I am more than happy with Bo. He plays hard and smart. Wicked shot. Competitor. Great passer. Backchecks. Great hockey sense.
I don't know how good a leader he is off ice, but he is great one on the ice.
If LL can manage to find another one like him, for the upcoming season, I would be thrilled.
He needs to find the defenseman version of Horvat.
Someone that comes to mind is Vince Dunn out in Seattle, if that team isn’t going to be seriously competing for a Cup over the next three years, does it make sense to re-up him upwards of 8M per into his 30s?
If I was the GM of the New York Islanders (which I’m not but should be), I’d be looking at acquiring more of a gamebreaker on the backend (like Dunn), and then I would be moving Pelech while he is still highly regarded as a shutdown defenseman around the league.
Romanov is closer to Pelech than he is Leddy/Toews which is what the back end needs. Not even mentioning George who is in the exact mold as Pelech and a better skater (voted 2nd best PKer in his conference this season by OHL coaches).
Dunn + George in -> Pelech out. Obviously you’re probably looking at a 1-2 year stop gap before George is ready, but that should be the long term play. Pelech is on the downswing…