Contract and the potential return. Leddys been our only “somewhat” consistent D this year. And only a 4 mill cap hit.
What's the deal with Bouchard? Minutes and production are way down compared to last season? And even last season he was only 20+ minutes from Oct-Jan, and then was well below the rest of the season.
I think Duncan Keith really helped Bouchard out last year. Covered for a lot of stuff for him. He has a few things to improve on in the defensive zone, that's for sure. He didn't really have a partner either at the beginning of the year. Until Broberg's injuries healed up, he was playing with guys like Niemelainen, who is a find 6/7, but shouldn't be with Bouchard.
problem isn't who he is paired with per se. it's that they are given insane usage and parayko can handle it but leddy really can't. on top of our scheme issues. blues need a retool for various reasons, but we need coaching change too.
What’s the expectation as far as return goes if Parayko is moved? The Sabres are one of very few teams that could afford to add him without sending a big contract back, and we have a deep prospect pool, so we could probably put together a good futures package. I don’t think Adams would put our very top prospects on the table, but guys like Rosen or Ostlund might be.
Honestly, no idea. I think Ostlund probably makes sense when looking at prospect rankings/tiers. Johnson fits more the positional need, but I'm not sure he has the upside to justify the trade. Parayko is still very good defensively, and our only defenseman capable of playing a shutdown role, so if we move him and don't acquire someone that has the potential for that role either in his trade or another move, then we are screwed.
The Sabres are pretty thin in terms of D prospects. Beyond Johnson, there are a couple guys with legit NHL potential, but nobody that’s easily protectable. Jokiharju is a piece that might make some sense for both sides, though. His ceiling isn’t sky high, but he’s a solid young D that could slide right onto the Blues’ roster (and also clear space for Parayko on the Sabres’).
Depends on who it is and how badly they want him. The Sabres shouldn't touch him; they should be seeking out a goalie. [Colton Ellis is the odd man out in St. Louis; Buffalo should try to buy him low because IMO he's got starting potential even if he's going to need a little time to get there.]
That's a really hard question right now, because it really depends on what elements of his game continue to improve, and to what extent, and some of the names I want to say seem ridiculous, because if he reaches that potential it was a bad deal for Edmonton, but if he doesn't, saying the names sounds ridiculous. Right now, I would say he is a 3rd pairing guy who can play 2nd pair minutes with a stable veteran partner, who can play the point shot position on the powerplay. His potential if he fixes his defensive lapses is through the roof, and I'll seem like a homer if I say the names, ha ha. I think a Mike Green type career is a safe, conservative bet for him, although he is a better passer than Green was. Unless he regresses for some reason of course. With his skill set, if he reaches his potential, he could have a game similar to Al McInnis. I won't say he's destined for the Hall of Fame of course, its a comparison of the skill set of the two, I'm not suggesting he will be an all time great of coruse.
There's times where teh analytics tells a story about a guy that isn't apparent, and then there's times where teh analytics tell a story that's woefully inaccurate. This ... is the second one, because teh analytics don't tell you about things he's done over the last 2+ seasons, like
Well, I do watch him, and the criticism he receives is still ridiculous. It's almost like playing more minutes in more difficult situations will result in more total bad observations, but his bad observations are still occur at a lower rate than others on the team.
Blues fan here hating this idea with the white hot intensity of a thousand suns ...
The Sabres have plenty of goalie prospects already. (Frankly, I’d be fine with our goalie prospects if the only one we had was Devon Levi—kid is good.) Ellis doesn’t even look like he’d give Luukkonen a real run for his money. The roster upgrade we need that we don’t have any apparent answer for in our prospect pool is on D. Dahlin, Samuelsson, and Power are 3/4 of an amazing top 4, but the rest of the group needs improvements.
Yeah, Levi is a really good goalie prospect, and Portillo is a pretty good one too.
