Should Yandle stay or go?

[FinlandPanther]

Discuss.

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[Ryuji Yamazaki]

Stay

 

[Great8Cam]

Go now!! I cannot stand him and he’s from My neck of the woods.

 

[5 Hole]

I wouldn’t be sad to see him go, as I figure the return would be good if Zito has more magic dust.

 

[IceKitties]

Lol was this posted after his penalty in the last 3 minutes?

 

[MillarWithASave]

Stay, he’s played well this season. Not amazing, but he’s been playing his role decent enough to just keep him right now.

 

[FinlandPanther]

Lol was this posted after his penalty in the last 3 minutes?

YES.

 

[Boothinator]

Goooo

 

[Dread Clawz]

He needs to go, his offense is not enough to compensate for his poor defense. I believe they could still have an above average pp without him. Not top 10, but you don't need that to win the Cup. 5v5 play is much more important.

 

[TheImpatientPanther]

I'd add our 2021 1st + Kolyachonok to Yandle to get Ekholm.

He literally has 1 even strength goal/point, the rest is PP.
He leads the team in penalties, he is soft, he panic moves the puck a lot in his own zone.
Was a -3 tonight, two penalties.

He's useful for 3:30 of the game for $6.35 million.

Gudas had 8 hits, 1 assist, +1, had a fight for a lot less tonight.

 

[FinlandPanther]

Stay, he’s played well this season. Not amazing, but he’s been playing his role decent enough to just keep him right now.

What’s your definition of played well. Genuinely curious.

 

[Chaos2k7]

He is not as bad as most will say, but he has run his course here, time to move on.

Biggest issue is another Tallon NMC.

 

[FinlandPanther]

He is not as bad as most will say, but he has run his course here, time to move on.

Biggest issue is another Tallon NMC.

I believe he is a Tom Rowe.

 

[Jacob Roberts]

If you can get value for him, then sure. Move him. But no, I wouldn't get rid of him just for the sake of it. To me the PP issue is no small thing, Stralman was in his spot for the 2nd unit tonight. That's a massive downgrade if he is thrust into the top role. He's an offensive defensemen, always has been, playing about the right amount of minutes - 5th most on D at even strength but 4th overall because of PP time. And despite collecting almost all of his points on the PP, he was still + before tonight, and only 1 regular defender could say the same. Yes, he's overpaid, but so is half of the league. I'm not gonna hold that against him.

And yes, not a great game tonight. But his mistakes are called out way over and above the rest of the team. First penalty call; instantly 5 or 6 mentions in the GDT. Ekblad has 2 in the 2nd period. Not a mention. Also on the 2-1 goal when he was the only defender back... why was he the only defender there?? Because Ekblad was caught up the ice on the boards. Yes, he makes mistakes, but so does every player, and he should be called out as much as any other player should be. That's just not the reality on this board.

 

[Crossbar]

Go, I want to protect Gudas from being picked up in expansion draft and don't feel we should protect 4 d-men again.

 

[FinlandPanther]

If you can get value for him, then sure. Move him. But no, I wouldn't get rid of him just for the sake of it. To me the PP issue is no small thing, Stralman was in his spot for the 2nd unit tonight. That's a massive downgrade if he is thrust into the top role. He's an offensive defensemen, always has been, playing about the right amount of minutes - 5th most on D at even strength but 4th overall because of PP time. And despite collecting almost all of his points on the PP, he was still + before tonight, and only 1 regular defender could say the same. Yes, he's overpaid, but so is half of the league. I'm not gonna hold that against him.

And yes, not a great game tonight. But his mistakes are called out way over and above the rest of the team. First penalty call; instantly 5 or 6 mentions in the GDT. Ekblad has 2 in the 2nd period. Not a mention. Also on the 2-1 goal when he was the only defender back... why was he the only defender there?? Because Ekblad was caught up the ice on the boards. Yes, he makes mistakes, but so does every player, and he should be called out as much as any other player should be. That's just not the reality on this board.

Ekblad plays more minutes, their defensive games are in opposite dimensions, and he’s not soft as baby shit. That’s why.

 

[Jacob Roberts]

Ekblad plays more minutes, their defensive games are in opposite dimensions, and he’s not soft as baby shit. That’s why.

I get that Ekblad is a better player. Got that point. Doesn't mean he ONLY makes good plays and Yandle ONLY makes bad plays.

Luckily he's being sheltered with 5thD minutes at ES and his strengths being emphasized on the PP. He's doing that job fine.

As I said, move him if you can get value, but what are you gonna do with the PP? Weegar or Stralman?

 

[CatscratchFever]

He is as dumb as the day is long. Move him.

 

[TheImpatientPanther]

I get that Ekblad is a better player. Got that point. Doesn't mean he ONLY makes good plays and Yandle ONLY makes bad plays.

Luckily he's being sheltered with 5thD minutes at ES and his strengths being emphasized on the PP. He's doing that job fine.

As I said, move him if you can get value, but what are you gonna do with the PP? Weegar or Stralman?

Ekblad was held scoreless but even in +/-, played 25:32 in total TOI, 3+mins on both PP and PK
Yandle was held scoreless but -3 in +/-, played 17:32 with 3:30 on PP.
We went 0/3 on the PP, he was literally useless in this game.
We were 4/4 on the PK, Ekblad helped keep one of the better PP's off the scorehseet
Ekblad wasn't a positive or negative but also has more goals, points, +/-, quality of competition and minutes

 

[FinlandPanther]

I get that Ekblad is a better player. Got that point. Doesn't mean he ONLY makes good plays and Yandle ONLY makes bad plays.

