Barzal has said in the past he’s most comfortable at center and even when he was with Nelson/Lee last night, Nelson took the faceoff and moved to wing. I think we’ll only see that line combination down a goal or 2 late in games.

The makeup of the line itself didnt really matter to me. As for the long term prospects of this combination read the title. The one reason this should get a look as a more permanent line is bc it fits a lot of holes at once. Barzy gets a legitimate goal scorer, without having to try and trade for one or pick one up in FA. We also clear a C spot for raty which is gonna be a headache bc they arent going to want to move JGP (which i agree with tbh). It also sets them up to flip this team as we go from old (bailey parise palmieri) to new (holmstrom raty dufour). None of those 6 are 1st liners and keeping as many middle 6 spots flexible makes sense.

Why r u trading Salo and Iskhavov? I don’t c any reason to do that tbh.

I wanna capitalize on their value instead of just letting them sit either in the press box or in bridgeport. I dont see them playing for NYI especially salo.

You don’t have that philosophy with Dufour or Holmstrom tho…. They r waiver exempt and they can live with it.

Bc theres a direct spot for each to take over. Dufour will take over from palmieri, and holmstrom will replace parise (which could even be on this acgm). Salo is already 24 and will be going into his age 25 season not in the nhl lineup with no clear path to get there (with bolduc and odelius). I wouldnt hate keeping iskhakov but again i dont see where he would get an opportunity in the nhl.
This isnt about the players liking it or not in the org its about maximizing the value of every asset the team has and that means trading some guys before they become bellows/dal colle.

I agree with selling high on assets but I think Iskhakov should at least get a few game in the NHL to see if hie explodes right away. For whatever reason Salo doesn't get consistent playing time so im fine with trading him, not sure he has much value at this point.

Fair enough