Would you make a trade?

[Maverick426h]

At best he is 3rd pairing while his contract says 1st or 2nd. He is ours for the foreseeable future.

Yes, until we can either trade him to a bottom feeding team that needs to reach the cap floor or buy him out. It may be a couple of seasons until either of those opportunities presents itself though.

In my opinion, he at least needs to be gone by the start of the 2018-19 season, so we can start making some serious runs at the Cup.

 

[FlyerFinFan]

Yes, until we can either trade him to a bottom feeding team that needs to reach the cap floor or buy him out. It may be a couple of seasons until either of those opportunities presents itself though.

In my opinion, he at least needs to be gone by the start of the 2018-19 season, so we can start making some serious runs at the Cup.

There's always a team that needs the cap and if he's playing decently you never know. Cross your fingers gents.

 

[lasgop8]

There's always a team that needs the cap and if he's playing decently you never know. Cross your fingers gents.

 

[chy1127]

There's always a team that needs the cap and if he's playing decently you never know. Cross your fingers gents.

That would usually be Arizona and they already decided they would rather have Datsyuk's and Pronger's contracts to not play than take A Mac's contract and have him play. Every team is currently above the floor.

 

[FlyerFinFan]

That would usually be Arizona and they already decided they would rather have Datsyuk's and Pronger's contracts to not play than take A Mac's contract and have him play. Every team is currently above the floor.

True but we've seen crazier things happen and his performance did improve at the end of last year. Dmen can also carry a little more value so I'm not losing hope.

 

[Maverick426h]

True but we've seen crazier things happen and his performance did improve at the end of last year. Dmen can also carry a little more value so I'm not losing hope.

If only there weren't four whole damn years left on his contract at a $5 million cap hit. His actual salary even increases to a maximum of $5.75 million in the last year of the deal too, which also hurts when trying to unload the deal. It's really a tough sell, I would think..at least for now.

 

[awaz]

If only there weren't four whole damn years left on his contract at a $5 million cap hit. His actual salary even increases to a maximum of $5.75 million in the last year of the deal too, which also hurts when trying to unload the deal. It's really a tough sell, I would think..at least for now.

I'm not terribly concerned with it yet. Ya it's a not so good contract, but he can play in the NHL at least. And honestly he's a pretty good 3rd pairing guy. Problem is, that makes him $4 mil overpaid.

Fortunately, that's really the last contract that's a problem. And every team has a problem contract.

IMO, it's not really a problem this year, maybe even next year. The rest of the team probably won't be ready to make a run yet. The '18-'19 season and beyond is where i've got my eyes. And by then, it's a 2 year deal, overpaid but not too badly at what the inflation rates will be by then.

Long story short, obviously moving MacDonald would be great, but I definitely don't think it's a major issue right now.

 

[lasgop8]

He definitely will never earn his current salary but after the way he played for us late in the year and playoffs I think he has showed he's better than a third pairing guy I think he slots in on our team as second pairing dman.

 

[Maverick426h]

He definitely will never earn his current salary but after the way he played for us late in the year and playoffs I think he has showed he's better than a third pairing guy I think he slots in on our team as second pairing dman.

It's definitely worth noting that we were playing some pretty unreal defense with Neuvy in net for the last three games of that series. We relied heavily on Neuvy and four defensemen. MacDonald was one of those four, getting 20+ minutes in two of those games.

Maybe he is a second pairing guy and then his contract doesn't look truly terrible until we have something like Ghost, Provorov, Sanheim and Morin all starting, which may push him back into the bottom pairing.

Regardless, he must've been doing something right in the playoffs against the President's Trophy winning Caps to get out with an even +/-. Hell, he even scored one of the few goals for us. Those figures include Mase getting rolled in games two and three, giving up ten goals. Mac must've not been on the ice for many of them.

 

[chy1127]

I read an article, will post it if I can find it again, where last year he had the 2nd worst NHL contract. This year he has fallen to the 8th worst contract. I guess that's improvement overall?

 

[FlyerFinFan]

If anything it allows the young guys time to earn their ice and when they beat AMac out the D as a whole will be that much better.

 

[JBM73]

From Bob McKenzie:

Hextall may find it too tempting to not deal Streit or Del Zotto in a trade market where teams will be scrambling for Plan B options if St Louis does not move Kevin Shattenkirk.

