The Spawn is back
Rejoint: juin 2016
Messages: 2,277
Mentions "j'aime": 1,068
For me, I add another 5-6 mil winger before I sign Barrie. Larsson is the number one Dman to get resigned because 1. he is likely affordable (I don't think he gets a raise) and 2. there is no talent like him at RHD to replace him internally. Barrie is a rare talent too, but Bouchard is actually a good bet to pick up a lot of Barrie's loss, and in a couple of years potentially replace it in full.
I think a full time Bouchard will get points (PP and limited 5v5) at at least half the rate that Barrie has, covering that half of the offense from the back end for likely around 1/8 the price. If Klef is back for even half of next season, he should also help cover more of the offensive slack. And more PP minutes for Nurse over Barrie would be just fine by me (and Bear even, his offensive play has been nice lately).
Basically, there are ways within the current roster to replace a lot of Barrie's 21 PP points thus far, many of which let's be honest would have happened for any decent blueliner (Nurse, Klef, Bouch, maybe Bear) who can pass off to McD or Drai who do most of the primary assisting/scoring. I would rather allocate that money to a top 6 winger. Harder to see how a 45-50ish points winger who might be had for the price Barrie will go for (assuming 5-6 mil) can be found internally compared to the back end replacements for Barrie, who should cover a good deal of the departing Barrie offense. Holloway and McLeod are looking like real players, but can't assume they will blossom to fill a 50 point top 6 forward role in either of the next two seasons as easily as Bouchard can be assumed to cover a lot of Barrie's offense over that time.