Quoting: Celtics21
Bahl is interesting. He’s outperformed most second rounders from his draft class and still has 4 years of control.
I realize there are comparables with less term. I’ve seen people say his value is that of a second round pick. If I’m a contending team, I value him more than a second rounder which in all reality is likely going to be less a valuable player than Bahl.
Are you really in a cap position to view Hanifin as more than a rental? I guess if you take a stronger arm position on Mercer and don’t allocate more funds for a goalie, You could be next year.
Not an easy call. In an ideal world, we would have gotten another year out of Severson and Graves to make transition to the younger guys a little easier. Now with Dougie out, that’s three of our top four dmen from last year gone. So, another veteran in short-term would help.
Bahl was good in 2nd half last year, but first 20 games were so-so this year. He is probably a guy that sticks in league for a while. But puck-handling is not his strength…and d-zone exit efficiency, a strength of ours last year, has been a weakness this year. Biggest difference between 2022-23 Devils and this years version.
If we acquired Hanifin, I think it would only be done with intention of keeping him. My guess is that he gets a contract close to Hampus Lindholm, Damon Severson, McKenzie Weegar (mid $6s at max term). If Holtz can replace Toffoli in top-six, we probably can afford it.
Our GM has known Hanifin since he was a kid. And Fitzy has shown a tendency to target guys he knows. So there are probably a number of fits on and off the ice.