mikey287 wrote:Man alive! Letang and Kennedy for Kulemin, Gunnarsson and a 1st? Are you guys sick? We're trying to win a Stanley Cup not return to the days of '04...I love Kulemin and all, but let's get serious here...
How about Orpik for Matt Walker and Tye McGinn too...because Orpik did have that one bad game this season...
Malkin was invisible against Carolina the other night, ship him out too because he's going to want to be paid kind of soon and we did draft Bluegers and Marcantuoni (because all of our prospects turn into NHL players)...Malkin for Max Pacioretty and Yannick Weber/Raphael Diaz? Maybe we can add a pick...
It's funny, people complain about the job Shero does with his first round picks ("too many d-men, there's a forward that a number told me I'm supposed to like that we could have taken!") then when one of the d-men develops into something good (not that Letang is even in this "fresh batch" we have cooking, but still), we want to trade him for another 1st round pick...
And then look at a previous post...Martin is a Norris candidate after 15 games of being good, but played average at best for 2 years...he's gold. The guy that was scratched in the playoffs last year, he's pure gold. Letang, who has been one of the NHL's best for the last two or three years, he's out. For a 2nd line winger, a third pairing d-man and a draft pick that everyone will complain about...
God damn, we need to win this game tonight...for the sake of the board...
Well, to be fair though, the only point to drafting the dmen was to trade some of them, or we simply have way too many if they all develop and sign Letang, have Martin under contract etc - so I am not sure about that part of your point about trading Letang. It seems to me that "fits" exactly into the plan and why it was such a smart strategy - trade when they develop and you get the most bang for your buck (albeit maybe a year early for 58).
Onto Letang specifically - we simply can not trade him this season. No way (and by no way I mean sure everyone can be had for the right price of course but nobody is giving us the farm for him) we get rid of him and have a shot at the cup. The problem with our defense is overall not one player. One stay at home d to replace Letang isnt going to make up for the fact that Engellend and Bortuzzo have been pretty below average and Despres has not been a good positional player, or solid in his own end all. I know people are questioning Despres getting scratched but away from the puck he has been pretty bad and he gets pushed around more than people want to admit.
Remember last year in the playoffs. As bad as Martin and Orpik where, HCDB and staff still were scared to play our bottom 2 d pairing. Its not going to change this year. Heck, we could get Chara for Letang and our top 4 including Matty Ice, who has slumped as of late, will carry almost all of the icetime rendering his skills somewhat ineffective.
That is why its going to be hard for Shero at the deadline as I have been saying all along. First, people keep bringing up names of core players on teams who are currently in a playoff spot which is absurd, second we have very little chips on our current roster that we can part with without and equal and a plus back and that is going to take prospects.
If a team out of contention wants to dump say a decent defenseman and is willing to do it for a prospect and TK for example. That is fine, but as bad as TK has been we have no forwards to replace him. And if you throw in Dustin Jeffrey then we really have depth for an injury in the playoffs. Its a numbers game and its going to be difficult to pull of the right deal.
But back to my point. Trading Letang this season unless the take is so overwhelming wont and shouldnt happen.