Pokecheque wrote:
Chris18 wrote:
Isles are supposedly very interested in Grubauer.
I'd put Brock Nelson on the trade block. Unless the Isles bring in a new coach who can motivate him to consistently try. Guy is great when he cares, but goes like 5-10 games with zero fucks given.
Call the Habs! They're desperate for centers and if he's "gritty" at all I bet they'll bite.
It's a shame about ol' Grabbo. I bet he'd be the perfect 3rd line center behind JT and Barzal.
It really wouldn't be that hard to get a decent third line center behind those two, assuming JT re-ups. I mean, seriously, how many minutes does a guy like that have to play any given night? I get there are possible injuries to consider and what not but just going out and getting some average (or as the stats people like to say, replacement level) guy would be easy.
Nelson is as gritty as Vaseline.
I can't recall him ever having a fight, and he's usually the guy who waits until all officials are there to slowly skate over to a scrum. Pretty sure I've read his lips asking opponents "is it Tuesday or Wednesday? I can't remember that kind of deep shit."
Isles could move Beauvillier back to C if they want a decent 3C. Unless they don't want to mess with the chemistry of him & Barzal. Seems to me anyone put on Barzal's line wakes up. It's like when Al Arbour used to put any struggling forward on with Trottier & Bossy. Suddenly their slump was over. Barzal has that touch. Isles fans on various blogs keep showing fancy stats of his. I don't even understand some of them, but he's among the league leaders in all kinds of shit.
Isles really need at least one D & a true #1 goalie. Not necessarily elite, but a real #1. Halak was always a 1a type, who needed great support. Greiss offered that at times, and has gone back to his old off-season trainer, who he had split with before last year. So maybe his off-season training fucked him up, and now he'll return to 1b/#2 form that he'd had before. I hope so. Lots of rumors about who Lou is targeting. He's probably looking at a few, and it largely depends on return price. Supposedly Grubauer is his primary target, but he's pretty busy for the next week or so, and somehow I can't see the Caps talking to anyone about anything beyond champagne and parade routes at the moment.
The only untouchables I see in the Isles org:
Tavares (unless he makes it clear he won't re-sign, and they trade his exclusive negotiating rights)
Barzal
Boychuk & Ladd have NTCs. Boychuk just finished renovating his huge, historic house on LI, so I can't see him agreeing to a trade, unless it's to Edmonton so he can be with his extended family.
I think pretty much every other Isle is up for grabs if the return is a #1 goalie or top 3 D man. If they re-sign De Haan, maybe you can cross d-man off that list. Maybe. Lou values D way more than Snow did.