46 minutes ago, B1GKappa97 said:
I don’t think we’re weak at center. If we trade Rossi, we still have Ek, Yurov, Hartman and Sturm.
I think its worth it to add a guy who can contribute 70+ points from the blueline myself. I mean that’s Brent Burns level offensive production and he was a huge piece of the San Jose teams that were Cup contenders (even if they never made it.)
If you ignore everything else I said, then sure that seems like a compelling argument.
If you don’t ignore it, then you quickly realize that it’s a short-term gain that ends up being a long-term loss.
70+ points sounds great, but we’d likely be trading that much out and thinning out who puts up points. Hughes might put up points while he is here, but soon he would be gone and you lose out on all that as well as what Rossi and Buium would have become. Again, if Hughes still had 3-4yrs on his contract, then that’s different, though I would try to do it without Rossi.
Regarding Center: Hartman can play center, but isn’t a true center and sometimes isn’t a factor at all for long stretches. Yurov is solid for a young player but is still learning how to take a faceoff. Ek has gotten hurt a lot in the last few seasons and I think it has helped having more centers and not having to lean on him so much. And Sturm has just become healthy enough to play, but who knows whether the issue won’t come back. Hartman and Rossi are both currently hurt and the team is making do. If Rossi was gone and two centers were down, the team would struggle. The team is adequate for centers now. Trading one out makes them weak and hinges the season even more on the health of the team. The Wild are just starting to build depth. It would not be wise to trade out the best young center on the team (and arguably the best center overall) for what would basically be a one year rental. As enticing as someone like Hughes is, that’s Fletcher-style roster management and this team does not need that.