Trade Rumors and Free Agent TalkTrade rumors, transactions, and free agent talk. Rumors must contain the word RUMOR in post title. Proposals must contain the word PROPOSAL in post title.
Trade proposals are being thrown around like crazy. Most are unrealistic, but some of them make sense.
However, despite the rumors on this board, what teams do you think are set with their rosters?
Being a Pens fan, I gotta say the Pens are set for right now. They're not gonna trade Straka. And if they do, it's way down the line.
I mean they just came off an upset win over Detriot. For one of the youngest teams in the NHL, I think that says alot about your roster. Thus, I don't think Craig Patrick will do any business with anybody until the deadline.
Well the Habs are a team who's roster is certainly not set at this point...which leads some to believe that a trade could be in the works.
The Habs have 3 guys (Koivu, Kilger, Langdon) that should be returning in the next week or so. Inserting them into the lineup should have been a piece of cake, but the team has been playing quite well and some of the guys that were completely written off by most Habs fans (Juneau, Dackell and Brisebois) have been playing some real good hockey early on.
This is the roster the Habs are currently carrying:
Marcel Hossa-Mike Ribeiro-Richard Zednik
Michael Ryder-Yanic Perreault-Donald Audette
Jan Bulis-Joe Juneau-Andreas Dackell
Niklas Sundstrom-Steve Begin-Jason Ward
Chris Higgins, Saku Koivu, Chad Kilger, Darren Langdon
Andrei Markov-Craig Rivet
Sheldon Souray-Stephane Quintal
Francis Bouillon-Patrice Brisebois
Ron Hainsey
Jose Theodore
Mathieu Garon
So the Habs have to drop 2 (likely forwards) when the healthy bodies return. Chris Higgins will obviously be the first to go as he needs to spend some time at the NHL and there are no waiver concerns. Things get tricky after that...Begin looks good as a 4th line agitator for the Habs who finishes all his checks, the Habs don't have many players like this. Hossa could go down without having to clear waivers, but i think he's looked pretty good out there. He's one of the few Habs forwards on the top 2 lines with good size too.
I would not be suprised to see Sundstrom or Perreault dealt if the right deal was on the table. Both players can contribute in their own way, but as things stand now, Sundstrom is losing out on his "role" to guys like Juneau and Dackell where as Perreault will be in tough to get quality icetime when Koivu comes back.
The Stars are definitely set with their roster, I can't see them adding yet another forward, and with Erskine up to the challenge, I can't see them adding that low end depth defenseman either.
We already have guys scratched that I'd love to play on a consistant base as depth isn't a real issue. Which means when the Stars will pull a deal, it should be for one good player, giving up 2 or more asset, can't see that happening.
They have all the lines set, and the depth players set. Goaltending has no issues either, neither does defense come to think of it. Only thing is that they could use a cheap 2nd line scorer, but hell, who couldn't.
Unless some other team decides to add payroll (Jagr, Lang, Kolzig, maybe Bondra) the Caps are set. They won't add even a modest amount to payroll, so barring a team deciding to open the coffers, the Caps are not going to make a move.
Lines just got shuffled. It's pretty grim on defense:
Kip Miller - Dainius Zubrus - Jaromir Jagr
Peter Bondra - Robert Lang - Mike Grier
Matt Pettinger - Boyd Gordon - Brian Sutherby
Steve Konowalchuk - Jeff Halpern - Brian Willsie
Joel Kwiatkowski - Sergei Gonchar
Steve Eminger - Brendan Witt
John Gruden - Jason Doig
They stink, but there's nothing to be done until some salaries can be dumped. At least they are incorporating some solid prospects, including a young checking line. Even the coach can't be fired, though, because his own salary is so low and Leonsis allegedly won't allow the expenditure on anyone better, so they are stuck with a guy at the helm who is out of his depth and openly arguing with Jagr during games on the bench. Grim. The only positive is that the draft pick should be a good one, and the lockout will give the prospects even more time to grow into their frames.
The only substantial change will occur when Michael Nylander returns to the lineup, but that's at least a solid month off.
I mean they just came off an upset win over Detriot. For one of the youngest teams in the NHL, I think that says alot about your roster. Thus, I don't think Craig Patrick will do any business with anybody until the deadline.
While I agree with you that the pens probably won't make a trade in the immediate future, I think saying that a victory over detroit means no deadline deal/salary dump is a tad premature. Last year the pens were within striking distance of a playoff spot when they dumped kovalev.
