Pod Excl: Hellebuyck Trade Proposals

0:00Well, well, well, well, well. If it isn't the guy you said, Michael Hutchinson is a better hockey coach than Connor Hallebuck is a goal tender. And look at you now. Well, well, well, well, at this stage of their careers, he might be. I mean, we don't know. We don't know. You don't know that. I don't know. That could be a great take. He could be a savant as a coach. I've always liked Michael Hutchinson. He's a great guy. And I remember when he got called up, I was just telling you guys a story, but when he got called up in the jets, I was in and around there. And how well he played, like relieving Andre Pavlik. And so I think he's a player that you really, and this has a negative connotation it's not intended to. I love guys who like find a way to play in the league and he sort of did, right? So I'm, this was news to me today. So well, well, well, well. Was a guy who said, Michael Hutchinson, would never make the NHL let alone coach a hockey team at any level, he's now a coach so good for him. Yeah, Michael Hutchinson, assistant coach

1:00for the Celteric Steelers. That's awesome. Pretty cool. Yeah, married a local woman, of course. And they have kids, so he's retired now. And she might have been like, a, Mike, you gotta get a job, man. You can, this is how we make toast of the morning. Get out of our way. I hear that's a big thing. Like when they retire and they're just there. Yeah, probably. Like when you do the whole honey, we have three kids. I get them to school every day when you're at the rank. This is how we do it. Things like, what about we do it this way? Not Michael, just say in general, like when players retire. They say it for a lot of leagues. It's like that at hockey. It hockey's different though. Yeah, it happens more often in hockey than in a lot of other sports. Like baseball, you don't hear that as much. Maybe it's because they're around the team. They're there for high-density two games. One, two and a half. Yeah, but hockey, yeah, it's, you're literally just not there. I'll tell you right now, I think it would be amazing if in regular life, I got home and they'd be like, why don't you go have a nap before you get bored? Like if we have a Jets game to cover and I could go home and they're like, why don't you go have a nap before you? I'm like, yeah, I will. Sorry, that's our routine.

2:01Sorry, I need gym naps before doing games. I need this. I need kids to be quiet. This has got a nap. This has a game performance base. Do you really want, this is how I make our, this is how I put food on the table. You want to eat? I'm gonna let you have a nap. I don't know how much you guys nap, but in like, it's the lost, the lost art. It's not, I'm like John Berthol, I'm like against naps. I'm like the biggest nap hater. Oh, don't just joke, I don't nap at all. That's like anything in life, you just mock it until you can't have it anymore. And then it's like the greatest thing ever had. A two hour nap in the afternoon money. No, I can't nap. I'll just sleep. Yeah, like all the sleep hours. And it's like, oh, that was pointless. I have done that back in my single days. I have a nap at 2.30 and wake up at 10 p.m. Like now what? Like, oh, no. My day, but Maraudet has put together an article in the athletic and they're looking at some subscriber trade proposals for Connor Halibuk. We're gonna use his name today after we didn't yesterday. Two hard. Shall not be named.

3:02We kinda have to use his name at some point, but we're gonna read some of these trade proposals. Just wanna hear what you guys think, yes or no. So we'll start with the Buffalo Sabers, Connor Halibuk, and these two trades are very similar. Connor Halibuk, two Buffalo, coming back, Ryan McLeod, Alex Lyon, Radeem Murkah, and a 2027 first round pick. Yeah or nay. Well, there's a lot of people who are in on that they don't need a goalie. And I was like, I guess, if you could get a first round pick instead of a backup goalie or rather than I would do it, I don't mind that at all. And this is interesting, we're talking about this because when I reposted David Pagnata's stuff on our social media, well, you posted it and then I repost it. You would not believe the response from Sabers fans. And I'll just read a few, ain't no way the Sabers are giving five pieces back. If Buffalo gave up three players, who is replacing them, none of the prospects left are ready to step up and how would they make the trade? Most contenders aren't giving up what they have for Halibuk till at least trade deadline.

4:05Think Marty is in tune with anything very big mistake. People are all, wow. That's from a Buffalo fan too. That's unfair to Marty. Come on. F that, keep him, Ryan Miller at 30 years old got traded for way less. Buffalo had three goalies they liked. They won't leverage for future for 33 year old playoff choke artist. Your drunk, if you think you're getting that from any team in the league, actually getting as a first in any gel middle forward in a top three prospect all from Sabers fans. So I think like what it could be is interesting. But like that leads to the conversation we had that somebody's gonna have to go back. So I don't mind that trade, but the Sabers aren't giving up a top six player they'll get at least a bottom six one back. Yeah, for sure. I had an interesting conversation who is the day of the announcement of Conner Halibuk making it public. And I had a first conversation with Conner Harab Chuck from Winnipeg Sports Dawkins. Then I had a conversation with Marott that same night. And the two views on what Conner Halibuk get back

5:06were very different. I think Marott was a little bit higher on what the Jets could get in return than where sort of I was. And I think me and Conner's view on this somewhat lined up in the sense that yeah, it's probably going to be that I'll say top six, but really second line forward. Another prospect that could maybe get into the league and then a pick. And I think that's where the as high as the value is going right now. So it's interesting to see all of these come out. Yeah. Well, had you take that trade? I don't think Buffalo does. I think I think that's a pretty fair one. I think that's what it comes to. Every side wants to feel a little uncomfortable in the trade. That's when you know it's fair when he's a Buffalo's not going to be the top 10 as a first round pick. So likely, I mean, who knows, but we'll have to New Jersey. This trade has Dawson Mercer, Mikhail Yegorov and New Jersey's 2027 first round pick coming to Winnipeg for Conner Halibuk. And for those that don't know, Mikhail Yegorov's a very highly touted goalie prospect

