March 1, 2015

Thomas Drance

2015-03-01

Breaking down the Vermette trade, saying goodbye, and more…

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On Saturday night The Chicago Blackhawks acquired centreman Antoine Vermette from the Arizona Coyotes in exchange for a 2015 first-round pick and American Hockey League defenseman Klaus Dahlbeck. There really will be no trades left to occur on Monday’s deadline, it seems.

Vermette, 33, is a pending unrestricted free agent and was very probably the top player available – at least in terms of reputation – on the market.

From the Coyotes perspective, this deal is a no-brainer. Vermette is aging and losing his fastball, and recouping a first-round pick and a prospect in a trade for him is just good business.

Consider that the Coyotes acquired Vermette from the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2012 at the absolute low ebb of his value. Riding some brutal percentages, Vermette had managed just eight goals in 60 games for the Blue Jackets, and his production had slipped to the point that then Blue Jackets general manager Scott Howson was just looking to offload the contract.

Coyotes general manager Don Maloney managed to land Vermette for Curtis McElhinney, a second-round draft pick, and a conditional fifth-round pick (before we dump too hard on Howson, by the way, he flipped that second-round pick to Philadelphia as the big piece in the Sergei Bobrovsky trade). Then 215 games, 53 goals and 111 points later Maloney sells Vermette to Chicago for a first-round pick and a prospect. Nice work.

Let’s not forget that Vermette also managed 10 points in 16 games during the Coyotes’ Cinderella run to the 2012 Western Conference Final. Things have fallen apart on Maloney in recent years, but that’s just an exquisite example of asset management.

The Blackhawks paid a hefty price for Vermette, but in context it was a sensible deal for them to make.

First of all, and most obviously, the Patrick Kane injury necessitated some sort of reaction from the Blackhawks, and I tend to think that Vermette is a really sharp fit for Chicago (wait should I rephrase that?).

If the Blackhawks have had one longstanding flaw – if you can say a team that’s won multiple championships is ‘flawed’ – it has been their often anemic centre depth. This is a club that won championships with an out-of-position Patrick Sharp and Michal Handzus as their second-line centres. Now their middle-six centres are Brad Richards and Vermette – that’s a solid upgrade, to say the least.

Vermette hasn’t had the best defensive results in Arizona in recent seasons, but I have a good deal of admiration for his two-way game. A face-off ace, Vermette has played an extremely difficult role in Arizona, and has logged major minutes. He’s essentially been used as a top-of-the-lineup piece when, really, he’s best suited to playing second- or third-line minutes. He’ll do better in Chicago.

And he’ll have to. The Blackhawks have quietly struggled defensively this season, and are permitting an above average rate of shots against per game – an issue that’s been patched over and hidden in part by solid goaltending. In a third-line role, I think Vermette helps them there.

Finally there’s the issue of windows, and where Chicago is at in their team-building cycle.

With Kane and Jonathan Toews’ hefty contract extensions set to kick in next year, the Blackhawks are likely to be selling some key pieces this of summer. I suspect it’ll go beyond players like Johnny Oduya walking as unrestricted free agents too, and might include some really painful trades. I honestly wouldn’t even be shocked if players like Marian Hossa, Bryan Bickell, and even Brent Seabrook were among those who moved on after this season.

It’ll be 2010 all over again, essentially.

So this is could well be Chicago’s last kick at the can with the entirety of their restocked core.

When you consider all of the circumstances, it makes sense that the Blackhawks were willing to match Maloney’s premium asking price for Vermette. It’s also worth keeping in mind that, while the Blackhawks have spent significantly on rental players this weekend, they’ll probably recoup picks and prospect wealth when they make moves to shed salary this summer.

In a more minor move the Anaheim Ducks acquired Tomas Fleischmann from the Florida Panthers for a third-round pick and Dany Heatley, in a trade that might be most notable – – historically speaking – as ‘the last time in his career that Heatley was involved in an NHL transaction.’

I’m not a huge fan of Fleischmann’s game, but he’s at least a capable middle-six forward and generates shots at a decent clip at 5-on-5. I don’t know that I like him more that Emerson Etem though, and can’t really figure out where he fits on Anaheim’s roster.

