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With October upon us the Trade Winds have blown
early as Colorado and Calgary pulled of a deal before the end of training
camp. We analyze it below.
Avalanche trade (c/lw)
Chris Drury and (c )
Stephane Yelle to the Flames for (d)
Derek Morris, (c )
Jeff Shantz and (lw)
Dean McAmmond
Well, we think that the Avalanche win this deal hands down and here’s why.
Last year
Chris Drury was handed the reigns to the 2nd line center job with
Peter Forsberg on the shelf and basically, he dropped the ball. Yes he
had close to the same number of goals as the year previous, but Drury’s
stats were almost 20 points less than the year earlier. Now, perhaps it was
just an off year for a lot of ‘Lanche players –
Alex Tanguay,
Milan Hejduk and
Joe Sakic also slumped, but we think there is more to it that just that.
Drury is a talent – make no mistake – and scores some of the nicest goals
we’ve seen, but we think that the 20 goal/50 point plateau may be all he
reaches. He might be able to turn it up if playing with Conroy and Iginla,
but the Flames have been desperate for 2nd line scoring, and with
Marc Savard out of the doghouse, we’d put money on Drury spending some
time with Savard so the Flames can see if the two of them can develop any
magic. In the meantime,
Derek Morris looked ready to really assert himself last season, until a
hand injury forced him to the sidelines. He’s only 24 and likely would have
made the Canadian Olympic team had he not lost much of his season to injury.
Every GM in the league knows how hard a right hand shot on the PP is to find
– and now the Avalanche have two (Rob Blake being #1). The dealing of Drury
is made that much easier with the development of
Radim Vrbata and
Riku Hahl. Morris is even better than late season addition and then
off-season subtraction
Darius Kasparaitis. Not a bad foursome with Blake,
Adam Foote, Morris and
Greg De Vries (or
Martin Skoula).
Stephane Yelle is better than
Jeff Shantz, but he is now Calgary’s 4th line guy rather than
Colorado’s. Dean MacAmmond slides nicely into the Avalanche’s 3rd line and
may actually see some time with Forsberg. If he does, his stats stay the
same as last year. This deal breaks down as a Drury for Morris deal, and
even thought Drury is good, Morris is as good, with the potential to be
great.
Fantasy Impact: Morris’ numbers improve with a better team (although
he might be on the #2 PP unit). That said, Blake is sure to lose about 15-20
games, and the Avalanche won’t miss a beat with Morris. Drury is better than
MacAmmond, but is he
Derek Morris better…? We don’t think so.
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