"Again with this aging EJ stuff". What? Erik Johnson is going to be 31 years old next month. This is when players slow down and decline. Are you arguing against the existence of father time? "Aging EJ" isn't "stuff". Erik Johnson is aging, Erik Johnson is on the wrong side of 30 and God knows has suffered enough injuries on his body, aging players with wear and tear decline, end of conversation. You're in denial if you think otherwise.
The only thing you proved here is that players regress eventually. Not that EJ is regressing now. Not when he will definitively start to regress. And not how much he will regress.
Hoping for the addition of one quality top four defensman, while retaining the handful of top four defensmen this team currently has without aimlessly loosing them like a bunch of the gadabouts on this board desire is not unrealistic.
I'm not sure what you're talking about here, or how it relates to the conversation of adding a lesser defenseman than Karlsson to the team.
Your list of what the defense is being built around is unrealistic. Why is Connor Timmins there? He has not played hockey since May. Does that need to be repeated? He suffered a very serious concussion, he's still not playing hockey, and he just lost a full year of development at the most critical age. Pencilling him in anywhere right now is beyond my comprehension. Did we learn nothing from Chris Bigras, who was also a high end second rounder this fanbase pencilled in on every roster, whose career was derailed by a couple concussions (none of which took him out as long as Timmins'....)? Connor Timmins is someone I sure hope can be a player for us long term, but counting on it? "Building" around him? What is this?
Timmins isn't there and he wasn't penciled into the lineup. You would have seen that if you read what I said.
Timmins is also a decidedly better prospect than Bigras was at the same age. He had a better final season in junior and he had a much better showing at the WJC where he was arguably their best defenseman.
Anyone who thinks Bigras and Timmins are the same level of prospect isn't good at evaluating prospects.
There is zero reason to believe they are building this defense around Zadorov. He's credibly been in trade rumours, and he's going to be a 24 year old going into this offseason needed a new contract with a track record of uneven play.
You're talking about who the core of the team is. Not who they're building around.
They're trying to build around Jost and Compher too. Doesn't mean they're integral parts of the team. It just means they're in their plans, and their hopeful lineups for the future.
You also can't use the words "credibly" and "trade rumors" in the same sentence. GM's talk about moving players all the time. Doesn't mean they're shopping them. Maybe they do maybe they don't. Just like any other player.
I guarantee you teams were trying to pry Zadorov out of Colorado when he was struggling earlier. That's all it could have been.
Cale Makar and Sam Girard are the only two young D / prospects that can be counted on right now. That's two youngsters, one of which is already being relied on in a top four role, on a team currently lacking a top four defensman, with one of the team's top four defensmen aging and the other whom half of this board -- including yourself -- can't wait to trade for a shiny new toy (Drouin!).
Huh? Maybe I'm misunderstanding you here, but are you saying I want to trade for Drouin? I don't. Unless we time warped to three years ago when he was sitting out in Tampa.
It's not a lot better. It's a big downgrade from Barrie to Myers. Myers is a 29 year old who is soft as well, mediocre offensively, and ridiculously inconsistent defensively. The only upgrade that would occur on the blue line would be entirely dependent on whatever Makar does out of the gate.
And I thought we were talking about now, not in "a couple years".
I think I'll bail out of this one since I know the Tyson Barrie road we're about to head down as the next logical step of this conversation.
Are we already at the point where you're twisting what I'm saying into Myers>Barrie, when that's clearly not what I was saying?
Sakic shouldn't be making big additions with "now" in mind. He should be making decisions with the next 3-5 years in mind.
I'm not sure what you're referring to with the Tyson Barrie road either. I'm not pushing for him to be traded. I've only referred to him being potentially traded if the Avs can't come to a deal, which based on their history, I think is a real possibility.