beyond a good draft pick what would it take to land Clutterbuck
obviously the team w/o him would have next season
Granlund--Koivu--Heatley
Latendresse-Cullen???--Setoguchi
Zucker--Coyle--Bouchard
Peters/kassian/Veilleux-Brodziak-N.Johnson
and an ok top 4 of spurgeon Foster
Falk--Scandella
the rest of the D corps could be moved or flipped around between now and the draft ...so the basic Q' is what would be the priority for the Gm to address a "proven" #2 pivot or is Granlun/Brodziak/Cullen enough
or a solid Defensive Dman since Spurgeon + Foster+ Scandella should be enough.
would something like a montador or Sauer be enough or would it take a homerun type of deal to land the very popular C-TRAIN.
I think Cal is pretty much untouchable. He's worth more to the Wild than any other team in the league... it would take an overwhelming offer to get him, and I doubt any team in the league would do it.
I think I'm one of the few Wild fans who would actively trade Clutterbuck if it would make the team better. Especially if it was a deadline deal to a playoff team. Clutterbuck+Harding+Zanon might be able to bring back a bluechip prospect or two.
If I'm Fletcher, I'm calling the Hawks and asking for Olsen and McNeil for the above package + salary dump. Maybe toss in Cuma going the other way.
If we could add a top-4 puck-moving defenseman for Cal Clutterbuck that fits in our age group, it would be a no-brainer for me. If we're healthy next season it wouldn't shock me to see him on the 4th line, whereas we could be icing Schultz, Prosser, and Falk as half our defense.
Wouldn't want future draft picks that we could realistically get for him though.
I don't care how many Wild fans wear their Clutterbuck jersey. I would take a top 4 puck moving defenseman for him anytime ...however, ONLY if we can deal him out of the conference. ... Don't want to see another Dirty Dirk Graham trade scenario.
A "lesser" blue chip defensive prospect. Wild are stacked with offensive blue chippers but only have one high end D prospect. Draft picks don't serve a purpose right now.
He is too unique of a player and is too well loved by the fans. If the right deal came along, sure we could part with him. But he just does his usual 3rd line superpest job too well, and he has the ability to fill in on one of the top two lines if needed.
And if we did trade him I would not want to trade him to anyone in the West, or Winnipeg (who should be part of the West soon if realignment ever moves forward).
I like Cluts but we do have a glut of forwards coming in, many of whom have a higher potential. He is a great third-liner, but has no business being on the first or second line of a well-rounded team. I have been wondering where his place will be in the near future.
Let us not forget his slow start to the season either. If you have a third-liner who doesn't want to grind it out then there are problems. He wants to be a scorer, but he just does not have the skills: bad hands, my God if I see him try to deke around another defenseman... His shot has power but he rarely even gets it on net, and when he does most of the time he just shoots it right into the goalie- a sniper he aint. Finally, he has bad hockey sense and no on-ice vision.
Now don't get me wrong, I like him and think he is good at what he should be doing, but he is not that great and for the right price could help us. Now would also be a good time because his perceived value does appear to be higher than it actually is. I know Vancouver is strongly interested in Ott and they play a similar game.
