Quoting: Dmh1055
You say get more dynamic on offense like that is easy to just obtain. A full year of Lindblom, Farabee, and Frost being in the lineup has to account for some youth that is unblocked and creating more offense. Simmonds was an addition for $1million. He blocks no one. He's at the value of a spare forward so if a young player such as Wade Allison pushed him out great. But in the world of not giving prospects automatic jobs, I signed Simmonds to give the Flyers a touch of toughness and a player who can offer some Power Play specialty at the net front. He's not the player he once was but he can still contribute in a limited role.
Ghost wasn't playing in the lineup. Miller is an upgraded 3rd pair RHD defenseman over Braun. The Hagg-Miller pair is more balanced as complementary players. The defense isn't some drastic overhaul area.
It's not easy to obtain but we have pieces in place, it would only take another piece or two to do what I'm talking about. It's not like we're starting at zero here with our offense.
You're also banking and presuming a lot with Patrick (who knows if he'll even play), Frost (who knows if they think he's ready), and Lindblom (yes seemed to be turning a corner as a true goal scorer and PP threat, but who knows what happens when he returns, what if he falls behind? I hope he doesn't as much as anyone but none of these you can say 100% will happen), all filling in important spots. Even Patrick at 4C, you see the need to really be able to roll four lines so if it's a Bunnaman or Laczynski, what does that do for your lineup?
The fact that Simmonds doesn't block anyone is irrelevant, with a flat cap space you can't waste a million dollars on a player that you have plenty of, it just doesn't make sense in the cap situation we currently are in. We're up against the cap as it is and I would rather have Pitlick than Simmonds at this point, and we're most likely gonna have to let Pitlick walk. So no its not just about blocking Allison, it's about spending much needed money on a redundancy
Trading Ghost? OK fine, I get it, but bringing on a 5/6 dman at almost a 4 million cap space, is also a luxury we can't afford. My best bet at our third pairing next year will be Hagg/Ghost - Friedman, whichever of Hagg or Ghost they choose to keep, I don't see them both coming back, especially if Braun signs for a smaller 1 year deal, but I see them letting Braun go.