I have been looking over the Isles roster for a while now and trying to make things work a little better in terms of providing a space for a Colliton or a Nielsen or a Ben Walter.
I have blogged on the left wing situation a lot and I cannot see any scenario if Bergenheim-Tambellini-Comeau-Sim are here and healthy they are not the four players in those spots in any place you want to play them, the one on the fourth line is not going to be satisfied.
On the right wing if Guerin, Hunter are healthy they are on this roster. I also do not see any scenario beyond injury Kyle Okposo does not start the season here unless he has a terrible camp or reports out of shape.
We all know Doug Weight and Mike Comrie are the first two centers if they are healthy and that Richard Park needs a place to play along with Andy Hilbert and a lot of the players I wrote about. Park made an impact and was outstanding shorthanded and just signed a two year contract in season.
Which brings me to Mike Sillinger going into the final season of his three year contract. Make no mistake this is a player I like a lot who when healthy and on his game can carry a team and win games outright even when he is not scoring with a lot of things that you will never read on a box score.
Having written that, his age, his production make it a viable question would it be better to shift one of the left wings to the third line center spot or one of the prospects in Colliton, Walter or Nielsen play in that spot?
Mike Sillinger if he is healthy in a trade will bring back a return that can help this roster now or in the future, combine that with some other players who seemingly do not have a spot and maybe one of those draft picks it could be a player that fills a need the club does not have on it's current roster.
Not an easy call for me to write this but I look at this lineup and there are too many veterans up front with Guerin, Weight, Sillinger, Comrie, Hunter, Park, Hilbert for a team going younger. Backline has plenty of veterans also so the idea Garth Snow will ice a prospect team is a bit over exaggerated. Even if you ship an Andy Hilbert to another club there are too many veterans holding spots up front to start the season.
One thing for sure is this club played a good part of the second half without Mike Sillinger, they did not win a lot but they did win six games in a row.
Tough call but If it were me I would take a chance here and make a trade to a club looking for a quality veteran. Sillinger could well prove me wrong with a twenty plus goal season but at this point Mike Sillinger is a player who just turned thirty seven, he scored seven even strength goals all season a year ago and was a minus ten with his only important pp goal of his three against Tampa in overtime and reportedly will be on crutches until August.
A lot of prospects can put up that production too, some who were drafted in 2003 and at a point they play or they move on.
Sure, if a Mike Comrie gets injured moving Sillinger could be a disaster with Doug Weight as your first line center and yes Comrie's track record is full of injuries.
With that lets get that announcement ready that the Isles signed Mike Sillinger thought 2010-2011.
So what would you do?