Could he bump Kyle Palmieri from the Ryan Getzlaf-Corey Perry line? It certainly seems possible – and if he even takes line rushes with Perry and Getzlaf in practice in the next week he’ll be worth a flier in fantasy hockey – though I doubt it. I don’t think he’ll unsettle Ryan Kesler’s line with Andrew Cogliano and Jakub Silfverberg. So that leaves him in a probable third-line role, perhaps with countryman and new Ducks acquisition Jiri Sekac with Rickard Rakkell at centre?

Once again, I think I prefer Etem in that spot if I’m Anaheim. Maybe Im wrong, but this doesn’t strike me as a likely game-changing pickup for the Ducks.

The Florida Panthers beat the worst team in the history of NHL hockey on Saturday 5-3, with Brandon Pirri scoring two power-play goals in the contest. Pirri has only just returned from an injury that caused him to miss over two weeks, and he returned in style: 2 G, 2 PPP, 9 SOG. He did it while logging more than 19 minutes of ice in Florida’s victory on Saturday.

It’s only the Sabres, so let’s not get crazy here, but it’ll be worth watching Pirri for a week or two here to see if he keeps logging major minutes with the man-advantage. He may have some fantasy value if he does.

Torrey Mitchell has been playing huge minutes for the Sabres of late, even legitimately centring their top line (top line being a relative term in the Sabres’ case). Mitchell, a pending unrestricted free agent, could move before Monday, but he’s worth keeping an eye on as a short-term pickup option if he remains in Buffalo. He has three goals in his past five games and four total points, while regularly logging north of 15 minutes.

In a fun, fast-paced contest the Detroit Red Wings outlasted the Nashville Predators on Saturday afternoon. Young Red Wings defenseman Alexey Marchenko, who is a rarity because he’s a Red Wings defender who shoots right-handed, scored the game-tying goal off of a pretty passing sequence with Justin Abdelkader and Niklas Kronwall.

Marchenko, 23, has played some pretty decent hockey in his first 12 NHL games, and he certainly passes the eye test. He’s playing some seriously prescribed minutes though.

Tomas Tatar scored his 25th and now has roughly 20 more games to get to 30. As if there’s any doubt?

Shea Weber with the classic nine shot, one power-play goal, three hit performance from the blueline. What a monster.

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Watching the Carolina Hurricanes power-play work this season, versus last season, is such a welcome relief. On Saturday the Hurricanes cashed in two goals with the man-advantage, one of them a slam dunk goal from defenseman and Charlotte Hornets owner Michal Jordan, in a 5-3 victory over the New York Islanders.

Though the Islanders lost John Tavares notched his 65th point and 30th goal of the year, and is now technically in first place in the NHL’s scoring race (he has more goals than Jakub Voracek, who similarly has 65 points).

Cory Schneider managed the 33 save shutout as the New Jersey Devils won the first game of the post-Jaromir Jagr era of the Devils hockey. Don’t worry Devils fans, Steve Bernier is still around!

The big story in this one though is the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Toronto Maple Leafs both being shutout in the first game following this week’s thoroughly astonishing David Clarkson trade. Clarkson played over 16 minutes in his Blue Jackets debut and filled the boxscore, despite not producing any points. 2 PIM, 4 hits, 2 shots is a pretty decent performance and he’s worth keeping an eye on fantasy-wise since he also logged first unit power-play time.

Mike Smith allowed four goals and 20 shots and was pulled in Arizona’s latest loss, a 4-1 beatdown at the hands of the reeling Boston Bruins. In the spirit of the Clarkson trade, how close are we to thinking that Smith’s deal – which has four years and $24 million in salary remaining after this season, and counts for $5.66 million against the cap – is among the league’s worst?

Carey Price should be a Hart Trophy candidate. Actually he should be the Hart Trophy front runner, especially if the Montreal Canadiens finish near or at the top of the Eastern Conference Final.

If you subscribe to the idea – and I do, for the record – that the Canadiens are a below average defensive club, then what Price is doing is even more impressive. Currently Price leads all NHL starters in every major statistical category except shutouts, which are really a team stat anyway.

Fact is, no team has leaned more heavily on one player than the Canadiens have leaned on Price this season. He’s delivered and then some.

Just end the Maple Leafs’ season already. Why make their poor fans sit through this misery. At least they’ve got the Raptors to cheer for… oh what’s that? I see…

Phil Kessel’s face really says it all.

The Leafs are listening to offers on Jonathan Bernier, reportedly. Always nice to know what’s probably not going to happen, I figure!

The Minnesota Wild and the Colorado Avalanche are fast and dislike each other, which is usually a fun combination for the viewer.