Ruutu, Gill headline weak list of apparent trade deadline candidates suited for Pens
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Looking at the NHL sellers is getting tougher by the game. In the last five seasons, the eighth playoff seed compiled 93, 88, 93, 94, and 92 points, respectively.
The Carolina Hurricanes rank last in the East with 49 points in 54 games. They would have to go 20-5-3 the rest of the way (or some similar combo) to reach the 93-point threshold. Whether the ‘Canes can realistically reach that level is very doubtful, but goalie Cam Ward has come alive and the team has beaten Boston twice in the last three weeks and four times overall. Carolina is 6-2-2 in the last 10 games. Convincing a team that it has no postseason chance might be difficult. A little hope can go a long, long way. And the ‘Canes are dead last in the East.
Most likely, the standings will shake out somewhat over the next three weeks leading up to the deadline. Realistically, Carolina, Montreal, Buffalo, the Islanders, Tampa Bay and Winnipeg figure to be sellers.
Zach Parise is a hot topic and commodity, but anyone who watched New Jersey handle the Penguins on Sunday afternoon has to figure the Devils will ride Parise into the postseason.
In the West, Columbus, Anaheim and Edmonton appear to be sellers at the trade deadline.
Phoenix is 12th in the standings and they’re only four points out of the playoffs. So long as the Coyotes are close they’ll hang onto old man Ray Whitney – something the ‘Canes probably wish they did years ago.
It would be foolish to rule out teams in the top eight trading with other teams in the top eight. Perhaps there’s a better chance for the Pens to do a deal with a top-eight team from the West than a conference rival.
Let’s take a look at some of the players with expiring contracts on teams out of the race.
Winnipeg: Blake Wheeler has one more season on a contract that will pay him $2.55 million. The Jets will likely try to re-sign their leading scorer. The right winger’s acquisition cost would likely be high, also.
Tampa Bay: We batted around Dominic Moore’s name several weeks ago and it came up in the last week. Moore would help the Pens with faceoffs, an area of need. He’s currently on a one-year, $1.1 million deal. The former Penguin would be more of an afterthought acquisition, but he sure looked good against Pittsburgh in the playoffs last year.
Teddy Purcell is set to earn $2.3625 million through 2012-13. He’s become a fairly reliable offensive producer. Twenty one of his 51 points last year came courtesy of the power play. The price to acquire Purcell probably wouldn’t be steep, but how much of an upgrade is he over what the Pens already have?
NY Islanders: P.A. Parenteau would fit nicely on the Pens. He’s in the final year of a $1.25 million deal. It’s likely the Isles will look to re-sign Parenteau, however. If they did move him, it probably wouldn’t be to a hated rival, anyhow.
Brian Rolston will also be available. Kidding, just seeing if you’re still paying attention.
Buffalo: Brad Boyes could likely be had for a song and dance. The way he’s played, however, wouldn’t represent an upgrade for the Baby Pens, let alone the big club. Pittsburgh is lucky it doesn’t have five more years on the books with a $4.5 million per Ville Leino.
Robyn Regehr is pricy at $4.02 million thru 2012-13, but he’s the defensive defenseman that could help the Pens, when healthy.
Montreal: Hal Gill makes the most sense for the Pens. Gill is in the final year of a $2.25 million contract. Because of his reasonable contract, the former Penguin could be in fairly great demand. The Habs have some bad contracts on their books, they’re still even paying Georges Laraque $500,001 just to go away this year.
PK Subban’s name has been mentioned as a potential trade commodity, but it would be hard seeing the play-when-I-want-to defender fitting in with the Pens’ style of play.
Carolina: Tuomo Ruutu is another skater who would slide effectively into Pittsburgh’s lineup. He’s not afraid to lay the lumber and he can score, too. Ruutu’s going to be another hot property at the deadline and the prohibitive cost might not make sense to GM Ray Shero. Defenseman Tim Gleason recently signed a four-year extension, so he’s out of the equation. I wouldn’t touch Jaroslav Spacek with a 10-foot pole – it might break him in half.
Edmonton: We mentioned Sam Gagner weeks ago but that was before his awakening. Gagner’s shown to be a second-half player in his five-year NHL career but his 11 points in two games was ridiculous. He’s still only 22 years of age his value is likely artificially high right now.
There’s always Ales Hemsky. His poor play has apparently driven his asking price down. If it gets much lower, then it might be time to take a look at him. He’s in the last year of a $4.1 million per year deal.
Defenseman Andy Sutton is out there. He just takes so many dumb penalties it would be hard to trust him.
Anaheim: Anyone’s available, supposedly, except for Teemu and Saku because of no-trade clauses. Selanne might be a nice pickup, but the Ducks would likely seek overpayment for their future HOFer. The big three of Getzlaf, Perry and Ryan have all been talked about. It’d be great to see the Pens pick one of them up, but I just don’t see them outbidding others. Ryan, by the way, has three more years at $5.1 million. That might actually make it easier to trade for him.
Toni Lydman might be a bit too old at 34, but he could be a decent trade target if the Pens move one of their top four guys. Lydman is signed through next season at $3 million per and he doesn’t likely fit into the Ducks’ future at that price and age.
Columbus: There’s not much excitement here. Rick Nash and Jeff Carter would be nice, but that’s not going to happen. RJ Umberger is going to be paid $4.6 million for five years after 2011-12. The Pens should be glad they aren’t on the hook for that contract.
Vinny Prospal will be 37 on Feb. 17. “It’s not sexy, but it’s got teeth.” Okay, that was a bad line from the movie “The Firm” but it applies to Prospal. Vaclav is a Cup winner and is still producing for a very bad team. His pro-rated $2.5 million contract could fit in Pittsburgh for the rest of 2011-12.
A couple factors to consider with this year’s trade deadline are labor uncertainty and cap unknowns. The Pens might not even play in 2012-13. Who knows what happens with the salary cap?
In December we thought that realignment was a done deal.
As the trade deadline approaches, the Penguins organization and GM Shero will nail down exactly what the team needs. Secondary scoring and a defensive defenseman should do the trick. Things can change over the course of a week. Goalie Brent Johnson showed that he still has a heartbeat as a backup.
*****
Treasure Life!
JT
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