I'm a little surprised at the decision to buyout White. He might have been a bit overpaid, but I thought he was a pretty serviceable guy.
Devils waive Trent Hunter and Colin White... buyout to follow
- Thread starter CarltonTheBear
- Start date
I'm a little surprised at the decision to buyout White. He might have been a bit overpaid, but I thought he was a pretty serviceable guy.
McPwnage said:
If it wasn't for his health he'd be a nice addition to our 4th line, rotating at right-wing with Orr. But at this point I'd probably rather see Dupuis in that role.
bustaheims
Well-known member
Tigger said:
He'd prefer the healthy player to the frequently injured one?
Busta Reims said:
Pretty much. But I also have liked what I've read about Dupuis. And I'm not so sure how Hunter would fare in a 4th line role, don't know much about his defensive abilities.
Kin
Active member
CarltonTheBear said:
I said it in the Rolston thread but if Hunter was a good defensive player/PK'er it doesn't look as though he is anymore as the Islanders have basically stopped using him in that role.
No scoring, doesn't seem to be great defensively, 31 years old, doesn't block shots, injured all the time...I'm having trouble seeing why he's a good roll of the dice.
Saint Nik said:
Like I said, I had no idea how his defensive game is. But seeing as how he got next-to-no PK time last season with the Islanders, I can only assume it's not really a strength of his. In that case, I pretty much have no interest.
I think people are focusing too much on what he used to be as opposed to what he is now. Back when he signed his contract I thought it was going to be a steal. Now, not so much.
Saint Nik said:
Compared to an Orr or a Dupuis?
He used to pk quite a bit, top minutes in fact and is only one real season removed from performing that role ( though lessened ) but I wouldn't be expecting the world from him that way, just the experience and depth.
He likes to hit and doesn't take many penalties.
Anywho, just the fact that we're talking about him potentially being in a 4th line role means things have changed for him quite a bit and if he came cheap I don't see a problem. If he really couldn't beat out the likes of Dupuis in camp then good luck, god bless.
Kin
Active member
Tigger said:
Well, compared to Orr I think we could argue about the value of an enforcer in the line-up if you were so inclined but I think it'd be ridiculous to argue that Hunter is a better fourth line player than Orr is an enforcer so I'd be more inclined towards Orr in that role. Compared to Dupuis, who I don't know much about, Hunter is 5 years older, injury prone and hasn't been used in a significant PK'ing role for some time so my inclination would be towards Dupuis, who did kill penalties last year, as well.
If the Leafs were looking for a veteran presence on the 4th line I'd favour Drury over Hunter by leaps and bounds.
Saint Nik said:
I don't think there's any question that Hunter would be a better option as a 4th liner than Orr, enforcer argument aside ( I've been clear on that previously, I think it's a useless roster spot and the Leafs played better without him )
The thing with Dupuis is that he has little track record though I have to admit he did ok with limited ice time but playing on the last place pk is nothing to write home about. With Hunter opening a roster spot for him would totally depend on health but I can't see much of a risk signing him for cheap and seeing what he could do during the preseason, he was a top pk'r and could chip in with some goals at one time but again, I'm really not interested in him as a solution for the pk, mainly NHL depth.
We've talked about Madden as an option, I'd much rather him than Drury, same issue as Hunter ... health ( I agree though, if the choice was one risk over the other the Leafs have need at centre more so ). I doubt the Leafs take on that many health risks though, they have enough just in Lupul and Connolly.
Kin
Active member
Tigger said:
Well, yes. Excluding the value of an enforcer Orr has very little value.
Tigger said:
Well, when Hunter was a "top" PK'er the Islanders had a pretty lousy PK as well so I'd probably hesitate to give him a boatload of credit there too.
I don't see a risk in signing Hunter either but I also don't see a reward. Again, he hasn't scored much or been a big presence on a PK in years. I'd much rather the spot go to someone young even if they don't get chunks of ice time.
Tigger said:
Drury and Hunter have a similar issue, that being health, but Drury has a couple of things going for him that Hunter doesn't(leadership, the good kind of experience). In addition Hunter has an issue that Drury doesn't really have. With Drury the issue is whether or not he can be healthy, yes, but when healthy Drury has always been an effective bottom 6 guy and PK'er. With Hunter the issues are health and whether or not he can do some of the things he's two or three or four years removed from doing.
I think you kind of have to set Hunters last year aside, that was a dreadful round and maybe it's indicative of a real downward trend, hard to say exactly but before that he scored at approximately the same clip he always has, around .5 ppg with the lions share at even strength. A little bit of scoring and hitting couldn't hurt the Leafs though I agree there are other options but it's tough to say from this perch just how the price performance would shake out, leaves me wondering how much he might cost, 1 mil, +/-?
Fwiw I think Drury has more question marks around his health than Hunter does but I wouldn't hate both of them for what they bring ( if healthy and cheap ). I agree Drurys leadership seems preferable and that he has apparently embraced a bottom 6 role.
At this point and as a fall back position I still like the idea of the Leafs adding Madden and Grier for a year over any of the above with an eye to picking up McClement and/or Nielsen the following year, though both John and Mike have been rumored to want to stay with their clubs or retire.
Fwiw I think Drury has more question marks around his health than Hunter does but I wouldn't hate both of them for what they bring ( if healthy and cheap ). I agree Drurys leadership seems preferable and that he has apparently embraced a bottom 6 role.
At this point and as a fall back position I still like the idea of the Leafs adding Madden and Grier for a year over any of the above with an eye to picking up McClement and/or Nielsen the following year, though both John and Mike have been rumored to want to stay with their clubs or retire.
Kin
Active member
Tigger said:
I think that's sort of my point though. Hunter is a guy who scores around .5 ppg while getting significant PP time. Being as he's not likely to see that in Toronto and we're talking about him in a bottom six role getting a handful of minutes a game I'd much rather see the role go to someone with speed/defense/something else of note to the spot then being a guy who probably figures to score 25 or so points.
Tigger said:
Drury's current knee injury may be more serious than Hunter's(although who knows?) Hunter seems to have a bigger problem over the last few years staying healthy. He's missed significant chunks of the last three seasons which probably explains his declining role.
White wasted no time getting picked up by another team, the Sharks signed him to a 1-year, $1mil contract:
http://blogs.mercurynews.com/sharks/2011/08/03/sharks-sign-d-colin-white-to-one-year-deal-that-costs-san-jose-1-million/
http://blogs.mercurynews.com/sharks/2011/08/03/sharks-sign-d-colin-white-to-one-year-deal-that-costs-san-jose-1-million/