6:07for the Devils. And they have a lot of them too with Nico Dawes as well. But if I'm doing a trade with New Jersey, I want that 2027 first round pick. Yes. I don't know if they're going to be a playoff team. And that could be a really valuable. You're probably top 10 protected, but for sure. But if you can get in that kind of 10 to 15 range, 10, why not? If they picked 11th or 12th, that would be good. And vice versa, the New Jersey, who knows where the jets are going to be picking this year, right? Yeah. Very true. So they picked top 10 again and then have a top 15 right behind it. I would throw in more from New Jersey if I'm doing that trade. I wouldn't take that. I agree. If I was a jet, I think there needs to be like one extra piece in there. I like the bones of that trade, but something that is a little bit of an addition. So one extra piece, because people keep forgetting. When I watch a Calgary podcast, the flames were talking about hellbuck and stuff and everything else. And they kept hammering home the cap hit. And I'm like, yes, that's what people in Winterpeg are forgetting. The forward and the D and the prospect are for Connor Hellbuck.

7:07The pick is for the 8.5 for five more years. With the cap going up, that's basically pain your starting gold tender, who at least for two to three years is going to be sensational still is $5 million basically. Yeah. So I think the fourth asset in any trade is for the cap hit. That's a fair point too. I mean, as it just as the seasons go on, it's just going to get more and more valuable. And even towards the end, it's going to be like, well, well, whatever. So if you're back up by year four or five, 8.5 will be like $4 or $5 million. Yeah. We talked about this one a little bit, but Alexander Niketian moving on to Carolina. Alexander Niketian, Brandon Bussey in a first round pick. No, that's not enough. That's not enough. They have to throw in like Jackson Blake or somebody like that, which they won't. Yeah. They've got to add a piece to that. They don't have a piece kind of in between that they can toss in there. You know what I mean? Because they could another trade. And the problem with the Carolina defenseman is he wants eight or $9 million in his next deal.

8:08And that kind of offsets the cap hit of like that. So I'm saying why you pay for Connor Helbach's cap hit. There's a young D who is yet to prove himself fully wants eight million dollars. And you're getting a heart trophy winner for $8 million. You got to pay for that. Exactly. And gentle probably won Bradley Nadeau from Carolina. But I think he's too good of a prospect for Carolina to want to part with him, especially being on the ELC2. For them, that's going to be super valuable. Carolina sneaky though, because they're going for it. Like they're the team that it's like, do we care about this prospect? Do we care about this pick two years from now? Or do we care about repeating? Yeah, absolutely Utah now. And this trade, I mean, if the Jets can pull this one off, Chevy would be doing cartwheels in the Jets war room. But Connor Helbach to Utah for Calibre de Noie, Jack McBain, Sebastian Cosa in a 2027 first round pick. I do that in the heartbeat. Yes, I do that in the heartbeat. Especially after they just traded a first-for-error Sebastian Cosa, which they won't put them in a trade-off for now. But yeah, that's just an off-the-board one for me.

9:10I know everybody wants to throw a Utah in there, but it's also going to, I don't know, to me, that's a little bit just unrealistic. Yeah, I like where Utah's management is done there. I really do. But I also know that Utah's management is a little out there. Like they'll take some risks and they'll do some wild stuff. So I think that we said last week on the show, I'm like, you don't roll rule out Utah. Yeah, I think I know they're in the division, and I know everything like that. But Chevy could look at that. And that team could be, you know, we've been waiting so long. We've built, let's do something now. Let's do something now. And Chevy could be like, I will definitely give you the better player this year knowing that in the next two to three to four years, I will make out on this trade. Exactly. You'd be looking at Calibre, they know you're Tijeginla. And then after that, there's not really too much. I think that you'd have to add to that trade. The Melco would probably just have to go back. But other than that, I think that's pretty fair value. And you'd be getting a guy who's probably a first-line player for the rest of his career potentially, at least in his prime. But this last one depends to me around, sorry, in Utah, their belief in Vermelka. If they believe he's about to break out, like he's been good,

10:13if he's about to take another step or not, why do it? But if they think that, well, is he going to do it, they might be having an end. Yeah, or is that a ceiling, yeah. This next one, last one here, San Jose. It's a bit of a wild one. Connor Hellerbuck, Brad Lambert, Brad Yeager, and a 2027 first-round pick for Michael Misa, Joshua Ravensberg and Alex and Delta Bitch. Now Ravensberg and his top-goly prospect for the sharks. Yeah, Jets would never send all that. They might, they're going to have to send like a Baron and Iofalo or Lambert for sure. But they don't have to add those other pieces. So I don't think that's... You wouldn't give up the eighth. Yeah, you think you're going to give up another first on top of it? You were going to send the first. I think that's just too big of a move to get done right now. Like I just don't see the Jets pulling off, you know, a four-piece move and, you know, completely overhauling. It just doesn't feel like a Jets move. I think they're going to get three to five assets and three only if the two of them are high, high end. So I would say four to five assets and they're going to have to give up one to three.