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John 3 16
Joined: Apr. 2020
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Fwiw the two trades combined are effectively:
Donskoi -----------> Tierney
Graves -------------> Nemeth
4th + prospect ---> Bernier
In swapping Donskoi for Tierney we move a forward who doesn't fit this team well, and get a significant upgrade at 3C that allows Compher to move back to the wing.
Graves for Nemeth is a downgrade for sure, but it's at least arguable that Nemeth is a better PKer than Graves, and thus a better fit in that 6D role.
Lastly a 4th and a lesser prospect seems reasonable for a decent backup who can give us some insurance until Francouz is out.
With that said, what this trade does is that it fills the holes we have at 3C and 3G, and arguably gets a Dman who fits the 6D role better, all without creating any other holes in the roster (since Compher replaces Donskoi at 3RW).
And beyond that we'd also be getting a lot of cap flexibility moving forward by moving Graves and Donskoi:
Graves and Donskoi will cost just over $7m combined through to 2023. Bernier and Nemeth are both pending UFA's, so only Tierney's $3.5m contract would impact us until he becomes an UFA in 2022.
So effectively these moves would give us an extra $3.5m in capspace in 2021/22, and $7m in 2022/23. That's a big deal, especially considering that we have Burakovsky and possibly Kadri to resign as UFA's in 2022.