Another Possible Deadline Day Pot o' Gold

Heh, I think Hugo mentioned this in the Sharp post, but we actually went a few rounds on this earlier in the summer. (Damn the slow summer news cycle.)

He’s an enticing target. I’m still of the opinion I’d gladly take a flyer on him now, but only if our compensation was the fact we’re giving them cap space — not for any significant (and necessarily lower-salaried) assets. Basically, I’d play hardball with Chicago and be prepared to walk away. He could be a big piece of the puzzle; he could be a disappointment (which is why Chicago would consider moving him).

Under that stance, though, Sutton does nothing for them but give them heavy salary back. And Huet: Would they dump him for Biron for pure cap savings alone? Interesting question, with a risk: The same playoff questions exist about Biron as they do about Huet … Biron’s just a much more payroll-friendly question mark.

Sutton is only 1/2 mil more than Byfuglien currently and Hendry’s salary would more than wash that. The big difference, of course, is between Huet’s $5.625 mil and Biron’s $1.4 mil.

There are several reasons Chicago makes this trade. One, of course, is that they have total flexibility. They would be free to walk away from both Biron and Sutton at the end of the season and would be free to structure the team anyway they choose. If they decide to keep them, they are obviously in the driver’s seat as to what they pay them and how long a contract they offer.

Sutton gives them the big, physical, and experienced defender they want. Biron not only frees them from the Huet contract albatross. I happen to think that he is a better goalie than Huet and not as injury prone.

Finally, as mentioned, Chicago can readily replace Byfuglien with Beach or Skille. They have improved their defense in two areas without hurting their offense appreciably and they have solved their cap problems.

As for the Isles, neither player was likely to be on our roster for 2010-11 anyway. Byfuglien gives us a physical presence we need on our top line and he can play defense too if needed. Hendry is a promising young defender who will give our system more depth. The only wild card is Huet. This will be a lot easier to do if DP is back and has played in 20-30 games and Koskinnen seems ready for a callup. Then Huet is just insurance. In fact, he might become trade-bait next year if all goes well. It might get a little scary if it looks like we will need to rely on him.

BTW, check out Muir’s power rankings on CNNSI. He says Garth made a mistake in signing Marty and Roly because we’’ll win some more games and miss out on another #1 overall pick!!! Or at least with better than a #4 overall where he has us now!!!

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/allan_muir/08/14/summer.rankings/index.html

To paraphrase Rodney, Take My Buff… Please!

I think trading Roloson at the deadline this year is unrealistic – as he’s on a 2 year contract at a starters salary and is getting old fast. That and please, please, please don’t acquire Huet. You want Byfuglien if you can get him cheap, otherwise I would pass – his apparently questionably lazy attitude on ice seems to detract from him fitting into the Gordon system very well and hence taking a bigger chance on him.

But then this just reflects my general opinion that the Isles need to be opportunistic at this point rather than higher pro-active in finding the ‘missing pieces’ as not enough of the core is set. Also, if the salary cap comes down significantly, there is a good chance of getting good value from other teams squeezed or utilising the extra cap space that the Isles have in order to attract the right free-agents to Long Island.

Then again, who knows what Garth will do.

I had read that his game picked up after he was moved to the third line. I must confess that I don’t watch the Hawks that much so I do not know. In any event, as I say, getting traded to a struggling team like the Isles might be just the wakeup call he needs.

The Islanders need a real scoring threat like this guy, and he will lead them to a playoff spot.