Martin Skoula Traded to the New Jersey Devils from Toronto Maple Leafs For a Fifth-Round Pick in 2010 Draft
by Steve Lepore on Mar 3, 2010 11:12 AM EST
in Devils Issues, Views & Analysis
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PrintWant more signs Lou Lamoriello wasn't happy with how the Devils defense was playing? Aside from the rumors that New Jersey had talked to Anaheim about Scott Niedermayer? Well, Lou went through and made a deal that improves their depth at the position if nothing else. The Devils acquired Martin Skoula from the Toronto Maple Leafs, the morning after he'd been traded to Toronto for Alexei Ponikorovski from the Pittsburgh Penguins. The deal appears to be for what TSN's Darren Dreger calls "a middle-round pick". UPDATE: Bob McKenzie of TSN calls it a 5th Rounder.
Skoula won a Stanley Cup in 2001 with the Colorado Avalanche, and spent four years playing under Devils head coach Jacques Lemaire with the Minnesota Wild. Frankly, if Jacques likes him, and he's been through the battles, I'm fine with the deal. I understand Lou's reticence to blow things up yet again for a big-name defenseman that he may be unfamiliar with. That said, it doesn't necessarily alleviate your fears of the Devils defense breaking down like they did last night again.
More to come the rest of the day, we'll all see if this is just a part of more work being done by Lou to improve the team. Check out SBNation's Trade Deadline section for much more.
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While no longer (if ever) a household name...
Martin Skoula is still a talented and sizeable defenseman with a wealth of experience. At his yearly price and for what we had to give up to get him I think this is another impressive “under the radar move” by our fearless leader Lou. It will be interesting to see who becomes the odd man out in the defensive puzzle in the remainder of the season…
Good trade for what we gave up....
He’s a pretty big guy, that shoots left (will fit in with all our other defensemen). He knows how to win with a good amount of playoff experience. He doesn’t take penalties at all. His shooting percentage is 13% this year. He’s been playing 13-15 minutes a game as of late (minus 2 game of only 4+ minute).
I like this pick up. It’s a veteran D-man that can help us along the boards with his size (without taking penalties), who can put up some solid ice time. All for a 5th round pick – YUP! Plus he’s only making around 600k, so not a big cap hit. Good job Lou.
I'm okay with this trade.
It’s really hard to beat the Kovalchuk trade, in terms of big-name players. The only name I can think of that Devils fans would love to see would be Niedermayer, but that’s not gonna happen.
This seems to be a solid deal. We didn’t need to give up any current players or prospects and Lemaire knows him. He knows what to expect playing under Lemaire and Lemaire knows (I would hope) what Skoula brings to the team.
Anyone know this guy's style of play?
For the record, I was hoping that we’d pick up a beefy Defensive D, so at 6’3" 220+ pounds, Skoula’s got the size to be that. (his stats last year with P’burgh confirm that 3G, 5A) But does anyone know this guy’s style of play? Is he more technical? or is he more gritty? I’m just curious in case anyone has seen him play. With 6-penalties-in-mins, seems like he’s more technical. Guess we’ll see Friday.
Go Team USA !!!
Hockey is my life, even though I can barely skate. Anyone willing to take on a good athlete that will learn to skate (with time) for their inline hockey team? Let me know!
Defence is the name of the game!
Lou is not the only one who has recognised the need for stronger D. Pity it took us till now to take action though… The Devils can’t lose if their opponent can’t get through – simple as that! Plagued with injuries since the beginning of the season, our D has had a very hard time yet have come through with flying colors. Unfortunately, the toll of the season on the remaining defenders was heavy and that has been evident in the pre-olympic stream of losses, where the Ds simply didn’t have enough gas. Picking up Kovy was a brilliant move, though the price was a little high, especially on the D (not taking away from Salmella’s strengths). I would have loved to have picked up Sykora when he went on waivers a few weeks ago, with his experience and ability and knowledge of the team. Scott Niedermayer would also be a wonderful re-acquisition… Still, there’s just under an hour left and rumor has it that Kaberle is still up for grabs – probably one of the better power Ds available for trade…
Playoff Push
Skoula gives us experiece in the backline and he played for the Wilds for JL. We did not give up much for him and it is a good move by Lou since nothing better was available,
Gentlemen . . .
Please have realistic expectations on Skoula. He’s older and he will be a solid D man for us. He’ll be way better than Havelid was. But just because Jacques coached him is only a moderate plus at best. We said that Rolston would flourish under Jacques and that hasn’t exactly happened. Lets just be modest about our expectations. That being said, I think Skoula is a top 4 D man on our current defense and a nice addition.
I have respect for most sports fans with 2 exceptions: NY Ranger fans who grew up in New Jersey, and Dallas Cowboy fans who can't name the capital of Texas.
Skoula has to be better then Mottau. He HAS to be.
by thatguy011071 on Mar 3, 2010 3:20 PM EST up reply actions
Here's the question
Who plays when Paul Martin comes back and Skoula is here? Or even better, who sits?
by Tyler Bleszinski on Mar 3, 2010 3:43 PM EST reply actions
I would think the top 6 is gonna be Martin, Greene, Salvador, White, Mottau, and Skoula. Maybe Salmela can push out Mottau but I don’t think so.
