pens_CT wrote: ↑Sat Feb 10, 2024 5:06 pm
KG wrote: ↑Sat Feb 10, 2024 4:47 pm
If they do trade Jake, they can't miss. I would rather go with quality over quantity. Get a top prospect instead of multiple picks. Pens drafting leaves a lot to be desired. I still wouldn't count out Vancouver and Rutherford. They have some nice young pieces that we could certainly use.
The only way you get close to fair value for Jake is the team who trades for him re-signs him. That requires Dubas to allow the new team to talk extension with his agent. As a rental he probably brings you a 1st, a middling prospect, and someone who is making some money to balance out the cap.
You may be right, but, I still think getting those 3 pieces is better than letting Jake walk away for no assets at the end of the season. This team is in a much different spot than they have been in the past when big free agents have walked. Hossa leaving hurt, but this team was just starting their upswing. Jake walking when this team is on the verge of crashing to the bottom, for one pipe-dream fleeting chance at a run is just very poor asset management. I'd love to see them do it this year, but the chances are very slim. They are a fading team.
In terms of Kris Beech...it sucked that he didn't pan out, but I don't think there were really any signs that he was going to stink. He was being hailed as the next Ron Francis. He was 7th overall in 1999. He had put up a respectable 32 goals and 86 points in the WHL his draft year. By comparison, Pavel Brendl led the WHL that year with 73 goals, 134 points. Brendl was taken 4th overall, and only last 78 games in the NHL before flaming out (Beech played 198).
I had posted somewhere in this thread that just because you draft in the 20s, it doesn't HAVE TO be a miss. There are some good picks available, even in weak drafts, IF YOU HAVE GOOD SCOUTING...which I don't think the Penguins do. There's always the possibility of packaging that pick in a draft day deal for something else as well.