GDT: Free Agent Frenzy Part II

[anonymous9739872329]

So yeah, any other free agent we could discuss? I heard Scott Gomez is available.

 

[Natey]

No the contract itself isn't a burden, its just literally the player himself...

On the habs he's the first line center, on every other team, what is he?

You're kidding yourself if you think other teams wouldn't use him.

 

[WeThreeKings]

Almost as good as thinking "which center is more integral to the team" is the only factor when evaluating which one you can or should trade.

Sorry.. I thought the point of hockey is to win the cup.. Making our center position weaker to acquire more futures by trading plekanec makes little sense.

 

[PricePkPatch*]

No the contract itself isn't a burden, its just literally the player himself...

On the habs he's the first line center, on every other team, what is he?

Until we have a genuine offensive centre talent that emerges to displace him, he'll be our Top-centre.

right now, we are making Galchenyuk mature. We are making him play against the tough oppositions. We are making him more defensively responsible, and he's clearly proving to emerge slowly, but surely.

If Galchenyuk proves himself to be really dominant in term of scoring, expect to see Desharnais displaced from his #1 spot the second he'll be struggling to give a chance to a dominant Galchenyuk.

In case you haven't noticed, management works with this philosophy: "Make the hard choices for us". right now, Chuckie hasn't demonstrated he'd perform better than Desharnais. Maybe on par, but not better. The moment Chuckie seems to really be dominating as he should, nobody will whine when Chuckie is given the keys to a C spot.

 

[CupInSIX]

No I'm okay with trading him, but if your plan is to give his PK, 2nd PP and icetime responsibilities to Eller, you're gonna have a bad time. I also agree with the DD argument, is there any other great reason for keeping him except not breaking Maxpac's heart?

Malhotra was brought in to play some of those tough minutes Plekanec is relied on for (defensive zone draws, PK).

DD is perfectly fine as a C getting 15-16m a game and reduced PP time. Galchenyuk and Eller compete for the 1st line PP.

 

[Natey]

Almost as good as thinking "which center is more integral to the team" is the only factor when evaluating which one you can or should trade.

Exactly. Gorges would still be here otherwise. Gionta too. Times change.

 

[Natey]

Sorry.. I thought the point of hockey is to win the cup.. Making our center position weaker to acquire more futures by trading plekanec makes little sense.

Oh right... futures. Cause he said that.

 

[Cole Caulifield]

"Excellent" is a stretch, and you're most certainly biased in favor of him, so it's a wash.

Would you say he was defensively adept enough in the PO, to the point you'd be comfortable trading away Plekanec?

No, clearly not. Unless Galchenyuk took a massive leap forward and was capable of entirely taking over Plekanec's role. But right now that's not my expectation at all.

I've never ever seen DD as a #1 center. We don't have a typical set up for our centers as other teams. Plekanec is still clearly needed at this present time. He plays PK and tough match ups. But Plekanec runs out of steam if you play him more than we do. He can't play anymore than that. Neither Plekanec or DD are your ideal #1 center, both have certain desired attributes. Galchenyuk has the potential to have them all but is not there yet. Eller is in the same boat as Galchenyuk and I don't know if he'll ever put it all together.

And unlike Basu, who I feel is out to lunch, I don't see the need to make room for Galchenyuk yet. He can play wing again a bit this season. Plus, he might get a chance at center if there are injuries. Wouldn't be surprised. Barring that, I could see the habs running 4 scoring lines, especially if we sign Vrbata and if 1-2 of Sekac and a prospect come to camp showing they deserve to stay.

At this time, trading one of DD or Plekanec is not a priority to me. I'd keep all of our centers and rejoice in having crazy depth at every position.

 

[Redux91]

My main beef is desharnais put up 8 playoff points with 20 mins icetime, pleks 9

And eller puts up 13 playoffs points in 13 mins ice time

Just feels like 1 of dd or pleks is really blocking this road

 

[WeThreeKings]

Exactly. Gorges would still be here otherwise. Gionta too. Times change.

Weaver does what gorges does and cheaper for shorter term.. Gionta priced himself out with his terrible performance.

Those are different scenarios then which center do you move when you want galchenyuk at center fill time.

 

[WeThreeKings]

Oh right... futures. Cause he said that.

Spezza and kesler got a prospect and a 2nd with some other junk thrown in. That worth drastically weakening our center position?

 

[Le Barron de HF]

My main beef is desharnais put up 8 playoff points with 20 mins icetime, pleks 9

And eller puts up 13 playoffs points in 13 mins ice time

Just feels like 1 of dd or pleks is really blocking this road

Check who Eller (and Bourque for that matter) faced to get that kind of production. Other third lines and 2nd or 3rd defensive pairs. He doesn't get that kind of production if he's facing other team's top lines or top pairing.

 

[Winter Eclipse]

Until we have a genuine offensive centre talent that emerges to displace him, he'll be our Top-centre.

right now, we are making Galchenyuk mature. We are making him play against the tough oppositions. We are making him more defensively responsible, and he's clearly proving to emerge slowly, but surely.

If Galchenyuk proves himself to be really dominant in term of scoring, expect to see Desharnais displaced from his #1 spot the second he'll be struggling to give a chance to a dominant Galchenyuk.

In case you haven't noticed, management works with this philosophy: "Make the hard choices for us". right now, Chuckie hasn't demonstrated he'd perform better than Desharnais. Maybe on par, but not better. The moment Chuckie seems to really be dominating as he should, nobody will whine when Chuckie is given the keys to a C spot.

