Modifié 26 août 2021 à 9 h 16
Quoting: BallPuckFellow10
I think Rielly is a #1 defenseman on Winnipeg, Edmonton, Montréal, Philadelphia, St. Louis, San José, Calgary, Seattle, Minnesota, Anaheim, Detroit, Ottawa and Buffalo. That is 13 teams. You can argue he is equally is a good as Dallas #1, Pittsburgh #1, Columbus #1, Vancouver #1, Islanders #1 and Carolina #1. I definitely think he is #1 defenseman in the league, and on a stacked d-core he would be the #2. I think you can win a championship with Rielly as your number one defenseman, especially if you have a cast around him consisting of Muzzin, Brodie, Holl, Sandin and in this case an addition of either Ekholm/Lindholm/Parayko/Murphy.
The reason the ship has sailed is because all teams have set their rosters. Who should the Leafs trade Rielly too? There are currently no trades that makes sense for him. A rebuilder with cap space isn't going to trade for him and give up 1st round picks. I can't think of a rebuilder that would have any realistic roster players that we would want in the trade. So would we trade him to a contender? I think not. They won't have any space to make moves, and it means that we will have to take some contract back on a player we likely don't want in the deal. There is no guarantees we can move that contract. See where I am going here? It also doesn't make sense to trade Rielly and then acquire one of the pending UFA defenseman as his replacement. What if they walk? then you might as well have kept Rielly, someone you built through your own system that is a leader and one of the faces of the franchise. If an extension for one of the replacements is in place, it is a different story. I wouldn't mind to listen to what kind of offer that would be.
I don't understand your logic of trading Rielly takes us one step back and two steps forward? Are you banking on Dermott or Sandin playing north of 21:00 minutes a night? I don't think they are capable of that yet, Dermott might never ever be that. Sandin doesn't need to be thrown to the wolves. Playing on the third pair at this stage of his development is exactly where we want him to be.
If Rielly walks next summer we can target one of those FA that will be available. Chances are they will come in cheaper than Rielly so that is the optimal route for us to go IMO.
With your list for Rielly I must disagree with you.
Winnipeg, I would much rather Morrissey over Rielly and maybe even Pionk.
Montreal, if you want to say Rielly is offensive D man... I would say Petry has shown to be better than him consistenly. He has 4 seasons in row at 40 points or more while Rielly in the last 2 seasons is declining.
Philadelphia, I'd same Rielly and Provorov are about the same so in this situation it's a wash.
St. Louis, Krug and Rielly are about the same to me as well although overall offensively Krug has been consistent and some would probably take Parayko defensively over Rielly too.
Calgary, I think due to age at least I would rather go with Hanifin or Andersson over Rielly.
Minnesota, I would most certainly take Spurgeon and Brodin over Rielly.. easily. Spurgeon lengthy deal is worrisome.
Anaheim, I would take Lindholm over Rielly, infact he is my choice for FA replacement for Rielly.
Buffalo, due to age and potential I would easily Dahlin over Rielly too.
Will post thoughts when I'm able to.