BoC Gameday—Ducks invest in the greybeard market
Anaheim Ducks (15-15-5, 8th in west) at San Jose Sharks (18-10-4, t-2nd in west)
OK, OK, so Andy McDonald gets traded to the St. Louis Blues for Doug "don't call me Douglas" Weight and some change. First off, this was fairly expected; I had Andy Mac as my third-most likely player to be Niedermoved.
From my perspective, the reaction to the trade return has been pretty mixed. I know one Ducks fan who claims he's swearing off the team for trading away his favorite player, especially right after he set the franchise ironman streak. To him, trading an All-Star center for a former star is a ripoff. Also I got a call from my Kings buddy, who couldn't believe Burke was able to get a land a guy like Weight while keeping Sneaky Schneider.
Of course, it's sort of a mistake to look at this just as a McDonald-for-Weight trade, as context is huge for this deal. In return for trading away Andy Mac, the Ducks get Doug Weight, the right to play Scott Niedermayer, the right to keep Mathieu Schneider, and the possibility to sign Teemu Selanne. Even if DeadWeight turns out to be a bust, there's still a lot of trade return there.
Niedermayer and McDonald pose with the Cup.
One thing this trade does not do for the Ducks, if my math is right, is enable them to extend Corey Perry's contract before next summer. The Ducks needed some $900 k of tag space to fit Scott into the lineup and unloaded McDonald's $3.33 M; that only allows for a $2.4 M or so in leeway, not enough to pay a guy who's top-10 in the league in goals. I don't know if waiting for the summer for a Perry extension is that bad--he'd be plenty expensive to re-sign right now with his current numbers anyway.
I'll do a proper Andy Mac send-off-post in the near-future; for now, here's the resulting lineup:
T.Bertuzzi - D.Weight - B.Ryan
T.Moen - S.Pahlsson - R.Niedermayer
B.May - T.Marchant - G.Parros
S.Niedermayer - F.Beauchemin
C.Pronger - S.O'Donnell
M.Schneider - S.Hnidy
J.Giguere
J.Hiller
I'll tell you what--that blueline is stunning, though it's certainly still penetrable. I had to laugh once at the plight of Doug Weight in his debut; you get traded to a cup champ only to look around and see Bertuzzi, Ryan, Schneider, and Hnidy as your linemates, and realize that you are the most defensively-responsible player on the ice.
Still, I think adding Niedermayer and Weight instantly brings two things to this team. For one, neither of them is a thug or a fighter, which is a pretty needed counterbalance for a Ducks lineup that has plenty of hot heads already. Secondly, though, is puck delivery; both are guys gifted at giving linemates opportunities to score.
The Ducks have mostly managed to stay afloat in the standings, not so much through their own success, but because the west remained so congested; only Detroit for a while was pulling away. Recently, the gap has widened a bit, though, and the Ducks could really use a good stretch of games to get back into the hunt.
It's time for the Ducks to find another set of legs.
Prediction: Ducks 4, Sharks 2. Goals by Kunitz, O'Donnell, Pahlsson, and clean-cut Parros.
Go Ducks.
[Update from PJ] I ran the stats on all of the Sharks-Kings-Ducks matchups so far this season yesterday on Sharkspage. Here are the latest intra-state numbers through Sunday:
CALIFORNIA CUP STANDINGS:
- Anaheim Ducks 6-1-1, 8GP
- Los Angeles Kings 4-4-1, 9GP
- San Jose Sharks 2-2-3, 7GP
GOALS:
- Cammalleri, D. Brown, Getzlaf 5
- Thornton, Perry, Kunitz 4
- Mitchell, Kopitar 3
POINTS:
- Cammalleri 10
- D. Brown, Kopitar 8
- Frolov, Getzlaf, Perry 7
- J. Thornton, Kunitz, McDonald 6
- Beauchemin, Visnovsky, Preissing 5
- Roenick, Pronger, Armstrong, O'Sullivan 4
WINS:
- J.S. Giguere 5
- E. Nabokov 2
- J. LaBarbera 2
- Aubin, Bernier, Hiller 1
HITS:
- Dustin Brown 31
- Ryan Getzlaf 19
- Patrick O'Sullivan 17
- John Zeiler 16
- J. Johnson, K. McLaren 15
- T. Mitchell, T. Moen, C. Kunitz 14
- M. Grier, C. Perry 13
FIGHTING MAJORS:
- Parros, S. Thornton, Handzus, Pronger 1
BEST FRONT OFFICE MANEUVERING:
- Brian Burke (+Weight, +Niedermayer, -McDonald, -Bryzgalov)
- Doug Wilson (+Ozolinsh, +Setoguchi)
- Dean Lombardi (+Klemm, +no re-entry waiver for LaBarbera, -Cloutier)
12 comments:
shit adam brady thinks Pahlsson is hurt....that would explain ryan"just a warm body who happens to play center but got a free stanley cup ring" carter was called up
that 4-legged ducks is pretty disturbing by the way
p.s. they had drew miller playing center one game..I would do that again instead of using carter...well c...replace huskins with Hnidy and that defense looks better..hope he gets healthy quick
updated: may is out not phalsson
Yeah, I should have put the "spare parts" as part of the lineup, because the Ducks now have a fair share of them.
F: D.Miller, B.Sutherby, R.Carter
D: K.Huskins, J.Dipenta
I've heard the report that Pahlsson's been playing hurt, but to my eye, he's still excellent out there. Hopefully it's not going to be a big issue--the team doesn't really need injuries to overcome at this juncture of the season.
I'm planning on writing an article tomorrow entitled "Who Would You Disappear?" Feel free to join in, Earl.
Heh, we'll see. I sort of have loose plans for a post tomorrow, but nothing's been committed to e-paper just yet.
Swearing off a team because of a trade seems kind of harsh. It's not like they killed the shrimp or anything. Mac may not be totally happy with it, but he's still playing in the NHL, and that more than thousands of guys have ever had the chance to more than dream of. I liked him and am sorry to see him go, but somehow I think I'll manage to find the strength to survive.
I've heard the report that Pahlsson's been playing hurt, but to my eye, he's still excellent out there.
No offense Earl, but when it comes to Pahlsson I think we'll have to get a second opinion.
FIGHTING MAJORS:
- Parros, S. Thornton, Handzus, Pronger 1
Nice addition, PJ. I didn't see this until late. Of course this stat I've copied seems to me to be the real stunner.
That means that in a dozen rivalry games, there have been only TWO fights?! One in Europe, even?
That's stunning. Maybe it's a product of having such close games, but even so, with everyone trying to out-tough the Ducks, I'd have figured this fight count to be much higher.
Oh yeah, besides the one fight in London, now I remember the other one--that Handzus punch-off with zero seconds left in overtime.
Weight definitely looked good with Bobby Ryan. Bertuzzi still looks like a train wreck out there, though he did score a shootout goal.
And as far as Perry, if Sutherby weren't getting 1 mil to watch Duck games (which he was doing in Washington), then Ducks would be really close to having enough to sign Perry. Perry deserves Michalek money, 4.5 mil a year.
That Duck is disturbing looking. Kinda like Rob Nidermayer
I'm not sure Sutherby's a problem--I don't think he's signed past this year. The 'tag' issue is about next year's salary total, but stops mattering next summer.
Perry will be re-signed, that's for sure. But unless someone like Marchant gets moved, there's not enough tag room to extend Perry until after the season is over. Strangely, you are allowed to exceed the cap next summer, but not right now.
Plus the cap is likely rising, which I don't think is well-considered in the tag rule, based on what little I know about it.
did parros donate his locks o love to Jason Blake?
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