Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Think Division Rivalries Matter Much?
Over the past 39 years, these two teams have never, ever, made a trade between the two of them. That all ended yesterday. The Sabres sent extra winger Dan Paille, a former 1st rounder (2002), to the Bruins for a 3rd rounder and a conditional pick.
John Vogl of the Buffalo News picked up on the same dynamic change I did. It's not so much about who you're keeping players away from, but rather how you can make your team better. Don't worry about what they're doing, worry about what you're doing. Think about your own cap implications and improve where you need to, regardless of where you need to go to get that piece. Why how bout a quote to support just that? GM Darcy Regier speaks...
"Where teams are with the salary-cap situation, I think you have to make the deal that is best for your organization. I think the days of not dealing with teams in your own division or own conference are gone."Paille was a healthy scratch for all but 2 games this season, forced out of the lineup by 2nd year Center Tim Kennedy playing his way into the lineup. This moved Jochen Hecht back to his natural wing position on the left. So between Vanek, the breakout Clarke MacArthur, veteran Hecht, and 4th liner Matt Ellis, Paille's role was diminished. Vogl mentions Hobey Baker winner Nate Gerbe as waiting in the wings, which is true. The Sabres had a glut of forwards, and with the return of Adam Mair, too many players (24) with not enough roster spots (23), somebody had to be moved. Enter Boston stage right.
Boston just shipped out under performing but important penalty killer (even if their PK is ranked in the bottom 3rd of the league currently) Chuck Kobasew designed to shake up the roster. But down the road, this move was gives Chiarelli some wiggle room for the eventual resigning (or attempted resigning) of core pieces Marc Savard and Blake Wheeler, as well as future netminder Tuukka Rask. At his price of $2.3 per year, you could find a younger, cheaper version on the market for half that price. So as soon as the injury to young LW Milan Lucic occurred, Chiarelli hit the market. Enter Buffalo stage left.
It's easy to look in hindsight and see how this deal came together, but it's more interesting to note the evolving dynamic GM's are taking when making moves in this salary cap era. Think about it.
(This was originally posted over at DoubleEdgedSabres.com, Fanball.com's Buffalo Sabres site, and my avenue of keeping BP non-Sabres centric, but I thought this was an interesting topic that everyone could check out.)
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