That's a pretty high threshold to set though, isn't it? Especially since almost all of the criteria you list are things we DON'T ask of our #1C

Basically, Galchenyuk has to do much better offensively than what we expect from DD, while playing in a worse context, while also having to meet defensive milestones?

Not the fairest competition there...

 

[PricePkPatch*]

That's a pretty high threshold to set though, isn't it? Especially since almost all of the criteria you list are things we DON'T ask of our #1C

Basically, Galchenyuk has to do much better offensively than what we expect from DD, while playing in a worse context, while also having to meet defensive milestones?

Not the fairest competition there...

Galchenyuk's upside is much higher. He's younger, and he is still developing.

While I understand your point, I think it's also a good philosophy to force Galchenyuk to displace our current top-C. After all, everyone agrees that we have a sub-par 1C (and some say our 1C is a complete blackhole). I expect his replacement to at least surpass him.

 

[Ezpz]

Check who Eller (and Bourque for that matter) faced to get that kind of production. Other third lines and 2nd or 3rd defensive pairs. He doesn't get that kind of production if he's facing other team's top lines or top pairing.

DD doesn't get that kind of production regardless. He's invisible every playoffs no matter how hard he's skating.

 

[Winter Eclipse]

No, clearly not. Unless Galchenyuk took a massive leap forward and was capable of entirely taking over Plekanec's role. But right now that's not my expectation at all.

I've never ever seen DD as a #1 center. We don't have a typical set up for our centers as other teams. Plekanec is still clearly needed at this present time. He plays PK and tough match ups. But Plekanec runs out of steam if you play him more than we do. He can't play anymore than that. Neither Plekanec or DD are your ideal #1 center, both have certain desired attributes. Galchenyuk has the potential to have them all but is not there yet. Eller is in the same boat as Galchenyuk and I don't know if he'll ever put it all together.

And unlike Basu, who I feel is out to lunch, I don't see the need to make room for Galchenyuk yet. He can play wing again a bit this season. Plus, he might get a chance at center if there are injuries. Wouldn't be surprised. Barring that, I could see the habs running 4 scoring lines, especially if we sign Vrbata and if 1-2 of Sekac and a prospect come to camp showing they deserve to stay.

At this time, trading one of DD or Plekanec is not a priority to me. I'd keep all of our centers and rejoice in having crazy depth at every position.

No, I agree completely, I was more responding to the idea of trading Plekanec, which really makes no sense to me; either we get back a Center to replace him, n which case why trade him in the first place, or we get some other asset and a big old hole in our defensive capability at Center :/

 

[Redux91]

Check who Eller (and Bourque for that matter) faced to get that kind of production. Other third lines and 2nd or 3rd defensive pairs. He doesn't get that kind of production if he's facing other team's top lines or top pairing.

I'd argue eller would get even more points if he played 7 mins more a game with some pp time

But whatever yeah they SHUT down desharnais .. Great.. I wonder if that will change in the next 3 years....

 

[teh doors]

So yeah, any other free agent we could discuss? I heard Scott Gomez is available.

Hoping he signs in Buffalo

Gorges - Gomez - Gionta

 

[Winter Eclipse]

Galchenyuk's upside is much higher. He's younger, and he is still developing.

While I understand your point, I think it's also a good philosophy to force Galchenyuk to displace our current top-C. After all, everyone agrees that we have a sub-par 1C (and some say our 1C is a complete blackhole). I expect his replacement to at least surpass him.

Yeah, I totally understand your point, I guess I just find that criteria a bit high...

 

[PricePkPatch*]

Yeah, I totally understand your point, I guess I just find those criteria a bit high...

I agree with you that they are high. But then again, we have to be pretty sure that Chuckie will be ready when he'll get his C spot, don't you think?

'cause it will mean losing one of the three very serviceable Centre we currently have. I wouldn't mind Desharnais as an offensive 2C, as long as our 3C is a shutdown line.

 

[Le Barron de HF]

I'd argue eller would get even more points if he played 7 mins more a game with some pp time

But whatever yeah they SHUT down desharnais .. Great.. I wonder if that will change in the next 3 years....

It was more of a counter thought to you hinting that Plekanec might be blocking Eller. I don't really like Desharnais but I didn't hate his playoff performance. I'm a big believer in Eller but I don't think he has the experience to play the role that Plekanec currently plays, he still has brainfarts in his coverage and panics with puck on some occasions.

 

[PricePkPatch*]

It was more of a counter thought to you hinting that Plekanec might be blocking Eller. I don't really like Desharnais but I didn't hate his playoff performance. I'm a big believer in Eller but I don't think he has the experience to play the role that Plekanec currently plays, he still has brainfarts in his coverage and panics with puck on some occasions.

Eller still carried the play offensively waaaay better than Plekanec this postseason

 

[Winter Eclipse]

Eller still carried the play offensively waaaay better than Plekanec this postseason

He carried it way better than pretty much all our Centers

 

[PricePkPatch*]

He carried it way better than pretty much all our Centers

Maybe

Thing is, Desharnais managed to keep possession deep in the o-Zone, and he was battling strong as hell.

Plekanec... not so much. His goals were on transition plays.

 

[Natey]

I'd argue eller would get even more points if he played 7 mins more a game with some pp time

But whatever yeah they SHUT down desharnais .. Great.. I wonder if that will change in the next 3 years....

Boston and Tampa shut down the line. Desharnais was the best player on his line through the Boston series until Gallagher got added. He set up plenty of plays. He's not a goal scorer, if he was he'd be making $5M a year.

No excuse for his performance against the Rangers. He was mediocre at best.