Streit is 38 and has a large cap hit ($5.25 Million) but can still quarterback a power play and Del Zotto, 26, could be a good fit for a contender who needs an upgrade on their bottom pairing. The Flyers have the luxury of selling off a couple pieces and still competing for a playoff spot and the odds are that they will do that. If they fall back in the race for a wild card, you could see them move out one of their goalies.

 

[FlyerFinFan]

From Bob McKenzie:

Hextall may find it too tempting to not deal Streit or Del Zotto in a trade market where teams will be scrambling for Plan B options if St Louis does not move Kevin Shattenkirk.

Streit is 38 and has a large cap hit ($5.25 Million) but can still quarterback a power play and Del Zotto, 26, could be a good fit for a contender who needs an upgrade on their bottom pairing. The Flyers have the luxury of selling off a couple pieces and still competing for a playoff spot and the odds are that they will do that. If they fall back in the race for a wild card, you could see them move out one of their goalies.

It really is a no brainer as they need to make room for the young dmen. Not sure about a goalie as they have to expose one in the expansion draft you don't want to lose both of them.

 

[lasgop8]

From Bob McKenzie:

Hextall may find it too tempting to not deal Streit or Del Zotto in a trade market where teams will be scrambling for Plan B options if St Louis does not move Kevin Shattenkirk.

Streit is 38 and has a large cap hit ($5.25 Million) but can still quarterback a power play and Del Zotto, 26, could be a good fit for a contender who needs an upgrade on their bottom pairing. The Flyers have the luxury of selling off a couple pieces and still competing for a playoff spot and the odds are that they will do that. If they fall back in the race for a wild card, you could see them move out one of their goalies.

They both need to go that would free up so much money and allow us to make maneuvers to upgrade our offense

 

[lasgop8]

It really is a no brainer as they need to make room for the young dmen. Not sure about a goalie as they have to expose one in the expansion draft you don't want to lose both of them.

Losing both goalies wouldn't be ideal but if for some reason we do ie expansion or injury i think with Stolarz we are better prepared than we have ever been at the goalie position to handle a situation like that

 

[awaz]

I'd definitely be looking to move MDZ and Streit. The market for them should be so good. So many teams want defensemen and so few teams are willing to move them. Not sure how much you can get for Streit, but I gotta think MDZ could get a pretty nice return. He's still young, played great last year. I would think you could get a 1st for him in a down draft year such as this one.

 

[FlyerFinFan]

Losing both goalies wouldn't be ideal but if for some reason we do ie expansion or injury i think with Stolarz we are better prepared than we have ever been at the goalie position to handle a situation like that

I definitely like Stolarz but it would be smarter to ease him in next year with one of the other vets. Let him earn the job.

 

[Maverick426h]

I'd definitely be looking to move MDZ and Streit. The market for them should be so good. So many teams want defensemen and so few teams are willing to move them. Not sure how much you can get for Streit, but I gotta think MDZ could get a pretty nice return. He's still young, played great last year. I would think you could get a 1st for him in a down draft year such as this one.

Well, we have Provorov, Ghost, Gudas, Manning and MacDonald even without MDZ, Streit and Schultz. So, I would be looking to trade away all three of those guys if possible. Then, bring up Morin and/or Sanheim if necessary. By that time, they should be prepared to show what they can do at the Nhl level.

Of course making the playoffs makes this a little more tricky because you don't exactly want to be trading away half of your veteran defenders in preparation for the postseason. We're not exactly winning the Cup this season, but it sort of sends the wrong message. We did win ten straight games, which wasn't all that common until this season...Lol

 

[FlyerFinFan]

Well, we have Provorov, Ghost, Gudas, Manning and MacDonald even without MDZ, Streit and Schultz. So, I would be looking to trade away all three of those guys if possible. Then, bring up Morin and/or Sanheim if necessary. By that time, they should be prepared to show what they can do at the Nhl level.

Of course making the playoffs makes this a little more tricky because you don't exactly want to be trading away half of your veteran defenders in preparation for the postseason. We're not exactly winning the Cup this season, but it sort of sends the wrong message. We did win ten straight games, which wasn't all that common until this season...Lol

Agreed tough to bring up two rookie dmen this year especially playoffs but who knows. One in playing and the other in the presser for the experience wouldn't be bad.

 

[lasgop8]

I definitely like Stolarz but it would be smarter to ease him in next year with one of the other vets. Let him earn the job.

My plan for Stolraz to be in is only if we lose both goalies to injury of expansion or both.