Flames trades.....

[patsdude114]

** I know this isnt in the right thread as it should be in the GENERAL HOCKEY DISCUSSION but no 1 seems to post in there anyways its a low traffic level thread so here it is in here**


Myself being a die hard Flames fan is very happy with the resent Flames trades, with tonight the Jokenin deal being finally finalized i am very happy.

I would of been happy with getting a bag of pucks for Jokenin, a player who cant perform in a tradition hockey market. He lacks the drive to play under pressure. He was a star in Florida & Phoenix but failed to be a 3rd line player in Calgary with his performance on a nightly basis. The Flames get Higgins & Kotalik for Jokenin & Prust i think this is a great deal for the Flames & there fans.

The Phaneuf trade i was also very happy with as well as Sutter finally woke up and realized that you cant spend 19mil on your top 4 defensemen (Phaneuf, Regher, Bouwmeester & Sarich) and expect Iginla to do all the scoring. I dont think many Leaf fans really knew what they had in Ian White, this guy is a very capable defenseman who can QB any PP in the NHL, i think alot of Leaf fans will be surprised with White by the end of this season and into next season. I also kind of feel that Sutter had this planned all along when he signed Bouwmeester June 30th.

On a side note... even tho im not a Leafs fan at all the Leafs walked out of both trades being a much better team. Phaneuf is now that defenseman to build around with Kessel & Schenn, look for Kaberle to be dealt next for a nice package (20/21yr old prospect) to get some scoring help for kessel along with a nice draft pick, prob a late 1st round pick. Gigeure will help there goaltending alot, Gustavsson is a solid goaltender but still needs to learn alot for a vetern netminder that Toskala couldnt provide. You cant learn from a player your better then, you can pick up little things like how to handle yourself prior to games but as for learning things hard to do when he was miles ahead of Toskala.

[GBG BLEED BLUE]

I am LOVIN the trade from a LEAFS perspective but the Flames recieved key peices for their future In My Opinion.

[SectionNDeserter]

The Phaneuf deal was great for both parties, as the Leafs get a top defenseman, an excellent prospect in Aulie, and a penalty killing specialist in Sjostrom and rid themselves of some skilled but soft players that weren't really in the team's future plans, while the Flames unload one of their 3 big contracts on the blueline and get some speed up front.

White is great on the power play, but needs a great deal of support from his forwards in his own end--which based on what I have seen this season doesn't bode well for him in Toronto or Calgary.

The Leafs second trade of Toskala and Blake is one of those ones that leaves you scratching your head, sort of like the Gomez trade between Montreal and the Rangers. Every so often teams will dump waaaay too much money into a contract over a long term, and that is a mistake. Anaheim just assumed Toronto's mistake, like Montreal before them.

[moon]

The Leafs second trade of Toskala and Blake is one of those ones that leaves you scratching your head, sort of like the Gomez trade between Montreal and the Rangers. Every so often teams will dump waaaay too much money into a contract over a long term, and that is a mistake. Anaheim just assumed Toronto's mistake, like Montreal before them.

Blake's deal is front loaded so he is owed less real money than his cap hit is worth.

Anaheim won't spend to the cap so they don't care about his cap hit anyways.

They have to pay him only 3 or 3.5 million dollars which isn't too bad for him and much better for them than Giguere's deal which is back loaded meaning that in terms of real dollars he is owed more than his cap hit.

Basically anaheim is only going to spend 48 million but has 56 million of cap space available. Therefore the extra money Blake costs in terms of cap space doesn't matter to them because they have that extra space anyways.

Not sure if I explained that well but the real issue with Blake and Giguere was their real money owed versus cap space and thats why it makes sense for Anaheim.

[SectionNDeserter]

Blake's deal is front loaded so he is owed less real money than his cap hit is worth.

Anaheim won't spend to the cap so they don't care about his cap hit anyways.Anaheim is currently around 2 million away from the cap, and the actual contract value is meaningless to most NHL teams, but the tough part is going to be having a guy pushing 40 using up 4 million of your cap space. Don't forget, they still have to sign Bobby Ryan to a contract for next season, and whatever UFA they have to sign to replace Neidermayer, Selanne and Koivu.

[moon]

Anaheim is currently around 2 million away from the cap, and the actual contract value is meaningless to most NHL teams, but the tough part is going to be having a guy pushing 40 using up 4 million of your cap space. Don't forget, they still have to sign Bobby Ryan to a contract for next season, and whatever UFA they have to sign to replace Neidermayer, Selanne and Koivu.

Are they actually spending that money or are they just 2 million away in terms of cap space? i.e 52 million in cap space used up is different than 52 million in actual dollars handed out to players.

Their GM has already said that they will only be able to spend 48 million dollars. If this 48 million equates to 52 million in terms of cap space or 56 million they don't care. They are very unlikely to reach the max cap allowed since their budget is so much lower.

By getting rid of Giguere they don't change their situation when it comes to the cap because they don't care how much cap space they have left as they won't reach it with their budget.

However because they don't have to pay the big bucks on Giugere's contract they have more money to spend on re-signing guys like Ryan.

[SectionNDeserter]

However because they don't have to pay the big bucks on Giugere's contract they have more money to spend on re-signing guys like Ryan.It actually makes a great deal more sense now that I realize Toskala is a free agent this summer. Watching him in Toronto, I thought it only seemed a lot longer than it actually was...