|
Redundant alert! Redundant alert!
Eric Duhatschek of The Globe and Mail has cast the first of what's likely to be an infinite amount of commentary regarding Dany Heatley's first game in Edmonton since he employed his NTC to void a trade to the Edmonton Oilers that would have landed the Senators Ladislav Smid, Andrew Cogliano and Dustin Penner.
For the Oilers, Penner’s emergence as a bona-fide power forward softened the blow a little: His 25 points are not far off Heatley’s total of 28. Considering Penner earns about half of what Heatley does ($4.25-million as opposed to $8-million), Edmonton may be better off without him.
None of that changes the fact that rabid Oilers fans have long memories. The boo-birds are already warming up; the reception, for Heatley, at Rexall Place, is expected to approach Pronger-ian heights of displeasure.
Apparently rabid Oilers fans are the ones who can recall the Pronger and Heatley trade scenarios. Who can blame them really? If my organization traded the greatest player of all time to Los Angeles for Jimmy Carson, I'd probably be in a perpetual state of apopletic shock as well.
Kudos to the Oilers fan for practicing their booing though. At least they'll finally have something other to do besides go to the West Edmonton Mall.
In all fairness to Heatley though, he didn't actually do anything wrong. When he asked for a trade, his NTC essentially became a limited movement clause which allowed him to list of all the teams that he'd accept a deal to. In hindsight, it's actually hilarious to recall that Edmonton was so low on Heatley's esteemed list, that he would have rather preferred to return to Ottawa.
I do find it really odd that Duhatschek wouldn't go all in and mention the Hallowe'en costumes that Penner and Cogliano wore for their team function. If you're going to be the first to trumpet Heatley's arrival in Edmonton, take the time to work all the angles so that you beat your rivals to the punch and leave them no options.
Sunday Night Rumours
So first there's a Bleacher Report that Alexandre Picard and Ryan Shannon could be on their way to Chicago for Cam Barker and now Sens Chirp is echoing their sentiment.
I realize that some may champion Barker as a defenceman who could help an ailing power play and I'll concede that moving Picard and Shannon isn't necessarily a lot to give up. However, at a $3.5M pricetag, isn't that too much money for a one-dimensional, defensive liability who has never been anything more than a 5th or 6th defenceman in Chicago? And more importantly, hasn't Ottawa already roll the dice on two similar players in the past in Campoli and Picard?
Is Bryan Murray doomed to make the same mistakes? Or is he going to continue to field a cut-and-paste blueline until Cowen and Karlsson are ready for full-time duty next year?
Frankly, the deal doesn't make sense. Ottawa can't take on Barker's salary without moving more salary out and Chicago's not going to diminish their team without going exhausting other possibilities first. (Ie. moving Brent Sopel.) Similarly, is Murray in fact in a place to miss on his next deal? Obviously his hands were a bit tied with the Heatley deal, but is there pressure on him to win his next deal outright?
If Chicago covets expiring contracts, I'd humour them with an offer featuring Volchenkov, Shannon, Picard and more to land one or both of Seabrook and Sharp.
|
Bloguin is the revolutionary blog network specifically focused on helping bloggers get the most out of their websites. We're currently working on building a large network of online communities and hope to expand our blogging coverage to include a wide range of topics. 
The Bloguin Network allows advertisers to promote their products and services to our ever-growing number of visitors. We offer both site-specific ad placements as well as the ability to run a network-wide campaign. If you're interested in working with Bloguin to meet your advertising needs, please contact us.
The Bloguin Network is always looking to expand. We're specifically looking for blogs in the sports, entertainment, and video games field, but are open to adding any type of quality site.. If you're a blogger and interested in joining our network, please fill out our application form.
The Bloguin Login gives you full access to everything our network has to offer. Your name and password will work for each and every one of our sites. Signing up is simple, and will allow you to post in all our forums, create member blogs, and access other cool features! What are you waiting for? Create an Account! 
There's a very good reason why Barker has been on the 3rd pairing: Keith, Seabrook, Campbell and Hjalmarsson. And again, even on the third pairing, he's on pace for a second staright 40 point year.
Defensive liability? Maybe. He's currently even, and was -6 last year.
But seriously, who would you pick as your 4th defenseman: Alexandre Picard, Chris Campoli or Cam Barker. Don't you think that
Kuba-Volchenkov
Phillips-Barker
Campoli-Carkner
is far superior to
Kuba-Campoli
Phillips-Volchenkov
Picard-Carkner?
Cap-wise, it's doable. I believe the cap hit would be roughly 2.3 million for this season (A quarter of the schedule finished). Picard and Shannon combine for 1.050. If you demote Lee after Volchenkov returns (As he's been out 7 days, he qualifies for IR, so Lee's salary shouldn't count against the cap for the time he was up) that frees up around 1.000. So only about 0.300 would go against the Senators cap space, which is around 1.300.
Things do get trickier for next year, as Barker plus a re-signed Volchenkov put us right up to the cap, which doesn't leave room for Foligno, Regin, Winchester, Donovan, Lee, Karlsson or Cowen. However, trading Kelly in the off-season and demoting Cheechoo next year frees up over 5.000.
All that being said, it would be redunkulous for the Hawks to make that trade. I'm certainly taking the rumour with a whole salt shaker. However, if this turns out to be true, Murray should jump right on it.