Not for nothing, but I don't want to pay J-Bo the amount of money he's going to command over the next 3 seasons and pay fair value in a trade. On top of this, I'm not sure if a d-man can earn a more scathing review than the one Peca gives here.
Don't get me wrong, J-Bo has value, but his salary is far above his value. He's very sound positionally, but he really doesn't have that drive or hunger on offense or defense. I have no idea why his goal scoring dropped off the face of the planet...does he just not jump up into the play anymore?
On top of all this, where does J-Bo play? Is AMac relegated to the 3rd pairing? I mean, it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, but it doesn't really help our right side next to Streit. Who do we have that slots comfortably on the right side? It's not really filling our biggest need unless J-Bo can play comfortably on the right side.
In the hypothetical that Calgary is in a rebuild, I don't see why they'd shed Borque.
If the Islanders are bringing in $10 million in salary, I want the pieces to fit right. I wouldn't mind either player at the right salary in the right situation, but they don't really solve our two main needs - a righty d-man to slot next to Streit and a speedy playmaking winger to slot next to Tavares.
Edit - I also would rather keep Bailey if it's entirely possible. I could stomach it if it were part of a bigger package for something we really need, but I think we're much better off giving him some time with less pressure on him in a reduced role. (Couldn't hurt to add a consistent winger for him to play with, but I think he ends up playing with more talent and less pressure this year. That in itself should help.)
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Mitch
I've never heard an ex-player call out a player like that....It wasn't that Peca was trying to be mean either...That to me was the funny part "I looked forward to playing against him".
Not for nothing, but I don't want to pay J-Bo the amount of money he's going to command over the next 3 seasons and pay fair value in a trade. On top of this, I'm not sure if a d-man can earn a more scathing review than the one Peca gives here.
Don't get me wrong, J-Bo has value, but his salary is far above his value. He's very sound positionally, but he really doesn't have that drive or hunger on offense or defense. I have no idea why his goal scoring dropped off the face of the planet...does he just not jump up into the play anymore?
On top of all this, where does J-Bo play? Is AMac relegated to the 3rd pairing? I mean, it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, but it doesn't really help our right side next to Streit. Who do we have that slots comfortably on the right side? It's not really filling our biggest need unless J-Bo can play comfortably on the right side.
I thought the breakdown on this was common knowledge but apparently not.
[I wrote up a paragraph here trying to reconstruct the details, realized it was so vague as to be essentially useless, then got smart and Googled it. http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puc...urn=nhl-274006 is the article.)
Jay Bouwmeester is not a 6.68 million dollar defenseman based on his play over the past two years, we can get that out of the way right at the start. He is a very good skater, he eats minutes like nobody's business (someone said 20+- it's really more like 25+), he formerly would produce ~15 goals/40 points a season but hasn't done that since leaving Florida, he's 6'4 but doesn't intimidate people with his size or physicality, he's a terrible interview, and he's a very viable NHL defenseman. Someone said he was highly overrated, I'm not sure how he's viewed by Islanders fans typically. I tend to think he's underrated, because the contract he's on is about $1.5-2 million dollars too rich and is a very large cap hit in total and that distracts people from the fact that he actually does act as a critical piece of the Flames blueline.
He's definitely not for everyone, but he's not Wade Redden.
Regarding the deal, I don't see any reason for the Isles to trade their 2012 1st rounder for much of anyone who'd be available right now. Maybe somewhere during the season depending on how things go, trading it now isn't prudent unless a great deal shows up.
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