Dudley does right in trade with Blackhawks – TSN reports Ramsay new head coach, Torchetti assistant
NOTE: Shortly after posting my thoughts on the trade with Chicago, news started hitting about the reported coaching hires of Craig Ramsay and John Torchetti. Thus, there are some updates found below the original post.
Rick Dudley made a deal with his previous employer to pull off his first trade as the Thrashers general manager. Heading to the Chicago Blackhawks will be centerman Marty Reasoner, prospect Jeremy Morin as well as the 24th and 54th picks in this weekend’s entry draft. Those picks were acquired last February as part of the deal that sent Ilya Kovalchuk to New Jersey.
Coming this way are forwards Dustin Byfuglien and Ben Eager as well as defenseman Brent Sopel. The Thrashers will also get prospect Akim Aliu, the 56th overall draft pick by the Hawks in 2007. He currently plays for the Toledo Walleye of the ECHL.
Dustin Byfuglien, seen here in action against the Vancouver Canucks, is heading to Thrasherville along with Ben Eager, Brent Sopel and prospect Akim Aliu (AP photo/Paul Beaty)
Byfuglien played in all 82 games last season for Chicago scoring 17 goals, 17 assists and was a –7. In five NHL seasons he has 55 goals and 54 assists during 260 games and is a –15. During last spring’s playoffs he tallied 5 goals and 16 assists during the Blackhawks’ successful Stanley Cup run. He was originally a defenseman but was moved to right wing at the beginning of the 2007-08 season to give the Blackhawks a bigger body in front of the net.
Byfuglien is a native of Minnesota and was the 245th overall pick by Chicago in 2003. His stepfather, Dale Smedsmo, played four games at the NHL level with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Ben Eager was a first round pick by the Phoenix Coyotes in 2002…23rd overall…and has spent the last three seasons in Chicago. Last season he netted 16 overall points primarily playing on the fourth line. In 255 career starts, he’s amassed 621 penalty minutes. During the playoffs he was a +2 and had a goal, two helpers along with 20 PIM.
Sopel is a veteran defenseman who was a 6th round draft pick in 1995 by Vancouver. He spent 5+ seasons with the Canucks. He’s also spent some time with the Kings and Islanders but the last 3-1/2 seasons have been with the Blackhawks. He is a career +26 in 588 NHL games and has scored 42 goals and 169 assists.
One other quick thing here regarding Aliu…back in 2005, the native of Nigeria was involved in an on-ice altercation with Steve Downie while the two were playing with the Sudbury Wolves of the OHL. During practice, Downie blindsided Aliu with hit to the mouth… knocking out three of his teeth. From what I understand, the incident came about after Aliu refused to take part in a team hazing event in which rookies were forced to stand naked in a bus bathroom. Downie was suspended for five games and instructed to undergo professional counseling while Aliu was suspended for one game.
As far as dollar and cents go…Byfuglien will be in the last year of a contract that pays $3 million and will be an RFA after the season. Sopel will be paid $2 million and is slated to be a UFA next summer. Eager is an RFA as of July 1 and is coming off a contract worth a little less than a million dollars.
What do you think of the trade?
- Thumbs up! Dudley did right (79%, 149 Votes)
- Thumbs down! Don't like it (21%, 39 Votes)
Total Voters: 188
Loading ...As for my initial thoughts on the exchange, well…I gotta say I like it. Basically, you have a swap of prospects, albeit a promising one with Morin. Then what you have is the Thrashers parting ways with a very good third/fourth line center and a pair of picks for three NHL caliber players…obviously, the big name there being Byfuglien.
With the addition of Eager, I also have to wonder if a player like Eric Bolton or Evgeny Artyukhin could now be expendable. Bolts and Arty will both be a UFAs next week.
Could the addition of Sopel play into the Pavel Kubina contract talks? Should the Thrashers find themselves unable to resign that veteran blueliner, they now have Sopel to fill the void. Of course, if the team retains Kubina’s services then you have a defensive corps that includes those two plus Ron Hainsey, Toby Enstrom, Zach Bogosian and Johnny Oduya. Toss in and Arturs Kulda and…hmmmmm… that’s a pretty decent group.
Also, what might any of this mean to someone like Maxim Afinogenov…could this possibly influence his decision to re-sign here? That is, I mean, if Dudley increases the term of any such deal to anything greater than one year. Or is it more likely that Buff has been brought in to replace Max?
Of course, that would also make one Boris Valabik expendable.
