Martin Erat

[Holtbyisms]

Ya I don't mind letting Ribs walk as long as they retain Grabo.

I tend to agree. Would it have been nice to move ribero for something, sure but realistically last year i dont think it would have been a good move. Hindsight is 20 20.

Grabovski just seems to fit in better and plays with a bit more intensity and drive than I ever saw out of Ribero. You can tell he really wants it. Is that because he doesn't have a contract? Only time will tell but most TML fans suggest it's the way he always plays and that his last year there was much like Erat's year here. Poorly used.

 

[txpd]

I tend to agree. Would it have been nice to move ribero for something, sure but realistically last year i dont think it would have been a good move. Hindsight is 20 20.

Grabovski just seems to fit in better and plays with a bit more intensity and drive than I ever saw out of Ribero. You can tell he really wants it. Is that because he doesn't have a contract? Only time will tell but most TML fans suggest it's the way he always plays and that his last year there was much like Erat's year here. Poorly used.

if you are thinking that you must trade a pending ufa unless signed by the trade deadline, then you don't trade for a player of ufa age/service entering the last year of his contract. that status was the only reason he was available and the only reason he could be acquired for a prospect and a draft pick.

i think you have to plan as if you are going to lose the occasional top half of the lineup veteran to free agency for nothing if you are a playoff team. putting a team on the ice to play season to season and managing assets like a portfolio will clash on a regular basis.

 

[Holtbyisms]

if you are thinking that you must trade a pending ufa unless signed by the trade deadline, then you don't trade for a player of ufa age/service entering the last year of his contract. that status was the only reason he was available and the only reason he could be acquired for a prospect and a draft pick.

i think you have to plan as if you are going to lose the occasional top half of the lineup veteran to free agency for nothing if you are a playoff team. putting a team on the ice to play season to season and managing assets like a portfolio will clash on a regular basis.

I agree in the case of Ribs. We were a playoff team and pretty hot at the time. Got to keep him. I don't think there's a magic solution though, it should be a case by case basis for every pending ufa.

 

[txpd]

I agree in the case of Ribs. We were a playoff team and pretty hot at the time. Got to keep him. I don't think there's a magic solution though, it should be a case by case basis for every pending ufa.

I think everything is case by case, but as a general rule, you don't trade a primary part of your team, top 3 to 5 scoring, top 4 defense, starting goaltender at the trade deadline when you expect to be in the playoffs because they are a pending ufa.

because as a general rule, most players available for trade at the deadline for futures are all pending ufa. meaning that if you trade semin or ribeiro or grabovski, that production can not be replaced.