Flames pass. No reason to sell low on him

If we hadn’t resigned Haula, Backlund would have been great. But I don’t think filling 3C is the priority it was at beginning of off-season.

A 2nd and a 3rd is low? That’s basically the package you’d get but I put McLeod in place of the 2nd.

The defensive play of Backlund would be phenomenal. Imagine the match ups you’d have! Nico already is an elite 2 way C but adding a shut down 3C like that is something worth exploring. I’m not one who’s down on your goalies so I don’t think you’ll add there.

I'm very willing to bet he would be in quite high demand come the TDL

Oh, don’t get me wrong, I’d love to have Backlund. I made a couple ACGMs trading for him myself early in summer. But once we brought Haula back, it filled that spot.

Two areas of concerns for NJ outside of the usual goalkeeper issue mentioned:
1) they lost a fair amount of scoring depth (27% of last year's goals walked out the door). Now banking on full year of Meier & Toffoli to make up for it. Mind you Toffoli had a career year last year scoring wise, should see a return to mean.
2) Two of their top two PKs are gone (Graves & Sharangovich). Who takes those minutes? Both were very effective in that role.

Additionally, Replacing Graves & Severson with Hughes & Miller / Nemec is a big loss of experience (Hughes/Nemec) and or skill (Miller). Blueline must be a question mark until proven otherwise.

Backlund for 4C would be overkill, if McLeod goes?

Nosek - Backlund - Bastian shut down line?

Don't think cap works regardless

I agree he will. You might even get a 2nd and a decent prospect, maybe even two 2nd at most. I’d be shocked to see a 1st.

You would be shocked if a team moved a 1st for one of the best defensive centers that can also consistently score 40-50 points a year and drives his own line?

I’m not denying the quality of the player, I’m saying most teams don’t just give away 1sts even at the TDL when it’s most common.

Contenders do. And like candy too. 13 1sts were traded last deadline

I didn’t realize it was that many! I know Horvat, Bertuzzi, Ekholm, Meier, and ROR were certainly worth 1sts. I’m not a fan of the overpays for Gavrikov and Jeannot so maybe you’ll get a deal like those ones where it’s a slight overpay (or Jeannot which was a big overpay).

It's all about supply and demand. Centers are always in demand but what will the supply be like.