NHL Draft and Trade Talk

[Virtual Jarmo]

So the first real domino falls today. MacKenzie reporting Nathan Horton and Greg Campbell to BOS for Dennis Wideman and the 15th overall pick.

Pretty good return for both teams. Leads me to believe that BOS is banking on taking Seguin. But, that means they may have to move Bergeron/Savard if they want Seguin to play right away.

[Bruins]

So the first real domino falls today. MacKenzie reporting Nathan Horton and Greg Campbell to BOS for Dennis Wideman and the 15th overall pick.

Like what Florida got more, although Horton is the best player in the deal.

[Virtual Jarmo]

Like what Florida got more, although Horton is the best player in the deal.

For now BOS got the best player in the deal, but FLA can get a really good piece at 15. It's a deep draft because it's very top heavy. So there's a lot of comparable players in the middle part of the first round, so it's a matter of getting lucky and catching the one that does the most.

If they get a comparable at 15 to Horton, they win this deal running away.

[Penguin]

Nice first trade for Tallon. He's making himself a good reputation so far other than the contract gribble episode that I didn't really understand!

J.Halak for L.Eller+I.Schultz was a heartbreaking trade for so many of us in MTL..

[Virtual Jarmo]

J.Halak for L.Eller+I.Schultz was a heartbreaking trade for so many of us in MTL..

I really didn't understand that move. I'll tell you what, Davidson's doing one hell of a job in STL. But, what I don't get is that Eller's a pretty common player. I saw him a few times when Peoria was in here playing the Monsters and he's a decent talent, but there are a lot of guys like him out there.

The decision between Price and Halak could set Montreal back a couple years if they chose wrongly.

But on the Blues, they're doing this the right way. They have their goalie, they have their young defensive core. They get a little bit deeper up front and they could really be on to something.

[NashvilleGM]

Meh, Halak did not prove anything yet, just like Price. I think we made the right move cause Halak would of cost us a lot more than Price will, and Price has better potential (Let's hope).

Tim Thomas won the Vezina last year.... and Huet will play in the AHL next year, don't get your hopes too high on a goalie.

I'll wait and see what Eller brings us before complaining like the people in Montreal are currently doing.

Althought I thought there was a bigger market for goalies, after reading many articles, I don't think we could of got more than what we did.

[NashvilleGM]

The Bruins GM is currently one of the best GM in the NHL right now, except for that stupid Tim Thomas contract.

The Leafs will remember that Kessel trade for a long time. Man I'd love to be a Bruins fan right now haha

[SharksGM]

The Bruins GM is currently one of the best GM in the NHL right now, except for that stupid Tim Thomas contract.

The Leafs will remember that Kessel trade for a long time. Man I'd love to be a Bruins fan right now haha

... and the Lucic contract and the Ference contract but hey, who's counting. On the other hand, he's definitely better than Dale Tallon, who's got let's see, the Huet contract, Campbell, Kopecky, Sopel... he lucked into two great players with Toews and Kane and nearly blew the Hawks' chance at a cup with his stupid signings before he was fired.

Meh, Halak did not prove anything yet, just like Price. I think we made the right move cause Halak would of cost us a lot more than Price will, and Price has better potential (Let's hope).

Well he dragged Montreal kicking and screaming into the playoffs and was easily their best player during that time, so I'm not sure what more you would want him to prove.

[NashvilleGM]

Well he dragged Montreal kicking and screaming into the playoffs and was easily their best player during that time, so I'm not sure what more you would want him to prove.

Yeah he did, but so did Huet and Theodore, do we miss them ? nahhhhh

[Virtual Jarmo]

Byfuglien + Sopel + Aliu + Eager to ATL for 24th pick + 54th pick + Jeremy Morin + Marty Reasoner.


Holy hell ATL gets bent over. Two guys who won't be any help, Byfuglien who really only helps a contending team and an ok guy in Aliu for two good picks, a pretty good prospect in Morin and a depth guy.

[Penguin]

Atlanta gets bent over?

Byfuglien is a sick player. Goes in front of the net, snipes, he's a competitor, a dangler, etc. How can you say he can only help a contending team!!?

[Fedz]

That's a great deal for Chicago...they needed to move salary and they did so (particularly in Sopel) for a first round and more.

