Ferrario from 101 ESPN, on twitter, mentioned he’d like us to go after [Noah Hanifin](https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/177710/noah-hanifin) from the Flames. Their new GM said he doesn’t want to get into a Tkachuk/Gaudreau situation from last year with guys on expiring contracts. The Flames GM menitoned he’d like to get younger guys playing time as well.
Could be a long shot but a guy like Noah Hanifin on our Blue line might be a good move. He’s 26, rangy, supposed to be a solid two-way defensemen and looks like he’s good for 30-ish points a season. Not sure how he is on the eye test or in advanced analytics but I’m willing to bet he’d be an upgrade on Leddy or Krug at this point in their careers.
As far as price goes, I’ve got no idea what that would be. But a d-core of:
Hanifin — Parayko
Perunovich — Faulk
Tucker/Loof — Rosen/Bortz
Would look pretty good to me. A little inexperience on the LHD side of things but we’re not really in a spot to seriously compete for the cup. Just compete for a playoff spot and see what happens when we get in there.
Also I’ve got no idea how Army can get rid of the Krug/Leddy/Scandella contracts those are fucking us right now. My sneaking suspicion is we are going to run it back with this group next year and see if it was a coaching decision after all.
by IrateWeasel89
4 Comments
If they’re wanting to get younger then it sounds like they’re going to want prospects. While the Blues are deeper on the forward pool I just don’t think we can afford to give up too many of them just yet. We need a d man bad but is it worth giving up prospects to revamp our d core? Would a first round pick and one of our bad contracts get it done? He’s got one year left on his contract so unless he’s willing to sign a long term contract (which would likely be his last cause he’d be 27 by then) I’m just not sure if it’s worth it to make the trade. Maybe try to snag him in free agency cause it sounds like the flames are giving up on him. Plus he’s got a 5 mil cap hit if we took on his last year of the contract. It’s likely he’s going to want a pay increase when it’s up which I don’t think would be smart cause we’d be right back in the same spot we’re in right now. Probably not a realistic scenario but it would be nice to get him on the cheaper end. I’ve always liked his game
To get out from under those contracts you would have to get worse by trading assets and get nothing back or make a mega trade with lots of cap going both ways.
I think DA will use the assets to upgrade upfront and hopes the D Core and Goaltending bounces back.
Zadorov Better
Hanifin is soft. We need quality defense with sandpaper in their game.