01/02/2012 New Jersey Devils Prospect Update: An Early Look At Potential Trade Deadline Targets for the Devils
by Tom Stivali on Jan 2, 2012 11:58 AM EST
in Prospects - Devils & Otherwise
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The holidays continue to impact the number of games played by the AHL, NCAA, CHL and European leagues. After the jump I update statistics for some CHL/AHL players, take an early look at the trade deadline and see which might be on the Devils radar in a few months.
I often wonder if trade and roster speculation are the best part of being a sports fan. Trades sometimes offer a new, fresh start. It allows us as fans to ponder the 'what if' and speculate on the team's new potential. Unfortunately trades don't happen that often and the blockbuster trades of years past have decreased with the advent of the salary cap and entry level contracts. That said, the NHL trade deadline, only 56 days away (the trade deadline is 3pm on February 27th), still has a flurry of activity that is exciting for the hockey fan.
Last year the New Jersey Devils were in an unfamiliar spot when the trade deadline came about. They were sellers. Moving out Jason Arnott and Jamie Langebrunner for picks/David Steckel (who himself was dealt for a pick) the Devils added some ammunition for themselves for the 2012 trade deadline and/or the 2012 draft. Because of their manuevering the Devils have 8 picks in the first 5 rounds of the 2012 draft. With additional picks in the 2nd round (Washington's pick via trade for Arnott), 4th round (Toronto's pick via trade for Steckel) and 5th round (Calgary's pick as compensation for signing Brent Sutter via trade for Pierre-Luc Loutorneau-LeBlond), the Devils have a few assets to dangle to sellers at the trade deadline. The Devils, as evidenced by the chart below, also have the most picks of any team through either the 4th or 5th round.
(Note that I cut off the listing at the 5th round for two reasons. One, was space concerns in putting this grid together. The second, and of more importance, was the idea that the type of player a team would get for a 6th or 7th round pick isn't that impactful. Also there are still two conditional picks in the second round that have yet to be finalized. That will affect the pick totals for the teams involved, Philadelphia, Florida, Colorado and Washington. That's why Philadelphia and Washington have two options under the total picks they have.)
I utilized Wikipedia's 2012 NHL Entry Draft page and put together the grid above to see which teams had an abundance of picks, and which teams were lacking picks. Again, the Devils are at the top of the list when it comes to total number of picks while Los Angeles, Colorado, Toronto and Columbus had only about 2/3 picks within the first 4 or 5 rounds of the draft.
With the extra picks the Devils have, they are poised to be one of the more active teams at the trade deadline as they look to return to the playoffs after a year's absence. Who is available though? That is the question that's toughest to answer this time of year. There aren't many teams who will admit that their season is lost and sell off some assets. That said, we can take a look at the standings and guess which teams will be sellers as the deadline approaches. Above, I highlighted those teams that I think will be sellers. This will change over the next two months but I wanted to get a sense of what players might be available for the Devils.
I looked over the rosters of the teams I thought would be sellers at the trade deadline, their expiring contracts (I think it's safe to assume that Lou Lamoriello and company don't want to acquire any player with money owed to him beyond this year) and then tried to guess/project which players might be available and what type of value their current teams would ask for in return. I also tried to think about what Lamoriello might be looking for in terms of depth. Lamoriello always likes to acquire a defenseman for some extra depth, he may want to acquire a forward for the third line and I think it would make some sense to acquire a 3rd goaltender as an insurance policy in the event that 39 year old Martin Brodeur or 38 year old Johan Hedberg face injury troubles. So let's see what players the Devils could be targeting with those extra picks. I also added some old friends on the listing, just to see if you were paying attention.
Out of the teams above the ones that you would potentially have trouble dealing with are the Islanders, Hurricanes and Avalanche because of how close they are to the salary cap floor. That makes trading for players in expiring deals like Brian Rolston, Milan Hejduk and Tuomo Ruttu a potential headache. You also have some players like PA Parenteau and Bryan Allen that teams may want to hold onto so that they can negotiate a new deal in the off-season when the teams will have two months of exclusive negotiating rights.
Goaltending Trade Targets: Would the Devils hold onto three goalies on their roster for the remainder of the season? I don't know if they will, but I think they should. Nearly 20 years in the league have taken its toll on Brodeur and if he should fall again to injury I don't think anyone would be comfortable with a Hedberg and Jeff Frazee/Keith Kinkaid tandem in the playoffs. Nabokov and Boucher aren't exactly spring chickens but the added depth is something I think I would like the team to address if they are expected to make the playoffs.
