Quoting: SnipeRV
I really go back and forth on resigning Granlund. Personally like him a lot but where does he slot into the lineup if we keep Joey/Duchene? 3rd line center? That would be awesome but if it takes $6M to sign him its not worth it. Thats top 6 wing money but we already have Fil/Arvy/Tolvy/Kunin and Tomasino coming up. Plus Jarnkrok/Grimaldi as 2nd/3rd line wings. It also means we have to protect him in expansion. Which could work if we were okay exposing BOTH Joey/Duchene.
It be a legit Top 9 but there are too many obstacles:
Fil-Duchene-Kunin
Tolvy-Joey-Arvy
Jarny-Granlund-Tomasino
I would ONLY resign Granlund if Joey or Duchene leave in expansion. Sign him after draft so you dont have to worry about protecting him. I personally prefer RyJo over Duchene (before the season, I preferred Duchene, recency bias i guess) I just see Johansen as a better all around player. Younger with less term as well. If they dont produce offensive they need to at least bring some defensive ability. Johansen's Dzone and face-off ability make him more valuable than Duchene.
End of the day, you can't have two 8million dollar centers who aren't producing. NSH might have to expose both of them and let Seattle take their pick.
I would get rid of Grimaldi, 2 million for an average bottom6 winger, he has limited offensive upside, I would prefer a prospect like (Novak, Pitlick, Jeannot) getting those minutes
Regardless, you protect Fil-Arvy-Kunin and the top4 D (barring a trade).
Forsberg - Johansen/Granlund - Tolvanen
Jarnkrok - Duchene/Granlund - Tomasino
Cousins - Kunin - Arvidsson
Trenin - Sissons - Olivier
*Could swap Arvy/Jarny but I like the way Jarnkrok plays with Granlund.
Preds need to open up a spot for Tomasino, which in-turn would push Kunin/Arvidsson/Jarnkrok down the lineup