Thursday, March 4, 2010
Grading the Trading, 2010
6:01 AM | 
Posted by
Nick Mendola
(WGR 550) -- Another year, another trade deadline in the NHL, and this was one of the worst. Not for Buffalo, but for hype. Three relatively big names -- Ilya Kovalchuk, Dion Phaneuf and Olli Jokinen -- were shipped almost a full month or more before the deadline, and no real surprises came out of the blue.
But that doesn't really matter in the long run as much as who got better and who got worse. Let's take a look, starting with our hometown team.
Buffalo -- Did Darcy Regier have a world-beating deadline day? No, but he had his best since the lock-out, and it should work on some level for the Sabres. Clarke MacArthur was a half-effort guy who looked like one of two players on a given game night. One night, he'd be a dynamic power forward, checking and digging the puck away from the wall to lug it to the front of the net. On most nights, however, he looked like the guy who was benched during his rookie call-up for lack of heart and commitment to the hockey Lindy Ruff wants played. Look at his game logs over the last few seasons: an awful lot of "five goals in seven games" followed by elongated winter vacations. Good riddance. Have fun with Chris Thorburn and Maxim Afinogenov in Atlanta, and then trying to get paid like a 20-goal scorer this offseason. We'll take the third and fourth round picks.
In Raffi Torres, they have a left wing who really cares about hockey whose biggest problem is injury. He's 28-years-old and a former No. 5 overall pick of the Islanders. This is the healthiest he's been since 2006-07, missing 31 games last year and 52 the previous season. His season-high for goals was in the post-lockout year of 2005-06, when he notched 27 goals. He's got a look at topping that figure this year. He's not a super tall guy -- 6'0" -- but he plays wide. As a left wing, he'll provide another body for the front of the net. If Ruff wants to break up Thomas Vanek and Derek Roy, you could see Roy with Torres and Vanek with Connolly.
More importantly, did Darcy Regier have to call Raffi on his Bananaphone?
Maybe the biggest boon to the Sabres is no longer carrying a ridiculous eight defensemen. They would've likely called up Tyler Ennis with Paul Gaustad hurt, but the diminutive first-round pick suffered a concussion Sunday night after being cross-checked in the head by Albany's Jay Harrison. He's out through at least the weekend. So, it's likely Nathan Gerbe will have a chance to convince Regier that sending Adam Mair to Portland is a solid idea by the time Goose is back. It would be interesting to see this line-up on Friday against Philadelphia:
Vanek-Connolly-Pominville
Torres-Roy-Stafford
Hecht-Gerbe-Grier
Ellis-Kennedy-Kaleta
That doesn't serve Kennedy all-that-well, but he's struggling right now and maybe a diminished role can help him focus on the little things. It would also be awesome if Jason Pominville could figure out that whole shooting problem, because he is working himself into great scoring spots.
You have to wonder if Brian Burke flat-out wasn't interested in dealing within the division, because the Sabres almost certainly could've put together a better package than Matt Jones, a fifth and a seventh in exchange for Lee Stempniak, who went to Phoenix. Then again, maybe the Sabres don't like Stempniak. Buffalo could've used a power-play quarterback, but maybe they'd just benefit from just benching their captain, who is struggling as badly as a defenseman can. He's forcing the issue not just with passes, but with stickhandling.
Regier also has a look at turning the third and fourth round picks from the MacArthur deal into something better, even if it's just moving up in the draft. GRADE: B-
THE REST OF THE EAST
1. WASHINGTON
IN- Joe Corvo, Milan Jurcina, Eric Belanger, Scott Walker
OUT- Brian Pothier, Oskar Osala, second-round pick in 2011, second, sixth and seventh-round picks in 2010
Walker's cooked -- picture Adam Mair with a better history -- but give Washington credit for giving up their 2010 draft for defensive depth, even if Jurcina is hurt for a while. Belanger is a nice center with 41 points this year... a very solid "under-the-radar" pick-up. The Caps knew they had to get bigger and deeper if they wanted to win a Cup, and they are going for it. Good work. GRADE: A
2. NEW JERSEY
IN- Ilya Kovalchuk, Anssi Salmela, Martin Skoula
OUT- Johnny Oduya, Niclas Bergfors, Patrice Cormier, first-round and fifth-round pick
Still hate the Kovalchuk move for a franchise, but they are sticking their necks out there for this year, as Martin Brodeur isn't getting any younger. Their power play is lethal with Zach Parise and Kovalchuk leading the charge. GRADE: B
3. OTTAWA
IN- Matt Cullen, Andy Sutton
OUT- Alexandre Picard, two second-round picks
A quote from Senators GM Bryan Murray that you'd love to read from Regier:
“I don’t know that the amateur (scouting) guys are real happy with me at the moment but we have a fairly decent hockey team that is competitive and I wanted to give them every chance they deserved come playoff time—if we get there—and I think we’ve sent the message to the players now that we care, we want to win, we’re going to help them in any way we can and this is the way we can help them.”