Defensemen Trade Targets: Right now, the Devils are playing with house money with Bryce Salvador. Despite playing in every game so far this season, he is still a risk to miss some time with injuries. Anton Volchenkov gets bumps and bruises that knock him out for a few games every so often. Acquiring a defenseman like Pavel Kubina, Hal Gill, Francois Beuchemin can help stabilze the depth of the 'defensive defensemen' the team has. Kubina has also played extensively with Kovalchuk in Atlanta, and can help stabilize the power play. Although, if available, I wouldn't mind somehow acquiring Bryan Allen or Matt Hunwick. Both are having very underrated defensive seasons for their respective clubs.
Forward Trade Targets: This is an area that I think the Devils have a solid foundation that they are working with. That said, they have Travis Zajac still working his way back into shape from injury, Jacob Josefson an injury risk and players like Petr Sykora who are playing a bit over their heads. A solid veteran addition like Saku Koivu or Milan Hedjuk could have a Neal Broten type of impact during a playoff run.
As an aside, I made sure I stayed away from any potential 'unicorn deals' (like Mattias Tedenby and a 2nd round pick for Shea Weber) but part of me thinks that the Lamoriello makes a big move this year. This is all speculation of course but considering this could be the last year in the Devils' careers of Zach Parise and Martin Brodeur, the need for playoff revenue for the financially strapped team and assets to move (picks, prospects like Jon Merrill),perhaps Lamoriello surprises all of us with another trade like the Kovalchuk trade from February of 2010. A big time acquisition would be a nice retirement gift for Brodeur if this is in fact his last season.
News & Notes:
It was a light schedule for the NCAA coming off the Christmas holiday. Only a few teams were in action, one of which was Colgate and Devils defensive prospect Corbin McPherson. McPherson, the senior 'defensive defenseman' tallied his first goal of the season and first since 12/30/2010. I was alerted to the 'Unit' (that's a nickname McPherson has up at Colgate) accomplishment thanks to Colgate radio play-by-play man John McGraw who tweeted this to me on Friday night. Thanks to John for the heads up.
With the World Junior Championship's medal round almost upon us, it seems that Devil's goal prospect Scott Wedgewood might be the #1 goalie as he was in net for the Canadians 3-2 win over the disappointing USA squad on Saturday night.
Jon Merrill finally has seen some game action this year, playing in 4 games for the US team. He has notched 2 assists and didn't look that rusty after a long layoff. (Note that in the stats table above, I utilize Wedgewood/Merrill's stats from the WJC tournament.)
Next week's blog post will have 100% less Mauro Jorg. He was recently demoted to the 'B' league of the Swiss Hockey League. Not sure if I noted this before but while at HC Lugano, Jorg was teammates with former Devil Rob Niedermayer.
That's it for this week, leave any questions or comments below. Thanks for reading.
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I don’t think the Devils need a defenseman at the deadline. They are eight deep now. If someone gets hurt, maybe they get a guy, but I don’t see the need for a marginal upgrade – those don’t work out well.
I doubt very much the Devils will carry 3 goaltenders. If two goalies get hurt, that’s life in the NHL.
I also think the values for a lot of your deadline targets are off. David Jones scored 27 goals last year, he’d be worth more than a 4th round pick. I also think Jones would be a nice fit with Kovalchuk, assuming he’s capable of playing RW (someone told me the Avs are using him at LW this year).
Driving Play - The Blog with Three First Lines
Agreed
Defensive depth is the least of the Devils worries.
Baseball players are smarter than football players. How often do you see a baseball team penalized for too many men on the field? ~Jim Bouton
by LaserVortex888 on Jan 2, 2012 1:00 PM EST up reply actions
I pretty much agree with everything Triumph said above, with one caveat: I’d vastly prefer Milan Hejduk to David Jones. Jones only seems to have had the one big season last year, while Hejduk has been a bonafide goal-scorer for a decade. Of course, there’s the whole NTC to deal with, plus Hejduk being the last playing connection to the glory days of Colorado’s 2001 Cup-winning team…. but I’d rather have Hejduk if I can get him.
Colorado is actually not doing that poorly – I suspect Tom started writing this article a week ago. That’s how fast things change in the NHL. There’s only 5 teams who right now appear to be definitely out of the playoffs: Carolina, Long Island, Edmonton, Anaheim, Columbus. Everyone else is still in it, but by the trade deadline there should be a few more teams who have definitely washed out.
