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Kovalfie wrote:
I agree. Cam Barker to Ottawa doesn't make a whole lot of sense unless Ottawa knows Volchenkov has priced himself out of their budget. Even then, with Ottawa's defensive depth it doesn't make sense to pay someone $3.1 million for something we can get for a lot cheaper (Lee, Picard and Karlsson) and without giving up assets. I realize Barker is more reliable, in terms of experience, than either of the aforementioned players and his potential is huge, but financially-speaking it doesn't make sense to have Phillips, Volchenkov, Kuba, and Barker on your blue-line with Campoli, Karlsson, Lee, Cowen, and Carkner all fighting for the 5-6 spots next year. To me, Karlsson is a shoe-in for next year, and if Lee keeps his play up (and the fact that he's on a contract year), I'd expect to see these two as full-timers next year. Carkner has so far been a steal and will also stay in the mix meaning Ottawa may have to consider trading Volchenkov, Phillips, Lee or Kuba to make appropriate room. Sens should be using one of Campoli or Picard as trade-bait with one of Shannon or Kelly and/or SJS 2nd to get a legit top-six. Names that come to mind in Chicago are Sharp and Versteeg.
Or not at all if the price is too high right now.
The 'idea' is good: try to get one of the Hawks talented players at a time where they seemingly need to get rid of one, but the player isn't exactly what I had in mind. He's good and he'd be good here, but he's not the number one D-man this team should be looking into acquiring. At the same time, I don't really feel this is the typical 'quick fix', I also don't feel like it would cure many long term issues.
I agree. Imagine losing one of those two because there was an a stop-gap 7million taking up cap space.