Luckily he's being sheltered with 5thD minutes at ES and his strengths being emphasized on the PP. He's doing that job fine.

As I said, move him if you can get value, but what are you gonna do with the PP? Weegar or Stralman?

PP he is fine. Everywhere else he is close to a nightmare. To be fair to Yandle I’m hoping tonight was even more of a one off Becuase this was atrocious play from him tonight. And yes that’s an issue. Having Stralman on PP 2 already hurts my eyes.

 

[Jacob Roberts]

Ekblad was held scoreless but even in +/-, played 25:32 in total TOI, 3+mins on both PP and PK
Yandle was held scoreless but -3 in +/-, played 17:32 with 3:30 on PP.
We went 0/3 on the PP, he was literally useless in this game.
We were 4/4 on the PK, Ekblad helped keep one of the better PP's off the scorehseet
Ekblad wasn't a positive or negative but also has more goals, points, +/-, quality of competition and minutes

Yes, Ekblad is better overall and had a better game. I'm not arguing that.

Was just making a point that in these specific situations, one guy gets called out, and another gets a pass. Calling out "Player X" for a penalty BUT not "Player Y" has nothing to do with any stats you have mentioned.

 

[TheImpatientPanther]

Yes, Ekblad is better overall and had a better game. I'm not arguing that.

Was just making a point that in these specific situations, one guy gets called out, and another gets a pass. Calling out "Player X" for a penalty BUT not "Player Y" has nothing to do with any stats you have mentioned.

Weegar (the first 4-5 games) and Ekblad (not for a while, rightfully so) have been called out for their inconsistencies.
Ekblad has 15 PIMS but 5 of those were that silly scuffle with Smith.
Just find it odd you'd compare Yandle to Ekblad, they're pretty far away from comparison, #5D vs #1D.

Weegar has quietly racked up 5 assists in 13 games, right around his 30pt pace he was on last year, averaging the most ES TOI, +2 and 6 PIMS.
3 assists in his last 6 games, +2 and 4 PIMS

Yandle has one assist on the PP in his last 6 games (the 5-2 win vs TB), -3 and 10 PIMS
We've been 2/15 on PP in those 6 games.
Don't know how anyone can defend Yandle when he's useful for less than 10% of any game.
He's been bad for the last few weeks.

 

[Ryuji Yamazaki]

If you can get value for him, then sure. Move him. But no, I wouldn't get rid of him just for the sake of it. To me the PP issue is no small thing, Stralman was in his spot for the 2nd unit tonight. That's a massive downgrade if he is thrust into the top role. He's an offensive defensemen, always has been, playing about the right amount of minutes - 5th most on D at even strength but 4th overall because of PP time. And despite collecting almost all of his points on the PP, he was still + before tonight, and only 1 regular defender could say the same. Yes, he's overpaid, but so is half of the league. I'm not gonna hold that against him.

And yes, not a great game tonight. But his mistakes are called out way over and above the rest of the team. First penalty call; instantly 5 or 6 mentions in the GDT. Ekblad has 2 in the 2nd period. Not a mention. Also on the 2-1 goal when he was the only defender back... why was he the only defender there?? Because Ekblad was caught up the ice on the boards. Yes, he makes mistakes, but so does every player, and he should be called out as much as any other player should be. That's just not the reality on this board.

This guy gets it. Well said.

 

[FrolikFan67]

As it stands purely for this season I don’t mind keeping him. On the bottom pairing with Gudas and limiting his 5v5 play, he hasn’t been horrendous defensively or anything (although not good) and does help the pp. but if I have a chance to move him and his contract out without retaining anything or taking too much salary back? Especially with the expansion draft coming? Absolutely.

Although with the expansion draft i wouldn’t be opposed to 4/4 if we’re stuck with him. Protect Gudas, only guy who would suck to lose on offense is really just Hornqvist but idk if Seattle would legitimately take him. Protect Barkov, huberdeau, Verhaeghe, Duclair (is he exempt as an rfa?), then Tippett and loustarinen are exempt. So really only horn, Acciari, and vatrano would be exposed. We could give them a little sweetener to not take horn if we think it’s a legit possibility

 

[letsgrowcactus]

I really wouldn't underestimate the impact of a strong PP. How many games early this season have we won only thanks to PP goals? Having top PP vs. average PP can be the difference between making/missing playoffs and can be huge in the postseason. Since 2016/17, we've had the 8th best PP (scored 6th more PP goals). Before acquiring Yandle, our PP was clearly bottom 3rd of the league - even in the very solid 2015/16 season, it was only 23rd of all NHL. In the NYI playoffs, we scored 2 PP goals, the Islanders scored 9. As unfair as it was, maybe there was more to losing that series than just "Trocheck was tripped"?

Not to say a solid PP alone is enough to be successful (case in point - the 2016-2020 Florida Panthers). But it is an important element.

The contract's bad, no argument there. The question is, is he enough of a negative to justify moving him (knowing we'd probably have to retain and/or add some assets)? If there's a decent trade and he waives, sure, but if it means giving up a ton to move him, then we're better off keeping him IMO.

In other words, put me in the "explore our options but don't deal from a position of desperation" column in this case.

Either way, Yandle's attitude re: his NMC will be key. Is it a "hard no" to any trades, would/would he not be open to some teams and would he be willing to waive just for the expansion draft?