WhoahNow
WhatsApp lead the way
- Sep 7, 2011
- 2,866
- 1,369
To be honest, I think Nill is wondering if Oduya or Franson is really better than what he has on D. Oduya was second pair on Chicago, and we have enough of those, so you would have to argue second Pair on the champs is first pair with us.
Franson was a 1-2 on a terrible TOR team, and a 5-6 or scratch with a good D team in NSH. Hard to know, but would certainly have to be a bounceback type of bet.
For trades, Shatty is an intriguing possibility, Dion is not.
Not sure who else might be out there on D that would fit the No. 1 pair criteria. If it ain't number one, then we might as well play the youth and save money for signing Benn, Seguin, etc., and maybe pick up some depth forward, hopefully a better version of Hemsky.
I looked through generalfanager at teams in the East and who I would try and target:
CAR: Faulk
Dunno if or why Carolina would ever trade him, he should be the guy they build around.
FLA: Gudbranson, Kulikov
Gudbranson more physical and defensive, but I'm pretty sure Kulikov is who the Stars scouts wanted to draft in 2009, but Joe Nieuwendyk elected for Glennie not wanting to draft a Russian (I could be making that up, but I thought I read that somewhere).
NYI: Hamonic
Don't see Islanders moving Hamonic, but he would be ideal.
WSH: Alzner, Carlson
Maybe Washington will eventually run into cap issues and have already shelled out big contracts for Orpik and Niskanen might have to move one of Alzner or Carlson?
The teams probably have no intention of trading away these guys, but they would be my first choice targets.