Count me among the few people not especially bowled over by the Predators’ big trade yesterday.
Cody Franson and Mike Santorelli are nice players and will give Peter LaViolette more line- and pairing-making flexibility. Franson adds a nice piece to their defensive depth. Neither are difference makers.
Does the deal improve the Preds’ chances in the playoffs? Absolutely. And for the reasons I just stated. Depth, flexibility, marginally beter matchups.
Do they guarantee the Preds come out of the West? Hardly.
That’s the point. The playoffs are a grind and a war and a series of matchups, both in the larger sense of series, but also line to pairing and vice versa.
The Preds are a really good team—5 on 5. They’re kind of middle of the road on both special teams. Did these acquisitions improve them that much in either area? Ummm . . . meh.
Now this line of reasoning does not absolve other teams, including the Chicago Blackhawks, from going out and trying to address their holes. The Preds got deeper and more flexible as far as lines and pairings. So it does behoove their potential playoff opponents to do the same.
The Hawks are in the upper half of the league in all categories. They have premier offensive players up and down the ice. What they need is just decent depth. Another physical forward, preferably who can line up at C or W, and a solid 5-6 defenseman who won’t wilt under pressure. Physicality a plus there, too.
So I am not of the opinion that Stan Bowman needs to “swing for the fences… with a pre-deadline deal. Bowman is somewhat cap-strapped. But David Poile showed yesterday, as many GMs have before, that you can move salary for salary (roughly speaking in this case).
And no Bowman doesn’t have an immediately evident “addition by subtraction… chip like Olli Jokinen, but the Hawks’ roster doesn’t consist of 23 Hall of Famers either. Maybe 4-5 of them. A lot more than most teams. It’s the other 18-19 guys (not to mention boatloads of fairly heaviliy hyped prospects) that Bowman might have to work with.
There are so many names flying in “trade… scenarios across the blogosphere and social media right now, it’s hard to separate the potential trade discussions among NHL people from those of fans.
I’ve heard a couple of names recently—Daniel Winnik from Toronto, Alexei Emelin from Montreal—that make me stop and say, yep, those are the kinds of players Bowman might want to add—if he can put a deal together.
If Bowman stands pat, he goes into the playoffs with significant questionmarks on his third defense pair and a very small group of forwards who likely won’t wear down opposing defenses with heavy hits (as most Stanley Cup champions do). Does that mean they wouldn’t beat the Preds in a 7-game series?
The Preds have a better record today than the Hawks—and they’ve had injuries too. They have a marginally better goalie (although Corey Crawford is having a downright strong year—with a huge goalie win yesterday versus the Penguins), and they just got marginally better at forward and defense.
So there’s your answer. Your move, Stan.
JJ
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