• Moderators, please send me a PM if you are unable to access mod permissions. Thanks, Habsy.

2016 NHL Free Agency Thread

The Habs have a history of trading away best players, captains, etc. This, along with many of those deals was not motivated by finances but by personality conflict. In Montreal there is a fasade to the org of modern openess but imo they have an image they want, culture in the club and well he just didn't fit in, so much so there were issues. It is a shame for them, like many of those other cases, seems that pride gets in the way... PK is a great player, great personality - like him or not - he was really good in the community too. He will be missed and I am not so sure Bergevin will be in Montreal still by the end of this year. Avery, Roenick to name a couple pretty much always spoke their minds, reprimanded or not. Montreal has this ting I tell you... being a good hockey player is only half of being a hab...
 
There's an elephant in the room regarding Montreal that not many are comfortable talking about.


Both trades were extremely lopsided. Both look stupid on paper. Which 2010 1st rounder gets dealt next? Fowler, Skinner, etc?
 
Last edited:
Meh, it's a case of "what have you done to me lately" blinders.

Everyone knows the worst trade in NHL history was Ron Francis, Ulf Samuelsson and Grant Jennings for John Cullen, Zarley Zalapski and Jeff Parker.
 
*AH* said:
No, the stupidest was Hall for Larsson!
Click to expand...

Am I really that far off to suggest the Canes might have at least two if not three defensemen that are better than Adam Larsson right now? If the asking price was really that obtainable for an 80 point, 24 year old star player like Taylor Hall you have to wonder how close if at all Ron Francis came to making a deal with the Oilers. Guys like Hall do not come around that often and I just cannot fathom how low of a price it took to acquire that player.
 
CanadaCanes said:
Am I really that far off to suggest the Canes might have at least two if not three defensemen that are better than Adam Larsson right now? If the asking price was really that obtainable for an 80 point, 24 year old star player like Taylor Hall you have to wonder how close if at all Ron Francis came to making a deal with the Oilers. Guys like Hall do not come around that often and I just cannot fathom how low of a price it took to acquire that player.
Click to expand...

Hall scored 80 points once in 6 years. He was also a point-per-game in the shortened seasoned. Last year, he netted 75 points in 82 games. In all other years, he's topped out at 53 points. Some of that is due to injury. In the non-lockout years, he's missed 17+ games three of five times. Even if you assume he plays 80 games per year (which he's not shown the ability to do on a regular basis), his career average puts him at 68 pts. Could he produce more on a better team? Maybe. Could he avoid injuries better on a better team? Maybe. Even at 68 points he'd be the #1 scorer on the Hurricanes every year after 2011-12, but that's not saying much. My point is, he's had 6 years to prove himself. He's got talent no doubt. But let's not make him out to be more than he is. He hasn't proven that he's an 80 point guy on a regular basis.

That said, considering the prices for goalies and forwards in the past week, I'm also kinda disappointed so far that we haven't been in the game.
 
Am I really that far off to suggest the Canes might have at least two if not three defensemen that are better than Adam Larsson right now?
Click to expand...

Faulk certainly is. Hanifin hopefully will be at some point. Slavin appears to be close.

The trick here is that Peter Chiarelli apparently thinks that Adam Larsson has a lot more to give and he is just scratching the surface of his potential. And maybe that ends up being the case and Larsson develops into a 1st pair guy. Certainly Edmonton should expect a substantial jump in Larsson's offensive production considering all of the firepower they put out there every shift. The question will become this kid's defensive game....can he really be the solid 2 way DMan he was expected to become when drafted 4th overall. Sometimes Dmen take 5-6 years to develop and figure it out, which is right at the point Larsson is at now.

Its Larsson's current game AND potential for greater things that convinced Edmonton to do this deal. I haven't seen anyone who thinks that Edmonton couldn't have gotten more for Taylor Hall. They traded an awful lot away for a 2nd pair DMan with potential to be better. If the Canes offered Faulk straight up I suspect Edmonton would have jumped all over that (maybe not though if Faulk's health is in question). Slavin or Pesce wouldn't have been enough...as good as they looked last year they have 1 year in the league and were surprises. Hanifin for Hall might have worked but the Canes have no business considering trading Hanifin for anything at this point.

