NHL Trade Deadline 2012

Some folks are bemoaning a boring trade deadline day. Obviously those folks are not fans of the Vancouver Canucks, Buffalo Sabers or Nashville Predators. Jebus what a crazy day. Here’s my take on some of the more interesting trades to go down on the trade deadline day 2012.

Nashville Predators acquire Andrei Kostitsyn from Montreal Canadiens for a 2013 2nd round pick & condition 2013 5th round pick

The first sign today that Nashville are going for it. They already have stellar goaltending and a super beefy defence but they need scoring. Who better to go for that Sergei Kostitsyn‘s older brother Andrei? Ahh… Yeah. Maybe? We’ve seen this show before. The Kostitsyn brothers are not the Belorusian answer to the Sedins. That said, the Preds have made something out of Sergei. He’s playing much better in Nashville than he ever did in Montreal and I suspect David Poile and Barry Trotz think they can invigorate Andrei’s game in a similar way. He doesn’t bring Rick Nash level talent to Nashville’s top 6, not by a long shot, but look out for Andrei to pot some timely goals come playoff time.

Nashville Predators acquire Paul Gaustad & 2013 4th round pick from Buffalo Sabers for 2012 1st round pick

So, not ready to call it a day, Nashville give up a 1st round draft pick for Paul Gaustad. If that was the asking price for a defensive centre like Gaustad no wonder the Canucks traded for Sami Pahlsson (see below). Gaustad is big (6’5″ 212lb) and from what I’ve seen of him, plays defense first. I don’t really understand the Predator’s need for a player like him given the existing make up of the team, except to say that they must be really keen to beat the living crap out of the Canucks in the playoffs this year.

Vancouver Canucks acquire Samuel Pahlsson from Columbus Blue Jackets for  2 2012 4th round pick (one from the Islanders) and prospect Taylor Ellington

In retrospect, this should have been the harbinger of doom for Cody Hodgson fans in Vancouver. Instead, it spawned blog posts like this one. I mean really, another centre? We should have seen the writing on the wall. Anyway, enough Hodgson (for now). I have a theory on the Pahlsson trade. The Canucks wanted to trade for him so that no other team could acquire him and then play him shift after shift against the Sedins in the playoffs. Pahlsson trained with the Sedins in the off season before his 2007 Stanley Cup winning season with Anaheim (he also played with them years earlier for MODO Hockey in Sweden). In the playoffs that fateful year the Canucks came up against the Ducks in the 2nd round and Pahlsson completely shut them down, almost single handedly. He went on to finish the playoffs 3-9-12, +10 and with a Stanley Cup ring on his finger. Many people considered him to be one of the most important reasons for the Ducks’ success that year. Since then Pahlsson’s value has dropped significantly after so-so outings with the Chicago Blackhawks and Columbus Blue Jackets. With Hodgson gone I can see Pahlsson sliding into the 3rd line centre role and the Canucks will be hoping that he can regain his 2007 playoff form this year.

Vancouver Canucks acquire Zack Kassian & Marc-Andre Gragnani From Buffalo Sabres for Cody Hodgson & Alexander Sulzer

I know technically these were 2 separate trades but I can’t help but believe they are intrinsically linked. You don’t just trade Cody Hodgson for Zack Kassian straight up. You just don’t. To me, these 2 trades actually equal Cody Hodgson for Zack Kassian and Marc-Andre Gragnani.

This was the big daddy of trades this year. The one that shocked everyone, from the fans to other GM’s to the players themselves. It came so late that the trade was announced quite a while after the deadline had passed. The press and fans were so keen for something exciting, something bold, that the second there was even an inkling of Hodgson getting traded, Twitter almost exploded. News got out so fast that Chris Tanev read it on his phone while he and Hodgson were out walking, even before Mike Gillis could get to the phone to tell Hodgson himself.

Hodgson is in the running for the Calder this year. He’s proven himself at the NHL level. Kassian has not. He’s only posted 7 points in 27 games with the Sabres this year. But Kassian is a big boy, plays a really gritty game from the right wing and has put up decent offensive numbers in lower levels of the game (77 points in 56 games for Windor in the OHL in 2010-2011). He could be the second coming of Milan Lucic. He could also be the second coming of Steve Bernier. Gulp. But I think not. Kassian to me is blue chip, the real deal, and if not this year then in years to come he will be a beast next to Kesler or the Sedins.

Gragnani is the dark horse in this deal. I truly believe Mike Gillis has been looking hard at this guy for a while. There’s mixed reports out there about him and I’ve personally never seen him play, but +10 on a shitty Sabres team this year has to mean something. All I hope from him is that he fills in nicely for Ballard and somehow helps to reduce Salo’s ice time down the stretch.

Hodgson meanwhile gets to move back east, much closer to home and (probably) will get top 6 time on a team that will give him every chance to be their franchise cornerstone. I think Cody will flourish with Buffalo and in years to come will be a great captain for them.

Most laughable trade of the day has to go to the Rangers and Blackhawks:

New York Rangers acquire John Scott from Chicago Blackhawks for a 2012 5th round pick

John Scott is the absolute true definition of a pylon. Not only can you skate around him like he was one, but he’s so big you could probably use him as a pylon. Not often you can say a team overpaid for a player by giving up a 5th round pick, but the Rangers certainly did here. I hope for the Rangers’ sake they never have to play him this year.