Regardless of how all that plays out I really do like this trade. Sure, I hate to part ways with a player like Reasoner who works his butt off on the defensive end of the ice, but the returns are good…so I give this deal a big thumbs up.
UPDATE June 23 11:00 pm – TSN.ca is reporting that Craig Ramsay is the new head coach for the Thrashers.
UPDATE June 23, 11:50 pm – TSN.ca now reports that John Torchetti will be named assistant coach for Thrashers.
UPDATE June 24 12:55 am – There seems to be another trade in the works that is needed to finalize the one with the Blackhawks. This would send Brett Sterling and Mike Vernace to some place called Sand Jose, as C-Viv tweets.
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113 comments Add your comment
BlueSpark
June 24th, 2010
7:26 am
As others have said, this trade means Army is gone, Kubina is gone (this will hurt a bit), and maybe Boults and/or Artyukhin.
Sara
June 24th, 2010
7:39 am
Wow did Dudley move out some contracts or what? That certainly clears room for this trade plus other signings.
Buff just needs to be a gritty pain in the arse all season who contributes more than Army. Where he’s really going to count is in the season that matters. Sopel is an upgrade IMO to the bottom pairing and Eager upgrades Boulton. Both Eager and Buff are RFAs so forget that silly talk of Buff being gone after his contract expires.
There are still needs to be addressed but Dudley has made it clear he intends to do so – both another top-6 forward and another top-4 D-man, either Kubina or someone else. He’s also hoping to get back a 2nd rounder from someone else.
Right now we haven’t lost anything scary other than maybe Morin. But ultimately this trade continues in the mold that began with the Kovy trade of making the Thrashers a tougher and more complete team top to bottom.
Tom Lysiak
June 24th, 2010
7:50 am
I think it is fair to say that we may have had to over-pay some on this trade. But, there is a bigger picture here. Dudley said he wanted to create an identity for this team. Those are the players he thought would start that process. Recent winners, playoff experience, tough role players, etc.
The thing that takes the sting out of the price is we’re still spending some of the return from the Kovy trade to build a team. I like the way Pierre LeBrun put it, “….it’s the gift that was the Kovy trade that keeps on giving. You have a guy who was walking away anyway….”. You could have had “Team Kovy” with him and a supporting cast for the next ten years. Or, turn him (and a few smaller pieces) into Bergfors, Oduya, Cormier, Buff, Eager, Sopel and try to create a team that players will respect and other teams hate to play. Dudley is making bold moves and trying to change the perceptions, inside and outside, for once. Yet for some on here, it’s never the right move…..
Russ
June 24th, 2010
8:12 am
I like the coaching moves a lot. I’m not so sure about the trade. IMO the key will be if Buff signs on for more than two years and how Morin develops. History shows the odds of Buff wanting to stay beyond his current contract are not good. Plus, I think it has to be a bit of a concern that he was a minus player on the Stanley Cup champions and his regular season production was very modest in comparison to his playoff performance. Those are two signs to me of a player that shows very inconsistent effort. My initial reaction is a lot of potential in picks/prospects was given up for a guy who puts up third line numbers in the regular season, albeit one with potential for a lot more. Oh well, hopefully he can learn to bring it every night and eventually realize his potential and re-sign long term here. That is what it would take for Atlanta to come out ahead on this one. I’ll keep my fingers crossed.
A27
June 24th, 2010
8:16 am
Well said Tom…. Those are my exact same feelings towards this trade.
Scotty
June 24th, 2010
8:24 am
Yes, you are right “The Real Thrash”. Clearly RD should have gone after players who have contracts that never expire. Good call.
glovesave29
June 24th, 2010
8:29 am
Dont think this smacks of Waddell at all. To me this is a shrewd move to take advantage of a team up against the cap. You do have to give something to get something in return.
World Be Free
June 24th, 2010
8:30 am
I wanna re-post something I posted last night-for those of you who do not like this trade-
June 23rd, 2010
7:00 pm
Breakdown of trade by player-
Reasoner for Ben Eager straight up
Sopel and Akim for a 2nd round pick-probably means Kubina will not be back
Big Buff for #24 and a prospect, which is what Chicago wanted-probably means Max is not coming back.
Chicago sheds salary and loses only one core player-nice deal for both clubs
When you break it down, both teams got what they wanted. Eager is an energy guy, he lifts his team up. Buff is an immovable object. Sopel got quality minutes during the playoffs with a team that was starving for a Stanley Cup. These guys know how to win and we did not give up a core player to get them. We gave up a good prospect and 2 high picks in a very medicore draft. Or were you guys ready for another 5 year rebuilding plan? The time to win is now.
