"The Price is Wrong--Bob!"
I know that a lot of people are airing their frustrations over on the Atlanta Thrashers message boards about the fact that the Thrashers has not landed a big name player so far in trade talks. My guess is that Atlanta GM Don Waddell wanted to make a move prior to the big intra-divisional games.
But let's read between the lines shall we? All 30 GMs were together in Tampa Florida this last week. There are roughly 10 teams selling players and roughly 20 teams looking to add players. And how many trades did we see after they spend a couple days in non-stop trade chatter? Zero. That tells me that DW isn't the only GM out there who thinks the prices are way too high.
Recently it was reported over on HFboads.com that STL was asking for two 1st rounders for Guerin or Tkachuk. That's an absolutely huge price to pay for a rental player. Right now the sellers and the buyers are involved in a very large game of chicken to see who will blink first. Will prices finally come down in the final 48 hours or will some GM meet the asking price for a big name player.
posted by The Falconer at
8:56 AM
4 Comments:
It seems there are two ways to view it. The first and more conservative way is that if you are going to take a chance on a short-term rental, you'd better be damn sure that the acquisition makes you a legitimate Cup contender. And I really mean Cup contender, not finals, not semi's, etc. Giving up prospects/depth for a guy who will leave you come June only makes sense if it puts the Cup within reach. If it doesn't, you'd better sit tight. The other way to view it, a la Edmonton last season, is that anything can happen come post-season. Maybe. I have a hard time with that line of thinking, at least in respect to our beloved Thrash. In my humble opinion, there is no single player out there, not even Foppa if he were still available, who can make this team a legitimate Cup threat. That doesn't mean they can't go deep in the playoffs. When they are at their best, I think they can play with anyone, but matching up with the league's best over the course of a 7 game series is a different animal.
Making the playoffs is imperative. Giving up part of our future to maybe win a few more games in the post-season would be a mistake.
That doesn't mean DW shouldn't be looking to upgrade the team before the deadline. I'm all for it, but only if it upgrades the team long-term, not just from now until June.
Anson Carter was given away today for free (well, almost). He's no Guerin or Tkachuk, but maybe it's an indication that the prices are about to drop.
By
Anonymous, at 3:08 PM
I think Carter being moved for a low draft pick indicates just how much his reputation has suffered. He was an unrestricted free agent this summer and nobody wanted to sign him for very much money and he hasn't shown much in Columbus. My guess is that there simply wasn't much of a market for his services.
We have had almost no movement on star players since the Forsberg trade which cost NAS quite a haul.
By
The Falconer, at 2:59 AM
It will be interesting to see if Carter skates on a line with Staal in Cole's absence, and if so, what happens to his productivity. Much of his success in Vancouver was probably attributable to the fact that he skated with the Sedins. He wasn't surrounded by that kind of talent in Columbus.
By
Anonymous, at 11:32 AM
Yes, note how a relatively unknown Taylor Pyatt is having a good offensive season now that he is on the Sedin line.
By
The Falconer, at 3:55 PM
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