This past week the NHL's free agency period opened up...And while there were plenty of signings, the biggest moves were all trades...The first one, and the biggest one was the Toronto Maple Leafs, after much speculation, moving talented scorer, Phil Kessel to the Pittsburgh Penguins...And while many in Toronto are happy to be rid of Kessel, the Penguins won this deal...
Kessel, with great hands, great skating, good speed, to go with his piss-poor defense, often out of shape, coach killing, locker room cancer ways, has driven people crazy since stepping into the NHL...Guys with his goal scoring ability don't get traded for no reason...Especially not twice...By all accounts the guy is a pain in the ass...He has a wealth of talent, but doesn't work hard enough...Doesn't play D...He's fat...But man can he shoot...And now he's going to a team where he has talented people around him, to feed him the puck, and he won't have to worry about D...Sidney Crosby has got to have had a boner since this news broke...There's a chance he'll actually be playing with an elite goal scorer, assuming the pair Kessel with him and not Malkin...Malkin and Sid don't play well together...So with this deal, the Penguins could have two high-powered lines...
And what did they give up for Kessel? Well, Kessel comes with two prospects who haven't sniffed the potential they are said to have in D-Tim Erixon, and W- Tyler Biggs...As well as a 2nd round pick...The Penguins gave up, Prospect F-Kasperi Kapanen, average prospect, F-Nick Spaling, and prospect D- Scott Harrington, who if I'm making a big trade, he is not the Penguins D prospect that I would trade for...They have better...Also the Penguins send conditional 1st and 3rd round picks...The Leafs may be rid of the Kessel bullshit, but they lost...
Pittsburgh also resigned trade deadline acquisition, D- Ian Cole...3 years for $6.3 million is a good deal for keeping your Blue line strong...
The other big trade...The St. Louis Blues sent star RW- T.J. Oshie to the Washington Capitals for F- Troy Brouwer, G-prospect Phoenix Copley, and a 3rd round pick...Ummm, Yeah, Washington is a big time winner here...Oshie gives them the ability to have two strong top lines...And makes their Power Play a lot better...Brouwer is an average grinder guy...And Goaltending prospects are often the toughest to figure out...Example, Rick Dipietro was a first round pick, and fucking horrible! Henrik Lundqvist is one of the NHL's elite goalies, and he was a 7th round pick...
There were a lot of rumblings that at least one of S. Louis's stars was going to get moved, so I wasn't shocked when it was Oshie...He was quite outspoken late last season about the teams lack of respect for their coach...
The next trade, and this one surprised the shit out of me...The Chicago Blackhawks traded pending restricted free agent W- Brandon Saad, prospect F- Alex Broadhurst, and prospect D- Michael Paliotta to the Columbus Bluejackets for forwards Artem Anisimov, Marko Dano, Jeremy Morin, Corey Tropp, and a 4th round pick...It was no secret that Chicago was going to have to make tough decisions, and there are probably a couple more moves they will make to free up cap space...But trading the young, talented Saad who had a huge playoff run, caught a fee of us off-gaurd...
Anisimov is good, and Dano will jump right into the lineup as well...Tropp is a grinder who may end up in the AHL, and this will be Morin's second stop in Chicago, and not much is expected...Saad bolsters an already Talented and ready to burst lineup in Columbus...Adding him to their top six just made this already tough to play team, a real pain in the ass...Columbus locked Saad up this week with a 6 year, $36 million contract...Columbus wins this deal...
Signing-wise, the winners start in Alberta...Edmonton signed D- Andrej Sekera (6 years $33 million) and F- Mark Letestu (3 years $5.4 million)... Letestu is a well rounded player who can play on the PP and PK and will be a good influence with that young team...
Calgary signed RW- Michael Frolik (5 years $21.5 million) after a breakout season...They also agreed to terms with 22 year old D- Dougie Hamilton (6 years 34.5 million) after trading with Boston for him...They also inked G- Karri Ramo for another year at $3.8 million...Between their draft weekend moves, and these, both of Alberta's teams are looking good...
Arizona did well too...Signing back two players they recently traded...Stanley Cup Finals clutch performer, F- Antoine Vermette (2 years $7.5 million) and D- Zbynek Michalek (2 years 6.4 million)...Also, solid backup goalie Anders Lindback (1 year $875,000) and tough guy, with some skill, Steve Downie (1 year $1.75 million)...
One signing jumped out at me, and could be a surprise win...The Ducks signed Goalie Matt Hackett for 2 years $1.2 million...Hackett (25 years old) was the third string guy in Minnesota, before he was traded to Buffalo...In Buffalo he was lumped in with a mess of goalies, and none quite got the shot to be the guy...Hackett has talent, and if he gets regular work, he could be really good...
Losers... Buffalo...Yes, they signed 2nd overall pick Jack Eichel...But on draft weekend they traded for Ryan O'Reilly, who comes with a big ego and an agent that feeds it, and wins apparently...At 24 years old, and 6 seasons into his NHL career, O'Reilly has only scored 20 or more goals in a season, once...Yet his agent was commanding big money, and that's why Colorado was eager to trade the physical, defensive Center...Well, Buffalo resigned him to a 7 year, $52.5 million deal...
The O'Reilly deal will lead to more winners...Guys like New York Rangers C- Derek Stepan, who just filed for arbitration...And a guy like Steven Stamkos, who will be a free agent nest year...'O'Reilly got $7.5 million a year? I better get 10 or 11!'
Surprise...35 year old Brad Richards cashed in on his Stanley Cup run with Chicago, and got a 1 year $3 million deal with Detroit...Many didn't expect Detroit to be much of a player in free agency, but they did this, which was a tip-off...Because next they signed D- Mike Green for 3 years $18 million...Detroit is getting older, but always seem to move talented young guys into their lineup...Will these two moves payoff?
My Rangers did squat...They announced their GM Glen Sather was stepping aside, but staying President...His right hand man is the new GM...Now he must search for cap space, and resign 4 important restricted free agents...And he has no 1st round picks for a couple years...Thanks for the ass fucking Glen!
If I didn't cover your team, they didn't do anything that really grab me...Let me know how you think they did, or ask me about your team, I'll have some thoughts...I've been going through all the moves fro a couple days.
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