Smoothie
June 24th, 2010
8:42 am
Critics of this deal like to ignore the fact there was plenty of competition for CHI’s salary dump — not to mention Bowman still needs to trade Versteeg and perhaps Ladd’s RFA rights. Anyway, Bowman has said that he had already spoken to every GM and many multiple times. There were plenty of other offers and Dudley knew Tallon would be a player on draft day with the #15 pick. So you got to figure that into your analysis of this trade.
Price of Byfuglien was #24 and Morin.
Aliu is our 2nd rounder this year, and Duds scouted and drafted him in CHI.
Sopel and Eager for Reasoner, who is 9 yrs older than Eager, who is a RFA and very signable. Crabb is a throw-in here as well.
Arty and Army were already out the door. Sopel is insurance if Kubina doesn’t come back, but don’t give up on that yet.Sounds like they’ve been most pro-active on Pavel.
R. Stroz
June 24th, 2010
8:42 am
Here’s my three keys to the trade:
1) Does Big Buff move his duff during the regular season in combination with re-signing with the Thrashers.
2) In two years, where is Morin?
3) On a less talented team, does Eager move up from the fourth line?
rob
June 24th, 2010
8:57 am
History is just that, history. It is the past, behind us. We all regret the DumbWad years and the Octotards disfunction. But today is a new day, next season a new season. Is it really so bad for some of you to try and be happy as a Thrashers fan?!?!?! I mean really? We aren’t getting Nabokov, Marleau, or any superstar player to sign here (please stop the Spezza talks now). Hopefully we have them coming up through the ranks. This team NEEDS identity…..cohesiveness…..tenacity…..hunger. Words most Thrashers fans know little of. Hockey is going to be fun here. If we support the change, players will WANT to stay here! Are we going to win the Cup? We can all hope, but I think it is going to at least be a better product and effort on the ice. If you don’t want to at least TRY to embrace the change that is starting here, go join the Hawks blogs…..or better yet how about Sage starting a blog of THRASHERSNEGATIVITY where we can all go when we want to cry about how sad it is to not be happy???
Badger Bob
June 24th, 2010
9:27 am
I like it! Seems Dudley is cashing in some chips built up by our past rental player trades and the great draft last year, and its nice to be able to do that. I hate losing Morin, but with Klingberg/Cormier/Petterson/Machacek in the wings, it’s not dire. Chicago did well too, getting a good prospect for a player they couldn’t afford to keep and upgrading from Eager to Reasoner.
And Marty, you are now my favorite Blackhawk! I understand the regrets I heard from Edmonton fans when they lost you. You are a class act!
Have we ever not been able to re-sign one of our roster RFAs? If not, then the concerns about re-signing Buff and Eager may be overinflated. Contract-wise, Sopel is a UFA after next season, but so is Reasoner so that is a “wash”.
Now if we can establish that tough identity, perhaps we’ll stop losing our top players and having to overpay for UFAs…
jen
June 24th, 2010
9:35 am
I am completely jazzed by this trade and the coaching decisions assuming they pan out. I think Tom makes a great point about finally creating a team idenity for Les Thrash. Sopel is a big upgrade on the PK and we have two bodies who should be able to camp out in front of the net and bang them in on the PP next year coupled with some Dmen who can shoot. I would still REALLY like to see Kubina resigned, but I think its going to be a lot more fun to watch a crash and bang team then one dependant on European finesse. You need contributions from a lot of places, and I for one would rather see 6-7 20+ goal scorers (which I think we have now) then one 40+ guy and a team built around one line and one player.
Top 6:
Little/Antro/Bergfors
Buff/Pevs/Kane
Bottom 6
Slates/Thor/Eager
Machachek/Klingberg/White
Cormier/the new swede we signed….we have several prospects that are close. While it would be nice to see them add another winger with more scoring touch, we do have a lot of offense from the blueline with Bogo and Toby and Hainsey (who never gets used on the PP, but who was CBJ’s #1 scoring dman when we signed him)
Badger Bob
June 24th, 2010
9:48 am
I love what Roons and Bolts fans are saying about Ramsay. The only disturbing part? Do a Google Images search for Craig Ramsay – that brings up some strange links…
World Be Free
June 24th, 2010
9:49 am
I feel better than I did 2 weeks ago. Hope others do too.
hip czech
June 24th, 2010
9:51 am
Wow…who would have thought the Thrashers would actually make bold, pro-active moves…certainly not under the DW regime.
