Looks pretty good. I really like the Strome-Girard deal as well.

Yes

Minnesota isn't trading a top 4 d whose cheap no matter what! It's weird people use Minnesota cap situation to make this bad proposals. You offered nothing to Minnesota and they have exactly zero reason to make themselves smaller or worse on D

@GiggywithGibby

@OldNYIFan @Salzy @Manson Thoughts?

The value with the Girard-Strome swap is okay but Strome is a tweener - not really a 2C but also not a 3C. I don't hate it but I don't love it but it is not a bad idea.

He's a bottom 4 D, 2nd pairing is him playing up, and its more then Minn paid to acquired him.

If you are that adamant on keeping your "top 4" defenseman Jacob Middleton that's fine, 2LD is the easiest spot to fill.

The dude plays with Jared spurgeon, and he was easily one of Minnesota best d this year. He was traded for and signed to extension for a reason. Him and faber are reason Minnesota feels comfortable letting dumba go. He's not a cap dump and he's a Top 2 D easily. Top 4 at worst. So Minnesota will keep him and not get smaller

Strome isn’t a 2c if they wanted to set $5M on fire why not just keep Girard and re-sign Compher that makes infinitely more sense. That and Strome isn’t worth Girard.

Top pairing D? Now I know you are talking out of your ass. Middleton is a distant 4th in TOI among Minn's main defensemen this season.

I'll just go sign Kulikov then, he played with Fowler, so that makes him a top pairing defenseman.

You clearly don't watch Minnesota. Just because he doesn't play alot of Min like that doesn't mean much. MIN had many d that could play a role. He mainly played with spurgeon, brodin and dumba. That's how it was. He played with faber also to help him. But he played alot with spurgeon to give Minnesota big body guy to counteract how small spurgeon is

Ceci shouldn't cost that much. While he's not a cap dump, I don't think he would cost much more than a low 3rd or 4th after factoring in how EDM's cap situation impacts the deal (unless they've already dealt two of Foegele, Yamo, or Kulak before said move).

Pens shrug and say okay.

Oil accept

I'd say you're wrong here since Spurgeon and Middleton have played together since March 2022. Middleton doesn't play as many minutes as Spurgeon, Brodin and Dumba but he does play on the top pairing against other teams top players and actually that pair was one of the top pairings for limiting scoring chances per 60 minutes this season.

All 4 seasons in NYR point to Strome being a 2C. He's shown with talent on his wings that he puts up 2.5+ pts/60 and did it for multiple seasons in a row. Anaheim doesn't have enough top 6 wingers to flush out a 2nd line, hence his dip in stats with us, but Colorado does. By contrast, Compher had a career high 1.9 pts/60 this season.

So yeah, Strome is a 2C and has multiple 50+ point seasons under his belt. Compher barely broke 50 this year and took all 82 games to do that, he's an upgrade on Compher and has cost certainty, or you can get into a bidding war for him or Domi which are the only 2 UFA 2C avaliable this season.

I’d honestly rather keep Girard instead of rushing Lacombe

We don't need long term LHD, we need a right wing. I'm not going to pair Girard with Drysdale for the same reason I'm not pairing Drysdale with Fowler, they will get caved in.

We can put someone else at 3LD and leave LaCombe in San Diego but Mints, Zell, and Moore are all headed there this season as well. He's also already burned a year on his ELC and is a few years older than the others given he was an NCAA athlete.

The only comment I can make which could even remotely be considered insightful is that I've seen several Edmonton ACGMs this week trading Ceci "anywhere for anything" or "anywhere for a pick," so if anything, you've been generous.

I like this, and I'm pretty sure that Colorado would rather keep Devon Toews than Sam Girard; it seems to me that MacKinnon's big raise might force them to make that choice even with Landeskog going on the LTIR list for the entire season (what a terrible thing).

While the Avs deal is nothing to get excited about for either team, I think it works. Byram is going to take 4+ on a bridge deal or more on a long term one, Newhook also needs a new deal, with Landeskog out for the season, they need someone for 1LW, and to fill out the rest of the roster. If they trade Girard for Strome, Byram takes 4.5, Newhook takes 2, then they have 13.5 million left to sign nine players, including a top 6 winger.

I also struggle to think what other 2C capable players would be available for Girard that also cost about as much as he does against the cap. Maybe Colorado can package Girard with their first to get a young 2C from someone. I don't think Montreal gives up Dach for Girard and a late 1st when they paid 13OA and a 3rd to get him. I don't think Arizona wants to give up on Hayton yet, Dube is in a contract year and Calgary doesn't need another expensive defenseman. Other potential candidates are on cap strapped teams who can't afford to take on the money difference, teams that can't/won't loose their 2C, or teams who already have a flushed out defense.

So unless Colorado can get Compher to sign for 5 or less, and then hope he can take another stop forward on this season to reach the level Strome has shown on multiple seasons he can hit, this might be their best bet.

That's an optimistic analysis of Strome; and I'm not comparing JTC with Strome because JTC clearly is not a 2C so that's irrelevant to the conversation. If Strome were a "legit" 2C, you'd think he would have been re-signed by NYR for the same amount but they went with a guy the same age but more expensive for longer.

Ceci for 2nd? Right into my veins pls

What the Rangers decided to do is more irrelevant than including the comparison to Compher. Their front office is known for making changes for the sake of change. They had Strome for 4 seasons and didn't get over the hill while he was on the team, so they made a classic bone headed signing for too much money and too much term and gave trade protection.

If JT isn't a 2C candidate, then Domi probably doesn't meet your criteria, and last I heard there was no chance of ROR returning, and he probably couldn't keep up with the pace of play anyway. That basically eliminates UFA options unless I'm missing someone.

So for 5 million or less, who are you going to get for 2C? And what even is your criteria for being a 2C?

I'm guessing at this point I blocked the oilers homers who used to scream to the high heavens you couldn't buy a better RHD for his cap hit and that Ceci was worth a 1st.

I'll update it as the Min 3rd in my next take.

Haha, where did you find these fans? I mean, last year he was amazing a earned every penny of his contract. This season he declined significantly.

Strome with Rants on his wing would probably be a legit 2c. His production last season wouldn't suggest it. Not sure I would give up Girard for someone who needs to be boosted to be a 2C. I did not watch Anahiem that often tho tbf