Stoll and Greene to the Kings for Visnovsky
Dobber Sports
2008-06-30
The Oilers have acquired yet another offensive defenseman in Lubomir Visnovsky, sending pivot Jarret Stoll and rearguard Matt Greene.
The Oilers get: a replacement for Joni Pitkanen, who is on the outs with the team. In Visnovsky, not only do they have an offensive rearguard who is more proven, but he also tends to be healthier than the fragile Pitkanen.
The Kings get: a big stay-at-home rearguard that the team was sorely lacking, plus a solid two-way pivot who is coming off an off-year. They hope they have a younger version of Michal Handzus – except they hope Stoll can get back to his 60-point ways.
Fantasy Players Impacted: With Souray and Visnovsky as the 1-2, this hinders Gilbert's chances of seeing significant PP time and thus his point level probably will not reach 40 points this year. Removing Stoll from the Oilers' depth chart creates a spot for Ryan Potulny, acquired earlier this offseason from Philly.
Jack Johnson can now run the power play as the No.1 quarterback, which should mean that he reaches 45 points this season – which is a couple of years sooner than I would have expected. His partner will be Peter Harrold, whom the Kings feel is probably ready to take the next step.