Wheeeeling and Deeeealing

Yeah, I know, I should trust the scouting staff… but it’s fun to play armchair GM and find out later how the guys I would have chosen or traded for actually do.

Was Teubert a huge part of the Penner deal or did they just settle for him as a throw-in because they couldn’t get what they were really asking for along with the first rounder.

And now returned to around where it originally was after they won 5 out of 6.

I still think Nashville will miss the playoffs.

Although I remain a Mike Fisher fan, since Nashville could never win the first round if they made it to give us another pick, go Flames Go!!!

El Nino was bar none my favourite player from that draft, (and ok, yes, it could be partially due to his wicked name) and he’s absolutely phenomenally talented. Now, how do we get him?

Lots of times at the draft, teams REALLY REALLY want a certain player and they can do funny things to get access to drafting that player. Example: St. Louis really wanted Tarasenko. So even though Rundblad had a hell of a World Junior Series, they overlooked that and traded with the Sens who judged that Rundblad would be ready by this year.

So I picked the players I picked after Niederrieter because I figured they have possibilities of turning into top six forwards… and like Mark said they’ll want top line talent in exchange… so Snow may be stupid sometimes, but he’s not going to give up Niederrieter for our scrap heap.

But you never know… maybe they’re down on Nieder. or maybe he doesn’t get along with the coach or maybe whatever… you never know… dream along…

Every GM always has a wish list. For instance, we’ll find out if Ladislav Smid is REALLY on our wish list if we get rid of Kuba or Gonchar.

In the meantime Brian Lee is finally showing up as a potential fifth or sixth Dman. Now Kuba is the only dud we have back there and I’d put him at about 10th on the depth chart… so how do you spell B-U-Y-O-U-T? Can we really afford to keep him when we have so many developing dmen?

There’s lots of decisions to make.

Here’s the what’s so about Kubes: He has one more year at $3,7 million. A buyout costs ($3,7 × .667) / 2 = $1.233 million per year for two years. He is untradeable or they would have traded him already. So the choice is $3.7 for another year or $1.233 for two years on a buyout.

They will probably wait until the end of training camp and see how all the new guys and Brian Lee work out before making the decision. IMO, no one is stupid enough to trade for that kind of cap hit for him.

Or Wave Kuba and hope someone takes him for half of his salary.

A deal like Kuba for Rolston might be just what the doctor ordered here… an overblown contract for an overblown contract. Then we give Rolston a leadership role and WOW, he becomes a player again and scores 25 goals (dream along).

I’m just saying… there are options when you have a ton of cap space. Rundblad is playing close to 30 minutes a game in the playoffs in Sweden, and I’d just like to give him and Cowen some ice time instead of the pokey and mistake prone Kuba who generally turns whatever partner he has into an inept Dman as well. Can you tell that I want to get rid of Kuba?

Kuba has had plenty of time to recover from his injury. Everybody who plays in the NHL was once a good player for a few games, but what can you do for me NOW? Players either have results or excuses… and it’s enough excuses already!!!

I don’t hate Kuba. On certain nights he is almost a useful player. Peter asks for a long range viewpoint… well from a long range viewpoint what’s the point of having him on the team? His offensive PP exploits are in a previous life, as others have forged ahead in the depth chart in the PP department, and with the addition of Rundblad and Cowen, Kuba becomes number 10 on the depth chart.

He was slow before his injury and now he has “turtle” status. He doesn’t hit anyone, and he regularly makes his partners look bad. Hanging onto him will turn into a late round pick at best if anything. We are presently in the “developing of dmen” business, and when training camp starts we ramp up trying to develop our defence as fast as possible.

Kuba is a square peg and all we have is round holes. I wish he’d prove me wrong, but I wouldn’t bet even a loony on it.

Lastly, except in rare occasions, I just don’t believe in signing expensive Free Agents. Teams end up overpaying and so it just isn’t worth it most of the time, unless you grab someone cheaply and give him a role. When you make a mistake on a $3.5 million dollar player or more, you have yourself a 10 ton anchor around your neck having a player who doesn’t contribute and can’t be moved. When I look at the FA list this year, I shudder.

You don’t see the best organizations like the Red Wings signing FAs and there is a reason for that. The only recipe for success is to make sure you have elite goaltending and then build tremendous depth through the draft and with crafty signings of overlooked players.. Then you’re in a position to exchange assets in a clever manner and build a contender.