Joined: Aug. 2020
Posts: 1,488
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If Hamilton walks, which I think is a foregone conclusion, I’d easily trade Niederreiter for Ristolainen, ufa to be for ufa to be. They’re not going to be re-signing Niederreiter, so why not turn him into a poor man’s Hamilton replacement.
I’ve always thought that Ristolainen would do well on another team. Pair him with Slavin, let him run the PP and do his thing offensively and I’d be pretty shocked if he wasn’t a 40-50pt guy on the Canes. For all his foibles, he still is a top 4 RD, just certainly not a #1D. I’d rather the Canes pay up for Hamilton, but could definitely see them bringing in Ristolainen as a replacement.
Heck no to adding a 2nd to Niederreiter.
I also think that they will do their best to keep Skjei safe from Francis. Slavin-Ristolainen, Skjei-Pesce isn’t really that much of a downgrade from what they have now.