Driving Play - The Blog with Three First Lines
Yes and no. With Duchene out and the # of games the team has on it’s opponents (5 on San Jose) I still think they will be sellers in a few weeks. How much they can sell because of the salary cap floor makes their situation more interesting.
In Lou We Trust: SBN Blog of the New Jersey Devils
I don’t think they will be sellers unless things go really wrong for them. You overestimate how much value selling has versus the possibility of making the playoffs. You also overestimate’s Duchene’s loss.
Driving Play - The Blog with Three First Lines
Taking one of their top even strength scorers is going to hurt them. Knowing they are in the lower end of the Fenwick tied tables I am surprised you have even a little faith in them.
Plus, I am not overestimating selling. This is about good management and looking to replenish picks in a draft where they only have 2 picks in the top 4 rounds. Althought perhaps thoughts of good management go out the window when you trade a non-protected #1 pick for a goaltender.
Again, I think the more interesting question is if they want to sell….Can they?
In Lou We Trust: SBN Blog of the New Jersey Devils
Colorado is a break even Fenwick team.
There’s always ways to sell – I don’t even think they will be looking to sell everyone just because I think they like their team.
Driving Play - The Blog with Three First Lines
Unless they had an amazing few games before BTN updated the site, but i would bet a lot of your money that less than a few days ago they were in the 45-47 tied range which was good for 26th or 27th in the league. Weird.
In Lou We Trust: SBN Blog of the New Jersey Devils
TOI has them at 50% with the score tied.
Driving Play - The Blog with Three First Lines
I don’t share your confidence in the defense. If you consider the ‘top 6’ as: Larsson, Volchenkov, Fayne, Greene, Salvador, Tallinder and the extras Foster/Taormina, I would have concerns about Salvador’s ability to stay healthy for a full season (I think they are playing with house money with him at this point), Volchenkov’s proneness to minor injuries that make him miss games, fatigue from Larsson playing a much longer schedule than he ever has and while it didn’t seem to be an issue the other night, Tallinder missing time from back spasms should be concern. I’m not saying the sky is falling, and I do realize each team has these question marks, but the Devils have a lot of them and the prospect of Kurtis Foster and Matt Taormina playing 20 minutes a night is something I am not comfortable with.
In Lou We Trust: SBN Blog of the New Jersey Devils
You don’t fix these issues by bringing in another body. How good is Hal Gill going to be as a 7th defenseman, only working with the team in practice or coming in when someone’s hurt? At some point you have to trust the guys you’ve got.
Every year the Devils make a move for defense and every year the guy they bring in becomes everyone’s least favorite player. NJ brought in Foster, that’s their deadline deal. They’re 8 deep, bringing in a 9th guy doesn’t help. Unless they move Foster in the deal they make, it doesn’t add up.
Driving Play - The Blog with Three First Lines
Short of acquiring players like Weber or Suter, there’s no deadline deal that will improve this blueline. Injuries change things and perhaps a season-ending injury to one of the defensemen would provide enough impetus to bring in a depth defenseman, but for now I’m comfortable with the depth the Devils have – it would take injuries to half the top 6 to force Urbom into duty.
The higher priority is a top-6 RWer who can provide more consistent scoring and really allow the team to go three lines deep with two-way talent.
Realistically, there’s only a few names I’d be ok with the Devils trading for, the top being Bobby Ryan. The Ducks aren’t going anywhere, and if his name is indeed on the trading block I feel the Devils should give a substantial offer that won’t jeopardize the future. Perhaps the following;
To NJ;
Ryan
2nd
To Anaheim;
Tedenby
Gelinas/Burlon
1st
Room for improvement on that deal, I’m sure. And a definite unicorn/wishful thinking deal. But a clear improvement for the team as well.
That is a unicorn trade
Anaheim isn’t trading Bobby Ryan for a 1st-round pick and a bag of magic beans. That’s what Mattias Tedenby and another prospect would be — a bag of magic beans. No way, no sir, no how.
If I’m Anaheim’s GM, and Lou Lamoriello calls me up offering this trade, I laugh my rear end off. Then I hang up the phone. Then I block the number Lou called from so he doesn’t waste my time in such a fashion again.
Before you propose a theoretical trade, is it too much to ask for anyone to stop for a minute and ask why the other side would make such a deal? Is it also too much to ask for anyone to stop for a minute and think that perhaps we value certain prospects (e.g. Tedenby) a lot more highly than other clubs are going to? If someone can’t come up with a reasonable answer to those questions, there’s no business proposing the trade.