Two thumbs up…and looking forward to tomorrow night. I really can’t decide whether I like Niederriter or Johansen as the pick, either will do. Looks like Cormier is going to get a real look in camp, still need a #1 (not sold on Antropov as a #1 center) but there is a log jam after that – Antro, Peverley, Kane (?) or Little (?), White, Slater. If Kane and Little are not moved to center and if Todd White is flushed Cormier could be the third line center.
With the glut of goalies out there do we pick up a third goalie on the cheap (assuming Moose is re-signed) as insurance? I still say Nittymaki would look good here unless of course the curse works in reverse and he never wins a game AS a Thrasher.
Somaatl95
June 24th, 2010
10:04 am
Posted on C-Vivs blog, pasting here as well in reference to all the negativity – Thrasherpenguin – I couldn’t agree with you more! Its to the point where I think the AJC should allow people to rate comments like other websites do. Tsn.ca/nhl is an example. Also any article on http://www.dailytech.com . A comment starts with a rating of zero. If it gets voted down, it is collapsed and has to be expanded to be read. That way maybe people will STFU when it comes to anything/everything that the Thrashers do! C-Viv and Rawhide have excellent blogs and most of you have worthwhile comments but for the love of god you Negative Nancies need to go back to whackin it to UGA or find another set of people to annoy with your hatred!
Spud Webb
June 24th, 2010
10:06 am
OH H&LL YEA…what a great day!!!!!!!!!!! HOPE, we have HOPE!! WE’re NO longer sissys!! Oh god!!! Xmas on June 24th, THANK YOU GOD!!! Holy Sh&t I am JACKED UP!!! Sorry Marty that you had to go! I don’t see a single downside to this trade! We still get to keep the 8th pick!!! Thank you Kovy!!! WOW gotta go make l0ve to the wife!!! ahhahahhahhahah
Red Light
June 24th, 2010
10:12 am
Badger Bob: Buf is a UFA after next season. Dudley said last night he has no intention of losing him and would like to get Eager signed long term too. One of the more refreshing things he said was that we was given an edict to win now.
I think the deal short-term is fabulous. It establishes a tougher identity, provides more depth of recent Cup-winning experience, added a small bit of secondary scoring with Buf, and you now have people to protect and to educate by example those younger players who you think have long-term upside. It didn’t address the playmaking center we all seem to covet and need, which could be Dudley’s next order of business a week from today or sooner.
There is a sense that Dudley is creating a team in his own image, and that should be wildly entertaining.
Smoothie
June 24th, 2010
10:15 am
We are nowhere near the cap floor yet, although re-inking Little, Bergie and Pavs should be imminent (CMac could be trade bait) and cost around $7 M. That still doesn’t get us to $43.4 M. We will have plenty of $ for Max if we decide to put the hard-sell on him. And even if we spend $1.5 M on a back-up goalie, we’re barely reaching $45 M. The true test will be whether the ASG ponies up for a big-name free-agent D-man to push us closer to $49 M. $4 M for Kubina is very fair, but can we convince him to sign for 2 or 3 years?
Smoothie
June 24th, 2010
10:17 am
R/L – better fact check that. Buf is an RFA at the end of 2011. And then he turns 27 in spring of 2012. That’s when he’s eligible for UFA. We should have him for at least 2 years.
Red Light
June 24th, 2010
10:22 am
I swear he was a UFA when I looked yesterday. Old eyes I guess. That’s much better news than I thought. Thanks Smoothie. Sorry Badger Bob!
Red Light
June 24th, 2010
10:28 am
Smoothie: Don’t forget Eager. His qualifying offer has to be $1.1 million or so.
Smoothie
June 24th, 2010
10:37 am
R/L – indeed, I included Eager in my spreadsheet with a 5% raise. I also included Todd White’s potential buy-out, 1/2 a season for Machacek and a full season of Cormier at 900 k and Kulda at 517 k. Before RFA tenders, we are right up under $35 M. We have lots of money for a back-up goalie and a top-line C if that’s the direction we go. Patrice Bergeron anyone??
Badger Bob
June 24th, 2010
10:38 am
In getting Sopel, gotta believe Kubina is gone. If you sign him, even at $4M, you’ve got $21M tied up in Dmen, with no regular spot for Kulda/Vish/Doris. I love Kubes, but spend the $4M on a top 6 forward. Very few teams have a $3M guy in their third D pair, so surely we don’t need one.
