Yeah for sure. Especially at this stage. When Sid and Geno were younger sure occasionally. Now though we don’t need big risks wait for the right deal. Big deals need to be as early as you can and just add depth or cover any injuries at the deadline.
And with how much better our scouting is at drafting. finding guys like Hallander and Addison in 2nd round...Legare 3rd round. Almeida in the 5th. Etc.
And we kept trading 1sts to go for it. When we did pick they were busts due to injury or just bad picks. Esposito, Bennett, Despres, Pouliot(and that's 8th overall), and Maatta. No wonder they traded their first for 4 years straight. But Kapanen was a solid one and now looks like Poulin will be. We are in a position to keep our first and still add to this year's team. Thats rare.
In offseason(maybe at draft) we could be talking about trading Murray, who knows. Not to rufffle feathers here. But imagine getting a top pick from the Sens(they do have 2) for Murray. Maybe we have to add our 1st too. Sens have their franchise goalie and still would have two more first round selections. We get one of Lafreniere, Byfield, Lucas Raymond. Thats if Sens stay in top 3.
Sens are so good at drafting(seems like forever...Hossa, Heatley, Chara, etc...and recently with Chabot, White, etc) that they dont really need top 5 pick. They would still have 2 first rounders and a goalie like Murray. Who they saw shut them down in the ECF. Its perfect timing too with them needing one...Anderson is about done. Would also allow them to spend in FA since Chabot, Tkachuk, etc are ready now. Having the goalie would solidify it and let them spend.
Or we can not give them a first rounder back and just Murray for their first and Bobby Ryan lol. And they get to clear out his 7.25 mil. If we are trading Murray we don't need that money for him anyway. We get to keep our first. Bobby Ryan could easily be good again here. Hes 32 not 38. And The guy who was taken a pick after Crosby. Either way it's only 2 seasons of that . We possibly add a solid RW for Sid(who just had 6g 9a in playoffs few yrs ago) while getting a top 3 pick and keep our other first rounder as well.
Or just give up our first and not take on Ryan. Point is , this is a great situation to be in. It just needs to be handled right. We can easily have a few more cups if it is done the right way. Rust, Kahun, Hornqvist, McCann , Marino, Tanev... basically allowing this to happen. 3 great trades in McCann, Kahun, Marino. Good sign in Tanev. And the fact Rust took his game to another level after getting his deal while PH still has plenty of value here. All solid role players at the very least with potential to keep getting better for a few of them.
And having Lafrienere, 6'3 C Jaromir Pytlik who is described as the exact type JR wants(you cant pass up that name either) , Poulin, Legare, PO Joseph, Addison, etc to take over eventually.
We said we would need top picks if we wanted to compete as Sid/Geno age.
Not to mention Jarry doing this. To allow the thought of trading Murray being a realistic one.
Things changed quick in one year.
