Change of Scenery

Great article Angus.

The thought of a guy like Cammalleri or Marleau playing on the top line with Kovalchuk appears to be very exciting. I wouldn't see the Thrashers moving Tobias Enstrom, with the fallout of Zhitnik there's no one there to QB the PP. Lehtonen is an RFA this summer, could he possibly come back the other way? This would give Bernier a couple of years to get seasoned in the AHL and allow him to develop and not be rushed to fix the King's issue in net. Or do you think they'll be set on running with a tandem of Ersberg and LaBarbera for the next couple of years??

Camm alongside Kovi... would that be the fit for 50 goals?

Cammy for Lehtonen.... that could actually work.

Crazynuck wrote:
Cammy for Lehtonen.... that could actually work.

With Pavelec coming in soon, this is certainly possible.

How about Jokinen for Marleau?

I think with the coaching change in Fla.... Jokinen is staying put.

i agree with cnuck. they'll at least try jokinen with martin off the bench.

i think that the thrashers should be asking for more back from LA if they move lehtonen for cammo. i still think lehtonen has a lot of potential.

nevertheless, i think atlanta has to make a move for a producer at centre to play with kovalchuk. the likes of todd white cant be too impressive to him. there should be a big move there.

id like to see pavalec take the starting role within a couple years. what are the odds there?

i like the part in the article about the rise of little joe p. he is very impressive. the thought of him or marleau as a thrid line centre is not cool. but what would SJ be looking for in return?

Cammy for Lehtonen - makes very little sense to me, on both ends.
LA - with Bernier seemingly only 2 or so years away, all they need is a buffer goalie - somebody who'd be willing to sign short-term for reasonable money; given where they've been so far, they'd be fine with being a playoff contender for those two years and gradually becoming a contender once they've gained experience; with the team they have in front of him, they won't need a goalie who steals games for those two years, just a goalie who'd be solid enough to give the rest of the team a chance to win games. Lehtonen, at his age, will want either a long term deal (3 years minimum) or a lot of money (4-4.5M per minimum), and would get that via arbitration if not via negotiations. There are enough goalies out there who'd be willing to sign for 2 years under that and would be good enough for the Kings needs - Theodore, Kolzig, Gerber - and Ersberg may very well be at that level as well.
Atlanta - They're high on Pavelec but still higher on Lehtonen for now, at least according to the fans (see the Atlanta thread in the Article Feedback forum). Pavelec is still a few years away from being a legit starter. Shipping Lehtonen and giving Pavelec the reins would make sense only if they go into full fledged rebuilding, and they cannot afford to do that financially or for the risk of losing Kovalchuk. They need to try and make the playoff with a strong-looking team to keep the fans paying and Kovalchuk playing, and for that they need Lehtonen rather than Kovalchuk.

Cammy for a top young but ready D makes much more sense for LA, but Atlanta's not the partner here.
Partners that make sense to me - i.e., teams that need a top C or RW who's affordable this year, and have good young Ds to spare - are Boston, Chicago (if they despair of Havlat), Edmonton, Penguins (though they'd be hard pressed against the cap to resign him in a year), Vancouver. If the Kings prefer to settle for an older D (not likely), add Calgary.
Montreal could also be interested but I don't see a deal that makes sense to me (MTL could use one more top-4 D rather than lose one).
Ottawa's Lee is not as ready as LA would need him to be, but an Ottawa deal with Gerber+Meszaros/Phillips/Volchenkov going the other way would make sense for LA and Ottawa might bite depending on whether they are so desperate to dump Gerber and acquire another goal scorer as to weaken their D core).
Blues would have been an option but they already traded away much of their D depth.
Leafs could be an option if they are willing to part with Stralman.

Marleau for Jokinen - also makes little sense. If the Sharks trade Marleau it'd be for a much lower salary and for a natural winger; Jokinen has a similar cap hit and is a C. And the Florida owner will do anything he needs to keep Jokinen, including a new GM.

An example of a deal for Marleau that makes sense - Sterling+Perrin+high pick for Marleau and low pick/ok prospect/bottom liner. Sterling slots in nicely in the vacated LW slot, Perrin brings toughness to the locker room, and Atlanta have the Pens pick to play with.

jman wrote:
i like the part in the article about the rise of little joe p. he is very impressive. the thought of him or marleau as a thrid line centre is not cool. but what would SJ be looking for in return?

