Trades and Potential Trades

Bozak's a good face-off guy, good skill, he came in undrafted as a college player and as long as he has that label, there'll always be question marks. How are the pens liking Perron, he must have about 9 pts in 7 games or something like that.

 

What kind of fire sale will the Leafs have during the break after they lose to the Hurricanes tonight.

 

Mikey, I wouldn't be surprised if the leafs lose tonight, we'll trade you bozak and lupul for staal.

 

Staal, No, Semin Yes,

 

Clarkson for Semin, done.

 

it's a small world. until just now, i never realized that for eight whole days, michelle was married to this guy...

Spoiler

 

that's "Daddy" you shithead. where's my bourbon?

 

go to sleep, everything is alright

 

sell, sell, sell....

 

The Blues and Pens trade Centers Blues get Marcel Goc Pens get Maxim Lapierre

 

Was just getting on to ask what you guys thought. Lapierre hadn't been playing much center, the 4th line had been Lapierre - Ott - Reaves. I'm guessing this will move Ott to the wing. What do you guys think of Goc?

 

NBCSN seemed to like it for the Blues saying Goc is a solid Defensive Center. They Figured they made the Trade to shore up their defensive game going into the playoffs.

 

I like the thought of a defensive center for the 4th line. Stronger on the face offs helps too.

 

Goc is a very nice addition for Lapierre. He was redundant and a waste for Hitchcock. As a Hawks fan, the only upside about Lapierre leaving is that they'll be less likely to take an elbow to the head. He sucked, but got a pass because fans like grindy gritty hitty bullshit even if he's out of position regularly and throwing his whole line off with his sideshow antics.

Goc is small, not worth a whole lot offensively, but he can be relied on to play in most situations without being a blackhole in one zone or the other. Since STL doesn't need offense, this is a very good player to have against Chicago or Nashville compared to Lapierre. I'm a big Goc fan.

I think STL fans are going to get very aggravated with this trade, but if Goc is healthy, they're a stronger team with him even though it won't look like that on the surface. This is the first trade by Armstrong since Bouwmeester that I think really helps them overall. Lapierre isn't useful and this was probably one of their few good chances to improve the roster by dumping him. I think the cap hits are a wash.

The catch for STL:
He's made of glass and overdue for another significant injury, he's coming off of his healthiest year since he was a rookie.

 

I have no idea what Rutherford is doing. Shero and Bylsma already tried this template and it resulted in disappointment. They need skaters, not more dumpsters. Teams like NYR, DET, BOS, and MTL aren't going to come unraveled and give Pit a special teams advantage to capitalize over a 7 game series. Not sure what another agitating asswipe with a stick is going to do to make them win stuff.

Pens fans will love the grindy gritty energy shit...until they realize that he can be a tremendous liability without offensive upside and can't be relied on to make good decisions consistently.

 

hockeybob, I agree on Lapierre being redundant. Everything he does is done better by someone else on the Blues, even his physical play is outdone by the rest of that line (short of the occasional cheap shot).

I think the Polak for Gunnarsson trade helped the team a lot, Polak and Jackman are the same player. Gunnarsson hasn't done a ton for us yet because he was playing hurt but but he started looking really nice right before the break, I'm optimistic about him.

As I'm sure bob can confirm, by the end of the playoff series against Chicago last year the Blues lost track of the puck and played the man. I think getting away from some of the more physical players (Polak and Lapierre) and getting better skaters (Gunnarsson and Goc) along with opening the game up will help keep the offense going.

 

Good point, I was looking at it from the Chicago or a matchup perspective perspective. Against teams with weaker depth I do think he's an upgrade. While he's a little better at moving the puck, I think having 2 left shots on the bottom pair offsets any of the gain imo. I think Polak falls off a wall in terms of being able to contribute at the NHL level in the near future because of his style and propensity for injury, I think Gunnarsson can still improve a bit.

I look at it as a wash at best for STL, but I think there's a fair argument to make that he's an upgrade.

 

I just think Polak and Jackman are basically the same player, Jackman is a free agent and may be gone after this season though.

 

flames trying to get mike richards.

 

I agree about them being the same player, outside of the shooting side thing (which I consider significant) and Jackman's way of expressing himself.

I thought Jackman for Gunnarsson would have made more sense if possible because of that. STL has plenty of vets now, and plenty of dmen that could log monster minutes if need be. I thought Polak was going to be a cost effective player for a while on the bottom pair.

It will be interesting to see what they do with their bottom pair next year. They only have 4 dmen signed so it will be interesting to see what the group looks like. Cole is a very affordable RFA, but I'm not going to be shocked if he's traded depending on contract demands.