Quoting: Shibbal18
I disagree with that. Samuelsson isnt a B prospect but I dont see why Colorado wants him. The 2nd is too high. 2021 2nd and 2022 3rd would be fine.
Quoting: SalamiCheese
And what is his prospect then? Why not? They give Zadorov away, Cole will also leave soon, maybe Samuelsson will be useful to them in the future, especially since this idea was proposed by a Colorado fan.
Colorado are very deep at LHD at the NHL level, but once Byram graduates this offseason we'll only have one reasonably good LHD prospect in Zhuravlyov. Zhuravlyov was a late round pick who plays a stable defensive game and who partnered Romanov at the WJC. He's done well since being drafted, but is still a bit of a long-shot at this stage.
Zadorov will likely get traded this offseason (due to a combination of us needing to make room for Byram; his salary demands for a 3rd pairing guy; and ED exposure).
Then in 2021 Cole will likely leave via UFA.
That means that our D shapes up like this for 2021/22 (once Byram and Timmins have established themselves):
Byram ---------- Makar
Girard ---------- Johnson
Graves --------- Timmins
(Zhuravlyov -- Helleson)
Erik Johnson will gradually become a 3rd pairing Dman and when his contract ends in 2023 hopefully Helleson will be able to take his place as a steady defensive 3rd pairing guy. Helleson is a big guy, but adding someone like Samuelsson to replace that shutdown ability will be important.
Graves is a very nice Dman to have, as he can continue to play on the top pairing, and then drop down to the 3rd pairing once Byram has established himself. Eventually Graves will become too pricey to keep around on the 3rd pairing though, and that is when it would be nice to have someone to replace him - and ideally that replacement would be a big and physical shutdown guy who can eat PK minutes and also be fairly cheap. That is, someone like Samuelson.
I like Ryan Johnson's game and think it would fit our style as well, but given that we have Byram and Girard who are both quite offensive puck-moving types it makes more sense for us to acquire a big physical guy for that 3rd pairing role long-term. Especially since we're going to need to replace Johnson and likely Graves as well within 3 years.