Somaatl, I like the posting ratings thing (though I usually end up in the red on tsn.ca for defending hockey in ATL). How ’bout it, Rawhide?
hip czech
June 24th, 2010
10:57 am
Smoothie, Bergeron = yes
Somaatl95
June 24th, 2010
11:04 am
Badger Bob, I’m usually in the red on TSN as well, especially when all those people post “They’re moving to Winnipeg because they suck anyways” and I put them in their place – when TSN approves the comment that is. They didn’t like it when I would point out last seasons 2 worst teams were both teams in Canada. Most of the people that come to this blog read and comment on the Thrashers. Now I have been one to hate the ASG and D-Wad, but the subject of the blogs were about the sorry decisions/indecision that the ASG/D-Wad has made in the past few seasons. I know everyone has the right to say what they want but most of us are here because we like our team and hope they can win everything. There is always one or two posters who like to do nothing but complain. If there were a rating system then it would be hard to feed the trolls, they would be under the bridge where they belong!
And by the way – love the trades, love the coaching situation. Finally a change for the Thrashers that may keep other markets from constantly tearing us a new one.
glovesave29
June 24th, 2010
11:08 am
Skip the ratings…its an easy knee jerk reaction to give thumbs up / down. Do what we try to do here…an honest exchange of ideas.
GaVaHokie
June 24th, 2010
11:13 am
Did Quennville inherit Torchetti when he came on last year? I’m surprised Torch took an Asst. position, but maybe Quennville wants some input on his own staff this summer.
Whatever… I’m frickin’ happy! Great tandem!
Badger Bob
June 24th, 2010
11:15 am
Bergeron = yes. Roons are an interesting cap team too – still need to sign Wheeler and a couple of their RFA forwards and Dmen with only about $7M of cap space. They can do it without trades, but may be interested in moving Patty. I’m sure Ramsay would love to have him. What do we need to give them for him 1 year contract?
Red Light
June 24th, 2010
11:37 am
Marleau and Pavelski re-signed by Sharks according to Custance!
Red Light
June 24th, 2010
11:41 am
Marleau gets $6.9 million per year for 4 years. Pavelski gets $4 million per year for 4 years.
Thrashers27
June 24th, 2010
11:49 am
It’s gonna be a long off-season…
World Be Free
June 24th, 2010
12:08 pm
Good for the Sharks-now they gotta find a goaltender
Alan R.
June 24th, 2010
12:16 pm
We traded for two players who will be playing out their contracts next year.
Byfuglien is RFA next year. Sopel is UFA next year. Eager is RFA this year.
This is anything but a Waddell-esque trade. Byfuglien isn’t 5′6″.
Alan R.
June 24th, 2010
12:20 pm
I’m surprised Torch took an Asst. position
I’m pretty sure Dudley visited Torchetti’s restaurant and threatened to come there every day for breakfast, lunch, and dinner until he agreed to be an assistant coach here in Atlanta.
Word is, Dudley then approached an adjacent table and asked for a price “for the little girl.” I hear that was the breaking point for Torchetti.
Hockey Biltong
June 24th, 2010
12:21 pm
Cam, thanks for the correction. I must have mis-read Buffs’ byline somewhere.
If we keep Kubina, I can’t help but think how much better we will be with big bodies around him. We loved his size coming to Atlanta and having an immediate impact,so it goes now with more size from Chi-town and Kubina has good hands and smart hockey sense to boot.
Spud Webb
June 24th, 2010
12:23 pm
Now lets go get Jeff Carter!! I’d LOVE that!
World Be Free
June 24th, 2010
12:24 pm
Response to the Thrashers-Hawks trade on TSN.CA tilts in favor of the Thrashers, 57-43%. These are Canadians responding. So do you wonder what the perception is of Atlanta now, by fans and potential players? Dudley will hopefully remove the term “hockey wasteland” from the player and fan vocabularies when referring to Atlanta.
Atlanta and Florida have made moves-think the heat is on Stevie Y to do the same? Always easy to make the initial move than it is to make the retaliatory strike. Yzerman has to do something about his defense, maybe goaltender too. Mike Smith has disappointed, Rammo is in Europe for at least another year and Niiti is a UFA in a week.
The Thrashers have to make another move, either a center (Matthew Lombardi!?) or a goaltender (take your pick). I do not see us moving the #8 pick, Vish may be the bait or another prospect.
