Ben Shelley: Was trading for Brady Skjei the right move?

I enjoyed this piece, thank you.
It'll be interesting seeing how the upcoming draft affects the moves we see in the coming year.

Losing someone good in the expansion draft is a good thing. It means you have depth. If you only lose someone expendable, you have a weak team. Let Seattle have a good young D. Build the best roster possible for the playoffs now and the near future(ignoring goatending though apparently). Carolina's shown they can draft D so it's not like anybody they lose is irreplaceable.

I enjoyed this piece, thank you.
It'll be interesting seeing how the upcoming draft affects the moves we see in the coming year.
- Coburns_Nose

Thanks for that and thanks for reading!

Losing someone good in the expansion draft is a good thing. It means you have depth. If you only lose someone expendable, you have a weak team. Let Seattle have a good young D. Build the best roster possible for the playoffs now and the near future(ignoring goatending though apparently). Carolina's shown they can draft D so it's not like anybody they lose is irreplaceable.
- DarthProbert

Thanks for reading!

I would agree that they should be adding pieces for short-term playoff runs if they had addressed other areas of weakness too (top-six winger and starting goalie). However, since they didn't, I don't know that it was necessary to make a move like that for the short-term. I also wouldn't say losing a quality player in the expansion draft is the ideal way to prove depth and before acquiring Skjei, there was the possibility to avoid losing a key player.

Hey Ben, I’ve read a few of your blogs indicating that you would like to see the canes target lehner in free agency. I was wondering no matter who he signs with, what do you think his next contract will be?

Considering we essentially traded Patrick Marleau for Skjei with term, I’m very happy with the addition. Hoping he can be a steady top-4 contributor

Probably will be able to pick up a pick our two for either bean our Fleury anyways before the expansion draft happens

I think it's too early to tell about the trade! I can see the strong possibility of getting deep in the playoffs! That's what is important, and if that move increased the chances of getting another CUP. .. HELL YES, DEFINITELY WORTH THE PRICE!!!
Also, does anybody really think Bean or Fleury are star-material? I don't see how!
I'm looking forward to the draft, whenever they do it...but I would prefer to see the season completed before the draft!

Had Skjei been a righty, I would have less of an issue with it. Skjei is the left handed version of 2017-2020 Faulk. He and Gardiner will be the whipping boys.

In a vacuum, Skjei is worth the price. Being a lefty and requiring expansion protection just doesn’t make sense for us.

Hey Ben, I’ve read a few of your blogs indicating that you would like to see the canes target lehner in free agency. I was wondering no matter who he signs with, what do you think his next contract will be?
- RedC21

Thanks for reading!

I won't go in depth on a prediction but I'd say I'm confident the term will be between 4 and 6 years. I also think the AAV will be somewhere between $5M on the very low end and $7M on the high end. I think it's pretty likely to be a combination of that AAV and term, based on other comparables.

Considering we essentially traded Patrick Marleau for Skjei with term, I’m very happy with the addition. Hoping he can be a steady top-4 contributor
- FinnGod

I suppose that if you link the Marleau trade and Skjei trade, then it's a great move.

I just kind of view them independently and see that the Hurricanes had an extra first-round pick and I'm not sure that it should've been traded for Skjei.

Probably will be able to pick up a pick our two for either bean our Fleury anyways before the expansion draft happens
- Allforhim12

My only concern there is that many other teams will be in the same position, where they're already trying to fit players onto their protection list (especially on defense) and don't have the room to protect them once they're acquired.

I think it's too early to tell about the trade! I can see the strong possibility of getting deep in the playoffs! That's what is important, and if that move increased the chances of getting another CUP. .. HELL YES, DEFINITELY WORTH THE PRICE!!!
Also, does anybody really think Bean or Fleury are star-material? I don't see how!
I'm looking forward to the draft, whenever they do it...but I would prefer to see the season completed before the draft!
- randycane

I think it's too early to tell with Bean and even Fleury, to an extent. But I think there's certainly a chance at least one of the two becomes a top-four defenseman.

Had Skjei been a righty, I would have less of an issue with it. Skjei is the left handed version of 2017-2020 Faulk. He and Gardiner will be the whipping boys.

In a vacuum, Skjei is worth the price. Being a lefty and requiring expansion protection just doesn’t make sense for us.
- gocanes0506

I think there's a good chance he'll actually end up fitting in pretty well but the expansion draft is why I'm skeptical.

Thanks for reading!

I won't go in depth on a prediction but I'd say I'm confident the term will be between 4 and 6 years. I also think the AAV will be somewhere between $5M on the very low end and $7M on the high end. I think it's pretty likely to be a combination of that AAV and term, based on other comparables.
- Ben.Shelley

Thanks, I didn’t notice until writing back that the only goalies above 7 were price, Bobrovsky, and Lundqvist. I was curious based on his numbers that he could be asking for Bobrovsky money.


As a flames fan I’m not sure if management would target him given the confidence they appear to have in Rittich but I think they could fit him in between 6 and 7 million. Anything over that and my armchair gm’ing is more fantasy than reality

Thanks, I didn’t notice until writing back that the only goalies above 7 were price, Bobrovsky, and Lundqvist. I was curious based on his numbers that he could be asking for Bobrovsky money.


As a flames fan I’m not sure if management would target him given the confidence they appear to have in Rittich but I think they could fit him in between 6 and 7 million. Anything over that and my armchair gm’ing is more fantasy than reality
- RedC21

I think Lehner is great, but I could see GMs concerned with his lack of games played at his age to give both term and a high AAV. He's never played 60 games in a season and even though he's been excellent over the last two years, he's basically been splitting time with another goalie during a lot of that, between Greiss in New York and Crawford in Chicago.

Thanks, I didn’t notice until writing back that the only goalies above 7 were price, Bobrovsky, and Lundqvist. I was curious based on his numbers that he could be asking for Bobrovsky money.


As a flames fan I’m not sure if management would target him given the confidence they appear to have in Rittich but I think they could fit him in between 6 and 7 million. Anything over that and my armchair gm’ing is more fantasy than reality
- RedC21

Vasilevsky too.