I think Faulk is better than Larsson. I think Hanifin will end up better than Larsson. I think Slavin will be comparable to Larsson. That said I expect Larsson to put up at least 40 points with Edmonton this year. The question will be his defense and ability to exit the zone effectively. He's going from a team with little offensive skill to a team with skill all over the place. He could end up being a completely different and much better player in Edmonton than he was in NJ. Larsson is not a defensive DMan with no skating skills. His skills check all of the boxes you need to be a great 2 way DMan. Obviously Chiarelli thinks Larsson will blossom in Edmonton. And he better because they just used one of their bigger bullets to acquire him assuming that he will immediately provide a big boost on their blueline.

Chiarelli could just be clueless too...he did trade Tylor Seguin.....
 
Last edited:
cmaleski2 said:
Faulk certainly is. Hanifin hopefully will be at some point. Slavin appears to be close.
Click to expand...

That was my thinking exactly. Faulk and Hanafin both better at the end of the day, Slavin soon to be a close comparable to Larsson. I would place Larsson as a solid #3 slotted defenseman, he just does not strike me as a top pairing guy now or down the road.
 
Remember that Adam Larsson was touted to be the best swedish defenceman since Lidström when he came through. I'm not saying he will be that now but that is how highly regarded he was at the time he got drafted so the potential is certainly there.
 
Christer said:
Remember that Adam Larsson was touted to be the best swedish defenceman since Lidström when he came through. I'm not saying he will be that now but that is how highly regarded he was at the time he got drafted so the potential is certainly there.
Click to expand...

Victor Hedman wins that crown hands down and twice on Sundays.
 
Chiarelli was seemingly fixated on acquiring a right-shot defenseman, presumably for setting up power-play "off-side" one-timers with that shot, like we do with Faulk.

So Slavin wouldn't have fit the bill with his left-shot, although Pesce would have.

Still, can't trade Hall for a third-rounder, I suppose. Wouldn't have gone over well with the fan base.

It was Faulk or nothing with the Canes, no doubt. So...nothing.
 
Hall hasn't proven himself, to me at least, to be worth our best defenseman.

I think Hall is capable of being a much better player once on a better team. Not convinced Jersey is that team though.
 
Not sure why people seem to be hating the Larsson/Hall trade. I think it was a pretty good move for both teams. Larsson is right now a legit top pairing defense man. He averaged almost 23 minutes a game and led NJ in plus/minus this past year. He doesn't have flashy offensive production.....but that is not his primary job. His job is to get the puck efficiently out of his own zone, move it to the forwards quickly, and stop the other team from scoring and he did all three of these very well last year in New Jersey. Edmonton doesn't need help scoring with their wealth of youth at the forward slot. They need true defense and that is just what Larsson provides. He is also signed for a long time at a very reasonable rate and provides cost certainty for Edmonton. That is something they will soon value as their plethora of entry level contracts expire.

Could Edmonton have gotten more for Hall....absolutely. But when you break down what Edmonton really needs in the short and long term they addressed it perfectly in Larsson. Edmonton is a better team today because of this trade....and so is New Jersey. Nice to see a needs based trade happen in today's NHL.
 
CanadaCanes said:
That was my thinking exactly. Faulk and Hanafin both better at the end of the day, Slavin soon to be a close comparable to Larsson. I would place Larsson as a solid #3 slotted defenseman, he just does not strike me as a top pairing guy now or down the road.
Click to expand...

Larsson is not the #1 guy on D, but he is the guy you want paired with your top #1 guy (Weber, Doughty, Burns, Letang, Subban, etc.). I think he is a top pairing guy.
 
Lots of buyouts today. Dennis Seidenberg, Mason Raymond, Brad Stuart, Fedor Tyutin, Jared Boll, Lauri Korpikoski, Matt Greene, Eric Nystrom, Barret Jackman, RJ Umberger, Matt Carle, Jared Cowen, Chris Higgins.
 
CanadaCanes said:
Victor Hedman wins that crown hands down and twice on Sundays.
Click to expand...

Most would say Erik Karlsson I guess. But if we draw comparisons to Hedman he had also a hard time adjusting to the NHL and started living up to expectations just in the last couple of years.
What I'm saying is that if Larsson does the same then he could be just as good as Hedman if not better.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top