Sunday, June 26, 2011

Swift Swaps

Philadelphia's two major deals on Thursday were definitely the biggest moves of Draft Weekend, but there was no shortage of player movement made in the past few days. Here's a look at some of the significant deals around the league.

Toronto Maples Leafs receive D John-Michael Liles from Colorado Avalanche for 2012 2nd-round pick.
This is a move made by two rebuilding teams at different stages of the process. Toronto has been rebuilding for a while and is inching closer to contention. Meanwhile, the Avs are not so far along and are continuing to shed age and salary. Despite his team's terrible season, Liles had a great offensive year, setting a career high in assists with 40 helpers and notching 46 points. His presence could help the offensivley challenged Maple Leafs, whose production is unimpressive outside of talented young scorers Mikhail Grabovski, Nikolai Kulemin, and Phil Kessel. He will likely see power play time, probably with Dion Phaneuf. A power play unit of Grabovski, Kulemin, Kessel, Phaneuf, and Liles could be a fearsome one.

Washington Capitals receive W Troy Brouwer from Chicago Blackhawks for 2011 1st-round pick.
Washington has been running into a problem recently. That problem is that despite their potent offense and two-straight Eastern Conference leading seasons, they have been dealt early playoff losses. What is it that they are missing? It's anyone's guess really, but the acquisition of Troy Brouwer could be a step in the right direction. Brouwer is no superstar, but he blends toughness with 20-goal scoring ability and will add some grit to an already talented lineup. He also bring recent Cup winning experience which could prove invaluable to a team that has is share of postseason woes. Meanwhile, Chicago continues upon the cap-driven dismantling that blew apart their team last offseason.

Minnesota Wild receive W Devin Setoguchi, F Charlie Coyle, and 2011 1st-round pick from San Jose Sharks for D Brent Burns and 2012 2nd-round pick.
After a 31-goal campaign 2 seasons ago, Devin Setoguchi's production has dropped over the past two seasons. However, at 24, he still has tons of potential and a change of scenery could do wonders for his game. He will be leaving a franchise clogged with talent and instantly have a chance to shine as one of the more talented scorers in Minnesota. Also in the deal is Charlie Coyle, a promising young forward who just finished up his freshman season with the Boston University Terriers. The Sharks meanwhile add another All-Star defenseman coming off the best offensive season of his career to play alongside Dan Boyle. The two are very offensively gifted defenseman who will work wonderfully behind a stellar offense. The long term winner in this deal will be Minnesota, and while the Sharks add more offensive talent, they still need a top-tier shut down defender. Minnesota will also need to add more offense in free agency, as well as a defender to fill the void left by Burns.

Edmonton Oilers receive W Ryan Smyth from Los Angeles Kings for F Colin Fraser and 2012 7th-round pick.
Ryan Smyth is a talented goal-scoring, but has lost some of his explosive goal-scoring ability with age. A requested return to his hometown Oilers could bring back some of his old magic. Also, he will act as a mentor for a very young and talented offense. Los Angeles does not get much in return, but with the addition of Mike Richards, they could afford to make a swap like this.

Florida Panthers receive D Brian Campbell from Chicago Blackhawks for F Rostislav Olesz.
This is another obvious salary dump for the Blackhawks. Campbell's contract, with a cap hit upwards of 7 million, was one of the biggest hindrances for the Blackhawks, and now they have dumped it on a team with no cap problems whatsoever. Thanks to a 3.1 cap hit for Olesz, the gain could be bigger, but 4 million more to work with can still come in very handy. Olesz has yet to reach the goal-scoring potential he seems to have, but a move to the much more talented Hawks could help him find a break out performance. Campbell, although coming off one of the least productive seasons of his career, is still one of the league's better defenseman and could be a major piece to build around for the Panthers.

Tampa Bay Lightning receives D Bruno Gervais from New York Islanders for future considerations.
Gervais is a defender with decent potential, but is dipping into his late 20s and needs to break out now. Leaving the defensively pathetic Islanders could help for a better surrounding group could help, but it may be tough for him to crack into the every day lineup in defensively strong Tampa Bay.

Ottawa Senators receive W Nikita Filatov from Columbus Blue Jackets for 2011 3rd-round pick.
Nikita Filatov has been a total bust for the Columbus Blue Jackets after he was expected to be a superstar for many years in Columbus. After a few disappointing seasons, the Jackets have had enough and have sent him to the rebuilding Senators. The Senators have little to lose in this case. Filatov is still young and could still become an explosive scorer. If not, they will continue to search for rebuilding pieces regardless.

