The trade deadline frenzy is about fully upon us. The latest Canes news is Darren Dreger from TSN suggesting that Jordan Staal could be available. There were no specific teams named and not much concrete, but it is interesting nonetheless.
It hits on what is my biggest question right now in terms of how Canes GM Jim Rutherford sees this team and where he thinks he wants to go with it. What does he consider to be the "core" that he wants to build around?
I get no indication whatsoever that the organization is ready to blow everything up and start over. With a few stars in their prime and questions as to what automatically tacking multiple years of playoff misses onto the current 5, it just seems unlikely.
So that prompts the question of what to build around while at the same time doing more than bottom half of the roster tinkering to get better. I am record back to before they even played together as thinking that Jeff Skinner and Jordan Staal would both fare better separated. That story mostly played out in 2012-13 when they never really found any chemistry together, struggled mightily defensively and came real close to finishing in the bottom 2 spots for the entire league in +/- (yes I realize that the cool kids completely discount that stat). 2013-14 started with them on different lines and early on it actually worked. Jeff Skinner started hot and led the team in scoring and Jordan Staal at least settled into a comfortable role of shutting down the other team's best. Since then it has been up and down. Jeff Skinner has run incredibly hot but also cold. His scoring totals are on a decent pace, but I cannot help thinking his consistency would improve if he had some kind of offense-oriented help for a 3rd line. And at the same time, Jordan Staal has had a better year, but with very limited offense around him, his scoring totals are still light even for a defense-first type of line leader.
The conundrum for me is this. The Canes are not deep enough to surround both of these players with the help needed to excel. At the same time, I still am not convinced that their skill sets work together. Then on the other side of the ledger, in my opinion the Canes are short 1 top 4 defenseman and that is only if the team keeps/re-signs Ron Hainsey. If he gets traded to collect futures at the deadline and does not return in the offseason, it becomes 2 top 4 defensemen.
So first to be clear, I am not saying that the only alternative to shaking things up is to trade a core player. I voted for trading Cam Ward in November when it still might have been possible and took heat for it. That has moved so far in that direction that he is probably immovable right now. Tuomo Ruutu who has been playing better of late is another possibility to free up $ to spend this summer. But in terms of truly shaking up the top half of the lineup, I think that Skinner and JStaal are the 2 players who could garner a big return that changes the current mix of the roster either by getting a different mix and new chemistry possibilities for the 2nd line or by adding a #3 level top 4 defenseman.
If I had to guess, the Jordan Staal rumor will turn out to be smoke without fire. I am 50/50 on whether it is the right way to go, but I think that Rutherford is more likely to go 1 of 2 other routes. First would be to spend heavy on futures to add 1 player. Second would be to hope that he can pull off another offseason similar to the last. The Canes are struggling with depth and their top end right now, and as GM, Rutherford deserves his share of the blame for the structure of the team. But he was real good last summer with mostly under the radar moves that significantly improved the team. Sekera and Khudobin would be my #1 and #1 right now for team MVP. Malhotra and Gerbe have also contributed. With a last-second emergency because of Pitkanen's injury, Hainsey has also helped. You could argue that he missed with Komisarek and maybe Palushaj, but the contract terms were incredibly low-cost/low-risk such that they did not hurt anything.
What say you Canes fans?
1) If you were to trade a core player, who would it be?
2) What would you be seeking in return? A top 6 forward? A top 4 defenseman? A package of decent players to improve depth?
3) What do you think the chances are that a big name, non-rental is gone by tomorrow?
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