Making the Monsters Great Again; The Acceptable Futures Trade for Panarin

The Monsters' Count Down to the Calder Cup

With the big news being Artemi Panarin will go to the post season to evaluate his options, Jarmo Kekalainen must make some hard decisions.  We discussed in the last post some of the consequences of that decision, and the notion that 'losing Panarin for nothing' is a relative term.  As we saw with the Gaborik trade, that can happen at the trade deadline as well as on July 1.  Since a trade deadline deal will almost certainly involve futures rather than a player, you have to ask yourself what type of futures deal is worth making the move?  To me, the easy criteria for evaluating the move is: Does it make the Monsters great?

There are not a lot of teams out there that have the resources to do that.  In order to do my best to see this clearly, I am going to be relying on an article published on August 30, 2018 by Corey Pronman of The Athletic.  Please note that the Athletic is a subscription sports news service, with an incredible variety of awesome content.  If you can afford it, I recommend a subscription.  They have deals out there, you won't be sorry.  In this particular amazing article, Pronman ranked all 31 NHL teams farm systems.  Pronman is the NHL equivalent of @CBJProspects over on the 1st Ohio Battery, except he covers the whole NHL.  So I will use his article to evaluate possible trade partners with the CBJ for the talents of the Breadman, and possibly Bob as well.  Note that Pronman ranked the Blue Jackets farm system as 23rd overall, which I thought was right on the money.  Most of our young talent is in the NHL, and not at the farm.

Two teams that I think might well be interested in Panarin for the playoff push are the Nashville Predators and the Boston Bruins.  They both could use the offensive boost that Parnarin will bring, and particularly in the Predators, you have a team with its sights legitimately set on a Stanley Cup.  Unfortunately for the evaluation criteria I am talking about here, the Predators, as well as Boston, rank behind the Blue Jackets in Pronman's rankings.  Since it seems likely that we will want to focus on center depth, neither team seems to have much to offer that would move the needle for the Monsters, much less the CBJ, even with some patience.

Pronman cleverly ranked prospects in the following manner: Special Prospects (e.g. Rasmus Dahlin, Buffalo), Elite Prospects (e.g. Elias Pettersson, Vancouver), Legit Prospects, Have a Chance, and Depth Notes.  For comparison sake, Pronman ranked Vitaly Abramov as a Legit Prospect (a fair ranking).  Nashville has a center that Pronman wasn't content to rank as simply legit, but wasn't ready to call Elite, so settled for High End Prospect with Eeli Tovanen, a right wing playing for Jokerit in the KHL.  Not a great match with the Jackets needs. 

Boston has a Very Good NHL Prospect, again a half step higher than a Legit Prospect, but not Elite.  This is a center, Ryan Donato, playing for Harvard in the ECAC.  Pronman had a lot of nice things to say about this prospect.  But does he drive a deal for the Breadman?  I don't really think so.

One team that has potential for a deal, is Florida.  I covet their top center prospect Henrik Borgstrom, whom Pronman rates as an Elite Prospect, but not the finished product of a Pettersson.  They also have a legit prospect at center in Aleski Heponiemi, playing in the WHL.  If you put together a package of picks, with these two prospects, and took their backup goalie in exchange, you might be able to ship both Bread and Bob off to Florida.  They sit 10 points out of a wild card spot, but its still January.  You add Bread and Bob to your lineup, push Luongo to the backup role, and make a run at the wildcard.  It's definitely doable.  A bold move on their part, but I think they have excellent prospects for being able to sign both players.  South Beach baby!!

Plopping an elite Center prospect into Cleveland once his college season is over could have a real impact on the Monsters.  Other prospects would emerge over time.  One of our organizations strengths is scouting, and this is where it has to come to the fore.

It's time to make the Monsters great again!!  And if what other GM's are offering you isn't going to do that, then you don't want to do the deal, you stand pat, and take your medicine, along, hopefully, with the playoff success for the Blue Jackets.  There is talent on the Monsters roster now that still needs development before its ready for the big show, but it is coming along well (e.g. Abramov, Milano, Stenlund, et al).  And reinforcements are coming next year (Elvis will be IN the building!!).  But it would be nice to be able to move the dial now, if you can!

GO JACKETS!!
GO MONSTERS!!

@gallosdbj