Bouchard will only be a 1st line play if he finds an elite, big, goal-scoring center to play with, mesh with, and be a side-kick to. Yeah, if Bouchard plays with Getzlaf, he'll be that 70-point forward we all think he can be.
But if he's expected to be the "offensive" guy on his line, he'll just continue to be that weak top-6 option who's good for 50 points but struggles for 15 goals.
The guys just gets rubbed off the puck too much to be a consistent offensive threat.
Who was his elite, big, goal-scoring center when he scored 59, 57, and 63 points from 2005-08?
It makes me chuckle every time I think about how so many people were saying Columbus is a low seed playoff bound team when they traded for Carter. I never understood why they would trade for a player like him. Why not trade for a play making center? They should've been the one to get Richards, not Carter.
It makes me chuckle every time I think about how so many people were saying Columbus is a low seed playoff bound team when they traded for Carter. I never understood why they would trade for a player like him. Why not trade for a play making center? They should've been the one to get Richards, not Carter.
This.
Lombardi should have asked for Carter and Howson asked for Richards.
LA would be sick with a Brown - Kopitar - Carter top line.
what i don't get is why doesn't CBJ just keep him and play him on the 2nd line, they will have a very high pick they can easily get an elite player Grigs or even Yakupov to play with carter and just play ryan johansen with nash. or vice versa.
as squidz pointed out we don't need to move money to get carter but at the same time we will not get him for scraps
It makes me chuckle every time I think about how so many people were saying Columbus is a low seed playoff bound team when they traded for Carter. I never understood why they would trade for a player like him. Why not trade for a play making center? They should've been the one to get Richards, not Carter.
The Carter trade was the perfect example of why some teams get stuck in 1st gear.
Columbus has surely blown a lot of drafts. But they wouldn't have blown drafting Couturier at #8. Johansen-Couturier would have been a sweet, sweet 1-2 for a decade. And Columbus could have just dealt one of Voracek, Brassard, or Vermette for a Dman this off-season.
To everyone saying "we'd need to send salary back for [player x]:"
Who said this?
Columbus needs to DROP salary. We can't be sending equal salary back.
We can take tons of salary back. Columbus needs to drop salary... The ownership (other portzline articles) is unhappy with spending as much as they are, without results.
But yeah, if Columbus is doing a 180 because they are bleeding money, I'd take Carter and Wiz as long as Zidlicky and one of Backstrom/Bouchard/Cullen was going the other way.
Wiz's contract is so bad but the guy would be a PP quarterback for a while.
Columbus needs to DROP salary. We can't be sending equal salary back.
We can take tons of salary back. Columbus needs to drop salary... The ownership (other portzline articles) is unhappy with spending as much as they are, without results.
idk if carter is worth his salary. and koivu is a top center, not some good grinder. he can make passes and hes got a good shot. he just maybe isnt in the right role or have the right line mates. maybe its coaching. a few games ago the wild looked good and had speed but heatley has no wheels, line seems to have no speed. back to the dump and chase. idk if fletch is gonna do another huge trade, maybe sign a big FA. sign parise, hopefully get butch and lats back on the team, get a good pick, and use the top forwards we have like granlund and do well in 2 yrs
And could be construed from your post: Link but you're simply trying to say that "we would like to" rather than "we would need to."
Ah... I can see how that could be taken that way.
I am well aware of our cap situation and how much money we'd need to move to take on Carter's contract to set us up for next summer.
Realistically, I'd like to see Fletcher maintain about 6 million in cap space if we are really going to make a push next season.
Again, I don't think we'd go after Parise if we landed Carter somehow as there would no longer be a "need" for Parise. I would much rather have a scoring center to compliment Bouchard/Granlund rather than sticking them with Koivu.
It's all about the balancing of lines, in my head. Yeo was really good at this at the start of the season, but as soon as we started losing forwards to injury, it seems as if he forgot (or couldn't) balance the lines.
Personally, I'd like to see a 1 for 1 swap of Zidlicky for Carter, but both teams would have to "even up" with the understanding that Columbus is the team that needs to drop salary while we can take salary.
So in essence, this hypothetical should read;
Zidlicky + Larsson = Carter (+1.6 million to Wild)
Throw Zanon/Brodziak in to "even it up" and keep #FireToddRichards' "Z-Fense" together. Columbus would add in Pahlsson to keep more going out than in...
Trading for Carter would be mostly independent of the decision to get Parise. Carter wouldn't get us to the next level. Carter + Parise would. If we had a miracle and got Carter, I see no reason to not go after Parise as a UFA if he wants to come wants to play in Minnesota.