Cullen, as I typed here, is a brilliant addition, and one that would've behooved the Sabres. Give Murray a lot of credit here. The Senators are the front-runners to win the division and avoid Washington for a couple rounds if possible. I was wrong about the Senators to start this season. The Heatley trade was a mutually-beneficial one, though I'm still not sure how. GRADE: A
4. PITTSBURGH
IN- Alex Ponikarovsky, Jordan Leopold, sixth-round pick
OUT- Martin Skoula, Luca Caputi, Chris Peluso, second-round pick
Pittsburgh wants to win a Stanley Cup. They already have several. They also have better players than the Sabres, and went after talent. Ponikarovsky could've helped Buffalo, but as stated above, who knows if Burke was willing to deal in division. Leopold doesn't "wow" me, but he's an okay addition. They gave up nearly nothing. GRADE: B+
5. BUFFALO
6. PHILADELPHIA
IN- No one
OUT- No one
I'm very happy the Flyers front office thinks Michael Leighton and Brian Boucher are the killer combo to backstop a team to a Cup... just like Tommy Salo, Garth Snow, Antero Niittymaki, Robert Esche, Jeff Hackett, Sean Burke and Roman Cechmanek. It's not like Tomas Vokoun, Marty Turco and maybe even Carey Price were more or less openly available.Seriously, good work. Really, guys, keep at it. Love the throwback jerseys. GRADE: F
7. MONTREAL
IN- Aaron Palushaj, Dominic Moore
OUT- Matt D'Agostini, second-round pick in 2011
I truly believe not doing much can work for Montreal. They are still coming together from their summer of crazy moves, and it's happening quicker than it did for the Lightning last year. With Andrei Markov and Brian Gionta missing a healthy portion of the schedule, the Habs would be higher up in the Eastern standings had they not lost two prominent players. Look out. GRADE: B
8. BOSTON
IN- Dennis Seidenberg, Matt Bartkowski, fourth-round pick in 2011
OUT- Derek Morris, Craig Weller, Byron Bitz, second-round pick in 2010
Morris has become one of those oft-shipped, overhyped defensemen. I can remember hearing about him being the next big thing while I was still in high school. Really, the Bruins shipped out Bitz, Morris and a second-rounder for Dennis Seidenberg. They got better while off-loading salary. A nice move, but nothing that'll catapult them to the top. Holding onto Blake Wheeler was probably smarter than what they would've received in return, and Wheeler is just an RFA when all is said and done. GRADE: B
9. NY RANGERS
IN- Kris Newbury, Anders Eriksson
OUT- Jordan Owens, Miika Wiikman, seventh-round pick
New York isn't winning the Cup this year, so it's a good thing they didn't mortgage their extremely-deep, highly-rated farm system for an ill-fated run. I love the idea of Sather letting guys like Michael Del Zotto, Marc Staal and company learn from trying to do it themselves rather than bringing in Dan Hamhuis to steal valuable ice time. The Olli Jokinen trade is still a head-scratcher, but they rid themselves of Ales Kotalik. GRADE: C
10. ATLANTA
IN- Clarke MacArthur, Chris Chelios, Johnny Oduya, Niclas Bergfors, Patrice Cormier, first-round pick
OUT- Ilya Kovalchuk, Anssi Salmela, third and fourth-round picks
If they somehow make the playoffs off this Kovalchuk trade, I'll take back a lot of what I said about Don Waddell. The Atlanta general manager had offered Kovalchuk $100 million to stay, and he said, "No, thanks." Then, Waddell improved his team. If you're an Atlanta fan, you're thinking you got a young 20-ish goal scorer in MacArthur for third-and-fourth round picks. You'll learn. Chelios is cheap and -- believe it or not -- will provide some value for that room as it tries to defy the odds and beat out Boston, Tampa and the Rangers. GRADE: A-
11. TAMPA BAY
IN- Teddy Purcell, third-round pick
OUT- Jeff Halpern
Got rid of an old, solid face-off guy for a young guy who hasn't lived up to the hype and a third-rounder. Could've they have done more? Sure, but I have a feeling the Lightning are just hitting their stride, and most if not all Sabres fans would deal their Top-Six for Tampa's Top Four of Vincent Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis, Steven Stamkos and Ryan Malone. Just saying. GRADE: C
In summation... giving out grades is kind of silly for some of these teams who did little, but I'm grading what they did to improve their teams, and some of these teams are better for not giving anything up. Here's how I think the standings shake out come April 11:
1. Washington
2. Pittsburgh
3. Ottawa
4. New Jersey
5. Philadelphia
6. Buffalo
7. Montreal
8. Tampa Bay
9. Boston
10. NY Rangers
11. Atlanta
12. NY Islanders
13. Carolina
14. Florida
15. Toronto
Yep, Sabres and Senators and the first-round. Sweet.
