I do have a post, upcoming, where I talk about where I see the Oilers going this off-season. Lowe, of course, goes somewhere else.
Over time, I have gotten better at handling the pain.
Big trade today:
Matt Greene (25) ... 1.15 mill/yr for 1 yr
07-08 ... 46gp .... 0g 1a (1) -3 ...... 16.41 toi . 0.05 pp . 2.46 sh
......... Desjardins: -0.32 / -0.08 / +0.01
06-07 ... 78gp .... 1g 9a (10) -22 .... 17.36 toi . 0.08 pp . 2.25 sh
......... Desjardins: -0.66 / -0.02 / -0.01
AND
Jarret Stoll (26) ........ RFA (last was 2.20 mill/yr)
07-08 ... 81gp ... 14g 22a (36) -23 ... 17.56 toi . 3.53 pp . 2.53 sh
......... Desjardins: -1.54 / +0.09 / -0.08
06-07 ... 51gp ... 13g 26a (39) +2 .... 18.11 toi . 4.45 pp . 2.44 sh
......... Desjardins: +0.94 / +0.07 / +0.23
FOR
Lubomir Visnovsky (32) ... 5.60 mill/yr for 5 yrs
07-08 ... 82gp .... 8g 33a (41) -18 ... 22.59 toi . 4.35 pp . 1.24 sh
......... Desjardins: -0.19 / -0.03 / -0.00
06-07 ... 69gp ... 18g 40a (58) +1 .... 24.27 toi . 5.57 pp . 0.58 sh
......... Desjardins: +1.41 / +0.04 / -0.01
------
STOLL - this an odd duck of a player.
In one sense he is hugely under-rated when one considers the strength of opposition he played last year (of course he had bad numbers - he was in over his head all year!). Throw in continued improvement, per injury recovery, and next year should be an okay year for Stoll.
In another sense he is a limited player who needs huge powerplay time (and those are HUGE pp toi numbers folks) to produce. How many 3rd line defensive forwards who happen to be face-off and powerplay specialists do you know? Yanic Perreault maybe (though he was softer than Stoll)?
With the rise of the young-uns on the Oilers depth chart Stoll was just a slow skater racing a fast clock.
Greene - no school for old school NHL
The poster boy for the difference between the old NHL and the new NHL. If his career had started 8 years ago he would be one of the young studs of the game. As it is we continue to hope he will get better one day. And hope. and hope. and hope.
He is super-protected on this team right now. His minutes are good and his team-mates are good so this issue is simply that he just isn't that good. With the games played he has (151 NHL games) we are fast getting past the 'lightbulb-goes-on' stage of his career.
I can't help but think that Smid's combative attitude last year made this an easier trade.
Visnovsky - out of place and out of time
The Kings are a young team. Stoll and Greene are far younger, and far cheaper, than Visnovsky. As a bonus, with the forward depth that team has Stoll should actually be effective there. So maybe this wasn't a salary dump? Nah. It was still a salary dump.
That leaves us with Visnovsky himself. The noise made about how bad his 07-08 year was requires a look back at the team he was playing for - it was a far better defense then (and that isn't saying much). Odds are good a large part of the fall-off in his play has to do with defensive pairings and overall quality of the team.
i.e. Visnovsky didn't get THAT bad overnight. He had some help.
Heh. I have to think that with the goaltending about to be upgraded Lombardi had find a way to ensure one more really high draft pick... Voila! a new Kings defense!
------
Taking a look at it I have to say that I see it as a good deal for the Oilers. They got the better player and the Oilers have the pieces to put Visnovsky in a situation where he will succeed. Given his skill set we should see two or three good years followed by a couple of declining skill set years.
The problems for the Oil are two fold:
1. they are 2.2 million closer to the Cap today than they were yesterday. The stage is now set for the Oilers to make a second move. Thay almost have to. The rumors surrounding Pitkanen get hotter every day.
2. the age set of the team is skewed. One would think this team is being set-up for a real run at the play-offs and while that should always be the goal how much better is a team that keeps Souray and Visnovsky over a guy like Pitkanen?
Question of the day - what does Visnovsky have for no-trade or no-move clauses?
What was, I had thought, going to be a fairly quiet summer has turned into summer that waits for the other shoe to drop.
------
Have a great evening everyone.
Over time, I have gotten better at handling the pain.