If you can get great players, you get them, and you find a way to dump the non-elite players (Cullen, Zidlicky, Latendresse, Bouchard, Backstrom) to make it work.
Koivu, Parise, Carter, Heatley, Setoguchi, and Granlund would be a Cup contending top-6. Throw in Clutterbuck, possibly a re-signed Brodziak (if you could get rid of Cullen), maybe Bulmer, and you have a purely deadly group of forwards.
Our blueline would still be weak, but it could survive on a group of Scandella, Schultz, Brodin, Spurgeon, Prosser, Falk, and Stoner. Especially with that group of forwards.
Oh jesus no, keep Mason away from this team. Carter I'm not willing to risk anything on after this season and a 10 year contract still left on the books.
We can find better deals for better players on better teams.
I think people are severely undervaluing the demands Columbus would have in a Carter trade. In the little healthy time he's had with Columbus, he's been pretty decent at the very least. Yes, 17 points in 30 games isn't good enough, but if you take out his bad start to the season (which included an injury) he has 10 goals in the last 22 games. That's pace for 37 goals in a full 82 game season. Even including those first 8 games, he would be on pace for 27 goals in a horribly off season, on a team with absolutely no support.
If you look at the team in general, it's scary to think how even average goaltending would have "fixed" this team. Mason has a 3.42 GAA in 26 games with a 0.881 Sv%. If you bump that up only to 25th best in the league (like their other goalie, Sanford has in his 24 starts), you'd reduce the number of goals against by 22. That would drop his GAA by 0.90. Mason's been the starter in 5 regulation 1 goal losses and 2 shootout losses. Had his goaltending been merely below average, they would pull out an additional point in each of those (on average) for an additional 7 points on the season. Add to that half a point per 2 goal loss (because some of those were 1 goal losses + ENG, also averaging better goaltending probably gives a win or two) and this team is still missing the playoffs, but is no longer anywhere near a shoo-in for last. Fix a couple injury woes and suddenly the team is hanging around with Phoenix and Dallas in the standings instead of Anaheim and Edmonton.
The point is, Columbus can't afford to just get rid of him "for whatever people will offer." If they don't get a realistic offer for him, they'll rightfully pass and keep him to themselves. They won't let him go for less than "Young, at least average roster player + quality prospect." That means no Zid + Larsson, no Brodziak or Zanon involved at all. The "cheapest" we'd realisticly get Carter for would be Seto/Lats + Phillips/Zucker/Larsson.
I'd consider trading for Carter if we only had to move one of our upper level prospects not named Granlund, Brodin or Hackett along with a few other smaller things but no way do I want Wiz on this team. After what he did to Clutter and all the suspensions he's already gotten? He's a dirty player and has a bad contract. No thank you. I'll take Burns back a million times over before I even consider Wiz.
Trading for Carter would be mostly independent of the decision to get Parise. Carter wouldn't get us to the next level. Carter + Parise would. If we had a miracle and got Carter, I see no reason to not go after Parise as a UFA if he wants to come wants to play in Minnesota.
If you can get great players, you get them, and you find a way to dump the non-elite players (Cullen, Zidlicky, Latendresse, Bouchard, Backstrom) to make it work.
Koivu, Parise, Carter, Heatley, Setoguchi, and Granlund would be a Cup contending top-6. Throw in Clutterbuck, possibly a re-signed Brodziak (if you could get rid of Cullen), maybe Bulmer, and you have a purely deadly group of forwards.
Our blueline would still be weak, but it could survive on a group of Scandella, Schultz, Brodin, Spurgeon, Prosser, Falk, and Stoner. Especially with that group of forwards.
I'd agree that Carter wouldn't be enough to push this team over the top. However, Carter + Parise still wouldn't remedy our blue line situation, especially if we ended up moving our 2012 1st in such a trade. Now, Carter + Suter might be able to do it though. Well, at least make us legit playoff threats next season, and hopefully true contenders by the season after. Picture this lineup:
While not the most imposing top line, the second line would be well above average and that's a great bottom 6. With a better than servicable defense, that should be enough to finish 4th-6th in the west.
I'd agree that Carter wouldn't be enough to push this team over the top. However, Carter + Parise still wouldn't remedy our blue line situation, especially if we ended up moving our 2012 1st in such a trade. Now, Carter + Suter might be able to do it though. Well, at least make us legit playoff threats next season, and hopefully true contenders by the season after. Picture this lineup:
While not the most imposing top line, the second line would be well above average and that's a great bottom 6. With a better than servicable defense, that should be enough to finish 4th-6th in the west.
or we can get parise w/ou giving up 1st + other assets have a guy who would want to come here and is buddies with suter
