Apologies for the late post. The Chronicle staff had to attend the funeral of Billy Mays today.
Now then. It's a fact, A FACT, that either Lehtonen or Pavelec is going to be traded in the next few days, for either a top-six forward or a top-four defenseman.
If we get the top-six forward through trade, we'll get the top-four defenseman via free agency. And vice versa.
Not sure who we can market Lehtonen or Pavelec to. Actually, I do. Detroit, Colorado, Edmonton, possibly Chicago (eager to shed Khabibulin's contract, them*) would be takers. Who could we a-get from any of these teams?
Not sure if Lehtonen is enough for the likes of Paul Stastny, but my it'd be nice. Pavelec would easily get us Polish noble Wojtek Wolski. Detroit might hand over Valtteri Filppula or Jiri Hudler, either of whom would be splendid. Hudler is a fine goal-scorer, and he'll only get better with time, but he MAY not be our guy if we're looking for size. Filppula seems like an unimpeachable choice: imagine him centering the Czar and Bryan Little. Then there's Red Wings prospect/occasional player Ville Leino, a great forward who nevertheless can't find room on the Marian Hossa roster.
Speaking of size up front, there's always free agency. The main prizes here, in my opinion, would be Mike Cammalleri and Nik Antropov. You all know about Cammalleri, right? He'd be amazing, but if we can't get him, Antropov is exactly what we need: a huge (6'6, 230 lbs., BIG) guy, a scoring forward who tallies 20+ goals every season but could probably reach 30-something under John Anderson, can play both center and right wing. He's my choice in the (highly likely) event we can't grab Cammalleri.
We shall take this conversation further tomorrow, into the realm of defensemen. In the meantime, what do you kids think about this top six forward business?
*This is typical blog wickedness. As it happens, Khabibulin is a UFA, so Chicago doesn't even care about him anymore! THAT is the truth!
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7 comments:
i like antropov, but it seems his agent is engaged in a little gamesmanship with a certain Lord Sather.
filppula is straight money, and i would be very excited to have him. and Rob would cry. that is always a bonus.
Bulin Wall is a UFA...
The jointhead is against the taking of the filpula from the red wings but my could he feed kovalchuk the puck for some beautiful one-timers. If Hossa stays I think flip is gone if Hossa goes Flip will stay a wing. Flip is indeed straight money and will only get better.
Blueland Outsider has a short list of UFA D-men that could come rather cheap than a trade...
I want to keep Lehtonen. He's use to getting about 40 shots on goal every night. Pavelec just didn't impress me that much. Of course, I was sitting right behind him during the Boston game when he let in three goals on four shots. Kari can be absolutely brilliant. I don't want to give up on him. trade Pavelec, Exelby, and a pick to Philly for Simon Gagne. They need a (cheap)goalie to compete with Emery, and need to shed salary to fit Pronger in under the cap.
Jay-
Yeah, I agree about Pavelec vs. Lehtonen. Kari can be absolutely, as you say, brilliant. I'd prefer we traded Pavelec, UNLESS somebody offered us something particularly grand for Kari.
hell yeah! flippula for pavs. MAKE IT HAPPEN!
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