2010/2011 NHL Statistics | ||||||||
| To Anaheim | Position | Age | GP | G | A | P | Years | Cap Hit |
| Max Lapierre | Forward | 25 | 38 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 1 | $900,000 |
| -------------------- | ||||||||
| To Montreal | Position | Age | GP | G | A | P | Years | Cap Hit |
| Brett Festerling | Defense | 24 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | $525,000 |
| 2012 5th Round Draft Pick | ||||||||
The Montreal Canadiens have quickly made a move among some whispers that a player was unhappy in the roster. The Habs have dealt Max Lapierre to the Anaheim Ducks for defenseman Brett Festerling and a mid-to-late round draft pick on Friday, just before taking to the ice against the Florida Panthers. By the sounds of things, this trades looks to be something the Canadiens needed to do with an unhappy player and they took what they could get with a willing trade partner.Lapierre is a bottom six player at the NHL level and the Ducks do like bottom six guys, but with the loss of Ryan Getzlaf to a possible long-term injury, maybe bottom six isn't what they should be looking for.
For the Habs, they have found some better bottom six support in Max Pacioretty of late, so that easily makes Lapierre expendable today. I don't think this deal will have a big ripple effect, unless the rest of the Canadiens team feel a boost from the removal of Lapierre's presence.
For the Ducks, they are the one's taking more of a salary cap hit on, as Festerling will likely be reporting to Hamilton of the AHL, now that he is property of the Habs. Lapierre adds another $900,000 (annually) to their number, which works out to be about $489,000 in the end. The Ducks, in an annual sense, have enough room to make this move, so I don't think there are any questions about cap space here.
None. Lapierre was not a consistent scorer in 2010 to be a part of the selection sheet pool this year, nor was he good enough to have his name called in the draft this year. Festerling is a career minor-leaguer, who doesn't have a great deal of fantasy value. I have my doubts that we'll see either name called in the pools any time soon.
For the past couple of seasons, I've been trying to get the selection sheet pool ahead of the curve a little, trying to designate some of the top drafted young players onto the sheet and hope we get some real gems to breakout for lots of points. Since I've expanded the selection sheet to 32 boxes a couple of seasons ago, I had the chance to add young player boxes in Box 9 and Box 25 for forwards and Box 14 and Box 30 for defensemen, which has worked to varying success.
Of course, with the return of Michael Leighton to the Flyers crease last night meant that one of the goalies that was manning the net to start the season would have to be a healthy scratch. I don't think it should really come as a surprise that the Flyers went with the tested back-up, instead of the kid, as Sergei Bobrovsky was the healthy scratch for the evening, which may lead to a demotion before too long as well. Bobrovsky would be the easiest to demote, as I don't believe he yet qualifies to have to pass through waivers in order to be demoted to the AHL.
A healthy scratch or a demotion is hardly the kind of thank you a kid like Bobrovsky deserves with such a great start to the season for the Flyers, but at the end of the day it is just business and the Flyers would like to keep all three goalies with the club for as long as possible, without the risk of losing one of them through waivers. Bobrovsky has made 24 starts for the Flyers this season, amassing a record of 15-5-3 with 1 assist to his name as well, which works out to be 31 points on the season. His starts have been limited as of late, having only two starts in the last two weeks.
It was a little bit of a surprise to see Evander Kane on the scratches list and 
It's been a bit of a breakout year for Kane and the Thrashers, as they currently occupy a playoff spot going into the New Year's Eve festivities tonight. Kane has been a pretty big reason for a chunk of the Thrashers' success in the 2011 season, scoring 12 goals and 12 assists in 37 games, ranking him 100th in pool scoring after Thursday night's action. He has since cooled off after a rocking start, but the team still seems to find some wins, which is the most important part these days.
On Friday, the Devils officially sent Box 30 defenseman Mark Fraser down to the AHL on a conditioning assignment, as he is in the home stretch of recovering from a broken hand at the moment. Fraser has taken a little while longer than originally expected with his injury, but it looks like he is on the verge of returning. His conditioning assignment will last up to two weeks, so we should see him in mid-January.
The Philadelphia Flyers welcomed back the goaltender that helped backstop the team to the Stanley Cup Finals in the Spring, as Michael Leighton finally caught a break in the good play from the goaltenders ahead of him to get a start. It was a bumpy return for the Box 31 keeper, as he still managed to win the game, but it was a barn burner at 7-4. 
Whitney leaves the Oilers line-up in 7th place among defensemen in scoring this season with 2 goals and 25 assists in 35 games, which has him also ranked 85th in the league in scoring. These were both big improvements to his career numbers, to which he was pace to smash his career-best numbers, which he set in 2010 with 39 points in 81 games.
It has been an up-and-down season for Getzlaf and the Ducks, as they have struggled to find much traction in the Western Conference standings, but they only sit one point out of 8th spot, which can't be bad since we're just coming to the midway point now. In the first 40 games for the Ducks, Getzlaf has 13 goals and 24 assists (37 points), which is pretty good by most standards. His hole in the offense may seriously have an impact on the team, but only time will tell. 
In the 2011 season to date, Zidlicky has 4 goals and 15 assists in 30 games for the Wild, ranking him 185th in pool scoring, 24th among all defensemen in the league. He has been one of the more reliable defensemen at both ends of the ice in the league over the past few seasons and his presence will be missed.
In the game against the Wild on Wednesday night, it was one of those offensive games where Pavelski might have made a difference in a 5-3 loss, since he has 27 points (9 goals and 18 assists) in 36 games this season. Pavelski currently ranks 5th on the team in pool scoring and is one of seven Sharks in the top 100 of pool scoring this season, currently ranked 80th. It will be very interesting to see how the Shark deal without Pavelski in their line-up against the Blackhawks tonight.
Jokinen has been playing fairly well for the Hurricanes, despite their poor-ish record, still managing to pick up points this season. In 35 games this season, Jokinen has 6 goals and 20 assists, which is 4th on the team in pool scoring, 87th in the league. His pace is slightly slower than the 2010 season, but not by too much, so his presence in the line-up is considered to be rather important.
Pitkanen is currently 6th on the team in pool scoring this season with 2 goals and 16 assists in 33 games, which is good enough for 30th in pool scoring among all defensemen in the league. His presence on the team is also thought to be rather important, even if they shutout the Senators last night without him. Pitkanen's scoring pace is also down a shade from the 2010 season, but as a whole, I think Carolina isn't quite as offensive as they were a season ago.