Email: nick@wgr550.com
But that doesn't really matter in the long run as much as who got better and who got worse. Let's take a look, starting with our hometown team.
Buffalo -- Did Darcy Regier have a world-beating deadline day? No, but he had his best since the lock-out, and it should work on some level for the Sabres. Clarke MacArthur was a half-effort guy who looked like one of two players on a given game night. One night, he'd be a dynamic power forward, checking and digging the puck away from the wall to lug it to the front of the net. On most nights, however, he looked like the guy who was benched during his rookie call-up for lack of heart and commitment to the hockey Lindy Ruff wants played. Look at his game logs over the last few seasons: an awful lot of "five goals in seven games" followed by elongated winter vacations. Good riddance. Have fun with Chris Thorburn and Maxim Afinogenov in Atlanta, and then trying to get paid like a 20-goal scorer this offseason. We'll take the third and fourth round picks.
In Raffi Torres, they have a left wing who really cares about hockey whose biggest problem is injury. He's 28-years-old and a former No. 5 overall pick of the Islanders. This is the healthiest he's been since 2006-07, missing 31 games last year and 52 the previous season. His season-high for goals was in the post-lockout year of 2005-06, when he notched 27 goals. He's got a look at topping that figure this year. He's not a super tall guy -- 6'0" -- but he plays wide. As a left wing, he'll provide another body for the front of the net. If Ruff wants to break up Thomas Vanek and Derek Roy, you could see Roy with Torres and Vanek with Connolly.
More importantly, did Darcy Regier have to call Raffi on his Bananaphone?
Maybe the biggest boon to the Sabres is no longer carrying a ridiculous eight defensemen. They would've likely called up Tyler Ennis with Paul Gaustad hurt, but the diminutive first-round pick suffered a concussion Sunday night after being cross-checked in the head by Albany's Jay Harrison. He's out through at least the weekend. So, it's likely Nathan Gerbe will have a chance to convince Regier that sending Adam Mair to Portland is a solid idea by the time Goose is back. It would be interesting to see this line-up on Friday against Philadelphia:
Vanek-Connolly-Pominville
Torres-Roy-Stafford
Hecht-Gerbe-Grier
Ellis-Kennedy-Kaleta
That doesn't serve Kennedy all-that-well, but he's struggling right now and maybe a diminished role can help him focus on the little things. It would also be awesome if Jason Pominville could figure out that whole shooting problem, because he is working himself into great scoring spots.
You have to wonder if Brian Burke flat-out wasn't interested in dealing within the division, because the Sabres almost certainly could've put together a better package than Matt Jones, a fifth and a seventh in exchange for Lee Stempniak, who went to Phoenix. Then again, maybe the Sabres don't like Stempniak. Buffalo could've used a power-play quarterback, but maybe they'd just benefit from just benching their captain, who is struggling as badly as a defenseman can. He's forcing the issue not just with passes, but with stickhandling.
Regier also has a look at turning the third and fourth round picks from the MacArthur deal into something better, even if it's just moving up in the draft. GRADE: B-
THE REST OF THE EAST
1. WASHINGTON
IN- Joe Corvo, Milan Jurcina, Eric Belanger, Scott Walker
OUT- Brian Pothier, Oskar Osala, second-round pick in 2011, second, sixth and seventh-round picks in 2010
Walker's cooked -- picture Adam Mair with a better history -- but give Washington credit for giving up their 2010 draft for defensive depth, even if Jurcina is hurt for a while. Belanger is a nice center with 41 points this year... a very solid "under-the-radar" pick-up. The Caps knew they had to get bigger and deeper if they wanted to win a Cup, and they are going for it. Good work. GRADE: A
2. NEW JERSEY
IN- Ilya Kovalchuk, Anssi Salmela, Martin Skoula
OUT- Johnny Oduya, Niclas Bergfors, Patrice Cormier, first-round and fifth-round pick
Still hate the Kovalchuk move for a franchise, but they are sticking their necks out there for this year, as Martin Brodeur isn't getting any younger. Their power play is lethal with Zach Parise and Kovalchuk leading the charge. GRADE: B
3. OTTAWA
IN- Matt Cullen, Andy Sutton
OUT- Alexandre Picard, two second-round picks
A quote from Senators GM Bryan Murray that you'd love to read from Regier:
“I don’t know that the amateur (scouting) guys are real happy with me at the moment but we have a fairly decent hockey team that is competitive and I wanted to give them every chance they deserved come playoff time—if we get there—and I think we’ve sent the message to the players now that we care, we want to win, we’re going to help them in any way we can and this is the way we can help them.”
