Intangibos
High-End Intangibos
You know going into the playoffs I think we all had big concerns about our top 6. We have a great top 3 with Pettersson/Miller/Boeser, but no real second line to speak of. We tried to make Pettersson play as a one-man second line and it just didn't work.
Looking back, I hated the Kuzmenko trade at the time (not the Lindholm acquisition, but the "cap dump" of Kuzmenko) and in retrospect I think it looks much worse now. I saw a lot of posts here after the trade about it being a clear cap dump and "addition by subtraction", but I just don't see it. I heard a lot about how Tocchet didn't "trust" him, but he sure trusted Mikheyev with no goals in like 50 games to be stapled to Pettersson's wing. Unless Mikheyev is the best defensive winger in the league, or Kuzmenko is literally the worst defensive winger in the league, I think it was unbelievably foolish to dump Kuzmenko. Straight up Pejorative Slured. It created a massive gap in our forward lineup that was never filled.
We'll see if Kuzmeko has a poor season next year, but in Calgary he scored at a 40 goal/70 point pace over his 30 games there. We really missed his scoring and the lack of 2nd line wingers on this team was exposed to the point that we could barely muster 20 shots against a team with Nurse/Ceci playing in front of Skinner. Yikes.
Could we not have acquired Lindholm without moving Kuzmenko? If Kuzmenko was indeed a cap dump, I would have preferred dumping Mikheyev. I'm not sure what our cap situation is/was though.
Looking back, I hated the Kuzmenko trade at the time (not the Lindholm acquisition, but the "cap dump" of Kuzmenko) and in retrospect I think it looks much worse now. I saw a lot of posts here after the trade about it being a clear cap dump and "addition by subtraction", but I just don't see it. I heard a lot about how Tocchet didn't "trust" him, but he sure trusted Mikheyev with no goals in like 50 games to be stapled to Pettersson's wing. Unless Mikheyev is the best defensive winger in the league, or Kuzmenko is literally the worst defensive winger in the league, I think it was unbelievably foolish to dump Kuzmenko. Straight up Pejorative Slured. It created a massive gap in our forward lineup that was never filled.
We'll see if Kuzmeko has a poor season next year, but in Calgary he scored at a 40 goal/70 point pace over his 30 games there. We really missed his scoring and the lack of 2nd line wingers on this team was exposed to the point that we could barely muster 20 shots against a team with Nurse/Ceci playing in front of Skinner. Yikes.
If the trade doesn't happen they don't get past Nashville. Lindholm's contributions to actually winning were essential. Kuzmenko's overall skill set does not fit well with Tocchet's coaching system/style. Without Tocchet's system this team doesn't get past the first round. The team definitely needs more scoring wingers but not at the expense of every other part of the game. Boeser's 40+ goals were only part of the reason he was dominant this year. His overall game, board battles, defensive zone work etc took a significant leap this year. He, like Lindholm, is a complete player. Kuzmenko is not.
Could we not have acquired Lindholm without moving Kuzmenko? If Kuzmenko was indeed a cap dump, I would have preferred dumping Mikheyev. I'm not sure what our cap situation is/was though.