A few months ago when I'd determined that Aucoin was a 3rd pairing defender and Eriksson was a 5th pairing guy, I noticed that Chicago was scratching Jim Vandermeer. I mentioned to blogmate Chunky Moose that the Flames might want a take a run at acquiring him, since he seems like a capable enough player that could be had for cheap. True story.
Voila.
TSN reports that Calgary has traded a 3 round pick in '09 to the Philadelphia Flyers for Vandermeer. Peanuts.
Jimmy's been passed around like cheerleader at frat party this year, first starting with the Hawks, then moving to the Flyers and now being dealt to the Flames. Poor bastard. I'm not sure what makes him so expendable: he's cheap (1.225M), young (27), and certainly not terrible by the numbers (although not great either). Through 50 odd games this year he has a middling GA/60 on rate according to behind the net (2.49) and he's played low level competition (-0.05), though Im not sure how the latter figure translates across his various teams. He's scored 3 goals and 15 points this year with almost no PP time and seems to be a decent PKer (more than 2 minutes/game, 4.72 GA/60). If you're looking for the "6 degrees of Sutter", Vandemeer is originally from Alberta and he spent his WHL Junior career in - you guessed it - Red Deer.
My take? I like it. This should push Eriksson a little further down the depth chart where he belongs. If Jim doesn't turn out, the Flames can let him bolt for free agency this summer. If he does, however, Sutter can probably re-sign him for a decent number (assuming one or more of the scrubs are cleared out in the meantime).