The emergence of Pavelski pretty much pegs Marleau into an LW position. If I were them i'd be looking for a promising but young and cheap winger to put on their second line and a bottom-6 guy with locker room presence and toughness. This doesn't look like much and so a high prospect/pick can be added, but also factor in the fact that having Marleau's 6.3M with a no trade clause off their 08-09 books enables them to resign UFAs and RFAs they'd otherwise be unable to fit under the cap. Marleau traded = Pavelski + Clowe re-signed.

Based on how Clowe has been playing I could see him sliding in along side Pavelski on that second line. If you keep the trio of Thornton Cheechoo and Michalek intact as the #1 unit.

$38 million on the books for next year:

Michalek - Thornton - Cheechoo
x - Marleau - x
x - Mitchell - Setoguchi
x - x - Grier

Rivet - x
Vlasic - McLaren
Carle - Murray

Nabokov - Greiss

Say the above possible trade occurs.. Marleau and lower pick for Sterling+Perrin+high pick

Sterling is RFA (resign for .75 mil), Perrin makes .75, taking away Marleau 6.3 we can see $33.2 committed to salaries with the following lineup:

Michalek - Thornton - Cheechoo
x - x - x
Sterling - Mitchell - Setoguchi
x - Perrin - Grier

Rivet - x
Vlasic - McLaren
Carle - Murray

Nabokov - Greiss

Should be able to resign Pavelski and Clowe for roughly $5/year (3-3.25 Pavelski, 1.75-2 for Clowe) $38.2 million. Campbell seems to enjoy San Jose... let's say he resigns for $6 million (there's no way he should be getting more than Dion), let's make it 6.3 to make things look nice... so now the cap # is at $44.5 mil. you re-sign JR, and another plugger or two and spend $2 mill. that's put you at $46.5 mil.

Michalek - Thornton - Cheechoo
Clowe - Pavelski - x
Sterling - Mitchell - Setoguchi
JR - Perrin - Grier

Rivet - Campbell
Vlasic - McLaren
Carle - Murray

Nabokov - Greiss

Now... trade away Matt Carle (3.5 million cap avg), he's a young puck moving D and there is a market for him, his salary is a little high, so they might not get as much value for him, but could still be a good move, and resign Ehrhoff at $2 million.. putting the Sharks at $45 million:

Michalek - Thornton - Cheechoo
Clowe - Pavelski - x
Sterling - Mitchell - Setoguchi
JR - Perrin - Grier

Rivet - Campbell
Vlasic - Ehrhoff
McLaren - Murray

Nabokov - Greiss

Finally the cap is supposed to go up to $53.5/54 million for next year... giving you 8.5 - 9 million left...

Fill in the final X with Marian Hossa at 7.5 - 8 million/year. Leaving yourself $1 million cushion. You can move Hossa up to line 1 and drop cheechoo down... whatever.. none the less, this could be a very potent team next year. It's a huge what if scenerio, but none the less, I don't think there's enough money in Pitt. for Hossa to get his share, and going to SJ would be a lot better than going to the Leafs

Cammy for Lehtonen.... that could actually work.

For ATL it looks fantastic, but why would LA do it?

Moving a #1 C for an oft injured goalie who has shown some flashes of brilliance makes no sense. LaBarberra and Ersberg should be more reliable in the short run and Bernier should be ready in 2 years. Maybe they do not have the potential of Lehtonen but at least they will play.

Besides LA should be looking at guys like Bieksa, Regehr or Kubina (lol, had to throw that in for leaf fans).

I really like them making a pitch for a 2nd tier FA like hainsey.


Marleau for Jokinen... No way. Marleau is a great leader and an 80 pt player but Jokinen is a tank, a shooting machine and has garnered 90 pts playing for a coach that everyone knows he hates in a horribly inefficient defensive system. If he leaves now, the deal would either have to be mind-boggling for FLA or Jokinen would hate the new coach.


By the way a few d-men should have made the list to:

Liles - could be a 50 pt palyer in Col or another system if he was relied on less for defense.

Hainsey - solid d-man, good #2 option on the PP and can play 23+ minutes against the other teams best.