Buffalo Sabres receive D Robyn Regehr, W Ales Kotalik, and 2012 2nd-round pick from Calgary Flames for D Chris Butler and F Paul Byron. While Chris Butler could develop into a cornerstone defenseman down the road, the Flames certainly gave up a ton to move Robyn Regehr. Regehr himself is one of the most underrated shut-down D in the league and his presence will be an enormous boost to the Sabres D if he can do well in his first season away from Calgary. Also, Ales Kotalik returns to the only team he's had much success with. He had many strong scoring seasons in Buffalo but has seen limited success resulting in limited playing time since he left. The return to Buffalo could bring him surging back to the player he once was.

Friday, June 24, 2011

Philly Flurry

With the NHL Entry Draft occurring tonight, the Flyers opened back up the trade scene in a big way.

A little while ago, they acquired the negotiating rights to pending UFA and former Vezina-nominated goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov from the Phoenix Coyotes. This was the move the Flyers had been looking for to solve their perpetual goaltending issues. After seeing the goaltending musical chairs that resulted in their second round trouncing by the eventual champion Boston Bruins, it was no mystery that what the Flyers lacked was reliable goaltending. The only problem here was they did not acquire a player under contract. Just last year, they had obtained the negotiating rights to standout defenseman Dan Hamhuis from Nashville, which they quickly traded to Pittsburgh when contract talks faltered. And still, when the free agent market opened, he did not sign with the Penguins, instead heading up to Vancouver.

The Flyers needed to clear cap space if they were to sign Bryzgalov, and they did so with the most surprising coupling of trades you could have imagined.

In one deal, they Flyers sent gifted goal-scorer Jeff Carter to Columbus for young winger Jakub Voracek and first and third round draft picks. In a second deal, they shipped captain Mike Richards off to Los Angeles for Wayne Simmonds and coveted prospect Brayden Schenn. After these deals, Bryzgalov was signed to a nine year deal.

For Columbus, they may have picked up the #1 center they've been missing. Imagine the goal-scoring ability of a line with Jeff Carter centering Rick Nash. This pairing could give monster offensive production, or could backfire gorribly. The only catch with pairing two 40-goal men is where is the set-up guy? Without a set-up man, these two could play a little puck hog and end up COSTING their team some goals. OR they could explode and propel the Blue Jackets into the playoffs. But if the Jacks are to have any postseason success, they still need to fill a massive void on the back end.

For the Kings, they add another star center-man who is a gifted offensive producer with leadership skills galore. With Ryan Smyth reportedly on the move to Alberta, Richards would round out a ferocious top 6 up front which would include Anze Kopitar, Justin Williams, Dustin Brown, Jarrett Stoll, and Dustin Penner, all 20 to 30 to even 40 goal men. With Drew Doughty and Jack Johnson on D, and Jon Quick in net, the talented youth is in place in L.A. for the long term, and all that really remains to be seen as some depth.

From the Flyers perspective, they gave up a ton, but this could end up really paying off for them. Bryzgalov has yet to play in a city with big hockey pressure, but he could end up being the big game goaltender they've been missing, and his presence should aid in the development of promising young goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky. Meanwhile, their stellar defense remains intact and while they gave up their two-biggest offensive producers, plenty of offensive talent remains. They still keep guys like James van Riemsdyk, Claude Giroux, Danny Briere, Scott Hartnell, Kris Versteeg, and Ville Leino, who all know how to find the back of the net, plus they brought in two talented young forwards in Voracek and Simmonds to bring in talent and grit, just they way they like it in Philly. But even with Briere moving back to his natural position of center, there may be a depth issue down the middle if the Flyers cannot bring in a number 2 center. Schenn can fill that void down the line, but he is likely not close to ready. That leaves just Darroll Powe and Blair Betts, neither of whom have the talent to anchor a second line. The Flyers also got the 8th overall pick out of the Carter deal, so they may be able to get a top find there as well, but that's a gamble. If they really want another talented center, I would trade a defenseman. They have a very talented group of 6 in Chris Pronger, Kimmo Timonen, Braydon Coburn, Matt Carle, Andresz Meszaros, and Sean O'Donnell and surely can afford to let one of them go. There may be a question of leadership with their captain out of the picture, but both Pronger and Timonen have been captains of different teams previously, so there is still plenty of leadership mixed in with all that talent, as well as valuable playoff experience.

Before last season, I guessed that the Flyers would be the most dangerous team in the league, and for most of the season, they were second. But their Achilles heel was predictably their goaltending. Sacrificing offense for Bryzgalov here could be a move that pays huge dividends, and brings the Flyers much closer to drinking from the chalice of champions.