My Thoughts On The Trade: First I just wanted to thank MM for what he has done for the team. Before last spring the Isles and their fans have not had a ton to cheer about. One of the few things the Isles did have was a very good first line with JT, MM and whoever was playing with them. MM has become a favorite of a lot of Isles fans and will be missed. Moving on…There is no doubt in my mind that a Moulson for Vanek swap makes the Isles a better team this season. I don’t want to turn this into a MM bashing post, but While MM is very good on the Power Play, he brings very little else to the table. I think Vanek will score comparably on the PP to Moulson. He has more size, and he’s a much better player in other areas such as skating, passing/playmaking. Vanek is a better all-around player than MM, and will be much better 5 on 5, which is a big problem for the Isles now, they really struggle there. The only concerns I have about the trade are the additional draft picks they gave up and if giving up these assets will affect the Isles ability to acquire help on defense and in goal. As for improving the defense and goalie situation…The isles still have a lot of assets to trade, if necessary. The situation with defensemen is a little hard to predict this early in the season, but I would expect there to be some blue line help available as the season moves on. There will certainly be goalies available with a bunch of good ones set to UFA’s at season’s end. Miller is on a bad team (buffalo) and will almost certainly not be back next season. Halak or Elliot should be available from the Blues as they have Jake Allen ready. Hiller is also a guy i would like the isles to target from the Ducks, they have a ton of goalies in the organization. If you look at the history of goaltending trades, the price is rarely overwhelming. Goalies can be acquired relatively on the cheap, especially as a rental. I am confident that unless Nabby/Puolin really step it up, one of these goals can be acquired. For this to really be a win for the Isles they need to resign Vanek, who like Moulson is a UFA at the end of the season. If they do that, I think it justifies the extra picks, if not I think the Isles overpaid for a rental. I would expect the Isles to really try hard to get him signed, I don’t think they would have made the deal if signing him wasn’t in the plans. We shall see how that plays out.
Posted on: Mon, 28 Oct 2013 13:18:42 +0000
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