Petrov trade?

[MPLABBE]

As you guys know,from our days at the old Rivals board,I am not the biggest Oleg Petrov fan on earth.Now that he has emerged as a good NHLer,I think it's time for the Habs to consider trading Petrov to get bigger,stronger and meaner.


Let's look at the facts:


-Petrov is another small player,we have too many small players,we need to get bigger if we want to go far in the playoffs.

-Petrov has only produced when playing on a line with an elite playmaker like a Saku or a Gilmour of the past month.

-Petrov still has 2 years left on his deal,at a very affordable price


-With the Berezin trade,we have more and more speed.

-Petrov's value may never be higher.


Let's see...maybe a Petrov,Garon,Souray or Rivet package may get us that big center or winger we really need?

I am a big believer in the 'buy low,sell high' philosophy when it comes to players who are not really part of our long term future.Petrov is what? 30 years old? 31? this is probably as good as he will ever be.But maybe some GM will see the progression in his numbers and say:'wow,maybe he has arrived as a consistent 25-30 goal scorer' and fall in love with Petrov.


Thoughts?

[KR]

Agreed that a small forward or two has to go. I would trade Ribeiro before Petrov, however. His lack of both speed AND size will prevent him from ever being a dominant player, but his age and salary may make him more attractive than Petrov. Petrov is too valuable to the transition game. His speed can lead to many odd-man rushes and keeps the other team back on their heels.

[Habsolutely]

MPLABBE said:

As you guys know,from our days at the old Rivals board,I am not the biggest Oleg Petrov fan on earth.Now that he has emerged as a good NHLer,I think it's time for the Habs to consider trading Petrov to get bigger,stronger and meaner.


Let's look at the facts:


-Petrov is another small player,we have too many small players,we need to get bigger if we want to go far in the playoffs.

-Petrov has only produced when playing on a line with an elite playmaker like a Saku or a Gilmour of the past month.

-Petrov still has 2 years left on his deal,at a very affordable price


-With the Berezin trade,we have more and more speed.

-Petrov's value may never be higher.


Let's see...maybe a Petrov,Garon,Souray or Rivet package may get us that big center or winger we really need?

I am a big believer in the 'buy low,sell high' philosophy when it comes to players who are not really part of our long term future.Petrov is what? 30 years old? 31? this is probably as good as he will ever be.But maybe some GM will see the progression in his numbers and say:'wow,maybe he has arrived as a consistent 25-30 goal scorer' and fall in love with Petrov.


Thoughts?

I don't agree at all.

It doesn't mean that just because you have small forwards, you are destined to lose every game. Oleg Petrov has been a very good addition to the club. He has been the most consistent player for 3 years now and always improved his overall game.

He skates well, he uses his speed well, he plays the PP, he plays the PK, he's rarely hurt and he NEVER whines. And most importantly.. Petrov is locked up for 2 years at around 2 millions $.. which is pretty much nothing these days for a player like him.

To break the trap, you need speed. To give the opposite defence a devil of a time, you need speed. To create scoring chances in the offensive zone but starting in the neutral zone.. you need speed and good puck handling.

Petrov has all of that and he also showed good finish recently.

If I had to deal a small forward, it would be Mike Ribeiro.. who's value is increasing even more since the All Star Game. I don't believe in Ribeiro at all. His fancy moves are correct, but when it's time to play high intense games (read vs Boston or vs Philly), he disappears.

Petrov is a true Hab.

[Ryan]

I'm sure that by the start of next season, we will have bolstered our top two lines with the addition of a large winger or center, but it's anyone's guess as to who will go to make room.  I think that Perreault, Zednik, Koivu, and Audette must be on our top two lines next year.  That leaves Petrov, Gilmour, Berezin, and Ribs to battle for two spots, or package up for more of an impact player.

I don't think we're fooling ourselves by thinking we have tradeable commodities.  I remember Leaf trade proposals of the mid to late 90s and they always consisted of Valk, Warriner, Tremblay and a 9th rounder for Amonte or whoever.  The Habs have goaltenders up the yin yang, some good young talent on D (Souray, Rivet, Markov) that will be attractive, and scoring forwards like the ones mentioned above.

We've got lots of depth now, so we need to bolster the top end of our line-up with that depth.

[Cranky]

I am with Habsolutely on this.

Sooner, rather then later, the Hab's must consider what a player means on the team besides his on ice performance.

How much positive influence is Petrov on Markov? If he was willing to take less then he could lsewhere, why do we want to get rid of him? Is wearing a CH on ones chest a bullseye for a trade? Ask Brunet and all the former captains that question.

One of the few black marks that St. Savard gets from me, and I said black mark only after I lit two candles in his shrine, is that he traded Brunet for Van Nothing. this club would be marginally better if Brunet was here. It is not like we had to rely on him like before.

