Mike Babcock, Danny Briere and winners and losers of the Ivan Provorov trade
June 7, 2023
Basically, everyone wins. Some nice nuance here about how this is actually a good trade for CBJ.
1 comment
The more the dust settles, the more I like the fit in the lineup and the direction in which the club is heading.
What were some of our biggest issues last year? Defense, injuries, and overall inexperience. Provorov will be able to slide right into that 2nd LHD spot, previously occupied by Gavrikov. He’s only missed THREE out of a possible 535 games in his career. He’s also averaged 24 minutes of ice time per game in his career. You should be looking at ~45 minutes a night with either him or Werenski on the ice.
I get people may be skeptical about what was given up (#22 overall this year and a future 2nd) but we also have reached a point where we need to stop stockpiling prospects and focus on NHL talent. That second round pick could very well be pick #50 in the 2025 Draft, who cares? A first round pick in the 20s sounds like a lot, but look at the guys we’ve drafted around that spot lately: Foudy, Chinakhov, Ceulemans. All guys who are far from sure things and we are still waiting on to really develop or turn into something.
We have one of the best prospect pools in the sport and are adding a guy we hope is a 1st line center in the Draft this year. We’re nearing a point where we need to just say “we’re going with this group of 25-30 guys going forward”.
1 comment
The more the dust settles, the more I like the fit in the lineup and the direction in which the club is heading.
What were some of our biggest issues last year? Defense, injuries, and overall inexperience. Provorov will be able to slide right into that 2nd LHD spot, previously occupied by Gavrikov. He’s only missed THREE out of a possible 535 games in his career. He’s also averaged 24 minutes of ice time per game in his career. You should be looking at ~45 minutes a night with either him or Werenski on the ice.
I get people may be skeptical about what was given up (#22 overall this year and a future 2nd) but we also have reached a point where we need to stop stockpiling prospects and focus on NHL talent. That second round pick could very well be pick #50 in the 2025 Draft, who cares? A first round pick in the 20s sounds like a lot, but look at the guys we’ve drafted around that spot lately: Foudy, Chinakhov, Ceulemans. All guys who are far from sure things and we are still waiting on to really develop or turn into something.
We have one of the best prospect pools in the sport and are adding a guy we hope is a 1st line center in the Draft this year. We’re nearing a point where we need to just say “we’re going with this group of 25-30 guys going forward”.