I had said Paquette was a good target for us to add some muscle. I figured it would be a 5th rounder or similar value deal at the deadline. Maybe a 4th if they ate half his cap hit.
side nite: i wonder if Geekie has fallen out some. Brindy didn’t play him for much of the third. Paquette becomes the 4C. Geekie back to the taxi squad as a depth piece?
this is almost certainly the reason. i think they want geekie playing more regular minutes in the ahl and now that the operation has started up again in the minor leagues, this kind of trade gives them the ability to do that without having to try to replace him internally and without it feeling like a huge step backwards for him. same with lorentz who somewhat failed the audition. that line with geekie and dzingle at the bottom had no intention. putting paquette down there gives it a personality. put him with fast and you have 2/3 of what should be an annoying 11 minutes a night for the opposition. not sure who slides to that other wing but a foegele wouldn't look out of place and both paquette and fast have enough to not make that line sputter offensively. hell, you might even see galchy with them.
galchy is at a career crossroads. he's going to come in here energized and he has the skill level to play high in your lineup if he's got some talent to work with and he's engaged. i think he's been the victim of his own success at a young age and everyone projected him to get better and that was as good as he was ever going to be. a little like our boy jeff over in buffalo. 27, 31, 46, 56 at 18, 19, 20, 21 and then everyone was like yes we've seen this curve before! 80 at 22 and he was already maxed out. plus the fact that he has a russian last name hurts him. he's enigmatic by association. but sincerely, it would be very interesting to see him get some time on a line with some actual jam and see if he can turn that into a streak. my guess is that our analytics guys liked his total shots attempted stat in such limited minutes and thought his lack of production could potentially be explained by shooting 6% to his career 12% norm. if you look at our team and sort by total shots attempted you get a decent picture of how we value our guys offensively. i think the reality that it might be europe if this doesn't stick for him should be a good motivator. if it works out we've then got a little more flexibility when mcginn and nino regress to the norm.
