What was the trade deadline for the Lightning today?
Two words: A joke.
Seriously, OK Hockey seems to be turning the Lightning into more of a circus. Or maybe they really don't care about fans. Or winning. Or their money.
So the trades today:
1. Mark Recchi & a 2nd round 2010 draft pick to Boston
- Not unexpected. But we threw in a draft pick with him for Boston to take him.
-Recchi does not find out that he was traded from Lawton, oh no, Len Barrie told him.
What did we get from Boston? Matt Lashoff (D) and Martins Karsums (RW)
*Is Martins Karsums more than one person? Or does someone want to tell him that both of his names are plural?
Lawton thinks both players are NHL ready, well Boston didn't think to play them enough to be, and I think they are still a little raw.
So far this deal is ok. We weren't going to resign Recchi for another year so I'll consider this deal an ok deal, but giving away draft picks is never a good idea, especially if your farm system sucks. It's too bad Karsums isn't really more than one person.
2. Steve Eminger traded to the Panthers for Noah Welch and a 3rd round draft pick in 2009.
-Noah Welch hasn't played much in the past 2 seasons because of a shoulder injury!!!
-Eminger has been one of the better of our defencmen. Why are we trading him AWAY?
-Did we just go from Boyle > Matt Carle + Ty Wishart > Eminger + Steve Downie > Noah Welch + 3rd round pick? Seriously?
After this trade I was convinced Lawton has been drinking too much of the Koules-Aid.
3. Olaf Kolzig, Jamie Heward, Andy Rogers and a 4th round draft pick to Toronto for Richard Petiot.
Who??? Well we just sent 3 injured guys and a draft pick for a guy who has played the last 3 years in the AHL.
That's right.
So this trade is not so much for a good player, more for a way for Lawton to dump a bunch of salary. Much like putting Roberts on the waiver wire (and not getting picked up), Burkie is eating up salary for the Lightning in Toronto. He's doing this all for the 4th round draft pick.
What does our defense look like now?
Lukas Krajicek, Cory Murphy, Josef Melichar, Matt Smaby, David Koci and Noah Welch.
Vomit.
Our defense doesn't have top 4 defencemen. And is Noah Welch even playing NHL hockey? Has he seriously been healthy scratched 26 times this season? Was it my imagination or did we have Boyle only a year ago? This management in a circus.
Now, I'm not saying I don't understand why management traded away a 30 minute a night defencemen named Eminger away for an RFA named juice, but it's hard to take as a fan. True, because Eminger is playing so many minutes, and has already 1.5 million dollars already thrown at him, and he's an RFA with a contract up this summer, and they have no money, and he's not a top 4 defencemen....well I see the bigger picture. But these next 18 games will be painful. And he plays 30 minutes a game!
But if someone could tell me why we traded for Eminger in the first place, it would be nice. I would like Boyle back. I'd like to take O'Brien back as well seeing as how well he's playing for Vancouver these days.
I read somewhere that all of these salary dumping is to get the Bolts under the cap for revenue sharing, but I can't find a good source for it. Whatever the case is, we know that Lawton isn't the one actually making these decisions.
Clearly "Management" ahem ahem, certain player turned owners, must think this a joke. It makes the team look like a joke. Can we even tank enough games to get a good draft pick? Does management realize that giving your fanbase a crappy team will not make fans want to pay to see the team, even it it's only for $5.69? (My thoughts on that will take up a whole other post).
In the end, the Lightning was a disappointment in the trades today.
Our defence sucks even more.
I hope Barrie enjoyed the night of entertaining his friends in Vancouver during his game that night, and taking them all out to his post-game party at his restaurant... if he keeps doing what he's doing to the team, he'll not only loose the fan base, but also money faster than you can say Phoenix Coyotes.
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On hockey blogging
14 years ago
Great blog. I really like the way you write. It's very informative but also entertaining.
ReplyDeleteA friend of mine attended the AHL ASG, and she said that Martins Karsums is actually a really good player. Being only a 23-year-old winger and in the AHL ASG isn't a bad deal, I guess. Still, he's 23, he's a winger, and he's played in only 6 NHL games.
The team can spin this any way they want, but they have no idea what they're doing. Especially with the defense. How much does it suck to be the subject of a science experiment, huh?
Don't even suggest they throw the last 18 games of the season for yet another first overall pick in the draft. It's painful enough trying to watch them win. It'd be far worse trying to make sure they lose.
Is it too late to find myself another team to follow?
Thanks. I've been following your blog for a while because you give excellent recaps. It's hard to like a team when I don't get to catch every single game, especially when it's game night in Vancouver (where I'm from)and I have tickets to the game. So you are my hockey fix before I leave to work in the morning.
ReplyDeleteI don't think we can throw the next 18, I don't think the Islanders will get enough points in wins to overtake us.
But I've stuck with Tampa during their rise and their fall, I feel like we've hit rock bottom, so really there could only get better right? I say that with hope.