Player Discussion Austin Watson (LW) to Ottawa for 2021 4th

[Erik Alfredsson]

They would count if they’re in the NhL

Yeah but it's not going to get us to the cap floor regardless, they don't make enough.

 

[RAFI BOMB]

J. Brown, Gudbranson, and now Watson. I guess we're just looking to beat up every team we play this year. Probably not the worst strategy.

 

[Hale The Villain]

Taylor Hall and Anthony Cirelli. They'll be coming here for sure.

I'm almost certain we'll be making an offer to Tampa for Cirelli because of that, but whether they trade him is another story.

 

[JungleBeat]

So that's almost $5 mil wasted on brown/gudbranson/watson. couldn't that money be used in a better way? for a budget team we sure do like throwing money on meh players. there are players in belleville that could have filled these roles.

This is nothing new with the franchise, it’s been happening since Murray’s tenure, the team overpays for depth players and underpay the actual talent on the team. Then you have the fans blaming Melnyk (rightfully so) on being cheap, but the GM was to use the limited funds available wisely.

 

[FormentonTheFuture]

Yeah but it's not going to get us to the cap floor regardless, they don't make enough.

Well they would have gotten to the floor regardless of getting Watson or not. But I’m fine with the move as I don’t see any Belleville player who can’t fill that role. I was hoping we’d get Matt Martin

 

[GermanSpitfire]

Hinostroza, Ennis, Cousins and Larsson all signed recently for the same or less money with less term than Watson

Plenty of Watson-type players available that haven't signed and probably will get less than 1.5M x 3YR deals in this environment.

Why trade a 4th for a 4th liner like Watson when you could get one for free? Makes no sense.

Because players don’t want to come to Ottawa

 

[Emerica]

Gotta love that our meathead HC is also our only pro-scout. We are going to have the biggest, slowest, lowest IQ roster in the league but hey at least they'll fight. Not like you need to score goals to win or something

 

[Hale The Villain]

Poile signs Cousins at a cost of zero assets for the same money as Watson to replace him in the lineup, and then deals Watson for a 4th

Smart move.

Is it just me or is Watson even worth a 4th? More like a 6th or 7th.

If he happened to be a UFA in this environment I doubt he gets a 3 year contract at 1.5M, so his value should be around zero.

But he played for DJ in junior so value goes out the window.

 

[Erik Alfredsson]

Well they would have gotten to the floor regardless of getting Watson or not. But I’m fine with the move as I don’t see any Belleville player who can’t fill that role. I was hoping we’d get Matt Martin

Regardless of Watson yes, but probably not all 3.

 

[topshelf15]

Yeah love having tough hard working players,but we also need top 6 help hello??

 

[Hale The Villain]

Because players don’t want to come to Ottawa

Pretty sure we could find a 4th liner that would be willing to sign in Ottawa for 4.5M over 3YRs to play more minutes and get more opportunity than he'd get anywhere else.

 

[RAFI BOMB]

 

[FormentonTheFuture]

Poile signs Cousins at a cost of zero assets for the same money as Watson to replace him in the lineup, and then deals Watson for a 4th

Smart move.



If he happened to be a UFA in this environment I doubt he gets a 3 year contract at 1.5M, so his value should be around zero.

But he played for DJ in junior so value goes out the window.

David Poole isn’t exactly a good GM

 

[Gil Gunderson]

Because players don’t want to come to Ottawa

We could probably just overpay a guy who can play on the 2nd or 3rd line, since we don't seem to have a problem overpaying multiple depth players.

 

[Sweatred]

I like the pick up - none of our RW’s project as 3-4RW’s other then Brown who may play up in the lineup.

out bottom 6 is getting tougher potentially with Form, Watson, Paul etc.

 

[Erik Alfredsson]

Gotta love that our meathead HC is also our only pro-scout. We are going to have the biggest, slowest, lowest IQ roster in the league but hey at least they'll fight. Not like you need to score goals to win or something

They traded for Watson to play 4th line. Not all 12 forwards are supposed to put the puck in the net. We have plenty of guys in scoring roles, Stutzle, Tkachuk, Terieny, White, and C. Brown all can contribute offensively, and then they have guys like Batherson, Norris, L. Brown, and Formenton who might crack the roster and are also offensive minded players.

Plus it's not like we were going to win many games this year anyway. Might as well hurt some people if we can't win.

 

[milkbag]

If someone more in the know than me could answer, has DJ coached any good players? That'd be nice.
Guess we're doing that thing again where we use our coach as a pro scout eh

 

[Hale The Villain]

David Poole isn’t exactly a good GM

He's made some major mistakes recently, but his overall body of work is very impressive.

He's largely the reason why the Preds have gone from a bad small market team on the verge of being moved to a cap team that makes the playoffs more years than not.

 

[Wallet Inspector]

Poile signs Cousins at a cost of zero assets for the same money as Watson to replace him in the lineup, and then deals Watson for a 4th

Smart move.

Would have much rather resigned Hawryluk

 

[L'Aveuglette]

Literally just bringing in toughness and basic vet presence. No offensive ability to be found.

He's hella cheap though!

 

[Hale The Villain]

If someone more in the know than me could answer, has DJ coached any good players? That'd be nice.
Guess we're doing that thing again where we use our coach as a pro scout eh

Taylor Hall
Ryan Ellis
Josh Bailey
Anthony Cirelli
Adam Henrique
Zack Kassian
Scott Laughton
Boone Jenner
Michael Dal Colle
+ any good players on the Leafs from 2016-2019

 

[L'Aveuglette]

Really good rundown on this guy is here

2018-2019 Player Reviews: Austin Watson

Lol posting this implies Watson brings offense, which he doesn't. Post a montage of him taking penalties, that would represent him more accurately.

 

[AchtzehnBaby]

Great post!

 

[BankStreetParade]

Preds fans, just like Panthers and Ducks fans, are surprised we paid anything to acquire their player.

Sounds like how Sharks fans whooped it up when we took Demelo off their hands...or how Rangers fans were thrilled when we took Namestnikov...I remember fans here hating both of those players before they even suited up for the team, kept saying "why are we wasting assets on bottom pairing/bottom 6 guys?" and "why couldn't we get player x for those assets?"

 

[armani]

Dorion will recoup the pick at TDL as this team won't score many goals and remains a draft lottery team next year.

This is DJ's pick for another cheap veteran player he coached that fits the identity while insulating the number of rookies expected to lace the skates. I don't feel enraged by the move.

Welcome to Ottawa Stone Cold!