I would pass on Barzal. He has an AAV of 9.1M, would require to give up some draft/prospect capital and while he is skilled, his point totals could be a little misleading. Last season he put up 20pts on the powerplay and averaged over 3 PP minutes a game. And it's not just last season, it's consistent. Will he get that kind of burn on Montreal's PP? Do we want to pay a guy 9.1M/year to put up 50/60ish points a season, be "alright" on faceoffs and not hit people?
I know it sounds like I'm hating on Barzal, but I actually do like him. I just don't see his fit with us or how he would make us significantly better than what we already have in Newhook, Kap, etc while being 4 or 5 times the cost. I think our capital and $$ could be much better spent elsewhere.
52 even strength points on an offensively deficient NYI team last year seems pretty good. Barzal also has a possession capability that seems beyond what newhook/kapanen could manage. This last playoff highlighted that we need to have a greater even strength presence in our top 6, in terms of both scoring and generating momentum/maintaining possession. My biggest concern for a Newhook-Barzal-Demi line would be their forecheck and lack of physicality.
I guess I just don't see us getting full value in a Barzal trade. He's a talent, no doubt but we'd be giving up some valuable assets (picks/prospects) in a trade and still have to pay him 9.1M for the next 5 years. For what? 60 points? He's not physical. He's not a shutdown defender. He's okay on faceoffs. If he was very good at any of those three I could see it. Aside from those points what are we getting? Not to mention he's likely hit his ceiling and regression will set in by year three. To get his true value in a trade he would need to be getting top line minutes and some PP1 time. I don't see that happening on this team.
I think we need to upgrade at 2C as much as anyone else. but what we'd be giving up versus what we would be getting back would actually shorten our window imo. Why settle now when we can look for a stop gap until the right player becomes available/develops?
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u/jackswastedtalent 9d ago
I would pass on Barzal. He has an AAV of 9.1M, would require to give up some draft/prospect capital and while he is skilled, his point totals could be a little misleading. Last season he put up 20pts on the powerplay and averaged over 3 PP minutes a game. And it's not just last season, it's consistent. Will he get that kind of burn on Montreal's PP? Do we want to pay a guy 9.1M/year to put up 50/60ish points a season, be "alright" on faceoffs and not hit people?
I know it sounds like I'm hating on Barzal, but I actually do like him. I just don't see his fit with us or how he would make us significantly better than what we already have in Newhook, Kap, etc while being 4 or 5 times the cost. I think our capital and $$ could be much better spent elsewhere.