cas wrote: rooneypoo wrote: N4L wrote:Why would people? He makes under a mil, can put the puck in the net and is our 5/6 D man... he's fine in that spot and is what? 22 years old?
Largely because they thought he was sloppy in his own end.
Which might be a fair criticism except for the fact that 1) the team was a mess under Hartsburg, top to bottom, 2) Picard was injured when Clouston arrived and never got to be a part of the Clouston turn-around, and 3) Picard is a 5-6th, young, OFFENSIVE defenceman, but some people seem to be expecting him to be Robyn Regher or Anton Volchenkov already.
All true but none of that saves him from the reality that competition will be tough in camp and if he doesn't impress, that 1-way of his is his ticket out of town.
I'm confident he'll seal a spot on Day 1, but its far from a sure thing.
Actually, I think Smith's retiring pretty much cements our D lineup for this year, with Kuba, Phillips, Volchenkov, and Campoli all locks, and with Lee, Picard, and Karlsson all fighting for spots 5 and 6, probably all season long. No reason to ship any of those three guys out -- none at all, as both Lee and Karlsson are on 2-way deals.
The only guy left out of the picture, if you still count him as a D on this team, is Schubert. And the only way he displaces Picard is if we can't possibly get Schubert off the team through trade or waivers and are stuck with his salary (can't imagine Melnyk letting us bury almost $1 mil in Bingo), or if he's a piece required to get, say, the Heatley deal done.
But, more realistically, I think Picard, Lee, and Karlsson will battle for those bottom two spots all year long. If things go as expected, Karlsson will claim a spot for himself before season's end -- and then we'll have to make the decision -- Lee OR Picard.