As long as you aren’t a team that uses it’s lines weirdly, Domi can play on the quote unquote 3rd line. (Since there shouldn’t be much difference between your 1st & 3rd line on a good team) The problem for the habs is that they don’t even have room for him there.

And cap space shouldn’t be a problem, since ideally we’re trading him for a similarly skilled winger.

For CBJ: Bjorkstrand isn't going anywhere. We need to add top-6 scoring forwards, and he's easily our best wing at this point.

Who are you talking about? Because that’s nothing like Domi. Domi only played a handful of games on the wing this year, and the only reason he’d want to play C more is because he knows that he’s a better player at C. Nothing he’s done could be described as “sulking”. He’s not signing long term right now because his production dipped last year compared to the year before.

There are very few teams in the league that don't have a considerable difference in talent (and ice time) between their 1st and 3rd lines. Montreal has been one of them, largely because they've lacked that serious high end talent, and they've made it work very well. But even with the Habs, with the way Suzuki is developing if you guys find a true #1 winger for him you're going to start to see a much more noticeable difference between your top lines. Because at that point it makes sense to do that.

It's all about roster contruction. Speaking from the Sabres perspective, there will never be a point where their 3rd line will have similar ice time to the first line. And that's just cause Eichel is so talented we're better off when he's on the ice as much as he can. So from my standpoint, it doesn't make sense to trade Reinhart if we're only projecting Domi as a secondary scoring line center.

Hopefully that makes sense. I think Domi and Reinhart have similar value, but I don't know if Domi has the defensive chops or consistency to fill the #2 center role in the way that I would like. So that's why I don't think I'd pull the trigger on a one for one trade.

Not sure you're grasping it here... let's break it down.

-Domi is slated to make at a minimum 5 mil+ (realistically 6 mil), no one is paying at least 5 mil long term for a bottom 6 player. Certainly not with the flat cap etc. So Domi is playing in the top 6, which means he's getting top 6 defensive matchups etc. You can arrange your lines however you want, but Domi is playing at least 16-18 mins a night if he's getting signed for anywhere near what he wants.
-Domi has made it clear that he's only really willing to play C. Unless you have a clear opening at C, he's probably not going to sign with you.
-Of the teams with a clear opening at C for Domi, only handful of them actually have the cap space to afford his contract long term, even if they trade away cap.
-Of the teams who have the cap space, only a few of them would actually be willing to play him as a top 6 C given his defensive liabilities and pay him.

That's about 3 teams: Buffalo, Winnipeg, Rangers

Of those 3 teams, your similarly skilled winger options (as in high offense, defensive liabilities based on the data) are Ryan Strome, Jack Roslovic, and Victor Olofsson. With the obvious closest one being Strome





Unless you'd rather Olofsson or Roslovic with perhaps some minor additions. But yeah guys like Ehlers/Reinhart/Buchnevich/etc are in an entirely different category due to their high end 2 way play.

100%

This year has proven that you need at least 3 good lines to win. Vegas’s top 3 lines play roughly the same amount of time, Tampa’s 2nd & 3rd lines play about the same, and Dallas has been spreading their skill through all 4 lines recently.

It’s much different for the Sabres, because they aren’t a contender, and they have multiple holes on their roster. I’m just saying that contenders can still use Domi on the 3rd line, just like Jamie Benn is currently playing on the 4th line.

@Kotkaniemi15: These are just fans opinions but there's a trend there: Domi's value is probably at an all time low. Might as well hold on to him for now. What if MTL moved one of Zuke or KK instead? Their value is much higher. With KK/Zuke, Domi and Danault, MTL center line would still be very solid.

Columbus doesn’t even consider this. Bjorkstrand was our best forward last season.... Anderson for Domi would be something we’d consider, but Bjorkstrand is 100% off the table.

Maybe I'm crazy but I don't see Domi's value at an all time low. Maybe for Montreal, as they have a better player taking his minutes in Danault.

But Domi established as an real option at centre ice this year, and that's valuable in itself. He had a down year production wise, but he had *1st* line O production last season. I'd like to see what he could do behind an Eichel taking all the tough match-ups.

The factors that will limit the return are well stated, but I think his value is being low balled at this point. As a Sabres fan, Olofsson isn't close to a conversation starter for Montreal.

Yeah the data doesn't really support this at all.

Even for Dallas and Vegas who tend to role their lines more evenly than most, the difference in TOI between their 2nd/3rd most played F (1st line) and their 8th/9th most played F (3rd line) is 3 mins/game. With most teams in the league (even playoff contenders) such as Tampa, Colorado, Boston, etc. That number is around 6 mins/game difference.

Pretty much every team comes out to
1st line: 17-20 mins/game
2nd line: 16-18 mins/game
3rd line: 12-15 mins/game
4th line: 9-12 mins/game

with minor discrepancies based on special teams and top heaviness (see: Chicago/Boston/Edmonton/Winnipeg/etc)

I think you’re overestimating how much Domi is going to make. He won’t make more than $5 million on a one year contract. He’ll only make more than that if he can get back to his 70 point season from 2 years ago.

And on well-balanced teams, Domi can play 16 minutes a game while being on the “3rd line”. In the playoffs, the difference between Vegas’s 1st & 9th forward in even strength ice time per game is 1 minute and 22 seconds. Stastny is 9th with 12:41 of ice time on Vegas, and Domi, like Stastny can get to 16 minutes with power play time.

Domi could be the "3rd" C on a team like Buffalo that runs Larsson through the wall with tough defensive minutes.

3rd C in ice time, 2nd C in offensive usage.

The main thing is looking at even strength ice time though. PP/PK players will skew how much time on ice the lines have.

And while you can’t really take the numbers at face value because of overtimes (only for TBL & DAL) and special teams, the ratios to other teammates paint an accurate picture.

In the playoffs:

TBL
1st Line : 18 mins
2nd Line: 13:40-16 mins (this is skewed by Killorn’s ejection, but only a bit)
3rd Line: 15-16 minutes

In general all of their middle 6 plays about the same (other than Johnson).

DAL
Their lines have been all over the place in the playoffs, but they go from about 13:50 as the most to 11:40 at 11th.

VGK
1st Line: 13-14 mins
2nd Line: 13-14 mins
3rd Line: ~13 mins

Damn I can’t wait for weed to be legal in the state. Some of you guys look like you are having so much fun making these trades when totally loaded on the loud.

If you’re talking about who I would want to make a deal around, please read the descriptions. I did say that most of these are unrealistic. And it’s obviously only one of the many pieces mentioned here.

You are missing out.

Ah I was wondering where your misunderstanding came from. Now I know it’s from you entirely discounting special teams, which is certainly appropriate when comparing performanceBut ridiculously skewed when comparing deployment Since, as we know coaches will almost exclusively play non-special teams players the first shift or 2 following a PP/PK. Thus those who don’t play on special teams are going to appear on paper to play more in the game than they actually do.

Obviously not a hard concept to prove, look at the shift charts for yourself. But in general when we’re talking about “can this player handle the big time minutes we’re paying him for?” Disregarding the 10-20+ mins that encompasses special teams is probably not the best method of looking into that.

Why would any team pay significant assets for Domi if they weren’t planning on signing him long term?

Probably about the same. It's a myth that Reinhart is only putting up points cause of Eichel, he makes plays all by himself. Main reason I say that Domi isn't as good as Reinhart is just because of the consistency. Reinhart is consistent 20G 50 point player. Domi has good years and bad years and I'd rather not be a part of that