| | | 2009-2010 NHL Statistics | 2011 Cap Info |
| To Long Island | Position | Age | GP | G | A | P | Years | Cap Hit |
| James Wisniewski | Defense | 26 | 69 | 3 | 27 | 30 | 1 | $3.25 million |
| -------------- | | | | | | | | |
| To Anaheim | Position | Age | GP | G | A | P | Years | Cap Hit |
| 2011 3rd Round Draft Pick |
Of course, as I'm polishing up the
James Wisniewski signing post, the Ducks go ahead and trade him all the way across the country, landing him on Long Island. Now, earlier in the day, the Islanders placed
Brendan Witt on unconditional waivers, which I didn't get a chance to write about, so this could easily be a replacement move by GM Garth Snow, having a little more cap space used by a possible buyout and a new contract, getting themselves closer to the cap floor.
Looking at the Islanders team, from where I am and not being posted here, the team is really stacked up with defensemen at the moment, even with the potential buyout of Witt coming up. At least with Wisniewski on the books, they can have a $3+ million defender that will pick up some points, as Witt really couldn't do that and wasn't making up for it with his defensive prowess.
The Ducks still have a rather thin blueline now that they have dealt Wisniewski and only getting a 3rd round pick suggests that they want to make some more room under the cap for something, be it a few players or to keep themselves under budget. With the lack of movement on the blueline, the Ducks could be looking towards a transition season, likely giving 2010 1st rounder,
Cam Fowler, a good run for a spot this year, among other bubble players.
I was going to comment that the Ducks were still in pretty good shape when you added Wisniewski's new deal to the mix, but we can immediately call that off. The Ducks are in the bottom 3rd of the league in cap space committed, according to my own spreadsheet, which isn't as assuming as CapGeek.com. Right now, I have the Ducks with 16 players more than likely going to start with the team at a cap hit of $40.8 million (before buyouts), which is very low. Not as low as the Islanders though, who sit with 20 players, including Wisniewski, with an annual hit of $37.2 million, before buyouts. When both teams are so low, why worry about what's on the books and not on the ice?
I don't think it's unfair to call this a domino deal in the league, before anything else really falls. It is the second sign-and-trade set of circumstances we've seen this week, which suggests that the seats underneath general managers are getting warmer. The rumour mill should be moving a little faster now, as scuttlebutt about the Ducks should improve and rightly so. The Ducks are not deep on the blueline and there are options available, as the stories go.
The Montreal Canadiens have added another blueline to their potential blueline for the 2011 season, as they have signed unrestricted free agent defenseman Alexandre Picard to a new 1-year, two-way deal on Saturday. Picard split time between the Senators and the Hurricanes in 2010, scoring 4 goals and adding 11 assists in 51 games between the two clubs. He has some potential to be the Canadiens' 5th or 6th defenseman this year, but will likely fall into the 7th spot, finding some time in the press box more often than not.
In 2009, Setoguchi did well, scoring 31 goals and 34 assists in 81 games for the Sharks, but all of that took a huge hit in 2010, where he only picked up 20 goals and 16 assists in 70 games. He went from 47th among forwards in the NHL down to 160th in a matter of one season. Again, I think we can draw some comparisons to Cheechoo with Setoguchi's numbers, although they were as stellar at the top end, but nevertheless, there does seem to be the same kind of drop off nonetheless.
News came down on Thursday afternoon that Kings defenseman Matt Greene underwent shoulder surgery recently, which is expected to have a rehabilitation time of three months. Greene, a roster player for the Kings, had 9 points in 75 games for the Kings in 2010, which doesn't exactly make him a good fantasy pick, but does weaken the defensive structure of the team a little bit. Three months from now suggests that Greene should be back for the end of October, which could be anywhere between 9 to 11 games away. If Greene can hit the 10-game mark, they could save a month's worth of cap hit from their books, although that's a silver lining to not having him in the line-up.
The Ducks have signed one of their prized 1st round picks in 2010, as the 12th overall pick, Cam Fowler, has signed his 3-year entry-level deal on Wednesday, giving himself the piece of paper he needs to suit up, if he is able to impress enough people at Ducks camp this Fall. Fowler was ranked as high as 3rd behind both Taylor Hall and Tyler Seguin in this year's Entry Draft after having a pretty good junior year with the Windsor Spitfires and the US Junior team at the World Junior Tournament. His puck-moving skills should be a real asset to the Ducks, whether it is right away in the 2011 season or later on down the line. They have a good one by the looks of things.
The word on the wire is that Brian Pothier has signed a 1-year deal in Switzerland, but according to most postings, he does have an out-clause to sign with an NHL team up until August 15th. The unrestricted free agent defenseman played 61 games between Washington and Carolina in 2010, scoring 5 goals and adding 10 assists. He ranked 118th among defensemen, which could have been good enough to be picked in some deep drafts, but it's probably ill-advised now.