Big trade today:
Matt Greene (25) ... 1.15 mill/yr for 1 yr
07-08 ... 46gp .... 0g 1a (1) -3 ...... 16.41 toi . 0.05 pp . 2.46 sh
......... Desjardins: -0.32 / -0.08 / +0.01
06-07 ... 78gp .... 1g 9a (10) -22 .... 17.36 toi . 0.08 pp . 2.25 sh
......... Desjardins: -0.66 / -0.02 / -0.01
AND
Jarret Stoll (26) ........ RFA (last was 2.20 mill/yr)
07-08 ... 81gp ... 14g 22a (36) -23 ... 17.56 toi . 3.53 pp . 2.53 sh
......... Desjardins: -1.54 / +0.09 / -0.08
06-07 ... 51gp ... 13g 26a (39) +2 .... 18.11 toi . 4.45 pp . 2.44 sh
......... Desjardins: +0.94 / +0.07 / +0.23
FOR
Lubomir Visnovsky (32) ... 5.60 mill/yr for 5 yrs
07-08 ... 82gp .... 8g 33a (41) -18 ... 22.59 toi . 4.35 pp . 1.24 sh
......... Desjardins: -0.19 / -0.03 / -0.00
06-07 ... 69gp ... 18g 40a (58) +1 .... 24.27 toi . 5.57 pp . 0.58 sh
......... Desjardins: +1.41 / +0.04 / -0.01
------
STOLL - this an odd duck of a player.
In one sense he is hugely under-rated when one considers the strength of opposition he played last year (of course he had bad numbers - he was in over his head all year!). Throw in continued improvement, per injury recovery, and next year should be an okay year for Stoll.
In another sense he is a limited player who needs huge powerplay time (and those are HUGE pp toi numbers folks) to produce. How many 3rd line defensive forwards who happen to be face-off and powerplay specialists do you know? Yanic Perreault maybe (though he was softer than Stoll)?
With the rise of the young-uns on the Oilers depth chart Stoll was just a slow skater racing a fast clock.
Greene - no school for old school NHL
The poster boy for the difference between the old NHL and the new NHL. If his career had started 8 years ago he would be one of the young studs of the game. As it is we continue to hope he will get better one day. And hope. and hope. and hope.
He is super-protected on this team right now. His minutes are good and his team-mates are good so this issue is simply that he just isn't that good. With the games played he has (151 NHL games) we are fast getting past the 'lightbulb-goes-on' stage of his career.
I can't help but think that Smid's combative attitude last year made this an easier trade.
Visnovsky - out of place and out of time
The Kings are a young team. Stoll and Greene are far younger, and far cheaper, than Visnovsky. As a bonus, with the forward depth that team has Stoll should actually be effective there. So maybe this wasn't a salary dump? Nah. It was still a salary dump.
That leaves us with Visnovsky himself. The noise made about how bad his 07-08 year was requires a look back at the team he was playing for - it was a far better defense then (and that isn't saying much). Odds are good a large part of the fall-off in his play has to do with defensive pairings and overall quality of the team.
i.e. Visnovsky didn't get THAT bad overnight. He had some help.
Heh. I have to think that with the goaltending about to be upgraded Lombardi had find a way to ensure one more really high draft pick... Voila! a new Kings defense!
------
Taking a look at it I have to say that I see it as a good deal for the Oilers. They got the better player and the Oilers have the pieces to put Visnovsky in a situation where he will succeed. Given his skill set we should see two or three good years followed by a couple of declining skill set years.
The problems for the Oil are two fold:
1. they are 2.2 million closer to the Cap today than they were yesterday. The stage is now set for the Oilers to make a second move. Thay almost have to. The rumors surrounding Pitkanen get hotter every day.
2. the age set of the team is skewed. One would think this team is being set-up for a real run at the play-offs and while that should always be the goal how much better is a team that keeps Souray and Visnovsky over a guy like Pitkanen?
Question of the day - what does Visnovsky have for no-trade or no-move clauses?
What was, I had thought, going to be a fairly quiet summer has turned into summer that waits for the other shoe to drop.
------
Have a great evening everyone.
3 comments:
Vishnovksy had a NTC in his contract that didn't come into affect until July 1st. However, the Oilers aren't bound to that thanks to a handy clause in the CBA regarding NTCs, and players being traded before they kick in.
The relevant section of the CBA was cited somewhere in the trade thread on the main board at HF.
I don't put too much stock into rumours, but on the NHL Network, they mentioned Souray to the Rangers as a possibility.
Good news on the NTC front.
And the Souray possibility would be... well... hard to find words as to how amazing that would be.
Visnovsky's is a better contract.
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