I was recently invited by Alex of Penguinsbuzz to don my armchair GM hat and concoct a hypothetical trade between Calgary and Pittsburgh. The parameters, as defined by Alex were:
If you were GM of the Flames, what deal would you make with the Penguins?
The following players are most likely untouchable: Crosby, Malkin,
Staal, Whitney, Sykora, Recchi, Roberts.
The team's most pressing needs are wingers and defense, and possibly
goaltending.
Just write up a trade proposal and a quick reasoning and send it over
if you're interested.
My response:
The Flames have a couple glaring needs (now and in the near future):
LW and defense.
LW: I've always coveted Pittsburgh's Ryan Malone. He has the physical
tools of a top 6 winger: big, mobile, good hands. He's never put up
stellar numbers, but I like that he's young, just entering his prime
and relatively cheap.
Defense: Under-appreciated Mark Eaton is the guy I would target on the
Pen's back-end. He plays a lot against other teams best players and
logs the most SH time out of any of Pittsburgh's defenders. He's quiet
offensively, but would provide invaluable defensive depth (at a
reasonable price).
The challenge for making a deal from a Flames perspective is: many of
our most attractive assets are also the immovable ones. Iginla,
Tanguay, Regehr, Phaneuf and Kipper aren't going anywhere. In
addition, the team has cap issues, exacerbated by the fact that a lot
of the underachieving contracts (Conroy, Nolan, Aucoin, Warrener)
would be very difficult to unload. The result is a lack of cap-space
with the added inability to free any up without dealing core guys...
So: Mark Eaton and Ryan Malone. What can the Flames offer in return?
Let's start with Kristian Huselius and Rhett Warrener. Huselius scored
34 goals and 77 points last year. He's a pure point-getter and he's
led the Flames in terms of PPP/60 (powerplay points per 60 minutes of
ice) since coming here. He's an adept set-up man, but also has a very
accurate shot. He's actually one of my favorite Flames and is a sure
bet to outperform his miniscule 1.4M contract this year. The ONLY
reason I'd consider dealing him is he will probably be lost to Free
Agency in the summer given the fact that the Flames will likely be
unable to afford to cover the (deserved) sizable pay-hike he'll be
seeking.
Huselius (Or Juice, as he's called), was a big reason for Damond
Langkow's large jump in scoring last year. He would be positively
deadly at ES with either Malkin or Crosby, not to mention the PP
(which is where he really excels).
Rhett Warrener is capable bottom pairing d-man who is tough as nails
and adds an element of leadership (he's worn a letter here in Calgary
for years and has been to the Stanley Cup finals 3 separate times).
He's also a world-class trash-talker. On the negative side, he is
somewhat injury prone and doesn't contribute enough in terms of
quantitative results to justify his 2.35M cap-hit. But, the Flames are
looking to clear up cap-space (this year and next year) and Warrener
is probably the most attractive player out of the Flames "salary dump"
bin.
Calgary can also sweeten the pot with a minor-league prospect (anyone
besides Dustin Boyd), a 3rd round pick or one of the cheaper, more
defensively oriented forwards (Stephane Yelle - PKing center with a
1.4m Cap hit).
Proposal:
Kristian Huselius (1.4M), Rhett Warrener (2.35M) and Yelle
(1.4M)/prospect/3rd round pick for
Ryan Malone (1.375M) and Mark Eaton (1.6M).
The Pens get the best player in the deal (Huselius) while the Flames
get younger and dump some salary. While both Malone and Huselius are
UFA next season, both teams would likely have the capacity to re-sign
their new player in the off-season if so desired**. Warrener is signed
for another year after this one @ 2.35M, while Eaton is also
unrestricted - meaning the Flames accept a higher element of risk in
the deal (could lose both pieces to free agency).
**(I think the teams would have to have an "informal talk" with each
player to see if he would be would amicable to re-signing with his new
team in the off-season.)
Results:
Calgary gets slightly worse offensively in the short term, but better
defensively. They add a young LWer who can be re-signed for a relative
bargain in the off-season and shore up the organizations LW depth
behind Tanguay. They also rid themselves of Warrener's contract, since
many of his primary assets (experience, physicality) are already more
capably covered by other players on the roster.
Pittsburgh becomes even more offensively dangerous with the addition
of Huselius, but they lose a top pairing guy in Mark Eaton. That frees
up roster space for their up-and-coming blueliners (Orpick, Whitney)
and converts 2 potential UFA losses into a couple of assets. Warrener
won't replace Eaton's on-ice contributions, but is an experienced,
battle-scarred
warrior who has the ability to assist and tutor young players like
Letang, Whitney and Orpick.
Alex responds:
I would love to have Huselius, but I'm uneasy about getting Warrener.
Our whole defense is basically made up of guys like him: no. 6-7
defensemen,
(I know the feeling, Alex - ed.)
...so it wouldn't really help us out. Right now Eaton is
playing on the top pairing with Gonchar, so it would be tough to part
with him. I'd love to unload Sydor, but his salary ($2.5 mil per year
for the next 2 years) makes it pretty hard. He's been a pretty big
disappointment so far this year...he was a healthy scratch in
tonight's win over the Isles.
Malone has been playing really well on the top line with Sid this
year, but I think i'd take Huselius over him anyday. When Malone is
on, he's unstoppable. He's just had problems with consistency over the
past few years, and Crosby really needs a winger who can score.
So, perhaps a Malone for Huselius deal would work, maybe with each
team giving up a draft pick.
Regular readers are probably wondering why I'd further cripple the Flames already nominal secondary scoring with a Huselius/Malone swap. The reality is, the true aim of my proposal was to dump Warrener's salary and get Eaton. Since that was (sensibly) rejected, chances are I wouldn't initiate a straight Huselius for Malone swap - the Flames don't gain anything in terms of cap space and lose about 20 points. Not to mention the fact that Malone is also UFA in the summer and could be pursued by the Flames at that time.
I think I got too greedy with the inclusion of Eaton, which is probably what scuttled the deal. But that's what hypothetical deals are for, right? Perhaps a Huselius+Warrener for Malone+draft pick would have been more likely to be accepted, but, that further cripples the Flames already thin back-end.
As you can see, dumping salary is problematic, particularly when you can't really accept any in return. Even fans pretending to be GMs are reticent to take on under-performing contracts, let alone actual GM's.
My thanks to Alex for initiating the excercise.
