As the trade deadline of 3:00 eastern looms, there haven't really been that many big trades. I'm sure there will be quite a few at the 11th hour, but for now....
Edmonton shored up their goaltending situation, but not in a way that I expected. I sort of thought that Buffalo would ship Marty Biron out there. Anyway, a good pickup in Dwayne Roloson from the Wild. Roloson is a much better keeper than his numbers would indicate. The Oilers didn't really give up very much in that exchange. A first round pick and a conditional pick. However, that leaves Minnesota with only Manny Fernandez. They certainly don't have a stockpile of goalies at their AHL affiliate Houston Aeros. So Minnesota needs to do something.
The trade that about made my eyes pop out, though, was Jose Theodore for David Aebischer. In this straight-up trade, I have no idea what Colorado is thinking. They get a guy who is not only having a terrible season, but is INJURED, and who brings a huge contract with him. They give up a very good (and uninjured) Aebischer. I guess they're banking on a revitalization in '07. In the meantime, Peter Budaj will have to carry the load for the Avs. Is the contract burden worth it, though? I for one, think not. Theodore has two years remaining on his three-year, $16M contract.
Brendan Witt of the Caps has demanded a trade, and Ted Leonsis is working on it, but so far, no action.
I expect the Sabres to deal one of their goalies for some D. Ryan Miller will stay for sure, but I don't know whether they'll deal Biron or Mika Noronen. They might not get any takers on Noronen, but Biron would be a great asset to a team like the Wild, who now have only one keeper. EDIT -- 1:02 PM <<< as I was writing this, Noronen was dealt to Vancouver for a second round pick <<<<
Of course there's lots of talk about the Canes shopping for a winger in the wake of Cole's injury. I'm not so sure we need to do that. Andrew Ladd is playing well and Josef Vasicek is maybe two weeks away from returning to the team. Obviously it's now or never, and we'll have lots of second guessing either way, but I think they should just leave well enough alone. HOWEVER, this isn't a typical year. The boys are poised to make a deep run in the playoffs, and it might be a decent idea to get another big-name rental player for the balance of the season. We'll know in two hours.
Thursday, March 09, 2006
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
3 comments:
The only thing that makes sense is that maybe the Avs want to package Theodore and a young up-and-comer (think Svatos) for Luongo. They need more experience in goal than Budaj and Koley can give them if they hope to get anywhere come playoff time. Senseless otherwise.
Yeah, Bill. Great thinking. The Avs give an injured player and another injured player for a quality goaltender.
Well, the deadline passed a couple of hours ago and they (Avs) didn't do anything else with Captain Propecia, so I guess they're stuck with him.
What did the Panthers have to lose? I know they are "making a serious run at the playoffs," but that's only to put a few more butts in the seats. They're not gonna make it.
Svatos and Theodore for Luongo made sense earlier today. Svatos is undeniably excellent, and L'Admiral de Rogaine has shown he CAN BE excellent. That's a club that needs to plan for next year, because (let's face it) this year's a bust. And we both know Luongo wants to go somewhere else.
It made sense when this morning, when I was coping with too little sleep. Actually, a lot of things made sense this morning...
Post a Comment