Tuesday, February 26, 2008

That's It? Nothing Has Changed (UPDATED)

The St. Louis Blues have traded defenseman Christian Backman to the New York Rangers in exchange for a fourth round draft pick. This was the most we saw in trades today -- a Paul Mara replacement at best. But there's more than meets the eye...

Not only does this mean we get to keep NYR Marek Malik on our blueline, but we've just added another one just like him. Apparently, Backman's level of play and fan sentiment is not dissimilar to our very own Marek 'Lurch' Malik, so it is entirely possible that us bloggers will continue to have plenty 'junk' to write about in our run to the playoffs.

Drafted 24th overall by the Blues in 1998, Backman has 10 points in 45 games this season. Backman, who helped Sweden win the gold medal at the Winter Olympics in Torino in 2006, has collected 19 goals, 45 assists and 130 penalty minutes in 228 career games with the Blues. Whatever. I don't know much about him, but HE IS RANKED #987th IN MY FANTASY HOCKEY LEAGUE (which is not a good sign). So much for securing our blueline.

Also, Slats and Gang finally deported Marcel Hossa to the Phoenix Coyotes and our 'trade-bait first round minor leaguer' AHL Wolfpack goalkeeper Al Montoya for Fredrik Sjostrom, "Avery wannabe" Josh Gratton, and AHL goalie David Leneveu. In other words, 'garbage for garbage.'

So the team is the same, which could be a good thing. The team is playing good hockey, more Eastern Conference teams lost marquee players today to the Western Conference, with the exception of the Pittsburgh Penguins (see below).

UPDATE: Uh-oh. Marian Hossa from the Atlanta Thrashers is now a Pittsburgh Penguin. Crap. These guys are scary good.

9 comments:

  1. what a bunch of crap....the Rangers will have to enjoy watching pittsburgh in the playoffs this year....THANKS JD for the freaking sweet trade...

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  2. If Christian Backman sucks at defense as a Ranger, maybe JD sent him over to replace Sam & Joe on MSG. THAT...would be worth all the angst.

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  3. Montoya isn't really crap is he? he's the top rated Goalie prospect in the league. I really wanted the Avs to go after him.

    Not that I have a lot to be bummed about here.

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  4. Oh looking forward to your recap tomorrow... Forsberg may be in the lineup, and Salei will be there.

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  5. You could get a trained ape to screetch and throw poo and no one would realize you replaced Micheletti.

    I will give the new guys a little bit of leeway, but the second Backman starts playing like Malik ... wow, poor guy. HEY WALLY, YOU SUCK!!

    Jibble - Monty isn't crap at all, he was just supplanted in Hartford and so far down the depth chart that he wouldn't get the ice time he needs here. Not like he will with Phoenix with Ilya and Tellqvist, but whatever. He is still worth way more than what we got for him ...

    TDR - good luck on Jibbles' page! I look forward to reading!!!

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  6. jibble...Montoya as crap might be harsh. As a failed first-round pick, he didn't live up to the hype in Hartford -- so without giving up one of our valuable young'ens (Callahan, Staal) he became our only trade-bait.

    scotty...don't look too hard on Thurs. I hear Tom Renney in his new position as Avs coach will be at the Avs/Kings game on Saturday.

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  7. 1) We are probably in the minority, but we aren't enthused by the Pittsburgh trade of Hossa.
    2) Was the Penguins weakness in scoring? If not, how will Hossa make them much better?
    3) In our opinion losing guys who are hard working role players who can chip in offensively/are well liked by team mates is an intangible negative that shouldn't be overlooked
    4) Has Hossa in his NHL career shown to be a clutch playoff performer? After all this is a clear rental. If he fails in the post season it was a colossal blunder!

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  8. What is the old line in the computer business. Garbage in, garbage out. I think Pittsburgh's big catch was Gill, the big D man. He has been a big Jagr harasser in every game they played. So now we have bookend wimps, Malik and Backman.
    We have the Stealth GM who only trades with his friends. To coin an old phrase, "Dear Lord, protect me from my friends, I can handle my enemies".

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  9. FYI:

    I just announced, officially, that you'll be covering the Kings game for me this weekend for me.

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