Quoting: tkecanuck341
I think Iafallo is the big loss in the trade, not Vilardi. Vilardi showed promise, but had consistency and health issues.
Iafallo is one of the best defensive forwards in the game, and is an offensive catalyst for his linemates. He's one of the most underrated players in the NHL IMO, and the fact that Blake threw him in the PLD trade as a cap dump is a travesty.
Don't get me started on the Petersen/Provorov trade. They did the same thing with Walker that they did with Iafallo.
I don't disagree that the on-ice product is better than it was last year, but it came at a huge cost to organizational depth, especially at RHD. They gave up a ton of assets, and all they have to show for it is an overpaid pair of players.
In regards to Iafallo, I'm waiting to see if Moore's game returns next season and if Byfield can continue to develop the defensive side of his game. In those two I see enough to offset his loss, but Byfield needs to take a step and Moore needs to return to how he looked two seasons ago. Iafallo, Kupari, and Vilardi is a rough loss defensively, but stronger center depth might offset this, in the Kings system, PLD could actually become a legit 2-way threat.
Walker is just bad circumstances, Spence and Clarke are upgrades and deserve the ice time. I think we knew his time was done by the end of the season and we weren't getting much value for him. And we knew Durzi had production but like JMFJ he was too poor in his own zone.
My hope is PLD and Fiala produce better together than they ever have apart, which is a heck of a gamble for two players who haven't played together.
I think the best part of these trades is LA has time for our future top-9 center to come up and more room for prospects to come up, If Roy is signed long-term like Mikey Anderson, we really don't need to worry about too much RD depth: Doughty, Clarke, Roy, Spence can work for us for quite some time.
McDavid, Connor
$250,000)
tryger liked this.
CapFriendly
CapFriendly