 games with 10 points and a +12. He looks like a sure NHL player with a decent upside of a second pairing player.
Sprong has not established himself as an NHL player and was getting benched while players like Garret Wilson played over him. In games he did play he didn’t look good. All the people judging him off of a 5 game stretch could look very stupid by the end of the season. I still think this kid could be a bust. Even if Sprong does become a 20+ goal scoring winger in the future I still don’t think that is worth anymore than a 2nd pairing defenseman. That is just my opinion of defenseman and centers being more valuable than wingers. Of course we have exceptions but a one dimensional scoring winger does not get you a top pairing defenseman unless they are one of they top wingers in the game like Kessel. I don’t see Sprong in that class even if he developed perfectly.
So if Pettersson develops into a solid 2nd pairing defenseman the Pens can’t lose this deal.
I could see your point if the Pens traded Sprong for an aging rental or something like that. Pettersson is more valuable for our team in the short term and his upside does not hurt us in the future either. I really don’t see this trade as a sure win for the Ducks. Could be a win win trade in which the Pens get a reliable 2nd pairing defenseman and the Ducks get a decent scoring winger. I like Pettersson reaching that level better than Sprong meeting his upside but time will tell.
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