Four trades in the WHL yesterday, including three involving the Lethbridge Hurricanes as the 'Canes conducted a mini-makeover just one month into the season.
First, the Hurricanes dealt '92 defenceman Derek Ryckman to the Tri-City Americans for a 2012 4th round bantam pick.
They followed that up by trading '92 goaltender Brandon Anderson and their 2012 3rd and 6th round bantam picks to the Brandon Wheat Kings in exchange for '93 goaltender Liam Liston and '93 defenceman Spencer Galbraith.
Then in their third deal of the day, they sent '93 defenceman Reid Jackson and a 2012 5th round bantam pick to the Prince George Cougars in exchange for '92 forward Nick Buonassisi.
The fourth deal, which somehow did not include Lethbridge, might have been the biggest deal of the day in the long term: Saskatoon traded overage forward Darian Dziurzynski to Brandon in exchange for a 2012 2nd round bantam pick, a 2013 2nd round bantam pick, and a 2014 3rd round bantam pick.
Now some thoughts on these deals....
First, the Dziurzynski deal. I admit my first thought when I heard this one was "three high picks for Darian Dziurzynski???". But then when you think about it some more, it's maybe not quite so bad because after all, Dziurzynski is one of the best combinations of skill and toughness in the WHL right now. He can beat you with a goal and he can beat you with his fists too. So you have to expect to pay a price for a guy like that. But even with all that said, the price seems very high - two 2nd round picks and a 3rd round pick. We all laughed when a deal like this happened in reverse last year - Schenn from Brandon to Saskatoon for a boatload of prospects and picks. Obviously Dziurzynski is no Schenn and that's why the haul is smaller but it's still IMO way too much to be giving up for Dziurzynski. It's not unusual to pay a 2nd or 3rd round pick for a good quality overager in the league but two 2nds and a 3rd?
Definitely for the Blades, this deal goes a long way towards offsetting the painful long-term impact of the Schenn deal. They gave up their first round picks in 2010, 2011, and 2012 in that deal but now they just got back two of Brandon's 2nd round picks - and at least they now have two 2nd round picks in 2012 even though they don't have a first.
The other big deal also involved Brandon and saw them pick up goaltender Brandon Anderson, who I figured several weeks ago was probably on his way out of Lethbridge after the Damian Ketlo acquisition. This is kind of an intriguing deal though because it doesn't really resolve either team's goaltending situations IMO. Lethbridge's problem was that they had three goalies. Well, they still have three goalies now and Liston is going to want to play more than he did in Brandon and not back up Ketlo. And can't forget Tanner Kovacs is still there as well. As for Brandon, they had a decent tandem going on there with Corbin Boes starting and Liston backing him up. Anderson is an upgrade on Liston but Anderson isn't going to Brandon to be the backup which means he's going to take a lot of Boes' starts. How does Boes feel about that after getting off to a good start?
I like the acquisition of Galbraith by the Hurricanes though. He's a feisty kid, maybe TOO feisty and needs to tone it down a bit, but he can be an effective player in the league.
For Lethbridge though.....three deals see them move out two d-men and a goalie and a bunch of picks and get back a d-man, a goalie and a forward. However, I don't see them being any better today than they were yesterday. They gave up the best goalie (Anderson) and the best defenceman (Ryckman) in the deals IMO so unless Buonassisi is the answer to their problems.....which I don't think he is.....then I'm not sure why all these deals were made.
Incidentally, even after all their trades the Canes still have Tayler Balog even though he's sitting at home and not playing anywhere. At one time Balog was considered a pretty good prospect and was a key player in the first Carter Ashton deal. Point a game player in midget last year as a 16 year old....what's the holdup here, play him or trade him?
5 comments:
Alan, the Blades never gave up any bantam picks in 2013 in the Schenn deal. They gave up the 1st and 2nd round bantam in 2011, 1st round bantam in 2012 and 1st round import pick in 2012.
pretty fun alan, it sounds like you are getting frustrated with prestons lack of ability to manage a team...just imagine what we here in the lethbridge are feeling right now..he seems to have NO idea which side of the road he is on...oh well just another year in canesland.
As a Canes fan we scratch our heads about Balog...plus they released 94 prospect Mitch Guiel without compensation and he was quickly picked up by Seattle...Re the trade Anderson needed a change in scenery and will do well in Brandon....Ryckman was definitly not the best defenceman as he was well behind Dan Johnston and even his partner 16 Year old Mackoy Erkamps was playing better than him...but again with a change of scenery and less expectations he will do well in Tri City...Lethbridge has some good emerging talent but nobody believes Preston or his coaching staff have the ablity to teach and develop the kids.
I didn't mean Ryckman was the best defenceman on the Hurricanes. I meant he was the best defenceman involved in the trades.
Yes you are right Alan Ryckman was the best D man in the trades....I hope he does well in Tri
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