Thoughts on today :
- the Mark Stone trade was a bit of a gut punch. Would probably have paid more than Vegas did for him and definitely given him a bigger contract. This makes the UFA period a lot less interesting as he should have been - by far - our #1 target.
- this was a total buyer’s market. Lowest returns ever on quality players. Far fewer fringe players moved for picks than normal.
- surprised people were so aghast about the Granlund-Fiala deal. Minnesota trades 1 year of team control on Granlund for 4 years from a good young player who scored 25 goals last year. Solid move if they weren’t going to re-sign him.
- Anaheim getting a higher pick for Del Zotto than we did while not taking back a cap dump or retaining salary is just hilarious.
- would have been nice to get a few picks. But getting rid of one of the worst players in franchise history and his garbage contract makes it not a bad day. Humorously, this also increases our chances of making the playoffs.
- The Mark Stone and Nick Jensen deals were eye opening. These are players willing to sign with new teams right away. If you have a GM approach the player's agent before hand, it's possible to up-end the FA market and lock down good talent. To me, that was the surprising aspect of this deadline. Players are willing to sign right now.
- ANA getting a better pick for Del Zotto is a Coup de Grace move in terms of Benning's ability to negotiate value. He's terrible at it. This trade flip will definitely be brought up over and over again. Book it.
- The bar for trades is so low that getting rid of an obviously bad player is considered a win.
- The Dahlen deal doesn't sit right with me. I know you wanted this player gone, but I thought the timing and asset value was not optimal.
- The Edler non-trade and non-contract is another black mark on this organization. Think about it this way: If the key sticking point is the NMC on a 3 year deal, then Benning is forced to hold firm. He can't risk another Dman being picked up via the expansion draft. Yet, Edler has no reason to relent now. It's a situation that should have been resolved a month ago. I don't like Benning's work on this one.