To describe today's activity by the Calgary Flames in the trade market as frenzied is something of an understatement. In the length of time it took to go to the gents and back in the Ship this morning, while watching Arsenal-Man Utd, the hockey world got turned upside down.
In brief: former Norris Trophy nominee Dion Phaneuf, Fredrik Sjostrom and defensive prospect Keith Aulie were traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs for forwards Niklas Hagman, Matt Stajan, Jamal Mayers and Ian White. Phaneuf had been billed as a franchise defenceman for years to come, but had become a lightning rod for the fans for the better part of a year. Rumours persisted about a split dressing room with him at the centre. The return is acceptable; it adds scoring in Hagman, and a much underrated defender in White. That would be fine for one day...
Until CalgaryPuck crashed again this evening; always the tell-tale sign something big is happening in Flames World. To the New York Rangers go Olli Jokinen and Brandon Prust in exchange for Ales Kotalik and Christopher Higgins, both posting horrible numbers for New York this season. OK, Jokinen has not turned into the #1 centre the Flames wanted, but the return is terrible.
In addition, the Flames now have six new players to try and embed in the system, and a game tomorrow night. I can only speculate there is another much larger move for a top top player in the works. Ilya Kovalchuk is the widely speculated player. He's an unrestricted free agent in the summer, and Atlanta are looking to deal him and get what they can back. But they are rumoured to want young players, prospects and draft picks. The Flames new acqusitions couldn't really be described as that, and they have no first or second round picks this year (lost in the Jokinen and Bouwmeester trades). And Kovalchuk might not sign in Calgary beyond the summer and then they have trashed their lineup for nothing.
Crazy theory: In the light of the emergence of Steven Stamkos, would the Tampa Bay Lightning deal Vincent Lecavalier? His contract is to 2020, so locked in for a number of years. Given centre Mikael Backlund was brought up from the farm team this week, was this to showcase him? Tampa would get roster players back in return. How about: to CGY: Lecavalier. To TBL: Sarich, Backlund, Langkow, Kotalik, Higgins. CGY gets their top line centre, TBL gets three replacement centres, plus defensive depth On the downside, if VL bombed in cowtown, that's a hugely difficult salary to move ($7.7m a year). And would TBL even entertain this? And there's a real iceberg on the horizon in having to renew Giordano's contract next summer.
It makes (with re-signed UFAs in green), roughly 3 million under the current salary cap :
Bourque (3.5) Lecavalier (7.7) Iginla (7.0)
Hagman (3.0) Stajan (2.5) Dawes (0.8)
Glencross (1.2) Boyd (0.8) Moss (1.3)
Nystrom (0.8) AN Other (0.5) Mayers (0.8)
Lundmark (0.6) McGrattan (0.6)
Bouwmeester (6.6) Giordano (0.9)
Regehr (4.0) White (3.0)
Pardy (0.7) Johnson (0.5)
Kronwall (0.5)
Kiprusoff (5.8)
McElhinney (0.5)
In brief: former Norris Trophy nominee Dion Phaneuf, Fredrik Sjostrom and defensive prospect Keith Aulie were traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs for forwards Niklas Hagman, Matt Stajan, Jamal Mayers and Ian White. Phaneuf had been billed as a franchise defenceman for years to come, but had become a lightning rod for the fans for the better part of a year. Rumours persisted about a split dressing room with him at the centre. The return is acceptable; it adds scoring in Hagman, and a much underrated defender in White. That would be fine for one day...
Until CalgaryPuck crashed again this evening; always the tell-tale sign something big is happening in Flames World. To the New York Rangers go Olli Jokinen and Brandon Prust in exchange for Ales Kotalik and Christopher Higgins, both posting horrible numbers for New York this season. OK, Jokinen has not turned into the #1 centre the Flames wanted, but the return is terrible.
In addition, the Flames now have six new players to try and embed in the system, and a game tomorrow night. I can only speculate there is another much larger move for a top top player in the works. Ilya Kovalchuk is the widely speculated player. He's an unrestricted free agent in the summer, and Atlanta are looking to deal him and get what they can back. But they are rumoured to want young players, prospects and draft picks. The Flames new acqusitions couldn't really be described as that, and they have no first or second round picks this year (lost in the Jokinen and Bouwmeester trades). And Kovalchuk might not sign in Calgary beyond the summer and then they have trashed their lineup for nothing.
Crazy theory: In the light of the emergence of Steven Stamkos, would the Tampa Bay Lightning deal Vincent Lecavalier? His contract is to 2020, so locked in for a number of years. Given centre Mikael Backlund was brought up from the farm team this week, was this to showcase him? Tampa would get roster players back in return. How about: to CGY: Lecavalier. To TBL: Sarich, Backlund, Langkow, Kotalik, Higgins. CGY gets their top line centre, TBL gets three replacement centres, plus defensive depth On the downside, if VL bombed in cowtown, that's a hugely difficult salary to move ($7.7m a year). And would TBL even entertain this? And there's a real iceberg on the horizon in having to renew Giordano's contract next summer.
It makes (with re-signed UFAs in green), roughly 3 million under the current salary cap :
Bourque (3.5) Lecavalier (7.7) Iginla (7.0)
Hagman (3.0) Stajan (2.5) Dawes (0.8)
Glencross (1.2) Boyd (0.8) Moss (1.3)
Nystrom (0.8) AN Other (0.5) Mayers (0.8)
Lundmark (0.6) McGrattan (0.6)
Bouwmeester (6.6) Giordano (0.9)
Regehr (4.0) White (3.0)
Pardy (0.7) Johnson (0.5)
Kronwall (0.5)
Kiprusoff (5.8)
McElhinney (0.5)
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