Okay, so this is gonna be a bit of a read for anyone who cares to, but gonna try and review the common center trade targets I’ve seen on this site the past month (plus 1 option I’m adding that I love). I’m going to put the main breakdown for each player in their trade to keep it a bit more organized and easier to read, but here’s a few key points I want to highlight:
* Not intentending to make any predictions here. Just trying to evaluate to different aspects of each guy I’ve seen commonly brought up
* The “Quality” ranking is meant to be relative to each other. None of these guys are 1/5 or 2/5 players obviously, but the idea is meant to be quality relative to being a top 6 center for CBJ this upcoming year.
*Some options here are stupid ideas for one reason or another. I will point out such for those I think it applies to. Some players are included simply because I’ve seen several ACGMs trading them to CBJ so I know they’ve been on some peoples’ minds.
What I’m rating them on:
Quality - How good they are (relative to each other)
Fit (Long Term + Short Term) - How well their skillset, age, contract cost, ect all mesh with CBJ’s needs and timeline.
Availability - How willing their current team would be to move them
Cost To Acquire (Higher score is lower cost) - What CBJ would need to give up to get the player
Personal Desire - My personal thoughts towards each potential acquisition. If I think they’re worth the price it’ll cost, do I like the player, do I think there’s downsides, ect.
After going through this, I’d separate the players into these tiers:
Best Options - Lindholm, Hayes, Karlsson
Interesting, But Not The Best Fit - Miller, O’Reilly, Schmaltz
Would Love, But Completely Unrealistic - Pettersson
God No - Kuznetsov, Scheifele
If I was GM, I’d do everything in my power to make a Karlsson deal happen, short of a massive overpayment. I’d do due diligence on Lindholm, with the understanding there may just not be a deal that works there. I’d have Hayes as my last “good” option as a low cost of acquisition target with retention. Anything else I’m not too interested in and would probably rather just tough out the season with the current center depth and wait for pick 3, Sillinger, and mayyybeee Johnson to be ready in the future.
*Note - 1 typo in the trades. Kuzy should have a 3 in cost, not a 2
2/5 - Quality
3/5 - Fit
5/5 - Availability
4/5 - Cost To Acquire
3/5 - Personal Desire
3.4/5 - Total
PHI
I absolutely hated this when it first became a thing, but I’ve gradually warmed up to the idea. As long as there's a significant amount of retention, I’m okay with him as a shorter term option in the top 6 until his deal runs out and pick 3 this year is hopefully ready. Shouldn’t be too costly and timetable of his deal lines up nicely with the team needs, I’m just not particularly a fan of him. Goes without saying that there has to be retention for this to happen though.
4/5 - Quality
4/5 - Fit
4/5 - Availability
2/5 - Cost To Acquire
3/5 - Personal Desire
3.4/5 - Total
CGY
If the team was able to negotiate with him and settle on an extension, I’d be down to make a move for Lindholm. Purely as a rental, no interest at all. Don’t think it’s out of the question for this to still happen, but with the LA 1st gone, it’s gonna be more difficult to find a deal that Calgary likes if they decide to move Lindholm.
3/5 - Quality
1/5 - Fit
3/5 - Availability
2/5 - Cost To Acquire
1/5 - Personal Desire
2/5 - Total
WSH
Just not a big fan of this period. The 1 positive is that the 2 years left on his contract line up nicely. However, he’s horrible defensively (a play CBJ already struggle with their top 6 forwards), will cost more than I’d like to pay for what he brings, and no hate, but I don’t really want a guy notorious for snorting coke in the locker room with so many young players.
4/5 - Quality
2/5 - Fit
3/5 - Availability
3/5 - Cost To Acquire
1/5 - Personal Desire
2.6/5 - Total
WPG
Don’t want anything to do with this. Don’t think it’s particularly likely anyway, but he’s going to cost a ton for a rental and I don’t paying that much for 1 year makes sense with CBJ’s current situation. Also, at 30 already, he’s less appealing as an extension candidate than a similarly expensive player like Lindholm. Finally, him + Laine + Babcock just reeks of disaster. Not to claim Columbus has some amazing culture, but I want nothing to do with any of the leadership group in Winnipeg. When it’s so bad your coach goes on a rant like that, there’s some serious issues.
