Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Matt For Matt... And That's It
I've had a few hours to digest what happened - or I should say, didn't happen - today.
Like a lot of Canucks fans, my initial reaction to Dave Nonis pulling off the grand total of one trade was one of disappointment. Maybe it was because I psyched myself for Brad Richards (or someone of similar caliber) or maybe I was just expecting more than Matt Pettinger. This isn't anything against Pettinger. I'm sure that once he gets on the ice and plays Cookie's same crash-and-bang style, we'll all get to like him. Plus, he apparently calls Victoria home (canucks.com) and you guys know I'm a sucker for locals that don the 'Nucks jersey. My reaction had purely to do with expectations, and as I watched Colorado, Dallas, Anaheim, San Jose and Detroit load up, I started expecting Nonis to do a bit more.
Talking about Pettinger, here is something a Caps fan mentioned on On Frozen Blog:
Anyway, after scanning the list of players that moved today, I can kinda see why Nonis didn't make the splash we all wanted. The Canucks' glaring need, of course, is a top-six forward, and quite frankly, it doesn't look like there were many available. Or if they were available, maybe the price was too high.
The only player traded today that I would have given up a combination of our good prospects was Brad Richards. It sounded like the Canucks were right there until the very end, but I guess the Lightning preferred players who can play now and not in the next couple of years. Hossa would have helped, but no way the Canucks could have beat Pittsburgh's offer (or at least not without crippling their farm team). Olli Jokinen would have been nice, but who knows if he was even available.
There were other players available that may have upgraded the Canucks' top-six. Andrew Ladd and Tuomo Ruutu were traded for each other. The Blackhawks had Marty Havlat and Robert Lang available as well. But truthfully, I'm glad we didn't throw Luc Bourdon, Cory Schneider and our first-round draft pick at those types of players. (Though I'll admit that Ladd is an interesting prospect but that could be just my local bias again.) Especially with the team's prospect pool finally looking decent, I would have hated to see RJ Umberger for Martin Rucinsky or two 2nd-round draft picks for Sopel-type deals.
Interestingly enough, none of Calgary, Minnesota, Nashville or Phoenix acquired anything of significance for the stretch run (unless you count Chris Simon as significant). I don't know how much this factored into Nonis' approach, but maybe, the feeling is that the Canucks can hang around these teams and make it into the playoffs. They can then take their chances against the likes of the Wings, the Stars, the Sharks and the Ducks.
I guess we'll find out in the next couple of months if this was the right approach.
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Comments/Questions: Feel free to post in the comments section or email me at gocanucksgo10 (at) hotmail (dot) com.
Technorati Tags: NHL, hockey, Vancouver, Canucks
Like a lot of Canucks fans, my initial reaction to Dave Nonis pulling off the grand total of one trade was one of disappointment. Maybe it was because I psyched myself for Brad Richards (or someone of similar caliber) or maybe I was just expecting more than Matt Pettinger. This isn't anything against Pettinger. I'm sure that once he gets on the ice and plays Cookie's same crash-and-bang style, we'll all get to like him. Plus, he apparently calls Victoria home (canucks.com) and you guys know I'm a sucker for locals that don the 'Nucks jersey. My reaction had purely to do with expectations, and as I watched Colorado, Dallas, Anaheim, San Jose and Detroit load up, I started expecting Nonis to do a bit more.
Talking about Pettinger, here is something a Caps fan mentioned on On Frozen Blog:
Aside from the ladies losing a piece of eye candy; the rest of us see nothing wrong with this trade.It sounds like Taylor Pyatt has a bit of competition.
Anyway, after scanning the list of players that moved today, I can kinda see why Nonis didn't make the splash we all wanted. The Canucks' glaring need, of course, is a top-six forward, and quite frankly, it doesn't look like there were many available. Or if they were available, maybe the price was too high.
The only player traded today that I would have given up a combination of our good prospects was Brad Richards. It sounded like the Canucks were right there until the very end, but I guess the Lightning preferred players who can play now and not in the next couple of years. Hossa would have helped, but no way the Canucks could have beat Pittsburgh's offer (or at least not without crippling their farm team). Olli Jokinen would have been nice, but who knows if he was even available.
There were other players available that may have upgraded the Canucks' top-six. Andrew Ladd and Tuomo Ruutu were traded for each other. The Blackhawks had Marty Havlat and Robert Lang available as well. But truthfully, I'm glad we didn't throw Luc Bourdon, Cory Schneider and our first-round draft pick at those types of players. (Though I'll admit that Ladd is an interesting prospect but that could be just my local bias again.) Especially with the team's prospect pool finally looking decent, I would have hated to see RJ Umberger for Martin Rucinsky or two 2nd-round draft picks for Sopel-type deals.
Interestingly enough, none of Calgary, Minnesota, Nashville or Phoenix acquired anything of significance for the stretch run (unless you count Chris Simon as significant). I don't know how much this factored into Nonis' approach, but maybe, the feeling is that the Canucks can hang around these teams and make it into the playoffs. They can then take their chances against the likes of the Wings, the Stars, the Sharks and the Ducks.
I guess we'll find out in the next couple of months if this was the right approach.
______________
Comments/Questions: Feel free to post in the comments section or email me at gocanucksgo10 (at) hotmail (dot) com.
Technorati Tags: NHL, hockey, Vancouver, Canucks
Labels: trade talk
3 Comments:
your blog is so refreshing after listening to Team1040 tonight. I remembered why I hate listening to it. Thank you!
JJ...Nonis proves again he is a shrewd dealer. The biggest deal he has made was the Luongo deal...and it was a steal. His deadline deals have consistently been modest.
I was a bit surprised to hear Cooke's comments on TSN...sounded somewhat bitter. I almost got a sense that he had asked for this move, despite he and the team saying the contrary.
Bottom line, it sounded as though Cooke was a guy that didn't want to play for the Canucks any longer...and I am sort of getting that feeling that Trevor Linden may be feeling that as well.
anon - Thank you :)
gz - Yeah, there was some obvious friction between Vigneault and Cookie. It did come out today that Nonis has had this deal in place since a month and a half ago.
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