As I said, room for improvement. I’m not a GM. Instead of going off about the ridiculousness of the deal (in addition to repeating your stance in different ways), how about you be constructive and propose something instead?
Before you criticize someone, take the time to offer a better alternative without sounding so pompous.
Bobby Ryan is a star of close to Zach Parise’s stature, and no one here would entertain such a package for Zach.
Any package for a young star like Ryan would have to include Larsson. You might be able to finagle a deal involving both Merrill and Henrique instead, but players like Tedenby and Gelinas won’t cut it. Never mind that Burlon isn’t even playing consistently for the AHL team. Or that by Anaheim throwing in a 2nd rounder, it’s a swap of a very high 2nd rounder for a low 1st rounder, which could be a difference of 10 picks or less if the Devils get past the 1st round of the playoffs.
There isn’t a better alternative to offer, thus I won’t do so. The Devils don’t have a combination of picks and prospects I think would be palatable to the Ducks when Bobby Ryan is supposed to be going the other way.
This isn’t a situation where Anaheim would be trading a pending UFA for whatever they can get, it’s a situation where you’re trading an elite forward with a reasonable contract (three more seasons after this one at a cap hit of $5.1 million) and expecting a fair return. The Devils don’t have the pieces to do so — if Zach Parise were signed long-term, Anaheim might consider some sort of deal with ZP as centerpiece, but his pending UFA status makes that practically impossible at the present time.
as much as i would love that, considering I’m from the same town as bobby ryan. I know that wont happen, the ducks would want tedenby and henrique or something
"Its the letter D"
by Rory B. Bellows on Jan 2, 2012 6:00 PM EST up reply actions
That’s not happening. I’d rather keep that 1st rounder and draft Radek Faksa or hopefully/better yet, Brendan Gaunce
Hell on Ice/In Lou We Trust/Twitter
Everyone has more goals than Scott Gomez
by Kevin Sellathamby on Jan 2, 2012 6:07 PM EST up reply actions
It would be much more helpful...
If Tedenby’s stat line was better than 1G/4A/-14, it certainly decreases the trade value of what should be a top trade chip.
Scoring RWer
The Devils need high-end scoring depth, but are set at LW and at C. Really, their only need is at RW, but it’s got to be a sure top-6 level talent – there’s absolutely no need to waste an asset on one of these “third liner but maybe they could play on the 2nd line” types.
The pickings are going to be pretty slim. I’d consider Ales Hemsky of the Oilers, who has generally been close to a point per game player over the last several seasons. He might be a defensive sieve for all I know, though, and if that’s the case that won’t work.
Ideally, Phoenix drops out of the playoff race in a hurry…Shane Doan and Ray Whitney would both be great fits. Doan would bring grit and scoring touch around the net, whereas Whitney is still a wizard with the puck and would be a great playmaking complement to our snipers (and has a track record of success as a rental player). Whitney is listed as a LW, but he’s a righty shot.
Unrealistic assumptions
I’m sorry, but a number of your underlying assumptions about the Devils’ front office behavior are simply faulty.
1) “Would the Devils hold onto three goalies on their roster for the remainder of the season? I don’t know if they will, but I think they should.”
The Devils have never, under Lou Lamoriello, carried three goalies on the roster, except in cases of injury and emergency recall. In fact of all the teams in the NHL, only the New York Islanders have regularly carried three healthy goalies this season. In the event that either Hedberg or Brodeur get hurt, there are now four minor league goalies on professional contract who could be brought up on an emergency basis. While I don’t think anyone would be overjoyed at the thought of Kinkaid or Frazee carrying the Devils down the stretch, I also don’t think anyone would be put at ease by having Brian Boucher or Evgeni Nabokov in there either. Acquiring a third goalie is extremely unlikely unless either Hedberg or Brodeur is seriously hurt before the deadline.
2) "Acquiring a defenseman like Pavel Kubina, Hal Gill, Francois Beuchemin can help stabilze the depth of the ‘defensive defensemen’ the team has. "
Although I would prefer to see the Devils return to the days of pairing an offensive defensemen with a defensive defenseman, the issue the Devils are currently facing isn’t defensive depth, it’s top end talent. The Devils currently have 9 defensemen on the roster, 8 of whom have averaged more than 17 minutes per game. Only four have positive 5v5 relative Corsi numbers, and Adam Larsson’s is only 0.8. Hal Gill is currently -5.6, Pavel Kubina is -6.0 – even on bad teams, they are currently making things worse. Why would the Devils want to acquire either of them?