3/5 - Quality
5/5 - Fit
3/5 - Availability
3/5 - Cost To Acquire
5/5 - Personal Desire
3.8/5 - Total
VGK
Here’s the one I added myself. I would KILL to have this happen. Not particularly likely of course, but I think it’s reasonable in terms of the situations both teams are in. Vegas is gonna have to do something, whether they let guys walk, move cap to sign them, ect. While Karlsson is absolutely not the 1st guy on that list, I don’t think it’s out of the question for him to be on the outs. Just maybe you get him cheap given Vegas’s cap situation, but I wouldn’t count on it, just a possibility (reason why cost is a 3 and not a 2). I would be absolutely willing to pay fair price if needed to make this happen though.
5/5 - Quality
5/5 - Fit
1/5 - Availability
1/5 - Cost To Acquire
3/5 - Personal Desire
3/5 - Total
VAN
EP would be absolutely sick as a 1C, a truly elite player. However, Vancouver has absolutely no reason to move him and I think it’s a waste of time to even try (only including him here because I’ve seen several proposals). In the extremely unlikely event that they even entertain talks, I don’t see a possible way CBJ make this happen without Jiricek (in addition to 3rd ovr obviously). While that ask would be absolutely fair from Vancouver, I’m not willing to move Jiricek with how amazing he looks and the long term prospect of him and Werenski as a top pair. Not available and CBJ isn’t in the position to pay the price anyway.
4/5 - Quality
2/5 - Fit
4/5 - Availability
3/5 - Cost To Acquire
2/5 - Personal Desire
3/5 - Total
VAN
I’m not completely against Miller, but the problem is the combination of the cost and contract. I don’t really think Vancouver would move him just a year after an extension anyway, but he’d cost more like a Lindholm than he would a Hayes or Kuzy and I’d have serious concerns about that contract handicapping the team down the line. I’m not even saying that he’ll definitely be overpaid or not worth it the last 2-4 years, but it’s just that having so many larger contracts on the books really limits what you’re able to do once these young guys start getting paid.
Ryan O'Reilly stand in
(Doing this rather than signing so I have the spot to break him down here)
2/5 - Quality
2/5 - Fit
5/5 - Availability
5/5 - Cost To Acquire (UFA)
2/5 - Personal Desire
3/5 - Total
TOR
If they could do this on like a 2 year deal, it’d be sick. I don’t see that as realistic though, so I’m going to go off the assumption that O’Reilly would want a longer term deal (5-6 prolly) if they went after him. At that point, you run into a lot of the same issues as Miller, but with more concerns of a falloff, though less length of contract. Great leadership is a big plus, but a downside is that I don’t really think he’s 1C quality at this point and likely declines more over the coming years.
2/5 - Quality
2/5 - Fit
2/5 - Availability
3/5 - Cost To Acquire
2/5 - Personal Desire
2.2/5 - Total
ARI
As a player, I really like Schmaltz. Think he’s be a super good addition to many teams, but he just hasn’t consistently played center at the NHL level. If I knew he could do that, I’d him him in the top tier, but his last 2 years have been playing wing and it seems like that’s what he is at this point. Arizona may not be actively shopping him, but I think they’d be willing to deal if an appropriate offer was made. Just unfortunately doesn’t play center.
Agreed Hayes is a low cost option that will 100% come with at least $2M of retention
At this point, I've basically accepted they'll make a move for him in the next month. Plug him into the top 6 for 2 years and get what you can from him as young guys come up and get better. Year 3 you can either have him play 3C and move Boone to the wing or see if someone will take him (with retention if needed) if you don't have room at that point. The fact he won't cost any significant assets like Sillinger, a 1, D prospects, ect is huge and I don't think CBJ should be giving any of those away unless they're getting a guy they know can be a big contributor in the top 6 longer term.
Kuznetsov is actually fairly good defensively and was part of the Caps’ great PK over the past few seasons. He just tends to not give two high-effort games in a row.
I could get down with that. I haven't heard Pageau tossed around yet. I toyed with the idea of Nelson from NYI a bit ago, but just didn't seem realistic based on the feedback I got from NYI fans. Pageau seems more attainable though and I'd be interested. Really depends on the direction they wanna go though.
McDavid, Connor
$250,000)
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