Monday was full of trades, and I’m looking forward to offering thoughts on the rest of this season’s deals as they come down the chute today. Without further ado, and starting with Sunday’s Montreal-San Jose trade, he we go.
Craig Rivet is a nice pick-up for the Sharks. He’s been a very useful, and generally a good defenseman for Montreal for a long time. The Sharks packaged a prospect and a (probably late) first-round pick for the sturdy blue liner. Rivet brings more than 600 games of experience, and is an everyday right-handed shot on the blue line. He has decent offensive instincts, and is very sound in his own end. He can be beaten man-to-man, but should be able to thrive in the Sharks’ system.
The Capitals and Senators swapped farm hands. Lawrence Nycholat went to Ottawa, and could be a useful spare forward down the road.
Vancouver pulled off two excellent deals today, sending a pair of conditional draft picks to Chicago and Los Angeles for Brian Smolinski and Brent Sopel. In Smolinski, the Canucks get a very good second-line centre who can play the wing, and is defensively sound. Smolinski will relieve some of Brendan Morrison’s defensive responsibilities, which should help Morrison open things up and get back on track offensively. Sopel is a former Canuck, who plays with a lot of sandpaper in his own end. He played very well in his time with Vancouver, and should be able to slide back into the system seamlessly. Sopel also brings 23 points with him, and it never hurts to get extra production from the back end.
The final trade of the day was a wonderful example of a lost art. Like the backhand, the three-way trade is a rare sight in the NHL, but Detroit, Philly and Chicago got down to business on one today. To my mind, the Flyers came out as the winners of this deal. They picked up a pick, and defenseman Lasse Kukkonen. Kukkonen has played 54 games with the Blackhawks this season, and has been one of their better defensemen. He’s a skilled defenseman with tremendous upside. With Kukkonen in the fold, the Flyers now have five defensemen born after 1981 on the roster, and are positioned to have a wonderful crop of blue liners in the next couple seasons. Meanwhile, Chicago probably will end up in the middle of this deal. They lost Kukkonen, but already have a stable full of defensive prospects. They added a heart-and-soul guy in Jason Williams. The strong third-liner has 26 points this season (well off last season’s 58), but is seen as having some upside remaining. He should fit in well with the Blackhawks’ youth as they move forward in their rebuilding. He has playoff experience with the Red Wings, and also brings some of that Red Wing pedigree. At the bottom of the barrel, the Red Wings got a little tougher, to quiet some of the criticism they’ve faced this season for a perceived softness. That said, they’ve picked up a player that’s been dogged by criticism most of his career, and has a sterling minus-31 rating with the Flyers this year. Calder has one plus season in his career, and has averaged just 0.05 points a game more than Williams has. Williams has never been a minus player. The Wings may have added some toughness, but they’ve added a defensive liability, and ended up losing five points in this deal. Hard to call it a good one.
Continue to check back Tuesday as we move toward the 3 p.m. deadline.
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