Biltong-I like Kubina alot, but I think he is gone. Rumor was he wanted $4M/year for 3 or 4 years. I think he will lose a step in 2 season, which would leave us with a Todd White commitment.
Finally for Sabres fans-Darcy Regier has left a wakeup call at the front desk-for July 7th!
Red Light
June 24th, 2010
12:28 pm
I think I have this correct, but after the Marleau and Plekanec signings (and Kovalchuk of course), the UFA forward to tally the most points last season was Afinogenov.
World Be Free
June 24th, 2010
12:28 pm
Lotta rumors about UFA rights being traded, Marleau and Plekanec already resigned. Like I have said before, pretty soon July 1 will be just another date with little player mpvement-it will go back to being just Canada Day again!
rob
June 24th, 2010
12:30 pm
I wouldn’t want anyone’s comments hidden. I actually read them all. Sage, standek, Branden and Smoothie’s full length books, and the vast number of interested (ing) bloggers on here. I just wish that instead of throwing out garbage all the time, some of them would actually join the conversation in a meaningful way, but oh well it isn’t a perfect world is it?
Schroeder
June 24th, 2010
12:30 pm
Ok, I still don’t feed the negative TROLLS,anyone with any real Hockey knowledge can see that this was a good hockey trade for both teams.Did some of you think that Chi was going to trade Sharp and Versteeg to us for Todd White and Joey Crabb and a 7th round pick?Do you understand that every other GM in the league is trying to either better his team or fight the salary cap? I am constantly amazed that people actually think that all you have to do is offer to make a deal and the guy on the other end of the phone is going to say “Oh yeah we’ve been waiting for you to call so that we can trade you Thornton and Marleau for Uwe Krupp and Patrik Stefan”.Guys this is a great day in Thrasher history. We get not one but 2 quality guys behind the bench,solid players from a reigning stanley cup champ. I don’t believe DUDs is any where close to being done. I personally want to see a top notch full time goalie coach and I hope that is in the plans. I also hope that he talks to the bruuns about Bergeron. So everybody chill the F out until the delivery instead of complainin’ about the pregnancy.What a bunch of whiners.
Alan R.
June 24th, 2010
12:36 pm
Lastly, this is for anyone who is wondering why Byfuglien is pronounced “Bufflin.”
BlueSpark
June 24th, 2010
12:40 pm
“Byfuglien” is Norwegian for “bird of the city, according to http://petshark.wordpress.com/2010/05/18/the-secret-name/
So he’ll fit right in here…
World Be Free
June 24th, 2010
12:52 pm
Red Light-I think that means Max is gone and he will get his money cuz somebody will overpay him.
R. Stroz
June 24th, 2010
1:17 pm
This is anything but a Waddell-esque trade. Byfuglien isn’t 5′6″.
We can only hope Dudely is a dyslexic version of Waddell.
glovesave29
June 24th, 2010
1:26 pm
Gotta say I am a bit shocked to see Marleau re-sign in Saan Jose after they took the “C” off of his jersey rather unceremoniously last summer. Thought he was gone…
Brendan
June 24th, 2010
1:31 pm
I’m thrilled that it’s official: Craig Ramsay is our new Head Coach. Our defense is about to improve. Torchetti is the Associate Head Coach, so that is a promotion for him, not a lateral move from Chicago. I’m pleased with the new direction. I am, however, still waiting on Dudley to go public with “The Plan.”
With respect to Byfuglien being paid $3 million to be a 20-goal scorer, this is precisely in league with a “depth strategy,” whereby you pay your 20 goal scorers approximately $3 million apiece, and roll four lines, relatively equally. The goal of a depth strategy … is to have your 4th line approximately as likely to score as your 1st line. That’s tough to defend. Where does the other coach use his checking line, for example? If all four lines are filled with 16-22 goal scorers, who do they focus on? But the key to a depth strategy … is a top flight, proved commodity goaltender. That will take some wizardry. We have no shot at Nabokov. Tim Thomas is 35, and getting paid very well. The Bruins, it seems to me, will rely on Tuukka Rask, from this point forward. There are 3 years left on Thomas’ deal, each year decreasing in price. Any interest there? I’m leery. I’d rather look at Biron, if he’s amenable. Huet may get moved. I would think Simeon Varlamov is the #1 guy in DC, leaving Theodore to hit the open market. And yes, there is Dan Ellis, too. And Michael Leighton. Just don’t say Ray “the headcase” Emery.
Brendan
June 24th, 2010
1:32 pm
WBF: Any chance Ramsay will bring back Cunneyworth?