Speculation: Trade Deadline Targets: Defensemen

[Richard88]

Thoughts on Ben Hutton?

6'2'' 205lbs bottom pair Dman who can skate and kill penalties reasonably well. His contract is only $950k so you wouldn't feel obliged to use him as anything more than a 6/7D as insurance against injuries or MacNorris turning into a mere mortal again.

 

[atreyuavenged]

1 Justin Braun please.

 

[Nihiliste]

I’ve wanted Kulikov for years so he would be my first target if I was Joe

 

[Pokecheque]

I definitely despised him as a player. I don't know if any advanced stats track when a defenseman was on the ice for a goal against in a tie game, but I bet his with the Avalanche would be absurdly high. I also don't remember him having very good wheels.

You're not wrong about Zads. I love the man and wish we kept him over Graves, but he was beyond terrible on the PK.

I think you'd be a little surprised. Remember he rode shotgun with Barrie on the 2nd pairing and didn't necessarily look out of place. Much as it's a useless stat, his +27 that season indicates he wasn't on the ice for a ton of goals against, unless they were all scored when he was killing penalties. His play-driving numbers, as you'd expect, are not great, but he's something like 8th in overal Corsi on the Wings, who are of course an absolutely TERRIBLE hockey team, especially on defense. His offensive numbers that first year in Detroit are much better than you would expect, but I imagine that was because he was getting fed a ton of minutes on a team that was intentionally tanking.

I get that he's not a great player, but man, for a guy picked up at the 11th hour off of waivers, he was insanely good value at the time. He's no All-Star, but he's no Guenin either.

Personally speaking, I liked him better than Cole. Zadorov obviously had more talent and size, but also just...can't play defense below the hashmarks.

 

[Richard88]

Merrill and Nemeth would be my targets

I want nothing to do with Nemeth again.

Why? He’d be a great addition to the PK and bottom pair. Our PK is already damn good and Nemeth would get Girard less time there while giving us a damn good PK’er. As a clear 6/7D he’d be good here.

Bah, he was fine as a 6th D for the Avs. That first year was rough because his decision-making with the puck was...not great. But he finally settled down in Year Two and quit trying to blindly huck it every time it landed on his stick.

Mind you, I'm not terribly interested in the Avs giving up assets to get him back, but there are far worse options out there.

Nemeth is exactly like Holden and Graves. They kill any offense and the cycle every time they get the puck in the O zone. I also don't believe his PK ability was all the sun shine and rainbows you guys are remembering.

It was better than Pateryn

No he wasn't some whiz at PK'ing anymore than Graves is now (I still say Graves was much better at the PK when he first took over for Nemeth and the coaches messed him up) but he was still capable of working the PK, which is more than we can say about him than, say, Zadorov or Cole, who were simply not good at killing penalties--the former was downright atrocious.

He held his own as a depth option, there are worse players out there--I'm not clamoring to get him back but I don't hate the guy at all.

Interesting takes in hindsight

 

[sethro109]

Interesting takes in hindsight

I still want nothing to do with Nemeth. I hate how he plays. Worse than Graves, he just kills all offense for whatever line he's on. I'd rather we play our tweeners than him. I don't even think he's going to help the PK that much either.

 

[Richard88]

So who would people prefer out of Nemeth for a 4th, and Kulikov for a conditional 4th (rising to 3rd if team wins a playoff round)?

 

[Pokecheque]

Meh. I’m fine with Nemeth. Guy is a sixth/seventh option on a very deep blueline, and he knows the system and a lot of the players. Perfectly good rental pickup on a team that looks to be in excellent shape to begin with.

I am decidedly less crazy about the Dubnyk deal but whatever.

 

[GirardSpinorama]

So who would people prefer out of Nemeth for a 4th, and Kulikov for a conditional 4th (rising to 3rd if team wins a playoff round)?

Kulikov for me, but Bednar probably felt different. Our pick is also way worse than Oilers.