Quoting: Dmh1055
What have you seen from Lemieux that makes you think he can't do what he's doing statistically every year? I would think he can provide 15 to 20 goals a year while being a pain to play against night in and night out. He appears to be nowhere near the talent of his father but he still brings those other intangibles that a sleep walking Flyers team could use. Sanheim in this equation is being dealt likely for 2 2nd rounders. Is it short? It may be just right. If Sanheim was a RD we'd be having a totally different conversation on return and he likely isn't even available.
Lemieux currently is on pace for 25+ goals in a full 82 game season (which won't happen because he's missed time, but that's just his pace). The closest he's gotten to that in the 4-5 ish year he's played in the league was an under 20 goal pace his rookie season. Other than that season, his average has been about 8-12 goals per year depending on how you do the math. No matter how you look at it, he's currently very much outplaying his career average, in what happens to be a contract year. It's nice to see as a Kings fan, and I hope it continues. I just don't expect it to. He's going to continue to get borderline 3rd/4th line minutes, and there don't happen to be many consistent 15-20 goal scorers on 3rd and 4th lines around the NHL.
I agree with the intangibles, though. Like I said, I really enjoy what he's brought to the Kings. They don't really have a guy to replace his attitude/willingness to stick up for a teammate. But I think their need for a high-ceiling LD outweighs their need for another bottom-6 guy that's taking time away from the prospects. And, to go back to your other post, I agree with LA and Philly being good trade partners for a guy like Sanheim. Our need is a high-ceiling LD, not RD.
Honestly, not sure about the two 2nd rounders. I saw all the talk about Vilardi for Sanheim, and I personally view Vilardi as someone with a pricetag of a 1st round pick + a good prospect. So it just seemed like this was on the low end of the price tags floating around for Sanheim. It's much more palatable for me.