Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Two deals that will bite their teams in the caboose...

1. Ryan Smyth traded from Edmonton to the New York Islanders for a first-round draft pick and prospects Ryan O'Marra and Robert Nilsson

The Peerless really likes Smyth, but he has been a fixture in Edmonton since he was drafted sixth overall by the Oilers in 1994. It says here that he is going to experience a bit of culture shock getting out of the gate, and even though it's Long Island, the greater New York metropolitan area is not the place to be making slow starts. More to the point, the Islanders gave up a substantial amount of the near term future to rent him.

2. Gary Roberts traded from Florida to Pittsburgh for Noah Welch

This is a trade a club makes when the veteran is the last piece of the puzzle, a trade for a club that has legitimate Stanley Cup dreams. Pittsburgh is not that team. And they gave up perhaps their best prospect defenseman in a thin group of that specie. If Marc-Andre Fleury doesn't come out of his eight-game funk, this is going to look like a really, really bad deal in May.



No comments: