Rumours du Jour
Week of Oct. 30th
We have some dribs and drabs to talk
about.
Eric Daze is in the news again. This time,
after being sat out of a game on the weekend, he has asked, through his
agent, to be traded. Maybe FINALLY, after years of talking about it
something will happen. Now before the speculators start pumping the story
we want to go on the record: unless there is a significant package Daze
will not be involved in deals centered around Peter Bondra or Anson
Carter. Reports out of Chicago had Daze and Anders Erikssen heading to
Beantown...we just don't see that happening. But we digress. What would a
trade mean to Daze owners? It probably wouldn't be good news. Let's face
it, he's received all kinds of chances in Chi-town simply because they
drafted him - they felt obligated to give him too many shots. If he was to
go to practically any team in hockey (outside of Columbus or Minnesota) he
would be a 3rd liner. What do 3rd liners do for fantasy owners? Not a lot.
Wait to see if Daze gets showcased with Zhamnov and Amonte. If he does
take advantage of that to make a deal.
Speaking of Boston, what will the recent
hiring or Mike Keenan and the even more recent resignation of Harry Sinden
as GM mean? Well, let's face it - Keenan would love a guy like Anson
Carter on the ice. In fact, having Mike Keenan there could be great for
Carter's development. I think that this contract dispute will be solved
before US Thanksgiving and Carter will be in the lineup by December 1st.
Pick him up as a free agent or make a deal for him if you can.
Watch the Kings goaltending situation VERY
closely. Storr and Passmore (who was recently sent to the minors) had real
problems to start the year and Fiset is still out with knee problems. Look
for the Kings to make a deal or make a signing if the situation doesn't
improve. They wouldn't give up (or get) much but someone like Wregget or
Shtalenkov could be in the cards.
Week of Oct. 23rd
We promised a couple oft issues back that
we would talk about goalies. We got a bit way-layed by some juicy tidbits.
Well now back to our promise. WIth injuries to Byron Dafoe and John
Grahame, the Bruins may be looking to fill a hole. Even if Dafoe's injury
is not serious Harry Sinden may need to open up the wallet to secure a
decent back-up who will be there at least until the New Year. If Sinden is
looking to go cheap he could do worse that Mark Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick
would have little fantasy value, but if Dafoe were to have chronic
problems with his groin/hamstring that could change. In Chicago the
situation seems more dire. Jocelyn Thibault has just looked awful. Work on
the street is that Mike Smith hasn't pushed the panic button yet, but he
could be looking to make a swap. Problem is there just isn't a lot out
there. Let's face it there are only a handful of teams with two veteran
goalies. What we can't understand is why Mikhail Shtalenkov hasn't been
offered a job. You would think that Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, and LA
(to a lesser degree) would all come calling. If he ended up on the Flyers
or Kings he could be a valuable pick-up.
Top 5 Goalies Most Likely to be Traded
1) Ken Wregget (currently in the Detroit
minor league system)
2) Jocelyn Thibault (some team would take a
chance and the Hawks need a veteran 'tender)
3) Steve Passmore (once Fiset gets healthy
Passmore becomes expendable. Watch where he goes!)
4) Norm Maracle (once he gets himself in
shape, he could be a steal for a team - and you!)
5) Garth Snow (he could be valuable to a
team if the injury bug continues to strike NHL goalies)
Week of Oct. 16
Nary about a week ago, Dave Taylor was
fielding telephone calls about his less than pleased captain, Rob Blake.
Reports has several teams trying to look to see what the Kings would want.
The going rate so far is likely 2 or 3 prospects and potentially a draft
pick. Florida is a bit restricted in terms of them taking on another big
contract, but rumours persist that Murray is thinking about a package that
would include Robert Svehla, a draft pick, and a top flight prospect for
Blake. Blake likes the make-up of the Panthers and playing in an offensive
team system would certainly be attractive to him.
Fantasy Impact: The Panthers have a few top
prospects that would likely be involved in any deal for Blake. You could
look at David Shvidki or Ivan Novoseltsev to likely accompany a rostered
player (Svehla), a lesser prospect and a first round draft pick. Smart
money would likely see Novoseltsev head to the west coast – as Taylor
looks to build an entertaining team to put butts in the seats. As far as
Blake goes – the change of scenery could be just what the doctor
ordered. He play tons already – and on an offensive minded team like
Florida, Blake could flirt with 75-80 points in a year if he stays
healthy. If you own Blake currently, hang on to him and see what happens
(Blake is playing well, proving his worth the Kings organization) – or
start chatting with other owners about these type of rumours. If you get
more dependable production based on a rumour like this, deal the
always-breakable Blake.
Also in the hunt for Blake are the San Jose
Sharks. Latest fin skinny had the Sharks thinking about Suter, Strum and a
1st rounder for Blake.
