Nino Niederreiter is the perfect LW for Geno imo. Geno is still an elite player at creating high danger chances for himself and teammates in the O-zone, problem is he doesn't do too much off the rush anymore, if you keep trying to pair him with players whose primary offense comes off the rush it won't work out. Niederreiter is a big body, strong forechecker, good on the cycle, and good finisher, to me that's exactly what Malkin needs on his line.
As for the D. While it isn't ideal to go into the year with two question marks slated to start on the left side, I think you gamble on POJ's and Ty Smiths' upside. If it works out, POJ plays a similar level as Petterson, Ty Smith finds his game, then they can gave both upgraded Defense and forward groups next year with the cap savings. downside is if it doesn't work, Solid top-4 defensemen for a reasonable price don't exist on the in-season trade market, it would take an overpayment to fix the blueline, vs middle-6 wingers are usually readily available to find.
Another option it'd be interesting for them to explore is a trade for Garland. He could come at a reasonable price, he's on a good contract, and he's consistently kept up a top-6 level of play. Maybe with Rutherford's familiarity he's interested in Petterson and a prospect, or Petterson and pick(s).
The most important thing is I feel they need another middle six winger. Without it, the bottom six looks incredibly weak, another winger allows Zucker to play on the third line which I think he's a very good player for, and get's someone more suited to play on Malkin's wing. Overall I wouldn't mind going into next season with Zucker in the top 6, as long as they either bring back Heinen, bring in Sonny Milano, or bring back Rodrigues (i think he could be a really good third line centre between Kapanen and whoever's on the LW).
Hextall said he's satisfied with the current forward group, either he's bluffing for a bit of trade leverage, or he's REALLY confident in guys like Puustinen, Poulin, or/and Hallander stepping up and being good enough to be solid in a third line role. Or he isn't very smart and thinks Poelhing-Carter-Kapenen is a great third line (I doubt that).
Another think to keep in mind, if they don't upgrade at forward, they have basically no one capable of stepping up and filling in in case of a top-6 injury, which is pretty likely to happen. Great thing about last years team was that Heinen, and Rodrigues were able to step up and do a decent job when injuries thrust them into an elevated role. Even Carter was able to at the beginning of the season, although his performance to the end and in the playoffs makes me think they shouldn't rely on him for that going forward.
(sidenote: if 4.8 isn't enough for Niederreiter, they could just offer more and just carry 13 forwards instead of 14)
Anyways that was longer than I planned it being, here's the team. Lets hear the criticism:
Moving Pettersson doesn't make a ton of sense now with only unproven and young players here to replace him. There's no Mike Matheson on the team to take second pairing minutes. Dumoulin is aging and getting injured.
Unless it's done to bring in a star level player, I think the Pettersson trades should be over with. The contract they should be trying to move is McGinn. He's expendable.
The Pettersson to detroit spam trades are over, they don’t need him after their FA signings
Quoting: Canesfan21_
Detroit doesn’t need Pettersson anymore
Ther 2LD is Olli Maata who they signed for only 2.3 mil. If they actually want to compete next year which they seem to, Petterson is an upgrade over Maata. Regardless, I'd think there's some team with interest in Petterson, and if not, there should at least be interest in Dumoulin, who I'd prefer to move.
Moving Pettersson doesn't make a ton of sense now with only unproven and young players here to replace him. There's no Mike Matheson on the team to take second pairing minutes. Dumoulin is aging and getting injured.
Unless it's done to bring in a star level player, I think the Pettersson trades should be over with. The contract they should be trying to move is McGinn. He's expendable.
Well if only it was so simple to move McGinn, he's a fourth liner/fringe third liner making 2.75 for the next three years, no team wants his contract. The forward group as is just isn't good enough, and you can't improve it without moving out cap-space, and the obvious ones Mcginn or Zucker would be too expensive to move.
McDavid, Connor
250 000 $)
LeonardoNoCardio et BStinson a aimé ceci.
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