JN AirMail: Trade Perreault?! Are You Crazy?! (Yes, Some Of Us Are..)
5 years ago
This week in the ol’ Air Mail bag, we talk about trades – seems to be the thing to do lately if you’re a Jets fan – and dip our toes into a little D&D. Get ready fellow hockey nerds!
Art: I think there is a very strong possibility that a couple of defensemen get traded and I am almost certain one of them will be Kulikov given his contract and especially how they ended the season with him. A lot I think depends on what Enstrom does and what the market would be like for someone like Myers.I’d also like to see the Jets hang on to Joe Morrow and give him a shot to impress in the fall. With the right partner he could be a very solid 6th or 7th defenseman.
Cam: Ideally, yes. But, I just don’t know. I would like Myers to be traded, but as for the left side, it depends on what Enstrom does.
Robert D: The odds are good, however the only caveat for me would be that Chevy hasn’t been known to make multiple trades in the off season, especially coming off a great season. Myers I can see as it could make sense. Chiarot may not get enough in return for that to make sense.
WPGChief: I am willing to bet Chiarot is more likely going to be claimed on waivers than he is traded. Everyone is beginning to eye Myers as the most likely trade target, but Chevy has surprised many before as evidenced by his flip-flopping on Ladd and Byfuglien. In actuality, it is heavily more likely that the Jets will sit on their hands and use the Leafs excuse of “self-rentals” for another playoff push.
KB: Depends what is intended by this year. I think we may see a trade in the off-season plus a trade in the regular season. I agree with Chief regarding the self rental idea but Cheveldayoff has to make more decisions regarding young players this season than he ever has before. The Jets like the patient approach and we could very well see that once again next season.
Art: Ya read my mind Matty. As much as I like Petan, I just don’t see him as someone that Paul Maurice really cares for that much, problem is that doesn’t create a whole lot of value as other teams GMs can see that just as easy as any fan can. If he was part of a package to get a player or a pick I’d be ok with that, because I don’t see how he on his own would get anyting more than maybe a 4th or 5th round pick at this point.
Cam: I see this as a Seth Griffith situation. I think he hits waivers and is picked up by another team.
Robert D: The longer Nic Petan stays in this organization, the lower his value is. I like Nic as much as Art, but there’s no room on this roster for Nic. the time to trade him was this past deadline. At this time, I’d think the Jets would be lucky to get a 3rd rounder and a prospect.
WPGChief: You are correct in that Maurice likely has a very low opinion on Petan, but management has evidently shown otherwise. Even if he doesn’t play with the Jets, he remained a point-per-game player in the AHL and helped create a winning culture in comparison to the first few years of the Moose where they were absolutely dreadful. Petan will likely want to get away ASAP, but it will take an external factor for him to be on another team before the expiry of his RFA – Heisinger wouldn’t want to let a player like that go unless he was absolutely poisonous in the locker room.
KB: The value isn’t really there right now but it’s tough to see that value increasing moving forward. Obviously Roslovic has jumped past Petan on the depth chart and I think Appleton might as well. If that is the case, Petan has very little value and might be stuck in the AHL for another season or two.
Art: I can’t see it happening. Matt Cane’s 2018 Free Agent Predictions has Stastny as signing at three years at just under 5.5 million and while the Jets could be ok with that this coming season, there is still Kyle Connor, Patrik Laine expiring ELC deals to think about as well as Blake Wheeler needing a new deal as well next summer. They can’t move Bryan Little. They can move Mathieu Perreault but would they even want to? If they can shed Myers and Kulikov contracts and say goodbye to Enstrom’s deal (or sign him for much, much less) than maybe Chevy can fit Stastny in? I would like to see Stastny stay, but maybe I am bracing myself from any heartbreak when I say I can’t see the Jets having any chance at keeping him.
Cam: No, unfortunately Stastny is gone. There’s too much of a cap crunch.
Robert D: I believe the Jets and Satastny COULD come to terms., but like Cam said, there are too many numbers to crunch and so little time.
WPGChief: It’ll be hard to convince Paul Stastny to stay when about 5 to 6 other teams with considerable cap space and a gaping hole in the middle of the lineup (both middle six and centre-wise). In what will likely be Stastny’s last deal before he is predicted to decline in production thanks in part to his age and heavy, slow, and physical style of play, Stastny would be wise to listen to his agent to take as much as a team is willing to give him. Unfortunately (or fortunately in some regards), Winnipeg will not be that team.
KB: Nobody seems to think it will work, and it will be really tight. The only way it could work is with some shedding of salary. That might mean Little or Perreault have to leave. One way to deal with it is to spend now and worry about it later. This has never been the Jets approach but it will be the only way they have a chance at re-signing Stastny.
Art: For the exact reason I mentioned above… If the Jets *do* keep Stastny then some contract money has to be shed to make room, and with Statsny your four centers become Scheifele, Stastny, Little & Lowry. Little isn’t going to be traded (full NMC and it’s not a great look at all to trade someone you just signed to a six year deal like Little did) so if some salary needs to be turfed, Perreault might be an excellent choice to move a big contract and still get some good return on it. Would that value still be there next summer? Hard to say.
Cam: You don’t. Keep him, if at all possible.
WPGChief: How many times do we have to tell you? One. Two. Three. Four times. Any time Perreault is mentioned on this site, it is either how extremely valuable he is in the lineup and on the ice, but also in terms of a monetary value and how he fits nicely into this cap world. Trading Perreault would be a sign of a disastrous player evaluation and should be harshly criticized. But where have I seen this before…?
KB: Perreault is a really good hockey player. Anyone that can make Hendricks score goals has to be good. That being said, there are so many young players looking for spots. Is Perreault on this team five years from now? Will he re-sign with the Jets? With so many players on the horizon, the Jets need to shed some money and contracts if they want it all to fit. We need to keep Perreault now, but that might change a few years down the road.
Art: I really don’t know how D&D works completely – I’ve played a bunch of the D&D Neverwinter video game, is that anything like it? It’s been a while since I played it so I forgot some details, but I just fired it up and checked… My character was a half-elf trickster rogue named “Zalapski” (yes, after Zarley) and I did very well with him, so I guess that’s my answer?
WPGChief: I don’t know much about D&D, but in terms of a fantasy race and class, I would go berserker orc because it would be nice to just rage out and destroy everything in sight, especially when people bring up the idea of trading Mathieu f***ing Perreault.
KB: While I have little knowledge of D&D, I have played more Skyrim than I care to say. I enjoy stealth classes and some weird mixes thrown in. So give me a stealthy assassin Dwarf or something like that. I have no idea if that exists, but lets roll with it.
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