The Rumor Mill: Ducks The Primary Suitors For Higgins?
by Arthur from Anaheim Calling on Nov 4, 2009 2:57 PM PST
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PrintBig thanks to cupie for having this up first in the Fanposts.
THE RUMOR MILL:
Jason Hendricks of Hendricks Hockey reports that the Ducks are the primary suitors for the Rangers' Christopher Higgins with Marchant likely headed back to New York in the deal.
ARTHUR:
Money-wise, I'm not sure if this deal could happen straight up. The Ducks have the cap space to absorb Higgins, who comes in at 2.25M (twice Todd Marchant's salary), but they're already over budget. And yet, there is something to be said for getting Marchant's money for next year off the books (as Higgins is a UFA this summer).
Logistically, I think this makes a lot of sense. Carlyle claimed that he had planned on using three scoring lines all summer. Higgins definitely moves the team closer to that goal. Anaheim would lose Marchant's defensive skill on the PK, but Farrish has seemed content to let Koivu replace him thus far this season.
DANIEL:
I don't really see this trade happening. I think even Murray knows his main problems are on defense, so the only way this happens is if he thinks he can flip Higgins for some blue line help sooner rather than later. Moreover, the Top 6 is pretty full, and we should give Lupul a legitimate shot at being the LW on that Koivu-Selanne line before we start picking up extra talent.
If it did happen, I think it would be a bad trade for the Ducks. We take a struggling forward who can't get it together, and we lose a veteran center who last season did an excellent job putting the opposition's top scoring line in check. It might allow scoring to expand, but right now I think Murray needs to pay more attention to the blueline.
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Seriously? That is a horrible deal. If anything we need to be getting more penalty killing/defensive forwards. The last thing we need to do is get rid of Marchant.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve never really been much of a Marchant fan, but this year has really shown me how much we need players like him. I never thought that I would actually admit that I miss Rob.
I agree that Marchant is a really good defensive forward. He’s also a veteran who is willing to do the little things that make teams successful in the long run. I think this is one of those times where the locker room intangible comes into effect. Marchant is the forward in the lineup who best knows how to function as a bottom 6 guy in our scheme. I think that’s so much more valuable than a little extra scoring. Especially when you’re not sure the guy you’re getting will round into form.
I think we have an opportunity here to add a 25G/40P guy for Marchant. That makes sense to me. Marchant’s a great player, definitely, but he’s a role player. It’s rare that you get the chance to pick up a quality offensive forward for a role player. Granted, his 52 point campaign is book-ended by two injury plagued seasons (one of them last season), but that’s why he’s on sale.
The way I see it, the Ducks have been trying to ride two horses with one behind. If they’re going to make three scoring lines, they can’t keep around the vestiges of the old Shutdown Line, even if it’s just Pahlsson’s heir apparent. If Carter is our defensive forward of the future, then it’s also time he started taking some PK draws, and he has the opportunity to split them with Koivu this season. Re-signing Marchant made sense over the summer, but it’s clear that this team has to commit itself to offense. We can’t keep trying to force them to be versions of the championship Ducks.
Marchant definitely had great years with the Ducks, both as an offensive and defensive center. But we tried to turn him into Pahlsson. And before we start trying to turn Nokelainen into Rob and Artyukhin into Moen, maybe we should try and capitalize on the offensive capabilities of these players, along with everyone in the Top 6 and roll three scoring lines like Carlyle intended.
by Arthur from Anaheim Calling on Nov 4, 2009 7:14 PM PST up reply actions
Some guys do need to be the best offensive player on their line to tap into their potential. All I know is that Higgins has had one good season…and that’s it.
My real point isn’t that we can’t lose Marchant because he’s Pahlsson’s replacement. More that we shouldn’t be trading Marchant because he’s the best role player we have. I think the hit we take in the locker room will be bigger than people realize, and I think our bottom 6 will become even more susceptible to defensive lapses.
One good season? 38 pt rookie year, 38 pts in 19 fewer games sophomore campaign, 52 pt year to follow, then his first bad year starts with a shoulder injury last year and struggling into this year. He was progressing into a 30 goal scorer, and still might. Let’s not talk about his game like it’s disappeared the way Calder’s has.
If Carlyle wants a Top 9, and he said he did, we can upgrade from Marchant. And I think it’s time we expected role player contributions from Carter, Brown or Nokelainen. I think they can fill the Marchant void, unless one of the roles you’re relying on is printing inspirational shirts and impregnating a woman with adorable junior correspondents for The Element. I guess those roles cannot be filled by other professional hockey players we have on staff.
by Arthur from Anaheim Calling on Nov 4, 2009 9:16 PM PST via mobile up reply actions
I have to agree with Daniel. I think we’d be give up to much for someone who I would consider to be a question mark. Mind you I don’t know too much about Higgins though, as the Ducks barley face Eastern Conference teams.
On a somewhat unrelated note, if Carlye insists on having three scoring lines, then I really think that Carter should be playing on the third scoring line instead of the fourth line.
I think if Carlyle wants 3 scoring lines he should put Nokelainen on an all Finns line, put Aryukhin on the top line, and put Marchant as a pivot between Bobby Ryan and Joffrey Lupul. Otherwise, he has the tools for 2 solid scoring lines, and 2 solid energy lines. I think Carter really does want to be the next Pahlsson and he should be used in more defensive oriented situation. In fact I think that line should be put into high pressure situations where they can act as a “stopper” unit. I don’t think Marchant’s line is supposed to be the stopper line replacement, I think it’s really supposed to be an energy line so that Marchant can skate all over the place and do his best to provide leadership by example for the guys who will be role players. If this trade was happening next year, or maybe even closer to the deadline when we had a clearer picture of where we were then I’d probably be the first guy on Arthur’s bandwagon, but right now I’m just worried about losing a solid character guy like Marchant who should be teaching these new guys how to be great role players.
Thats true. Although I have always felt that Carter has more offensive potential then Marchant does. Hence the reason why I feel that he would be a better fit on a hypathetical third scoring line. Of course I don’t really see the need for three scoring lines at this point anyway. Offense is not our problem it is defense.
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