Ducks Deal Schneider to Thrashers

The Anaheim Ducks finally freed up the cap space that Mathieu Schneider was holding up in order to sign Teemu Selanne in the coming days. Schneider was traded to Atlanta today for veteran defenseman, Ken Klee, veteran forward, Brad Larsen and prospect winger, Chad Painchaud.

		2007-2008 Stats		2009	Point Projections
To Atlanta	Age	GP	Points	Cap Hit	THN	HTM	Score
Mathieu Schneider, D	39	65	39	$5.625 million	40	46	34
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To Anaheim	Age	GP	Points	Cap Hit	THN	HTM	Score
Ken Klee, D	37	72	10	$1.25 million	N/A	N/A	18
Brad Larsen, F	31	62	4	$535,000	N/A	N/A	N/A
Chad Painchaud, F	22	0	0	$563,000	N/A	N/A	N/A

The deal for the Thrashers now gives them a veteran defenseman, who can show sophomore phenom, Tobias Enstrom, the ropes on the power play and how to be a number one blueliner, while quarterbacking the team's special teams. Schneider will also provide some more salary to put towards the cap floor, which they are now relatively sitting on.

For the Ducks, they free up around $4 million dollars (if Larsen also cracks the line-up) to sign Selanne and make sure another prospect or two makes the line-up for opening night. They also fill Schneider's spot with another veteran defenseman, this time with a lot less offensive upside, but quite a bit of defensive capabilities. Larsen is going to be a cheap player to have in the line-up, for a fourth line role player and Painchaud did have a reasonable junior career and is currently circulating through the minor system, waiting for his shot.

We all know what this deal means to the Ducks, it has been broadcast all over the place for several weeks. I don't know if it's a real success, since Burke was likely looking to unload Schneider for draft picks instead of actual players. Desperation must have called for this trigger to be pulled.

For the Thrashers, this is a pretty good deal for the short term. They get that veteran presence that can help out their youngsters and a player who can impact their success on the power play immediately. The top end players of Atlanta will also enjoy having a guy like Schneider among their ranks, since they will have a truly mobile defenseman moving the puck to them on breakouts. This could positively impact Ilya Kovalchuk this year.

Other pool impacts: Francois Beauchemin should now receive some more ice-time, so his stock should rise a little bit. He arguably becomes the number three defenseman again. Ron Hainsey will likely get a little less ice-time now that Schneider is in town, so his numbers may react negatively. Once Selanne is signed and ready, positive impacts will be felt on the Ducks' goaltending, possibly adding a few more wins to their totals.

Adjust your lists accordingly.