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- Sep 5, 2008
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I'm not trying to get in a shot. I phrased everything about as diplomatically as possible, I think, and I sure didn't know any more about Panarin than you did.
But the relevant parallel to the present situation was too good to pass up.
The similarities that are there are what matter: a low risk/potentially high reward KHL winger being dismissed out of hand simply because he isn't an NHL property/household name. If Chicago had followed that line of reasoning, they'd have missed out on a rare talent making pennies on the dollar.
We're not so stacked on the wing that we couldn't use a skilled winger on Geno's LW, which is what Zaripov could be if things break right for him. If he fails, we waive him and lose very little of consequence, just like with Plotnikov.
It's not an either/or with Hagelin at this point. We'd only move Hags at the TDL if Zaripov clicked and we needed to open up some cap space.
I mean, moving Hags to open up cap space is an idea that's been banged around here all summer. I like the guy, but in terms of value-for-money, it's difficult to deny that he's the most expendable asset we have right now.
There just flat out isn't a realistic comparison between the two situations, and you know that. We were desperately looking for a winger in 2015, and while Panarin was an unknown, he was in his early 20s and has elite skill. We're now stacked at wing, and this unknown is not only a winger--which we have a ton of, all good fits to boot--but he's 36 years old. It's not that he's an unknown, though that is a factor, it's that he's an unknown that plays a position we're absolutely stacked at. A low risk/high reward situation is fine, but we don't have a spot for him, or a need to take a flier on him.
We have a skilled wing for Geno, it's Kessel, or Sprong. We need a workhorse type, a puckhound, to play with them. I already don't like the Geno-Kessel dynamic much because of Kessel's inability to score off a one-timer and the fact that both rely on carrying the puck to do the most damage/push the pace of the play, but putting someone like Rust or Hagelin on that LW makes a ton more sense.
Even if this guy comes for "pennies on the dollar," where does he fit? Geno's LW? So who gets bumped down, Rust or Hagelin? Cuz someone is going to drop to the 4th line, which without Cullen driving it and Reaves on RW, will likely be getting less than 10 minutes a night.
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Yeah, I don't know, man. Probably not the best use of Hagelin, and likely irritates a guy that seems determined to prove last season was an anomaly based on reports from camp/pre-season.
No thanks. Let someone else receive this boon of Russian talent that's already 36 and banned for PEDs in a country that forcibly loads their athletes full of 'em anyway. I think the 2015 Pens that got eliminated by the Rangers with Johnston at the helm take a shot at him, but the 2017 Pens have absolutely zero need whatsoever.