I'd rather see Fraser in there
Over Mottau, myself.
by Tyler Bleszinski on Mar 3, 2010 3:59 PM EST up reply actions
I’m just basing that on who sees more time now. Right now Mottau is on the 2nd pairing and sees PK and some PP time. Fraser is on the 3rd pairing and doesn’t see any special teams time so I would think he is out for sure.
I think when Martin comes back Mottau will see less minutes and hopefully play better. If he doesn’t I’m sure he will get bumped out of the top 6
Honestly, I don’t have a lot of faith that Martin will be productive this season, having been out for so long and every game now being so much more intense because of their importance… it’s a lot to expect for him to put up effective top pairing minutes.
If he does find his form (and I’ll happily accept that option and admit my mistake), then maybe:
Martin-Skoula
Greene-Salvador
Salmela-White
Mottau can ride pine until he can be buried somewhere and Fraser goes back down to Lowell?
I get the feeling that we’re stuck with Mottau won’t be going anywhere until July 1…
With that in mind, I think the pairs are going to be:
Greene/Salvador
White/Mottau
Martin/Fraser
Salmela and Skoula as the depth players, because it sounds like Jacques and Lou would rather carry 13 forwards and 8 d on the playoff roster, instead of 14 and 7.
We can hope Motts sits
but Lemaire & Co seem to be enamored with him. I would think I was taking crazy pills, but everyone here seems to agree with me that Mottau is not a top four.
I feel like it should be Stick-handler—stay-at-home, but maybe Lemaire feels like White and Mottau are a “shut-down” pair. I don’t know. We all know that isn’t working.
If Andrew Peters ever plays again it will be too soon.
My guess...
Martin – Salvador
Greene – Skoula
White – Mottau
by undersuspicion426 on Mar 3, 2010 4:19 PM EST reply actions
Changing format
We just saw Canada and the US in the Olympics break the traditional 6 man D lineup with an extra Dman on the roster and one less forward. This was extremely effective against the European teams (see Canada vs Russia) and should be equally effective against NHL teams whose offence is European based (see Caps). With power Ds who can play both ends effectively and score well from blue line and circle, this will give a deeper D and allow better matchups including changing D pairings during the game. Let’s wait and see… with that strategy, Martin will have enough time to find his groove and the Devs won’t be down a D on the bench as a result – especially in the games where a deep defence will make the difference!
What’s good about adding a defensemen is that it’s generating competition for roster spots for the next week or two as Martin begins to return . Martin, Greene, Salvador, White are locks. That leaves Skoula, Fraser, Mottau, and Salmela fighting for the last 2 spots. Hopefully this will create better play from those men. Also, If they are all kept up (2 would be scratched), it will give them some rest and when they get their chance to play, they will play their hearts out knowing it might be a while until they get ice time again.
It all a good idea. But if Lou decides to scratch 2 D-men, which forward gets brought down and which one get’s scratched? Can any D-men get brought down?
Here’s how I would envision the Devils going with a 13F/8D breakdown:
Forwards — Parise, Zajac, Langenbrunner, Kovalchuk, Zubrus, Elias, Rolston, Niedermayer, Clarkson, Pandolfo, McAmmond, Zharkov, Pelley (extra)
Defense — Greene, Salvador, White, Mottau, Martin, Fraser, Salmela (extra), Skoula (extra)
And that would mean demoting/waiving PL3 and Andrew Peters
Which might be equivalent to releasing PL3 and Peters since I believe I read somewhere they’d have to clear waivers.
Go Jets
Go Devils
I was at work all day so I’ll probably chime in with my own comments to add to this post by Steve – thanks to him for putting it up. So here are some quick thoughts:
-Overall, this is a minor deal. More likely than not, a 5th round pick doesn’t turn out to be a great asset and if Skoula’s bad, then him and his cheap contract are gone in the summer.
-What Skoula does bring in that Eckford/Corrente/Murphy/Davison doesn’t have is NHL and playoff experience. That’s the one thing the Devils’ depth doesn’t have on defense – and it came at an incredibly cheap cost.
-Despite his size and puck poise, he’s not a banger, he’s not a very physical defenseman, and his offense is really limited to moving the puck well. For a third pairing, he could fit in; but he’s not as good as Mottau at this point.
-I agree with Hockey Weasel’s breakdown, which will probably be the group for the post season. I think for the time being, Zharkov is probably who gets sent down during the roster-limited regular season. He doesn’t have to clear waivers. Besides, he’ll be on a top line in all offensive situations for Lowell, so he’ll be able to refine his offense for a little time.
-No, Mottau’s not sitting for Skoula unless Skoula plays out of his mind. Skoula was a 7th defenseman in Pittsburgh, he was a bottom pairing defender in Minnesota last season (and reviled by the Wild faithful). Skoula is a rotation defender who probably will be switching in and out with Salmela and Fraser as well as act as insurance for any possible injuries.
Devils in my heart! Devils in my mind! Devils in my eyes! Devils until I die!
In Lou We Trust - The New Jersey Devils SBN Blog
to all the mottau haters.
Sending down Mottau would be a mistake. Now that we have another defenseman he will get more towards the minutes he is used to. Mottau did a overall good job playing all those minutes for covering injured players and the loss of Oduya. As for Skoula good pickup giving away practically nothing.
Donald Vasquez
i agree mottau is a over blamed player he has been playing over his head and by looking at the devils in the standings not doing all that bad of a job of it
by Imperator_Celtic on Mar 5, 2010 12:46 PM EST up reply actions
Skoula
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