A 5 C is a spare part this team has plenty of those a guy that doesn't stay in the lineup regularly.
I don't see any spare part centers on this team so far this year. Maybe Smith is arguable although he's been out for a long stretch now and has proven to have value to the roster when healthy.
Petan has no NHL experience no ****, he's in Jr what a revelation over the last 3 years he has been arguably the best Jr player in the world. I guess every Jr player wont project to play in the NHL...
Yet you're the one saying he would easily beat out Turris and Zibanejad for a top 6 center position!
Here's a fun game. Guess who's who:
Player A
18 year old junior season: 71GP 37G 69A 106P
19 year old junior season: 66GP 41G 82A 123P
Player B
18 year old junior season: 63GP 35G 78A 113P
19 year old junior season: 30GP 6G 33A 39P
Both played in the same junior league. One guy is Petan and the other guy is Mark Stone. Tell me what's so impressive about Petan's head-to-head years that earns him such worldly praise to be called "arguably the best Jr player in the world" over the last 3 years?
I don't see how anyone on the roster that plays center is an established NHL'er. Zibanejad has been given every opportunity to succeed and is playing with debatably the top two forwards on the team. Zibanejad has been ok, he lacks consistency, I don't think its any stretch to think Petan could be a better player than him. Pageau has been moved into his place multiple times and has looked as good or better and he wasn't nearly the Jr or the prospect Petan is. I still have high hopes for Zibanejad as he has great tools but I am not going to hold my breath if he ends up being a 2/3C.
First bolded part: Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?????? More below on that.
Second bolded part: 23 points in his last 32 games. You might not think it's a stretch for Petan to be a better player but I'll take the guy with size and skill and a great toolbox over the undersized guy regressing in junior.
You think signing Methot is a decision being made on a whim?... Do you know how it works if a player goes on the LTIR? Do you know who pays the player if they are injured long term? You should probably look into it before making such blanket statements. Look into Marc Savard and Nathan Horton. There is a reason there is insurance FYI. IO agree the injuries are a concern but who else is this team going to get that can play elite and wants to be here? None absolutely none of the left handed defensemen showed anything close to having the hockey IQ and skating ability to play with Karlsson.
No, I said signing Methot shouldn't be a decision made on a whim. The fact is if the team felt comfortable with his injury issues he would probably already have signed an extension. A point that seems to easily elude you for whatever reason.
Methot has undoubtedly been the best partner Erik Karlsson has ever had, he simply makes him better I have gone on into detail multiple times about why and how he helps. You He is the best defensive D man on this team by a wide margin, he does things like get the puck out controlled, block shots and eliminate scoring chances and negates many of Karlsson's mistakes. This is where the team needs most help.
No one disagrees that when healthy Methot is a great partner to Karlsson. People disagree with the fact that he might not be able to play to that level going forward because of his back injury. It's not that complex a thought to understand.
I think personally you over value some of the players on this team. Turris is not an average #1 C he simply isn't you aren't winning anything of significance unless he is backed up by another very good centerman. Great number 2 I agree but not a number 1, outside of sens fans you wont find anyone that says he is a number 1.
Here are the facts for Turris:
Last year, Turris finished #22 in the NHL for scoring by centermen. He was right up there with a lot of the big boys.
This year, so far, Turris is #44 in the NHL for scoring by centermen. And we can all agree that Turris has struggled to find consistency this year. The thing is, pretty much any 2 or 3 point game puts Turris in to the top 30 scorers for centers this year.
There's no overvaluing of Turris. He finished 22nd last year in that category. That makes him an elite second line center and an average two-way first line center. How could there possibly be an argument there?
Chiasson? What kindof raise do you think he is going to get seriously? He hasn't scored in 15 games. Stone? He is coming off one season at a roughly .6 scoring clip on his ELC.
Hoffman is approaching UFA years so he will probably get a bigger raise. But wont get more than Tyler Johnson or Palat so that's max 3.33.
As I outlined there are 16 million in dollars that can easily be cut from this teams budget.
I hope you are wrong in your assessment of the team and Methot, I don't think it will sit very well with 65 if he see's the only guy he likes playing with get shipped off. And this team isn't going any further than 65 takes them.
I don't know what kind of raise those guys are going to get. But I'm willing to bet they're going to be getting paid a lot more than they do now. Especially if guys like Stone, Zibanejad and Hoffman continue producing at the current rates and providing this team with the calibre of play they've provided so far.
^^ only problem with that BankStreet is that if he actually get's injured they could put him on LTIR = no cap hit. However, they don't want to do that because they'd still have to pay his salary. To me it's not really about Methot getting injured, it's about the $$.
I think you missed an important factor which has nothing to do with money.
If the Sens sign methot and his back gives out who do they have to replace him?
Answer, nobody at this time.
So is Murray better off running the risk with Methot or trading him and signing a UFA?
I was just going to say exactly what holdurbreathe just said.
You commit $5+ million in cap space to Methot. His back gives out two months in to his contract extension or even tomorrow (a very real possibility given that he's been dealing with this for 8 months). What do you do? You think there's going to be a mountain of upper echelon defensemen hanging around a few months in to the season waiting to come replace Methot?
And don't say the Sens should sign Methot AND another $5+ million defenseman. That's not going to happen. Not because the team doesn't want to spend money, but because the team doesn't want to spend that kind of money on a guy who's going to be a second pairing guy if things go well.
So, now you've handcuffed yourself with a guy who's back is a ticking time bomb. You've taken yourself out of the running for high priced UFA defensemen because you assumed the guy you already had would be playing. Do you make a trade? Now you have to spend considerable assets obtaining a top pairing defenseman to play with #65.
Like I said, if you can bring me the healthy Marc Methot, I would gladly sign him to a market value extension. And so would the team. There's no question. Where Methot currently sits is a very, very difficult position for the team with the tremendous uncertainty about where this guy's playing ability is going to be given his physical ailment. And anyone who would say otherwise is full of ****. Period.