Cullen, as I typed here, is a brilliant addition, and one that would've behooved the Sabres. Give Murray a lot of credit here. The Senators are the front-runners to win the division and avoid Washington for a couple rounds if possible. I was wrong about the Senators to start this season. The Heatley trade was a mutually-beneficial one, though I'm still not sure how. GRADE: A
4. PITTSBURGH
IN- Alex Ponikarovsky, Jordan Leopold, sixth-round pick
OUT- Martin Skoula, Luca Caputi, Chris Peluso, second-round pick
Pittsburgh wants to win a Stanley Cup. They already have several. They also have better players than the Sabres, and went after talent. Ponikarovsky could've helped Buffalo, but as stated above, who knows if Burke was willing to deal in division. Leopold doesn't "wow" me, but he's an okay addition. They gave up nearly nothing. GRADE: B+
5. BUFFALO
6. PHILADELPHIA
IN- No one
OUT- No one
I'm very happy the Flyers front office thinks Michael Leighton and Brian Boucher are the killer combo to backstop a team to a Cup... just like Tommy Salo, Garth Snow, Antero Niittymaki, Robert Esche, Jeff Hackett, Sean Burke and Roman Cechmanek. It's not like Tomas Vokoun, Marty Turco and maybe even Carey Price were more or less openly available.Seriously, good work. Really, guys, keep at it. Love the throwback jerseys. GRADE: F
7. MONTREAL
IN- Aaron Palushaj, Dominic Moore
OUT- Matt D'Agostini, second-round pick in 2011
I truly believe not doing much can work for Montreal. They are still coming together from their summer of crazy moves, and it's happening quicker than it did for the Lightning last year. With Andrei Markov and Brian Gionta missing a healthy portion of the schedule, the Habs would be higher up in the Eastern standings had they not lost two prominent players. Look out. GRADE: B
8. BOSTON
IN- Dennis Seidenberg, Matt Bartkowski, fourth-round pick in 2011
OUT- Derek Morris, Craig Weller, Byron Bitz, second-round pick in 2010
Morris has become one of those oft-shipped, overhyped defensemen. I can remember hearing about him being the next big thing while I was still in high school. Really, the Bruins shipped out Bitz, Morris and a second-rounder for Dennis Seidenberg. They got better while off-loading salary. A nice move, but nothing that'll catapult them to the top. Holding onto Blake Wheeler was probably smarter than what they would've received in return, and Wheeler is just an RFA when all is said and done. GRADE: B
9. NY RANGERS
IN- Kris Newbury, Anders Eriksson
OUT- Jordan Owens, Miika Wiikman, seventh-round pick
New York isn't winning the Cup this year, so it's a good thing they didn't mortgage their extremely-deep, highly-rated farm system for an ill-fated run. I love the idea of Sather letting guys like Michael Del Zotto, Marc Staal and company learn from trying to do it themselves rather than bringing in Dan Hamhuis to steal valuable ice time. The Olli Jokinen trade is still a head-scratcher, but they rid themselves of Ales Kotalik. GRADE: C
10. ATLANTA
IN- Clarke MacArthur, Chris Chelios, Johnny Oduya, Niclas Bergfors, Patrice Cormier, first-round pick
OUT- Ilya Kovalchuk, Anssi Salmela, third and fourth-round picks
If they somehow make the playoffs off this Kovalchuk trade, I'll take back a lot of what I said about Don Waddell. The Atlanta general manager had offered Kovalchuk $100 million to stay, and he said, "No, thanks." Then, Waddell improved his team. If you're an Atlanta fan, you're thinking you got a young 20-ish goal scorer in MacArthur for third-and-fourth round picks. You'll learn. Chelios is cheap and -- believe it or not -- will provide some value for that room as it tries to defy the odds and beat out Boston, Tampa and the Rangers. GRADE: A-
11. TAMPA BAY
IN- Teddy Purcell, third-round pick
OUT- Jeff Halpern
Got rid of an old, solid face-off guy for a young guy who hasn't lived up to the hype and a third-rounder. Could've they have done more? Sure, but I have a feeling the Lightning are just hitting their stride, and most if not all Sabres fans would deal their Top-Six for Tampa's Top Four of Vincent Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis, Steven Stamkos and Ryan Malone. Just saying. GRADE: C
In summation... giving out grades is kind of silly for some of these teams who did little, but I'm grading what they did to improve their teams, and some of these teams are better for not giving anything up. Here's how I think the standings shake out come April 11:
1. Washington
2. Pittsburgh
3. Ottawa
4. New Jersey
5. Philadelphia
6. Buffalo
7. Montreal
8. Tampa Bay
9. Boston
10. NY Rangers
11. Atlanta
12. NY Islanders
13. Carolina
14. Florida
15. Toronto
Yep, Sabres and Senators and the first-round. Sweet.
Email: nick@wgr550.com
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