Joined: May 2023
Posts: 437
Likes: 568
I think in the Hawks' case, it depends on how they're thinking about Soderstrom. If they think he's not going stick going forward, this proposal (IMO) is a reasonable price for the Hawks to pull the trigger on a bonafide, young, NHL goaltender...
Have Mrazek and Gus be 1A and 1B for a couple years; then, Gus and Commesso be 1A and 1B for a time; and, finally, Commesso and Gajan be 1A and 1B for the reborn Hawks.
Mrazek has shown me that having good goaltending is more important to the Hawks rebuild than I thought. (Indeed, an argument could be made that Mrazek has been the co-MVP for the Hawks this year...) With him in net, the young Hawks got to experience and learn from close NHL games they had no business being in - despite being grotesquely outshot almost every game. Without him, they probably would have been routinely blown out, which may have been MUCH more demoralizing - perhaps, even damaging - to the young Hawks' development.