Meszaros to Tampa

The Ottawa Senators managed to take care of a big problem on Friday night, as they couldn't come to terms with defenseman Andrej Meszaros, a restricted free agent. The team dealt him to the Tampa Bay Lightning for two more defensemen, Filip Kuba and Alexandre Picard, and a first round draft pick as well.

During the day on Friday, the rumour mill was churning away saying that Meszaros was on the move from Ottawa to a team that was going to sign him to an offer sheet in the next few days. There was a lot of buzz that Tampa was in the mix for this deal, but they would have to deal for their own third round pick back from Pittsburgh, in order to get the offer sheet done.

It looks as though that the Lightning were in the mix and they really wanted Meszaros, as they traded big to get him. In getting their new number one blueliner, the Lightning moved their second and fifth defensemen from the depth chart and the first round pick they received from San Jose in the Dan Boyle deal. It's a pretty big deal and the Lightning will have to get Meszaros' signature on the dotted line as well, which only seems to be a formality. Stay tuned for his signing and a team update for the Lightning.

The Senators trade away their top blueliner, but do replace him well with a bit more of a veteran presence in Kuba, who is fairly equal in last season's points and they gain a very good defensive prospect in Picard, who hasn't quite made the big jump, but could this season. They also have all sorts of potential with this first round pick as well, granted it is San Jose's and they will likely be in the bottom half of the round, but still good.

To Tampa Bay	Age	Games	Points	Contract on July 1st
Andrej Meszaros, D	22	82	36	RFA
---
To Ottawa
Filip Kuba, D	31	75	31	1 year, $3 million
Alexandre Picard, D	23	24	6	2 years, $800,000
2009 1st Round Pick

There are plenty of implications to this deal, but it does have the sense that the Senators have somewhat won this deal on paper. The Sens were not going to sign Meszaros anytime soon and gain two defenders that can jump into the line-up immediately and didn't lose any theoretical offensive production. If Meszaros signs long-term for the Lightning, they could be pretty happy with him over the life of the contract, but if Kuba can continue his reasonable production, anything Picard does later in his career could be gravy. And then you sprinkle the deal with a first rounder, which Ottawa should enjoy.

As for pool implications, Meszaros and Kuba are likely going to stick to their usual offensive outputs, as they haven't developed into gamebreakers ready to pop out with a new team. Both players are joining teams with good offensive outputs after leaving good teams with decent outputs. The real trick to this trade could be Picard, who hasn't been able to earn a job in Tampa and just barely saw 60 games in Philly, so a chance in Ottawa could be the wild card. If he can crack the opening night line-up, he could be a very good pick-up for your pool team.