Thrilled with getting Hanifin at #5. My mantra all summer has been and will continue to be "skating above all else" in today's NHL. So the Canes picked up a great skating defenseman. With Faulk incredibly young and locked up for 5 years and Fleury, McKeown and others already in the system, the Canes are 2-3 years away from being able to start building its top 4 D from within.
Wisniewski was trade possibility #3 on my list.
I will write it up in more detail sometime soon, but here are my quick thoughts on the two trades:
1) The Wisniewski deal is the one trade that Francis had to do sooner rather than later. He now has a pretty solid 2nd pairing on defense (with Ron Hainsey NOT Hansen :-)) and a very good anchor for the 1st pairing in Justin Faulk. I think ideally, the would add a partner for Faulk to build out a really good top 4. But budget and the crazy inflated market for free agent defenseman might make this tough. In addition, the draft of Noah Hanifin might shorten the time you are willing to commit to another top 4. I still like Dion Phaneuf, but his 6-year term fit better in a world where the Canes were left with Strome or Marner instead of Hanifin. So I think Francis still considers options to add a partner for Faulk (that's the Skinner deal maybe), but if it is not doable on reasonable terms, I think Wisniewski is also perfect for adding flexibility. If no other top-tier defenseman is added, then Peters can pair Hainsey with Faulk and possibly look for a stay home left shot partner for Wisniewski. That type of player is a lot easier to find than the right shot, offensive type that Wisniewski is or a true top pairing partner for Faulk.
Shorter version: I loved this deal before it happened. I love it just as much now that it has.
2) Eddie Lack and the goalie shuffle. The lack trade is quiet brilliance on Francis' part. While the Rangers had the entire goalie-seeking world shackled up in a ridiculous bidding war standstill, Francis swooped in and added a goalie who might actually be better for much less than the Rangers were trying to get. At one point, the Twitterverse had the Rangers looking for a 1st round pick or two 2nd round picks -- for a goalie who looked pretty good for only 50ish NHL games in front of a real good defense. I like Lack better than Talbot. I like him even more when you consider the modest cost of just 3rd and 7th round picks. I think ultimately Talbot's price comes down to something reasonable, but it is hard to say what would have happened to Lack's value once that was done. Would the even more desperate teams who lost out on Talbot bid Lack up to Talbot's price?
Ron Francis deal-making aside, Lack is a pretty heady pickup. He is a not insignificant $1.2M cost savings for 2015-16 and positioned to be a free agent after the Canes and Lack have a chance to get to know each other and importantly right when the Canes actually have money to pay a #1 goalie.
I will put up a more detailed analysis of the various moves and draft picks during the busy weekend over the next few days. I might even try to put it up on the new site. If we can push the Kickstarter a bit closer, just maybe I can get the web developers to lean forward a bit and let me do some basic posting at Canes and CoffeeE.
What say you Canes fans? Are you as happy and energized as I am about the events over the past 24 hours?
Twitter=@CarolinaMatt (soon to be......)
Go Canes!