Richard Cloutier, the excellent Edmonton Oilers blogger at HockeyBuzz, came up with a rather interesting idea yesterday.
Trading P.K Subban for Nail Yakupov.
While I doubt this would ever happen, especially in the form of a one-for-one deal, his logic makes sense.
The Oilers have a wealth of top-six talent but, in spite of the acquisition of Justin Schultz, still need help on the back end. Conversely, the Montreal Canadiens could profit greatly from reuniting Nail with his Sarnia Sting teammate Alex Galchenyuk, whom the Habs drafted third overall in June.
Would you make this kind of a deal?
Habs and Hockey News
- Tuuka Rask says he feels ready to take on the starting netminder role following the departure of Tim Thomas. His numbers say he is ready as well. Over the last three years, his lowest save percentage was .918. Not too shabby. And you can bet the Boston Bruins will benefit from not having to deal with Tim Thomas' misguided political outbursts.
- Sportsnet counts down ten events that changed the game of hockey.
- The Vancouver Canucks have signed Alexandre Maillet to an entry-level contract. The 20-year old was a second round pick in this year's draft.
- The New York Islanders have inked Griffin Reinhart — their 2012 first round pick — to a deal has well.
- Viacheslav Fetisov, Igor Larionov, Vladimir Konstantinov and Sergei Fedorov will join the festivities at the Winter Classic in Michigan.
(Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images North America)
14 comments:
You gotta give to get...I think I'd make that deal. I love Subban. I even have a couple of '76' jerseys, but thinking long term, the Habs have needed a superstar forward for a lot of years now. Nail could be that guy. With Galchenyuk at his side the odds go way up.
JF
Yakupov for Subban, no thanks.
Let me first say that yes we need LWer's. We have a system that is more or less void of top 6 minute eating LWers apart from Pacioretty.
And yes Yakupov potentially has more upside and likely has more value on the trade market but without Subban in the line-up means we are going with either Weber or Diaz as a top 4 D-man on this team for at least 2 years.
Right now we have Markov, Subban and Gorges capable of top 4 minutes. Remove one of them and we are down to 2, one of which is a question mark with bad knees.
I know we have guys like Tinordi, Ellis, Beaulieu coming but the fact is that they are not here right now and likely will not be for at least 2 years.
Trading Subban would be a mistake
@Bryan
I'm not sure I would flat out put this in the mistake category. Would I trade Subban just for the sake of trading him? No.
Would I trade him for Yakupov. Yes.
With him, Galchenyuk and Pacioretty — also joined by Leblanc, Gallagher and Kristo — the team could be set a forward for some time.
As stated this would never be a 1 for 1 trade so it would really depend on what else it would cost us!! if you get rid of P.K. Soupy can easily cover the void (minus the flamboyance of course) whilst you get another of the young guys ready.
I think it would be foolish to trade Subban at 23 years old for a prospect as good as he "may" be, who has not played a game in the NHL yet.
He is a number 1 d-man for a number of teams in the league already.
Anyone remember Alexandre Daigle???
Goonga paad
@HH
In fairness, Daigle was kind of an ass.
And, since 2001, none of the 1st overall picks have been busts at all. Scouting has evolved a great deal since 1993.
Louis,
He may have been an ass but he was a consensus number 1 pick. I agree scouting is much more sophisticated but it is also that the Junior leagues are much stronger and specifically the OHL is pumping out loads of NHL ready (or close to) prospects every year.
Look at Erik Johnson in 2006, a good d-man...but not a number 1 overall pick by any stretch.
In 2007 Van Riemsdyk went 2 and Turris 3 overall. Both decent players but not what you would expect for that high of a pick.
By no means am I slighting Yakupov but I have not heard of anyone who projects him as elite. He may very well be a good 1st or 2nd line winger but not a top 10 scorer in the league.
Many real experts project Subban as a future Norris Trophy candidate, making Team Canada....essentially an elite d-man.
For whatever reason Habs fans seem to under value some of our young stars like Subban & Price and point out a few issues that young players all go through as proof they are not the young stars most of the real experts proclaim they already are.
I suspect The Oilers would jump at a 1 for 1 trade but the Habs would not. I could be wrong, I am not one of those experts but I do absorb what they say.
I tend to take what the local media says with a grain of salt as they are most likely just looking for ratings or to create a buzz.
Subban's skill set is very rare in the NHL, there are many Yakupov type players on 1st and 2nd lines around the league.
I agree, no way this would be a one for one trade. Maybe throw in ebler and gagner along with yak. Then maybe we would consider it.
I would be more willing to give up Markov for Nail, rather then a young defensemen who has not reached his prime yet. The only problem is getting the Oilers to take that deal. I mean what has Markov done for us in the last three seasons? Definitely not what Subban has done.
P.K Subban is a rare and elite talent.
Is he a little immature and flamboyant? No doubt but more importantly he also, a fierce competitor, and a winner.
He is merely 23 year’s old coming off two full seasons in the NHL. He has been Montreal’s No. 1 D-man since the playoff run against the Pens and Caps. He was a plus player on the worst team in the East and logged a huge number of minutes against the opposing team’s top players.
On top of all of that he was playing for an organization that was in shambles and did a poor job of mentoring, coaching and managing his minutes.
With some time to mature, proper coaching and a reduced workload P.K will blossom into a top 5 d-man in the NHL. He plays solid in his own end, puts up decent numbers for his age and throws punishing hits.
I simply do not understand the hesitation to sign him long term. He would probably bite at a contract in the $4.5M range over a 6 year period. If he is lights out over the next two years he will command top dollar and MTL will have squandered an opportunity to sign him at a cap friendly price. Even with no improvement P.K is worth $4.5M in today’s NHL.
There are very few players in the league that I would trade P.K for. An unproven rookie is certainly not one of them.
That's my 2 cents
genius, pure genius
P.k has proven he can play with the big boys. He can hammer guys, throw a punch, and he has a mean clapper on the point. With that being said, he is major momentum booster. Too many bad moves on Montreal's part these past couple years. MB won't be making those same mistakes. Subban will get probably 4-6 years. Somewhere around 4 million a year.
"Maybe throw in ebler and gagner along with yak. Then maybe we would consider it".
I have no idea why the Habs would want to trade Subban, or how it is they have trouble signing him but, seriously, Yakupov, Gagner AND Eberle just to get in the ballpark of Subban's value? That would be the Jordan Eberle with 52 goals in 147 career nhl games as well as a FOV? Good grief - there is a fanboy comment! Buddy, pour yourself some more koolaid, your cup is empty!
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