Granted there aren’t many clear cut Daneyko/Stevens style “Defensive defensemen” on the roster (or possibly even available for trade in the league at large). However I believe you can get by with only two stay-at-home guys on the blueline if those two are effective and capable of eating minutes – there are after all, only three pairings each game. The problem for the Devils has been that neither Salvador or Volchenkov have been consistently effective.
3) " (I think it’s safe to assume that Lou Lamoriello and company don’t want to acquire any player with money owed to him beyond this year)"
Over the summer, Lamoriello traded Rolston for Trent Hunter, who had more years left on his deal than Rolston, in order to waive him. At last year’s trade deadline, he acquired David Steckel, who was under contract through next year. Jamie Langenbrunner was acquired while under team control for years beyond 2002.
Additionally, capgeek projects $21.5 million to come off the Devils’ books this summer. Granted a good chunk is hopefully allocated to resigning Parise, but there is a new CBA to negotiate, and that may include an amnesty clause like the last one did.
While pending UFAs are more likely to be dealt by teams that are looking to “sell” than players under contract for multiple years, one can’t assume that Lamoriello doesn’t want to do that. He may be concerned about losing Parise in the offseason for nothing and wants to hedge his bets by acquiring a forward for this year and next. Or he might look at the Devils depth chart and realize that there doesn’t appear to be enough top six forwards coming through the system or awaiting free agency and attempt to fix that with a trade.
While we haven’t seen what kind of budget the Devils will be operating on, I can assure you with the financial problems looming over the Devils that they are not going to get a contract with any intention of exercising an amnesty buyout (unless in this deal they get rid of the Kovalchuk contract, which I can’t imagine).
Driving Play - The Blog with Three First Lines
I’m sorry, but a number of your underlying assumptions about the Devils’ front office behavior are simply faulty.
I am stating my opinion on what I think they should do. I am not saying that I am assuming the Devils will in fact perform any of the items I wrote about.
Acquiring a third goalie is not something many would normally think about, but again Hedberg/Brodeur combine to almost 80 years in age. Plus, let’s also remember that they haven’t been that good. Frazee/Kinkaid or the ECHL fodder in the system is not something I would want to rely on. And Boucher and especially Nabokov are MUCH better alternatives. In fact, I think Nabokov would be the best goalie on a Devils roster right now, regardless of injury.
the issue the Devils are currently facing isn’t defensive depth, it’s top end talent.
I don’t disagree with this at all. I just don’t see (or can’t think of) who that person/top defender would be.
They may not want Kubina or Gill. But if you are doing this stricly by CORSI, don’t forget Beachimin 4.6, Campoli 4.7 or Allen at 4.0. Don’t forget Kubina was a 6.0 last year. Also, don’t fall into the CORSI trap of thinking that is the only measure of a player.
Lamoriello saved $2.4MM (roughly) by buying out Hunter compared to the $5MM he was going to pay Rolston. The Devils financial troubles have been well documented. Combine that with free agent monies potentially due to Parise and a goaltending duo, it’s doubtful the Devils add any salary for next year.
Remember that if an amnesty clause is put into the the next CBA, it helps teams with cap management. There will still be real dollars paid to those bought out. The Devils just simply wont have the money next year to do that.
In Lou We Trust: SBN Blog of the New Jersey Devils
Hi all - Colorado Perspective coming through :)
First of all, Hunwick for a 2nd? PLEASE convince Lou to make that deal!! The Colorado fan base would ADORE you. Heck, we’d take a 4th for him, or even a nice bag of pucks. We are so swamped on the blueline and Hunwick is… well…. pretty bad. He has an affinity for stupid penalties and bad turnovers, and he’s been with us for 61 games and is STILL looking for his first Avalanche goal. Some of those games have been spent playing left wing, which he isn’t great at either. He’s looked better as of late, but if Lou offers just about anything for Hunwick, I can’t imagine Sherman not saying yes. $1.55 mil is way too much to pay a warm body.
Hejduk isn’t going anywhere though. As long has he wants to play hockey, he’ll have a spot in Colorado. #23 is probably going to the rafters when he retires, and his veteran presence is just too valuable for this young team to give up right now. He’s our Captain, he’s our leader, and he’s #4 in franchise scoring. Colorado is the only team he’s ever played for, he’s already won the Cup, likes the city, and seems happy with his current role as mentor. I highly doubt he’ll waive his NMC for anyone.
