Pre-Season Trade Review

Post date: Sep 25, 2011 5:22:46 AM

September 7^th 2011

Author: A Schuts

Quiet time has come and gone, and the crisp air of fall beckons. For some, this is time of sorrow, watching the warmth of the summer sun slip behind the changing leaves of September. But for the Novarks GM’s it is a time of excitement, best laid plans and hope.

The excitement builds with each passing day. The addition of a 13^th team, the rumors of stability in the Desert, and the sound of a Walmart Bingo cage rolling in the background indicates the dawning of the always exciting pre-season. But before we close the book completely on 2010-11, the trade window allows for some pre-keeper declaring movement ahead of the draft, and GM’s wasted little time peddling assets and patching up keeper rosters minutes after the last ball was collected.

My scathing assessment of some trades last year led to some minor crow eating, as Patrick Sharp and Ryan Kesler indeed produced the career years I suggested were unlikely. But I suppose you win some and lose some, and it would take far more to shatter this ego. In fact, the crow I ate tasted far better than 2nd place crow. Bam! On to the reviews:

Trade 1:

Team Chris, with designs on competing for 1^st place this season, was well aware of its need to add at least one more player to an already solid keeper roster. GM Jaques feels he accomplished this with the addition of Mike Richards. As a 5^th Keeper, Richards is solid, he should contribute 65-70 points, and stay healthy, and his $5.75 cap hit is manageable. However, one has to be mildly concerned at the price paid. GM Keeler did well to pull back a 2^nd and 5^th rd pick in the 2011 draft on this one. A comparable deal from last year between GM Schuts and GM Hallman saw Paul Stastny go for a 4^th, with a 16^th going back. GM Jaques did manage to keep the return picks reasonable at an 8^th and a 10^th. All in all, Keeler did very well, and Jaques did ok. However one has to wonder if Jaques might have been better off attempting to secure one of the big names such as Sedin, St. Louis or Getzlaf that were rumored to be on the market.

Grades:

Team Chris: B – Fills a need with a durable performer.

Team Will: A – Secures a good return during the off-season, not always easy to do.

Trade 2

The first of GM Loader’s lotto day deals saw once again a surprise trend amongst the buyers to avoid shelling out for the big names on the markets and look to secure some less productive but still valuable players to shore up the keeper roster. Patrick Sharp proved this writer wrong last year and produced an impressive 71 point season – new career highs. Can he equal or better that? GM Loader is banking on it, sending a 2^nd, and a long-term keeper prospect in Markstrom to Team Bob. GM Linka did well once again, filling a rookie keeper hole and securing a 2^nd round pick for a player that cost him a 7^th rd pick last season. Once again, one has to be curious at the decision not to add a legitimate 80-90 point player with such a surplus of picks available in Loader’s portfolio.

Grades:

Team Jesse: B – Likely a safe pick-up in Sharp, saves his picks.

Team Bob: A – Turns a 7^th into a 2^nd in the course of 365 days.

Trade 3

This trade is a head scratcher, as GM Hallman finds another victim. One has to question GM Loader’s blue sky expectations of two players who will likely combine around the 100 point range – and that is being somewhat optimistic. GM Hallman did very well securing a 1^st round pick on this one and a 7^th to boot. GM Loader has an interesting keeper roster with potential, but little in the way of guaranteed proven performers beyond Alex Ovechkin and the less productive Patrick Sharp. Time will tell if this strategy makes or breaks his championship designs in 2011-12.

Grades:

Team Jesse: D – Wrong time to roll the dice…Bizarre.

Team Hallman: B+ - Pedals some surplus goods and now has two 1sts. Well played.