[Montreal Canadiens]

Hm.....When have you seen Byfuglien score a talented goal? He's Tomas Holmstrom, all his goals are going to come in the blue paint, and they did for the most part in the playoffs. Byfuglien is not a "sick" player, he's a glorified grinder. This was a no brainer for Chicago. They have a lot of forwards, and they are close to the cap, so why not keep injecting that team with young players and draft picks.

Who knows maybe they have some room for a FA or two now.

[CapsGM]

Great return for Chicago, especially for cap relief, but it's not like Atlanta gets a bad deal here.

[Virtual Jarmo]

Great return for Chicago, especially for cap relief, but it's not like Atlanta gets a bad deal here.

I disagree. I think ATL gets a terrible deal. Byfuglien may be a 20 goal scorer, but at what cost? They trade away two futures that could help them, and Byfuglien's all they get. Aliu won't be more than a 3rd liner at most, Sopel and Eager are salary dumps.

ATL needs to keep adding pieces for the future and develop a core.

[SharksGM]

So basically the Hawks got a 1st + prospect (Morin) for Byfuglien, then Aliu + salary dumps for a late 2nd. The first is a pretty good deal (people were saying no way would Byfuglien bring back a 1st + prospect) and the second is even better. So yeah, Atlanta screwed up and now the Hawks might even be able to keep Versteeg.

[Jungle Cats]

I agree that Chicago made out like Bandits, but Atlanta does get a fairly decent winger/dman who had a very good spring, and Sopel is undeniably a guy who can take shifts on the second pairing...

They get three NHL ready bodies, which I think gets undervalued with hockey nerds like us who are so covetous of picks, although the addition of Reasoner going the Hawks way is kinda weird....

[Oilers_GM]

it's on the bigscreen...


Before it filled up!....



Some of the guys...

Dubnyk... JDD.... Smid... Eberle. it's grainy because I was sitting on the side, so this is the best view on the jumbotron.


Hall talkin with Oiler fans LA to Edmonton.



A historic pick - Stevie Y as GM!

[Femur]

Versteeg to the Leafs. hardly the best player in the league, but he is a hard worker and 24. i expect Leafs fans will like him. his contract is just too high for his production.

[Virtual Jarmo]

Versteeg to the Leafs. hardly the best player in the league, but he is a hard worker and 24. i expect Leafs fans will like him. his contract is just too high for his production.

Yep. Not a bad move.

Best move of the day is the Penguins getting Michalek. One of the most unsung D-men in the league.

[WildGM]

I was hoping Vancouver would get sign Michalek. Especially at 4 million a season. However I'm happy with what Gillis has done today. Getting Hamhuis, and Malhotra today (Also depth with Tambellini and Perrault..AHL guys...but players who can play on the 4th line) Ballard at the draft. I'm really happy with how the team is shaping up.

Also I don't know if this is true or not...have any you guys heard any of this? Supposedly Columbus is really interested in Kevin Bieksa. God, please someone just take that useless plug.

[Fedz]

Also I don't know if this is true or not...have any you guys heard any of this? Supposedly Columbus is really interested in Kevin Bieksa. God, please someone just take that useless plug.

Rumour has it Los Angeles is also extremely interested as they didn't manage to scoop a dman on the UFA market.

[Virtual Jarmo]

Also I don't know if this is true or not...have any you guys heard any of this? Supposedly Columbus is really interested in Kevin Bieksa. God, please someone just take that useless plug.

Even at Bieksa's brutal salary, he's a huge upgrade over Marc Methot, Mathieu Roy, and whatever other scrubs they had filling in. Hell, Grant Clitsome was playing games for them.

Have to say, though, they'd probably have to find a taker for Commodore. They won't have two guys making 3.5+ to be 5th and 6th D.

Moving Huselius is other option.

[DevilsGM]

Yeah gotta say I'm overall pretty happy about the Canucks moves. Ballard and Hamhuis(love that we got another BC boy ) will bring a much needed physical presence to our backend and really gives us legitimate top 4 with better than average bottom pairings with Salo, O'brien, and injury subs Alberts and Rome. The only concern now is that we don't have a #1 dman but hey teams can win without one Carolina comes to mind as a recent cup winning team that didn't have one. Not stoked on Malholtra's NTC but I guess you gotta make sacrafices to get your guys right. I don't believe we made ourselves cup favourites today but I do believe Gillis addressed our needs and we are among the contenders at least.