Jones, on the other hand, might be available. He’s been… off… as of late and isn’t really fitting in anywhere since Duchene became a wing. Even with Dutchy out right now, Galiardi has jumped Jones for that Top 6 role. A change of scenery would probably do Jones good.
Speakin of Duchene, yes, losing him is going to suck, but he’s projected to be back in around 4 weeks. O’Reilly and Hejduk have been doing a good job of keeping the scoring going in his absence, and if Paul Stastny can return to form, we’ll be fine.
Back to the topic of trades, what it comes down to is the Avs lack scoring wingers more than anything. Getting more picks would be nice (our chief scout is unreal), but forward prospects would be just as good. But our organization has an affinity for making the big deals, so very little is off-limits and a major Top 6 Wing acquisition would easily take the team to the next level (yes, I’m talking Parise). The untouchables are Duchene, O’Reilly, Landeskog, Hejduk, Johnson, and Varlamov. All the others could probably be moved for the right price. Stastny, Quincey, Wilson, McClement, Winnik and Giguere are unlikely to be touched, but if the price is right, Sherman may say yes.
Judging from what I’ve learned of your team, here are some of the players that you may want to keep an eye on:
Right Wing- David Jones, Brandon Yip (Both have been good in the past, but seem to have stalled. A change of scenery could be all they need)
Scoring Bottom Six Forwards (with points from their last 10 games) Cody McLeod (3 + 4 fights), Brad Malone (2), David van der Guilk (4), Chuck Kobasew (4), Kevin Porter (4) – Our 3rd/4th lines have been dominating others offensively and have been one of the major keys to our recent winning streak. I could see these guys being moved for picks alone though. We have quite a few of these kind of guys.
Defense- Anyone but Johnson. Our D is really very good this year with lots of offense to go along with it, but we just have 10 NHL-caliber blueliners fighting for 6 spots. Trades WILL happen.
Goaltending prospects- I know you guys need more of the goalie of now and the Avs are happy with Varlamov and Giguere. But Cedrick Desjardins is the AHL’s top goalie, and Calvin Pickard, Sami Attokallio, Kieran Millan, and Kent Patterson have all been doing really well this season and can’t all be retained next year.
Colorado and NJ would be great trading partners for more than just picks. It will be interesting to see how the next two months shake out.
Just a Colorado girl in Montana who ♥s the Avs and writes for Mile High Hockey.
Thanks for the insights!!
Hunwick’s underlying numbers aren’t that bad, but I poke on to your site from time to time and the pulse I got was that he was not really a ‘fan-favorite’. That’s why I listed him in both 2nd/4th value. Hard to peg what value he may have to a gm.
And you shouldn’t trade for Parise. He becomes a free agent in 179 days! Plus, can you really re-sign both Johnson, Duchene and Parise?
In Lou We Trust: SBN Blog of the New Jersey Devils
Yes. And more. We have more cap room than you even want to shake a stick at. Capgeek has us with $42 mil free next year – there’s plenty of wiggle room to clear the way for Parise’s contract. Besides, trading for Parise (or at least his rights if we wait until summer) would mean first dibs and a more reasonable contract on our end. If he hits UFA, we won’t be the only ones vying for him.
And as far as Hunwick is concerned, a lot of us have a feeling that he was recently played instead of Quincey because our organization is trying to move him. I could be that we were on a win streak and the coach didn’t want to shake up the lineup, but sitting one of our best defenseman for someone that has spent more than half the year as a healthy scratch was a very baffling move. I’m not sure what management feels Hunwick’s trade value is, but we traded a prospect from the second to get him. However, he just doesn’t seem to fit in here (we made a clear move to a big blueline) and trading him for SOMETHING is better than losing him UFA. I have a hunch that’s why Sherman re-signed him last summer. But our current group of defensemen has worked out better than we expected, and with the big contracts we’ll have next year, we won’t need Hunwick’s $1.55 mil to keep us above the cap floor. Recently, he’s not really hurt us when on the ice, but he’s not really helped us much either. I’m just not sure Colorado is the right place for him, in the same way Colorado wasn’t the place for Brian Elliott. I’m just surprised that anyone would even be seriously talking about making a trade for Hunwick, especially for something as high as a second.
Just a Colorado girl in Montana who ♥s the Avs and writes for Mile High Hockey.
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