Yorkie is right. You need players like Joseph who are just specialists at rushing the opponent, getting into the dirty spaces and be solid on the penalty kill. His contract is not even that bad either as it expires around the time that core team members will need a raise. The window for Ottawa to make some noise in the playoffs and maybe win a Cup is in 2026-2028 with the current core. That is the window, as after that things will get harry with resigning Batherson, Tkachuk and Zub. Ottawa needs to sort out goaltending, as statistically when they got over .900S% they are a playoff team. Goalies are weird voodoo so who knows if bringing in a Markstrom or Ulmark will even work, or if Korpi can turn things around.
I think before we worry about the forward core is deciding if we're trading Chychrun for a fix in net, or on the righthand side. I'd love to keep Chych too, but it all depends on how the cap goes if we can keep him, Chabot and Sanderson. Joseph is a 3rd liner on a playoff team and I don't see Ottawa as not a playoff team if they get above .900S% from their netminders. That should be the key focus right now is fixing goaltending.
I'd be happy to see Joseph return. I think classifying players as either top 6 or bottom 6 is misleading. He is definitely what you would call middle six. He can play on any line. Could be 2nd line if you want to move some weapons down to spread the offence, could be 3rd line if you want to load up the first couple lines. He kills penalties and can play on PP2. You need good utility players and I think Joseph can be a good utility player. If you need to include him as part of a package to get a key piece back you do it, but I wouldn't get rid of him just for the sake of it.
3 Comments
Yorkie is right. You need players like Joseph who are just specialists at rushing the opponent, getting into the dirty spaces and be solid on the penalty kill. His contract is not even that bad either as it expires around the time that core team members will need a raise. The window for Ottawa to make some noise in the playoffs and maybe win a Cup is in 2026-2028 with the current core. That is the window, as after that things will get harry with resigning Batherson, Tkachuk and Zub. Ottawa needs to sort out goaltending, as statistically when they got over .900S% they are a playoff team. Goalies are weird voodoo so who knows if bringing in a Markstrom or Ulmark will even work, or if Korpi can turn things around.
I think before we worry about the forward core is deciding if we're trading Chychrun for a fix in net, or on the righthand side. I'd love to keep Chych too, but it all depends on how the cap goes if we can keep him, Chabot and Sanderson. Joseph is a 3rd liner on a playoff team and I don't see Ottawa as not a playoff team if they get above .900S% from their netminders. That should be the key focus right now is fixing goaltending.
I would like to see Staios sign Tyler Toffoli.
I'd be happy to see Joseph return. I think classifying players as either top 6 or bottom 6 is misleading. He is definitely what you would call middle six. He can play on any line. Could be 2nd line if you want to move some weapons down to spread the offence, could be 3rd line if you want to load up the first couple lines. He kills penalties and can play on PP2. You need good utility players and I think Joseph can be a good utility player. If you need to include him as part of a package to get a key piece back you do it, but I wouldn't get rid of him just for the sake of it.