[Commish Bub(NYR)]

Yeah gotta say I'm overall pretty happy about the Canucks moves. Ballard and Hamhuis(love that we got another BC boy ) will bring a much needed physical presence to our backend and really gives us legitimate top 4 with better than average bottom pairings with Salo, O'brien, and injury subs Alberts and Rome. The only concern now is that we don't have a #1 dman but hey teams can win without one Carolina comes to mind as a recent cup winning team that didn't have one. Not stoked on Malholtra's NTC but I guess you gotta make sacrafices to get your guys right. I don't believe we made ourselves cup favourites today but I do believe Gillis addressed our needs and we are among the contenders at least.

Yeah, was trying to think of that D corps the other day off the top of my head, and couldn't remember them all...had to look it up. (Canes fan, btw)

What's up with Calgary? First Tanguay, now Jokinen. A year from now what will we be saying about Sutter: genius or unemployed?

[SharksGM]

Ballard and Hamhuis aren't exactly the most physical defensemen out there.

As for Sutter, he's apparently got a stranglehold on the GM job in Calgary, so I'm just going to go with 'crazy' for now.

I head the pundits on TSN talking about the restraint showed in this UFA period... other than Volchenkov going for slightly less than Komisarek did last season (sigh...) I don't see any evidence for restraint. All kinds of goons are getting ridiculous deals (Shelley, Boogard) and people are getting incredibly excited over Dan Hamhuis. Malhotra gets 2.5 and Armstrong gets 3, it's nuts. It's not so much that there's more restraint this time around as the UFA class is just plain shitty.

[Commish Bub(NYR)]

Pfft. Restraint, schmestraint. Totally agree about the crazy goon money being thrown around, and once again middling Dmen are going for big money (although not quite FingerMoney). As a Canes fan, I always start off July 1 hoping they'll get into the mix and fill out that thin D corps....then after a few hours I'm glad they didn't.

Sutter probably will be around for quite a while -- but he did give out more money to goons himself: Tim Jackman and Raitis Ivanans.

[Tuo-SabresGM]

FingerMoney

Sounds dirty.

As a Canes fan, I always start off July 1 hoping they'll get into the mix and fill out that thin D corps....then after a few hours I'm glad they didn't.

Same with Buffalo, although it's bittersweet on multiple levels. Half our problem is that few FAs want to come to Buffalo (and not just because of the city), and the other half is that Regier's moves are all over the map at times. Some trades/signings are absolutely stellar, and some make you think he's doing just enough to keep his job.

[Commish Bub(NYR)]

FingerMoney

Sounds dirty.

Toronto fans would agree.

[DevilsGM]

Ballard and Hamhuis aren't exactly the most physical defensemen out there.

As for Sutter, he's apparently got a stranglehold on the GM job in Calgary, so I'm just going to go with 'crazy' for now.

I head the pundits on TSN talking about the restraint showed in this UFA period... other than Volchenkov going for slightly less than Komisarek did last season (sigh...) I don't see any evidence for restraint. All kinds of goons are getting ridiculous deals (Shelley, Boogard) and people are getting incredibly excited over Dan Hamhuis. Malhotra gets 2.5 and Armstrong gets 3, it's nuts. It's not so much that there's more restraint this time around as the UFA class is just plain shitty.

While I agree it wasn't the best year for free agents I do think with the cap always seeming to climb guys are always gonna cash in come UFA time because most GM's notice this trend. And while Hamhuis isn't a 1-2 Dman or anything and did get a huge contract he did fit our needs and could've gotten more so I'm fairly happy with the Canucks FA foray compared to some in the past few seasons, NYR, CGY just to name a few.

Calagry just had a brutal day. Did you guys see Sutter trying to justify his moves to the cameras it din't even look like he believed himself. Olli Jokinen admitted it was his only offer, so come on Sutter you should have at least lowballed him. Just a train wreck and I just keep laughing at all the Lames fans I know.