Steen will likely be put in a more offensive role in St Louis. I've always liked Colaiacovo but he really suffers from the injury bug. He'll add some depth to Blues defense as a puck moving defenceman.
Stempniak could get close to 60 points, has one more year left in his contract and will have a salary of $3.5 million next year.
On the surface, this could be a good trade for both teams. I do find it odd that the Leafs, in "rebuilding" phase, add Stempniak's salary for one more season before Burke is in place as GM. Usually teams in similar situations opt to subtract salary. Maybe they think they can make the playoffs?
I do find it odd that the Leafs, in "rebuilding" phase, add Stempniak's salary for one more season before Burke is in place as GM. Usually teams in similar situations opt to subtract salary. Maybe they think they can make the playoffs?
Stempniaks cap hit is $2.5M this year, and Steen's and Coli combined were $3.1, so they did reduce the cap hit for this year, in a round about way.
I still agree it seems a bit odd. Especially the timing of it.
I think St Louis win this trade. Steen is a great player and has a lot of upside...I think he will explode now. Cola is always hurt but still, he has a lot of talent and you never know with guys like that. Stempniak is good, and Toronto certainly gets a good player back, but I prefer the players St Louis got, personally.
To me this deal hinges on Cola's health issues. If he can stay healthy, St.Louis wins this deal. If not, Toronto wins in a cake walk.
If Stempniak is a UFA after next year, St.Louis wins. Steen has a reasonable contract and I think a change of scenery could help him. The gamble on Colaiacovo is very minimal, if it works out they could win big...I would laugh if he became a very dependable d-man.
Remember the Steen vs. Higgins days? I don't really know what's happened to Steen lately, if it's just utilisation or if he has hit some kind of permanent plateau. But I really thought he'd be better than this. I think he has still retained the defensive side of his game, he looks good on the PK. Where did the offense go/why didn't it come? I don't know. But if he finds the right chemistry with Berglund or somebody in St.Louis, and if he gets to within shouting distance of Stempniak's pointage, the Blues will win this deal. Dunno if that will happen.
I guess that's what makes it such a cool deal... we so rarely see straight up deals like that anymore that aren't based on the salary cap, or free agent sell-offs, or moving out disgruntled players, etc.
Remember the Steen vs. Higgins days? I don't really know what's happened to Steen lately, if it's just utilisation or if he has hit some kind of permanent plateau. But I really thought he'd be better than this. I think he has still retained the defensive side of his game, he looks good on the PK. Where did the offense go/why didn't it come? I don't know. But if he finds the right chemistry with Berglund or somebody in St.Louis, and if he gets to within shouting distance of Stempniak's pointage, the Blues will win this deal. Dunno if that will happen.
I guess that's what makes it such a cool deal... we so rarely see straight up deals like that anymore that aren't based on the salary cap, or free agent sell-offs, or moving out disgruntled players, etc.
I'm not sure what's happening to Higgins neither. If you take away the three goal night, there's not a lot there this year.