Fantasy Impact: We don’t see this deal,
or any deal involving the Sharks and Kings coming to fruition now or in
the future. The Kings will be battling the Sharks for a playoff spot this
season, and the last thing GMs like to do is to help teams in their
conferences that they are competing for the playoffs. This deal would not
seem to be enough from a Kings stand point, as Suter is solid yet brittle,
and Marco Sturm while serviceable is not a player that fans will want to
come and watch play.
Latest rumour out of the 'Yotes den, had a
potential swap between the pups and the Rangers. Players involved were
Richter, Fleury, Pavel Brendl and Jamie Lundmark swap for the expensive
Tkachuk and the unsigned Khabibulin. While we are certain the Rangers have
spoke with current GM Bobby Smith, Sather is not likely to give up Brendl
nor Lundmark to get the often disgruntled Tkachuk.
Fantasy Impact: While Fleury continues to
struggle adapting to the grind in the Eastern Conference, and Brendl has
not impressed in two training camps now, the fact that "the Bhulin
wall" remains unsigned, and that the sale of the Coyotes is not yet a
done deal, means we won’t see Tkachuk in a new uniform for a while. The
smart money is the Rangers are likely Tkachuk’s destination, but it will
likely be not quite so big a deal. Fleury is committed to making last
season just a memory, and Tkachuk is not dependable enough to give up this
much talent to acquire. If a deal does happen, involving a swap of Fleury
for Tkachuk, we’d take Fleury coming out ahead in terms of fantasy
impact. Tkachuk would not likely enjoy the bruising, tight checking
Eastern Conference as much as Fleury would enjoy a move back to the
free-wheeling West. will be playing behind
And finally, appears as though Claude
Lemieux has set up camp out in the desert. Reports have had Lemieux
skating with other unrestricted free agents Greg Adams and Michel Petit
– as they all shoot pucks at Khabibulin in a rink close to Phoenix. Our
bet is that when the dust settles after the pending sale that Lemieux will
be skating with JR and Tkachuk within a week.
Fantasy Impact: This is a toughie. Never an
awesome regular season impact player, Lemieux won’t be donning an NHL
jersey this year until the Gretzky et. al takeover in the desert in
complete. We thought the business end of the sale would have been
completed right now – but it hasn’t. We think that Lemieux will be
patrolling a wing position by the middle of November. If you can afford to
keep Lemieux on your reserve roster for now – let him sit. However, if
you can chat up this news of his rumoured imminent signing as soon as the
Yotes sale is complete, some owner in your league will remember his
playoff exploits and you could end up with a steal in a deal shucking
Lemieux.
October 13
Rumours abound concerning unsigned free
agents Anson Carter and Mike Peca. On Thursday both said that they would
like to be traded and Carter in fact stated that he will never wear a
Bruins uniform again. Has he been stealing speaches from Byron Dafoe?
Anyway, let's look at some of the rumours concerning these players.
First Carter. Many people were talking
about an alleged deal with the Rangers involving Mike York. We have
already commented on this earlier but we should just revisit it for a
second. York is a center. The Bruins are fairly deep at center. York would
likely be a 3rd liner unless Pat Burns moved Allison to RW where he played
most of last year. This is unlikely as Allison's wrist is healthy and he's
comfortable taking faceoffs. Carter would probably be forced into a 3rd
line RW or center position because of the Rangers depth. It would seem
unlikely that Sather would give up someone of York's age and potential for
a guy that would end up on the 3rd line. We think this deal is dead. So
let's look at what makes sense. We like Carter going back to the Capitals
for Bondra assuming Bondra would play in the East (which he says he
won't). The Bruins could use his speed and scoring touch. Carter would a
welcome addition to the Caps providing skill and toughness. There are a
number of other teams that would line up to take him but it would seem
that either the Bruins are asking too much or don't want to move him. We
tend to believe it's probably a little of both. To be honest, we wouldn't
be surprised to see both sides to bury the hatchet and sign a deal within
the next couple of weeks.
Now Peca. This is a little bit more
complex. Peca had been penciled in as the 3rd line center after his poor
performance last year. He is not the only premier two-way forward on the
team (thanks to the development of Curtis Brown). And, he is asking for
money far exceeding what the Sabres are willing to pay. So the questions
the come up when you're talking trade are what would the Sabres want? And
will a team be willing to pay Peca what he feels he's worth? Honestly, we
think the answer to both questions is probably no. But we're in the job of
commenting on existing rumours and proposing realistic alternatives. There
hasn't been much on the hot-stove about Peca mainly because most teams
just aren't willing to part with a player and/or draft picks to earn the
right to pay a solid two-way guy $4.5 million. There has been talk of
Detroit (a possibility but who could they offer in return?). If Handzus
has abdominal surgery then St. Louis could be interested and could maybe
part with a d-man and a young forward. But we'll be frank with you Mike
Peca owners out there. This is could be a long, long wait. The Sabres
aren't in any hurry right now. They're not going to give Peca away and
what they need is what most teams can't afford to give up - a solid,
experienced d-man.
