Lightning Are Active At Trade Deadline
With the first pick in the draft within the Lightning’s grasp once again, new management decided it was time to shake up a roster that has, well, been shaken up way too much this season. The Lightning were very active at the deadline, making 3 deals to help possible playoff teams.
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Lightning Send – D Steve Eminger
Panthers Send – D Noah Welsch and a 3rd round pick
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Lightning Send – D Jamie Heward, D Andy Rogers, G Olaf Kolzig and a 4th round pick
Toronto Maple Leafs Send – D Richard Petiot
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Lightning Send – FW Mark Recchi and a 2nd round pick
Bruins Send – D Matt Lashoff and F Martin Karsums
So in total we moved D Steve Eminger, D Jamie Heward, D Andy Rogers, G Olaf Kolzig, FW Mark Recchi a 2nd round pick and a 4th round pick and we brought in D Noah Welsch, D Richard Petiot, D Matt Lashoff, F Martin Karsums and a 3rd round pick.
The first trade with the Panthers is one that is very perplexing to me. This trade originally started with Dan Boyle’s trade to San Jose. We moved Boyle and Brad Lukowich for Matt Carle, Ty Wishart, and San Jose’s 1st (which we moved with Alexandre Picard and Filip Kuba to the Sens for Andrei Meszaros) and 4th round picks. We then moved Carle and that 4th round pick for Steve Eminger, Steve Downie and received our own 4th round pick back, which was a conditional pick that we gave up in re-acquiring Vinny Prospal. We then moved Steve Eminger for Noah Welsch and a 3rd pick from Philly.
End Result for Dan Boyle and Brad Lukowich and our 3rd round pick in this years NHL entry draft:
- Ty Wishart, Steve Downie, 4th round pick (Lightning’s) Noah Welch, and a little piece of Andrei Meszaros
I’m no GM in the NHL hockey league, but that is not a good deal for the Lightning. Boyle has helped the frightening Sharks to the 2nd best points total in the league at 93. I happen to like the potential of both Ty Wishart and Steve Downie (who HockeysFuture.com ranks as our 6th and 3rd best specs respectively)but don’t feel that their upside justifies the movement of one of the NHL’s better point men on the power play as well as one of the better puck moving defenseman in the NHL. Eminger had even shown some promise with 19 assists and 4 goals in 50 games. Just a case of more moves for the sake of making them in my opinion.
Richard Petiot is a 26 year old defenseman who has been up and down throughout his brief career thus far. He is a big punishing player according to Hockey’sFuture.
"Petiot is a big punishing player, known more for his momentum-changing hits than his scoring. He is a stay-at-home defenseman who, along with teammate Mark Stuart, forms one of the best tandems of hard hitters in all college hockey. Petiot is a good skater for his size and excellent in the corners."
I wasn’t a fan of Rogers or Heward really, so this deal I am kind of indifferent to. We must have been enamored with Petiot though to move 3 guys plus a 4th round pick for him. This is a wait and see kind of trade.
The Recchi trade on the other hand that was one that brought us a player who seems to have a huge upside. Matt Lashoff is a highly regarded up and coming 22 year old defenseman.
"From HockeysFuture.com2006-07: Twenty-year-old Lashoff was named to the AHL’s 2006-07 All-Rookie team and was the only member of the Providence Bruins to partcipate in the AHL All-Star game. He also led all Providence defensemen in scoring with a total 36 points. He earned a look in Boston for a few games, but was returned to the AHL to gain more experience and fine tune his game. His growth since training camp has been right on track and he’s inching himself closer to an NHL job. Lashoff showed improvement in his decision making and his play away from the puck.2007-08: Lashoff continued to play a major role on Providence’s blueline and was named to the PlanetUSA AHL All-Star team for the second consecutive season.He was recalled to Boston on four separate occasions during the season and scored his first NHL goal on December 31st versus the Atlanta Thrashers.Lashoff has the blend of skating, size and no apparent weaknesses. Has some offensive upside. He’s a confident and smooth skating playmaker, who is equally adept at creating scoring opportunities as he is competent in his own end of the ice. Sees the ice well; Solid on both the powerplay and penalty kill; consistent performer; not overly physical, but he doesn’t avoid physical play, either; sound positional game."
I don’t know much about Martin Karsums other than what HockeysFuture has to say about him.
"There is no doubt that Karsums has the talent to be a very good second line winger in the NHL. The only question is if he will be able to overcome his size issues. Karsums is a very good bet to make the NHL at some level. If he is unable to perform as a top six winger, his ability to be physical and strong skating should make him a checking line player."
All in all the Lightning moved more payroll (Kolzig and Recchi) and used the FA signing of Rechhi and a high pick (our 2nd round pick) to obtain a player in Matt Lashoff who should be a staple of our blue line for years to come. Barring the front office deciding they have an itch for another trade, certainly not out of the question at this point, Matt Lashoff, Paul Ranger, Andrei Meszaros, Ty Wishart and Matt Smaby should form our blue line of the future.
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