Anyway, back to Petrov. The guy has heart and b@lls, something that is sorely lacking in too many of our players. I have played enough team sports to say that if a guy like Petrov hits and hangs on to the suspenders of the other teams moving mountains, then players on the bench can not help but admire and get energized by that. How many times this year have I seen Petrov "smash", well okay, run into players 50 lbs heavier then him?  

And Habsolutely was right, you break traps with speed and hard work. Not center ice dipsy-doodles (as I gaze over to watch Ribiero skate)

No sir, I would not trade people that want to stay here, unless the offer was ridiculous.

[PTH]

AARRGGGGG  

Netscape died on me, and I lost a long, well-thought out post. I think this new board is cool but it tends to kill Netscape pretty often  

What I was saying was that it's tempting to deal away Petrov, since we seem to have enough offensive wingers.

Problem is, most are injury prone on an injury-prone team, so we need a bit of extra depth, especially since we have no stars to hang our hats on.

If ever everyone is healthy, then we'll have to play Petrov or Ribeiro on the 4th line until someone gets hurt, ie - 4-5 games or so. Would that be all that terrible ? I think not.

I'm not opposed to dealing Petrov if someone is very interested, but I wouldn't be calling up GMs who might want to try him out if it costs them a 5th rounder, either.

I would trade him ahead of Ribeiro or Zednik, though, but not ahead of Berezin or Audette.

I've never really loved Petrov, but he's decent enough.

IE: as with most players on the team, if some other team wants them and is willing to pay a good price, I'm all for dealing them. But I see no reason to be shopping anyone, other than if we're about to put them on waivers. Even then, Robidas, Bouillon, Traverse and Van Allen would probably clear waivers anyhow.

[MPLABBE]

Say what you want boys,I still think someone between Zednik,Ribeiro,Petrov,Audette,Berezin,Dackell,Bulis,Asham will have to go to make room for more size on the wings.Zednik,Audette,Berezin,Dackell and Bulis were all acquired by Savard and as someone said before,he isn't the kind of guy to trade a guy a few months after picking him up.The other guys have little value(Asham) or we don't really know about their full NHL potential(Ribeiro).

And let's not forget,we have Balej,Perezhogin,Plekanec in the system and they are also pretty small.

It's an interesting dillema.

[PTH]

MPLABBE said:

someone between Zednik,Ribeiro,Petrov,Audette,Berezin,Dackell,Bulis,Asham will have to go to make room for more size on the wings
(....)
And let's not forget,we have Balej,Perezhogin,Plekanec in the system and they are also pretty small.

I think the prospects we have in the system basically change nothing to what we do in the NHL. Maybe Chouinard and Ward will work out, and all of the small guys not work out - or the opposite.

I choose to ignore Bulis and Dackell from my equation, since they and Juneau form a stable 3d line.

"Zednik,Ribeiro,Petrov,Audette,Berezin"
I think it's fair to assume 1 of the 5 will be hurt at any given time... if not, whoever is playing badly gets banished to the 4th line for a couple of games, when they complete a line with Asham and Kilger.

I'm thinking of next year BTW, where Van Allen and Gilmour are probably gone, and assuming Koivu is healthy enough to be a top-6 forward.

[Ryan]

I agree about the prospects...we don't seem to have any forwards right now that are banging on the door wanting in to the big show.

[MPLABBE]

Ryan said:

I agree about the prospects...we don't seem to have any forwards right now that are banging on the door wanting in to the big show.

Well,some guys could surprise.I don't think many people though Pavel Datsyuk would a:start the year in Detroit and b:look like a star since X-mas.

Who knows,maybe a guy like Balej could have a killer camp and force us to keep him? and there is still Hossa who should be ready sooner rather than later.

[PTH]

MPLABBE - Yup, we might have someone work out, but who knows who and when ? We can't really plan with the idea that anyone will work out, and having Hainsey and Ward graduate fills totally different needs than having Descôteaux and Balej make it - in other words, we really can't make major moves at the NHL level without knowing for sure who will in fact make it.

Do we need to deal small forwards if the guys who make it are Ward, Chouinard and Hossa ?
Of course not.

Asham seemed to have made it 2 years ago then disappeared, Savage and Koivu never fulfilled their promise, Geoff Sanderson fell off the face of the earth, like Jimmy Carson and Daigle, Ranford's career fell apart, there are tons of examples of players who simply never did as expected, even once they were pretty established. For prospects it's even harder to predict.

This is just to show that if you want to find reasons to deal Petrov, find reasons on the roster, not in the pipeline. A GM's job is a lot more month by month than we tend to realise, since you can't project players far in the future, other than stars who tend to stay at least pretty good...