GDT: It's a Snowy Sunday Afternoon Game Against Boston

[Navin R Slavin]

From what I've gathered it's on at bars with multiple TVs quite a lot. No idea why. Probably for the same reason that poker game is on all the time at BDubs even if there's only like 3 people playing it anywhere.

I watch poker sometimes. It's kinda fun to watch someone take a bad beat or get all aggro, and it's kinda fun to say "hey, I would have made the right play there, so I can totally be a pro!"

 

[Breakdowns]

Actually, that's kinda perfect, isn't it? I mean, if we miss the playoffs, we miss the playoffs. Who cares if we're last. We're in the hunt, but at the same time, if the season goes south, we can improve draft position in pretty short order.

This year draft is not that good as much as I have heard, so better let`s keep fighting

 

[Discipline Daddy]

I have a feeling RF will have an interesting choice to make at the deadline. Last year remember they had a losing skid leading up to the deadline which kind of made his decision easy. I don't see that happening this time. If they are still just 2-3 points out of a playoff spot you almost have to make a trade or two and go for it.

I don't think we'll be buyers. How many teams will be sellers? Look at the standings. The only teams that are straight up OUT of it are in the West (Colorado and Arizona). You can never count on Benning to be a seller for Vancouver and they're not too far from a playoff spot as it stands. In the East, I could see the Isles, Devils, and maybe Buffalo or Detroit being sellers. Point is, these teams are all within 5 points of the Canes (and that's the Isles with 2 games in hand). This is trending to be the most parity I've ever seen in the league. There are just no straight up bad teams in the East. It's a kind of thing where a 5 game losing streak brings us from 18th in the league (currently) to 28th. Seriously. A bubble team is just a few points from a lottery ticket this year. So sellers will get a premium.

 

[A Star is Burns]

How interesting of a choice will it really be? We don't have any super attractive rental pieces to sell off. And as mentioned, there may not be many pieces to buy either. Seems more likely that we might find the type of hockey trade we've been looking for if any GMs out there grow a pair.

 

[NotOpie]

I don't think we'll be buyers. How many teams will be sellers? Look at the standings. The only teams that are straight up OUT of it are in the West (Colorado and Arizona). You can never count on Benning to be a seller for Vancouver and they're not too far from a playoff spot as it stands. In the East, I could see the Isles, Devils, and maybe Buffalo or Detroit being sellers. Point is, these teams are all within 5 points of the Canes (and that's the Isles with 2 games in hand). This is trending to be the most parity I've ever seen in the league. There are just no straight up bad teams in the East. It's a kind of thing where a 5 game losing streak brings us from 18th in the league (currently) to 28th. Seriously. A bubble team is just a few points from a lottery ticket this year. So sellers will get a premium.

So Van-City is one point out of the playoffs. Nashville and Winnipeg are three points our, and Dallas is 4 points out. The last team in the East is 5 points behind us. Boston and Ottawa look like potential stumblers as Toronto rises, so any of those three will be part of the battle. I just don't think there will be a lot of sellers outside of the aforementioned good ole hockey trades. 4th line heart, soul, and grit types for solid bottom pairing defenders, maybe.

Let me ask this....are any of you all comfortable with trading any of our Top 4 defenders away and not getting a defender back? I'm not. So any defense for offense trade means we're giving up something (unless it's for picks and prospects). As much as we've **** on Jay McClement in the past, I'd have to see a few games of Lucas Wallmark in the NHL before I'd consider moving him. If we moved Hainsey at the deadline, who steps in to his spot? That's the conundrum. All of this is exacerbated by a trade deadline of 2/28/17. Why you ask? The Carolina Hurricanes play 17 games in March and 23 after the TDL. That's 5 more games after the deadline than last season.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

As Azor Aho said, even if RF decides to sell, who do we have worth selling? Hainsey is probably the top UFA to be and he might have value if a team is looking for a veteran D, but not that much value. Liles only got a 3rd round pick and 4th round pick. Stalberg? (we'd like to re-sign him). McClement? Not worth much.

Francis has done a good job getting value for Sekera, Staal, Liles and the like, but our cupboards of trade-able assets at the deadline is pretty empty.

 

[NotOpie]

As Azor Aho said, even if RF decides to sell, who do we have worth selling? Hainsey is probably the top UFA to be and he might have value if a team is looking for a veteran D, but not that much value. Liles only got a 3rd round pick and 4th round pick. Stalberg? (we'd like to re-sign him). McClement? Not worth much.

Francis has done a good job getting value for Sekera, Staal, Liles and the like, but our cupboards of trade-able assets at the deadline is pretty empty.

In my mind the tradable assets are the aforementioned:

Hainsey
Stalberg
McClement

You might squeak a 2nd round pick out of Hainsey. Stalberg, maybe a 4th rounder, and if JayMac picks up his faceoff numbers he might yield a 4th as well but more likely a 5th. Frankly I'd rather make a run for the money.

 

[Roboturner913]

I would imagine Stempniak would be desirable to a team looking for a 3rd liner who can score - yes he's on a two-year deal but it's not a committment with the expansion draft ahead. Hainsey to a team looking to shore up their 3rd pairing. Stalberg....none of them backbreakers, obviously, but it's still a decision to be made. There's a huge difference, even, between just adding one player to make a run for the playoff and subtracting one player.

 

[NotOpie]

I would imagine Stempniak would be desirable to a team looking for a 3rd liner who can score - yes he's on a two-year deal but it's not a committment with the expansion draft ahead. Hainsey to a team looking to shore up their 3rd pairing. Stalberg....none of them backbreakers, obviously, but it's still a decision to be made. There's a huge difference, even, between just adding one player to make a run for the playoff and subtracting one player.

I've held all along that Stempniak and Nordstrom are the two designated non-exempt forwards (maybe Nesty if he gets his mojo back in Charlotte and get's a contract).