Well, that was a pretty eventful deadline day.
I’m going to briefly talk about a couple trades, before I pick apart the Caps.
Courtesy: USA Today
The Montreal Canadiens were probably the winners today when they surprised everyone by landing Thomas Vanek from the New York Islanders for next to nothing. Everyone thought that Islanders GM Garth Snow was going to be shot after 3pm if Vanek wasn’t moved, and at around 3:15 we learned that GM Garth Snow was still going to be shot. The Islanders received a 2nd round draft pick and prospect Sebastien Collberg. That’s it. So they basically traded Matt Moulson and Thomas Vanek for Collberg and a pick. Wow. How Snow still has his job is beyond me. Chances are the price for Vanek was too high and he painted himself into a corner and pulled the trigger at the last second to save face. I feel bad for Tavares, who now has no one to play with.
The Panthers shipped Tim Thomas to Dallas for Dan Ellis. The Senators grabbed Ales Hemsky from Edmonton. The Wild snagged Matt Moulson from Buffalo (great pick up). Marion Gaborik went to L.A. for Matt Frattin a few picks (Columbus will pick up most of Gaborik’s remaining salary this year). The Penguins made a few trades acquiring Marcel Goc and Lee Stepniak – pretty solid depth guys.
Marty Brodeur stayed put. Ryan Kesler stayed put, although he almost went to Pittsburgh.
And the New York Rangers landed 38 year old Marty St. Louis… and it only cost them Ryan Callahan, a first round draft pick and a second round draft pick. WHAT?! How GM Glen Sather sleeps at night is beyond me. He must Facetime Snow and cyber cuddle.
Then there are Washington Capitals. At the end of the deadline when I learned that GMGM had made a trade, I was terrified that Holtby would be gone. That he sold the farm to get a goalie we didn’t need. Turns out, GMGM didn’t do that bad a job if you really think about it. McPhee shipped away disgruntled goalie Michal Neuvirth to Buffalo for Jaroslav Halak. Whew. No Holtby.
However, he also sent Rostislav Klesla, the big, bad defender we got in the Erat trade yesterday. Yes, Klesla isn’t that great, but he was a big body and he was a pretty decent player at a time, and still could be with a new team. I guess we’ll never know.
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Courtesy: USA Today
he Capitals made zero progress today at the deadline because the didn’t address all the problems of the team. The Caps needed a veteran goalie and they got one in Halak (I hope). I’m fine with that. Penner is a big body up front and we basically stole him from Anaheim for a 4th round pick. I like that. But where’s the defenseman we needed for a playoff push?
The Caps, as showcased tonight in a 6-4 loss to the Flyers, have awful defensive coverage. Green is terrible in his own end and he proved that tonight. Erksine took himself out of the game in a scrum. Carrick shouldn’t even be here, and Hillen, well, he wasn’t so bad.
I don’t know what GMGM’s real vision is with the team that he has on paper, but the team that’s on the ice is a shell of what they could have been. This team is not built for the playoffs, and Jaroslav Halak isn’t going to steal games like he did for Montreal in 2010. Cap’s fans have nothing to look forward but another 50 goal season from Ovechkin. Yippee.
Again, I like the fact that we got Penner and Halak. They are good rentals. I’m iffy on Kuznetsov coming over in a few days because, to me, he’s Semin reincarnated. But we are not a playoff team. Not by a long shot.
The best thing, however, in GMGM’s Czech purge of Erat and Neuvirth, is that the Caps will save $7M going into the summer, and with the salary cap going up they can, hopefully, bring in who they need via free agency. Who knows? Maybe they’ll be the ones to give Ryan Callahan his $6.5M.
Time to hunker down for a long Spring Caps fans. More disappointment to come…