P.S. What about a Peca for Carter
deal? Nah, can you imagine Harry Sinden and Mike O'Connell paying Peca
what he wants?
October 11
There are two types of rumour. One that is
pure speculation, like the Daze rumours, and the other that is based on
fact like the rumours surrounding Bondra. It is common knowledge that
Bondra wants out of Washington. It is common knowledge that Washington has
at least tried to accommodate. What isn't common knowledge is where Bondra
will go. Enter the speculators. Bondra allegedly wants to play in the more
free-wheeling Western Conference. IF this is true then there are really
only a few likely destinations. First let's start with where he isn't
going: Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver, LA, Detroit, Dallas, Nashville,
Minnesota, Columbus, Anaheim, and Colorado. Why? Well in Edmonton, Calgary
and Colorado it's money. The Flames and Oilers can't break the bank and
the Avs have already broken the bank to sign their current players. In
Nashville, Minnesota and Columbus Bondra wouldn't make enough of a
difference to justify the cost. There are still a huge number of gaping
holes in both lineups that need to be filled before trading for an aging
sharpshooter. As for Vancouver, LA, Anaheim, Detroit, and Dallas? Well all
of these teams could afford Bondra (the jury is still out on whether McCaw
would buck up the money for the Canucks) but he just doesn't fit into the
system. As well, the cost may be too high and teams like Detroit and LA
are spent when it comes to dealing youth.
So who does that leave? Well we've got
Chicago, San Jose, St. Louis, and Phoenix. In Chicago Mike Smith seems
committed to revamping the roster. He's already moved Michal Grosek (who
was probably pencilled in for at lest 20-25 goals in the off-season) and
hasn't replaced him (unless re-signing Kris King counts). His problem is
that he has depth in defense (which the Caps definitely don't need) and
well as some questionable young guys in Eric Daze, Dean McCammond and
Josef Marha. None of these guys either together or individually will like
cause George McPhee to part with Bondra. OK, so let's look at San Jose.
Well, if Owen Nolan doesn't play for a while the Sharks are going to be
looking for some scoring. They have depth at the forward position that
would allow them to make a deal. In our books they are an extremely likely
candidate to land Bondra. At this point I think we can discount Phoenix
and St. Louis but we're not sure for how long. If the sale of the Coyotes
goes through it would seem likely that Gretzky and company will re-sign
Khabibulin and get Claude Lemieux under contract. As well, Robert Reichel
should fit into the mix somewhere. If all these pieces fall into place
then the need for Bondra is minimal. In St. Louis, they seem pretty happy
with their team right now although losing Michal Handzus for any length of
time could hurt. If they could get Bondra and not pay too much, it would
make sense for their run for the Cup. However if Scott Young keeps scoring
the way he is, the phrase "Peter who?" will become very common
on the lips of Blues GM Larry Pleau.
Now from a fantasy perspective San Jose,
Phoenix or St. Louis would all be great places for Bondra to end up. He
would get all the playing time he would ever want, would see plenty of
powerplay time and would likely pick up a few shifts of penalty killing duty. The most important thing would be that Bondra would likely be in a
better frame of mind which could lead to more production.
October 10
Well the rumour-mill is filled with the
same names - Daze, Bondra, Khabibulin, Tkachuk and the likes. So in honour
of these alleged deals we felt it was important for Puckjunkie.com to
weigh in with our take. First off let us say that from a fantasy
perspective trade rumours have some importance. New linemates, a change of
scenery, new coaches, all make a difference.
Up until last week
we would have said that if Daze was going anywhere it would have to be in
a pretty good deal. But Mike Smith has proven that he is the K-Mart of
GMs: he's having "blue-light specials" left and right. From a
fantasy perspective it may be the best thing for Daze if he moves on.
Question is where will he go? Well the word out there has Washington with
someone for Bondra. Well, other than the fact that it's not likely to
happen, it wouldn't be a bad situation for Daze. He would get an
opportunity for a fresh start and likely play with a talented center. Some
other options mentioned include Montreal (whenever a French-Canadian name
pops up the Habs are automatically said to be interested) but this just
doesn't seem to fit. If the Canadiens are going to make a deal it's going
to be for a more proven offensive force. A couple of other teams make
sense. San Jose could be interested and could help him find his scoring
ways. Or maybe a team like Anaheim is in the cards. This is pure
speculation on our part but having Ronnqvist, Leclerc or Kohn as your 2nd
line LW would tell us that they have some room for improvement.
|
