Mike Babcock, Danny Brière et gagnants et perdants du commerce d’Ivan Provorov

3 Comments

1. tailford07 1 an ago

   The more the dust settles, the more I like the fit in the lineup and the direction in which the club is heading.

   What were some of our biggest issues last year? Defense, injuries, and overall inexperience. Provorov will be able to slide right into that 2nd LHD spot, previously occupied by Gavrikov. He’s only missed THREE out of a possible 535 games in his career. He’s also averaged 24 minutes of ice time per game in his career. You should be looking at ~45 minutes a night with either him or Werenski on the ice.

   I get people may be skeptical about what was given up (#22 overall this year and a future 2nd) but we also have reached a point where we need to stop stockpiling prospects and focus on NHL talent. That second round pick could very well be pick #50 in the 2025 Draft, who cares? A first round pick in the 20s sounds like a lot, but look at the guys we’ve drafted around that spot lately: Foudy, Chinakhov, Ceulemans. All guys who are far from sure things and we are still waiting on to really develop or turn into something.

   We have one of the best prospect pools in the sport and are adding a guy we hope is a 1st line center in the Draft this year. We’re nearing a point where we need to just say “we’re going with this group of 25-30 guys going forward”.

2. Hazy_eyePA 1 an ago

   On the Union Junction podcast posted Monday Mark Scheig said over and over how massive a whole we have at LHD. We are currently pretty oversaturated RHD at the moment:Gudbranson, Peeke, Boqvist, Jiricek, Blakenburg, Ceulemans. This move fills an obvious need for this team.

   I’m not crazy about spending a 1st and 2nd on the player, but the salary retention is key because that leaves us right around $12M in space heading into the season. That of course includes not taking care of any RFAs on the roster right now.

   It would not surprise me at all if we make a package that includes some of these young and cheap RHD, and maybe even the 3OA pick, and go after someone BIG.

   Jarmo’s contract is up in 2 years, he knows this. I’m not sure any team would beat down door to hire him as a GM if he were to not have his contract renewed, but you never know. This could be his final chance to go out and get the center this team has needed since the moment he walked in the doors over a decade ago.

   ***whispers elias pettersson***

   edit: grammar

3. SupremeGentlemannnn 1 an ago

   Remember when Briere’s POS son threw a disabled woman’s wheelchair down the stairs at a bar? I do.