We get Mathieu Schneider.
Anaheim gets Kenny Klee, Brad Larsen, and Chad Painchaud.
Seems most everyone else thinks he's the second coming of Chris Pronger, but I'm a lot more reserved. I don't think this is a great move - actually I believe I referred to this on someone else's blog as a move that would be akin to slapping a band-aid onto a gushing artery. But time will show, eh?
We play STL tonight. Go Thrash.
5 comments:
Ah... The Count!
Schneider isn't what he once was, but come on! Larsen didn't have a future with the team, and Klee is nowhere near Schneider.
Yes, it is a short term band-aid, but we got better and lost nothing in this deal.
I had this long rebuttal mentally prepared, and then I couldn't find the fucking article I was going to quote, and now I've pretty much lost the whole point I had.
So imagine me countering with some grandiose theories and uh... We'll move on!
Dude, couldn't we've gotten him like, you know, for free? Off waivers? Just sayin...
I wouldn't call him the "second coming of Chris Pronger," as he is not a defensive defenseman, nor a huge physical presence. But he is one of the top offensive D in the league, even at age 39. Plus, he has the same history as your young star in training, Zach Bogosian: a US born and trained high school defenseman who turned to the OHL instead of the college route. I'm sure there are some mentoring opportunities there.
We COULD have gotten him off waivers, but we don't need both Klee and Schneider. Larsen wasn't going to make the team this year. That other guy won't ever play a game in the NHL.
So we get rid of three guys we didn't really need, get the guy we wanted all along, for about $2 mil less than we could have gotten him for on waivers.
Also, I believe (not 100% sure) you can't trade someone the same year you picked them up on waivers. If things go bad, teams will want him at the deadline...
I think it's a solid move. Not the move, that will solve all of Atlanta's problems -- mostly because of what Sarah pointed out: He's not all that defensive. But still, it's a solid move.
And strategically, it must be noted that Atlanta did more damage to the Ducks this way than if they had picked up Schneider off of waivers. If Anaheim had dumped his entire salary they would have been okay. Now, instead, they only managed to dump enough salary to get under the salary cap. Thus, they still can't expect to sign Selanne without making some other move.
That hurts them. A lot. Though it's not crucial for Atlanta that Anaheim suffer, I'm sure grateful as a fan of a west-coast team. To see Burkie struggling because of Selanne and Niedermayer is wonderful! :)
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